Chapter 154: Western Spirits

"Red Star Rolling Mill's Scrap Recycling Station? No way, Liangzi, you don't mean the old curator is staying right here, do you?" Staring at the large sign above the front lintel, Silly Zhu fell into deep thought.

In Silly Zhu's memory, the old curator was an absolute gentleman. No matter where he was, his initial impression to everyone was that of a standard, respectable veteran cadre.

Now, suddenly brought to this scrap recycling station by Chen Liang and told that Elder Lu was living in seclusion right here, Silly Zhu was completely dumbfounded.

Seeing Silly Zhu's silly expression, Chen Liang didn't say much. He directly pushed open the gate and led Xiaoyu inside.

Hearing someone open the door, Elder Lu came out to see who had arrived, and his attire completely dropped Silly Zhu's jaw.

The classic elderly sleeveless undershirt and baggy shorts worn by every old man all over the streets fit Elder Lu without the slightest sense of incongruity. Holding a large cattail leaf fan in his hand and wearing an old man's cap on his head, he looked precisely like a retired factory grandfather, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to his former veteran cadre image.

Xiaoyu smiled affectionately at Elder Lu and called out, "Grandpa, I've come to see you!"

"Oh, Xiaoyu is here! Old woman, hurry up and come out, Xiaoyu has come to visit us!" Elder Lu completely ignored Chen Liang, purposely mentioning only Xiaoyu.

Grandma Sun inside the house was still wondering why Xiaoyu had come alone today. What on earth had happened to the usually inseparable young couple?

As soon as she stepped out of the house, she saw Elder Lu glaring angrily at Chen Liang. "I don't welcome thieves here, so someone should hurry up and clear out voluntarily!"

The uninvited "thief" didn't care about Elder Lu's tone at all; as long as he wasn't embarrassed, it was everyone else's problem!

"I'm talking to you, Chen Liang, you brat, are you deaf?" Seeing Chen Liang's indifferent expression, Elder Lu finally blew his top.

Since things had reached the point of calling him out by name, Chen Liang couldn't keep up the act and spread his hands. "Old man, you can't just burn the bridge after crossing the river."

"Burn the bridge after crossing the river? Then why don't you talk about your own lack of decency? Pity my tricycle full of treasures that I worked so hard to collect; I hadn't even warmed my hands on them before you swiped the whole lot!"

It had just been a coincidence that day. When Chen Liang brought Xiaoyu over for a free meal, he happened to see Elder Lu taking in a pile of antiques.

On a sudden impulse, without caring what was actually inside, Chen Liang hopped on the bicycle and pedaled away, leaving Elder Lu behind with no hope of catching him.

"Oh, the whole street is full of treasures everywhere; you can just go collect some more. At worst, next time you can hide them better so I won't discover them!"

Chen Liang's words made Elder Lu want to laugh. The brat acted as if he were just going to the vegetable market to buy cabbages. However, remembering that Chen Liang was merely a novice in antiques who knew nothing about them, he instantly lost interest in taunting him.

"Look, I won't ask for the rest back, but if you return the two pieces of Khotan jade suet raw material from that cart the other day, we can call it even. How about that?"

With that, Chen Liang tilted his nose up toward the sky. "Old man, haven't you woken up yet? When have you ever seen me swallow something and spit it back out? Let me tell you, there's no way in hell!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Liang was chased all around by Elder Lu. In the end, this farce was stopped only when Grandma Sun couldn't bear to watch any longer.

Afterward, Chen Liang introduced Silly Zhu and Little Vegetable to Grandma Sun. "Grandma, the steamed perch you love the most was cooked by him. You must have a good taste of it today!"

"Oh, so he's Silly... I mean, He Yuzhu. This young man is really quite tall!" Grandma Sun looked him over for a long time before finally managing to find one of Silly Zhu's merits!

"Elder Lu, Grandma Sun, this is Silly Zhu's partner, Liu Siyuan."

After the introductions, Chen Liang realized someone was missing. "Elder Lu, where is Qin Jingru? Why don't I see her?"

Grandma Sun then took over the conversation. "That silly girl heard Old Lu mention in passing the other day that the bamboo on West Mountain is good and suitable for making fishing rods. Early this morning, no one could stop her; she insisted on going to cut bamboo for him!"

"Oh, is that so?" Chen Liang nodded, which happened to save him from having to find an excuse to send the young woman away. Perfect! Even the heavens were helping him out.

"That means Qin Jingru misses out on this treat," Chen Liang said, before telling Xiaoyu and Little Vegetable to go keep Grandma Sun company.

He and Silly Zhu then left to fetch the things they had prepared. After making several trips back and forth, Chen Liang finally managed to move the red wine and beer over.

Holding a bottle of tequila, Chen Liang showed off to the old man. "Look, old man, what did I manage to get for you?"

"Whoa! You actually managed to get imported liquor? You brat are doing quite well for yourself!"

Taking the tequila handed to him by Chen Liang, the old man took out his glasses and examined it carefully for a moment. "Not bad, it's actually produced in Mexico. This bottle belongs to me now!"

"I have more, what are you rushing for?" With that, Chen Liang pulled out the remaining XO and Stolichnaya vodka.

Elder Lu eagerly scooped all the imported liquor into his arms. "I haven't had foreign liquor in so long; today I finally get to indulge in a real luxury!"

"Old man, can the three bottles of imported liquor I brought as a sign of respect make up for the tricycle incident?" Chen Liang's cheeky demeanor was particularly infuriating.

Hearing this, Elder Lu gave him a sideways glance for a moment before nodding expressionlessly. "Don't let there be a next time. If you do it again, I'll go on strike and you can scavenge for scrap metal all by yourself!"

Silly Zhu, working in the kitchen, called out to urge Chen Liang to come help with the prep work. "Liangzi, are you coming over to help or not? This whole pile of meat still hasn't been put on skewers!"

"Coming, coming! You always whine and grumble the moment you have to do any work!"

Silly Zhu was a professional chef, and the mutton they had bought looked much better than what was typically found in Chen Liang's supermarket—authentic Mongolian Ujimqin sheep, with a rich, gamey aroma.

Following Silly Zhu's instructions, Chen Liang soaked the mutton in cold water to draw out the blood; otherwise, the flavor would be too heavy during roasting, making it completely unpalatable.

Next, Chen Liang fished a bundle of steel wire skewers out of the kitchen cabinet, boiled them in a pot of boiling water for disinfection, rinsed them in cold water, and set them aside for later use.

After finishing that, Chen Liang retrieved a rope, bundled up all three crates of beer, and slowly lowered them into the water well to chill.

By this time, the blood had mostly been drawn out of the mutton. Next came Silly Zhu's solo show. He took out a specialized wide-and-narrow slicing knife from his ancestral tool box.

With the kitchen knife flashing up and down, the ten-pound mutton hind leg was swiftly cut into uniform, bite-sized strips.

Silly Zhu sliced, and Chen Liang skewered. In no time at all, the entire batch of steel wire skewers prepared by Chen Liang was completely used up.

The remaining chores had nothing to do with Silly Zhu anymore. He needed to prepare to pan-fry a steak for each of the ladies to pair with the red wine Chen Liang had brought.

Pan-frying steak was a skill Silly Zhu had covertly learned from the famous Moscow Restaurant. Even so, Silly Zhu still looked down on the foreigners' culinary techniques.

After undergoing his own magical modifications, a fully well-done steak was freshly produced, drizzled with his self-prepared secret black pepper sauce. You have to admit, it really looked appetizing!