Once the impartial person left, Cai Wei swiftly entered the Space.
She had been running around the whole afternoon, which exhausted her. Her initial plan was to take a bath in the Space to relieve the fatigue, then take a nap. After waking up, she would reward herself by making something delicious to eat before heading out to the granaries of the various manors that she had visited in the afternoon.
However, just as she stepped into the Space, she was captured by Brother Ying’s resentful gaze.
"Yiyiyi... Master, you actually cooked delicious food for them while I was not around..."
Brother Ying seemed wronged as his bean-like eyes constantly shed tears. The distressed cries made Cai Wei guilty, as though she had offended him in some way.
"Uh...about that, Brother Ying, let me explain..."
"Does Master not like me, and only likes that monkey?"
"No, it was because...I happened to be hungry too."
"Why didn’t you leave me some, and you even destroyed the evidence? Was it to deceive me? Although I’m a bird, I’m a smart bird... Yiyiyi..."
"I’m sorry, Brother Ying, I forgot..."
"Hmph, I don’t exist in Master’s heart at all..."
Brother Ying cried and walked off sorrowfully. After a while, he came back carrying a small bundle.
"Master, I’m going to run away from home..."
A series of question marks formed in Cai Wei’s mind. She twitched her mouth and said: "Brother Ying, it’s just a meal, do you need to act ? Please, don’t do this, I am sorry!"
Brother Ying, arrogantly lifting his bird head, turned his little bird face to the side, making it clear that he wouldn’t forgive Cai Wei.
After thinking for a moment, Cai Wei mysteriously said: "Oh! Brother Ying, have you ever had hotpot? It is very delicious, I have never made it for anyone else. Shall I make it for you today?"
Brother Ying let out a ’hmph’. Though his head was still turned, his expression had softened considerably.
With that observed, Cai Wei chuckled and started to prepare the meal.
Firstly, she caught a fat and delicious blackfish from the Lingxi River. After killing and cleaning the blackfish, she slit open its belly, removed the internal organs and cleaned them; scales were scraped off, and the flesh on both sides was sliced off. The two long strips of fish meat were cut into a butterfly-shaped thin slice. The head, bones, skin, and tail were kept aside.
Chang Mei discreetly came over to help, with a hint of guilt evident on its face. The white fur on its face had a faint blush. It had inadvertently betrayed Cai Wei during a quarrel with Brother Ying, leading to her being threatened and bickering with Brother Ying. To make amends for this, it actively helped without waiting to be asked.
It picked the fresh cabbage required by Cai Wei, washed them clean, and kept them aside. It then put the fish slices into dishes, adding sesame oil, salt noodles, garlic slices, minced ginger, and dry chili powder. After uniformly mixing them, the fish slices were ready to be eaten.
"Master, I have prepared them for you, is there anything else that needs to be done?"
Chang Mei asked carefully.
Cai Wei said, "No, you just need to help Brother Ying clip vegetables at later hotpot feast."
On saying that, she poured the fish head, bones, skin, and tail into the hotpot to make soup. Once the soup tasted fresh, the soup was strained to remove the head, tail, skin, and bones. Lard was added to the clear soup. Once the soup boiled, the fish meat was cooked in it.
The blackfish hotpot was extraordinarily delicious, and the soup was tasty as well. After serving the blackfish hotpot, Cai Wei leisurely sat at the table and began to enjoy her sumptuous meal.
The silky fragrance immersed Brother Ying’s nostrils, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. With a ’flutter’ sound, he flew over, lowered his head, and started eating.