Chapter 63 "I got into university!"...
Chapter 64
Shen Yanzhou always does what he says he will do, and besides, Yu Pan only wanted to cook.
The next day, Shen Yanzhou went to the market early in the morning and bought fresh spare ribs, a three-yellow chicken, and cabbage, which he then put in the refrigerator.
When I got home from get off work at noon, I taught Yu Pan how to cook.
The butcher had already chopped the ribs into small pieces. Yu Pan tied on an apron and stood in front of the gas stove.
He first turned on the stove and put the ribs in to blanch them. Then, as Shen Yanzhou had instructed, he poured light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and vinegar into a bowl and stirred it well.
Next, remove the blanched ribs, drain them, pour oil into the pot, add rock sugar, and watch the rock sugar slowly melt in the oil until it turns caramel color. Then, add the drained ribs back in.
Yu Pan clumsily stirred the ribs with a spatula, trying to coat each piece with caramelized sugar. Then she added the prepared sauce and continued to stir-fry evenly before pouring in enough boiling water to cover the ribs.
Because he poured in boiling water, it soon boiled in the pot. He put the lid on and turned the heat to low.
"Okay, simmer for twenty minutes first," Shen Yanzhou said, glancing at his watch.
While waiting, Shen Yanzhou began to process the chicken, deftly cutting the whole chicken in half. One half was tied tightly in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator to be used for soup that evening. The other half was chopped into small pieces and put into a large bowl. "Here, Panpan, this part is for you."
Yu Pan took the bowl, listened to Shen Yanzhou's words, added salt, starch, light soy sauce and cooking oil to it, and then mixed it well with her hands.
The shiitake mushrooms had been soaked in advance. Yu Pan took them out, squeezed out the water, sliced them thinly, and arranged them neatly on the bottom of the plate. Then she arranged the marinated chicken pieces on top of the shiitake mushroom slices, trying to make them look as nice as possible.
By this time, the ribs had been stewing for nearly twenty minutes. Shen Yanzhou checked the time and lifted the lid. The aroma of meat wafted out. He placed a steamer basket on the pot, and Yu Pan quickly put the arranged mushroom and chicken dish into it.
"Alright, steam for fifteen minutes and then we can take it out. We'll reduce the sauce for the ribs later." Shen Yanzhou took out a cabbage from the bag. "Now let's make hand-torn cabbage."
“I’ll tear it! I know how!” Yu Pan raised her hand.
Shen Yanzhou smiled and handed him the cabbage, "Okay, then leave it to our Panpan."
With Shen Yanzhou present, Yu Pan successfully served these three dishes.
Yu Pan tried the sweet and sour pork ribs first. As soon as the meat entered her mouth, she frowned and said, "Ah...it's so sour."
Shen Yanzhou also picked up a piece, saying without changing his expression, "A little sour is good, it's good for the hot summer weather, it'll whet your appetite."
The edges of the hand-torn cabbage were slightly burnt, the seasonings weren't evenly mixed, and some parts tasted very salty and even bitter.
The mushroom and chicken dish was an unexpected success. The chicken was tender and smooth, and the thin slices of mushroom, which had absorbed the chicken broth, tasted even better than the chicken. This gave Yu Pan a lot of confidence.
After preparing these three dishes, Yu Pan was sweating profusely; his back was soaked with sweat.
"Cooking is so tiring," Yu Pan sighed sincerely after taking a bite of rice. "It's even more tiring than doing homework."
Shen Yanzhou placed a piece of chicken leg meat on his plate. "It's normal for you to be flustered since it's your first time cooking."
Seeing that Shen Yanzhou didn't understand her deeper meaning, Yu Pan blinked and added, "So, we should cherish food even more and finish all the dishes I worked so hard to make. That's how we can do justice to the fruits of my labor!"
Even though it tasted bad, he made it himself, and Yu Pan said he loved it! He couldn't let it go to waste!
"..."
-
The days passed by amidst the humid heat of Qingyu and Yu Pan's ever-growing, albeit still unstable, culinary skills.
At the end of July, Shen Yanzhou arranged his work in advance and returned to Lanzhou with Yu Pan. After settling their luggage at home and resting for a while, the two drove to the post office.
It's currently peak season for college acceptance letters, and the post office is quite crowded, mostly with parents like them inquiring about the letters.
Shen Yanzhou and Yu Pan lined up in front of the inquiry window. When it was their turn, Yu Pan handed over her ID card and admission ticket.
