【041】 Strange wind

Cao Jie was still painstakingly cutting leeks. Seeing them approach, he complained, "Finally you're here! I just got pricked by the eggplant thorns several times."

"Don't be so squeamish, grown man." Li Ruicheng patted his back.

Cao Jie hoped that Xi Lang would show some concern, but he only saw Xi Lang and Gu Juan standing together. Gu Juan was carrying a vegetable basket, and Xi Lang was picking peppers and putting them in it.

Everyone worked together, and soon everyone had picked all the vegetables for lunch, paid for them, and carried them back to the yard.

"Xi Lang, you are the best cook, so lunch will be left to you." Zhang Muheng said.

Li Ruicheng agreed, "Well, you and Linzi are the hosts."

Xi Lang pulled Gu Juan to the faucet in the corner to wash his hands. "Okay, you guys clean all the ingredients first."

After washing his hands, he pulled Gu Juan to the stone table beside him, sat down calmly, and poured two cups of tea.

Zhang Muheng and his companions had no choice but to wash the vegetables and kill the fish.

"Third brother has really changed a lot." Cao Jie was washing vegetables in a basin, crushing the leaves. "Before, Third brother couldn't stand being touched by others accidentally, but now he's so close to that Gu Juan! I really don't know what kind of love potion Gu Juan gave him..."

Through the vine trellis, I could see Gu Juan and Xi Lang chatting about something, both with smiles on their faces.

"That's too much." Han Lin shook the water off his hands. "Don't you always think you're the one who cares about Xi Lang the most? Seeing him get close to others, shouldn't you be happy for him?"

Cao Jie's face suddenly changed and he stood up, "Enough! I know you have always looked down on me!" He threw a few vegetables in his hand back into the basin, splashing water and falling on Han Lin's face.

Han Lin wiped his face and looked at Cao Jie with a smile.

Li Ruicheng squatted beside him, peeling an eggplant, and said slowly, "Cao Jie, this is not the Cao family, and we are not Grandpa Cao. You'd better be careful."

Cao Jie snorted coldly and left with a flick of his sleeves.

Zhang Muheng shook his head and quickly scraped the scales off the fish. "You two, too. You know he has that temper of a young master, so why bother with him?"

"He is a young master, but not the young master of my family." Han Lin shrugged disapprovingly. "Mu Heng, I think it's your credit that he looks like that."

Zhang Muheng spread his hands speechlessly.

Gu Juan hadn't meant to eavesdrop. They were all in the courtyard, not far away to begin with. And his hearing was so sharp that he'd overheard their entire conversation without even realizing it.

He nudged Xi Lang's calf with his foot and gave him a long look. "Old man, what is your relationship with Cao Jie?"

"It's okay," Xi Lang said frankly. "Our Xi and Cao families are old friends. The elders of the two families interact frequently, so the younger generations interact more often. He's the only son of the Cao family, so he's inevitably a bit spoiled, but he doesn't have bad intentions. The Zhang, Han, Li, and Xi families are also old friends. Han Lin has an unruly personality and doesn't like being constrained by his family. He came to Congzhou with me two years ago and now runs his own law firm. Aside from Han Lin and me, everyone else is developing in the imperial capital."

Gu Juan seemed to say casually, "Well, you should stay away from him from now on."

Xi Lang slowly raised his head, stared at him, and asked, "Why?"

"Anyway, you're right to listen to me." Gu Juan didn't want him to continue questioning, so she pushed the teacup in his hand towards his mouth and said, "Drink your tea."

Xi Lang curled up the corners of his lips and smiled, said nothing, and took a sip of tea.

Gu Juan always felt that it would be more awkward to say directly "I think Cao Jie has bad intentions towards you", but Xi Lang's smile was so strange that it made his heart beat like a drum, and he always felt that he had lost a game.

After Han Lin and the others had prepared the ingredients, Gu Juan followed Xi Lang to the kitchen to help him, helping to cut vegetables and pass seasonings.

Han Lin and others went to the living room to rest.

Seeing a cardboard box on the ground next to the sofa, not sealed tightly, Li Ruicheng opened it curiously, "What is this?"

"My third brother brought it." Cao Jie said as he leaned lazily on the sofa watching TV.

"Is it a drink?" Han Lin picked up a bottle. Unexpectedly, the lid loosened when he twisted it gently. He simply unscrewed the lid and smelled such a delicious aroma of wine. His eyes lit up. He took a sip and savored it carefully. "Good stuff!"

"Let me try it too!"

Li Ruicheng and Zhang Muheng are not far behind...

There were eight people in total, so if they didn't cook enough, there wouldn't be enough to eat. Xi Lang prepared nine dishes, all very common home cooking. There were stir-fried bok choy, scrambled eggs with leeks, braised fish, three fresh vegetables, tiger skin chili peppers, chicken stew with potatoes, hot and sour shredded potatoes, hot and sour cucumbers, and tomato and egg soup. The vegetables were pesticide-free, the chickens were free-range, and the eggs were also free-range. Gu Juan tasted each one and found them delicious.

But Xi Lang still thought that the dishes he cooked were not as delicious as the ones Gu Juan bought.

