In J-City, inside a detached villa in Cangya Bay:
“Brother Zhou, let me take a look at what your good younger brother sent you!”
A young man dressed in an ocean-blue suit raised his hand and reached toward the package.
“Shut up,” Zhou Yu said helplessly, quickly slapping the other man’s hand down.
“Why are you like this? When you need me, you’re all smiles and pleasantness; when you don’t, you find even my talking too noisy.” The young man complained with deep grievance.
“Zhuang Zhengjun, that’s enough. You still think you’re in the right when casually touching my things?” Zhou Yu reprimanded sternly.
The young man gave a start, stuttering for a moment before saying:
“To think you’re my good brother, you don’t trust me at all!”
Zhou Yu glanced at him with a half-smile and said, “You didn’t have my permission last time when you sneaked off with the stuff in my kitchen. Do you think you still have any trust left with me?”
Here it comes again! Can this matter ever be put in the past?
It was just stealing a jar of pickled vegetables, yet this guy had been nagging about it for so many days—saying it in front of people and behind their backs alike.
Zhuang Zhengjun swore that if time could flow backward to the day he stole the pickles, he definitely would not steal just one jar.
Since he would get scolded either way, he might as well have stolen more. It wasn’t that he lacked self-control; it was simply that those pickles were entirely too delicious.
That day coincided with Zhou Yu’s return to J-City. Originally, he and his brothers were planning to throw a welcome banquet for him, but Zhou Yu had turned down all the dinner invitations that flooded in one after another.
His reason was that the old man was still bedridden and needed the companionship of the younger generation, while the company’s business was currently too busy and urgently needed him to share the burden, leaving him with no time to attend various social events.
As soon as these words came out, they instantly obliterated his cousin Zhou Zhaoqi, who spent all day lingering around major banquets, reducing him to absolute dust.
Whenever people talked about the Zhou family, they universally praised Zhou Yu as a filial and motivated good child, but whenever the discussion turned to the eldest branch’s Zhou Zhaoqi, everyone adopted a hesitant, unspoken attitude.
Upon learning about this, the eldest branch was furious and directly rejected all banquet invitations for that period.
However, only Zhuang Zhengjun and the other close friends knew that Zhou Yu was a big bad wolf in sheep’s clothing—he looked honest, but was actually full of dark schemes.
Saying those words was purely intended to make the eldest branch lose face. Didn’t this family love socializing and care most about their reputation?
Yet Zhou Yu didn’t take things too far either. A short while later, he invited a few close friends over to his home for a gathering.
It was precisely on that day that Zhuang Zhengjun extended his sinful hand toward Zhou Yu’s pickles.
That day, Zhou Yu had the chef prepare a large table of fine dishes. As the group ate and chatted halfway through the meal, Zhou Yu suddenly stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
Others might not know, but how could Zhuang Zhengjun not know? Zhou Yu’s home was fully stocked with chefs and servants; if he wanted anything, a single word was enough. What on earth could possibly require Young Master Zhou himself to step into the kitchen?
Zhuang Zhengjun’s brain wiring had been different from ordinary people since childhood. In Zhou Yu’s words, his brain gullies were much smoother than the average person’s.
Seeing Zhou Yu enter the kitchen, his very first reaction was that Zhou Yu was sneaking off behind everyone’s back to eat good food.
Without a moment of hesitation, Zhuang Zhengjun abandoned his friends and crept stealthily into the kitchen on cat’s feet. As it turned out, his guess was spot on: Zhou Yu was scooping something out of a small jar into a bowl.
Zhuang Zhengjun complained, “Brother Zhou, do you still consider us buddies? What on earth is this good stuff that you have to sneak behind your brothers’ backs to eat?”
Zhou Yu was utterly speechless at the sudden appearance of this person. Having grown accustomed to eating the food Liu Yu made back in Qinghe Town, whenever he ate these chicken, duck, fish, and meat dishes now, he always found them bland and tasteless, unable to swallow them with any enthusiasm.
