CHAPTER 118: CHAPTER 14: DRUNKEN CONFESSIONS (PART 2)

Su Ziceng’s coat was only half-removed, her long hair had tangled with the buttons of the garment, and while she was experiencing the discomfort, she saw a person emerging from the kitchen, followed by a series of steady footsteps pressing down upon the sunlight, casting a bright silhouette.

"Sister Mu," she called out without turning her head, "help me pull this, it’s stuck." Her black hair was wrapped around a diamond-style button, getting tighter the more she pulled.

The "Sister Mu" behind her didn’t respond but gathered her hair in one hand, while the other hand slid over her turtleneck sweater, gently disentangling her hair.

There was no unpleasant smell of cooking fumes; on the contrary, there was a fresh scent of grass. Su Ziceng looked at the floor, noticed the shadow of the person taller than herself, was surprised, and suddenly looked up, bumping her head against a cleanly shaven chin.

Su Ziceng was stunned for a moment, and as she looked at the scene between the two of them, her mind inexplicably flashed with an image of a newlywed wife helping her husband remove his coat after work.

"Pello, you..." Her hair now freed from the button, Su Ziceng smoothly took off her coat, stuttering as she looked at Pello dressed in cooking attire, "Why is it you?"

Pello began to smile, with a rainbow-like sheen reflecting off his glasses, "If not me, who else could have persuaded Zhou Dagen to come?"

The combination of Zhou Dagen and Pello was like "Beauty and the Beast," no, rather "The Beggar and the Prince." Su Ziceng couldn’t imagine what kind of sparks could possibly fly between these two.

"Ziceng, come help me carry some things," Sister Mu’s voice came from downstairs, and the indescribable atmosphere in the room was also disrupted.

To Su Ziceng’s surprise, despite an unpleasant first encounter with Zhou Dagen, Pello and Zhou Dagen seemed to find a sense of camaraderie upon their second meeting.

Both were connoisseurs of food, except Pello was versatile; he knew both how to eat and how to cook. Zhou Dagen, on the other hand, was a specialist in the art of eating. They also shared a preference for drinking after meals rather than during, which was different from the drinking habits of Su Ziceng and Sister Mu.

No wonder even Sister Mu questioned them after everyone had arrived, asking why they preferred to drink after eating. "You should be only seventy percent full from eating; the remaining thirty percent should be filled with alcohol," Zhou Dagen glanced at Sister Mu, "I can tell you’re an old drinker; your pale complexion suggests you’ve probably harmed your stomach Qi from long-term drinking. Drinking after meals can protect your stomach and liver." Such sophisticated health advice sounded strange coming from the rugged Zhou Dagen.

"The seafood I cooked today are all light dishes, and the wines I’ve paired with them are all strong-flavored. Eating while drinking would mess up the taste of the dishes as well as the wine," Pello pretended to give a glance at Su Ziceng who was heartily enjoying her crabmeat, and in return, got an eyeroll from her.

Seeing the topic going back to alcohol, Zhou Dagen quickly changed the subject, "Young man Pello’s culinary skills are outstanding. Despite your young age, the way you’ve prepared this dish of grilled shrimp can even outdo the seasoned stall owners who’ve been in business for over a decade." Saying this, Zhou Dagen helped himself to another shrimp, eating noisily with "snap, crackle" sounds.

The lady boss he mentioned is Yan Wuxu’s mother. Her food stall is known for its delicious and generously portioned grilled prawns, consistently garnering high praise.

"Of course, I have a secret," Pello isn’t one to hoard knowledge. He retrieved a flat-bottomed pan from the kitchen, "Everything lies in this very pan."

The silver-grey barbecue flat pan was much heavier than usual cookware. Upon close examination, it appeared to be plated with a layer of silvery light. That era probably hadn’t yet seen the likes of Dupont pans. Su Ziceng was muttering to himself and even took it for a test drive. Apart from being heavy, this pan didn’t seem to possess any other special qualities.

"This pan was a gift from Pello; it seems to be called something like ’Swiss Diamond,’" Sister Mu isn’t one to dwell on anything beyond eating. Hence, although Pello’s pan had been gifted to her quite a few years ago, she had never properly used it.

"Yes, the pan’s surface is coated with Swiss diamond," Pello said with a smile, placing the pan on the table.

"I’ve only heard about diamonds from South Africa; I’ve never known that Switzerland also produced diamonds," Su Ziceng knew only of natural diamonds. He was not very familiar with Switzerland, famous for its top-notch synthetic diamonds.

"Common man-made diamonds are merely a tiny fraction of the real diamonds. However, when used in cookware, they play a uniquely distinctive role. Mr. Zhou, what do you think?" Pello scraped his finger hard on the bottom of the pan, not leaving a single scratch. The hardness of these Swiss diamonds was quite substantial.

"Fake is fake, it can’t be real," Zhou Dagen continued to drink, though at a reduced pace.

"In reality, there are no true fakes in the world, fake diamonds are real glass, and counterfeit liquors are just water mixed with a poor taste of alcohol," Pello’s words carried an inexplicable allure, prompting both Su Ziceng and Sister Mu to abandon their food and listen intently to him.

His words did carry some philosophical weight; Su Ziceng even started to suspect that besides horsemanship and general gardening, Pello could also moonlight as a philosophy teacher.

"I think I’ve had enough for today," Zhou Dagen, in his not so forceful offensive, sounded slightly inebriated, "I should head back now. I truly appreciate the ’Diamond Shrimp’ that young brother Pello prepared especially for me."

Two bottles of strong alcohol were now empty. Ordinary people might not even be able to walk at this point, but for an old drunkard like Zhou Dagen, it probably had only just warmed up his stomach.

"Is Mr. Zhou really content to keep living this way? I heard that in the past, Country Z closed itself off from the world for more than two hundred years and missed opportunities for development. Mr. Zhou has hidden away in the small Mo City for decades; haven’t you ever felt the urge to achieve something of note?" This conversation, originally purely a man’s affair, fired up Su Ziceng and Sister Mu as well. They understood that Pello was about to "speak his mind with the help of alcohol."

Listening to Pello’s deep voice, Su Ziceng subconsciously touched the hair by her ears and remembered the scene from earlier. She also felt a burning sensation on Red Love, as if not only her body but also her heart was drinking. This didn’t seem to be a good sign. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)