Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  “That’s right, cooking dishes,” Fang Shanding emphasized. “It is the chief who will hold this banquet. If you go there, you can meet the chief himself. If you can get along with the chief of the government office, you will have a strong backer in Qinghe.”


  Ye Xiaoxian found that what Fang Shanding said sounded right, so she bowed to him. “Sir, thank you so much for introducing me to the chief. May I ask when will the chief hold the banquet?”


  Fang Shanding stroked his beard. “Soon. I’ll let you know a couple of days before the banquet so that you’ll have time to prepare the ingredients. Also, I’ll ask my secretary to contact you to pay for your expenses.”


  “Thank you, sir.” Ye Xiaoxian bowed again.

  She thought that Fang Shanding would leave after talking about this matter but he still stood on the spot looking at Ye Xiaoxian.

  Ye Xiaoxian thought that he was going to eat here, so she said, “Sir, what would you like to eat? Would you like to go upstairs to dine?”


  Fang Shanding shook his head. “No, never mind. I have something else to do and won’t eat this time.”


  “See you next time then, sir.”


  “.……”


  After Fang Shanding left, Li Hongmei quickly went over to ask Ye Xiaoxian, “What did the official want today?”


  “Ma, you really do think too much. Mr. Fang said that the chief of the government office will hold a banquet soon and wanted me to be the chef. I agreed. Ma, we currently don’t have a backer in town, do we? If we can get to know the chief, we’ll have someone to take care of us if we encounter any trouble in the future. What do you think?”


  Li Hongmei also felt surprised. “Ah, that’s right. In this case, I really did think too much. So, did you agree to that?”


  “Yes, I agreed. Mr. Fang said that he’ll inform me a couple of days before the banquet, so I can go there by then.”


  Ye Xiaoxian then added, “Ma, before I go to cook for the chief, let’s treat elder and third uncles to a meal first. What about the day after tomorrow? I reckon Baoshan is also coming back that day.”


  Li Hongmei was a bit unwilling but still listened to Ye Xiaoxian……

  Wong Mudan and Chen Ju heard that Ye Xiaoxian was going to treat them and they could not believe it was true.

  Wong Mudan snorted coldly, “That whore Little Ye, maybe she’s thinking of mixing poison with the food and wants to kill us!”


  Chen Ju was scared by her. “Sister-in-law, do you mean it? Does she really want to poison us? But what would she gain by killing us?”


  Wong Mudan said, “How do I know? Anyway, there can’t be good intentions from the second household.”


  When Ye Xiaoxian promised to treat them she sounded very sincere, so Xiao Tieshu said, “I believe Little Ye. When she said this to me that day, she behaved very politely.”


  Xiao Tongshu also said right away, “I can prove it.”


  Wong Mudan still said in suspicion, “Do we need to go in from the back door like the last time we visited Xiao Baozhu?”


  “Their house doesn’t have a backdoor, does it? It only has one front gate,” Xiao Tieshu said. “Third brother and I go patrolling there everyday so we know.”


  “Then can Pa also go?” Chen Ju asked.

  “Of course, Little Ye said that everyone is invited,” Xiao Tieshu said……

  On the day of the treat, the Xiaos marched into the town. Old Mr. Xiao did not want to go at first, but did not resist Wong Mudan and Chen Ju’s constant persuasion. He at last went with them unwillingly.

  However, before he went there he urged them again and again, “I won’t live in town this time, not for a moment. When you go to leave later, you must take me.”


  Wong Mudan said, “Pa, don’t speak too soon. The second household has now bought a new house, so you don’t have to live in the restaurant. Maybe when you see the new house, you won’t want to leave.”


  “That won’t help either. They go to the restaurant during the day and no one attends to me.”


  Wong Mudan could not help cursing silently. “Damn old thing, you only pester me.”
……

  In town, Li Hongmei was standing outside and waiting for the first and third households to arrive. Xiao Baoshan and Ye Xiaoxian were cooking in the kitchen.

  Xiao Baoshan did not quite understand Ye Xiaoxian. He asked, “We don’t get along with elder and third uncles, do we? Why did you ask them to come and have a meal with us?”


  Ye Xiaoxian just asked Xiao Baoshan in return, “Then tell me, am I right or am I wrong?”


  Xiao Baoshan smiled slightly. “As long as you do it willingly, it is right.”


  Ye Xiaoxian blushed. “Smooth talker.”


  Xiao Baoshan saw Ye Xiaoxian’s little face become red and she looked rather cute and sexy, so he could not control himself and felt a tingling in his heart. He uncontrollably walked up to Ye Xiaoxian and kissed her on the forehead.

  Ye Xiaoxian dodged. “We’re in the kitchen. It’s nasty here and I’m covered with smoke.”


  The more she talked this way the more Xiao Baoshan felt the urge to kiss her. He then touched her face with his.

  “So annoying!” Ye Xiaoxian shouted.

  Xiao Baoshan had not come back until this morning and as soon as he had come home he was called by Ye Xiaoxian to help her cook. He had not had time to be intimate with his wife yet.

  In the past if Ye Xiaoxian said “so annoying”, he perhaps would take it seriously thinking that he himself was really annoying, but now when Ye Xiaoxian said the same thing, he knew that she did not mean it that way.

