Chapter 86 The Last Piece of the Puzzle
The night was dark and the sky was full of stars. When Jiu Fangyu entered the room, he saw Qi Huan lying on the armrest of the sofa in the living room, staring at the ruins of the base outside the window in a trance.
"Didn't Quan Hai and Rondo say they would come?"
"I've already gone back." Qi Huan replied listlessly.
"Did you have a fight?" Noticing that he seemed a little depressed, Jiufang Yu walked to the sofa and looked at his face with his eyes lowered.
Zhou Qiba jumped into Qi Huan's arms and looked up at him worriedly with his furry little face.
"No, I just suddenly learned about the death of a friend I didn't know very well, and I felt that the world is unpredictable." By the way, I also thought of myself in my previous life. Qi Huan poked Xiao Ba's corner and sighed.
"Want to go out and get some fresh air?"
Frankly speaking, the feeling of sitting in the airship and enjoying the breeze was quite similar to the feeling of driving a car in the previous life. Qi Huan was tempted for a moment, but then he thought that it seemed to be too much trouble for Jiu Fangyu, so he shook his head and said, "Forget it, you've been in meetings all day, you must be very tired."
"I've told you many times, don't underestimate the sentinel's physical strength." Jiufang Yu grabbed his wrist forcefully and pulled him up from the sofa. "Go put on a thick coat. Xiaoba and I will wait for you at the door."
Ten minutes later, the guards who were patrolling at night around the base saw the Star Lord's black airship with gold patterns gliding past them at high speed and blending into the night.
Above his head was the boundless starry sky, below his feet was an endless sea of sand. Between heaven and earth, there was freedom and vastness. Qi Huan sat in the co-pilot seat of the airship with the window half open, letting the night wind blow wildly and fiercely across his cheeks, washing away and diluting the turbid air and depressed emotions in his chest bit by bit.
Monday was standing happily on the hatch of the front cabin of the airship. Its short, shiny black fur was blown into a straight line like a cartoon speed line. The little white ball was sitting comfortably between the two curved corners on its head, and its conspicuous white hair was flying freely in the wind.
"Roar~~~" The black ball raised his head and let out a hearty roar towards the empty space ahead.
"Ah~~~~~~~" Qi Huan also shouted out the window.
"Roar~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~" Hearing Qi Huan's shout, Heituanzi vibrated his tail even more vigorously in response.
Jiufang Yu calmly held the rudder with one hand, and the little white ball blew the wind calmly and freely, letting the other person and the spirit beside him vent their emotions in the wind.
It's great. Qi Huan let out a long breath. After the roar, it seemed as if the foul air in his chest also floated away along with the roar. He felt refreshed and his breathing became much lighter.
"Are you feeling more comfortable?" Jiufang Yu stared straight ahead, leaving Qi Huan with a side profile with a smooth jawline.
"Much more comfortable." Qi Huan half-closed his eyes lazily like a cat, tilted his head and rubbed the backrest. Taking a ride in the hunting area in the middle of the night, can it also be considered a half-date?
Qi Huan's eyes moved slyly, "Do you know which meeting has the least number of participants?"
Jiufang Yu glanced at him sideways, and from his expression he could tell that it was not a serious answer.
"What meeting?" Star Lord asked cooperatively.
"Secret."
Jiufang Yu: ...
"By the way, it's actually a bit strange. The friend I just mentioned who I didn't know very well seemed to have died in a local area with the leader of the nomadic base." Qi Huan opened his personal terminal and sent the photo that he had specifically asked Quan Hai for to Jiu Fangyu.
Jiufang Yu's eyes flashed, and he immediately slowed down the airship and set it to autopilot. He didn't even open his personal terminal, but leaned over to let Qi Huan cancel the blocking mode and take a look at the photo.
"You said you know the man in the flowered shirt next to you?" he asked with a frown.
Jiufang Yu also heard the secretary report this matter today. Yesterday, two bodies were accidentally found not far from each other in the area outside the base while digging sand. One of the bodies can be basically determined to be the missing leader of the nomadic base based on the physical characteristics, and the other is an aboriginal in Base No. 3.
