Just as Zhao Qingyun successfully completed the payment, her bank card received another notification: "Transaction alert: 8970 yuan was spent from card ending in **** at 11:27 on May 17th, leaving a balance of **** yuan."

He frowned. He had just made a purchase, and now there was another expense. Then his mother messaged him: "Son, I wasn't paying attention and used your card."

Zhao Qingyun's focus wasn't on the card itself, but on how his mother usually spent tens of thousands on purchases, so why hadn't this bill reached ten thousand yet?

He asked, "What did you buy this time?"

Jiang Yingqiu: [I saw Xiao Lai doing a live stream. I have absolute faith in the quality of the peaches from our village, so I bought some to give to my friends.]

Zhao Qingyun smiled and thought to himself, Ms. Yingqiu is really amazing. He was sure that if there were no purchase restrictions, she would have bought the rest.

When Xu Lai returned home, her grandmother had already prepared lunch. She quickly finished her meal and went to the village committee to supervise the work. It was noon, and the workers hadn't started work yet. She checked the peaches she had picked and found that none of them were bruised or damaged.

She went home and took a nap. When she woke up, she went to check on the place again. Zheng Yuan was there, and the first batch of orders from the morning could be shipped out now.

Liu Tao was talking to his master, and peaches were being loaded onto the truck one after another. Xu Lai had an indescribable feeling in her heart; she seemed to have found the meaning of returning to the village.

She had promised to treat everyone to dinner, and she didn't take it lightly. When she got home, she took out the cured pork ribs and sausages that her grandmother had smoked during the Chinese New Year.

Zheng Yuan had watched her video and specifically asked for tomato beef brisket. She asked the owner to reserve some for her and would pick it up in town later.

She estimated that there would be at least two tables tonight, so she went to the supermarket and bought a black carp to make boiled fish fillets.

When she got home, her grandmother slaughtered a duck, which Xu Lai planned to make into beer-braised duck.

Around 4 o'clock, Xu Lai was busy in the kitchen. Zheng Yuan came to help her film. "Let's make tomato beef brisket first. Stir-fry the tomatoes until they are mushy, blanch the beef brisket, put it in a clay pot, add water and stew."

"Next up are the cured pork ribs, which will be steamed directly," Xu Lai said, picking them up to show them off. The cured pork ribs had already been dried and looked very chewy.

She planned to stir-fry the sausage with pickled bamboo shoots. Since there were still some bamboo shoots left over from the previous harvest, Xu Lai pickled them, and now was the perfect time to eat them.

As soon as she opened the jar, the whole room smelled of sour water. Xu Lai used clean chopsticks to pick out some bamboo shoots, which were fresh and juicy. The longer they soaked, the more flavorful they became.

Zheng Yuan couldn't resist. She swallowed and said, "Sister Xiao Lai, I want to try one."

Xu Lai smiled and handed her chopsticks, saying, "This is very sour, you should try it."

Zheng Yuan picked up a bamboo shoot and put it in her mouth. The sour taste was overwhelming, but she found it very appetizing. Recently, due to the hot weather, she had no appetite for anything, but with this pickled bamboo shoot, she could eat two more bowls of rice.

Next, we need to process the snakehead fish, which is also called "lucky fish" in their area. Its flesh is tender and suitable for making fish fillets.

The blackfish has a very strong bite force. Xu Lai was afraid of being bitten, so she tapped the fish's head a few times with the back of her knife. The fish lay still.

Zheng Yuan laughed out loud: "Sis, do you know what netizens are saying about you in the comments section?"

Xu Lai asked with some curiosity, "What did you say?"

"Shark Ninja".

She was both amused and exasperated; if she wasn't fierce, the fish would jump all over her.

Xu Lai worked quickly and efficiently, and soon the fish was lying on the cutting board, waiting to be sliced ​​into fillets.

Watching her movements, Zheng Yuan exclaimed, "Sister, you're really amazing. I only know how to make the most basic scrambled eggs with tomatoes."

As Xu Lai sliced ​​the fish, she said, "But it's also very good that you can make scrambled eggs with tomatoes so well."

After slicing the fish, Xu Lai took out sweet potato starch to coat the fish slices, which was to make the meat more tender.

During her free time, Xu Lai cooked rice, then chopped the duck into pieces. She also kept the duck offal, saying that she would stir-fry it for them as a side dish with their drinks.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, she started cooking. The braised beef brisket with tomatoes was ready, so she switched the clay pot to two pots to cook together, which would be faster.

"Put the pickled bamboo shoots in the pot and stir-fry them with the pickled chili peppers until fragrant, then add the sausage. No need to add salt during this process, otherwise it will be too salty." With her movements, a dish was ready.

"Stir-fry the pickled cabbage and fish bones in a pot, then pour in boiling water, add seasoning powder, bring to a boil, then remove the fish bones. Once the water boils again, add the fish fillets, and finally pour hot oil over them. The pickled cabbage fish is ready."

Xu Lai signaled to Zheng Yuan that she didn't need to film anymore, as they had enough footage for the day. Zheng Yuan nodded, put her phone away, and took the dishes to the table outside.

In less than an hour, all the dishes were cooked. Xu Lai untied her apron and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a tissue.

When she went out to call for someone, she happened to run into Zhao Qingyun coming home from get off work. Xu Lai quickly stopped him and said, "Come to my house for dinner tonight. Uncle Guiping and the others are coming."

Zhao Qingyun was about to say no, but she ignored him and walked towards the village committee.

He went inside to change his clothes. Dressed in a suit and tie, he was going to someone's house for a meal. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was on a blind date.

He was about to tell the old lady that there was no need to cook at home, but when he looked into the kitchen, he saw that the stove and pots were cold and there was no intention of cooking at all.

Xu Lai went to the village committee and called around, but everyone declined to come. The number of people was just enough to seat one large table.

She went home first, set the table, served the dishes, and even got drinks.

Everyone took their seats, and Xu Lai urged them to eat. Xu Shen, trying to liven things up, said, "Xu Lai, it's such a happy day, why don't you have a drink?"

Xu Lai had just picked up her chopsticks when she heard what he said. How could she not give him face? She took a disposable cup and poured two-thirds of the liquor into it.

Xu Lai raised her glass and said, "Thank you all for your trust. Today's success is inseparable from your support. Cheers!"

Zhao Qingyun tried to stop her from drinking less, but she managed to down a glass of baijiu.

Xu Shen praised, "Good, bold! As expected of someone from the Xu family, you can really hold your liquor!"

Zheng Yuan thought she had gotten to know Xu Lai quite well after spending the past two days with her, but when she saw Xu Lai drinking, she realized that there were still many things she didn't know about Xu Lai. She was really shocked. Xu Lai's alcohol tolerance is really good!

Xu Lai drank a glass of wine and initially had no reaction, but later the effects of the alcohol started to kick in, and she became a little dizzy as she ate, but no one noticed.

After the meal, she even escorted him to the door. Zhao Qingyun was nearby, so she helped clear the dishes. When he was about to wash the dishes, she grabbed his hand and said, "Don't move, I'll wash them."

Zhao Qingyun looked at the hand, then looked up at Xu Lai. Her voice was normal, but she was clearly quite drunk.

“Xu Lai, you’re drunk,” he said quietly.

Xu Lai gestured with her index finger and thumb: "Just a little bit, it's not that easy to get drunk."