Lu Yizhan had been busy in the kitchen for a long time. He came out with a steaming pot, breathing heavily, "Quick, quick, quick! Put the induction cooker on it! It's so hot!"

Fang Dian quickly moved a table aside and instructed Bai Liu to bring the induction cooker over. Finally, he got the pot to land safely on the ground before Lu Yizhan was about to be scalded and flipped off.

A large pot of steaming spicy hot pot was bubbling on the induction cooker. The stimulating and warm aroma of spices instantly filled the room. Every available table, chair and bench was filled with dishes of ingredients, and washed lettuce was dripping with water.

Station Master Lu heaved a sigh of relief. He clapped his hands and admired it for a while with a sense of satisfaction. He raised his elbow and placed it on Bai Liu's shoulder: "Not bad, right? I boiled this big bone soup for more than an hour over a high fire. If I sell it out, I have to sell it for 168 per pot, no matter how good my cooking skills are, right?"

"Dragon bones are more than 40 yuan per pound. This pot of soup is the most expensive thing in this room. If you hadn't brought someone here, I wouldn't have bought such an expensive pot..."

Before Lu Yizhan finished speaking, Tang Er raised his head while holding the bottle of wine worth more than 60,000 yuan and looked at Bai Liu next to Lu Yizhan: "Do you have a bottle opener?"

Mu Ke took out a lobster from the refrigerator that was as big as his head. He turned his head and looked at Lu Yizhan apologetically: "I'm sorry, there are still some ingredients that haven't been processed yet. Can I borrow the kitchen and let my housekeeper help me to process them?"

The smile on Lu Yizhan's face gradually froze: "..."

Lu Yizhan slowly took back his hand from Bai Liu's shoulder and moved away a little woodenly: "...The knife I have here may not be suitable for handling this lobster..."

Mu Ke smiled politely: "No, this lobster is not expensive, just treat it casually."

As he spoke, Mu Ke handed the lobster to the housekeeper. Lu Yizhang noticed the label hanging on the lobster's tail. There was a money symbol under a string of English words, and $ was followed by five digits.

After getting Lu Yizhan's consent, Mu Ke called in the four housekeepers, then turned to Lu Yizhan and said, "We will use the kitchen carefully and will not cause any damage."

Looking at Mu Ke and his team of chefs entering his narrow kitchen, Lu Yizhan's distracted gaze revealed an unnoticeable sadness: "...You don't have to be too careful."

That lobster is more expensive than their kitchen which is only three square meters.

Bai Liu casually grabbed a bottle opener from the refrigerator door and handed it to Tang Erda. It had the faded Chinese characters "勇藖天涯" printed on it. It looked like a gift for buying beer. "Can this open the bottle?"

"Okay." Tang Erda took it and was about to drive it, but Lu Yizhang next to him suddenly raised his voice and stopped him, "No!"

"That bottle opener has been used to open cans of stinky tofu and Lao Gan Ma." Lu Yizhan looked at the label on the wine, trying to maintain his calm expression, "...I'll go find you a new bottle opener."

After searching through boxes and cabinets for a long time, Lu Yizhan finally found a bottle opener that was not a gift. With tears in his eyes, he handed it to Tang Er, the second thug, and said, "Open it. This should be the most glorious moment in Yiyi's life."

With a "bang", the wine bottle was opened and the doorbell rang at the same time.

Bai Liu turned around to open the door. Standing at the door was Liu Jiayi, who was wearing a floral dress, ponytails, princess shoes, white lace socks, and two pink bow clips. She was relatively silent.

"Your outfit today," Bai Liu commented tactfully, with a slight smile on his face, "fits your age."

Liu Jiayi pulled down her skirt, straightened her tense expression, took a deep breath, and was about to mock Bai Liu when she heard Fang Dian's surprised voice: "Why is there a little girl here?"

Liu Jiayi smiled sweetly in an instant, and opened her gray eyes blankly: "Hello, sister, this is my first time visiting you and I didn't bring anything with me. I bought some candy downstairs and brought it up."

