Chapter 115 A New Life: Moving into a new home, you too are starting a new life...

Inside the office, Ji Yu eagerly opened her lunchbox, and the aroma immediately filled the air.

"Mianmian, have you eaten? Let's eat together."

"No need, I've already eaten." Chen Mianmian stood by the table, looking around the room, which was neither too big nor too small.

Inside, besides a desk, there was a cabinet for storing materials, and next to it was a clothes rack with Ji Yu's own clothes hanging on it.

There was also a folding cot against the wall, which creaked when touched.

Chen Mian looked at Ji Yu with concern: "Have you been sleeping on this every night for the past few days? What are you covering yourself with when it gets cold?"

"Doesn't your boss have a family? He keeps making you work overtime. You've even lost weight."

Ji Yu drank half a bowl of mutton soup, then picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork and fed it to her. "I'm fine, I'm used to it. Life is much happier now than in the army, and you bring me food."

Chen Mian's words were blocked by the meat in her mouth, and she was fed another bite of vermicelli as soon as she swallowed it.

"Why are you feeding me? I brought this food for you." Chen Mian complained.

Ji Yu shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of rice into her mouth and mumbled, "I'm just afraid you'll say you feel sorry for me again, and I can't take it."

He was used to working overtime alone, and he could even go a day or two without eating or sleeping; but whenever he saw the heartache in Chen Mian's eyes, he felt bad and felt sorry for his wife.

Ji Yu looked at Chen Mian earnestly: "I'm sorry, my wife. I didn't keep my promise before we got married. I can't sleep with you every night."

"I've been too busy with work lately and haven't had time to take you on an autumn outing. You must be feeling lonely and scared at home all by yourself."

Chen Mian walked over and touched Ji Yu's forehead, amused. "You don't have a fever. What nonsense are you talking about?"

"When have I ever been home alone? There are so many people at home, it's lively every day."

Ji Yu lowered her eyes and deliberately said in a disappointed tone, "Oh, I knew you were happy when I wasn't home and didn't even think of me."

"Hurry up and eat your food, or it'll get cold." Chen Mian glared at him irritably. "I didn't expect you to come all this way to bring me food."

After Ji Yu finished eating and tidied up his things, Chen Mianmian finally got down to business with him.

"I went to see your colleague's house with my mom later, and it's really nice. They've already signed the contract and are going through the formalities."

The interior decoration is okay, nothing special, but it's conveniently located near Ji Yu's workplace.

Chen Mian: "That way, if you have to work overtime at night, you can just go there to sleep. The office is too uncomfortable."

Ji Yu grabbed Chen Mian's waist, pulled her onto his lap, rested his head on her shoulder, and pressed his whole body against her, breathing heavily.

"Honey, I want to sleep with you. I can't sleep alone without you."

The familiar scent of mint enveloped Chen Mian, and the man's hot breath hit the back of her neck.

Chen Mian shifted uncomfortably, found a comfortable position, and closed her eyes.

Although they hadn't been married for very long, it seemed as if her life was already filled with his shadow.

The blankets on the bed smelled of him, the clothes he was wearing were bought by Ji Yu, and there was even one of his coats in the car.

These past few days, not only has Ji Yu been having trouble sleeping, but she hasn't been sleeping well either. She often wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night, thinking that he will come back.

I opened my eyes, but I was all alone.

Ji Yu gently brushed Chen Mian's cheek with his stubble: "Wife, when can we move into the villa? I want to see you every night."

“It’s stabbed me.” Chen Mian reached out and pushed his head away. After thinking for a moment, she said, “It doesn’t seem like we can’t move in now. There aren’t enough rooms for just the two of us.”

"The essential master bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom have all been furnished; we just haven't had time to buy furniture for the remaining rooms."

Ji Yu's eyes lit up: "Then why don't we move in first, and then we can decorate slowly later?"

"It's just too inconvenient at home." He shifted Chen Mian's position in his arms, and the two of them hugged each other face to face.

"Where is it inconvenient? I think it's fine."

Ji Yu grumbled, "Well, you know what's inconvenient about it."

Chen Mian slapped him on the shoulder, "Can't you think of something else?"

"No, my mind is filled with you, there's no room for anything else."

…

One week later.

"Come quickly, come quickly, is everything ready? We can't miss the auspicious time."

"Everything is arranged, so you can rest assured. We've already rehearsed at home."

"Time is up!"

The black iron gate opened, and a group of people entered one by one. Leading them was Chen Mian, who held a cabbage and a lettuce in each hand, with a red-painted wooden ladder at her feet.

Lin Huijun urged from the side, "Hurry up and climb the ladder, so you can rise higher and higher."

The others lined up, each holding something different, and walked up the ladder one by one.

Hami melons symbolize a sweet and happy life for the young couple, rice and oil symbolize a life free from worries about food and clothing, grapes symbolize good fortune coming from the east, and persimmons symbolize everything going smoothly.

Lin Shanhu was carrying a small bundle of firewood with a red ribbon tied to it. "This is my way of bringing in wealth!"

Even Yu Xiaoyue, who was heavily pregnant, came, carrying several bulging red envelopes in her hands.

Yu Xiaoyue smiled gently: "This is for you to put under your pillows. It's called 'sleeping soundly without worry'!"

A large group of people entered the villa, and the first thing they did upon entering was to open all the windows.

Lin Huijun walked into the kitchen, turned on the tap, and muttered, "I wish you all a prosperous future."

