Chapter 119 - 110: You Sent Me This?

Chapter 119: Chapter 110: You Sent Me This?

Chen Qiyun looked very smug. "Brother Le and I made a deal. For every centimeter I grow, he’ll give me a gift. This is my gift this time."

Chen Xiuyun was taken aback again. "How tall are you now?"

"I’m already 1.54 meters!"

Chen Qiyun was brimming with pride. She’d like to see who would dare call her short now.

AHA?! Chen Xiuyun was quite surprised.

If she remembered correctly, the last time she measured Chen Qiyun, the girl was 1.52 meters. That number had stayed the same for three whole months without any change. She had even thought that Chen Qiyun’s height would most likely stay fixed at that number forever.

Now, in just half a month, Little Douding had actually grown two centimeters? It was unbelievable.

Chen Xiuyun remained half-skeptical. "Are you really 1.54 meters?"

Chen Qiyun looked displeased. "Of course it’s true. Why would I fake it?"

"Hard to say," Chen Xiuyun curled her lip. What was so great about being 1.54 meters? She was 1.65 meters and hadn’t even bragged about it!

Chen Qiyun grew angry. She thought, "What’s so great about being tall? I’ll reach 1.60 meters sooner or later, too!"

To her, 1.60 meters was already very tall—at least half a head taller than her current self.

What Chen Xiuyun cared more about was something else. "When did Chen Jingle learn to draw?"

"I don’t know. He said he learned it in his spare time," Chen Qiyun replied.

SHEESH! Chen Xiuyun furrowed her brows deeply. That sounded so pretentious. What was going on?

With this level of skill, he definitely had more than two and a half years of practice.

She had classmates who studied art. Even after two years of learning, their drawings were far worse than this, yet they still managed to get accepted into Guangmei. So they weren’t terrible by any means.

So there was no doubt about it; Chen Jingle’s skill level was clearly much higher than that of regular art students.

"Chen Jingle actually has this kind of talent?" Chen Xiuyun blinked, at a loss for words.

Just like the shock Chen Jingle had given her with his flower cultivation and cooking, she felt that her older cousin had undergone a monumental transformation without anyone noticing.

TSK, TSK, TSK! The more she thought about it, the more amazing it seemed.

Although she wanted to ask Chen Jingle to draw a portrait for her too, she was ultimately too thin-skinned and too embarrassed to ask. She could only envy Chen Qiyun.

Chen Qiyun closed her door and rolled around happily on her bed.

There had been simply too many people coming to ask her about the drawing. In all their conversations, everyone expressed nothing but envy and amazement. It just went to show how massive of an impact Chen Jingle’s drawing had on them.

Since the bread-wrapped chicken incident last time, this gave Chen Qiyun another perfect opportunity to aggressively show off in front of her classmates and friends.

Chen Jingle was great at drawing. Chen Jingle drew this for me. Therefore, Chen Jingle being amazing meant I am amazing!

After giggling foolishly to herself for a while, she heard voices coming from outside. It sounded like her dad was home from work.

Chen Qiyun quickly put the sketch portrait away, opened the door, and went out.

Chen Zhenlin arrived home from work as usual. First, he shared some news with his parents. "Xing from Eldest Uncle’s family called to tell me that he’s having a housewarming banquet for his new place on October 1st. He asked if I’d have time to drop by."

He had three maternal uncles and quite a few cousins on that side, with varying degrees of closeness.

He was definitely close to his Eldest Uncle. As for Eldest Uncle’s two sons, however, they didn’t really keep in touch much.

But out of respect for Eldest Uncle, since they had already made the call, he definitely had to go.

The old lady had just herded the chickens and ducks back into their pens. She sat down on the long wooden bench by the wall and said, "If you have time, then just go."

Chen Zhenlin smiled and asked, "What about you two? Do you want to go?"

"I can’t be bothered. Even if I went, I wouldn’t be able to eat much." The old lady had never liked joining in on the bustling atmosphere of these banquets. She had a lot of dietary restrictions.

