Eighth Meow

This man is really attentive. Huo Zheng couldn’t help but think.

It’s not that no one had cooked for Huo Zheng before, but those things were just really unpalatable. After all, for those people, cooking with their own hands is just an interesting hobby, but He Yunzhou is different from those people. Every dish he eats is eaten with a sense of peace of mind.

It’s very pure and warm; just like the feeling that He Yunzhou gives off.

Huo Zheng was able to clearly taste the intentions of this clumsy and ordinary young man to himself in these carefully cooked delicious dishes.

Thinking of this, Huo Zheng couldn’t help but look up and meet He Yunzhou’s gaze just in time.

The touch of concern in the other party’s eyes was so strong that it seemed to turn into substance, causing Huo Zheng to be in a trance for a moment.

How to describe Huo Zheng’s mood at this moment? He couldn’t remember the last time he was stared at with such clean and pure eyes long ago.

It’s as if his entire heart was wrapped in warm water. Knowing that he shouldn’t have any real feelings for such a man whom he met for the first time, but the other part of his soul still disobeyed and let go of some of his defenses under that gaze.

The movements in his hand paused. Huo Zheng’s spoon for drinking soup hit the edge of the bowl, making a small sound.

Huo Zheng suddenly snapped back to his senses, forcing the disturbances in his mind back to the bottom of his sanity. He pretended not to notice He Yunzhou’s eyes full of deep emotion. He lowered his eyes as if nothing had happened, and gently took a sip of soup. 

Oh, how strange… Huo Zheng let out a puzzled mutter in his heart.

It’s an illusion, right? This soup tasted as if it was slightly sweeter than before. 

On the other side of the dining table, He Yunzhou had been closely observing Huo Zheng’s expression.

After finding that the latter liked all the food he prepared, he finally put down the last big stone in his heart.

Speaking of which, the dinner between him and Huo Zheng should’ve been awkward.

The two people had no previous encounter, but they didn’t expect to turn into a relationship of having dinner together after just a night’s work.

But the wonderful thing is also here. He Yunzhou and Huo Zheng just sitting together for dinner in peace. There was very little conversation between the two, but the atmosphere is unexpectedly very good. 

Is it because of Huo Zheng’s inexplicable temperament that is frighteningly similar to Guaji?

When He Yunzhou found himself staying with Huo Zheng, the atmosphere around him always seemed so natural and relaxed, as if he and Huo Zheng had been very good friends from the beginning.

I’m afraid that the only thing that He Yunzhou worries about cleaning up the meal is the dishes that have been prepared in hurry.

He is confident in his cooking skills, but the ingredients for those dishes are…

He Yunzhou really doesn’t have the nerve to tell Huo Zheng that a large part of these dishes that looked pretty good was made from the leftovers of cat food, as well as the various bits and pieces of meat he had stored in the fridge (most of which He Yunzhou planned to use as cats snacks).

In addition to the roasted beef bone marrow with mixed rice and asparagus with fried chicken skin and poached egg, the next thing served to Huo Zheng was a rather bluffing, modified version of liver cream soup.^[1]Picture at the end.

Those delicate and delicious, light as a mousse cake liver paste are actually made from chicken, duck, and some lamb liver that were originally intended for cats. The lamb liver isn’t the only ingredient that cats like to eat. If it is cooked properly, lamb liver will have a subtle, creamy-like fresh flavor, which will have a unique taste when placed in the soup. 

There are also those chicken bones that He Yunzhou deboned when cooking cat food today, and the bits and pieces of pork and beef minced from the large pieces of meat… would have been normally discarded without hesitation, but because of these dishes tonight, those leftovers have room for other uses.

The chicken bones and minced meat were roasted in the oven until they were crunchy. Then a large amount of celery, onions, and other vegetables were poured in. And after stewing and straining, it became a delicious clear soup that made Huo Zheng happily bury his head and drink non-stop. 

There are also the chicken breasts that were originally intended to be used for roasted chicken jerky for Nangua, which is mixed with the fat cut from the pork that is used for cat food to control Nangua’s weight, and chopped with a kitchen knife to make it into a coarse, less grainy meat paste. Then mix in the various spices and roll them in the cabbage leaves that he didn’t have time to eat before. Add a piece of butter, fry it in a frying pan, then pour a little soup stock and simmer it. After that, serve it with a sprinkle of snow-white mozzarella and golden cheddar cheese, cut it with a kitchen knife to get the juicy, creamy cabbage meatballs.^[2]Picture below

Even the homemade yogurt that hadn’t been brought out in the refrigerator was originally prepared for Nangua.

He Yunzhou himself has never cared about eating cat food ingredients and leftover bits — what makes many ordinary people’s point of view greatly differ is that the meat prepared for cats sometimes need to be of better quality and more expensive than human food. But Huo Zheng gives people the impression of being too much of an expensive noble and too much like Guaji, which made He Yunzhou feel inexplicably guilty when he thinks of the dinner ingredients. 

En, that’s right. When Guaji was still alive, it has always been a picky eater. All the food eaten is only the best, the freshest, and the most expensive part. If it was still by He Yunzhou’s side and found that its poop-scooping officer dares to fool people with leftover bits, I’m afraid that it won’t hesitate to lift its furry paws and lift the pet bowl.

……

“Is the taste to your liking?”

Actually, He Yunzhou was also worried that Huo Zheng had seen the clues of his dinner before, but as the meal continued, seeing Huo Zheng burying his head, eating thoroughly and heartily, his mood also relaxed uncontrollably.

He could tell that Huo Zheng’s happiness when eating wasn’t the kind of hypocritical politeness — this man really liked to eat the home-cooked dishes he made.

Moreover, the way he eats, surprisingly, also has a certain kind of god-like resemblance to Guaji…

He Yunzhou secretly gritted his teeth and forced himself to stop looking at Huo Zheng, thinking about Guaji when he eats. But Guaji’s appearance while eating still lingered in He Yunzhou’s mind. 

Huo Zheng was very quiet when he ate, and his posture was also very elegant. 

Yes ah, Guaji is also a quiet and elegant cat when eating. It always focuses all its attention on its food. But no matter how much it likes to eat, it won’t be like Nangua that has no qualms about making too many noises when eating, let alone staining its beautiful silver-gray long fur…

When He Yunzhou realized it, he found that he had unknowingly looked at Huo Zheng again, who also seemed to realize this. He and He Yunzhou looked at each other for a moment and then pretended to look away as if nothing had happened. 

The déjà vu scene made He Yunzhou couldn’t help but feel a slight pain in his heart.

Even this kind of… small gesture of forcibly averting one’s gaze when four eyes meet, is surprisingly so similar.

He Yunzhou also knew from the bottom of his heart that it wasn’t good to compare a person with his pet. However, if human emotions are really so easy to control, I’m afraid there is no ‘unable restrain oneself’^[3]or unable to hold back one’s emotions. this idiom.

After the meal, Huo Zheng seemed to have just remembered it and muttered in annoyance, “Ah, really… your cooking is so delicious. I forgot to drink the wine I brought this time.”

He Yunzhou smiled softly and said without much thought, “It’s ok ah, you can drink it on the next meal.” 

After the words fell, He Yunzhou was still busy cleaning up the table, but Huo Zheng was sitting in his seat a little at a loss — he really couldn’t understand why he was so happy all of a sudden.

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Liver Cream Soup:

T/N: It looked like this but HY modified it, so it will be different.

Creamy Cabbage Meatballs: