After much persuasion, Jiang Yu finally convinced Grandma not to go collecting those mineral water bottles.

To prevent her from sneaking out when he wasn't looking, Jiang Yu took her directly to the vegetable market, preparing to buy ingredients for the meals to be made the next day.

Hosting guests was a rare occasion, especially to thank them for their help over the years. Jiang Yu naturally aimed for a rich spread, buying chicken, duck, fish, and meat, as well as various vegetables. Before long, his hands were full with bags of all sorts of ingredients.

Over the years, Grandma had become used to being thrifty. She had never seen such lavish buying as Jiang Yu's; her face changed color, and her lips kept trembling.

She followed closely behind Jiang Yu wherever he went, staring at the groceries in his hands, mumbling incessantly:

"Oh my, buying so much, buying so much… how can we possibly finish it all?"

"This lamb is so expensive, over thirty yuan a pound, you could buy several pounds of pork with that..."

"What kind of mushroom is this, over twenty yuan a pound! It's more expensive than meat, might as well buy meat instead!"

"..."

Despite her distress, Grandma merely muttered to herself and didn't stop Jiang Yu from buying. Her fragmented words landed in Jiang Yu's ears and made him feel both amused and saddened.

It was easy to imagine that Grandma probably didn't allow herself to buy groceries at the market often. Even when she did go, it was only when the market was about to close and she would buy discounted fatty meat and vegetables.

Jiang Yu could picture Grandma allowing herself some fatty meat, not only to satisfy cravings but also to render lard, thereby saving money on cooking oil.

Actually, when Jiang Yu came back for the National Day holiday, he left money for Grandma's use. Moreover, she still collected and sold recyclables, so it wasn't to the point that she couldn't afford groceries, but she was just too reluctant to spend...

Even Jiang Yu would probably find it hard to change this frugal habit quickly.

After buying all the groceries, Jiang Yu picked up some condiments and other items from a grocery store at the market before carrying a load of bags back home with Grandma.

On the way back, Grandma hesitated for a while but eventually couldn't resist asking,

"Xiaoyu, we're having guests over tomorrow, at most ten or so people. How can we finish all this food you've bought?"

"Grandma, if we can't finish it, we'll just eat it ourselves."

Jiang Yu turned to look at Grandma. Her head full of silver hair fluttered in the wind, accentuating the deep lines on her face. He smiled and said,

"In a few days, it will be Chinese New Year. Even though it's just the two of us, we still need to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner!"

"Oh, oh, it's almost New Year!"

Grandma looked as if she'd just woken from a dream, seemingly just realizing that the New Year was approaching. She breathed a long sigh of relief and smiled with a bit of sentiment, saying,

"Time really flies, another year has passed."

Jiang Yu pursed his lips without saying a word.

Perhaps in Grandma's world, time indeed passed faster for her than others. Busy with this and that, a year would end before she knew it.

She hadn't even had the chance to sit down and take a proper rest.

...

"Grandma, go invite everyone over. I'll go to the kitchen to cook."

The next day, after preparing all the ingredients bought the day before, close to ten o'clock, Jiang Yu turned to Grandma and said,

"By the time they come over for tea, I'll be ready to serve the dishes."

Grandma wandered around the kitchen, looking at the table piled with various ingredients with disbelief in her eyes:

"Can you handle it alone? Don't you need me to help light the fire?"

In the past, when the whole family was around, preparing the New Year's Eve dinner for everyone required her to start busying right after breakfast. With a table full of dishes requiring stewing, boiling, and steaming, it would be impossible to finish without help, possibly not even by dinner time.

Yet now, Xiaoyu was insisting he didn't need help, not even with lighting the fire!

"Really, I don't need help. The kitchen is too smoky. You go ahead and call them over. Once they arrive, just stay outside and host them. I'll be just fine here by myself."

Jiang Yu gave her a smile, then turned around and started getting busy.

Though today's menu was extensive, he found a way to be "lazy."

For example, some dishes he planned to make today, like braised pork knuckle, steamed pork with rice flour, and chopped chili fish head, were all steamed dishes. As long as the ingredients were prepared in advance, it was just a matter of steaming.

In the rural wood-fired stove setup with two large pots, the inner pot was used for steaming, while the outer pot could be used for stir-frying, facilitating simultaneous operations without any delay.

Apart from these three grand dishes, the small stir-fries were much simpler.

In truth, cooking itself wasn't complicated in the kitchen; the time-consuming part was the preparation of ingredients. Once the prep work was done, the actual cooking often only took a few to ten minutes.

