Xuán Wǔ Hǎi Huì Wú Yōu -> Dark Turtle Sea Stew Without Worries

  "Oh, I remember now. My wife is afraid of dogs and she's really scared." At this time, Xiao Fei, who was usually careless, suddenly seemed to have a realization and said with a smile: "You don't know how much my wife fears dogs. Not to mention your dog at home, last time my wife was chased by a puppy that was just over a month old in our neighborhood for several laps. Your dog is about one foot long, but that puppy wasn't even half its size!"

  Xiao Fei's sudden revelation made Zhang Jin laugh out loud, and he said to Hei Shuijing, who was still crouching at his feet: "Little Black, did you hear that? Since they're already afraid of us, we won't scare them anymore. Come on, let's show some dignity and back off a bit. And from now on, we'll keep our distance from this sister too!"

  The black crystal paint gleamed with a human-like glint in its eyes, which blinked twice before letting out two pitiful "wu wu" sounds. It then stood up and retreated several steps back until it reached the wall on the other side of the kitchen, where it sat down again. "Wu~" seemed to say: "Isn't this far enough?"

  "Can it understand what you're saying? Is it that smart?" Wei Feng said in surprise, seeing the black crystal's reaction this time was more obvious than before.

  Mentioning the cleverness of Hei Shui Jing, Zhang Jin was obviously very pleased with himself, and boasted: "Of course, our family's Hei Shui Jing is absolutely the number one genius dog in the universe. Come, Little Black, say hello to them!"

  The black crystal crouched on the ground raised its right paw and waved it up and down twice in the direction of the four people: "Woof woof!"

  Hei Shui Jing's humanized expression, paired with its square head and silly appearance, had an indescribable cuteness that made Lan Feifei's eyes almost pop out with hearts. "So cute, little doggy, let me hug you." Lan Feifei even forgot about the delicious food in front of her, staring at Hei Shui Jing with sparkling eyes as she walked up to it.

  Blue Fei Fei was like a child seeing a toy, jumping up to hug the unwilling Black Crystal, who was trying to struggle free, and started being affectionate with it on the spot. Feeling Black Crystal's silent plea for help from its master, Zhang Jin hastily stopped her, saying: "Let's have dinner first, I'll let him play with you after we finish eating!"

  Under Zhang Jin's persuasion, Lan Feifei reluctantly put down the black crystal and took over the two dishes handed over by Zhang Jin. She curiously asked with her eyes still on the black crystal: "It's obviously a little yellow dog, why is it called Black Crystal? It should be called Yellow Crystal instead."

  "Who says a yellow dog can't be called Little Black, or Black Crystal? Does everyone with the surname White have to be very white? Does everyone with the surname Yellow have to be very yellow? You're surnamed Blue, but you don't look like a Smurf either. Besides, he likes this name, right, Little Black?" Zhang Jin retorted.

  To verify the owner's statement, Hei Shuijing also nodded and let out a soft 'wang wang' twice, his little tail wagging extremely happily. As a result, his spiritual nature and cuteness had Blue Feifei hooked again, unable to move her feet.

  …………

  When the eight dishes and one soup were arranged on the table on the second floor, Zhang Jin and the other four people took their seats. Xiao Fei and Wei Feng, who didn't know what politeness was, immediately waved their chopsticks and pounced on the delicious food in front of them with a fierce momentum.

  As for the two brothers' behavior, Zhang Jin was accustomed to it and occasionally cast his gaze towards Hei Shuijing, who was sitting behind him and eating with gusto, as well as Mu Xinyan, who was too embarrassed to pick up her chopsticks first, saying: "Don't just stand there, pick up your chopsticks and come try some of my 'Xuanwu Sea Stew'!"

  At Zhang Jin's invitation, the two women finally couldn't wait to stretch out their chopsticks. Next, the chopsticks moved faster and faster, until they completely tore off their 'lady masks' like last time at Zhang Jin's home, and began to look up to their men, putting on a 'big bowl drinking, big bowl eating meat' female bandit-like image.