"Sister, do you want some candy?" Liu Jiayi handed the bag over and blinked.

Fang Dian stared at Liu Jiayi for a long time, which made Liu Jiayi almost scared. She thought that her disguise might have revealed something wrong.

Fang Dian stared at Liu Jiayi, who was holding a small bag of candy and looking at her with her head tilted, at the door. At the same time, she grabbed Bai Liu's arm and twisted it, trying her best to control herself and screamed in a low voice: "...She is so cute!!"

"Do you think her mother minds that she has an extra mother after she goes out to eat?" Fang Dian's thoughts raced.

Bai Liu looked at Liu Jiayi, who was originally so nervous that she breathed a sigh of relief, and the smile on her face deepened: "I think her mother should be very happy that such a beautiful woman likes her."

Fang Dian quickly turned around and went into the house: "Wait for me, I'll go put on some makeup! Five minutes!"

Just now, when so many young and old guys came to Fangdian, they were like invisible people. They walked around the house in big slippers with disheveled hair, laughing so loudly that it could blow the roof off. When they sat on the sofa with their legs crossed and examined and looked at the Bailiu team members one by one, a group of people stood in front of her like minions being reviewed.

"You are the young master of the Mu Group! Wow, awesome! How did you get to know that poor guy Bai Liu?"

"You're a student from a prestigious university. Sure!"

"Wow, how did you develop those muscles? Teach me!"

In short, I don’t care about my personal image at all and don’t even think about putting on makeup.

At this moment, a little girl came, and Fang Dian's long-lost professional ethics as a kindergarten teacher suddenly awakened. She rushed into the room and began to change clothes and dress up.

Seeing Fang Dian leave, Bai Liu squatted down and looked at Liu Jiayi, smiling: "Xiang Chunhua told me that you hate wearing pink skirts, why are you wearing such a neat suit today?"

"I suddenly fell in love today." Liu Jiayi said unhappily, "Don't you know that you should dress formally when you visit your friend's house for the first time? You don't know how to behave."

Bai Liu repeated Liu Jiayi's words in a thoughtful tone: "It's your first time visiting a friend's house, so why are you so nervous?"

Liu Jiayi froze for a moment, but soon Fang Dian rushed out of the room and eased the situation.

She squatted in front of Liu Jiayi with neat makeup, and wiped away her previous casual look. She was wearing a dress, a polka dot bow headband on her head, and holding a rag doll in her hand. She was smiling, looking friendly and gentle. She waved at Liu Jiayi like a weird aunt, tempting her: "Little boy, come here, teacher, no, sister has a cute doll here, do you want to play with it?"

Liu Jiayi: “…”

She hesitated for a long time, but finally went over and hugged Liu Jiayi carefully and cherishingly, and stroked her fluffy ponytails. The expression on her face looked like she was about to cry: "She lets me hug her, she's so soft and cute."

Liu Jiayi sat stiffly on her square knees, her small hands pressing on the hem of her skirt, not daring to move.

Seeing Fang Dian like this, Lu Yizhan found it funny while interfering with her apron: "You play with so many kids in kindergarten every day, aren't you hugged enough?"

"How can you just hug a child casually?" Fang Dian held his chin and sighed, "You can't have physical contact with children. The kindergarten is equipped with surveillance cameras that are connected to the parents' phones in real time. If you hug a child casually and are seen by the parents, you will be reported."

"Especially for girls, their parents will be extra careful. Even if they approach me, I can't have much contact with them."

"After all, it's not my child."

Fang Dian said this casually, and she didn't react at all, but Bai Liu and Lu Yizhang beside her paused in their movements.

She put Liu Jiayi down, tidied up her skirt and hair, squatted down and looked at her tenderly: "Now seeing a little girl who almost became my daughter, the feeling is certainly different."

Lu Yizhan had discussed the adoption of Liu Jiayi with Fang Dian before, and Fang Dian had also seen Liu Jiayi's photo, but in the end Liu Jiayi did not choose them.

