Chapter 84: A Small Gathering

The main dishes for tonight are lemon duck and smoked fish. Li Shenxing mainly prepared these two dishes, while the rest were handled by his second sister.

Li Shenxing started with the lemon duck, as it required more time. He boiled water in a pot, blanched the marinated duck pieces to remove the gamey smell, then drained them.

He took out some pickled ginger, pickled chili, peeled garlic, sliced ginger, and cut the salted lemon, removing the seeds and slicing it (if the seeds are not removed, it will taste bitter).

He heated a wok without oil, then added the blanched duck pieces, stir-frying over medium heat until they changed color and released oil. He then removed the duck pieces and stir-fried the ingredients. He left the duck oil in the wok, added the sliced pickled ginger, pickled chili, mountain yellow skin sauce, garlic, and ginger slices, stir-frying until fragrant. He then added the duck pieces, along with cooking wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and salt, stir-frying briefly. He added hot water and simmered until the duck was tender and flavorful. Once the duck released oil and the water was almost gone, he added the salted lemon and stir-fried for another minute before removing it from the heat (if the lemon is stir-fried for too long, it will become bitter and lose its fresh aroma, so it should be added last). This lemon duck is very appetizing, as the pickled ginger, pickled chili, and lemon prevent it from being greasy.

The smoked fish was already marinated and very flavorful, so Li Shenxing just stir-fried the fish pieces, adding chili, minced garlic, and scallions, stir-frying for a while, then adding a little water and simmering briefly before removing it from the heat.

Since there were already two meat dishes, his second sister made a cold dish using blanched bean sprouts, spinach, and eggplant. She also made a soup. After finishing, she and Li Shenxing brought all the dishes to the dining table and arranged them, adding some small dishes.

Father-in-law and his second brother-in-law had already returned home and were watching TV in the living room. When his second sister was serving the rice, Li Shenxing came out to call everyone to the table.

The family was already used to seeing new dishes on the table. Father-in-law only asked the names of the dishes before starting to eat. Both dishes were quite to the taste of Koreans, and Father-in-law said they were very appetizing. His second brother-in-law even ate an extra half bowl of rice.

After dinner, Li Shenxing sat for a while before getting up to go home. He had already agreed with his in-laws that he would pick them up on the day of the birthday celebration, as Father-in-law's birthday was coming up in a few days. There were still many pumpkin cakes left from lunch, so Mother-in-law packed some for Li Shenxing to take home for Hyo-ri. Holding the bag of pumpkin cakes, Li Shenxing drove home.

Entering the house after entering the door code, he heard the TV. He changed his shoes and walked in, seeing Hyo-ri lying on the sofa, asleep.

He walked to the sofa, placed the pumpkin cakes on the coffee table, and sat on the carpet in front of her, not waking her up. He just sat there, quietly watching her.

Her chestnut hair, delicate eyebrows, small upturned nose, and slightly pale lips... Suddenly, an inspiration flashed through his mind, and Li Shenxing quickly took out his phone and opened the notes app.

"I'm not the same as before... You're a bit different too... But in my eyes, your smile... is still beautiful... I still cherish every moment of happiness... Your every breath... every movement... every expression... In the end, I will still love you..."

After writing down the lyrics that flashed through his mind, he waited a while, then put away his phone. With a touch of emotion from writing the song, he leaned down and gently kissed her lips to wake her up.

"Oppa, you're back," Hyo-ri said, rubbing her eyes.

Seeing her cute appearance, Li Shenxing kissed her lips again and asked, "What did you have for dinner? Are you hungry?"

"A little. I just had some cold noodles for dinner."

"Today, I made a lot of dishes at Mother's place. It's a real loss that you didn't go. Here are the pumpkin cakes I made. Mother asked me to bring some back for you."

"Wow! They look so delicious!" she said, reaching out to grab one.

Li Shenxing caught her hand, "Wash your hands first before eating. I'll make you a glass of juice." Then he led her, who was reluctant, to the kitchen.

He placed a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in front of Hyo-ri, "In a few days, it's Appa's birthday. Don't forget that you said you would make some dishes for Appa to try."

"Ah! If Oppa hadn't reminded me, I would have forgotten. I've been so busy. Luckily, I don't have any important schedules these days. I'll talk to Sister Mi-ya later," Hyo-ri exclaimed.

Mentioning her father's birthday, Hyo-ri immediately became energetic and started discussing with Li Shenxing what dishes to buy and whether to do some decorations. It was mostly Hyo-ri talking, and Li Shenxing just listened, unable to get a word in.

...

June 13th

Li Shenxing woke up as usual, went out for a run, and then exercised at the gym when he got home.

After making breakfast for the kids and eating himself, he started checking the fridge to see what he had and what he needed to buy, writing it down in a small notebook so he wouldn't forget when he went to the market.

After finishing, he went upstairs to take a shower, as it was easier to sweat in the summer.

After showering, he didn't wake Hyo-ri, as it was rare for her to sleep in. He changed clothes, took his wallet and phone, and went downstairs with his notebook and car keys.

At the supermarket, Li Shenxing pushed a cart straight to the produce section, buying plenty of strawberries, apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas, and a large watermelon. For tonight's barbecue, he didn't need to buy meat, as he had just received beef from his uncle in Jeju Island. However, he needed to buy lettuce, sesame leaves, perilla leaves, onions, tofu, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, scallions, peeled garlic, and, most importantly, seaweed (their seaweed is dehydrated and easy to rehydrate, unlike the type that is hard to cook).

After buying everything and leaving the supermarket, Li Shenxing went to another street to pick up the birthday cake he had ordered the day before. He had ordered the cake when he went to his in-laws' house the day before, as there wouldn't have been enough time otherwise.

He returned home with a lot of groceries, and Hyo-ri was still asleep. It was almost ten o'clock.

He first washed the fruits they would eat, then arranged them on a plate and placed it on the coffee table in the living room. He also peeled and washed the vegetables they would use, placing them in a basket to drain. After finishing everything, Li Shenxing wiped the sweat from his head and sat on the sofa to rest.

Li Shenxing, who had fallen asleep on the sofa, was woken up by Mimi climbing onto him and making noise. Checking the time, it was almost noon. He had dozed off for half an hour and needed to make lunch and wake Hyo-ri up.

He simply stir-fried a plate of beef, cooked noodles, and made two bowls of mixed noodles before going upstairs.

Entering the bedroom, he saw Hyo-ri sleeping in a disheveled manner. Li Shenxing had an idea, took the cat teaser he used to play with the kids, gently lifted the blanket, and exposed Hyo-ri's feet, lightly sliding the teaser over her soles.

Hyo-ri's feet moved, then she pulled them back under the blanket.

Li Shenxing silently chuckled, lifted the blanket a bit more, exposed her feet again, and started teasing her soles with the cat teaser.

...

PS. I know I'll probably be scolded again. (╯3╰)