  This is the advantage of sailing with the ship. He heard about all of these things by going sailing. Xiao Baoshan still wanted to continue kissing his wife when they heard Li Hongmei’s loud voice. “Oh, Elder Sister-in-law, Third Sister-in-law, you’ve made it. Oh, Pa, you’re also here? Long time no see, you look very well. Ah, Baocheng, Baoyang and Baoxue, you’ve all become taller. Haha……”


  It gave Ye Xiaoxian, who heard her from inside, goosebumps.

  Li Hongmei was not happy in the morning and now when she saw them, of course she needed to look hospitable. It was just that she was overly passionate and sounded rather fake.

  Wong Mudan asked Li Hongmei, “How come you’re standing outside to welcome us?”


  “I must! You haven’t come for such a long time and are now finally here. If I didn’t come outside I’d look rather mean, hahaha……” Li Hongmei guffawed.

  Wong Mudan thought, “Keep acting. Obviously it was you who didn’t invite us before but said we didn’t come to visit, humph.”


  “Everyone, don’t stand outside. Come, come inside!” Li Hongmei continued.

  Li Hongmei then saw Wong Mudan carrying a chicken, so she said, “Look at you, you shouldn’t bring any gifts. You’re far too polite.”


  Although Li Hongmei said this, she reached out her hand and took the chicken right away.

  Wong Mudan thought again, “Humph, still acting!”
……

  When everyone entered the courtyard, they started sizing up the small yard. Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu enthusiastically praised it, saying that the yard was dainty and beautiful.

  Old Mr. Xiao did not think of it that way as he did not think there was any use for a yard being dainty. On leaving the yard they would come to the street, which was much more confined than in the village where they could walk around when they went out.

  The kids did not like the place either. They found the bamboo grove small and they had only a few trees that they still could not climb.

  Wong Mudan and Chen Ju did not think much of the place, but after they asked the price of the house they almost wanted to crawl out of it.

  It was so expensive that what was the point in buying it? They might as well live in the restaurant and cram together even though it was crowded. Why did they want to spend this much money? With that much money, they could always build a big house in the village. Were the second household all stupid?……

  After a short while, Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baoshan also came out. Ye Xiaoxian had made some crunchy biscuits and handed them out to the children. When the children had food to eat they stopped making noise right away and sat down obediently to eat their snack.

  Then the meal began. What Ye Xiaoxian had cooked were all household dishes which contained plenty of meat and were incredibly filling.

  During the meal they talked about what Wong Mudan and Chen Ju were doing back home and asked about Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu’s work at the government office and then about how the children were doing.

  They just ate and drank in this way, looking quite like a big family. Wong Mudan had stopped worrying that the second household would poison her. Seeing that there was a lot of meat in this meal she kept picking up meat and asked Baocheng to eat more in case when they returned they would not have chance to eat that much.

  Talking about the chief of the government holding a banquet and asking Ye Xiaoxian to cook for him, Ye Xiaoxian then asked Xiao Tieshu, “What kind of guests will the chief invite?”


  Xiao Tieshu then answered confused, “I’ve not heard the good news about the chief’s family or provincial officials coming to town, but the chief holds banquets from time to time. Those he invites are just his colleagues and they’ll just eat some common household dishes.”


  “Oh, in this case, Mr. Fang is recommending me specially. Mr. Fang doesn’t know the exact date either. Whenever the chief holds a banquet, Mr. Fang will recommend me to him, but why should he do that?” Ye Xiaoxian asked puzzled.

  The guests were not fixed and the date was not set, so this could be nothing but a special recommendation. One would do this only for a friend or for others they though highly of, right?

  Xiao Baoshan felt a bit confused also.

  Xiao Tongshu also said, “Well, why should you guess so much? Little Ye has cooked for Mr. Fang before, right? Maybe Mr. Fang wanted to show off and do a favor for the chief by recommending Ye Xiaoxian to him. You can just boldly go there, Little Ye, you’ve got us in the government office. We’ll keep an eye out for you and if there’s anything fishy we’ll go and inform Baoshan.”


  Xiao Tieshu sneered. “What’s the use of informing Baoshan? Can Baoshan enter the government office? He’s not even a handyman now.”


  But Xiao Baoshan said gravely, “Elder Uncle, Third Uncle, if there’s anything strange there, please do inform me. I’m thanking you in advance.”


  Xiao Baoshan said this rather politely, so if they did not inform him then they would be in the wrong, so Xiao Tieshu hurriedly said, “Sure, sure.”
……

  After they were all stuffed with food and drink, Old Mr. Xiao firstly ran out of the yard and waited outside.

  Li Hongmei asked him involuntarily, “Pa, why did you run so fast? No one is leaving yet.”


  Old Mr. Xiao snorted coldly, ignored Li Hongmei and stood there rather self-willingly.

  Wong Mudan said sulkily, “He’s afraid that we’ll leave him in town again and abandon him. Old man!”


  Old Mr. Xiao then started shouting fiercely, “Wong Mudan, I’m listening out here!”


  “Fine, fine. We won’t talk about you anymore!”


  Seeing there were still some leftovers, Wong Mudan asked Ye Xiaoxian. “Little Ye, there’s so much left over and you guys won’t eat it all, will you? What about……”


  Ye Xiaoxian took the hint and said, “Elder Aunt, just a minute. I’ll fetch some lotus leaves to wrap up those leftovers so you can take it all with you.”


  “Ah, that’d be great. Little Ye, you’re so kind!”


  Chen Ju said, “Well, I’d like some too!”


  “Don’t you eat meals together? Just take them together as well,” said Ye Xiaoxian.

  Chen Ju was so happy that she even clapped her hands. There was a lot of meat in the leftovers and they could have another big meal in the evening.