Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After Xu Le promised his sister that he would accompany her to the amusement park, it happened to be Sunday the next day.
Xu Tian was wearing a collared nightgown with a teddy bear in her arms. When she opened her eyes and saw that her brother had disappeared, she rushed out of the bedroom without even putting on her shoes.
Lu Yuxi, who had just finished washing her face, came out and bumped into her. She immediately said, “Quick, put on your shoes. Don’t catch a cold!”
Xu Tian followed the fragrance and ran to the kitchen door. She pressed her face against the glass and sniffed hard. “Brother, what are you cooking?”
“I think it’s popcorn.” Lu Yuxi carried the child and kissed her soft face. “Go change your clothes and wash up. I’ll bring you to the amusement park today, okay?”
“Alright!”
Xu Tian’s eyes lit up.
Xu Le bought the small corns specially used for making popcorn. He put butter in the pot and a 1: 3 ratio of white sugar to brown sugar. After melting and stirring in the pot, he poured in the corn.
Then, he started the fire and stirred the corn until the first popcorn popped up. The corn seemed to have been woken up, and they scrambled to pop up.
Xu Le shook the handle of the pot twice before closing the lid.
The pot was crackling non-stop as he turned around to scoop up the corn with spare ribs soup that he had started stewing the night before. When he opened the rice cooker, the hot fragrance wafted into his nose, making one salivate uncontrollably.
He scooped three bowls of soup and carried them out. He stood by the table, dumbfounded.
Xu Tian had changed into a puff sleeved princessy dress. She had a few pigtails on her head with a big bow.
She looked just like a little princess!
Xu Le suddenly realized that he had been too rough when he was taking care of his younger sister previously. Fortunately, Xu Tian was cute and was able to make up for his disastrous outfit coordination.
“Brother?”
Xu Tian looked like she was asking for praise.
“You look so beautiful, so cute.” Xu Le was generous with his praises. “If you go to the amusement park today, there might even be people who think you’re an actual princess on an escape.”
These words made Xu Tian cover her mouth and laugh. She buried her head into Lu Yuxi’s arms.
The popcorn was completely ready, and the lid was covered with sugar stains. Fortunately, the house had a dishwasher installed, otherwise it would have been too hard to wash.
Xu Le poured the popcorn into the hollow vegetable basket and shook it a few times, waiting for it to cool down.
Xu Tian couldn’t wait any longer. She tiptoed toward the aroma and reached out to pick one up.
Xu Le quickly said, “It’s hot!”
“The popcorn is sticky and scalding when it’s hot. The texture is not good when it’s hot. Only when it cools down will it be crispy and fragrant. Let’s go have breakfast first and wait, okay?”
Xu Tian nodded obediently. “Okay.”
While they were eating, Lu Yuxi helped him serve the dishes. Looking at the brightly colored Kung Pao chicken cubes, sour and spicy shredded potatoes, and fried small yellow croakers, she could not help but swallow her saliva and whisper, “Is the breakfast at your house usually this sumptuous?”
Xu Le smiled helplessly. “Xu Tian is a picky eater. I can only cook her favorite dishes in different ways.”
“Oh my god.” Lu Yuxi looked envious. She wanted to reach out to rub his face, but she felt that it was impolite, so she paused in midair and retracted her hand in embarrassment. She exclaimed with emotion. “You’re such a good brother. If my sister can cook, I’ll burn incense for her when I get back.”
Lu Yuxi lowered her head and took a sip of the soup. The taste of sweet corn and meaty pork ribs were mixed into the soup, and she felt so comfortable after taking a sip. She immediately started to dig in.
The simple fried yellow croaker was crispy and fragrant. After it was fried, even the bones were crispy and the taste was addictive.
After the meal, Lu Yuxi leaned back and felt that her stomach was about to explode. She had not had such a full stomach in a long time.
“Xu Le, you’re so awesome. No wonder you won so many awards. This is the best meal I’ve had since I was born!”
Xu Le raised his eyebrows in shock.
“It’s too much!”
“I’m not bragging… Oh right, that day when I saw you in the finals, the judge sitting in the middle was called Song something. That’s right! Song Deyue clearly likes your food, so why did he give you such a low score? Is he deliberately bullying you?”
“No.”
Xu Le explained to her everything.
Lu Yuxi clapped her hands excitedly and said, “I know, this is to prevent you from being too popular. He’s worried that if you reach too high suddenly, it’ll make people jealous, so he had to suppress it. It’ll make those who like you like you even more!”
“Yeah.”
Xu Le didn’t care much about his reputation on the Internet. After dinner, he took Xu Tian to the amusement park closest to home.
On the way, Xu Tian didn’t say a word. She kept munching on the fragrant and crispy popcorn, her face full of enjoyment.
The driver couldn’t help but look in the rearview mirror a few times. “Little kid, where did you buy that? It looks pretty good. Let me buy one for my kid.”
Xu Tian mumbled unclearly, “My brother made it himself.”
“Oh.”
The driver was a little disappointed.
When they got out of the car at the gate, Xu Tian handed a large handful of popcorn to the driver and said, “Here you go.”
The driver was delighted and hurriedly took it. The car was filled with the rich buttery fragrance of popcorn, so he had been craving it all the way. After thanking her, he immediately stuffed it into his mouth.
It was crispy and sweet, but not greasy at all. After finishing it in one go, the driver licked his lips in satisfaction.
Xu Tian looked young and usually would be crying. However, once she arrived at the amusement park, she started to party crazily and wanted to play all kinds of rides.
There were bumper cars, trampolines, shooting games, throwing balls… After going through all of them, she wanted to play roller coasters. Unfortunately, she was too short and was stopped by the staff.
Xu Le heaved a sigh of relief. He did not expect his sister to have such a courageous side. He pointed at the dessert shop across the street and said, “Are you hungry? Let’s go in and buy you a dessert.”
Xu Tian pulled a long face and nodded reluctantly.
Lu Yuxi held her hand and coaxed her as they walked. After entering the shop, she realized that the dessert shop required customers to bake themselves. They only provided various ingredients and do not sell any finished products.
She took a glance and saw that there were only parents with their children all around her.
Xu Tian pouted. “Brother, I want to eat that…”
She pointed to the tiramisu that someone was working on next to her. She was salivating.
“Little gluttony cat.”
Xu Le commented with a smile and paid for the three of them. He was not worried about desserts since the system had a recipe that was accurate to every step.
Lu Yuxi and his sister went to get some ingredients, while he sat on the rocking chair and closed his eyes.
After browsing through the dessert section of the system, he spent 120 gourmet points to buy the recipe of “tiramisu”, “taro box” and “chiffon cake”.
Baking desserts was pretty much the same. The main difficulty lie in the ratio of ingredients and the exquisiteness of temperature control. This was not like cooking. If anything went wrong, everything that was made would be ruined..