Judging from the fatal injuries of the two people, the aboriginal was probably killed by someone slashing his neck with a knife, and the leader of the nomadic base seemed to be very unlucky and encountered a beast tide, and was attacked and killed by multiple stone beasts. The knife that killed the aboriginal of the base fell not far from the leader of the nomadic tribe. So the secretaries and others initially inferred that the dead aboriginal and the leader were secretly trading materials, but they failed to reach an agreement and fell out, one of them was killed, and the other was also very dramatically and unexpectedly encountered a beast tide and died unfortunately.
"Well, his name is Ah Tu," Qi Huan touched his nose, and was a little distracted by the fresh and cold smell of Jiufang Yu, which seemed like some strange precious metal. "After Lao Pi was expelled from the garbage collection team by Brother Man, he followed us to the garbage dump once. Wu Ke had a good harvest that time, and he also invited everyone to have a meal together at the Renjian Restaurant."
Jiufang Yu's frosty eyelashes slightly lowered, "Does he know about the recipe?"
Qi Huan recalled the meal and nodded, "I know. We talked about it a little bit when we were having dinner that day."
Jiufang Yu frowned even more tightly, "Where does he work in the base?"
"A hotel in East City. I don't know the exact name, but you can ask if you need it."
"No need, I'll let Kong Hu search directly in the base's population database." Jiufang Yu quickly opened his personal terminal and sent a message to Kong Hu.
"Do you think there's something wrong with Ah Tu?" Qi Huan subconsciously didn't want to leave that fresh and cool smell, and unconsciously followed Jiu Fangyu's movements and leaned towards the driver's seat.
"People from a base and people from a nomadic base appeared in a deserted place at the same time. What do you think they were doing?"
It smells so good. Qi Huan greedily inhaled the scent of Jiu Fangyu's body and almost blurted out the word "date". Fortunately, he came to his senses in time and reluctantly changed his words, "Meet?"
As soon as he said that, he immediately realized something else, "Do they know each other?"
Jiufang Yu's jaw moved slightly, "This is the biggest possibility."
"Wait, speaking of this, I remembered another thing." Qi Huan's mind flashed through several fragments of that day. "When we first met, Ah Tu asked me if I had seen him somewhere before. Later, when we were at the garbage dump, I always felt that someone was staring at me. At that time, I thought it was Lao Pi, but now that I think about it, it could have been him. Could it be that we really met somewhere else before? It's a pity that I can't remember what happened before."
"We'll know what's going on if we investigate, but I have a feeling," Jiufang Yu tapped the armrest with his fingers, "we may have found the last piece of the puzzle to solve the Qi family's problem."
"I never thought that he would have any problems before." Qi Huan sighed, leaned back lazily on the chair, and looked up at the top of the airship, "Can't there be some good news today?"
"Of course there is good news," Jiufang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, "The second indemnity from the Jiufang family has arrived. We have also submitted in duplicate to the Jiufang family and the Alliance Arbitration Court all kinds of evidence of Jiufang Kuang's 29 crimes on Waste Planet No. 7, including levying heavy taxes, imposing atrocities, maliciously raising stone beasts, and artificially creating a beast tide slaughter base."
"Is Jiufang Kuang going to stand trial?" Qi Huan sat up straight abruptly.
"I don't think he will live to see that day," Jiu Fangyu's eyes flashed coldly, "There are too many people who want to avenge the people in Base No. 2 and want him to shut up early. He wants to die."
"Evil will be punished. We should have a drink to celebrate this gratifying event." Qi Huan hit his palm with his fist.
He had heard Chen Ye mention the matter of Base No. 2 when he was chatting with him a few days ago. Five years ago, the person in charge of Base No. 2 collected a lot of evidence of Jiufang Kuang's evil deeds on Waste Star and wanted to report it to the Jiufang family's Elders Council. As a result, the news leaked out. In order to silence him, Jiufang Kuang directly led a beast tide to massacre everyone in Base No. 2.
Afterwards, he pretended to blame himself for not taking adequate precautions, and applied for a large amount of funds for equipment upgrades from the Council of Elders on the grounds that the equipment was outdated, without revealing any clues. Having tasted the sweetness, Jiufang Kuang later withdrew some of his equipment and built a stone beast base to raise those evil beasts, so that he could use them to eliminate dissidents at any time without anyone noticing, and consolidate his ruling position on the waste planet.