Liu Yu possessed exceptional culinary skills; even casually stir-frying a pot of bok choy tasted fresher and sweeter than what the chefs here prepared. Fortunately, when leaving, Liu Yu had packed him a few jars of pickles and chili sauce, temporarily saving his appetite.
However, he consumed the pickles at a rapid pace, needing a bit with every single meal, and by now there wasn’t much left.
He had never been a stingy person. In the past, if his friends joked around wanting a seafood feast, he could immediately blink without batting an eye and send someone down south to transport the freshest seafood over.
Yet solely regarding these pickles, he had no desire to share them.
Zhuang Zhengjun didn’t care whether he wanted to share or not, shooting his chopsticks forward with lightning speed. Zhou Yu was too late to stop him, letting him scoop some out.
Zhuang Zhengjun shoveled a mouthful of rice along with the pickles and remarked, “Where did you buy this good stuff? It looks unremarkable, but the flavor is truly top-notch—sour, crisp, and appetizing!”
Zhou Yu cast a faint glance at him: “Even if you wanted to buy it, you couldn’t. This was made by my younger brother himself, out of worry that I wouldn’t get used to the food when I came back.”
Zhuang Zhengjun waved his hand in front of his face and said, “Brother Zhou, wake up! Where did you get a younger brother? You only have an older brother who acts like a wolf eyeing its prey.”
“Don’t put my younger brother in the same category as that asshole,” Zhou Yu said with a look of utter disgust, before explaining, “I met him in W-City. He helped me quite a bit back then, and the kid is very well-behaved and cute in both personality and appearance. When he comes to J-City in the future, you’d better not let me catch you bullying him.”
Zhuang Zhengjun was practically laughing in disbelief. “Am I that kind of person? When have you ever seen me bully a kid?”
“Hah.” Zhou Yu carefully sealed the jar of pickles. “This younger brother of mine has always been more well-behaved and pure-hearted than others.”
Zhuang Zhengjun quickly cut him off. Alright, alright—a kid he had only briefly spent time with was pure-hearted, while he, a good brother who had worn the same pair of pants since childhood, was painted as an outright villain.
Unable to contain his anger, right before leaving, Zhuang Zhengjun stuffed an unopened jar of pickles inside his suit jacket and slipped away with the spoils.
Consequently, he had naturally been subjected to fierce verbal castigation by Zhou Yu ever since.
“I’m just asking you to let me take a look! Trust me one last time, I really won’t steal from you this time,” Zhuang Zhengjun pleaded, seeing that arguing was getting him nowhere.
Zhou Yu compromised: “You can look, but no touching with your hands.”
The package sent over this time wasn’t very heavy. Zhou Yu opened it and found that the contents consisted entirely of dried goods.
“What kind of weird stuff is all this? I’ve never seen them before,” Zhuang Zhengjun chimed in from the side.
“You spend all day cooped up in J-City; there’s plenty of things you haven’t seen,” Zhou Yu retorted.
He took everything out of the package, noticing that each small bundle came with a thoughtfully attached instruction sheet, filled with neat, elegant handwriting explaining how to prepare each item.
Dried long beans: Soak, slice into sections, and braise directly with braised pork belly, or steam them directly with salted pork and black beans. Both the salted pork and black beans have been included for you. This season has been cold, and the long beans grew very poorly, so I only managed to dry this small amount.
Cured duck legs, cured meat, and cured sausages: I made a lot this year. When you want to eat them, just steam them directly with scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, or stir-fry them on high heat.
Chopped chili sauce: You know how to eat this, so I probably don’t need to elaborate.
This is a pack of dried small fish and dried small shrimp, which Wensheng and I caught in the stream behind the house during our free time. I’ve tasted it once; the flavor is very savory and fresh. You can steam or stir-fry them with soy sauce, scallions, ginger, and chili peppers. By the way, you can also toss a few dried small shrimp into soups.
I pickled some cubed radishes for you. Since you like spicy food, I pickled them all spicy. However, you should still eat these pickles sparingly; excessive consumption can affect your physical health.
The final item was a letter detailing Liu Yu’s living conditions during this period and informing him that he had already opened a shop.
