Chapter 89: Chapter 89: You Don’t Mind an Extra Pair of Chopsticks, Do You?

The little ones’ interruption gave Ao Wu some time to think.

He glanced toward the kitchen and said in disbelief, "An’an, the main husband couldn’t be..."

"That’s right," Yu An nodded. "It’s Mo Yan."

Ao Wu was instantly displeased. "An’an, I disagree. The main husband should be the strongest of the Beast Husbands. Why don’t we fight to decide?"

Yu An refused. "Who could possibly beat you?"

"Besides, the main husband needs to be magnanimous and not get jealous. He also needs to be able to manage the household. Can you handle that?"

Ao Wu backed down. "I guess... I can’t."

He couldn’t even meet the first requirement. ’As for the second... uh, I’d better leave it to the professionals. I’ll just be An’an’s favorite, most doted-on Beast Husband. That’s good enough for me.’

No one else had any objections, so the matter was settled.

"An’an, what are you planning to make this morning?"

Mo Yan came out of the kitchen holding two pots of milk tea. "I went easy on the sugar with this one. Come and see how it tastes."

Yu An took it and had a sip. "Delicious!"

"What made you think of making milk tea?"

"A certain someone was talking in her sleep last night, saying she wanted milk tea with thirty percent sugar."

After pouring some for the cubs, he paid the others no mind. Whichever of those four wanted some could pour it themselves; he wasn’t going to do it for them.

"I wasn’t quite sure how much ’thirty percent sugar’ is, so I just used my judgment and cut the white sugar by more than half."

"It’s fantastic," Yu An praised generously. "It’s just right for me."

"Oh, right, I want to make some soy products—fried tofu puffs, pressed tofu, tofu skin... so many things. Mo Yan, you have to help me."

"Alright," Mo Yan suggested. "Then let’s have those four prepare the ingredients for this afternoon."

Yu An nodded gravely. "An excellent idea."

The four of them: "..."

A wife’s command is hard to defy, so they could only obediently do as they were told.

Da Hu raised his hand. "Female Mother, what can we do?"

Yu An thought for a moment. "Female Mother wants to plant some flowers in the yard. How about you do it with Uncle Fox?"

Hearing Yu An call its name, Red Fox quickly popped out from a corner.

’I get it now,’ it thought. ’If I want to stick around this house, I need to play more with the cubs and less with Yu An.’

Otherwise, the sinister glares from her Beast Husbands were truly terrifying to a fox, as if they were about to make fox and potato stew in the very next second.

Da Hu and Xiao Yu carried their small pails and shovels, excitedly discussing what flowers to plant. Xiao Hu, however, just wanted to sleep.

"Xiao Hu, no more sleeping. Go play with your brothers."

Yu An rubbed his little head. "If you keep sleeping like this, you’ll really turn into a sleeping beauty."

The little one ate well and slept well, and was occasionally energetic. But aside from his constant sleepiness, Yu An had never been able to find anything else wrong with him.

Xiao Hu pouted, his expression full of grievance. "Female Mother, Xiao Hu is sleepy."

Yu An felt helpless. "Xiao Hu, Female Mother is asking you one more time. You sleep so much, are you sure you don’t feel unwell?"

Xiao Hu thought for a moment. "No."

"Then go back to sleep for a little while," Yu An relented, seeing he could barely keep his eyes open. "Female Mother is making a new delicacy for lunch. Should I wake you up then?"

"Yes!"

At the mention of delicious food, he visibly perked up.

But it didn’t last long. Rubbing his eyes, he found a sunny spot and went back to sleep.

Yu An sighed. She was a bit distracted as she cut the tofu.

"An’an, don’t worry," Mo Yan said comfortingly, taking the knife from her hand. "You’ve checked Xiao Hu and found nothing wrong. If you’re really worried, I’ve heard there’s a Divine Doctor in the Imperial City."

"When we go to the Imperial City, we can have the Divine Doctor take a look at Xiao Hu."

Yu An nodded. The mention of the Imperial City made her involuntarily think of her Female Mother, as well as her nominal Mother Empress—the Beast Emperor, Yu Tinglan.

Bai Ruo didn’t know what had happened back then, nor was she clear about the grudges between the sisters. To find out, the only way was to go to the Imperial City and ask the Beast Emperor.

