Zong Ruoan hung up the phone with Tantai Jinyu, took a shower, and changed his clothes.
He had just finished tidying up when the doorbell rang.
It was the Zong Family's servants delivering his New Year's Eve Dinner.
Zong Ruoan opened the door and let them in. After they placed the delivered meals in the dining room, he sent them back.
These people had come on the Zong Family's Private Starship that could perform space warps, so they were very fast.
If they hurried back now, they would still have time to reunite with their families and eat New Year's Eve Dinner.
To thank them for their service, Zong Ruoan also transferred a large red envelope to each of them before promptly sending them off.
After they left, Zong Ruoan sent a video call request to Xia Chujian.
At this time, Xia Chujian and her teammates were happily gathered in the kitchen and dining room, assisting Xia Yuanfang.
Hearing the Quantum Optical Brain's notification sound, Xia Chujian glanced at it and discovered that it was actually a video call request from Zong Ruoan.
She was a little surprised.
Today was New Year's Eve. Although it was not yet four in the afternoon, it was already dark outside, and the cold was biting. Saying that water would freeze instantly was not enough to describe the outdoor cold.
Why was Zong Ruoan sending her a video call request at this time, instead of preparing the New Year's Eve feast with his family?
Xia Chujian curiously pressed the answer button.
Zong Ruoan saw the busy people around Xia Chujian: "...Are you at home?"
Xia Chujian nodded: "Yes, our Team is celebrating New Year's Eve at my house."
Zong Ruoan said with a smile: "Can I join you? I just finished work today and didn't have time to go back to my house for New Year's Eve. Now I'm all alone."
Xia Chujian didn't think much about it and said, "It's really miserable to spend New Year's Eve alone, Colonel Zong. Where are you now?"
Zong Ruoan said: "I'm in the neighborhood next to your house."
Xia Chujian exclaimed in surprise: "Colonel Zong bought a house in a luxury apartment complex! Colonel Zong is so rich!"
Zong Ruoan: "..."
The petrified crowd: "..."
To tell someone from the Four Great Noble Families that they are rich, it was really hard to tell if it was sarcasm or ignorance.
But looking at Xia Chujian's expression, it was neither sarcasm nor ignorance. She really thought so.
Li Fu leaned over and said to Zong Ruoan in the video call in a serious manner: "Colonel Zong, to be praised as 'so rich' by our Little Xia Chujian is a genuine compliment. Ordinary people don't get this kind of praise."
Zong Ruoan chuckled: "I understand, thank you Li Fu for the explanation. By the way, because I can't go home for New Year's Eve, my family sent me a New Year's Eve set meal. I can't finish it all by myself. If you don't mind, I'll bring it over and eat with you, okay?"
Xia Chujian waved her hand with a smile: "I don't mind! I don't mind! Of course, I don't mind! Delicious food is even more delicious when shared with everyone!"
Then she casually asked, "How many dishes did Colonel Zong's family send Colonel Zong?"
Zong Ruoan glanced at the electronic food box on the table that had not yet been taken out and plated, and said, "...About thirty-two dishes."
Xia Chujian: "..."
Seeing the Black Rhino Pig Meat Bun she was wrapping, she suddenly felt it was not so fragrant anymore.
But she quickly comforted herself, Zong Ruoan was winning by quantity, her family was winning by quality!
Zong Ruoan said: "Then I'll come over now?"
Xia Chujian nodded blankly: "Do you need us to pick you up? Thirty-two dishes, can you manage to carry them all by yourself?"
Zong Ruoan thought for a moment, "It would be good if two of you could come over and help me carry them."
Li Fu and Song Mingqian immediately volunteered: "Colonel Zong, what's your address? We can come and help you!"
Zong Ruoan gave his address.
Li Fu and Song Mingqian immediately put on their coats and went out.
They didn't use a Flying Vehicle, but instead used the high strength and stamina of Rank B Gene Evolvers, leaping and running between the buildings, and arrived at the first floor of Zong Ruoan's building in the next neighborhood in five minutes.
However, after entering the next neighborhood, it took another ten minutes to reach the first floor of the building where Zong Ruoan lived.
Because that residential area was so much bigger than Xia Chujian's old and outdated one...
Then they took the elevator to the top floor, finally arriving at the entrance of Zong Ruoan's top-floor duplex apartment.
He rang the doorbell, and Zong Ruoan opened the door for them, pointing to the dining room on the other side and saying, "The food containers are over there, let's move them together."
"There are five food containers in total, containing eight cold dishes, eight hot dishes, eight steamed dishes, and four soups, and four staple foods."
Zong Ruoan picked up the electronic food container filled with the four soups, which was almost half a person tall.
Song Mingqian carried two food containers, one with cold dishes and the other with hot dishes.
Li Fu carried the other two food containers, containing steamed dishes and staple foods.
The three of them took the elevator down from the top floor, and then rushed all the way to the entrance of Xia Chujian's house.
Half an hour had already passed.
Xia Chujian opened the door and said with emotion, "Actually, Colonel Zong lives quite far away..."
Zong Ruoan: "..."
If he used a Flying Vehicle, it would be a ten-minute round trip.
Unfortunately, his Flying Vehicle wasn't here, and he couldn't always use his Owl-Class Fighter.
Xia Chujian was just saying it casually.
Li Fu and Song Mingqian followed from behind, placing the food containers they were carrying on the large dining table in the dining room.
