Impervious to Blades and Spears, Indestructible as Vajra

Today is the banquet, Liu Chang'an will naturally take charge himself. He cooked at Gao Dewei's house a few days ago, and even slaughtered the pig. The banquet is a similar event, so Liu Chang'an can easily handle it.

The difference is that no one prepared the ingredients for him anymore; he had to buy them himself.

Zhou Shuling offered to help, even if it meant closing her breakfast stall for a day. She felt that things like hosting a banquet required assistance. Although Liu Chang'an had some seemingly powerful relatives and friends, it seemed like none of them would come to help Liu Chang'an with the preparations. So, of course, she wanted to help. Otherwise, she felt sorry for him having to handle even something as simple as hosting a banquet all by himself.

Liu Chang'an and Zhou Shuling went to the market and bought a big bag of chili peppers. Many Hunan dishes don't use chili peppers, but what's the point? Besides, at street banquets, which dish doesn't have a ton of red, green, white, yellow, and purple chili peppers—sliced, round, chopped, or ground?

I bought many kinds of chili peppers, as well as old ginger, young ginger, dried ginger, pickled ginger, and so on, plus a big bag of garlic, garlic sprouts, scallions, cilantro, and so on.

"Buy less vegetables first," Zhou Shuling said in a low voice, thinking of Liu Chang'an's best interests. "If they give red envelopes, cook more vegetables; if they don't, cook less."

Liu Chang'an couldn't help but laugh.

Zhou Shuling blushed at his laughter and nudged Liu Chang'an, explaining, "I'm not petty or calculating; I just don't want you to suffer. Don't always be such a pushover; you should know when to keep your word."

Liu Chang'an ignored her. For him, cooking was such an interesting thing that he wouldn't care about anything. However, he also wouldn't develop any feelings of disgust or annoyance towards Zhou Shuling's little schemes. After all, women only make small calculations for his sake.

"Why do you keep throwing chickens into that car?" Zhou Shuling asked curiously when she returned, as it wasn't the first time she'd seen it.

"There's a zombie living in the car. She ate the chicken, so she won't harm anyone." Liu Chang'an explained it in layman's terms, but Zhou Shuling probably wouldn't understand anything about Living Coffin or Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan.

"I don't believe you!" Zhou Shuling looked startled, but since she was frightened, she was obviously somewhat convinced.

After buying the groceries, Liu Chang'an first cooked the spicy rooster and then sent her to set up her stall. In Zhou Shuling's eyes, Liu Chang'an, who had poor grades, liked to talk nonsense. Liu Chang'an had excellent grades, was naturally knowledgeable and had a certain authority. Moreover, Liu Chang'an's reason was to make her worry about her rice noodle shop business, so Zhou Shuling had no choice but to go to set up her stall.

Zhou Dongdong didn't have to go to kindergarten today. After getting up, she ran to Liu Chang'an's place and stayed there, holding a string of firecrackers in her hand. They were broken firecrackers that she had picked up yesterday, tied together with a rope, forming a long string.

"I'll set off firecrackers for you!" Zhou Dongdong planned to set off this string of firecrackers to celebrate for her brother Chang'an.

"If you can set off this string of firecrackers, I'll catch you a dog to eat."

Zhou Dongdong pursed her lips. "You can't grab the dog. I don't want to eat the dog."

Liu Chang'an reached out a finger and pressed it against the corner of her lips to wipe away the trickle of saliva.

"I won't eat dogs... Dogs are cute, they're good friends, you can't eat them." Zhou Dongdong shook her head vigorously, then wiped her mouth.

Liu Chang'an went off to do his work, while Zhou Dongdong sat there pondering a series of complex questions, such as why dogs can't be eaten but are very delicious, why firecrackers don't go off, and whether her brother Chang'an would try to catch the dogs.

He brought out a large basin to wash the chili peppers, and Liu Chang'an smelled the spicy juice spreading in the air, which was very refreshing.

Congratulations!

Liu Chang'an looked up and saw Qin Yanan.

Today, Qin Yanan was wearing a military green uniform skirt suit. The crisp fabric and straight edges exuded a cool and handsome vibe. The tight skirt did not accentuate her curvy lower body, and her tall and slender figure carried an air of arrogant authority. She also had a thin trench coat draped over her arm. Although the weather was hot, summer was a time when women needed to protect themselves from the cold.