She didn’t have to worry about Han Fengyun, though. According to Han Li, Han Fengyun only targeted her because of an order from the Imperial City.

Compared to killing her, Han Fengyun was more interested in getting his hands on Han Li to use as a bargaining chip against Mo Yan.

The black-clad Beastmen who had tried to assassinate her were not Han Fengyun’s people. He might be a city lord, but he couldn’t have trained such skilled assassins.

’Could they have been sent by the Beast Emperor?’

Just as she was lost in thought, something was suddenly placed in her mouth. A sweet flavor instantly filled her senses.

"Thinking about all that again?"

Mo Yan tucked a stray strand of her hair back into place. "Don’t dwell on it so much. Once we return to the Imperial City, the answers will naturally reveal themselves."

"I’m done thinking, I’m done thinking," Yu An said, rubbing her face. "You’re right. I could think about it until my head explodes and still not get it, so I’m not going to waste any more brainpower."

"Is the tofu all cut? I’ll fry the tofu puffs."

Yu An quickly snapped back to her cheerful self. She rolled up her sleeves, started the fire, and poured the oil.

Mo Yan made way for her, standing to the side to observe.

She poured a large amount of oil into the wok. When the oil was just warm, she added the cubed tofu and slow-fried it over a low flame. She turned the pieces gently with chopsticks to ensure they heated evenly and puffed up.

Once they all floated to the surface, she turned the heat up from low to medium and fried them until they were lightly colored, then removed them from the wok.

The freshly fried tofu puffs were delicious on their own with just a sprinkle of sugar or salt. Yu An tried one, fed one to Mo Yan, and then had him take over the frying while she went to feed the others one by one.

’Can’t be helped,’ she thought. ’This is what it’s like having so many Beast Husbands. You have to keep everything perfectly balanced.’

The pressed tofu and tofu skin were made in a press, and they were just about ready by the time the tofu puffs were done frying.

After checking on each item, Yu An started preparing lunch.

There were many ways to prepare the tofu puffs alone. Yu An had Mo Yan mince some meat, then she cut the puffs open, hollowed them out, and made meat-stuffed tofu puffs.

By the same token, she could also stuff them with shrimp paste, making two dishes from one pot!

The tofu skin was best paired with hot peppers—smooth, tender, and incredibly delicious.

Yu An glanced into her storage space. The pepper plants had a few green chilis on them. She went in to pick them and brought Mo Yan and her maid, Mo Wei, out with her.

Mo Yan had already seen Han Li last night. After coming out, she didn’t spare a single glance for Han Li in the courtyard; her heart and eyes were filled with nothing but the delicious smells from the kitchen.

"An’an, this smells so spicy! What dish are you making?"

"Stir-fried hot peppers with pressed tofu," Yu An said while prepping the peppers. "Auntie, why don’t you and Mo Wei go play with Da Hu and the others outside? The kitchen is too crowded."

Mo Yan nodded obediently and pulled Mo Wei outside.

Yu An felt a wave of emotion, and hesitated for a moment. "Mo Yan, what do you think will happen when Auntie gets her memory back? Her and Han Fengyun..."

The hatred of him having killed her husband and harmed her child stood between them, yet because she was under hypnotism, Mo Yan had been in love with her enemy for over ten years.

"Auntie will sort it out when she recovers," Mo Yan said as he chopped vegetables. "My Female Mother always told me that Auntie is a woman who knows her own mind. We should let her decide what to do about them."

The two of them worked for half the day to prepare a table full of food. Yu An glanced around; the entire family was pretty much all here today.

’Hmm, the table isn’t quite big enough, but if we squeeze, we can all fit.’

As the head of the household, the others would only begin to eat after Yu An took the first bite.

Mo Yan was an elder, so Yu An started by putting a tofu puff on her plate.

"Alright, let’s dig in..."

CREAK... The courtyard gate swung open, pushed from the outside.

Yu An instinctively looked over and saw Han Fengyun and Housekeeper Han standing there.

Housekeeper Han stared at Mo Yan, his face a mask of terror, but Han Fengyun was much calmer.

"We’re all family here. You don’t mind setting one more place, do you?"