Chapter 29: Grandma Liu

Chu Zihang's home is in the "Kongque Di" in the east of the city.

Thanks to his uncle, Lu Mingfei had heard a thing or two about this villa complex, which was "the best location, highest land price, and largest footprint in the city."

Lu Mingfei still remembers the scene from back then vividly—

His uncle would hold a newspaper, shaking his head and swaying, speaking with such righteous indignation that even a toilet in Kongque Di cost more than their entire house, warning against capitalism and saying these rich people should be dragged out and hung from streetlamps!

But Lu Mingfei felt that his uncle wasn't really trying to criticize capitalism at the time; he only took that stance because he wasn't one of those rich people himself...

"This is the first time I've seen a villa complex where the area is measured in 'mu'; can this even be considered a small manor? Just picking one at random, running a lap around it must be around two hundred meters!"

Lu Mingfei looked out the window, glanced at the speedometer, and then silently counted the time it took for the Mercedes to drive past the two sides of a villa's outer wall; after finishing his estimation, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Chu Zihang's heart stirred; he finally understood why Lu Mingfei had been so conflicted when he first asked him if he wanted to come over for a meal.

Actually, to Chu Zihang, this matter was very simple: one of his own is a brother, so what was there to worry about when bringing a brother home for a meal?

But it was different for Lu Mingfei; like "Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden," he couldn't help but worry about this and that.

Just as he was pondering how to "enlighten" or "soothe" Lu Mingfei, he heard Lu Mingfei's subsequent muttering.

"But it's only this big; it would still be a bit difficult to arrange eight hundred axmen to hide here, right?"

So what does this have to do with eight hundred axmen!

Chu Zihang canceled his "enlighten and soothe" plan.

On one hand, he felt he couldn't quite keep up with Lu Mingfei's train of thought.

Ambushing axmen... what is this, a trap-laden feast? Even at the very least, the ambush shouldn't be axmen but machine gunners; it's been modernized for so long, the trap-laden feast should also keep pace with the times.

On the other hand, he felt Lu Mingfei didn't need his enlightenment or soothing at all. With this level of detachment, it would be strange if he kept internalizing his stress!

Lu Mingfei didn't know what Chu Zihang was thinking; he was just a little nervous.

Just like an octopus sprays ink when nervous, the more nervous he got, the more he loved to let his imagination run wild.

By the time Chen Shu drove the car through the automatically opening carved iron gate, bypassed the sculptural fountain, and slowly came to a stop, he had already completed a whole set of logically self-consistent "story immersion."

"Dilu, you wait here for me in peace; I shall return shortly!"

Lu Mingfei closed the car door, patted the Mercedes, and instructed it in his heart with a rather chuunibyou flair.

It was as if, should he encounter any danger, this Mercedes would perform a magnificent transformation like "Bumblebee" in Transformers and then come racing over to save him.

However, it is said that "Dilu" brings misfortune to its master; it's not impossible that this Mercedes might not have time to transform or might fail to brake, sending Lu Mingfei a bit further—straight to the underworld...

But Lu Mingfei didn't care about that; was he looking for "Dilu"? He wanted to be Liu Bei riding on "Dilu"!

People from the Liu family have special buffs when facing a trap-laden feast, and running away is their top-tier specialty. As a member of the Lu family, with the same first letter of the romanization for their surnames, if one counts back a few thousand generations, who knows if they might be related?

"You must be classmate Lu Mingfei, right?"

Lu Mingfei was pulled back from a daydream that had drifted more than a hundred thousand miles away by this greeting.

He looked closely and saw that before him was a huge living room that revealed luxury within its understated design; this living room alone was more spacious than all the rooms in his aunt's house combined, and in front of him was a beautiful lady who was curiously sizing him up.

The beautiful lady was already at the age of a fading beauty, but even without makeup, she was still a stunning beauty with a delicate, oval face; she must still be at the level of a city-toppling beauty after putting on makeup.

"Yes, yes, yes, I am Lu Mingfei! Auntie, you are so beautiful; no wonder Brother is so handsome, I feel like he takes after you more!"

Lu Mingfei offered a set of sincere compliments.

"Oh my, why are you so good at talking? Son, you should learn from him; I've never heard you compliment me!"

