Chapter 178: Sooner or later, the older sister will also get fierce back!! Little rascal

Lu Yuan stared at Gu Qingwan, who was directly acting coquettish toward him, his face full of astonishment.

And Gu Qingwan also came to her senses.

This... this what am I doing!!!

But... I can't worry about that much anymore...

After getting along these days, Gu Qingwan has also figured out Lu Yuan's temper.

This Lu Yuan is just a donkey!

You have to go along with him.

He's the type who responds to coaxing, not force.

If I try to be forceful with Lu Yuan, he'll definitely ignore me.

Besides... what right do I have now to be forceful with Lu Yuan?

So I have to do it this way.

So, no longer caring about shyness, Gu Qingwan immediately grabbed Lu Yuan's wrist and continued to gently shake it while acting coquettishly, saying:

"Oh dear~~good older brother~~"

Lu Yuan: "......"

The next second, Lu Yuan withdrew his arm with a black line on his face and said:

"Alright, alright, I told you, why go through all this?"

Upon hearing Lu Yuan's words, Gu Qingwan's face lit up with delight, then she quickly picked up the teacup beside her and brought it to Lu Yuan's lips, saying coquettishly:

"Older brother~ how about you drink some water first to wet your throat~"

Lu Yuan pursed his lips and said:

"I'm not thirsty, leave it there, sit properly, brother and I will have a good talk."

Gu Qingwan nodded repeatedly, put the teacup down, then hurriedly sat on the edge of the bed, sat up straight with proper posture, and placed her hands on her knees.

Then she turned her head to look at Lu Yuan lying on the bed.

This... actually... why is she a little cute like this?

And Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and said:

"Have you boiled water using the kettle on the stove?"

Gu Qingwan blinked, and the next second she suddenly remembered something.

She then immediately got up, walked to a window, and pulled the curtain closed.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan looked bewildered and said:

"Why are you pulling the curtain in broad daylight?"

Looking at Lu Yuan like that, Gu Qingwan felt extremely shy inside, but she put on a calm exterior and said:

"There's sunlight there, it's blinding."

Despite being an emperor for so many years, Gu Qingwan can still utter a lie seriously in an instant.

Gu Qingwan doesn't know if this counts as a talent.

But just now, when Lu Yuan was about to talk about the steam engine, Gu Qingwan suddenly remembered.

Something this important must not be known to outsiders.

And Lu Yuan here... has my planted Qing Cang Wei.

Of course, these Nei Ne Qing Cang Wei are absolutely loyal to me.

The Qing Cang Wei, when joining headquarters, must undergo strict background checks.

Ordinary people cannot enter.

But this matter must be handled cautiously.

What if one of the Qing Cang Wei gets confused, drinks too much, blurts it out, and is overheard by someone with ill intent?

That would truly ruin a major affair!

Anyway, this matter must be handled carefully.

Naturally, we must quickly pull the curtain so that no one besides me knows.

And when going to pull the curtain.

Gu Qingwan then suddenly remembered again...

My earlier coquettish demeanor...

Could it be...

"You fucking crazy, you dare to remember this nonsense?!"

The Qing Cang Wei holding a monocular saw the Qing Cang Wei next to him holding a notebook, frantically writing, and through gritted teeth whispered a curse:

"Ah?"

The Qing Cang Wei holding the notebook blinked in confusion and lifted his head.

Another Qing Cang Wei directly snatched the notebook from his hand, tore out a page, kneaded it, stuffed it into his mouth, and while chewing said:

"Just now we three changed shifts, just arrived, didn't see anything."

Inside the room, Gu Qingwan stared at Lu Yuan with a face full of astonishment and said:

"Just by relying on the steam from flipping open the kettle lid, can it drive a vehicle capable of pulling ten thousand tons?"

Gu Qingwan felt... as if she were hearing heavenly scriptures.

Looking at Gu Qingwan like that, Lu Yuan lying on the bed raised his eyebrows and said:

"Hey, brother's telling you, seriously don't look down on steam, this thing is really powerful~

When the pressure cooker just taken off the stove releases steam, that force can actually make an egg fly at least half a minute above it."

