Twenty-Sixth Meow

When the whole lamb leg was served on the table, the crispy skin was still ringing softly under the action of residual temperature. And the strong aroma and charming color can evoke a person’s craving at the very first moment—even Huo Zheng, who has a lot in mind, was no exception.

“Dinner is served.”

After hearing He Yunzhou’s greeting, he naturally made his way to the table, pulled out his seat, and sat down—he didn’t realize that his habitual behavior alone would make his restless emotions calm and quiet.

“Today’s dishes look… so grand.”

Seeing the sumptuous to somewhat exaggerated dishes on the table, even Huo Zheng couldn’t help but let out a small cry.

He Yunzhou smiled. Under the light, the color of his eyes was like amber, a gentle light brown color.

“I only do this occasionally la. After all, it’s not every day I can eat lamb leg.” As he said, He Yunzhou transferred the lamb leg from the grill to the baking sheet covered with roasted potatoes and corn. Then, he used a knife to skillfully cut the fully cooked lamb leg into small pieces suitable for eating. The already fragrant lamb leg became more and more fragrant after it was cut. The crispy skin made a wonderful crunch when it was cut. The thick and delicious juice seeped out from the inside of the stuffed lamb leg, soaking the rest of the ingredients.

“Try it and see if it’s good.”

He politely gave the first taste to Huo Zheng, unaware that the man at the table was once again in a daze in his affectionate-filled gaze.

“Ah… good.”

Huo Zheng inattentively put a piece of mutton into his mouth.

“Hot, hot, hot — delicious.” In the next second, he let out a rather wretched huff and sincere praise.

This time, the lamb leg was indeed more delicious than Huo Zheng had imagined. The filling inside the lamb leg made the meat taste juicy and extremely tender. The unique umami flavor of the Yanchi^[1]Yanchi county in Nixiasheep itself was perfectly hung out by a hint of fruity fragrance, which is released on the taste buds through every chew. However, it was precisely because of this that Huo Zheng’s image was completely scrapped when he ate this piece of meat, and he almost burned his tongue.

“Ah, are you okay?”

He Yunzhou also didn’t expect Huo Zheng to eat a whole piece of freshly roasted meat in one bite without common sense. After hearing Huo Zheng’s low cry, he quickly opened the refrigerator and took out a box of ice cubes, and handed it to Huo Zheng.

“It would be better to have a piece of ice, is your tongue burned?”

While he was telling the other party with tears and laughter, He Yunzhou’s voice slowly stopped.

With an ice cube in his mouth, Huo Zheng stared at He Yunzhou bitterly with nine points of shame and one point of grievance.

Those pair of dark green eyes became extra moist because he was burned, and the touch of anger and dissatisfaction contained in his eyes overlapped perfectly with Guaji in He Yunzhou’s memory once again.

He Yunzhou’s heart could simply turn into water at this moment, slowly dripping out of his chest.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.” His voice instantly softened as he apologized to Huo Zheng.

If it weren’t for reason still forcibly online, He Yunzhou would really want to reach out and stroke Huo Zheng’s hair again.

With a few clicks, Huo Zheng bit the ice in his mouth and swallowed.

As soon He Yunzhou’s soft voice was heard, Huo Zheng inexplicably felt that his throat was very parched.

“I’m fine,” Huo Zheng suddenly lowered his eyes, avoided He Yunzhou’s gaze, then said sullenly.

He really didn’t know how to respond to He Yunzhou’s gaze—the kind of burning and sticky, ambiguous gaze, as if it was about to swallow him whole, almost evoking the dream that made Huo Zheng sleepless the previous night.

It turns out that when you love someone to the depths, every look and every action can ooze with such deep love.

It was only after Huo Zheng met He Yunzhou that he suddenly discovered that the so-called “admirers” who had fallen in love with him were all such clumsy and ridiculous hypocritical actors.

Loving someone and not loving someone, in fact, you can tell just by looking at their eyes.

Although he had already made up his mind to make it clear to the other party before he came to He Yunzhou’s house, judging from the current situation, I’m afraid that the plan needs to be changed.

Huo Zheng could tell that because of his arrival, He Yunzhou had been in a good mood all night. In this kind of atmosphere, it’s really impossible for Huo Zheng to really say that kind of giving up hope rejection in any case.

