Chapter 24: Picnic Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Sulo finds Little Tangyuan very adorable
Six in the evening.
“h.e.l.lo, everyone. I"m the host, Gu YuMian,” Gu YuMian said to the camera with a smile and made a brief self-introduction, “These are my babies, Xue Tuan and Tangyuan. We are now in the mountains on Capital Star, and we"re going to have dinner soon.”
Gu YuMian turned on the privacy protection settings for little Tangyuan, so that under all perspectives, the camera would automatically avoid him and the audience would not see the whole body and face of the baby panda, and there would be no problem of privacy disclosure. Today, as last time, he set up the first angle of view following little Tangyuan.
The little snow leopard still occupied Gu YuMian"s shoulder as usual, and his long tail lazily swept along the young man"s collarbone.
The baby panda had just been cuddled by Gu YuMian as they climbed to the top of the mountain. His small round and fluffy head happily rubbed against Gu YuMian"s palm that was trying to help smooth his hair. Only when threatened by the snow leopard did he move away.
The suspension device could only be driven to the foot of the mountain. For such a long distance, Gu YuMian had been trying to reconcile the little snow leopard"s unilateral contradiction with Tangyuan. Fortunately, there was a small robot to help carry the ingredients and cooking props for the picnic, otherwise it would have been a bit hard.
But when he got to the mountainside, he found that all the hard work was worth it.
The environment here was really wonderful — the vast sky was unfolding in front of them without any shelter. Beside their rented cabin was a lake. In the evening, the mountain wind brought the summer air.
The tent and cooking props were placed properly, so Gu YuMian had time to look at the barrage.
[Junior B: He"s finally on air. I"ve been waiting for a long time… Wow, are we outside? The view is quite beautiful.]
[The dog who took the postgraduate entrance examination with great effort: My mother forced me to watch this. What"s this live broadcast for? (In addition, my mother gathered her Red Sunset Sisters Group to give the host some praise?!) I think my worldview is going to collapse.]
[There"s a Cloud: Welcome host to Capital Star, sending a firework and wish you all the best! It"s the first time I"ve heard the saying of picnic and camping.]
[Stomach"s Rumbling: I was recommended to this by the previous hypnotic video. I"m looking forward to it. I hope I can sleep well tonight by watching the live broadcast!]
[Cat"s Meow: Mian Mian, Mian Mian, what shall we eat tonight?]
Since this was his first time doing an official live broadcast on Capital Star, the number of viewers in the live broadcast room far exceeded the average within five minutes. Of course, after all, Capital Star was such a big planet, and Gu YuMian was broadcasting live here for the first time, and the current data was not on any recommended position.
Some of the audience came over the wall from Takk, while the previous “hypnotic” video, including the thousand public judges, attracted a lot of audience members among relatives and friends.
“We"ll have beggar"s chicken, 1 2 and some sparkling fruit wine tonight,” Gu YuMian, holding the paw of the snow leopard and scratching the chin of the baby panda, answered the question on the bullet curtain. “Yuanyuan mainly drinks milk and can"t taste a lot of food, okay?”
[Junior B: Wow, I"ve never heard of these dishes.]
Little Tangyuan happily made a whirring sound. His round head wanted to get close but was pushed away by the little snow leopard.
Gu YuMian smiled helplessly, shook his head, and began to deal with the ingredients.
“Beggar"s chicken is a dish in my mother"s hometown. Few people know it now,” Gu YuMian explained. “It"s a traditional folk dish, but I think it"s also suitable for picnics.”
After all, since it was a picnic, the cooking utensils were not as complete as those at home. Gu YuMian set up a portable stove on the edge of the lake and connected the small benches with them to form a small platform for processing the food materials. He sat cross-legged on the picnic cloth to prepare the food materials.
He roughly disa.s.sembled the whole chicken to make it smoother and tender with white vinegar and then cut two layers of the viscera in the middle.
The minced pork with pork belly had already been prepared beforehand. Gu YuMian stir-fried it in a little ginger powder and oil in a pot to make it fragrant. After that, he quickly scooped it up and mixed it with jute oil and minced mushroom. He added a very small amount of salt, mixed it up, and then filled it into the crosscut gap of the chicken.