The staff member took it and carefully searched through the thick register.
During the tens of seconds of waiting, Yu Pan felt her heart pounding incredibly fast, almost as if it were about to jump out of her chest and into her throat.
The staff member looked up and said, "Yu Pan, right? There's an email for you."
After saying that, she turned around and started rummaging through the neatly stacked pile of emails behind her.
At this point in time, all the admission notices that can be received are from the first batch, and the answer is self-evident.
Soon, the staff member pulled out a large blue and white envelope, checked the information again, smiled, and handed the envelope out the window, saying, "Congratulations."
Yu Pan took the envelope and looked at the clear "Peking University" lettering on it. Surprisingly, he felt calm.
It wasn't until she got home that Yu Pan opened the envelope. Inside were quite a few things: a "First Steps into Peking University" guide, two new student luggage tags, and an admission notice stamped with a red seal.
Yu Pan looked at the admission decision on the screen, and tears suddenly fell. He looked up at Shen Yanzhou, who had been quietly by his side, and said, "Brother, look, I passed the exam. I really passed."
"Yes, I saw it, Panpan got into university." Shen Yanzhou pulled him into his arms. "You did it."
After receiving their acceptance letters, they didn't stay in Lanzhou for long and flew back to Qingyu that very night.
After returning from Lanzhou, Shen Yanzhou became even busier. Yu Pan overheard him on the phone, and it seemed to be about some company approval.
He couldn't understand, but he knew that Shen Yanzhou was busy with something very important, and lately he often didn't come back until after 1 a.m.
The notice stated that the report would be on September 3rd. There were still twenty days until the start of school. Yu Pan wanted to take it back to Xishan Village to show Uncle and Aunt Chen, so that they could be happy too.
However, given how busy Shen Yanzhou is right now, he definitely won't have time to accompany her back. In response, Yu Pan suddenly had a bold idea.
He wanted to return to Xishan Village alone.
When he told Shen Yanzhou about this idea, Shen Yanzhou was clearly stunned and remained silent for quite some time.
Yu Pan was afraid he would disagree, so she quickly assured him, "I'll only be back for two days, very soon! I'll be back after paying my respects to Uncle and Aunt Shen!"
“It’s not a matter of time.” Shen Yanzhou put down his teacup, his gaze falling on Yu Pan’s face, which was filled with emotions that Yu Pan couldn’t understand. “Brother is just… a little sentimental.”
"What are you feeling sentimental about?" Yu Pan asked curiously.
Shen Yanzhou didn't answer directly, but pulled him closer and kissed him on the forehead. "It's nothing, my Panpan, you've really grown up."
He ruffled Yu Pan's hair. "Okay, I promise you, I'll arrange a driver to take you there."
"Yay! You're the best, brother!" Yu Pan happily straddled Shen Yanzhou's lap, hugged his neck, and shouted joyfully.
Shen Yanzhou chuckled and patted his waist. "However, I have my conditions."
"Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say, I'll agree!" Yu Pan replied.
"No matter where you get on the road, whether it's accommodation or meals, you must call me to let me know you're safe, understand?" Shen Yanzhou's expression turned serious.
"I thought there were some conditions," Yu Pan cupped Shen Yanzhou's face and rubbed it, dispelling his serious expression. "I would do this even without you telling me! I will keep hitting you until you find me annoying!"
"No." Shen Yanzhou grabbed his mischievous hand, his expression serious. "I will never find you annoying."
After hearing Shen Yanzhou's words, Yu Pan's face flushed. He lowered his head, buried his face in Shen Yanzhou's neck, and hummed softly, "I know."
Two days later, in the early morning, Yu Pan, carrying her small backpack, got into the car arranged by Shen Yanzhou.
Shen Yanzhou stood by the roadside, watching the car start, drive away, and finally disappear around the corner of the street, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him.
"What, do you think this little kid has suddenly grown up? Can he fly by himself now?" Tan Ming wandered over at some point and teased, leaning against the wall.
Shen Yanzhou withdrew his gaze, chuckled, and shook his head, but did not deny it: "Yes, a little."
“Shen Yanzhou, won’t you be very experienced in raising children in the future?” Tan Ming exclaimed. “I don’t know how you managed to raise Yu Pan from that kind of person to this kind of person. When I tried to talk to my brother like you did with Yu Pan, he actually said I was possessed by a ghost.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Yanzhou simply smiled faintly, still gazing in the direction the car had disappeared, and calmly said, "There won't be any children."