The equipment that gave Chen Ye and Kong Hu a headache and made them stay up all night was actually the equipment that was secretly transferred to the Stone Beast Base. It is easy to imagine that the equipment inventory list must now be one of the evidences to identify Jiu Fang Kuang.
"Speaking of wine, you should have heard about it," Jiufang Yu said, "The team digging the sand dug a wine cellar today and found 102 jars of old wine. The medical laboratory team tested it in the evening and found no problems. I plan to have them send it to the canteen's warehouse tomorrow and take it out when the base holds a banquet. If you need it, take it yourself."
"It's useful, of course it's useful!" Chenjiu is a type of rice wine with a slightly higher alcohol concentration. Qi Huan immediately thought of a bunch of dishes that require good wine to enhance their flavor.
"How about having a family dinner tomorrow night? I'll use the wine to cook some delicious dishes for everyone." Qi Huan suggested excitedly, "First, to celebrate the start of construction of our new base, and second, to celebrate that the villain Jiu Fang Kuang got what he deserved."
Having spent every day together on the starship, he now considers the Beast Squad, the shop owner and Senior A-Luan, Diwuyuan, and No. 2 and No. 4 who come to eat every other day, and those who often have dinner with him, as his 'family'.
"That's fine," Jiufang Yu nodded, "It just so happens that Chen Ye and Tao Zhe will be back tomorrow, and those two guys are almost dying of greed for the food you cook."
"It's settled then. I'll draw up the menu now." Qi Huan took out a pen and paper and started writing.
It rains when it comes and clears when it goes, it's really a child's nature. Jiufang Yu looked at the person beside him who was carefully making the menu, with a faint smile in his eyes.
Wine-fried vanilla head, Dong meat, white-braised pork ribs, Taibai beast meat, hundred-fruit pig's trotters, Yulin fragrant waist, red-braised eel, three rings of the sun and moon, Dongbi dragon ball, Huadiao mandarin fish, and rice wine pudding.
Qi Huan quickly and proudly listed most of the paper. When he looked up, he saw Hei Tuanzi squatting on the windshield in front of him, stretching his furry head to look at the paper, looking like he was almost drooling with greed.
"Do you understand?" Qi Huan couldn't help laughing and poked the little guy's clenched hoofs with a pen.
Monday moved its paw to the side, but its eyes were still fixed on the menu. No matter whether it could understand it or not, it knew that the food written on it must be delicious.
Qi Huan stretched himself, and looked around, and found that his little white dumpling was sitting quietly on Jiufang Yu's shoulder, leaning on his collar with a "lovey-dovey" look.
Looking at Jiujiu who had to stick close to Jiufang Yu, and then looking at Xingqi stuck next to the menu, Qi Huan inexplicably felt that he and Jiufang Yu had adopted the wrong child.
Ah, what child, spiritual body, spiritual body! Qi Huan knocked his forehead with the pen.
"Huan Huan~~~"
In the afternoon, Qi Huan was leading everyone to prepare for the family dinner in the evening. A high-pitched and loud voice with a wavy ending came from far away, running all the way from outside into the kitchen.
Before Qi Huan put down the knife in his hand, he was hugged by Shen Ye, "I miss you so much."
"Be careful, my apron is all oily." Qi Huan reminded him with a helpless smile.
"It's okay, I don't dislike you." Shen Ye clasped his arms tightly, and the fiery red head rubbed against his chest with satisfaction.
"You don't dislike me, I dislike you." Xu Zhi followed behind him with big strides, nodded slightly to greet Chen Ye, grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him over like an eagle catching a chicken, "Hurry up, the meeting will start soon, you can't be late."
"Huanhuan, I'll come to see you after the meeting. Remember to prepare delicious food for me." Chen Yi was dragged out backwards, and he did not forget to wave and leave a 'message' to Qi Huan.
The last half of the sentence is the key point. Qi Huan watched the two people go away and shook his head silently.
Two hours later, after the meeting, Shen Ye ran back to the kitchen.