The old man stood holding a hoe, likely having just returned from the vegetable patch behind the house. Hearing the commotion, he stopped, and since he hadn’t heard clearly what was said, he asked them to repeat it.

Chen Zhenlin repeated himself.

"Just you going is fine." The old man had no interest in it. He barely had any teeth left, so what could he even eat if he went?

Chen Zhenlin’s gaze shifted to Chen Qiyun, who had just come out of her room. Instantly, he planted a hand on his hip, tilted his chin up, and shot her a sidelong glance.

"Chen Qiyun, do you want to go to the banquet?"

His posture was an exact replica of Chen Qiyun’s usual stance.

In the past, Chen Qiyun would have been extremely enthusiastic about going to a banquet because the food there was generally delicious. At the very least, it tasted better than home cooking.

But ever since she got used to eating at Chen Jingle’s place, she lost all interest in food made by anyone else. The same applied to restaurant food.

Even restaurants couldn’t make food as tasty as Chen Jingle’s! So, she decisively refused.

This caught Chen Zhenlin completely off guard. Little Douding had really changed her tune—she was even skipping a celebratory banquet.

Fine! When the time came, he would just have to make the trip himself.

The old man asked, "Where did Xing buy his house again?"

"Longcheng International in the south of the city."

"So is he hosting the banquet inside the residential district, or somewhere else?"

Chen Zhenlin sighed helplessly. "How could a residential district just let people take up space for a banquet? It’ll be at a restaurant outside."

"Did they say how many tables they’re setting up?"

"They didn’t say. But the restaurant isn’t very big, so they probably just invited close relatives." Chen Zhenlin wasn’t entirely sure either. He decided to ask Eldest Uncle for more details later.

The old man nodded and asked again, "What did Wei say on his end?"

Chen Zhenlin didn’t even have to think about it. "They called to let us know. Jingle is at home, so we’ll just let him go. What else is there to say? Brother Wei is out of town and it’s not like he can fly back just for this."

"Alright," the old man said, falling silent.

The matter was settled for the time being.

That was just how social obligations worked in the countryside. When someone invited you, as long as you weren’t completely tied up with something unavoidable, you had to go. This was especially true for relatives.

Relatives had to visit each other frequently; that was the only way to remain close.

That was why the old man and old lady couldn’t stand seeing Chen Jingle cooped up at home all day, never stepping foot past the front door. It was absurd!

"A banquet?" Chen Jingle was slightly stunned after receiving a call from his Second Uncle.

He was somewhat familiar with his Great-uncle, but he didn’t really remember this Uncle Xing, only retaining a vague impression of the man.

"You should be free then, right?" his Second Uncle asked with a chuckle.

"I’ll have time."

Chen Jingle didn’t refuse. After all, he was the one at home. For things like this, he was the only one who could step up as a representative for his parents.

His Second Uncle said, "Okay, just make sure to remember to go. It’s at the Longcheng Restaurant near the entrance of Longcheng International District, at 12:00 PM on October 1st."

"How much should I put in the red envelope?" Chen Jingle asked.

His Second Uncle thought about it. "Since we’re close relatives, make it three hundred."

"Alright, sounds good."

Naturally, he had to ask clearly. Otherwise, if the two brothers’ families gave different amounts of gift money, they would become a laughingstock.

Chen Jingle certainly didn’t want to arrive at the venue, realize he hadn’t brought enough gift money, and then have to scramble to borrow cash from someone else.

The Lingnan Region wasn’t like what the internet claimed, where nobody accepted gift money at banquets. Even in the Pearl River Delta area, only certain cities and villages had that custom. The vast majority of places still accepted it.

It was just that compared to other provinces, they accepted smaller amounts.

Here in Jiangbei, a few years ago, people would still give fifty or a hundred, but that hadn’t been the case in recent years. Nowadays, the standard was two hundred, taking on the auspicious meaning that good things come in pairs.

For closer acquaintances, it was three hundred, and for even closer relatives, it was five hundred.

People rarely gave four hundred, as the number four was considered unlucky.

Of course, wealthy families were a different story.

"A celebratory banquet on October 1st." After ending the call, Chen Jingle scratched his head.