“It"s easy… In fact, garlic and red peppers can be added, but the stomachs of my two babies can"t stand things too spicy and might choke,” Gu YuMian held the snow leopard who came to inspect the progress of dinner with his chin raised, He put him into the collar of his sweater coat, and let him stand up, as he continued speaking, “If you like, you can try other ingredients when you make it. Maybe it"ll be a surprise.”
[Cat"s Meow: To be honest, I tried to make the dishes MinaMian has made, with the same ingredients and steps, but why do I make such dark cooking?? Kneeling.]
[Cloud Clip: Wow, it"s a little fragrant before it"s baked. I can imagine what it will taste like! To suck and s...o...b..r.]
The baby panda slept on Gu YuMian"s knees. From time to time, he moved his nose to smell the fragrance from Gu YuMian"s cooking materials and then felt his fluffy stomach in a daze.
Gu YuMian couldn"t help but want to laugh. He wrapped the processed tender chicken with lotus leaf in two layers and wrapped it with thick thread. Originally, the lotus leaf should be covered with porcelain clay, but Gu YuMian could only find a similar fine clay.
He put on disposable gloves, mixed the white wine into the fine mud then wrapped the whole lotus leaf chicken in the fine mud, put it into the alcohol oven, and baked it in a slow fire. In ancient times, on Earth, it would be left alone for over six or seven hours. Fortunately, with the technology of the interstellar age, after setting up the alcohol stove, he only needed to wait another 20 minutes to finish the work.
“During the waiting time, we will also boil the cream mushroom soup. I used light cream with very little lactose to avoid lactose intolerance. The final taste will not be particularly sweet.”
Gu YuMian set up another alcohol stove, put the soup in the pot and boiled it for a while, he then put in the ginger slices and cut two pieces of b.u.t.ter. When the soup was bubbling, he poured in the sliced mushrooms and simmered them over low heat.
“The ginger slices will be taken out after boiling for a while. You don"t need to keep them for the whole time.” Gu YuMian said, pouring the soup and half of the mushrooms into the blender, adding the flour and cream, and mixing it all with a small amount of salt.
At this time, they could see the thick texture of the milky cream soup, and smell the salty and sweet smell mixed with cream and mushrooms. The little snow leopard stepped near the pot and sniffed. His eyes narrowed slightly. Gu YuMian guessed that he was very satisfied.
“After stirring it up like this, pour it back into the pot and cook it again.” Gu YuMian took the snow leopard back to his arms and said, “The rest of the mushrooms can also be put in at this time and cooked together. Now we just need to wait.”
[A Handful of Moonlight: I smell it. It"s a bit wonderful. That chicken and this soup… I am looking forward to them!! I really want to eat it, but I recently said that I wanted to lose weight…"
[Little paw: Did you hear me swallowing??!]
But there were also audience members who had been struggling with the matter of roasting chicken in clay from the very beginning — baking with the clay wrapped in the food to be eaten, and then asking them to eat the clay? It was a little scary.
[Dasheng and meow: Sorry, I"m not trying to pick a fight. But I sincerely want to ask the anchor, do you want us to eat earth?]
“Eat earth?” Gu YuMian couldn"t help repeating the word, but thought, “What are you little audience members thinking?”
He held the baby panda in his arms, and the little snow leopard popped out its small head from the collar of his sweater and slept lazily with his chin on the fabric. Gu YuMian touched little Tangyuan"s ears and joked with him, “How about Yuanyuan? Do you want to eat earth?”
The baby panda didn"t understand it at all but knew that Gu YuMian was asking him a question, and immediately gave out a ring of calls to approve all the words of Gu YuMian unconditionally as if to say that he really wanted to eat earth.
Gu YuMian thought little Tangyuan was cute and funny and couldn"t help laughing. He held the little guy in his arms and poked his forehead, “You.”
The laughter was very low. It was a mix of helplessness and connivance and hearing the voice of the young man mixed in the evening wind, the atmosphere was tender and intimate. The mountain wind was cool in the midsummer evening. All the audience members had the same visual angle as the baby panda, and all of them felt as if they were gently coaxed in Gu YuMian"s arms.