After saying that, she turned the tap back a little, and the water flow became smaller. "This is called a steady stream."

After all the ceremonies were completed, everyone visited Chen Mianmian and Ji Yu's new home together.

The overall design is French style with a relatively gentle color scheme. Chen Mian has disposed of all the previous luxurious furniture.

Instead, there are white crystal chandeliers, light-colored wooden floors, and pale yellow fabric sofas.

She also carefully selected light-colored curtains, and the kitchen cabinets were specially painted a light green, which, combined with the wooden dining table, made the space look very cozy.

The second floor is the couple's bedroom. The adjacent secondary bedroom has been converted into Chen Mian's walk-in closet, and the next room is a toy room prepared for Xiao Hua and Da Huang.

Wooden boards of varying heights and sizes are fixed to the wall, and little flowers are flitting about on them.

While Chen Mianmian was showing her family around, Ji Yu and his son Ji Feng were already busy in the kitchen.

Considering that Chef Ji's culinary skills still need improvement, Chef Ji will once again be in charge of cooking this time, with Chef Ji assisting.

There are many people coming today, with about ten from the Chen family alone, so we need to prepare more dishes.

Ji Feng took out various ingredients from the refrigerator and first instructed his son to prepare the dishes.

Arrange tofu and preserved eggs in cubes on a plate, and deep-fry potatoes, eggplants, and green peppers in cubes.

Shred carrots and cucumbers, blanch glass noodles in boiling water and then rinse with cold water, and blanch spinach.

Today is an auspicious day, and Ji Feng is preparing to cook several dishes with auspicious meanings. The first is preserved plum pig's trotters, which symbolize passing the imperial examination with flying colors.

Wash the pig's trotters and blanch them in boiling water. Skim off the foam after boiling, then remove them and rinse them with warm water.

Put brown sugar, preserved plums, dried tangerine peel, and several large spoonfuls of tomato sauce into a pot, then add a little water and stir until dissolved.

After mixing the sauces together, add ginger slices, star anise, bay leaves, etc., then add the pig's trotters and stir-fry evenly.

Then pour in enough water to cover the pig's trotters again and simmer over low heat until the pig's trotters are tender, flavorful, and have a sweet and sour taste.

The pig's trotters were stewing, and Ji Feng then instructed Ji Yu to take out the purple sweet potatoes and pumpkin that had been prepared the day before from the refrigerator. Both of these had been cut into pieces and steamed in advance.

Place them separately in bowls, mash them into a paste, add flour and milk, and knead into a smooth dough.

The purple of the sweet potato, the yellow of the pumpkin, and the white of the flour itself—these three colors of dough are divided into several equal portions.

Roll out the dough into a round sheet, brush corn oil in the middle, stack them layer by layer, and then roll them out with a rolling pin.

Steamed in a pot, it becomes a beautiful and delicious three-color steamed cake, symbolizing continuous advancement.

To save time, another steamed dish was also put into the pot to steam at the same time.

Wash the prawns, remove the shells, make a hole on the back of the prawn with a knife, fold the tail over the middle, and then cut the tail open.

First, arrange a ring of glass noodles at the bottom of the plate, then place the shrimp on top, drizzle with garlic sauce evenly, and steam until cooked.

Since the main dishes didn't give Ji Yu any room to improvise, he turned simple dishes into something special.

He took out two tomatoes and a cucumber, and slowly peeled the tomatoes into even strips with a knife. Then he cut the peeled tomatoes in half.

Cut into even, thin slices and arrange them on a plate, placing each layer in the gaps between the previous layers, stacking them up one by one.

Then roll the peeled skin into the shape of a flower and place it on top.

Garnish the dish with small hearts cut from cucumber slices, then sprinkle with white sugar, and the Volcano Snow is ready.

Ji Yu picked up the plate and carefully brought it to Ji Feng's face. "How is it, Dad? Isn't my dish good?"

Ji Feng glanced at it and said disdainfully, "With your skills, you can only fool young girls."

"How can you call this a lie? It looks good and tastes good, Mianmian will definitely like it."

Ji Feng was busy with something else, so he sent him off to do something else, saying, "Alright, you go make some sweet soup, that's easy."

"Okay."

Ji Yu quickly rolled off to open the refrigerator. To prepare more than a dozen main dishes for a housewarming banquet in a short period of time, it is usually necessary to prepare some semi-finished ingredients a day in advance, otherwise there simply isn't enough time.

The sweet soup that Ji Feng mentioned was actually red bean and fermented rice soup with glutinous rice balls. The red beans were cooked the night before, and all that was needed was to put them in a pot, add water, and mash them.

It doesn't need to be ground too finely; keeping a little bit of texture will actually make it taste better.

The glutinous rice balls were also prepared in advance. They only needed to be cooked for a few minutes. They were then mixed with red bean paste, fermented glutinous rice, and simmered over low heat, stirring constantly.

After cooking, you can sprinkle some osmanthus sauce on the bowl to enhance both the appearance and the taste.

Once the food was ready and served, Chen Yongliang led the others in raising their glasses to wish the young couple a prosperous future.

Lin Huijun stood up and put a chopstick of garlic vermicelli shrimp on Chen Mian's plate: "Mianmian, you've been living with us since you got married, and your family takes care of you in your daily life."

"From today onwards, you are officially leaving our big family and starting your own little family. From now on, you should discuss anything with Ji Yu first, because you are the ones who can spend the most time with each other..."