My Multiple Identities Revealed After Marrying the Bigshot
Chapter 311: Celebrating New Year Together

Chapter 311: Chapter 311: Celebrating New Year Together

Lu Youxi was still busy with the Little Pink Book, even during her winter break.

After work in the evening, stepping through the door with Zhou Shuyan, she was greeted by a mouthwatering aroma of fried foods filling the house.

"Mom, what are you frying?" Lu Youxi asked as she entered the kitchen.

Upon entering, she got quite the shock.

Goodness, everywhere in the kitchen that could hold something was filled with bowls of fried delicacies.

There were twisted dough sticks, smiley-faced pastries, spring rolls with red bean paste, youtiao (fried dough sticks), sangzi (fried dough snacks).

Then there were fried fish, meatballs, shrimp crackers, lotus root slices, and mushrooms.

The fried fish included yellow croaker and belt fish.

As for the meatballs, there were daikon pork balls and celery pork balls.

The mushrooms were varied with shiitake, enoki, and king oyster mushrooms.

"Mom, did you fry all these today?" Lu Youxi asked in astonishment.

Because she remembered there was none of this from yesterday until this morning when she left the house.

"Yes!" Liu Yushu, looking at the full kitchen’s worth of accomplishments, couldn’t hide her delight, "Today I finished all the frying, and tomorrow I’ll start making various marinated dishes."

"Mom, you could have taken it easy, why rush it all in one day? It must be tiring," Lu Youxi said while stepping forward to rub Liu Yushu’s back.

Liu Yushu had been standing in the kitchen all day, and her back was truly sore. After Lu Youxi gave it a few rubs, the tension in her brow eased.

"I just thought it’s too wasteful to fry over several days, better to get it all done in one go," Liu Yushu explained. "Tomorrow will be easier. I’ll slow-cook the meat, just need to sit and watch the stove."

Even today’s lunchboxes for the internet café customers were fried fish.

In the next few days, the lunchboxes for the internet café customers would depend on what she marinated that day.

"You fried so much," Lu Youxi said.

"Well, it’s the New Year, supposed to be lively," Liu Yushu explained with a smile, "Plus, during the Spring Festival holiday, everyone is off, and there won’t be vendors at the market. It’s necessary to cook things in advance."

"Fried foods keep well, I fried everything twice to make them extra crispy. The outer layer of oil helps preserve them, so they’re less likely to spoil. Besides, the winter here in the Imperial Capital is dry and cold; just leaving them on the balcony to air out will naturally keep them dry. You don’t even need to reheat anything when eating; they retain their crunchy texture and chewiness as is. If you decide to heat them, and do a stir-fry, it creates a different flavor altogether."

"I even ordered from the vendor pig stomach, pigskin, pig’s trotters, beef tongue, beef brisket, beef shank, free-range chicken, and chicken feet," Liu Yushu continued, "Chicken feet are cheap now, so I ordered a lot. We’ll have marinated chicken feet for snacks. Some of the pig’s trotters will be used for marinating, while the rest will be used to make jelly, along with the pigskin and chicken. I’ll also leave aside two chickens, fry them up, then braise them to make roasted chicken for you all."

"You’re making so much!"

Liu Yushu smiled and said, "In past years when you were home, you couldn’t enjoy these dishes. This year, we are celebrating the New Year here by ourselves, no one to interfere, so I made them all for you."

With that, Liu Yushu’s expression became a touch gloomy as she took Lu Youxi’s hand, "It’s just that this year you won’t be home for New Year’s Eve. But it’s fine, you can enjoy it once you’re back, we’ll keep all these delicious treats for you!"

"These were all freshly fried today; let’s taste some tonight, eat them while they’re fresh," Liu Yushu said, adjusting her mood and speaking cheerfully again.

During dinner, Lu Youxi said, "Mom, don’t be so busy these next couple of days. Don’t you still have to prepare lunchboxes for the internet café? Once the weekend comes and my company is closed, I’ll stay at home and help you with the marinating."

"Not busy, what’s there to be busy about? For the lunchbox meat and vegetables, I just use whatever is on hand that day for braising, it’s not troublesome at all," Liu Yushu said. "All those braised flavors come from one pot of broth, and the more it’s used, the better it smells. Our family’s pot is small, and can’t braise much in a day, so after I finish braising tomorrow, I can still use the broth. Plus, the broth will have the added meat fragrance, which makes everything else braised in it taste even better."

"I was just worried about wasting oil today; tomorrow, braising won’t be like today. I’ll braise a little bit each day, and it’s not tiring to just sit and watch the fire."

While eating, Lu Youxue suddenly blurted out, "Sis, does this mean you won’t be able to spend the New Year at home?"

Liu Yushu scolded with a laugh, "Your sister hasn’t been away that often. Missing the New Year’s Day won’t make much difference. Besides, your brother-in-law often comes back with your sister, it’s actually rare for them to visit his side of the family."

Zhou Shuyan had already been doing very well.

When Liu Yushu mentioned it in the kitchen earlier, Lu Youxi realized the seriousness of the situation.

Although she and Zhou Shuyan weren’t getting divorced for the time being, their current relationship was still at the dating stage.

And Xu Jingmin knew that the two of them weren’t truly married.

It wouldn’t be right for her to follow Zhou Shuyan home for the New Year’s celebration.

Now, her own family thought she was going to spend the New Year with her in-laws, and it would be hard to explain if she came back.

She couldn’t just spend the New Year alone outside while all her family members were at home, could she?

That would be too pitiable.

Lu Youxi never imagined she would encounter such an insurmountable problem.

Just as Lu Youxi was thinking about how to solve this issue, she heard Zhou Shuyan say, "I’ve discussed it with my mom, and we’ll spend the New Year together."

"Both our families together?" Liu Yushu was both surprised and delighted.

Zhou Shuyan nodded, "I’ve already booked the restaurant for the New Year’s Eve dinner. You won’t have to busy yourself with cooking then. We’ll sit together and have a good meal."

"Usually for the New Year, it’s just me and my mom at home, just the two of us, and it’s not very lively. With Youxi there this year, that makes three, still not very festive. If our whole family is together, it’s more fun with more people."

Liu Yushu and Lu Zhenguo were a bit hesitant at first, but after hearing that Zhou Shuyan had already booked the restaurant, they finally agreed without any psychological burden.

In fact, in previous years, even after Zhou Shuyan’s father had passed away, they still celebrated the festival with Old Master Zhou because he was there.

But then there was Zhou Xueyi, always there to make things uncomfortable, and Xu Jingmin really didn’t want to put up with him.

After hearing Zhou Shuyan’s plans for this year, she agreed enthusiastically.

And she went straight to Old Master Zhou and said that she didn’t want to share a meal with Zhou Xueyi at the same table and would not join them this Spring Festival.

Old Master Zhou had no choice with Xu Jingmin.

She was always spontaneous by nature.

Xu Jingmin never quibbled with Zhou Xueyi and was always generous and filial.

After Zhou Shuyan’s father was gone, Old Master Zhou cherished Xu Jingmin even more.

He had once said that it didn’t matter whether she lived elsewhere, went back to her parents’ home, dated, or remarried.

If Xu Jingmin remarried, it would not affect the cooperation and friendship between the Xu family and the Zhou Family, and Old Master Zhou would even prepare another dowry for her.