He didn't mind the smoke and moved a stool to sit next to Qi Huan. He watched him cook while chattering about what he had seen and heard at Base No. 6 these days.
Qi Huan thought he talked a lot, but he still felt a bit annoyed by Shen Ye's rain-like speaking speed, so he simply took out a bottle of Dacquoise to shut someone up.
The plan was only half successful. Shen Ye did talk less while eating, but he did not shut up completely.
"Huanhuan, what's the name of this new dessert? It's delicious." Chen Ye took a bite of the chocolate-covered dessert in his hand, and his eyes narrowed happily. "Especially the chocolate on the outside, with the crispy and runny chocolate sauce inside, and the dense texture of the cake layer, it's amazing."
"This kind of sandwich-style pastry is called Dacquoise, which is the transliteration of the place where it was born. The way of coating the outside with chocolate and dipping it in crispy cream is a way of making a cake called Lamington."
Qi Huan answered in an orderly manner while cutting the fried meat in his hands.
"Then what are you making now?" Shen Ye came close to Qi Huan and smelled it. It smelled like delicious animal meat.
"Dong meat, also known as tiger skin meat." Qi Huan neatly placed the cut meat into a bowl and poured in seasonings such as aged wine and soy sauce.
The name Dongrou comes from Dong Xiaowan, one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai. She was not only famous for her talent, but also had superb cooking skills, with unique flavors and ingenuity. People at that time praised her dishes as "drunken clams like peach blossoms, drunken sturgeon bones like white jade, oily pomfret like sturgeon, shrimp floss like dragon whiskers, baked rabbit and crispy pheasant like cake bait", "fragrant and delicious", and called her dishes "Dong cuisine". Dongrou is one of the most famous dishes in Dong cuisine.
Shen Ye was greedy, "Can I try a piece first?"
"No." Qi Huan pushed him aside. Chen Ye, who was greedy, was even more difficult to deal with than Xiao Ba. He was thinking about eating it before it was even finished.
"Let me taste a piece first, and I'll tell you a secret." Shen Ye looked around, leaned close to Qi Huan's ear stealthily, and lowered his voice, "The boss's secret."
"What secret?" Qi Huan immediately became interested.
"A freshly-released secret, you will definitely be interested." Shen Ye winked at him suggestively. He was the first one in the Ferocious Beast Team who knew that Qi Huan coveted his boss, and he knew exactly how to control the little star chef in front of him.
Qi Huan put the Dong meat into the steamer and turned to look at him. "You tell me first. If it's really worth it, I'll let you eat a piece first, and then I'll buy one and get one free and make you a Dong candy."
"What is Dongtang?" Shen Ye's eyes lit up instantly.
"This is another specialty of the chef who developed this recipe," Qi Huan pointed at the tiger striped meat in the steamer, "It melts easily in your mouth and leaves a fragrant aroma. I guarantee it's delicious."
It is said that Dongtang is the representative snack created by Dong Xiaowan. It is made of high-quality white flour, roasted peeled sesame seeds, pine nuts, peanuts, etc. as the candy core, maltose as the candy bone, and the core is wrapped with the bone, folded repeatedly into more than 40 layers, and then cut into small pieces half a finger long. It tastes crispy, sweet, and fragrant. It is a top-grade snack. It has been selected into the local intangible cultural heritage list for many times and has been a well-known special snack in Jiangnan for hundreds of years.
"Deal!" Shen nodded with satisfaction. If Huanhuan said it was delicious, then it must be delicious.
"What's the secret? Tell me." Qi Huan was holding a spatula in his hand, which made it inconvenient for him to move, so he raised his chin towards Chen Ye.
"The old men of the Jiufang family found a bunch of guides and the boss's data and did a matching test in the system. One with a 92% matching degree appeared. He will be sent to Feixing to meet the boss in two days." Shen Ye secretly gave Qi Huan a look. A high matching degree means it is suitable for marriage, especially this kind of over 90%, you know that?
Qi Huan:!!!
What the hell, is it that system-arranged marriages are popular in your interstellar age? Is this a distortion of human nature or a loss of morality? This kind of vulgarity is simply outrageous!
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