  After the most wolfed down, when the dishes on the table went down by half, the five people finally ate seven parts full, and the frequency of chopsticks dancing also slowed down. Xiao Fei swallowed the fragrant food in his mouth and let out a satisfied sigh, saying with a painful face: "I'm still very regretful now, if I had known earlier that Lao Da had such skills, how good would it be? Wasted so many years of time!"

  As for Xiao Fei's feelings, Wei Feng nodded in agreement with a tinge of sadness: "Yes, yes! After having Lao Da's 'Three Delicacies Mushroom Stew' last time, even when I accompanied our leader to eat at that renowned 'Imperial Kitchen' restaurant, it didn't taste as good. It was really frustrating!"

  Xiao Fei and Wei Feng, who were eating like starving ghosts reincarnated, slowed down their chopstick speed. The two women also felt embarrassed to continue gobbling down food in a terrible manner, and they returned to being elegant ladies from refugees. So everyone ate slowly while chatting about the weather.

  "Zhang, what was the name of this dish again?" Lan Feifei asked with some embarrassment. Because when Zhang Jin introduced it, 80% of her attention was on the delicious food in front of her, and the remaining 1.5% was still on the intelligent and lovely black crystal, so she didn't hear clearly what Zhang Jin said.

  "Black Turtle Sea Stew! This dish is called Black Turtle Sea Stew." Zhang Jin replied with a smile.

  "What's with the weird name 'Black Turtle Sea Stew'?" Xiao Fei asked strangely, biting off half of the sea cucumber that was about to enter his mouth after hearing Zhang Jin's response.

  After Zhang Jin took a light sip of the yellow wine in his bowl, he began to tell an ancient story with a relaxed expression: "In Chinese mythology, there are four sacred beasts that shoulder the responsibility of guarding the human world. They are the Qinglong of the east, the Baihu of the west, the Zhuque of the south, and the Xuanwu of the north."

  The legendary image of Xuanwu is a snake coiled around a turtle, responsible for governing the world's waters and aquatic creatures.

  "This table's main dish is this pot of soup." Zhang Jin pointed to the large, wide-mouthed sandpot in the middle of the table and continued to explain: "This soup is called 'Xuanwu Plays with Water', its main ingredients are snakes and turtles, which just happen to match Xuanwu's snake-entwined turtle image. And the eight tribes of aquatic creatures under Xuanwu's jurisdiction - scales, shells, lizards, insects... - also just happen to correspond to the eight dishes on this table: fish, clams, frogs, sea cucumbers, bamboo shoots, sea urchins... So I named this table 'Xuanwu Sea Stew', what do you think is not appropriate about it?"

  Although Zhang Jin's two brothers had a habit of dismantling the old big stage, they still knew that eating people's mouths was short. So they didn't mind changing their style from time to time and flattering them. Wei Feng nodded, making a gesture of admiration: "You're awesome! The boss is indeed the boss, even doing a table of dishes has its own rules, stories, and depth, the name is not bad!" After saying that, during the other three people's nodding in agreement, he downed a bowl of yellow wine that Zhang Jin had poured before dinner but hadn't touched due to being busy eating.

  "Huh?" The wine had just entered his mouth, and Wei Feng already felt that something was off. Was this really Huangjiu? What kind of Huangjiu would have such a clear and rich aroma? What kind of Huangjiu would have such an excellent smooth taste? What kind of Huangjiu would be like this bowl, entering the throat and then flowing down to warm the chest, abdomen, intestines, and stomach, making his whole body feel warm but not hot in the sweltering summer heat.

  With his eyes closed, Wei Feng savored the taste for a moment before opening them again, and they almost sparkled with green light. With an urgent and eager expression, he asked: "Boss, what kind of wine is this? Where did you buy it?"

