On the weekend, after getting up, Shen Yanming and Bi Qiaoan started preparing the ingredients for their get-together.

Not wanting to go through too much trouble, the two simply washed some leafy vegetables, soaked some wood ear mushrooms, taro noodles, and prepared for hot pot for lunch.

Of course, to entertain their guests, the two also set up a fruit platter in the living room, filled with nuts and dried fruit, so they could eat to their heart's content without having to exchange them.

There was also Fatty's Water, but to avoid letting them notice the production date, the two poured the Fatty's Water into a small teapot, threw in a few slices of ginger and a handful of goji berries, and heated it up when the guests arrived.

Yes, it's electric, so it heats up quickly!

With everything prepared, it was already eleven o'clock.

Shen Yanming put on his coat and went to the entrance of the residential area to greet Bi Qiaoan, while Bi Qiaoan was at home cutting mutton by hand.

After getting up in the morning, she and Shen Yanming took out a small piece of fresh mutton from their space. To make it easier to cut, they even plugged in their refrigerator and put it in the freezer to freeze for a while.

Furthermore, fearing that someone might open the refrigerator, the two also kept vegetables and eggs inside.

Of course, meat is also essential, especially various offal.

There was nothing they could do; it was Shen Yanming's fault for lying that time, saying he had connections to buy internal organs.

However, these days, roasted liver and fatty intestines are considered delicacies.

"Sigh!" This was the third time Bi Qiaoan sighed, because her knife skills were really bad.

I wanted to order lamb rolls like the ones at restaurants, but the slices she cut were at least two millimeters thick, two or three times the thickness of those in restaurants.

Bi Qiaoan could only console herself that her family was honest.

Haha, let's not talk about her anymore, because Shen Yanming at the entrance of the community has already successfully picked up the person.

Although everyone is from Haishi, finding the right place shouldn't be a problem, since it's our first time visiting, Shen Yanming felt it was still necessary to give them a proper welcome.

From a distance, he saw Yu Shui driving over.

Shen Yanming thought he was the only one in the car, but after it stopped, he found that it was packed with people.

"You two planned to come together, didn't you?" Shen Yanming asked with a smile after Yu Shui got out of the car.

"They insisted they couldn't find the way and that I had to pick them up before they would come over," Yu Shui said, rolling her eyes.

"Then you're wasting your time and money on fuel, aren't you losing out?"

Yu Shui chuckled, "It's not a bad deal, they promised to prepare gifts for me."

Shen Yanming was surprised for a moment, but since he was at the door, he didn't ask any further questions.

After registering the group, Shen Yanming squeezed into the back seat, giving directions to Yu Shui while chatting with them.

"Yu Shui, what gift did you prepare for me?" Shen Yanming asked.

Before Cui Xian, Li Yinhe, and Chen Qing could speak, Yu Shui hurriedly said, "Old Shen, this isn't right. Don't people usually say that when visiting someone's home, you don't need to bring a gift; you can just come empty-handed?"

Shen Yanming smiled and said, "That just means I'm not an ordinary person!"

"Get lost! Are you some kind of extraordinary person or something?" Yu Shui said with a laugh.

Listening to the two bickering, Cui Xian and the others laughed. Li Yinhe took out a bag of dried mushrooms from her bag and said, "When you come to someone's house for a meal, you can't just bring your mouth. This is a gift for you."

“Yes, yes, I have one too!” Choi Hyun took out a bag of dried vegetables from the black plastic bag under his seat.

“I’m different from them, I have two packets of flower petals!” Chen Qing took out a pink packet and a yellow packet from the plastic bag. “The pink one is roses, and the yellow one is chrysanthemums.”

Shen Yanming didn't accept any of them, saying, "You've come all this way, why bring any gifts? Take them back. I didn't invite you to dinner today to receive gifts. Our friendship doesn't need these formalities."

"Hey Lao Shen, that's not right. Why are you being so hypocritical? Why didn't you accept their gifts, but you asked for them as soon as I mentioned them?" Yu Shui asked.

“Even if you take it out, I don’t want it. Who told you to just talk the talk?” Shen Yanming said deliberately.

“Who said I was just saying that? One of those two packets of flowers Chen Qing gave me was for me!” Yu Shui insisted.

Shen Yanming couldn't help but laugh out loud, and the others in the car were also caught up in the atmosphere and chuckled to themselves.

Seeing that they were still holding the gifts, Shen Yanming said, "Really, there's no need to bring gifts. Qiao Ancun and I already have these. There are just the two of us, and we really can't eat this much. Giving them to us would be a waste."

You can come to our house for dinner; please take all of this with you.

I know there are many people in your family, so it's good that you can eat one more bite.

"When spring comes, Joan and I will go out a few more times and pick some wild vegetables, flower petals, and mushrooms, then we'll have everything we need."

Seeing that they were still hesitating, Shen Yanming continued, "I was just joking with Yu Shui. When we get home, you'll see that I really don't need any of these things."

Hearing this, they put the things back.

As soon as the items were placed, Yu Shui drove into the underground parking garage.

After parking the car, Shen Yanming led the group to the 16th floor by elevator.

As soon as you open the door, you're greeted by the irresistible aroma of hot pot.

The ingredients are a secret hot pot base purchased from a time-honored shop in Sichuan before the apocalypse. The water is made with spiritual spring water, and the scallions, ginger, and garlic that grow in the space make it incredibly fragrant!

Yu Shui was practically drooling, and with the last shred of his sanity, he asked, "Old Shen, do you need to change your shoes?"

Shen Yanming paused for a moment and said, "No need, just step on it like that, and you can clean it up afterwards."

There are disposable slippers at home, but it's hard to explain where they came from if I suddenly produce so many pairs.

I decided not to let them change it. Once they left, I could just drag it out myself; it wasn't a big deal.

The group walked into the living room laughing, and saw an induction cooker on the coffee table with water already boiling in a pot on it.

Bi Qiaoan brought out some chopped bok choy and soaked mushrooms from the kitchen and called out, "You're here! Go wash your hands and get ready to eat!"

“Okay, just smelling this makes me feel like I can’t walk anymore,” Yu Shui said with a smile.

Shen Yanming led the group to the bathroom to wash their hands, then they sat on the sofa and each prepared their own sauce.

As for visiting the house, we can talk about that after dinner.

While Yu Shui was stirring the sesame paste, his eyes were fixed on the plate of red and white meat. Bi Qiaoan noticed this and poured half a plate of mutton into the pot.

"My knife skills aren't very good, so I cut it a bit too thick. Please don't laugh at me!" Bi Qiaoan said somewhat shyly.

"No, no, thicker is better, thicker means more meat!" Yu Shui nodded after saying that, and the others also showed their agreement.

Shen Yanming put the vegetables into the pot and called to everyone, "Don't be shy, let's eat and drink well today!"

The group thought to themselves, "Do you even need to tell me that?"

So they all got to work.

Within two minutes, the meat was gone. Bi Qiaoan poured the rest into the pot and said, "Sorry, that's all the lamb we had. How about I cook you a fish?"