"Those guys really think they are the masters? Xiaojuan, go ask them to serve the dishes."

Gu Juan smiled and went to call someone.

Zhang Muheng and others came to help serve the dishes.

Xi Lang walked into the dining room carrying the last dish, tomato and egg soup, and said, "Xiaojuan brought you some fruit wine. It's behind the sofa. Ruicheng, go get it out and see what flavor you like."

Li Ruicheng didn't move, with a wry smile on his face. Zhang Muheng and the others also sat there with serious expressions. Xi Lang was puzzled.

The corner of Gu Juan's mouth curled up, he could already smell the scent.

Xi Lang opened the carton and his forehead twitched, "You..." The glass bottles in the carton were still neatly arranged and the lids were all tightly closed, but the problem was that the bottles were all empty.

No one paid any attention to him, and everyone surrounded Gu Juan.

Li Ruicheng spoke first, "Gu Juan, so you brewed that wine? The wine is soft and smooth, and the aroma is refreshing, refreshing and relaxing, as if you've taken a bath from the inside out. I've tried so many kinds of wine, but I've never been so hungry for more. Do you have any more?"

"I like cider the best. Do you have any more?" Han Lin asked hurriedly.

Zhao Keke was a little embarrassed. "Hawthorn wine is so smooth and refreshing. I took a few sips, and my body feels less sore." Every month when her period comes, she feels sore and uncomfortable. Today, she hadn't planned on having a cold drink, but Han Lin teased her into taking a small sip. She immediately liked it and couldn't help but finish the whole bottle. The feeling of weakness completely disappeared.

Zhang Muheng said, "The pear wine is fragrant and elegant, leaving a lasting aftertaste." The implication was obviously that it would be best to order a few more bottles.

Cao Jie said awkwardly, "I like pear wine too, it's not bad."

"I'm shamelessly taking advantage of Mr. Li and want to try watermelon wine again." The woman following Li Ruicheng smiled sweetly.

Gu Juan suddenly remembered why this woman looked familiar. Wasn't she the third female lead in the recently popular TV series "Xianyuan"? Her name seemed to be Tong Na.

Xi Lang, wanting Gu Juan to join his circle of friends, didn't interrupt and continued setting the table. Zhao Keke and Tong Na hurried over to help.

Gu Juan said, "This wine isn't anything special, it's just that the recipe is unique, which is why it tastes so good. When my mother was alive, she loved making her own snacks and drinks, so this recipe is her own secret. It's rare that you like it, so I'll brew some more for you when I have time. But it'll take quite a while. You know, the longer the wine is stored, the better it tastes."

Han Lin and others expressed their understanding.

"How long will it take?" Li Ruicheng asked. "I need 20 kilograms of wine. Of course, I can't let you work in vain. How about paying five times the price of the most expensive wine on the market?"

Gu Juan smiled. Most people wouldn't have the luxury of tasting the fruit in this space. Even if the wine sold at ten times the market price per kilo, he wouldn't find it expensive. But Han Lin and the others were Xi Lang's friends, so money wasn't the only thing that mattered.

Several other people started asking for twenty or thirty kilograms.

Xi Lang tapped the table with four fingers, and a faint look swept across the faces of Zhang Muheng and the others one by one, and they immediately shut up.

Gu Juan was surprised to find that Xi Lang was very tall among them.

"Are you treating Xiaojuan like your brewer?" Xi Lang asked. "Xiaojuan is still in school and can only go home on weekends. He doesn't have much time to brew wine for you."

Gu Juan patted his hands and said, "Old man, it's okay. Brother Zhang, you are all my friends, it would be awkward to talk about money. It's just some fruits, not worth much. How about this, you all tell me what kind of fruit wine you want. I don't have much time, so I will brew ten kilograms for each of you for now. Brother Zhang, don't think it's too little."

Zhang Muheng and others naturally said no, and each said what kind of fruit wine they wanted.

Tong Na was too embarrassed to speak, so Gu Juan took the initiative to ask her if she wanted watermelon wine. This was not to give Tong Na face, after all, Tong Na was brought by Li Ruicheng, and for Li Ruicheng's sake he couldn't ignore her.

After all the trouble, Xi Lang said, "Okay, let's eat."

After this commotion, Gu Juan and Zhang Muheng became more familiar with each other. They ate and chatted, and had a great time.

Cao Jie was too embarrassed to show his displeasure to Gu Juan.

"Old man, what kind of wine do you like? I'll brew more when the time comes." Gu Juan asked Xi Lang.

Xi Lang picked up a dish for him with his chopsticks and glanced at Han Lin and the others. "I haven't tried it today, so I'm not sure which one I'll like better."

When Zhang Muheng and the others heard this, they hurriedly and attentively used their serving chopsticks to pick up some food for him.

The light in the room suddenly dimmed, and Gu Juan looked out the window in surprise. Dark clouds, rolling in from nowhere, obscured the sun again, and the wind picked up again.

Cao Jie went to turn on the lights. "Today's weather is so weird! We checked the weather forecast before we came here, and it was supposed to be sunny today. Why is it so cloudy now?"

The room was a little chilly, and Gu Juan suddenly felt a chill on his back.