In the following days, the family dormitory and the school were in full swing. Apart from occasionally going with Huo Haocheng to their group to see the selection of new members, Ruan Ruan's life finally became more leisurely.
Time flew by and it was the Lantern Festival, which also happened to be Huo Haocheng's birthday. Perhaps because he had been very busy lately, or perhaps he had simply forgotten his birthday, he went to the troupe early in the morning as usual.
Seeing that he left without saying anything, Ruan Ruan looked at his departing figure in surprise and said to the system, "System, what do you think would happen if I knew it was his birthday today, but he forgot, and I pretended to forget too and didn't celebrate it for him?"
“I don’t know what he will do, but host, if you really do this, I think you will definitely regret it before tomorrow, and for the next year you will be thinking about today.” The kitten said with certainty as it ate the dried fish that Huo Haocheng had caught for it.
Of course, he said this because he understood Ruan Ruan. You could also interpret it as, "He's obligated to pay for her food." Considering that Huo Haocheng still made sure to get her dried fish during his daily training breaks, he couldn't let her miss her birthday.
Seeing him constantly munching on dried fish, every word he uttered was like a gentle knife, stabbing you lightly one stab at a time, making it hard to forget.
“...You’re right.” She didn’t want to leave them with any regrets. She had gotten up so early today to prepare for his birthday. After thinking it through, she rode her bicycle out.
First, she went to the Gu family's house and told her aunt that she would have dinner there that evening. Then she rushed to the factory, told Huo Haoshen and the others, and then went to the village. She found the village chief and exchanged a duck and a chicken for one.
"Oh my god, I'm so thirsty!" As soon as she entered the room, she gulped down a large glass of water and finally came back to life.
"Ugh, this ride feels even more tiring than previous training sessions!" Lying on the sofa, she looked up at the sky speechlessly, wondering when her stamina had become so poor.
After resting for a while, seeing that it was almost time, I got up to prepare lunch.
During lunch, she told Huo Haocheng, "Tell your second brother and the others to come over for dinner tonight."
"Xing" was probably too busy with training to think about it. When his wife told him to come over for dinner, he didn't think much of it and just assumed that they hadn't gotten together in a while and wanted to have a get-together.
During afternoon training, Huo Haocheng approached them and told them that his wife invited them to her home for dinner that evening. The others shared his sentiment, while Ruan Shaolin remarked, "My sister is the best; she knows we've been training hard and wants to make us some extra nourishment."
Others agreed that his idea was correct; on that occasion, Ruan Ruan had prepared a huge feast.
After Huo Haocheng left, Ruan Ruan got up and cleaned the earthen oven in the backyard inside and out before starting to prepare to make a cake.
Forty minutes later, the cake base was baked. A thin layer of cream was spread on top. Since there was no fresh fruit this season, Ruan Ruan could only spread a layer of jam she had made last winter on top. On a whim, she even made a human-shaped figure on it, and then wrote "Wishing you a happy life, brother" in ketchup at the figure's feet. After finishing all this, it was almost four o'clock. She placed the cake on the shelf in the system room. "System, could you please watch over it for me here? Don't let it tip over, okay?"
Actually, she initially wanted to put it on the table in their bedroom, but then she thought, if she put it there, wouldn't Huo Haocheng see it as soon as he came back? So, it's safer to put it in the system's room, since he usually won't go into that room when he comes back.
After setting the cake out, she started cleaning the chicken, duck, and fish. She used the chicken to stew with mushrooms, the duck to make roast duck, and the fish to slice and make a sauerkraut fish dish. She also stir-fried twice-cooked pork and several other vegetarian dishes. By the time she finished cleaning everything, her back was so sore she could barely straighten up.
"Ouch, my back is killing me, I can't take it anymore!" She stood up, supporting her back, and pounded it a few times. After it eased up for a while, she started the fire to stew the chicken. First, she stewed the chicken, then hung the marinated duck in the oven to roast. When it was almost done, she started stir-frying the vegetables.
She had just finished cooking the meat and vegetables when Huo Haocheng and the others returned from training.
Huo Haoshen and the others also returned together.
"Honey, I'm back. You've worked hard. I'll take care of the rest." He only found out when he saw Huo Haoshen and the others at the gate of the family compound that Ruan Ruan had gone to invite them to dinner early in the morning. When he was almost home, he saw Commander Gu's family walking ahead of them, so as soon as he entered the door, he went straight to the kitchen. Cooking for so many people by himself must have taken him a whole afternoon. He took the spatula from her and started cooking the next few vegetarian dishes.
After he took the spatula from her, she took the duck out of the oven, quickly sliced it, and plated it—still a whole duck.
"Brother, come and help me carry the dishes." After putting the duck on the table, Ruan Ruan asked Huo Haoshen, Ruan Shaolin and the others to help carry the dishes. She glanced at the people wielding spatulas and quietly took out the cake and placed it in the center of the table.
Once the others saw the cake and the words on it, they understood everything.
"Oh...no wonder..." Lu Shuyan and He Yuwei looked at her with expressions of utter disbelief.
Seeing this, the men pushed the two tables together. Luckily, the room was big enough that the two tables fit perfectly together. However, it was a little inconvenient to get in and out. But it was alright, since they made two portions of food each time, so it was a buy-one-get-one-free deal. If all else failed, they would have to get up and pick up the food themselves.
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