Patient, gentle, indulgent, coaxing.
Sea salt mixed with the light fragrance of bamboo leaves lingered in the nose. A mild temperature came from his shirt and the young man"s arms became a shelter from the wind and rain. Compared with all the external touch, inner satisfaction and relaxation were the most striking.
Audience: “…”
Audience: “…?”
Audience: "!!!"
After a few seconds of reaction time, many new audience members who had never spoken before were blown out at this time!
[Ballpoint Pen and Bunny: Ah, ah, I blew up! I"m going to be blown into fireworks by the voice of the anchor!!! I"m sorry, I swore to hate humans all my life before! QAQ I betrayed the organization!!]
[AUI: Awsl!! I drooled when I smelled the delicious food. Now the drool is even more rampant.]
[Early to bed and early to rise: Who can stand it? I can stay by this man"s side every day, I can eat earth all my life!!]
The little snow leopard had been dozing off. He woke up immediately and turned into a vinegar jar.
The grey-blue eyes were cold. The snow leopard reached down to push the baby panda"s head away. His sharp claws came out. Fortunately, Gu YuMian noticed when he opened his eyes. He immediately hugged and coaxed the little snow leopard and kissed his ears. A family conflict that was on the verge of breaking out was finally strangled in the cradle.
The regular alcohol stove, which was set to make a "Ding Dong" sound, indicated that the chicken and soup were done. The thick fragrance of the cream of the mushroom soup had gradually spread in the air as it cooked. The rich and delicious scent made people involuntarily imagine the temperature, taste, and flavor——
Gu YuMian sprinkled a small layer of chopped parsley on the surface of milky thick soup, took two spoons, and fed the little snow leopard and baby panda a little.
The cream and mushrooms were stirred and boiled until they were thick and creamy white. The taste was mellow and full-bodied. The smell of milk was not greasy. The sweetness of the cream and the saltiness of mushroom in the soup were perfectly combined. It was so beautiful that it flowed from the esophagus to the stomach in a warm gulp!
Although it was summer now, the evening at the top of the mountain was not hot, but it was a little cold because of the convergence of the sun, the water vapor, and wind near the lake. At this time, a bowl of warm cream mushroom soup before the meal not only appeased the thirsty spleen and stomach but also laid a good foundation for the next taste of the delicacy. After a few delicious spoons of soup went down, the expectation of this evening"s mountain picnic suddenly increased a lot.
The little snow leopard narrowed his eyes and raised his chin in a reserved way, while the baby panda was more direct, touching his white belly and making a happy little sound.
[Vivian: This cream soup tastes great!!! It"s really amazing. Although it"s a thick soup, it"s not greasy!!]
[There"s a Cloud: It"s fragrant, mellow but not greasy. It"s really good to drink.]
[Cat"s Meow: Seconds!! I"m looking forward to the chicken!!!]
The special effects of several big gifts exploded at the same time, and the audience began to increase gradually.
“The chicken can"t be eaten by Yuanyuan, for fear that it won"t be digested.” Gu YuMian poured a gla.s.s of milk for little Tangyuan and said, “If you want to taste it, I"ll switch to the perspective of TuanTuan now.”
Gu YuMian took the chicken out of the alcohol stove, wearing insulating gloves to remove the fine soil on the surface of the roasted piece, and showed the lotus leaf wrapped in the chicken inside. He took apart the thick line bound with the lotus leaf, and the lotus leaf also opened up.
The fragrance overflowed!
The surface of the chicken baked in the mud mixed with white wine was crispy and golden, and its color was very attractive. Because it was surrounded by lotus leaves and influenced by the smell of wine, the strong fragrance was not greasy and choking at all, and it made people stir up when they smelled it. Stretching out chopsticks gently, the chicken even crumpled away from the bone, it was just right outside and inside.
