I Have a Lake as I Walk Through the Courtyard

Inside the kitchen, Nan Yi skillfully butchered the turtle. Lin Feng, with his mental power fully activated, spied on the scene. Seeing Nan Yi bleed the turtle before butchering it, Lin Feng felt a sudden enlightenment.

The reason why his cooking was always bad was because he made a mistake from the very first step! While teasing the little girl with casual remarks, Lin Feng was also frantically recording information in the space through his mind. In no time, a piece of paper was filled with dense writing, and the process of slaughtering alone filled two pages!

Judging from the way Nan Yi cut the turtle into pieces and the prepared ingredients, Lin Feng quickly determined that this was braised soft-shelled turtle, an authentic Shandong dish. Unfortunately, there was no old hen, so Lin Feng felt that something was missing.

Once all preparations were complete, when Nan Yi started heating the oil in the wok, Liang Ladi tacitly instructed her eldest son to stand not far from the door, just like a little guard on watch.

Even after the turtle was transferred to the clay pot, Nan Yi still didn't relax at all, glancing at the clay pot from time to time as if sensing something.

Lin Feng didn't dare to breathe loudly. The closer he got to this place, the more carefully he observed. Often, a seemingly insignificant step could completely elevate an ordinary dish! These were all secret techniques kept hidden by the chefs.

As Lin Feng had expected, the timing of adding salt and cooking wine was extremely important. Unfortunately, no matter how hard Lin Feng racked his brains, he couldn't figure out the reason for doing so, so he could only memorize it.

About an hour later, the clay pot was uncovered, and even though Lin Feng was sitting in the living room, he could smell the unique aroma of turtle! Seeing Nan Yi in the kitchen with a satisfied smile, Lin Feng knew that the dish was done!

Outside the door, the Third Uncle, carrying a wine bottle, was stopped not far away by Da Mao. No matter how much the Third Uncle pleaded, Da Mao was like a heartless gatekeeper!

Liang Ladi watched all this coldly from inside the house, with no intention of leaving. Little did she know that the Third Uncle's shamelessness was beyond her imagination. If it were an ordinary person, they would have given up long ago, but the Third Uncle was no ordinary person at all!

Seeing her son being taken advantage of, Liang Ladi picked up a broom and slowly walked out of the house. "How dare you stop them at the door! You have no manners at all! I'll give you a beating!"

As Liang Ladi spoke, she raised the broom and swung it at her son. It was as if the mother and son had rehearsed this many times. Da Mao cleverly dodged, and Liang Ladi would occasionally miss. In the blink of an eye, the broom would hit Uncle San.

"Ouch!" The third uncle was so frightened that he hurriedly dodged, but he was no match for Da Mao. Before long, he was hit hard by the broom several times. The broom hits didn't hurt much, but they were extremely humiliating!

Liang Ladi beat and cursed her son as she did so. The third uncle took several solid blows, and slowly, he began to understand. "Fine, fine, I'll leave, I'll leave, okay?"

Hearing what the third uncle said, Liang Ladi stopped pretending. "Taking advantage once is one thing, but you want to do it every time? And you call yourself a teacher! I'll let you off the hook this time, but next time you'd better think twice!"

Lin Feng, sitting inside, watched with great interest. Sure enough, this kind of thing required a woman to handle it. Once the man made things awkward, there would be no way out for either family! With Liang Ladi around, he could confidently bring the delicacies from his space to Nanjing University of the Arts in the future.

Nan Yi served the casserole dish and the dishes he had prepared on the table. Da Mao also finished his mission. The whole family sat around the table, drooling. The little girl, in particular, kept glancing at the table with her eyes, her clothes soaked with drool.

"Hehe, this dish takes a bit of time to prepare. You must be starving! If you are, let's get it on the table quickly."

Liang Ladi glared at her sons, and the four children stood obediently to the side, not daring to breathe. Lin Feng sighed when he saw this. They were all widows, so why was there such a big difference between them?

"Sister-in-law, let them sit at the table! We have enough food today!"

"You men are drinking, how can you let the children sit at the table? You just eat, the children's food is already in the kitchen!"

Hearing this, Lin Feng glanced at Nan Yi, who chuckled. "Everything's arranged. Let's have a good drink together, brother! It's a pity this turtle arrived so late; if we had an old hen, it would have been even more authentic!"

After a few drinks, the two started chatting. Lin Feng didn't hold back and slowly shared his questions about cooking turtle. Nan Yi immediately became interested and readily explained the reasons behind some of the tips and tricks!

Teaching someone you know nothing about is called teaching, and asking someone you only have a vague understanding about is called exchanging ideas. The two of them asked and answered questions, and Lin Feng suddenly understood many of his doubts!

Inside the Jia family house, no matter how much Jia Zhangshi scolded, Qin Huairu remained unmoved. Even Xiao Dang nestled in his mother's arms and refused to go to the front yard again!

Banggeng sat on the ground, smelling the fragrance of the front yard, and burst into tears. His legs kicked frantically on the ground, and his newly changed pants instantly became filthy again.

Jia Zhangshi pointed at Qin Huairu's nose. "Look at you, her mother! She's just a newcomer, and you've scared her like this! What's wrong with borrowing some food? They're not going to beat you up, are they?"

"Mother-in-law! You have no idea how fierce his daughter-in-law is. She already said a lot of bad things about me to Sister Hua yesterday. If I go back, I won't be able to face anyone at the factory anymore! I don't want to be transferred out of the workshop and lose five or six yuan a month!"

"Is that so?"

"Yes, her wife is a level 5 welder! She's the highest-ranking female worker in the steel rolling mill; even the factory manager gives her some respect!"

"A level 5 welder and a level 6 cook, how much do they earn in a month?"

"More than 100!" Qin Huairu licked her lips after saying that. With that number, raising four children would be a piece of cake. It's a pity that her level can't be raised!

Hearing this, Madam Jia sighed. "If only Yi Zhong were still here!" Madam Jia said, suddenly remembering something.

"The fish we had last time was delivered by that rascal, and this turtle was delivered by that rascal too. Wouldn't it be great if he delivered it to my house?"

"Mother-in-law, have you forgotten what happened last time? That little rascal dared to talk back to Director Wang. What if we offend him again and he brings up the matter of you going back to the countryside?"

Upon hearing this, Madam Jia's face darkened. When did she suddenly find herself unable to move an inch in the courtyard? After thinking it over, she suddenly remembered.

"It's this little piece of junk that's ruined our feng shui! Ever since it came here, nothing's been going well for us! Now we can't even get a bite to eat!"

Madam Jia gritted her teeth in hatred at the memory of what had happened. Looking at Bang Geng, who was still rolling on the ground, she tenderly hugged her. "Don't cry, don't cry. Their turtles are rotten; eating them will definitely give you diarrhea. When that idiot comes back, the food he brings will smell much better than theirs!"

The skewer, smelling the explosive aroma from the front yard, refused to comply. "No way! I want to eat turtle! I've never eaten turtle before! I don't care! I want to eat it!"

"If you eat turtle, you'll have to go back to the countryside. Are you still going to eat it?"

Jia Zhangshi whispered to Banggeng, but stopped abruptly upon hearing Banggeng's cries about returning to the countryside. Her little face contorted in a frown for a long time. "Then I'd better not eat it..."

Looking at the grandmother and grandson, Qin Huairu's worry grew more and more serious. Her son was now a living example of a young Jia Zhangshi. He was almost in the first year of junior high school and was still so unreasonable. When would it end?