Chapter 326: Chapter 200: Only one piece of dragon meat left? Let’s make dumplings! Quick, I need artificial respiration! [Seeking Monthly Ticket]_3
As she said this, Director Han became even more eager, "Then I’m definitely looking forward to eating it, Meijuan. If you need help, just let me know."
"No need for help, I can handle it all by myself."
It was still too early to start making dumplings, so Chen Meijuan put the Dragon meat in the refrigerator to chill, planning to start wrapping them around three or four o’clock. That way, the dumplings could be made and cooked fresh, which would make them taste even better.
While the two sets of parents sat in the living room, chatting over tea, Lin Xu was led upstairs by Shen Baobao.
They closed the door.
Just as Lin Xu was about to give his beloved Baobao a kiss, Shen Baobao threw the tote bag full of red envelopes onto the bed, kicked off her slip-on shoes, and dove onto the bed, urging, "Don’t just stand there, hurry up and come here!"
After saying that, she dumped out all the red envelopes from the bag and casually opened one to start counting the money inside.
Lin Xu was speechless. You pulled me up here just to count red envelopes?
He laughed and sat on the edge of the bed, taking a red envelope and starting to open it.
The Shen Family was wealthy, and the red envelopes they gave were quite unique, generally containing specific auspicious amounts like 6,666, 8,888, or 9,999—rather than simple round figures. Several of the elders even gave five-figure sums. This caused Shen Baobao some trouble in her task of counting money.
Besides cash, there were also red envelopes that contained bank cards or various sorts of gold jewelry. For example, Chen Yan’s mother, Shen Guofang, gave an engagement gift of a gold bar numbered with Shen Baobao’s birthday, weighing 200 grams—feeling quite hefty in hand.
"Finally finished counting, so tiring!"
Shen Jiayue massaged her sore wrists, forced herself to perk up, and started to put away the stacks of money on the bed, preparing to lock them in the room’s safe. However, seeing Lin Xu lying beside her, the girl immediately slumped to the side. "Ah, I’m dying... in urgent need of mouth-to-mouth..."
Lin Xu chuckled, rolled over to lie face to face with Shen Baobao, and soon they were kissing, not parting until their breaths grew short.
After the life-saving mouth-to-mouth, Shen Baobao’s spirits were lifted again.
She opened the large wardrobe in the room, and it was only then that Lin Xu saw the small fridge-sized safe similar to those in hotels.
"Is everything in here money?"
"Not at all, they’re just some things I’ve collected."
After entering the password, Lin Xu leaned closer to have a look and found all kinds of quirky items inside: a stack of photos, a very familiar basketball wristband, and other various knick-knacks. This is...
He looked at the pictures. The first one was of himself sleeping on a desk, drooling. The second was Shen Baobao taking a selfie next to his sleeping self, flashing a peace sign. His own unflattering sleeping face and the quirky Shen Baobao made for a stark contrast. The third was him wearing a basketball uniform, playing on the court...
With each photo, Lin Xu was reminded of the little moments from his school days. He wrapped his arm around Shen Baobao’s slender waist and teased, "You’ve secretly taken so many photos, so you’re a stalker pervert, huh?"
Shen Jiayue was speechless. Dare you talk about me like that, you stinker?
She rolled over and pinned Lin Xu to the carpet. Without a word, she began to kiss him passionately all over.
After a while, as the alcohol started to hit, Lin Xu lay down on the bed and fell deeply asleep. Shen Baobao lay beside him and, just like during their school days, she took a bunch of selfies with Lin Xu as her backdrop.
「Four o’clock in the afternoon.」
After waking up, Lin Xu spent some more time being affectionate with Shen Baobao before they went downstairs hand in hand, preparing to make dumplings in the kitchen.
It was only when they reached the living room that they realized his sister-in-law, Chen Yan, had arrived at some point.
Shen Baobao asked curiously, "Huh? How did you get here?"
"Auntie said there would be dumplings with Dragon meat tonight; I’ve never had them before, so I drove over to try..."
Chen Yan looked at the two of them, practically glued to each other, and wordlessly pursed her lips. Get rid of that lovey-dovey smell on you. It’s enough to choke a person to death!
Lin Xu took a sip of the tea on the coffee table and then proceeded to the kitchen.
Seeing his mother had already prepared the dough for dumplings and was now mincing the filling, she said, "Your mother-in-law praised the wonton filling you made last time for being particularly delicious, so you should season the dumpling filling this time, and I’ll just take care of mincing and rolling out the dough."
"Okay."
Lin Xu didn’t stand on ceremony with his mother. He took the washed Scallion and Ginger to the side cutting board and sliced some Scallion and Ginger strands. Then, he put them in cold boiled water and squeezed them a few times, letting the juice from the Scallion and Ginger thoroughly infuse into the water.
By the time his mother had finished mincing the Dragon meat, the Scallion and Ginger water was also ready.
Lin Xu added some Light Soy Sauce to the meat filling, a little bit of oyster sauce, two teaspoons of salt, and a teaspoon of Five-Spice Powder, and mixed it all up to blend the seasonings evenly. He then slowly incorporated the Scallion and Ginger water into the meat filling.
"Son, why didn’t you put any Cooking Wine?"
"You shouldn’t put Cooking Wine in meat filling; it can easily turn sour. We should use Scallion and Ginger water instead. If the meat has a strong odor, we can also use Sichuan peppercorn water."
As his cooking experience grew, Lin Xu had summarized some of his knowledge. For example, no matter what kind of filling is being used, it is not appropriate to use Cooking Wine. This is because the wine cannot evaporate, so it can’t remove the odd flavors from the fillings and will only make the meat turn sour. For instance, if you want the meat filling to gel, add salt. Otherwise, use a mixture of Scallion, Ginger, and salt water instead of salt granules.
When the meat filling was almost ready, Lin Xu added the chopped shepherd’s purse and some white lard. Regardless of what kind of fish is being prepared, adding a bit of pork fat will definitely produce an unexpected effect.