Chapter 277: The Battle of the Three Aunts (Part )
Liu Zhiye turned around in astonishment and found Xu Hongyan and Liu Zhiruo following closely behind him. It turned out that they wanted to stay with him for a while, so they came together.

Xu Hongyan's face was frosty at the moment, and her eyes were wide open. She was trying hard to stare at Qin Jingru.

There was determination and ferocity in her eyes, as if she wanted to devour all obstacles, like an old hen protecting her chicks. Her little appearance was endearing.

Qin Jingru was not a pushover. When she found that Xu Hongyan was hostile towards her, she glared back at her without showing any weakness.

The two looked at each other and found that the other was as beautiful as themselves, and they were of similar age, and both seemed to be interested in Liu Zhiye.

As a result, the hostility escalated instantly, and the two people's eyes collided, sparks flying.

He Yushui is 18 years old this year and has a vague understanding of the relationship between men and women. She found that she had frequent contact with Liu Zhiye in recent years and gradually fell in love with this older brother in the same courtyard.

She thought Liu Zhiye was a tall, handsome, capable and powerful man; he was not only kind-hearted, but also heroic and gentle and considerate to his family.

In short, He Yushui believes that he has many admirable qualities and he is an impeccable and perfect man.

He Yushui is different from Qin Jingru. Qin Jingru does not hide her love for the things she likes and does not care about other people's opinions. She is extremely realistic and a typical egoist.

As for He Yushui, she is more mature than Liu Zhiruo who is of the same age, and is on par with Xu Hongyan.

It may be related to her experience of losing her mother at a young age and her father abandoning her and her siblings when she was less than ten years old.

In addition, her brother Sha Zhu, who depends on her for everything, is also not a worry-free person.

Therefore, this girl has been relatively precocious since she was young and seems to be more rational in terms of relationships.

Although He Yushui secretly liked a married man, she knew that her feelings were not accepted and she did not want to destroy other people's feelings, so she could only hide these feelings deep in her heart.

She is a smart girl who knows when to stop and will not disturb other people's happiness.

So, she hid her feelings very well and no one noticed anything unusual about her.

However, today, perhaps because she hadn't seen Liu Zhiye for a long time, she was extremely excited when she saw him for the first time, and couldn't help but behave a little strangely.

Wang Qiuju's brother and sister-in-law were stunned when they saw her expression. As a person who had experienced it, Wang Qiuju saw the expression on her sister-in-law's face when she looked at Liu Zhiye, and guessed what she was thinking.

So, Wang Qiuju gently poked Sha Zhu who was taking care of her at the side, and signaled with her eyes that something was wrong with He Yushui.

Sha Zhu followed He Yushui's infatuated gaze and looked at Liu Zhiye. Then his heart skipped a beat and he secretly complained, "My silly sister! How can you be so depressed? You can like anyone else, but he. Is this the person you care about?"

Not only the couple, but Qin Huairu and Lou Xiaoe also noticed that something was wrong with the girl.

Qin Huairu first looked at He Yushui with amusement, then glanced at Qin Jingru who was "cockfighting" with Xu Hongyan, and finally looked at Liu Zhiye meaningfully.

Liu Zhiye was puzzled and frowned, thinking: "What's wrong with this woman? She's looking at me with such a weird expression, what does it mean?" He stood aside awkwardly, noticing Qin Huairu's unusual behavior, and couldn't help feeling confused.

Although I have said so much, the expressions and movements of these people actually happened in an instant.

They were either surprised, confused, or helpless; all these expressions were displayed at this moment, as if frozen in time.

In front of everyone, Lou Xiao'e was the most indifferent. She was the first to break the silence and greeted Liu Zhiye enthusiastically: "Hey! Director Liu, how come you have time to come back?" Her voice was soft and kind, making people feel a warm breath.

She, Lou Xiao'e, married Xu Damao in a newlywed state. At that time, the couple's relationship was still good, and they had not yet reached the situation of sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams later.

Although, before she married Xu Damao, she had some subtle fantasies about Liu Zhiye, but after she got married, these thoughts disappeared.

Someone said something to Liu Zhiye, and he immediately responded with a smile: "Oh! I'm not busy today. I haven't been home for a while, so I'll go home and visit."

Then, not seeing Xu Damao, he casually asked, "Brother Damao, isn't it at home?"

Lou Xiao'e smiled and said, "Da Mao saw that I was not feeling well these days, so he said he would go to the countryside to get me an old hen to nourish my body. He left early this morning." She said this with a sweet expression, and it was obvious that she was very satisfied with Xu Damao's performance. Qin Huairu, who was standing by, secretly pursed her lips and thought, "Look how proud you are. I don't even know your last name. Xu Damao is a bad guy. He even gave you a chicken. I think he went to pick up a chicken!"

