After this commotion, Li Guizhi lost interest in showing off her skills. She asked the two of them to take out the dishes she had prepared earlier, and then made a few quick and easy dishes.
There were nine of them sitting in a circle around the round dining table.
Li Guizhi brought in the last dish and said with a smile, "I thought the round table Xiaoli set up was a bit big. We usually only use half of it. I didn't expect it to be full so quickly."
Zhong Yuan chimed in, "Auntie, you've underestimated Little Pear's social skills!"
"Hehe." Li Guizhi sat down and looked at them, saying, "I'm really happy that Xiaoli has made such good friends like you."
The people present all expressed that they would be happier to be friends with Jiang Xiaoli.
Jiang Xiaoli said helplessly, "Let's stop with this mutual flattery, okay? Let's eat, I'm starving."
Li Guizhi rolled her eyes at her, then urged everyone to eat, saying, "Try it and see if my cooking has improved."
Hu Jingxin ate a slice of boiled fish and said, "Auntie, I thought your fish was super delicious last time I ate it, but it tastes even better today. You're amazing!"
Zhong Yuan quickly picked up a piece of fish to taste. "Xin Xin is absolutely right, Auntie. Have you been secretly taking some advanced courses somewhere behind our backs?"
Li Guizhi was so amused by their exaggerated actions and expressions that she bent over laughing. "If you like it, eat more. Come over often and I'll cook for you."
They were chatting animatedly, and Zhong Yuan was wondering why the others were silent. Then he saw that they were all engrossed in eating!
He was stunned, and immediately his chopsticks flew as he hurriedly put food into Xin Xin's and his own bowls.
"Are you all beasts? No wonder you're all silent; you've been fighting over vegetables here!"
Jiang Xiaoli spat out a pork rib bone, "Brother Yuan, only what you eat is real."
Zhong Yuan did not refute this point.
It seems that food tastes better when people are fighting over it. When they saw Zhong Yuan start grabbing food, the others also started eating more frequently.
Although the table manners were still observed, Jiang Xiaoli felt as if she were seeing lingering shadows.
The dining table was unusually quiet, and the meal was finished in just half an hour.
Looking at the bare plates, Li Guizhi asked, "Are you full? If not, I'll cook two more dishes."
Jiang Xiaoli was the first to rub her stomach, saying, "Anyway, I'm full, my stomach can't hold any more."
The others also said they didn't need it.
Yan Chengcheng leaned against Ren Zhiyi and said, "Zhiyi, I didn't feel it when we were eating, but now that I've come to my senses, my stomach is so full and uncomfortable. What should I do?"
Upon hearing her words, Li Guizhi stood up and said, "I have some digestive tablets here, I'll go get them for you."
She was used to these children eating without restraint.
Almost everyone present accepted the digestive aid tablets, and after taking the medicine and recovering for a while, they felt much better.
Jiang Xiaoli looked at them and laughed heartily, "Seeing you guys reminds me of myself back then, when I ate too much and would walk around in circles in the yard to digest my food."
Chang Yue rubbed her stomach. "Xiao Li, you've always eaten Auntie's cooking since you were little, and you still get full?"
She sighed softly, "In the end, my willpower wasn't strong enough."
"Hahaha."
After resting for a while, the group spontaneously cleaned up the table, washed the dishes, and put them back in the kitchen.
Then Dafu drove Ren Zhiyi home first and Chang Yue back to school, Zhong Yuan drove Hu Jingxin and Yan Chengcheng back to school directly, and Zong Jia drove Jiang Xiaoli and Li Guizhi home.
After a busy day, Li Guizhi tidied up and went to sleep. Jiang Xiaoli and the other woman continued the meal after Zhong Yuandafu returned.
Barbecue, beer, and hot pot.
Zhong Yuan raised his glass and clinked it with theirs, "Let's have a drink!"
They laughed and clinked glasses together.
Daifu drank it all in one gulp, "That feels so good!"
Jiang Xiaoli said with a smile, "I hope we can have this day every year, and this moment every year!"
Zong Jia echoed, "It gets better every year!"
They talked about the past and dreamed about the future.
As the midnight bells rang, 1996 arrived as scheduled.
Jiang Xiaoli was drunk. She staggered to her feet and went to the living room balcony. Zong Jiayu was beside her, supporting her to prevent her from falling.
Looking at the twinkling lights outside the window, she thought, "I must live a different life!"
Zong Jiayu smiled and said, "Little Pear, our future will be just as wonderful."
Jiang Xiaoli leaned against him with a smile and was about to kiss him, a scene that made the two people in the living room extremely jealous.
Zhong Yuan yelled, "You two, tone it down!"
She ignored him and kissed Zong Jiayu's face a few more times, "Hehehe, no way!"
Dafu kicked Zhong Yuan, "What are you talking about with a drunkard?"
Jiang Xiaoli broke free from Zong Jiayu's embrace, took small steps to the living room, then collapsed onto the sofa, pointed at Zhong Yuan, and said, "You, who are you saying is drunk?"
Zhong Yuan couldn't help but laugh out loud. He said to Dafu, "She can't tell us apart anymore!"
Dafu also found it amusing; it was the first time he had ever seen her drunk.
Jiang Xiaoli struggled to get up from the sofa, and Zong Jia helped her sit up.
She leaned against Zong Jiayu like a limp animal, "Ayu, I'm not drunk, am I?"
Zong Jiayu gently held her small hand and said, "Hmm, not drunk."
Like a child who immediately boasts to her friends after getting the correct answer from the teacher, she raised her chin and said to Dafu, "Did you hear that? I'm not drunk!"
Dafu nodded, suppressing a laugh, "Yes, yes, you're not drunk, we're the ones who are."
Zhong Yuan laughed until tears streamed down his face. "If only we had a video recorder right now!"
Zong Jia was very tempted, "I'll go buy one tomorrow."
Zhong Yuan chuckled, "Brother Zong, it has to be you again!"
He dared to say that, in order not to leave the video recorder idle, Zong Jia and that cunning guy would definitely get Xiao Li drunk again.
Jiang Xiaoli felt that she didn't understand what they were saying, and she was a little angry, so she buried her head in a cushion.
After Zong Jia finished talking to Zhong Yuan about the video recorder, he was worried that she wouldn't be able to breathe, so he brought her a cushion, only to find that she had already fallen asleep...
He carried her back to her room without complaint, wiped her face and hands, tucked her into the blanket, and then left.
The next morning, Jiang Xiaoli felt like a huge explosion had happened in her head.
She rubbed her head and struggled to open her eyes. Thankfully, she was in her own room.
But she couldn't remember how she got back to her bedroom.
Her memory only goes back to when she was trying to deny that she was drunk...
How embarrassing...
Thankfully, we're not in an era of ubiquitous smartphones, otherwise her phone would probably be full of embarrassing pictures of her drunken night, and many of them would even have been turned into memes.
Thank goodness for this era where mobile phones can't take pictures or access the internet!
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