The beautiful lady giggled, her voice crisp and delicate, like a girl in her early twenties.

"Let's eat first."

Chu Zihang was expressionless, consistently concise and efficient.

He had long been accustomed to his mother's little-girl personality; it had been like this from childhood until now. A woman who is beautiful and has good fortune is like this; naturally, there are people to worry about everything for her, so she doesn't need to experience any pain or torment to grow up.

"Ugh... what a buzzkill!"

The beautiful lady puffed out her cheeks and looked at Lu Mingfei again, "What about you, little Mingfei? Are you hungry?"

After a certain amount of interaction, Lu Mingfei's passive skill 【Emotion Perception】 had already been activated.

His heart, which had originally been somewhat anxious, finally gradually calmed down; there was no deliberate pretense in that form of address or inquiry, only sincere concern and greeting.

Sure enough, the parents are like the children; Brother Chu's mother is truly kind and approachable!

Lu Mingfei quietly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately nodded solemnly, "I have long been looking forward to Auntie's cooking!"

If the "eating" time allocated by the system hadn't been running low, with a rather imminent feel to it, Lu Mingfei would have been happy to dawdle for a while, but with the Electric Shock Warning looming, he had to give up.

"Good! Eat plenty later, ha; I think the dishes I made today are very successful!"

The beautiful lady had a bit of a show-off attitude, skipping along as she led the way in front.

Lu Mingfei still didn't realize the severity of the problem; he thought the "I think" the beautiful lady said was a humble remark based on the premise that she personally felt it was quite good.

Until he saw that dish on the dining table.

Actually, the other dishes looked quite good, with perfect color, aroma, and taste. But this one was simply too conspicuous, and the smell was too overbearing, almost completely covering up the aroma of the surrounding dishes—

Have you ever seen a colorful black? Lu Mingfei saw it.

Have you ever smelled something so burnt that one suspects it is completely carbonized, mixed with a salty, vinegary, and sour scent? Lu Mingfei smelled it.

And the beautiful lady was standing guard in front of that plate, with an expression that said "Well, hurry up and praise me" written all over her face.

Now Lu Mingfei finally understood why Brother had warned him to eat less before coming; it turned out he was worried he would be poisoned to death!

"This is..."

Lu Mingfei tried hard to scrape possible relevant vocabulary from his brain; he remembered that in some obscure European literary works he had read in the Literature Club, there had been content about "high-end cuisine."

Foreigners' dish names focus on listing raw materials, origin, and cooking methods, because the most expensive part is the ingredients, and the rest is trivial. It's a way of telling you in detail where the money was spent, and it's definitely not meant to treat you like a sucker.

If one were to package it using their naming style, there is a dish in China that is popular all over the country that could be called "Old Sichuan Spicy Flavored Braised Special Tender Jade Tofu with Lean Wagyu Beef Minced Stewed in Rich Soup," and one would have to add "Limited Time and Quantity Special Supply for One" at the end, and the vibe would be about right.

The Chinese name for this dish is "Mapo Tofu."

Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and could only force a name based on what he saw with his eyes and smelled with his nose; he continued, "Salty and Sour Flavored Black Truffle with Special Quanjude Roast Duck Dyed Coconut Shell Charcoal Color Dry Pot"?

"It's Vinegar Blood Duck."

The beautiful aunt said, "I learned this from my mother when I was still small, and I haven't made it again until today, so my hands might be a bit rusty... but it's not a big problem, it's very delicious!"

Are you sure your hands are rusty? Why do I feel like it's incredibly well-done? Even if you brought in a beginner who had never made this dish before, it would be no easy task to achieve this kind of flavor!

【Warning, the scheduled time for 【Eat Dinner】 has arrived, remaining countdown...】

Lu Mingfei had no choice but to sit at the table with the mindset of someone facing death.

A mouthful of charcoal won't kill a person, but an electric shock is another story!

My condition is a bit poor today, it feels like I have a cold and I'm dizzy... This chapter makes up for yesterday's, there will be two more chapters for today in a bit, but I probably can only write one before twelve o'clock, the second chapter will continue to be postponed until tomorrow to make up, I should be better by tomorrow!

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(End of this chapter)