Chapter 337: Chapter 224: Whole Roasted Lamb

"Do you want the offal?" Under the professional butcher’s skilled hands, a live lamb was quickly bled and gutted, its internal organs removed.

Butchering a sheep was more convenient than a pig. At least you didn’t have to scald off the hair—you could just skin it directly.

"We don’t want the blood and skin. You can just keep those, sir," An Jun said, pointing to the lambskin and a basin of blood. "We’ll take the rest of the offal. Could you help us clean the intestines?"

The lamb’s heart, tripe, kidneys, and even its ’special part’ were all good eats.

He figured with Yi Chen around, there was no need to worry about the offal tasting bad. He had even specifically bought a clay pot so they could make a hot pot later.

He just wasn’t sure how to prepare the lamb’s head. After thinking it over, he figured it would be too much trouble and decided against taking it.

The only reason for all this was the butcher’s policy of slaughtering lambs to order. Otherwise, An Jun wouldn’t have gone to such trouble; he could have just bought frozen meat.

But whether it was seafood, beef, lamb, or pork, freshly slaughtered meat always tasted much better than frozen.

Good thing they had come bright and early. By the time the lamb and everything else was packed up and loaded into the vehicle, it was only a little past nine.

An Jun also snagged two bottles of the butcher’s homemade specialty seasoning for roasted whole lamb, which was supposed to make it taste even more fragrant.

If they started driving to the island now, they would arrive right around noon.

After lunch, they could get busy with roasting the whole lamb. The task of roasting it themselves outdoors would take at least the entire afternoon.

Meanwhile, Gu Nan had already picked up the grandmother and arrived at their small villa on the island.

They were the first to arrive. The two small villas they had were adjacent and very close to each other.

Gu Nan settled the grandmother, his parents, and the others into the eastern villa. Since he and Yi Chen were young and stayed up late, it was more suitable for them to share the other villa with An Jun and the rest of their friends.

The villas were single-story bamboo houses, apparently a specialty room type at the island resort. There were only ten in total, and Guo Xiao had managed to rent two of them.

If it had been up to Gu Nan, the most he could have booked during the resort’s soft opening was a standard single room.

Yi Chen helped her grandmother walk into the house, looking around with curiosity.

The moment he stepped inside, Gu Nan felt a refreshing coolness wash over him, which was incredibly comfortable.

But it was hot outside, so the air conditioning still had to be turned on.

They’d paid for it, so they might as well use it.

"Now this is comfortable!" Zhao Chunlan chuckled as she sat down on a lounge chair. It swayed gently as she leaned back, and she looked completely at ease.

An idea suddenly struck Gu Nan. ’Should I buy a plot of land and build my own courtyard house?’

’We all have cars, so it’s convenient to get to the island. I just wonder how hard it would be to acquire land.’

’Even though they had a house in Bazhou City, having a cool courtyard to escape the summer heat and enjoy a change of scenery would be pretty nice.’

Yi Chen also seemed to particularly like the place; she had started wandering all around the room.

The room’s overall style was that of a bamboo house, billed as being "close to nature."

However, it was fully equipped with modern appliances, making life there very convenient.

The ocean was right outside the courtyard, and the beach was to their left, only about three or four hundred meters away.

Guests of the resort didn’t need tickets to access the beach, but activities like jet skiing still had to be paid for separately.

Half an hour later, Gu Dacheng arrived as well.

"Cousin, Yueyue," Gu Nan said, bringing Yi Chen over to greet Gu Xin. He then pulled out a lollipop and handed it to his cousin’s daughter, Fang Yueyue.

He had been present when Gu Dacheng and his family went to visit the girl, so they had met before.

The little girl was shy. She looked at the lollipop, then glanced up at her mother.

Gu Xin smiled and patted her daughter’s head. "Your uncle is giving it to you, so you can take it. But you have to say thank you."

"Thank you, Uncle," the little girl said in a tiny voice before accepting the lollipop.

"Yueyue, do you remember me?" Yi Chen asked with a smile, crouching down in front of the little girl.

She hadn’t gone with Gu Nan to visit them, but Gu Xin occasionally brought the little girl to the family restaurant. Yi Chen had met her once when visiting the old restaurant, so they were acquainted.

Fang Yueyue nodded, blinking her big eyes without saying a word.

"I brought a gift for you. Come on, let’s go inside." Yi Chen reached out, took her hand, and led her into the house.

Zhao Suying and Gu Xin followed them inside, also curious, and began looking around the house.

Gu Dacheng didn’t rush in. Instead, he pulled out a Hua Zi cigarette and lit one up. "This place is nice. How much for a night?"

"I’m not sure. A friend had to go somewhere else at the last minute and gave the reservation to me." Gu Nan didn’t take a cigarette; he wasn’t a smoker.

Gu Dacheng nodded and didn’t press the issue.

"By the way, where are Ah Jun and Ah Jing? Didn’t you say you invited them?"

"No idea. They took my pickup truck, and who knows what they’re bringing over. Let’s go inside. It’s cool with the AC on."

"No rush. I’ll just let the smell of smoke air out a bit."

It wasn’t until ten-thirty that the group resting inside suddenly heard An Jun shouting.

Gu Nan was the first one out, and he saw An Jun, Ye Jing, and the others unloading a grill from the truck.

"Whoa, what’s with you guys? Why’d you bring such a huge grill? Don’t tell me you’re planning on roasting a whole lamb."

"Well, well, aren’t you the clever one? You guessed it right away," An Jun teased.

"Get lost," Gu Nan rolled his eyes, then went over to help carry things.

They put the grill and other items in the other villa’s courtyard, including the whole lamb, which was being kept fresh on ice inside a large styrofoam box.