  "What wine? Isn't it just Huangjiu! Eating river and sea food makes the stomach cold, so it's best to pair it with warm stomach Huangjiu. And this wine isn't even bought, I brewed it myself a while back. What's wrong, can't drink it?" Zhang Jin had full confidence in his master-level brewing skills, but pretended not to understand with a questioning tone.

  Xiao Fei was also startled by Wei Feng's exaggerated tone. At the time of Wei Feng's inquiry, he had already finished drinking the yellow wine in his bowl after taking a small sip to test it, and was savoring the warmth when he heard Zhang Jin ask such a question. He hastily interjected: "Old Fourth can't handle my usual drink, so don't waste it on him, give it all to me!" As he spoke, he snatched the large black ceramic jar weighing over ten kilograms from behind Zhang Jin and poured wine into his own bowl.

  Xiao Fei had just filled his wine bowl when Wei Feng reached across Zhang Jin's position and snatched the wine jug: "Who says I'm not used to drinking? It's because I like to drink that I asked. Third brother, don't be so unkind, who has ever seen something good and wanted to push away their brothers and swallow it all alone?"

  His brewing skills were recognized, Zhang Jin was somewhat proud of himself. Seeing Lao San and Lao Si's unyielding attitude, he suddenly became generous: "Alright, stop arguing, there's still wine left, if it's not enough, I'll go get more. If you really like drinking, when you leave, I'll give each of your families two jars."

  Zhang Jin's words were no sooner out of his mouth than Wei Feng and Xiao Fei burst into laughter, repeatedly praising him as "wise leader". Even the two ladies who had been misled by Wei Feng and Xiao Fei's attitude earlier and had also finished their yellow wine during the three brothers' playful argument couldn't help but smile. They too liked this wine.

  Good wine, good food and good friends coming together is the perfect banquet. The wine from a master brewer is naturally authentic, the dishes from a master chef are also authentic, and the men at the table are brothers who can't be more iron-like. With these elements coming together, it's natural that this grand feast cooked by the masters will delight both hosts and guests.

  They finished all the eight dishes and one soup, drank up a whole jar of Huangjiu that weighed over ten kilograms, with the intoxicating aroma of wine, Zhang Jin's three brothers sat on the sofa, starting to chat aimlessly.

  The two ladies apparently learned a lesson from the last binge, although this time they were still stuffed and uncomfortable, but could barely move their not-too-light lotus steps up and down to clean up the messy remnants.

  The brothers sat on the sofa and chatted for a while, but their conversation gradually became less frequent. It wasn't because they had nothing to say, but rather that Wei Feng and Xiao Fei were both getting sleepy.

  Although the yellow wine for lunch was not high in alcohol content, and the three brothers had all withstood the test of alcohol, a jar of over ten kilograms of wine, except for the two or three kilograms drunk by the two ladies, each of the three brothers drank four or five kilograms. Zhang Jin now has his abnormal physical strength of 10 points and over 100 true energy to support him, so he doesn't feel anything. However, as ordinary people in a sub-healthy state, the other two brothers were already very drunk. Plus they got up early in the morning, and after struggling along the way, they were also somewhat tired. It's no wonder that these two guys would be sleepy and their eyelids would fight.

  After drinking, they don't get drunk and talkative, but instead go to bed early. This is the good tradition of room 213 in building 10 when Zhang Jin was in school. It seems that these two guys have maintained the tradition of room 213 quite well.

  "Alright, you two look like you can't hold on any longer. Go back to your own rooms and rest for a bit, we'll talk again when you wake up! After all, we've still got plenty of time!" Zhang Jin said with consideration as he looked at the two brothers whose eyes were already narrowed to just a slit.

  In response to Lao Da's proposal, the two of them, who were already exhausted, naturally agreed readily and hurriedly, carrying their own already-packed luggage, as well as some sleepy women, each returned to their 'own' cowshed or sheepfold.