CHAPTER 463: CHAPTER 157: SIMMERING LIFE (PART 2)

Du Xixi laughed for a while in the kitchen. When she felt her somewhat heavy mood of the day had lifted again, her eyes and eyebrows were touched by a comforting smile, and she stepped over to the cold storage to search for ingredients.

Now during the autumn harvest, not only are the leaves outside on the branches turning yellow and falling, but CD-0329 Star has also harvested a lot of fresh ingredients—fish, shrimp, crab, chicken, duck, goose. Despite the daily consumption by 2569 and Du Xixi, the cold storage still remains full.

"Madam!" 2569 had just been brainwashed by Du Xixi. Seeing Du Xixi go to the kitchen, it rolled over together. It slid left and right, took a big bucket from the door, and with a "thump" placed it in front of Du Xixi, "This was delivered this morning. I didn’t know how to prepare it, so I kept it all for you to handle when you returned."

"Oh? Did CD-0329 Star find new ingredients again?" Du Xixi slightly raised an eyebrow and curiously peered in a few times, her smile deepening instantly, "So it’s loach, this is a good thing. How did they find it?"

Loach is a fish species with a yellow-brown body, covered with irregular dark patterns, and only has one trigonal thorn through its entire body. Furthermore, it has few bones, thick flesh, tender and delicious.

"I heard it’s from an expert studying insects. The expert accidentally dropped an insect into the river and when using a fine wire at hand to retrieve it, discovered the insect was eaten by this fish species called loach." 2569 recalled the words of those who delivered the ingredients from CD-0329 Star and recounted them to Du Xixi verbatim, "This morning, the expert squatted by the river the whole morning, caught a big bucket, and shared more than half with us."

Speaking, 2569 used its mechanical fingers to touch the loach in the bucket, mimicking surprise in its tone: "So this is called loach? I’ll send a message to the people on CD-0329 Star now."

Du Xixi is currently the person who understands Blue Star the most in All-Star; even though she’s just a cook living off her craft, the memory in her mind regarding various ingredients and organisms is enough for All-Star’s research to last hundreds of years.

Given Du Xixi’s numerous behavior on CD-0329 Star before, and her theoretical assistance to the expert personnel, everyone got used to sending some newly discovered ingredients and organisms to Du Xixi.

Firstly, to express respect for Du Xixi, the Empress of the Empire, which is essentially a bribe; secondly, to secretly ask for Du Xixi’s help, revealing some relevant information so they can avoid taking detours.

They can’t blatantly "order" Du Xixi around, and Du Xixi doesn’t want to overly show off her knowledge, so these private transactions can be described as "mutual benefit and collaboration for a win-win."

While 2569 busily contacted the people on CD-0329 Star, Du Xixi edited the information about loach and sent it to 2569, while lightly kicking the big bucket loaded with loach with her foot.

The large bucket was filled with a number of loach, the water just barely covering their bodies. With Du Xixi’s kick, they started squirming together, which appeared rather creepy at first glance.

However, Du Xixi was pleased to see this and smiled. She then casually grabbed a loach from the bucket after turning off the Light Computer and examined it carefully.

Back on Blue Star, Du Xixi used to fish for loach with several grandfathers, right by the small river next to their home. It seemed to be August back then, just when loach grew the plumpest.

A long, thin wire tied around a purplish-black plump worm, with a small bend at the bottom hooked on hand, then inserted into the muddy river cave possibly hiding loach, merely having to wait for a moment, the loach would rush to bite eagerly.

At that time, loach were abundant. In almost half an hour, the two small buckets carried by Du Xixi would be completely filled. After returning home, Du Xixi even personally cooked a table filled with loach delicacies.

In fact, Du Xixi’s memories of those scenes have become somewhat vague, yet precisely because the recollections continually blur and beautify, they become cherished memories worthy of a lifetime’s fondness.

The loach in Du Xixi’s hand was pretty robust, about the size of the "O" shape formed by Du Xixi’s thumb and forefinger. Yet, it was drooping its head and tail languidly, with only the small portion of its body restrained by Du Xixi occasionally wriggling, looking quite pitiful.

"Madam, is it going to die?" 2569, having just finished sending messages to the people on CD-0329 Star, turned around and saw the pitiful state of the loach, immediately showing a compassionate expression.