“So, would you like some wine?”

Probably considering that little episode previously, He Yunzhou proposed to open a bottle of wine after confirming that He Yunzhou was fine.

While talking, Huo Zheng saw him take out the already chilled wine from the refrigerator, and that bottle happened to be the one he had taken to He Yunzhou’s house before, but always forget to drink.

“… It just so happens that we can drink it today.”

Seeing that He Yunzhou was about to open the bottle of wine, Huo Zheng couldn’t help but open his mouth and made a stooping sound.

“Don’t—”

“What?”

He Yunzhou paused and cast a puzzled look at Huo Zheng.

“I don’t want to drink this bottle of wine today.” Huo Zheng was taken aback, then said somewhat dryly.

How to describe this contradictory mood?

He Yunzhou must’ve felt that after drinking this bottle of wine, there will be many bottles of other wines after that? It was like he would think that he(HZ) and he(HYZ) can have true love, and there will be many times for such warm and comfortable dinners.

Only Huo Zheng knew that this is already the last bottle of wine.

Even if he didn’t find the opportunity to make it clear to He Yunzhou today, sooner or later, He Yunzhou will have to say goodbye to him.

Therefore, at least today, Huo Zheng didn’t want to watch He Yunzhou drink this bottle of wine without knowing anything.

“How about something else to drink?” Huo Zheng’s lips opened and closed, with a trace of sadness, he said softly to He Yunzhou.

“But…” He Yunzhou frowned with some difficulty.

He finally remembered this bottle of wine, that is, in order to drink it at dinner, he chilled the wine in advance.

“There seems to be no other wine in my house,” He Yunzhou muttered in a low voice, but soon, he suddenly remembered something, “Ah, wait… I remember, I still saved a jar of winter wine before and never drank it.”

This jar of winter wine from He Yunzhou’s family was a gift especially given to He Yunzhou by a butcher shop owner in the vegetable market. It is said that it’s a kind of wine made by themselves in their hometown, which is considered a local specialty.

After getting it back, He Yunzhou took a few sips and found that this winter wine is actually sweet rice wine made by the farmers themselves, with a lot of osmanthus flowers and crystal sugar picked in the autumn of that year. Rather than wine, it is to say that it’s a sweet drink. Of course, the butcher shop owner also instructed He Yunzhou that this kind of wine needs to be kept at home for a long while so that the wine can continue to ferment to achieve the best taste. He Yunzhou naturally followed the man’s instructions, re-sealed the wine, and shelved it in the cupboard…

Then, this jar of wine was forgotten by him.

“This kind of wine is very sweet and doesn’t taste much of a wine. I don’t know if you’re used to it…”

As He Yunzhou said, he turned the jar of wine out of the cupboard.

He tapped on the seal^[2]To open something by knocking or striking it., opened the lid, and poured the winter wine into the glass; it’s a translucent beige liquid. The sweet smell of osmanthus lingered in the mouth of the cup. Just smelling it, seems like the tip of the tongue is oozing honey.

However, when He Yunzhou drank it himself, he discovered that the wine was still the original wine, but the taste of the jar of wine had long been different.

The butcher shop owner didn’t lie to He Yunzhou. This kind of wine will indeed continue to ferment after it is sealed, and the taste of wine is much stronger than before. But even so, this jar of wine is still sweet and delicious to drink, and the mellow wine flavor has no spicy feeling at all, only mellow and luscious.

It’s also precisely this kind of wine that happens to be perfectly combined with the plate of delicious and tender roast lamb.

He Yunzhou had just handed his draft, and Huo Zheng, who strikingly resemble Guaji, was there having dinner with him. He was in good spirits, while Huo Zheng, on the other side, was full of thoughts, and he could only force himself not to think too much and focus on the wine and food…

Nevertheless, Huo Zheng took the jar of sweet and delicious winter wine lightly—it was sweet to drink, but the alcohol content is not low.

The plate of roasted lamb leg hadn’t been fully eaten yet, but both He Yunzhou and Huo Zheng were already intoxicated.

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T/N: Sorry for suddenly being away for a month(?), some things happened at my end that I wasn’t able to translate and update. Thank you for understanding! 💙

Update schedule is still sporadic.