High... high-pressure cooker??

What... what is that again??

Gu Qingwan stared at Lu Yuan, looking completely bewildered.

At that moment, after Lu Yuan finished speaking, he suddenly froze, then involuntarily clicked his tongue.

Hiss~

Pressure cooker~

That means we can finally eat proper pork stew!

Speaking of which, the Great Zhou Dynasty naturally has pork stew.

Both of Lu Yuan's meals never lacked pork stew.

Lu Yuan loves eating this not only in the Great Zhou Dynasty but also on Earth.

What is pork stew? The first half of its preparation is actually like southern crispy meat or northern fried pork tenderloin.

It's just sliced meat, first coated in flour and fried briefly in the pot.

Then it's somewhat like steamed meat with flour or preserved vegetable braised pork.

Put these fried meat slices into a small iron bowl, add soy sauce, spices, etc.

Then steam it over high heat until tender.

Here, the pork stew Lu Yuan eats always falls a bit short.

The reason is the lack of a pressure cooker; this dish requires long steaming, but neither at home nor in a restaurant can one afford to steam a single dish for a whole morning or afternoon.

So here, Lu Yuan doesn't find the pork stew very satisfying.

The truly delicious pork stew, made with a pressure cooker, has fatty meat that, when pinched, falls apart like soft tofu.

The fatty meat also doesn't feel greasy at all, just like low-fat tofu.

It's really delicious.

Just thinking about it made Lu Yuan hungry.

Immediately, Lu Yuan stood up and said:

"Brother, fetch my shoes and clothes; don't leave today—I'll treat you to proper pork stew tonight!"

Gu Qingwan has definitely eaten this pork stew before.

What's so proper or improper about it?

Moreover...

Wait... we weren't talking about steam engines, were we??

How did we suddenly get onto the topic of food??

Lu Yuan's thoughts are really jumping around too much...

Is this what genius is?

Ordinary people can hardly keep up with this great genius's train of thought??

Gu Qingwan didn't ask any further.

Otherwise...

This little thing is scolding itself and saying it won't serve people.

Gu Qingwan grabbed Lu Yuan's pants hanging on the rack, his clothes, then came up to him and suddenly blinked, saying:

"... I... I'll help you put on your clothes?"

Lu Yuan then took the clothes from Gu Qingwan's hands, putting them on while saying:

"No need, you're not my wife—why would I have you help me dress?"

Gu Qingwan pursed her lips, "I'm too lazy to help you dress~"

You don't know a good person's heart!

After putting on his clothes, Lu Yuan shoveled coal into the Kang heating ducts, then led Gu Qingwan out.

As they left with Gu Qingwan, the aunties in the courtyard all had dark lines on their faces.

Is this woman really Lu Yuan's second wife or not?

If you say yes...

then she wouldn't stay here tonight.

If you say no...

this woman keeps coming every day...

Everyone really can't figure it out.

Just can't understand it.

After leading his horse out of the alley, Lu Yuan immediately swung onto it and said:

"Still the Bing Jia Chang, old spot—I'll go first."

Having said that, Lu Yuan whipped the reins and galloped wildly toward the Bing Jia Chang.

Gu Qingwan, meanwhile, entered her own carriage and immediately followed.

Upon arriving at the Bing Jia Chang, the workshop specially prepared for Lu Yuan was already built.

After Lu Yuan arrived and told the Bing Jia Chang's leadership, he was ready to use it.

And when the Bing Jia Chang's leadership heard that Lu Yuan was coming again to work on an invention, they immediately wanted to tag along to watch.

However, Lu Yuan just smiled and said:

This time it's not some invention; I just made a pot.

A pot?

Everyone wants to watch the pot being made.

Following Lu Yuan, gathering around to hear him speak broadens our horizons~

Lu Yuan saw that these people also wanted to follow and make their own pots, so he didn't say anything—fine, let them follow.

Upon reaching the workshop, Lu Yuan focused on making his own pressure cooker.

Actually, the pressure cooker shares some similarities with the steam engine.

One could even say they are quite similar.