Xia Yuanfang heard that Zong Ruoan had arrived, and came out of the kitchen to say to him politely, "Welcome, Colonel Zong, to celebrate New Year's Eve at our home. I'm busy here, so please make yourself at home, Colonel Zong."
Zong Ruoan didn't know anything about cooking, so he didn't offer to help in the kitchen.
However, the members of Xia Chujian's Team were either helping to pick vegetables in the kitchen or wrapping buns in the dining room.
So he also walked over, put his hands in his trouser pockets, stood beside Xia Chujian, and watched her nimble fingers fly, quickly wrapping one white and plump bun after another.
He looked at the meat filling and asked curiously, "What kind of filling is this?"
Xia Chujian said triumphantly, "Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pig meat filling!"
Zong Ruoan was even more curious: "...I heard that Black Rhino Pig meat is out of stock everywhere in Mulan City, how did you get it?"
Xia Chujian: "..."
She was careless.
She forgot that the origin of this thing could not be revealed to outsiders for the time being.
Ye Shijie smiled and patched things up, saying, "We went to the Exotic Beast Forest to perform a mission last time, and we brought back two Wild Rhinoceros Pigs by the way. We were reluctant to sell them, so we kept them in my big refrigerator. When we want to eat them, we take some over and let Xia Gugu help us make them."
Li Fu also said, "Xia Gugu's cooking skills are really amazing! Compared with Xia Gugu, ordinary people are like elementary school students compared to doctoral students!"
Xia Chujian glanced at Li Fu: "...Fu Ye, your double-edged sarcasm is becoming more and more refined. Who is the elementary school student? - You can just report my Quantum Optical Brain number!"
Li Fu chuckled, and said slyly to Zong Ruoan, "Colonel Zong, I'm not bragging, you'll know how good Xia Gugu's cooking is when you eat it later."
Zong Ruoan smiled slightly, not expecting much.
He knew that in this empire, not to mention commoners and citizens, even many Nobles didn't have a decent foundation in diet.
However, these people did not include aristocratic families like the Four Great Noble Families.
The dietary culture passed down from generation to generation by their Four Great Noble Families could be written into a book.
He was confident that Xia Chujian's commoner aunt couldn't compare.
However, when Xia Yuanfang finished making all the dishes and arranged them on the plate together with the dishes brought by Zong Ruoan, Zong Ruoan realized that he was very wrong.
Xia Yuanfang only made four main dishes today.
A clear and moist Taro Bodhi Fruit Stewed Unicorn Beef, and a Unicorn Beef Tofu that was so tender that it melted in your mouth.
A Steamed Wild Rhino Pig Si Xi Meatballs, and a pure meat version of Braised Wild Rhino Pig Meat.
However, each dish was served in three large sea bowls, also occupying half of the dining table.
Then there were some snacks, such as the Fried Mianwo, Meat and Seafood Tofu Skin that she had made for the Team last time, as well as the Oily Sugar Pancake, White Sticky Rice Rice Ball, and Preserved Vegetable Pork Small Baked Bun that they had never eaten before.
The staple food was rice steamed with Tantai Royal Field Rice sent by Aunt Chen.
At first, Zong Ruoan wasn't particularly impressed by Xia Yuanfang's cooking, because judging by appearances alone, it lacked the delicate knife work and exquisite plating of his own family's chefs.
However, the pot of crystal-clear rice that was brought out immediately caught his attention.
Since becoming an adult, Zong Ruoan had rarely eaten rice, even the best Tantai Royal Field Rice.
Actually, because his mother was the Grand Princess, his family had never lacked this kind of rice since he was a child, but after eating it so much, he felt it was just so-so.
But this time, when he ate the first mouthful of rice, he found the taste was simply amazing.
With a gentle bite, the fresh fragrance of the rice burst like juice, instantly filling all the taste buds.
Chewing it once, the freshness was one layer.
Chewing it again, the freshness was another layer.
Chewing it mouthful after mouthful, the freshness seemed endless, revealing so many layers he had never perceived before...
Zong Ruoan swallowed a mouthful of rice before asking Xia Yuanfang, "Madam Xia, what kind of rice is this? I have never eaten such delicious rice."
Xia Yuanfang smiled and said, "I also think this rice is very delicious. This is Tantai Royal Field Rice."
Zong Ruoan was even more surprised: "...Tantai Royal Field Rice? I grew up eating Tantai Royal Field Rice, but it doesn't taste this good at all."
Xia Chujian was also puzzled.
"Colonel Zong, can there be such a big difference between the same variety of rice?"
Zong Ruoan said, "If it is really the same kind of rice, there shouldn't be such a big difference in itself, so it can only be the cooking method."
As he spoke, he wanted to ask Xia Yuanfang how she made it, but he quickly realized that this was taboo.
Among the Four Great Noble Families, the culinary culture passed down from generation to generation is a closely guarded secret within the family.
Nobles who want to inquire about other people's ancestral culinary secrets have to do it secretly, because once discovered, it would lead to a break in relations.
So Zong Ruoan didn't continue to ask, but out of politeness, he took another bite of the Steamed Si Xi Meatballs made by Xia Yuanfang.
He didn't know what the filling was, he only felt that the soup was very clear, the pink meatballs floated roundly in the clear soup, and it was also decorated with some unknown green shredded vegetables, which seemed very artistic.
But after he tasted it, his pupils immediately shook.
It was really hard to believe that someone could make meat dishes so amazing!
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