Marinated to Perfection (A Slightly Longer Chapter)

Zhou Shuling didn't leave Zhou Dongdong, who had a slightly expectant look in her eyes, with two sips left. She finished it all. After all, Zhou Shuling usually said that Liu Chang'an treated Zhou Dongdong like a little fat pig, so she shouldn't give her too much of something so high in calories.

Zhou Dongdong sat in the chair, first arranging the picture books, then wearing Ultraman mask and playing with a toy airplane on the table.

"Sister An Nuan, come eat rice noodles again, goodbye!" Zhou Dongdong often heard her mother say this when greeting others.

Goodbye, goodbye, Dongdong is such a good boy!

Liu Chang'an and An Nuan left Baolong Center. An Nuan felt that university life was much more leisurely than high school, mainly because she had more free time. She still preferred to read at home in the evenings. Professor Liu Yuewang wasn't very professional in taking care of her daughter's life, but she was very enthusiastic about enriching An Nuan's intellectual life, buying her various humanities, social sciences, and history books unrelated to her An Nuan from time to time... Liu Yuewang herself didn't read much; she now paid more attention to some professional health and beauty public accounts.

After class, it's nice to stroll around with my boyfriend, watch a movie, have a cup of milk tea, and even have experiences like picking up elementary school students from school.

"Why did Zhou Dongdong only say goodbye to me and not to you?" An Nuan was a little happy, as if she was being treated better.

"Because she thinks you're a guest, and she should be polite to you." Liu Chang'an scoffed, "What a presumptuous thing to do."

"So when she suggested I go eat rice noodles, she was just trying to make money off me?" An Nuan realized.

"Yes."

"What a clever child!"

"Yes."

"So you're saying Zhou Dongdong also knows Bai Hui, Zhu Juntang, and Qin Yanan, then who does she like the most?"

"She'll like whoever gives her good food; she has no principles in this regard."

"I see."

"Yes."

Liu Chang'an and An Nuan chatted as they went to the supermarket on the basement floor to buy groceries.

An Nuan saw that the vegetables were packaged in a square, transparent box, with petri dishes attached to the roots, and the box was labeled "Organic Vegetables".

"If the vegetables aren't organic, are they inorganic?" An Nuan couldn't help but laugh. "That's hilarious."

"Sister Tuo, you don't know this, we sell organic food. The food outside is all non-organic, heavily polluted, and contains a lot of pesticides. It's not safe to eat," the salesperson explained as she approached.

"Then it should be called pollution-free food, why is it called organic food?" An Nuan continued to wonder.

"Organic food is pollution-free food, and this concept is being promoted!" the salesperson continued.

An Nuan didn't want to talk to her anymore, nor did she want to buy these organic vegetables. Eighteen yuan for a bunch of greens, truly organic.

"It's not that this food is just a gimmick. Although the nutritional components are the same, it actually refers to pollution-free, non-GMO food. The common term abroad is 'organic food,' which is also correct. Just don't interpret 'organic' here as the definition of organic matter," Liu Chang'an explained to An Nuan, as always, with his extensive knowledge.

"My mom's favorite thing is these organic foods and organic products!" An Nuan said to Liu Chang'an, "I've found another thing you two have in common."

Liu Chang'an opened his mouth, then continued his extensive explanation, "Actually, pesticide testing is very strict nowadays. After normal washing, the residue is negligible in terms of harm to the human body. If you were to trace someone's illness back to pesticides on the fruits and vegetables they ate, there would be almost no scientific evidence to support that. Rather than eating organic food every day, it's more important to exercise, eat less barbecued, spicy, and betel nut-based foods that naturally carry a higher risk of cancer, avoid staying up late and overworking, and go to bed early and get up early."

An Nuan was very satisfied with this explanation. Turning the common points into differences solved the problem. Liu Chang'an was truly a clever boyfriend; he could say whatever he wanted.

"But aren't we planning to have a barbecue tonight?"

"Talking about effects without considering dosage is irresponsible. Even arsenic, the most well-known lethal substance, has health benefits and can be used as medicine when the dosage is very small. The same goes for barbecue. Eating it once or twice is fine, but eating it as a meal every day is problematic."

"Oh, well, you can explain it anyway."

"Yeah, being your boyfriend must be really tough."

"What did you say?"

"I told you, being your boyfriend is really not easy; most people don't have the right or the luck to be one."

"I like you."

"It was worth it."

An Nuan generously and proactively kissed Liu Chang'an's cheek, trying to act as if it were just an ordinary day, and continued to stroll around the supermarket with Liu Chang'an.

It was actually Liu Yuewang's suggestion to have barbecue. She believed that barbecue outside had a high risk of causing cancer and was unhygienic, so it would be better to make it at home. She bought a barbecue table with an oil extraction and fume extraction function. After all, she had learned about it thoroughly through the demonstration on TV shopping. She also told An Nuan it could be disassembled and reassembled into an electric heated table in winter, where she could play mahjong.