While Jiang Yu was busy in the kitchen, Grandma had already invited all the elders like his uncles and aunts. Even before entering the house, a strong aroma of food wafted out from the courtyard.

A gray-haired old lady took a sniff and couldn't help but murmur,

"Who's been stewing meat so early in the day? With such lavishness, aren't they worrying about making ends meet?"

An old man walking on the side chuckled and said:

"Look at what you're saying, these days who can't afford some meat? You think it's still decades ago when eating some meat had to wait until the New Year!"

"Life is much better now than before, but no one eats meat stews every day, not because they can't afford it, but it's too greasy!"

"..."

A group of elders chatted idly, saying a few words here and there, quickly entering the house.

Once inside, they found the aroma of the dishes even stronger. The old lady from earlier turned her head and looked at Jiang Yu's grandmother with some bewilderment, somewhat reproachfully saying:

"Oh, old sister, isn't this a bit extravagant?

We're all family, you said Xiaoyu is coming back and you want to host a meal for everyone, no need for formality, especially since our Xiaoyu has started postgraduate studies, this is worth celebrating!

But you could've just made a few dishes yourself for everyone to gather and have some fun, why did you specially hire a chef to cook? How much must this cost!

Last time, when Lao Niu's grandson from next door had his full month celebration, they hired a big chef from a city's restaurant to cook, just for one banquet table, the chef alone cost thousands, and I think the aroma of their dishes wasn't as good as yours!

Honestly, hiring this chef must have cost a lot, right? This, this, this is just too extravagant!"

"What? Auntie, you specially hired a chef to cook for us? Isn't that a bit too grand?"

"I said so, why could I smell such a strong aroma of meat from afar, regular people can't make that kind of flavor!"

"Oh my, I've never tried dishes made by a restaurant chef..."

"..."

At this moment, Jiang Yu's grandmother looked bewildered, feeling her mind was a bit unclear.

What are these people talking about?

About hiring a big restaurant chef?

After a while, she gradually regained her composure, somewhat understanding what these old folks were saying.

Oh, they think the aroma in the house is too enticing, too pleasant, so they assumed I hired a big restaurant chef to cook for them?

How could that be?!

For this meal, Jiang Yu spent hundreds just buying the ingredients yesterday!

And hire a chef from a big restaurant to specially arrange the meal?

How much would that cost?

Though she felt it couldn't be possible, smelling the alluring aroma in the house, she was a bit uncertain, sure she couldn't have hired any chef, but, but perhaps her grandson Xiaoyu might have done so!

Maybe, the reason he sent me out early was not to let me discover he hired a chef to help?

Hiring a chef from a big city restaurant, how much would that cost?

Her heart couldn't help but tremble, and disregarding those relatives still chatting in the living room, she strode towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Jiang Yu was cooking braised lamb.

Lamb in the pot, with a mix of fat and lean, was being simmered with soy sauce, refined salt, star anise, cinnamon, among other seasonings, filling the kitchen with the lamb's aroma. The tender, fragrant chunks of lamb softening in the gravy, gently bubbling and quivering, made one's mouth water irresistibly.

Jiang Yu picked up chopsticks, poked and found the meat was tender, then picked up a piece and tasted it.

Maybe the lamb was hot, he couldn't help but open his mouth with a "hiss-ha" a few times, quickly chewing with a satisfied face before swallowing.

As soon as he swallowed the lamb, a "gulp" sound of someone swallowing was heard from the kitchen door. Jiang Yu turned and saw his grandmother standing there, looking awkward, unsure whether to come in or retreat.

Jiang Yu paused, then hurriedly waved to his grandmother: "Grandma, come and taste if the lamb is tender enough, I'm worried you might find it hard to chew!"

The elders Jiang Yu invited, including his grandmother, were mostly in their sixties or seventies, with just a few slightly younger, but most had poor teeth, so the braised lamb and other dishes had to be tender and soft.

If inviting guests to eat, and they can't even chew meat, what's the point of the invitation?

Might as well not invite them!

"Huh? Should I try it too?"

Grandma was a bit startled, hesitantly took a couple of steps into the kitchen, glanced back a bit nervously, and said reluctantly,

"Your uncles and aunts are still outside, wouldn't this be inappropriate for me now?"

"What's the problem?"

Jiang Yu casually shrugged it off, picked up the spatula to serve a portion of lamb and gravy into a bowl, along with chopsticks, handing them to his grandmother, smiling:

"Whenever anyone cooks, they have to taste the seasoning, otherwise how do you know if it's good?"

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