"You guys really know how to make trouble for yourselves. We finally get a chance to relax, and you just had to go and do a whole roast lamb. What a hassle."

"I brought seafood from my restaurant; grilling that would’ve been easy and convenient."

Ye Jing laughed. "We eat seafood all the time. It gets boring!"

An Jun wiped the sweat from his brow and said with his hands on his hips, "Roasting a whole lamb ourselves is exactly the kind of thing you do on vacation. It’s more fun this way!"

As for Jin Enfei, she had let out a series of Korean-drama-style exclamations upon entering the villa and was now already pulling Xu Zhina, Yi Chen, and Fang Yueyue over for a round of selfies.

Perhaps because they were all young, cheerful women, after posing for a few photos, the little girl quickly warmed up and integrated into this "auntie group."

They prepared their own lunch. The resort’s food was not only expensive, but it was mostly just simple farmhouse-style cuisine.

They were all locals, so why would they eat that? Besides, the chefs at the resort probably couldn’t cook as well as Yi Chen anyway.

Thankfully, Gu Nan had specifically bought plenty of groceries that morning. And so, Chef Yi came online, putting on a great performance for her future parents-in-law.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the three young men, along with an enthusiastic Gu Dacheng who was eager to join the fun, started to tackle the roasted lamb.

When he saw An Jun pull out his phone and open a video tutorial on how to roast a whole lamb, Gu Nan’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Wait a minute. I knew you didn’t know how to roast a whole lamb, but don’t tell me you’re just going to learn it on the spot right now? I thought you’d already figured it out!"

An Jun, however, looked completely justified. "Who said I haven’t learned? I’m just pulling this up for a quick review."

Gu Dacheng said enthusiastically, "This shouldn’t be too hard. But shouldn’t we set up the frame and get the coals started first?"

A man is a boy till the day he dies. He was quite interested in the prospect of roasting a lamb himself.

Gu Nan and the others nodded and quickly got to work.

Professionals roast whole lambs quickly because they use a tandoor-style oven, which cooks faster, and they also do prep work in advance.

The four men divided the labor: Gu Nan and Ye Jing assembled the roasting rack, and Gu Dacheng started the coals.

An Jun, meanwhile, took the lamb out and laid it on a table. He first used paper towels to pat the ice-cold water off its surface, then used a small knife to score the thicker parts of the meat.

Finally, he took out the two bottles of special seasoning: one was a dry rub, and the other was a sauce.

Following the butcher’s instructions, he opened the bottle of sauce and brushed it all over the lamb.

He applied a simple first coat, leaving more than half the bottle of sauce for another application while the lamb was roasting.

Once the rack was ready, Gu Nan and Ye Jing carried the lamb over and mounted it on the spit.

The spit held the lamb securely in place, spreading it out as much as possible.

This lamb was missing its head and tail, and its trotters and shanks had also been removed and set aside, so it wasn’t overly large even when splayed open.

Then began the long process of roasting. Gu Nan kept an eye on it, giving the spit a turn from time to time.

Nothing seemed to be happening at first. It was only after a good while that the pale, tender meat started to change color slightly.

It wasn’t until the fat started rendering and dripping onto the charcoal with a SIZZLE that a rich, savory aroma of roasted meat began to fill the courtyard.

The smell immediately attracted Yi Chen and the others from the adjacent villa.

"It smells so good!" Jin Enfei said, looking at the whole lamb with great curiosity. A feast like this was unimaginable in her home country.

Fortunately, she’d been in mainland China for many years, so she wasn’t as wide-eyed and shocked as she had been when she first arrived.

"Come on, everyone, have some watermelon to cool down," Zhao Suying and Gu Xin said, bringing over two plates of it.

Gu Nan was feeling thirsty just then, and the heat from the grill was intense. His eyes lit up at the sight of the chilled watermelon. He grabbed a slice, devoured it in two huge bites, tossed the rind, and reached for another piece.

Seeing the watermelon rind, Jin Enfei inexplicably blushed.

She was reminded of an embarrassing incident from her past, when she had incredulously asked her roommates why they were being so wasteful by not eating the watermelon rind...

Thankfully, she had since learned the error of her ways. Now, she just ate the watermelon and tossed the rind. Pure satisfaction.

She then went over to inspect the roast lamb. Seeing that many parts were still dripping with bloody juices, she asked, "Is this thing even going to be ready by nighttime?"

"Of course," An Jun nodded decisively. "It’s not even three o’clock. The cooking will speed up a lot from here on out. We have plenty of time." It looked like they were on track with the video’s timeline, and he was confident they’d be eating delicious roast lamb right on schedule that evening.

After eating some watermelon, Yi Chen called out to Gu Nan. "Ah Nan, let’s make a hot pot with the lamb offal tonight. Grandma and Yueyue can’t eat too much of the roasted meat. Can you drive me to buy some hot pot base?"

"Okay," Gu Nan nodded. With so many people tending to the roast lamb, he wasn’t really needed there anyway.

Hearing this, An Jun quickly pulled him aside and whispered, "Bro, that... uh... lamb part. Could you ask your girl to stew it for me?"

Gu Nan’s expression instantly turned strange. He glanced down at his childhood friend’s crotch. "You can’t get it up anymore?"

"*You’re* the one who can’t! Your whole fam—" An Jun nearly flew into a rage, but he caught himself with a cough. Luckily, Gu Dacheng was nearby, so he managed to swallow the rest of his sentence.

"Uh, it’s just... I’ve been a little fatigued lately. I need a bit of a boost!"

"Then what about the kidneys and the testicles?"

"I’m gonna eat those grilled!"

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