"All in green, quite pretty." Liu Chang'an glanced at her a few more times. The military style suited Qin Yanan very well; it matched her temperament perfectly.

"You're having a banquet? You didn't even tell me! I haven't even prepared a gift." Qin Yanan looked at Liu Chang'an's behavior and knew that someone as skilled as him probably had no interest in holding a banquet at a hotel.

"WeChat red envelopes and bank transfers are both fine," Liu Chang'an said, looking at Qin Yanan's phone.

Qin Yanan found it somewhat amusing and sent Liu Chang'an five red envelopes.

"Stay for lunch today!" Liu Chang'an warmly welcomed them.

"OK."

Qin Yanan was originally there to congratulate him, and also to check on him and ask if his college application was as originally planned.

It just feels a bit strange. If this were my first meeting with him, I would definitely have given him a red envelope, but I would have looked down on him. Of course, I don't feel that way now. So I think how well people know each other really affects how they perceive the same thing.

Qin Yanan then went to greet Zhou Dongdong.

"Little Dongdong!"

"Aunt!"

The conversation ended, and I had no desire to continue the exchange.

"Does she call other girls 'Auntie' too?" Qin Yanan squatted down in front of Liu Chang'an and asked in a low voice. This was what Liu Chang'an taught her. Qin Yanan remembered that Zhou Dongdong called her "Sister" when they first met.

"She calls Professor Liu' sister' too," Liu Chang'an laughed.

"Why?" Qin Yanan was understandable if it were someone else, but when she thought of Liu Yuewang, she felt very indignant.

"Because the other older sisters give out the good food, and the one who gives out the good food is the older sister."

"Pah, whatever. She calls me 'Auntie,' and you 'Brother Chang'an.'" Qin Yanan didn't care anymore and took advantage of Liu Chang'an.

"You dare to take advantage of me? You little brat, you have no manners whatsoever, you don't know your place." Liu Chang'an scoffed. "Look, move over a bit. My eyesight is too good; I don't want to see."

Qin Yanan quickly raised her trench coat to cover her knees, her face flushed as she glared at Liu Chang'an, and immediately stood up.

How could I be so casual in front of him? A girl's reserve and guardedness should be an instinct she always keeps in mind.

"Come help me chop some chilies." Liu Chang'an, ignoring her reaction, casually pointed to the cutting board. "I'll kill the chicken first."

Upon hearing that a chicken was going to be killed, Zhou Dongdong immediately dropped the firecrackers she was holding and ran over to join in the fun, "Brother Chang'an, can I help start the fire?"

Children always think that starting a fire is fun, but Liu Chang'an didn't need to. He pulled Zhou Dongdong aside, then slit the hen's throat with a knife, and chicken blood splattered everywhere.

"Zhou Dongdong, come help me chop the chili peppers." Qin Yanan said enthusiastically when she saw Zhou Dongdong wiping her eyes.

"Don't go! She's the most wicked woman ever! She just calls you 'Auntie'." Liu Chang'an immediately saw through Qin Yanan's malicious intentions.

"I was just teasing her, did you really expect me to cut it?" Qin Yanan rolled her eyes at Liu Chang'an and brandished the kitchen knife in her hand.

With a swift motion, the sharp cleaver severed the stems of a bunch of chili peppers. The edge of the cleaver grazed Qin Yanan's fingers, who was somewhat distracted, leaving a grayish-white mark. Qin Yanan glanced hurriedly at Liu Chang'an, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he hadn't noticed her.

One is one, two is two, black is black, white is white. Glory will not be erased, and madness will never be forgiven. Those who deserve to be investigated will be investigated. We must maintain an objective stance and not be swayed by momentary emotions. Considering that some readers criticize me for being dissatisfied with current events, this is probably my response. Also, I'd like to casually recommend Sun Qingwei's The Traces of Yu at the Dwelling. Think of the countless archaeologists and historians who have dedicated their lives to proving the existence of the Xia Dynasty. Some people, when others question the Homeric epics, casually remark that there was no empirical evidence for that period, so using the Homeric epics as evidence is perfectly reasonable. It's truly amusing. A brain is indeed a good thing, but automatically assuming that others can do it, while we cannot and we must consider other options, is what's wrong with one's brain.