Especially, the most difficult aspects of both are the same.

That is the sealing ring inside the pressure cooker.

As for machinery, valves and such, they're actually not bad.

As long as we can fix the sealing ring and prevent leaks, the steam engine can be sorted.

However, this isn't too difficult either.

Soon after, Gu Qingwan also arrived by carriage.

After arriving, Gu Qingwan stood quietly in the corner, watching.

As for this Gu Qingwan, the Bing Jia Chang leadership knows her.

Last time during the mortar test, this woman came, didn't she?

Such a beautiful woman—everyone who saw her before certainly left an impression.

It seems she's also the daughter of a senior official of the Ministry of War.

No one knows what relation this woman has with Lu Yuan, but no one asks—don't pry!

Lu Yuan hammered away all morning, finally producing a perfect pressure cooker.

This time Lu Yuan acted on a whim, not even bothering with a design diagram.

So naturally, it took a bit longer.

Moreover, the factory leaders kept chatting with Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan occasionally had to look up and say something to them.

By noon, Lu Yuan's pressure cooker was finally ready.

With the pressure cooker, Lu Yuan then escorted Gu Qingwan back home.

……

On the way back, Lu Yuan rode his horse alongside Gu Qingwan's carriage.

Sitting in the carriage, Gu Qingwan curiously examined the strange big pot in her hands for a moment, then looked out the window at Lu Yuan and said:

"Is this the pressure cooker?"

Lu Yuan then nodded and said:

"Yes."

Then Gu Qingwan curiously looked at Lu Yuan and said:

"What's this thing used for?"

Lu Yuan then shook his head and said:

"Stewing meat in it, or anything like that, gets tender especially fast."

Gu Qingwan blinked, then curiously asked:

"So what similarities does this have with… the steam engine you… brother mentioned?"

Lu Yuan then raised an eyebrow and said:

"There are lots of similarities~~"

Immediately Gu Qingwan excitedly said:

"Let's go home and use this pot, brother—make it for me to see~"

Lu Yuan directly shook his head and said:

"No, I'm hungry—let's find somewhere to eat first."

Gu Qingwan blinked, then immediately spoke in a coquettish voice:

"Let's just go home to eat—brother, you like eating song meat; let's go home and make song meat with this pot~"

Lu Yuan still shook his head and said:

"No, I have to wait for my wife to come back and make it—she knows how to fry song meat; nobody else's tastes good."

Gu Qingwan was stunned, then she slightly pouted her lips and said:

"Frying song meat isn't that hard—I can fry it too, brother; let me go home and fry it for you~"

Lu Yuan still refused and said:

"No, it definitely won't be as good as my wife's."

Gu Qingwan slightly pursed her lips, acting coy, and said:

"Brother~~ you don't believe me~"

Lu Yuan then raised an eyebrow at Gu Qingwan in the carriage window and said:

"What, you won't listen to brother?"

Gu Qingwan blinked, gave Lu Yuan a sideways glance, then repeatedly spoke in a coquettish voice:

"Listen, listen, listen—I'll listen, brother; okay?"

Hearing Gu Qingwan's words, Lu Yuan finally nodded in satisfaction and said:

That's right, bro! At noon, I'll treat you to lamb noodle soup, eh!

The Imperial Guard sitting in front of the carriage had already broken out in a cold sweat on his back.

No……

This thing…… can I hear it?

This…… this, don't let it end up like that……

I'm going to be silenced!!

This is way too scary!!

Why does the Emperor act so differently in front of Lu Yuan than in front of everyone else……

This…… this change is just too big……

It's really like two completely different people!

……

At noon, Lu Yuan and Gu Qingwan each had a bowl of lamb noodle soup, and they both added an extra spoonful of lamb offal.

Lu Yuan added several big spoonfuls of chili.

This chili was brought here by the shopkeeper from his northwestern hometown; wow, it's really spicy.

Lu Yuan had only taken a couple bites when he took off his clothes and rolled up his sleeves to eat.

Gu Qingwan, who was eating her noodles with small bites while lowering her head, upon seeing this scene, said in a coquettish voice:

"Brother, be careful not to catch a chill."