Tan Ming was stunned for a moment, then lowered his voice: "Huh? Is it you who's not good enough... or is it her?"
Shen Yanzhou glanced at him helplessly, "Just keep pretending."
"I... I just had some doubts and wanted to confirm it," Tan Ming said, scratching his head, looking somewhat embarrassed.
He had worked with Shen Yanzhou for over three years and had seen all sorts of people and things in the business world. He had a general idea of what was going on, but when this matter was brought up with Shen Yanzhou, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy asking, "Are you two really... in that kind of relationship?"
“Mm,” Shen Yanzhou replied.
Tan Ming gasped, then frantically grabbed his hair again, his expression shifting wildly.
After a long while, he let out a long sigh and patted Shen Yanzhou's shoulder hard. "Well, I don't have much to say, just... I wish you happiness! Really!"
"Thank you." Shen Yanzhou accepted his blessing. "We will."
After saying that, he turned around, patted Tan Ming on the back, and said, "Let's go. Go back and pack your things, get ready for work."
-
When Yu Pan arrived at Xishan Village, it was already past four o'clock in the afternoon. The car stopped at the entrance of the village, and the bodyguard in the passenger seat got out first, opened the car door for him, and then went to the trunk to take out the incense, candles, paper money and snacks that had been prepared in advance.
Yu Pan, carrying her small bag, felt a little guilty looking at the large bags and packages her bodyguard was carrying: "There's a lot of stuff, I'll take some too. We still have to go up the mountain later, and the road isn't easy to walk on."
The bodyguard took a slight step back. "Mr. Yu, no need, I can carry it."
Seeing his insistence, Yu Pan stopped pressuring him.
The two walked up the mountain path, and when they reached the halfway point, the graves of Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen came into view.
To Yu Pan's surprise, the open space around the grave was clean, obviously having just been cleared.
Yu Pan couldn't help but smile, feeling incredibly warm inside. He had originally thought that since he had suggested coming back alone, Shen Yanzhou would at most arrange a driver, but he hadn't expected that he would even be provided with a bodyguard.
The car was fully stocked with all sorts of items that might be needed, and now he doesn't even have to do the most basic cleaning work for tomb sweeping. It seems that all he needs to do is come and pay his respects.
Thinking of everything Shen Yanzhou had silently arranged for him, Yu Pan's heart softened and swelled, and he suddenly missed Shen Yanzhou terribly.
However, when it comes to tomb sweeping, you still have to do it yourself to show your sincerity.
After the bodyguards placed the offerings properly in front of the grave, they quietly retreated to a short distance below and waited.
Yu Pan squatted down and pulled out some small weeds that hadn't been completely cleared from the grave. Then she arranged the snacks she had brought one by one, lit the incense and candles, and stuck them in the soil.
After doing all that, he took out the Peking University admission letter from his backpack.
"Ta-da!" Yu Pan unfolded the notice like a child showing off a treasure, and said to the two graves, "Uncle Chen, Aunt Chen, look, what am I holding in my hand!"
"It's a university admission letter! And it's from Peking University! Let me read it to you!"
He cleared his throat and read aloud: "Student Yu Pan, our school has decided to admit you to the 'Chinese Language and Literature' major in the School of Chinese Language and Literature... Please report to the school on September 3rd with this notice."
After reading it aloud, Yu Pan put down the admission notice, her voice softening with a smile: "Uncle Shen, Aunt Shen, I got into university! It's Peking University, a really good and really big school! Shen Yanzhou... is also very happy for me."
Looking at the two mounds in front of him, he had clearly thought about what to say before coming, but now it was all stuck in his throat, and he could only say whatever came to mind.
Yu Pan picked up a small twig and scratched it in the soil, talking about life in Lanzhou and Chen Yanzhou's work...
After an unknown amount of time, the bodyguard came up from below and reminded him, "Mr. Yu, it's getting late, let's go down the mountain."
Yu Pan snapped out of her daze and nodded.
He stood up, backpack in hand, and an image of a summer many years ago involuntarily surfaced in his mind: the kind couple who had brushed aside the straw covering his head, smiling as they reached out to him and embraced him.
He will never forget the warmth he felt then.
Yu Pan bowed deeply to the grave.
Thank you for taking me in and raising me.
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Author's Note: Panpan [Cat Head]: [Cat Head]
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