“Whoa! There’s quite a lot of stuff! I just wonder if it tastes good or not!” Zhuang Zhengjun said as if casually inquiring.
“That project your dad has in his hands…”
“Don’t worry! Leaving aside the fact that our relationship is as solid as iron, just considering my dad and your dad’s many years of friendship, as long as Zhou Zhaoqi’s bid isn’t too far off from the other two parties, he will definitely prioritize giving it to someone else.”
Zhuang Zhengjun lowered his voice and said, “You’re truly a badass, man. Let me leak a piece of news to you: Zhou Zhaoqi is locking horns with the Xu family this time. Their bidding prices keep going higher one after the other, exceeding the estimated price by double. Even my dad is starting to lose his cool. How on earth did you convince the Xu family to go head-to-head with a guy like your brother, and aren’t you afraid of getting your hands dirty in the muck?”
Zhou Yu chuckled lightly: “Businessmen prioritize profit. Once you show him how promising the prospects of this project are, the moment he understands, forget about fair competition—he’d resort to any means necessary just to fight for it.”
“Alright, help me thank your uncle for this matter. It’s also mealtime, so stay and eat here today!”
Sure enough, he knew it! This dog of a Zhou Yu would never treat him well for no reason without extracting something from him first. Zhuang Zhengjun was annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. He genuinely wanted to taste these foods he had never tried before.
Zhou Yu ignored him and packed all the dried goods into the kitchen.
He shooed out the chef who was currently preparing ingredients, tied on an apron, and set about cooking by himself.
The chef had never even seen the items Liu Yu sent over. Rather than letting the chef make mistakes and waste the ingredients, he preferred to cook them personally.
Back in Qinghe Town, whenever Liu Yu cooked, he would watch from the side while tending the fire. Over time, he had naturally picked up some basic culinary skills.
He steamed the dried long beans using savory black bean sauce, then sliced the cured pork thinly and stir-fried it over high heat with garlic greens and spicy peppers. A long-lost, rich aroma wafted through the air, drawing Zhuang Zhengjun over from the living room where he had been resting.
Zhuang Zhengjun frantically sniffed the air and said, “Why does it smell so good! I really couldn’t tell you had such cooking skills.”
“It’s just that the ingredients are good. If Xiaoyu were the one cooking, it would taste even better than mine.” Even so, he had been craving this flavor for a long time; just smelling this scent right now made his mouth water uncontrollably.
Taking advantage of the moment Zhou Yu turned around, Zhuang Zhengjun quickly grabbed a slice of cured pork, chewed it up, and feeling unsatisfied, reached his hand out again.
“If you still want your hand, please get the hell out of my kitchen right now,” Zhou Yu said in a dark, gloomy tone.
“Alright, alright, don’t get mad, I’m getting out right away!” Zhuang Zhengjun could still prioritize between momentary craving and constant craving; seeing that Zhou Yu’s expression was about to crack, he obediently bolted out of the kitchen.
There were only two dishes for lunch. In the past, Zhuang Zhengjun wouldn’t have even dreamed of such a meal—his title as a J-City scion wasn’t just for show, and who would dare treat him to such a frugal spread?
Yet today, he didn’t dare utter a single complaint. Not only was this meal begged for through thick-skinned persistence, but considering that Zhou Yu was cooking it personally, he didn’t dare voice any opinions whatsoever.
Still, to give credit where it was due, the flavor was truly out of this world. At the very least, in his mind, it could easily rival any dish at the Yufang Grand Hotel.
Zhuang Zhengjun was truly envious now, turning green as he said, “What kind of freak luck did you run into? Being banished by your cousin to some impoverished rural backwater only for you to unearth a treasure.”
“Misfortune is what happiness depends upon, and happiness is what misfortune lurks within. Meeting him is probably heaven’s reward to me.”
“Tsk tsk,” Zhuang Zhengjun said, his teeth aching. “Didn’t you used to not believe in this sort of thing?”
Zhou Yu raised his head and smiled: “My point is, this younger brother is something I rightly deserve. He’s not someone you can get just by wanting him, so being envious is useless.”
Zhuang Zhengjun: “…”