These days, not many people still frequently place orders through TV shopping channels. After An Nuan bought the item from Liu Yuewang, she saw the same item on Taobao for 358 yuan, while Professor Liu Yuewang spent 2,780 yuan. If there was anything better about it, it was that the TV shopping program gave VIP customers a set of reasonably usable barbecue tableware, which surprised and delighted her.

The last time she was this surprised was when she bought the cucumber slicer.

When An Nuan and Liu Chang'an returned, Liu Yuewang was sitting cross-legged on the sofa reading the instruction manual. She quickly put her legs down and put them together at an angle, stretched her back lazily and elegantly, hummed softly, and said casually, "Come and take a look at this barbecue table. There must be something wrong with the instruction manual; I didn't understand how to assemble it."

This kind of thing should naturally be left to Liu Chang'an. An Nuan looked at the instruction manual from all angles and felt that it was a bit too complicated.

Liu Chang'an didn't read the instruction manual. Like most men, he just picked it up and put it together haphazardly first, planning to look up the manual later if there were any problems.

Without even reading the instructions, Liu Chang'an still assembled the barbecue table. Liu Yuewang came out and praised Liu Chang'an for being capable. Then she went to the balcony to pick the garlic sprouts and scallions she had grown. She had specifically instructed that they not to buy garlic sprouts and scallions, as these were organic vegetables she had grown herself.

"Actually, we also have similar special abilities. For example, we can pick up a cosmetic and know what its effects are. But even if we show you the ingredients and instructions, you might not know what they do or what completely different effects another cosmetic might have." An Nuan felt a little resentful that girls were naturally suppressed by boys in terms of using tools and machinery, and wanted to regain some face.

"What difference could cosmetics make? Aren't they all just marinade for meat?" Liu Chang'an waved his hand dismissively.

"Cured meat seasoning?" An Nuan in exasperation, reaching out to wrap her arms around Liu Chang'an's neck, trying to pin him down on the sofa. "Looks like I'm just a piece of cured meat in front of you, huh?"

"Yes, the cosmetics have soaked in, giving it a natural, fragrant scent, like a piece of meat." Liu Chang'an insisted, "I'm not targeting you personally, I'm just saying that's generally how girls' natural fragrance comes about."

An Nuan suddenly lowered her head and smelled Liu Chang'an's scent. She was certain that Liu Chang'an didn't use cosmetics or perfume, and he only used water to rinse and wipe himself when he showered and washed his hair.

"A dog?" Liu Chang'an pinched her nose.

"I'll tell you a secret, but you're not allowed to laugh!" An Nuan suppressed Liu Chang'an and said threateningly.

"I'll see if I laugh or not."

"Actually, in the second semester of our first year of high school, when we first sat together—no, when we were separated by the aisle—I could smell your scent, and I thought it smelled so good." An Nuan smiled shyly, yet also a little proudly. Anyway, he was hers now, even though he was the one who pursued her, An Nuan actually felt a sense of accomplishment.

"Therefore, there's always a reason for liking someone; it might just start with a quality you find appealing about them."

"Ugh! It's not because of your scent..." An Nuan was about to pout and act coquettish when she suddenly realized with regret, "No wonder Bai Hui, who's so proud, changed her opinion of you after the KTV confession incident! It's because you sat next to her, because she liked your scent."

"Can't you come up with a more plausible reason for being jealous?" Liu Chang'an pushed An Nuan away. "I need to make some skewers, come help me."

"No, I'm going to cause trouble." An Nuan followed Liu Chang'an to the kitchen, still resentful.

The barbecue was quite good, except that An Nuan insisted on skewering the chives and green beans into heart shapes and demanded that Liu Chang'an not ruin her carefully crafted heart-shaped skewers while grilling them... Even Liu Chang'an couldn't possibly keep the chives in a heart shape while grilling them. He was about to grill them, and then he asked her to arrange them in a way that was really too much.

After finishing their barbecue, An Nuan and Liu Yuewang, as usual, took a walk around Xiangtan University and saw Liu Chang'an off. Liu Chang'an's class was having a party that night and they were going to sing karaoke later. Since Liu Chang'an was at Xiangtan University, he agreed and decided to belt out a few songs. After all, this had been one of his favorite forms of entertainment for hundreds or even thousands of years, although the way he sang in the past was quite different from how he sang now.

An Nuan actually wanted to go with him, but it was just a thought. It didn't matter how much she teased, acted coquettishly, or got jealous with Liu Chang'an.

"Bye-bye!" An Nuan waved goodbye to Liu Chang'an with a sweet smile as she looked at his back.

"You little rascal, I know you want to go with me." Liu Yuewang saw right through him.

"I didn't!"

"Aren't you afraid Liu Chang'an will run off with someone else?"

Why would I lack confidence?

"Besides having good skin, being good-looking, and being tall, where does your confidence come from?"

"Liu Chang'an must like me because I'm so beautiful that he can't stand anyone else. Usually, it's others who lack confidence in front of me, damn it!"

You have no substance.

"Those who spend all their time browsing WeChat Moments to broaden their horizons and learn science shouldn't call me shallow."

You brat!