Chapter 59: Your Second Uncle Can’t Handle It

While the soup was simmering, Ye Xin Ran placed the remaining rabbit meat into a basin and added salt, Sichuan peppercorns, cooking wine, white sugar, ginger, onions, and doubanjiang (fermented bean paste), mixing it well with her hands before setting it aside to marinate for a while.

Today, she planned to make “Spicy Rabbit Meat”.

The spicy and aromatic flavors would be a perfect match for rice, making the meal appetizing. Just thinking about it made her mouth water.

After about half an hour, once the rabbit meat had absorbed the flavors, Ye Xin Ran heated some oil in a pan. When the oil was hot, she added the marinated rabbit meat and continuously stirred-fried it.

As the seasoning and meat aromas exploded the moment they hit the hot oil, they quickly filled the air, teasing the taste buds. Xiao Huai’an, standing outside, couldn’t help but cough a couple of times from the strong fragrance.

After a while, the rabbit meat started to stick to the pan, so Ye Xin Ran quickly added the chopped chili peppers.

She continued stir-frying for a bit longer before using a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan.

The pieces of rabbit meat, originally cut quite large, had shrunk into small, golden-brown, crispy morsels.

Ye Xin Ran used chopsticks to pick out the ginger, onions, and other seasonings, discarding them, and then waited for the rabbit meat to cool down.

Once cooled, she added a bit of chicken essence, Sichuan pepper powder, and sesame oil, and her plate of flavorful, spicy rabbit cubes was ready.

Xiao Huai’an had been standing outside the kitchen, watching Ye Xin Ran go about her cooking in a calm and organized manner.

Unknowingly, he had been watching for a while now.

He never imagined that one day, watching someone cook would become something he actually enjoyed.

Ye Xin Ran picked up a small piece of rabbit and tasted it. The flavor was delicious, almost identical to the dishes prepared by top chefs.

She couldn’t help but give herself a mental thumbs-up.

After tasting the rabbit, she turned around and noticed Xiao Huai’an standing outside. With a smile, she casually used the same chopsticks to pick up a piece of rabbit meat and offered it to him. “Would you like to try some?”

Seeing her smiling, Xiao Huai’an instinctively opened his mouth.

After he ate the piece of meat, both of them suddenly realized: these were the chopsticks Ye Xin Ran had just used.

“It feels a bit… ambiguous,” Ye Xin Ran thought to herself.

But Xiao Huai’an’s face and neck turned completely red.

Not only that, but he also started coughing repeatedly: “Cough, cough, cough!”

“It’s just the same pair of chopsticks! I haven’t done anything, why are you so sensitive?” Ye Xin Ran rolled her eyes.

Xiao Huai’an shook his head, and in between his coughing fits, he managed to squeeze out a word: “Water!”

“Water?” Ye Xin Ran turned around and saw that Xiao Huai’an’s forehead was starting to show veins.

Had the spice gotten to him?

She immediately realized what was happening, and quickly grabbed a bowl, filling it with cold water. She handed it to Xiao Huai’an, watching as he drank several large gulps, the water flowing down his throat with a satisfying “glug-glug” sound.

After finishing the water, Xiao Huai’an stopped coughing, and the redness on his face faded a little.

Ye Xin Ran felt a bit embarrassed. She asked hesitantly, “You can’t eat spicy food?”

She remembered when she made tofu buns before, she hadn’t noticed him having any issues with spice.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Xin Ran wasn’t so sure, maybe it was because he didn’t eat enough of the tofu buns to notice.

After catching his breath, Xiao Huai’an spoke up, “Sorry, I’m not very good with spicy food.”

“Not good with spicy food? What do you mean, ‘not very good’? I didn’t even make it that spicy because I was thinking of the kids,” Ye Xin Ran said, not sparing him any face.

“Yeah, I’ve never really had spicy food before,” Xiao Huai’an admitted honestly.

“That’s such a pity. If you can’t eat spicy food, you’ll miss out on a lot of delicious dishes in this world!” Ye Xin Ran said, a hint of regret in her voice.

At dinner, Xiao Huai’an found that Ye Xin Ran hadn’t lied to him, the rabbit meat really wasn’t that spicy.

The three kids were eating happily, with Chang An’s mouth full of oil. After finishing one bowl of rice, he immediately asked for a second.

Xiao Huai’an slowly sipped the rabbit meat and yam soup, the fresh and sweet flavor of the broth was quite pleasant. But as he watched Ye Xin Ran and the kids eating, he felt a bit envious.

After hesitating for a moment, he slowly reached his chopsticks toward the plate of spicy rabbit meat, but just before his chopsticks touched the meat, Chang Ping pulled the plate a little further away.

“Second Uncle, you forgot, you can’t eat spicy food!”

“Cough, cough!” Xiao Huai’an gave a cold cough. “It’s fine to have a little bit once in a while.”

“Really?” Chang Ping hesitated slightly, looking unsure.

But Ye Xin Ran quickly pulled the plate even further away. “No way! You clearly couldn’t handle the spice earlier, don’t eat this.”

“Oh…” Xiao Huai’an silently withdrew his chopsticks and continued eating his rice.

The three kids, strangely enough, all felt that their second uncle seemed a bit upset.

Second Uncle upset? Over one piece of rabbit meat?

That was quite a strange sight!

They say that a young boy will end up spoiling his father.

At home, there were three boys and one man, all with large appetites. The spicy rabbit meat was completely devoured, leaving only half a bowl of rabbit meat soup.

After the meal, Chang Ping and Chang Sheng started cleaning the dishes, while Ye Xin Ran began urging Chang An to wash up so he could go to bed earlier.

Once Chang An crawled into bed, he looked up with bright eyes and asked, “Aunt, the brothers told me again today that I can’t sleep with you. Really, I can’t sleep with Aunt anymore?”

Ye Xin Ran patted his head gently. “You’re still small, of course, you can. But when you get a little older, you won’t be able to sleep with Aunt anymore.”

“Then I don’t want to grow up!”

Little Chang An blinked. “But it seems like I can’t… they said if I keep sleeping with Aunt, you and Second Uncle can’t have your own children!”

Who told him that?

“Even though I want to sleep with Aunt, I also want Aunt to have a little sister for me. I’ll protect her and play with her every day!”

Child, you’re thinking too far ahead! Even if your Second Uncle and I slept together, we couldn’t have children… because your Second Uncle isn’t capable of that.

Chang An would say something, and Ye Xin Ran would silently complain in her mind.

Before long, Chang An fell into a deep sleep.

After seeing him asleep, Ye Xin Ran entered the space.

The kitchen downstairs had cleared of all the steam, and the warehouse was filled with dozens of bags of rice and more than ten bags of flour.

Ye Xin Ran patted the solid bags of grain and couldn’t help but feel a little emotional. She had lived a good life before, never imagining she’d one day have to worry about food.

But that wasn’t the most important thing.

She then went to the second floor and opened the reaction vessel for the beauty cream.

The cream had finally been made.

The light green paste emitted a faint fragrance.

Just as Ye Xin Ran was about to scoop it out, she suddenly remembered there were no suitable containers in the lab to hold it.

She needed something commonly used, not something that would seem strange.

Then it occurred to her, the spice jars she had bought for the kitchen, two of them were empty.

The jars were small in size, perfect for holding the beauty cream.

With that thought in mind, Ye Xin Ran left the space and walked toward the kitchen.

Just as she turned the corner of the backyard, she suddenly heard a deep, imposing voice:

“Who?”