I don't know what happened, but ever since Lou Xiao'e married into this courtyard, Qin Huairu has been vaguely hostile to her, and even she herself feels a little puzzled.

Qin Huairu sometimes reflects on herself. Perhaps she is jealous of Lou Xiaoe, who has a good family background and still lives like a young lady even after getting married!

After Lou Xiao'e married Xu Damao, she no longer had to wash clothes, cook and do housework. She didn't have to work hard all day, often not having enough to eat or wear warm clothes, and having to endure the anger of her husband and mother-in-law.

When Sha Zhu and Wang Qiuju saw Liu Zhiye coming back, they greeted him warmly. Sha Zhu hadn't seen him for a long time, and smiled so hard that his face was wrinkled. "Brother Liu, you're back. I missed you so much after not seeing you for so long."

"Well, let me get some snacks so we can have a drink at noon?"

Liu Zhiye smiled and declined, "Don't bother, Zhuzi. Come to my house for lunch. You can help me cook."

Sha Zhu did not refuse and immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll go into the house to get the tools." They chefs have a habit of using their own knives and other tools no matter where they hold a banquet, simply because it is convenient.

Liu Zhiye had seen Sha Zhu's shiny kitchen knife and it was obvious that it was no ordinary item. It was said to be a treasure passed down from his ancestors.

When his father He Daqing eloped with Widow Bai, he still had a conscience and left the family heirloom kitchen utensils to Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu inherited these kitchen utensils, and he treated them like treasures on a daily basis; except for Liu Zhiye, he would not allow other people to even look at them.

There is a folk saying: "There are four things people should not touch: a carpenter's axe, a cook's knife, a bachelor's luggage, and a girl's waist."

In particular, kitchen knives are vital to chefs. Every dish tests not only the cooking skills and the control of seasoning and heat, but also the chef's knife skills. If a chef uses an unfamiliar knife, it is very likely that he will not be able to cut ginger into shreds or cut green onions into flowers, which will ruin his reputation.

There is a saying nowadays called "muscle memory", which means that after a person uses a thing for a long time, the body will develop a kind of muscle memory, and if a person uses other similar tools again, he will feel uncomfortable.

There is also a saying that "human nature is evil". In the past, in order to replace the original chef, some people would use the easiest way to destroy the chef's knife, such as smearing some medicine on the knife, thus ruining the chef's reputation.

In order to avoid such incidents and to protect his job and source of income for survival, the chef is very afraid of others using his knife, because if something goes wrong he will have no way to explain himself.

Even now, when many people become apprentices, the first thing the master tells them is that they are not to lend out their knives casually. Some top chefs even have their own set of knives.

Liu Zhiye’s space also has such a set of carefully crafted kitchen utensils. After his cooking skills improved greatly, he specially asked someone to go to the "Wang Mazi Knife and Scissors Shop" in Wuhan and spent a lot of money to customize it. It is purely a personal hobby.

The set of knives he made is made of exquisite materials, using the country's top-grade special steel. The steel is of good quality and moderate hardness. The forged kitchen knives are both hard and soft, with sharp blades that are not prone to chipping or curling.

In operation, hammers are used on both sides of the knife plate, forming the technical characteristics of "steady movement, tight clamping of steel, flatness, uniform knife edge, and clear distinction between blue steel and white iron."

Sha Zhu fetched the knife and said to Lou Xiao'e, Qin Huairu and others, "Let's stop chatting and go back to prepare lunch."

Lou Xiao'e smiled and nodded, picked up the stool and was about to go to the backyard. Since Xu Damao was not at home and her parents-in-law had moved back to the countryside, she could only go back and make do with a meal.

Liu Zhiye knew that Lou Xiao'e couldn't cook at all, and she didn't know if she could have a hot meal when she returned. Besides, her husband Xu Damao was serving her attentively, so he wanted to invite her to his house for dinner.

"Xiao Lou, come and have dinner with us."

Lou Xiao'e was a little surprised to hear this. She didn't expect Liu Zhiye to invite her to go with him. She replied a little embarrassedly: "Thank you, I can just go back and have a meal by myself, you guys go and eat!"

Liu Zhiye smiled and said, "Don't be polite. There's no outsider here. We're all neighbors in the same courtyard getting together." As he said that, he winked at Wang Qiuju, meaning to persuade Lou Xiaoe.

Wang Qiuju understood what she meant, and then she persuaded Lou Xiao'e: "Xiao'e, come with us. Yu Shui and I will go together. It will be more lively if we have more people."

Lou Xiao'e hesitated for a moment, then smiled and thanked, "Okay, I'm sorry to trouble you then!"

(End of this chapter)