It felt like time was flying by; it was already almost time for the annual National Day. He checked the date. There was still a little over a week until October. No rush, no rush.

So far, aside from his Great-uncle’s family, he hadn’t received any other "red bombs"—wedding or banquet invitations.

Among his classmates, he hadn’t heard of anyone getting married during the National Day holiday.

Maybe they were just getting older. Those who were going to get married were already married. The remaining ones either didn’t have a partner, or they were simply choosing not to hold a wedding ceremony or banquet.

Or perhaps there were some, but since they weren’t close to him, they hadn’t invited him.

Not being invited was fine with him. Chen Jingle had zero desire to deal with that much social networking.

If it was a relative’s event, he could at least sit quietly and eat like a dutiful younger generation member.

If it was a classmate’s wedding, he inevitably wouldn’t be able to escape the interrogation from old schoolmates he hadn’t seen in years, prying into his job, his house, his car, and his relationship status. Just thinking about it made his scalp tingle.

It was exactly because he found this so annoying that he hadn’t attended a single class reunion in all these years.

Generally speaking, only those who were doing well in life attended those things.

For someone like him, who had degraded to just sitting at home, eating, and waiting for the end, there was no need to go out and make a fool of himself. He was much better off just staying honestly at home and sleeping.

Li Qiguang returned home to find that dinner was already laid out on the table, yet his wife and daughter were still sitting on the sofa.

"Didn’t I tell you not to wait for me?" he said with a helpless expression.

Jiang Ziqin smiled gently. "It’s fine. It’s not like the weather is cold anyway. Besides, we usually eat around this time at home."

Li Beixing giggled, unable to hold back her impatience. "Time to eat! Let’s eat!"

Tonight, they were having the cold tossed beef she had been looking forward to.

Seeing the dishes, Li Qiguang was a little surprised. "Did we make this cold tossed beef at home, or did we buy it outside?"

"Auntie Wang made it," Li Beixing answered.

Li Qiguang nodded. "Homemade food is definitely much cleaner."

Li Beixing picked up a piece with her chopsticks. Mmm, it really was quite delicious.

But for some reason, compared to what she had eaten that morning, it felt a little...

"What’s wrong?" Seeing her pause, Jiang Ziqin was confused. Was there something wrong with the taste?

She picked up a piece herself and didn’t find anything off about it. It tasted very good.

"Nothing, it’s really good," Li Beixing giggled.

She took another bite. Yeah, it was definitely lacking a little something. She felt that the one Chen Jingle made had a much richer, meatier aroma, whereas Auntie Wang’s version tasted more heavily of spices.

They both had their pros and cons.

But honestly speaking, she preferred the richer meat flavor. She would have to mention it to Auntie Wang next time.

She thought, "Or maybe I should just ask Chen Jingle directly?"

"How do you make cold tossed beef?" Chen Jingle was stunned.

When he received the WeChat message from Li Beixing, he hadn’t expected her to be asking a question like that.

He wondered, "How should I explain this?"

Chen Jingle thought about it for a moment, then sent her the video tutorial he had used to learn how to make spiced braised beef.

"Just follow this. It’s very simple."

"..." Was this all he was going to show her?

Li Beixing didn’t know what to say. She had the sudden urge to smash her phone.

Inhale, exhale, sigh.

Nevertheless, she still forwarded the video to Auntie Wang.

Upon receiving the video, Auntie Wang instantly tensed up. Here we go again.

Ms. Li hadn’t been satisfied with the Jade Pearl Fish Flower she made last time, and now it was the exact same situation with the cold tossed beef.

She was even beginning to doubt whether her cooking skills had deteriorated.

However, after finishing the video, she did pick up on a few different techniques. She roughly understood what the young miss was trying to convey and the kind of flavor she was aiming for.

Fearing that Auntie Wang might not understand, Li Beixing sent a follow-up message: "Try to make the meat flavor a bit stronger and keep the spices a bit lighter."

Just as she thought! Auntie Wang immediately replied, "Understood, Ms. Li! I’ve got it!"