Chapter 719: Chapter 719: Better Than Your Dad!

After saying that, he dragged a chair over and sat down, staring intently at Ye Fei.

Even though they had been living together for a while and were even married,

Ye Fei still felt uneasy being watched by Zhao Gushen so closely while cooking. Her hands weren’t as nimble.

"You should just go outside!" Ye Fei said helplessly to Zhao Gushen, "I feel more at ease in the kitchen by myself. If you keep staring, who knows when dinner will be ready."

Besides, being watched by Zhao Gushen made her uneasy, leading to mistakes in the cooking and making her seem clumsy. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It made her appear unprofessional.

But Zhao Gushen felt that everyone else was in the living room having fun, leaving Ye Fei alone to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner.

It made her seem lonely, as if she was just there to cook.

He felt sorry for her.

At this moment, seeing Ye Fei take out a king crab that could still wave its long legs, Zhao Gushen immediately said, "I can scrub the crab shells."

The shells of king crabs have some parasitic organisms.

They’re not poisonous, but it’s better to clean them off.

"Aunt Lin has already cleaned them thoroughly," Ye Fei said.

"So what can I chop?" Zhao Gushen asked again.

Ye Fei saw that Zhao Gushen wasn’t leaving no matter what she said.

Thinking over her menu for the evening, she said, "Why don’t you chop the apples?"

He could at least help with the honey apple roasted chicken.

Since it was just for the family, the knife skills didn’t need to be that precise.

It didn’t matter if the apple pieces were uneven in size.

Zhao Gushen, finally given an assignment, quickly started preparing the apples on the side.

Ye Fei began marinating the beef.

She cut the beef into strips and added soy sauce, cooking wine, oil, salt, sugar, starch, and a bit of water.

While stirring, she added some peanut oil.

Once the marinade was well mixed, she put the beef aside to marinate.

Ye Fei turned around and saw Zhao Gushen working diligently.

So she brought over onions and celery for Zhao Gushen: "Then later, cut these too. Cut the onions into chunks and slice the celery."

"See! I can help a lot!" Zhao Gushen said proudly.

"Yes, yes." Ye Fei laughed.

Then she put the king crab in the pot to steam.

She took out the chicken she had marinated in the morning and put the apples that Zhao Gushen had chopped inside the chicken’s cavity.

Zhao Gushen saw this and said, "Isn’t this similar to the dish you made during the competition?"

Ye Fei nodded, "It was from the desert island simulation contest, but because of the competition theme, the ingredients were limited. This time, I can make the full version."

Xiao Mo watched that competition and has been clamoring to try it since.

But the little guy wanted to eat so many things.

Ye Fei kept track in a little notebook and made them for him in order.

This apple roast chicken wasn’t even on the list yet.

Just as well that she was making it today.

Then, she melted butter with honey in a double boiler.

She mixed broccoli, potato chunks, corn chunks, and cherry tomatoes together, adding salt, sugar, cumin powder, chili powder, and olive oil.

She brushed the melted honey butter on the chicken at intervals to add color and keep it from drying out while roasting.

Right at that moment, the beef was also done marinating.

She laid Zhao Gushen’s chopped onions and celery and some enoki mushrooms flat on foil, spread the marinated beef on top, covered it with more foil, and sealed the edges of the foil.

This was easy to make, so Ye Fei didn’t rush to cook it.

Otherwise, it would get cold after being cooked.

Then, while the chicken was roasting, she started preparing the Dongpo pork.

She first roasted the skin in a heated pan, then cleaned and prepared the surface.

She cut it into chunks and tied each piece with kitchen twine in a cross shape.

She put it in a pot, added green onions, ginger, and cooking wine, and boiled it to remove the odor.

Afterwards, she poured out the water, lined the pot with green onion sections and ginger slices, placed the pork skin-side down on top, added rock sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chili, cinnamon, and star anise, then poured in yellow wine and beer, and simmered it over low heat.

Ye Fei calculated the timing.

She cooked the dishes with longer cooking times first and those with shorter times afterwards.

This way, she could work on several dishes simultaneously.

Although she was making a lot of dishes,

Ye Fei controlled the timing well, planned reasonably, and cooked quickly.

After all, she was a professional and faster and more efficient than Aunt Lin.

In the end, when even the Dongpo pork, which took the longest, was almost done,

Ye Fei finally put the foil-wrapped beef into the pot for a dry stew without water for 10 minutes.

"All done, let’s take everything out," Ye Fei said to Zhao Gushen.

So the two of them began carrying the dishes out one by one.

The Poon Choi and Buddha’s Temptation were in large pots, kept on an induction cooker to simmer while eating.

Zhao Dinghuan also went to the wine cellar and brought over quite a bit of wine.

The elder gentleman turned on the TV.

Even though they couldn’t watch it while eating, they could listen to it.

The news broadcast wasn’t over yet; the news was still being shown on TV.

"In the past, we always hired a team of chefs to help, and they’d serve dish after dish while we enjoyed. It was convenient but not as intimate since there were outsiders. The conversations weren’t as open," the old lady said.

"This is the first New Year’s Eve dinner with just our family," the old lady said.

With the chef team, there were more people, which made it lively.

This year, without those people, the dining room felt a lot emptier.

But the warmth and cheer hadn’t diminished at all.

Because with only family around, it never felt lonely or desolate as long as everyone was there.

Instead, it was more cozy and comfortable.

"Come, come, come," the old man raised his glass, "This is the year we’re most complete for the New Year. There are even more to come in the future!"

Zhao Gushen had been constantly talking about giving Xiao Mo a little sister.

In other families, it’s usually the elders who urge.

But Zhao Gushen didn’t need any prompting; he was particularly proactive.

So the old gentleman simply stopped mentioning it.

He feared that saying too much might pressure Ye Fei.

"When Xiao Mo grows up and brings home a girlfriend, our dining table will become even livelier," the old lady laughed happily.

She just wondered whether she and the old man would live to see that day.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Mo suddenly said, "Great-grandma, rest assured. I’ll start dating and get married early."

He would definitely bring a wife home for them to see.

"Such a promising young man!" The old lady immediately gave Xiao Mo a thumbs up.

Look at her great-grandson’s awareness!

"Better than your dad!" the old lady praised.

Zhao Gushen couldn’t help but defend himself, "Grandma, I had a son at 24, pretty quick, right?"

The old lady: "..."

"You had a son at 24, but did you bring Xiao Fei and Xiao Mo home?" the old lady gave him a sidelong glance, "Didn’t it take years before you did?"