Gu YuMian was afraid of it being too hot. He first took a piece to cool it before feeding it to the snow leopard——
It was crispy and golden on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. It was fragrant with the lotus leaves and wine. It was not a dish that people would instantly get the taste of. The carefully prepared tasting ginger and pork belly wrapped in it, perfectly matched the taste of roast chicken.
Three seconds later.
The little snow leopard squinted his eyes in satisfaction, licked the corners of his mouth, and after a while, he reached out to pluck the chopsticks from Gu YuMian, apparently urging Gu YuMian to give him another bite. The baby panda couldn"t help but want to also eat. He held Gu YuMian"s wrist pitifully. Unfortunately, Gu YuMian was afraid that they wouldn"t be able to digest it and so he dared not give them some more to eat.
After a quiet moment, the barrage was completely crazy!
[White cat floating green water:!!!! Ah ah ah!!! oh my G.o.d!!!!]
[Early to bed and early to rise: Not enough to eat, one more bite, hurry up!!]
[Vivian: Delicious!! It"s really delicious! I"ve eaten all the food in the whole of the Upper District, but I haven"t tasted this kind of food ever! Wuwuwuwu??!]
[A little wind: It"s a kind of taste from when I was a child. The anchor really worked hard. Thank you. Rose in September, my heart only for you, a firework to you.]
One gift after another exploded.
The mountain was a semi-developed mountain. Tourists could choose a place to have a picnic and camp in the area. Gu YuMian"s place was well chosen. There was no one there, but he could hear the laughter of other tourists who were talking and drinking in the distance. They were not alone.
Gu YuMian prepared a small amount of bubbly fruit wine. The wine was chilled, and it was very suitable for stewed chicken. Bubbles in the tip of the tongue jumped, with the sweet fragrance of wild fruit, the corner of this summer was also dyed with a sweet light color.
They all sat on the picnic cloth, Gu YuMian took care of the baby panda, making it drink a cup of milk while feeding the little snow leopard roast chicken and bubbly fruit wine, and he also tasted one or two chopsticks of meat. At this moment, all kinds of noise around them seemed to have gotten quieter.
At this time, the barrage gradually calmed down, and everyone was immersed in the summer night on the mountain.
It was the most beautiful evening on the whole mountain.
The golden-red sunset spread on the lake in front of them. Looking up, they could see the vast sky. The mountain wind pa.s.sed by their ears, and they could smell the scent of the evening and the mountain forest alone, mixed with cooking smoke.
The alcohol stove was out, but the bonfire raised by Gu YuMian was still burning. In the forest, where the birds were retiring for the night, the light of the bonfire was reflected on the quiet lake, like the scene often described in fairy tales.
Full of food and drink, the baby panda burped after touching his belly, and the little snow leopard nestled and slept in the young man"s arms. Gu YuMian poked at the bonfire with the branch of a tree, and sparks burst out.
“It"s a good time to tell stories,” Gu YuMian said softly. “Well, what do you want to hear? A long time ago… “
Cicadas rang, the sunset faded, and was slowly replaced by the stars.
Summer nights were always unforgettable.
It was a Friday evening.
Many people had just finished a whole week"s work, lay on their sofas tired and watched TV, played games or opened WeChat to brush the stereotyped circle of friends. Many family trips and weekend camping that were planned many days ago were pushed to the corner by fatigue and laziness. Many times they said they would go out for a walk, but they failed to cash in one time.
No stars and fireworks, no fireflies, it was just another boring summer evening for them.
At such a time, the cover of Gu YuMian"s studio was very simple, and it was still automatically intercepted by the system. It was dusk, by the mountain lake, the bonfire was out, and the cream soup and clay stewed chicken were roasting and beeping on the alcohol stove.
The white and handsome young man was facing the camera, lying lazily on his shoulder was a little snow leopard and there was also another fluffy animal in his arms. He seemed to be talking about something interesting. The b.u.t.terfly-like eyelashes hung down, and there was a dimple next to his lips.
——Free and romantic.
Half-past seven in the evening.
In Gu YuMian"s live broadcast room, the number of viewers that ushered in began to skyrocket.
Translator Notes: 瓷泥煨鸡 (Lit. Roasted chicken in clay and ashes) 奶油蘑菇浓汤