Liu Jiayi also thought of this incident now. She pursed her lips and seemed to not know what to say.

...Lu Yizhan and Fang Dian are really good parents, so good that I would feel guilty for letting them down if I didn't choose them.

"Now it seems that we have a good eye." Fang Dian smiled, she reached out and brushed Liu Jiayi's hair, "What a lovely girl, no wonder we are not the only ones who want to become your relatives."

"But it's nice to be friends!"

Fang Dian half-knelt on the carpet, her eyes at the same height as Liu Jiayi's. She solemnly extended her hand to Liu Jiayi: "Hello, Jiayi, my name is Fang Dian, I'm 25 this year, may I ask if you have any intention of making a new friend regardless of age difference recently?"

Liu Jiayi was silent for a while, and the corners of her tightly pursed lips began to twitch, and two small dimples appeared on her face.

She raised her chin slightly, pretending to be proud to cooperate with Fang Dian's performance: "It didn't exist originally."

"But I can make an exception for you." Liu Jiayi put her hand in Fang Dian's palm.

Fang Dian exaggeratedly acted as if she was flattered. She picked up Liu Jiayi and put her next to the dining table with a laugh: "You have made such a big exception. I have no way to repay you. I can only treat you to hot pot! Let's eat!"

The clear wine was poured into the glasses, and everyone except Liu Jiayi raised their glasses to celebrate. However, just as they were halfway through raising their glasses, the power went out.

Everyone: “…”

Du Sanying covered his mouth and sobbed: "I'm sorry, it's all my fault..."

"It's okay." Lu Yizhan didn't care. "The circuits here are old and there are frequent power outages. I'll go get some solid alcohol and we can take the pot to the balcony to eat."

Fang Dian exclaimed: "Isn't that a lobster candlelight dinner? How romantic!"

Bai Liu calmly poured cold water on him: "Romance is a matter between two people. There are seven of us here besides Liu Jiayi. Even if we are paired up for romance, there is still one extra person."

"Okay, Bai Liu, it turns out that you become a member of society when you start working, right?" Fang Dian rolled up his sleeves, "How dare you talk back at me?"

Tang Erda was quickly led into a ditch by Bai Liu. He frowned and thought seriously about Bai Liu's words "divide into groups of two": "Who should I be in a group with then? Bai Liu, why don't you and I..."

Mu Sicheng, who was eating from a bowl, retorted loudly: "No, Bai Liu and I are in the same group!"

The lenses in Mu Ke's eyes flashed, but his tone was very gentle when he spoke: "Bai Liu, come sit over here, I'll get you some lobster slices."

"..." Lu Yizhan was both overwhelmed and at a loss for words. "Okay, okay, stop making a fuss. Sit down. I'll go get some alcohol."

In the pitch-black night, amidst the lights of thousands of homes, there was a family that had the misfortune of a power outage. They squatted on the balcony with their bowls and chopsticks and had a simple yet lively meal of a hot pot that cost almost six figures.

Many years later, when asked what was the best meal he had ever eaten in his life, Du Sanying, whose memory was still not that good, would answer in one second -

——The first time Bai Liu took me to his friend’s house and we had hotpot during a power outage.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Du Sanying, who had just finished taking a shower, was lying in Bai Liu's house, browsing his phone.

Du Sanying just added a lot of people today, so there are a lot of contents in his circle of friends. He read them carefully one by one, and couldn't help but smile.

He scrolled down and saw a post that Fangdian had just posted on his Moments. It was a hand-drawn picture of them eating hot pot today.

Fang Dian grabbed Bai Liu's head with his claws and reached into his bowl with chopsticks to grab some food. Lu Yizhang was trying to stop him in a panic. Mu Kela took sides. Mu Sicheng was watching the show with a smirk. Tang Erda was drinking. Liu Jiayi was hiding in the corner, taking pictures. He was holding the wine glass stupidly, smiling foolishly with a red face. He seemed to be drunk.

Everybody was there, everybody was laughing.

Fang Dian captioned the post about this painting on his WeChat Moments: "Family Portrait".