Gao Xiujuan wasn't going to indulge his little temper: "It's just one yuan, take it or leave it. If you don't take it, I'll have Rujia send it to me. I'll just give her more money."

Gao Guojing quickly put on a fawning smile: "I was just joking with Mom, one yuan is enough, one yuan is enough."

Gao Xiujuan gave her son a disdainful look, ignored him, took the soap and went back to her room to wash up, not even caring about the half-prepared dishes in the kitchen.

The three men looked at each other in bewilderment. In the end, they worked together to prepare a few dishes and reheated the braised meat that Gao Guojing had brought back. Dinner was finally ready.

After enjoying the soap and feeling her skin breathing, Gao Xiujuan regretted giving two bars of soap to Xia Jingrong. Not wanting to take them back, she decided to keep an eye on Gao Guojing.

Gao Xiujuan knew that her son Gao Guojing always had ulterior motives when it came to things he was obsessed with. She didn't believe he had only brought back eight bars; he must have hidden some more. She would find the hidden soaps sooner or later.

Yu Rujia hung up the phone, thinking about the four little ones who had been listless all day.

Ever since Gao Guojing arrived, he has been taking them around to play.

Gao Guojing left at noon yesterday, so the younger ones didn't feel it so much. But after not seeing him all day today, they all lost their spirits, even the usually energetic Duolu seemed listless.

Yu Rujia decided to make some delicious food to boost the energy of her children, since she was raising them herself. She decided to make a whole fish feast, which they hadn't had in a long time, and the fish would be crucian carp from her space.

While the little ones weren't paying attention, Yu Rujia took out a crucian carp weighing eight or nine pounds and a crispy carp weighing six or seven pounds from her spatial storage.

Crucian carp is mainly used for stewing soup and steaming.

Remove all the fish meat, and use the head, tail, bones, and other bone-in parts to make soup. Since this fish is big enough, the soup made from the bones will be enough for the whole family, so there is no need to add any more fish meat.

When the soup was almost done, Yu Rujia shredded all the fish bones into small pieces, simmered it for a while longer, and then used a strainer to filter out all the fish bones and scraps. A pot of fragrant, milky-white crucian carp soup was ready.

The listless little ones followed the smell to the kitchen door, and their listless expressions vanished the moment they saw her cooking fish.

Duolu, drooling, circled around Yu Rujia, saying, "Auntie, can I try a little bit first? Just a tiny bit."

Yu Rujia ruthlessly rejected the little girl's request: "No, we have to wait for Uncle to come back so we can eat together."

Duolu swallowed hard, his mouth watering, and thought of his big friend: "Will Uncle Guojing come back?"

Duoshou: "Auntie said that when Duoxi can speak as fluently as you, Uncle Guojing will come back. Has Duoxi started speaking fluently yet?"

Duoxi, whose attention was focused on the crucian carp soup, heard her name called and quickly glanced back at Duoshou: "Liuliu de." Those three words were indeed quite fluent, but unfortunately, the rest of the words were still stumbling and slurred.

Moreover, the little guy's drool was only in his mouth before, but as soon as he spoke, it flowed out directly, soaking his bib.

Duofu took a handkerchief and started wiping Duoxi's mouth. Seeing that the more he wiped, the more drool appeared, he swallowed the saliva in his mouth. Duofu wisely arranged, "Duolu, Duoshou, take Duoxi out to play for a while. Don't get in the way of your aunt here."

Duolu didn't want to leave; he wanted to smell the aroma a little longer: "I'll stand here and watch Auntie cook; I won't get in her way."

Duofu knew exactly where the foodie's pain point lay: "If you stand here, your aunt will work slower so she doesn't bump into you, and then we'll eat the fish later. Are you going to stay here and bother your aunt?"

With a single fatal blow, Duolu decisively gave up her insistence, reaching out her small hand to pull Duoxi, who kept moving closer to Yu Rujia, and with her other hand, she pulled Duoshou: "Let's go out now."

As if her backside was on fire, she grabbed her two younger brothers and ran out, making sure they would eat a little later if they were even slightly delayed.

Having successfully driven his younger brothers out, Duofu stayed behind and went to the stove: "Auntie, I'll start the fire."

Yu Rujia: "Okay, thank you Duofu."

With Duofu's help, Yu Rujia no longer needed to be distracted by watching the fire, and with the mischievous little ones gone, she sped up her work, arranging the boneless crucian carp meat on a plate and steaming it in a pot.

He was making the seasonings in another basin and heating the oil in another pot.

By the time she had prepared the seasonings and hot oil, the fish was already steamed. She added the seasonings, poured the hot fish over it, and a large plate of incredibly tender boneless steamed crucian carp was ready.

As for the crispy pork, the bones and meat are also separated, and it is made into pan-fried crispy pork and stir-fried crispy pork.

Even the fish that Yu Rujia kept in the space weren't dirty; a little cleaning was all it took to clean them up.

The two fish were quite large, and the fish offal that was cleaned made up a plateful. After stir-frying it with some seasonings, the taste was absolutely superb. Yu Rujia could eat two bowls of rice with the fish offal.

Yu Rujia heard several children calling for their uncle from outside. She knew that Gao Shujing had returned. When he put his things down and washed his hands before coming in, several fish dishes were already prepared.

Gao Shujing: "I'll cook the rest. How many dishes are left?"

With a helper readily available, Yu Rujia readily agreed to step down: "Fourth Brother, I've already cooked the fish. You can just stir-fry some vegetables and tofu."

The tofu was made by her and Gao Guojing the day before the Lantern Festival, the day Zheng Lanlan caused trouble.

Her homemade tofu was so delicious that she couldn't stop eating it, and before the laborer left, she made some more.

Unfortunately, tofu is so popular in their family that the tofu they made just a few days ago was almost all consumed.

Once this tofu is finished, Yu Rujia, who has no manual labor skills, certainly won't bother making it herself, and her family won't have any tofu to eat for the next few months.

Tonight's meal for the family of six consists of three meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup, including four fish dishes.

Duolu and his two younger brothers peeked into the kitchen doorway, asking, "Auntie, Uncle's back! How much longer until we can eat?"

The little guy remembered what Duofu had said before: their coming in would interfere with Yu Rujia's work and cause them to eat the fish later.

Therefore, even though the smell of fish made his mouth water, he just stayed by the kitchen door and didn't come in. He even pulled back Duoxi, who tried to rush in repeatedly, to prevent him from coming in and causing trouble.

Seeing how hard the little guy was trying, Yu Rujia generously replied, "Duolu, take your brothers to set out the bowls and chopsticks, we're going to eat."

Doro immediately jumped up: "Oh, dinner's ready! Come on, let's set the table."

Duo Xi understood what "dinner is served" meant, and finally stopped thinking about going into the kitchen. She followed Duo Lu to the dining room with her short legs.