Lu Yuan didn't even look at Gu Qingwan, while slurping his noodles in big mouthfuls, he muttered:

"Talkative!"

Gu Qingwan pursed her lips and said:

"I don't care about you anymore!!"

After finishing lunch and heading home, it was already about 2:30 PM, so Lu Yuan, as usual, was going to take an afternoon nap.

Looking at Gu Qingwan sitting beside him, still researching the pressure cooker, Lu Yuan yawned and said:

"Brother's going to sleep, eh, don't make a move."

Gu Qingwan lifted her head, gave Lu Yuan a white-eyed glance, but still said in a coquettish voice:

"I know~ bro~"

Lu Yuan hugged his wife's pillow, and before long he drifted off into a drowsy sleep.

Gu Qingwan researched the pressure cooker for a while, but still couldn't figure out a clue.

She then gently set it down, turned her head, and saw that Lu Yuan was already fast asleep.

Gu Qingwan then let out a soft hum, gazing at Lu Yuan as she muttered:

"All you do is yell at me!!"

"And you call yourself an older brother!!"

"One of these days, older sister will also yell back at you!!"

"You little troublemaker!"

……

Lu Yuan's nap was really refreshing.

When Lu Yuan woke up, he saw that his wife had already returned.

At this moment, the two of them were sitting in the main hall, chatting with smiles.

Yesterday's incident seemed to have had no effect on either of them.

After Lu Yuan woke up in a daze, Su Liyan hurried over to stand beside her man.

Gu Qingwan merely got up, but didn't come over.

Gu Qingwan hasn't forgotten what happened yesterday, either.

With someone else's wife present, it wasn't her turn to step forward and show concern.

"Bro~ do we want to eat pine meat tonight?"

Su Liyan sat on the bedside, hugged her man, and asked curiously:

Lu Yuan, still groggy, nodded and said:

"Yeah, wife, you go fry the pine meat; tonight I'll let you try a different kind of pine meat."

Su Liyan then nodded repeatedly, pursed her lips, and smiled as she said:

"All right~"

Afterward, Su Liyan and Gu Qingwan went to the kitchen to get busy.

Meanwhile, after Lu Yuan had cleared his head a bit, he also went into the kitchen.

He took out the previous stove.

After the stove was connected to the kang heating ducts at home, it was no longer needed.

It was placed in the corner of the kitchen.

For steaming the pine meat in the pressure cooker this time, it would be needed.

At this point, Su Liyan had already fried the pine meat.

She put it in a small basin, then Lu Yuan dumped it into the pressure cooker, sealed it, placed it on the stove, and then Lu Yuan didn't worry about it anymore.

He turned and went to the main hall, opened the window, and went to smoke.

Meanwhile, Su Liyan and Gu Qingwan were still busy in the kitchen.

After all, we can't just eat this for dinner tonight.

Besides, there were so many dishes left over from last night's big table of food; we still have a lot left. Today, we should eat as much as possible while it's hot; we can't waste it, right?

When Lu Yuan finished a cigarette.

Just as he was about to close the window and continue lying in bed to read "The Artisan's Heart".

Su Liyan and Gu Qingwan both almost simultaneously came running out with panicked expressions.

The two of them, like frightened little rabbits, swooshed and hid behind Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan still hadn't figured out what was going on.

The two of them hid on either side behind Lu Yuan, each taking hold of one of his hands, their faces full of panic as they said:

"Brother, your pot looks like it's about to explode!!"

Thanks to San Guan Jue Chen for the quick update and the 1500 coin tip from old brother, thank you very much, old brother your name is a bit weird, who is San Guan Jue Chen?

Thanks to the old brother fated to be missing him for the 1500 coin tip, thank you very much, mua~

Thanks to lamurai old brother for the 500 coin tip, thank you very much~ mua~

Thanks to Rou Qing Qun old brother for the 200 coin tip, thank you very much~ mua~

Thanks to the nameless old brother for the 100 coin tip, thank you very much, mua~

Today it's all done, huh?





(End of chapter)