Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

After the aroma of dried tangerine peel is released, add minced garlic and ginger.

He only poured in the peanut oil after the minced garlic and ginger had released their aroma.

As the peanut oil sizzled, the aromas of fermented black beans, dried tangerine peel, ginger, and garlic blended together instantly.

The classic Cantonese aroma of black bean sauce slowly fills the kitchen.

Zhou Yu added a small spoonful of broth and a little bit of white sugar, which softened the initially strong soy sauce flavor.

He waited until the black bean sauce gradually thickened before adding a spoonful of light soy sauce and oyster sauce.

Turn off the heat and let the black bean sauce cool down. Then, Zhou Yu poured the prepared black bean sauce into the ribs and stirred it.

After mixing well, use the broth and cornstarch to make a thickening sauce to seal in the seasoned ribs. Finally, seal in a little oil, then transfer the ribs with the black bean sauce to a plate.

After preparing the ribs, Zhou Yu then prepared the beef.

The beef was still quite fresh today, so Zhou Yu didn't season or marinate it too much.

I only used a little soy sauce, oyster sauce, a pinch of sugar and pepper for seasoning, then sealed the flavor with cornstarch, and finally sealed it with oil.

The ribs and beef need to be marinated for a certain amount of time.

It was at this moment that the doorbell rang.

Luo Qiming and Cheng Yin have arrived.

Cao Xuezhen opened the door, and outside, Luo Qiming smiled and waved the fruit and chopped roast goose in his hand.

He laughed and said, "Haha, Xuezhen, good afternoon! Sorry to bother you so suddenly. I saw some nice roast goose downstairs, so I brought it over for an extra meal!"

Cao Xuezhen accepted the gift with a smile and led them into the living room.

Zhou Weiqiang pulled Luo Qiming to sit down at the coffee table and said, "Oh dear, why did you come here to buy roast goose? My son cooked several dishes today, enough for us."

After Luo Qiming sat down, he introduced Cheng Yin, saying, "I didn't buy it; my niece bought it. She said it wouldn't be right for her to come empty-handed since it was her first time visiting. This is Cheng Yin, the daughter of my old colleague who is a doctor. Cheng Yin, this is Uncle Zhou, and this is your Aunt Zhou."

Cheng Yin greeted Cao Xuezhen and Zhou Weiqiang with a smile, "Hello, Uncle and Aunt, my name is Cheng Yin."

Cao Xuezhen smiled and said, "Dr. Cheng, right? Please have a seat and some tea."

She secretly glanced at Cheng Yin; she was a bit too thin. Were all doctors so busy? She didn't seem very healthy.

Luo Qiming asked with a smile, "Where's Xiaoyu?"

Zhou Weiqiang pointed towards the kitchen and said, "He's cooking in the kitchen. Qiming, you haven't tried Xiaoyu's cooking yet, have you? Her cooking skills are really good now, so you should eat more later."

Luo Qiming was indeed a little curious. He had never eaten Zhou Yu's terrible cooking before and had no psychological trauma.

Cheng Yin hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said, "Auntie, how about I help out? Although I can't cook, I can still lend a hand."

Cao Xuezhen: "No need, no need, he'll be done soon. Besides, there's no reason to ask a guest for help."

Just then, Zhou Yu brought out the cooked salt-baked chicken.

Luo Qiming waved to Zhou Yu and called out, "Little Yu!"

After placing the salt-baked chicken on the dining table, Zhou Yu smiled at Luo Qiming and said, "Hello, Uncle Luo! There are two more dishes in the kitchen; I'll finish cooking them first."

Luo Qiming: "Okay, you go ahead with your work. No rush, I'll have some tea with your dad."

Zhou Yu returned to the kitchen. Now that the salt-baked chicken was ready, he started cooking other dishes.

He first boiled water on one of the stoves and then put the ribs in to steam.

On the other stove, after heating the pan, they started stir-frying the beef.

Heat the pan with cold oil, then Zhou Yu directly pours the beef into the pan and stir-frys it until it's about 70% cooked. He then removes it and sets it aside.

Heat the oil again, add the ginger and scallion aromatics and sauté until fragrant, then start stir-frying the kale.

Besides the different processing of the kale leaves, the spices used for stir-frying kale in Cantonese and Chaoshan regions are also different.

In Cantonese cuisine, kale is often stir-fried with ginger, rice wine, and a little sugar. However, in Chaoshan cuisine, none of these ingredients are used; only scallions, garlic, and fish sauce are employed.

Zhou Yu stir-fried the kale until it was almost cooked through (not quite done) before adding the beef back in.

After stir-frying over high heat for a bit, add a cornstarch slurry at the end, then remove from heat and plate.

After steaming the spare ribs in black bean sauce for another fifteen minutes, Zhou Yu turned off the fire on the other stove and sprinkled chopped green onions on top.

At this point, the stir-fried beef with kale and the steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce are both finished.

Seeing Zhou Yu bring out the dishes, Zhou Weiqiang put down his teacup and said to the people at the tea table, "Qiming, Dr. Cheng, let's eat first."

Cheng Yin: "Uncle, you and Aunt can just call me A Yin, or Xiao Yin."

Luo Qiming walked over to Zhou Yu first, put his arm around Zhou Yu's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Little Yu, long time no see, you've become even more handsome! When are you going to come over to my house for a visit? Now that you're back, you should also visit Yunqian more often."

Zhou Yu smiled and said, "Uncle Luo, I've been busy with setting up my stall and preparing to open my shop lately, otherwise I would definitely have come to visit you."

At this moment, Cheng Yin also came up and said, "Zhou Yu, I'm sorry, I had to leave early last time because something came up at the hospital. You're not angry, are you?"

Luo Qiming tried to smooth things over, saying, "They're all young people, it's normal to have a little misunderstanding, just talk it out."

Zhou Yu nodded and said, "It's alright, I don't mind, I understand."

He didn't choose to expose Cheng Yin's words, and he really didn't mind, after all, he wasn't the one who was embarrassed at the time.

However, he really didn't expect that Cheng Yin would continue to come looking for him. He thought that with Cheng Yin's temper, she would be the kind of person who would never come back.

After everyone was seated, Cheng Yin served food to Zhou Weiqiang and Cao Xuezhen, saying, "Auntie, please eat. These pieces of meat are tender and easy to eat."

Then she picked up some more and offered it to Luo Qiming: "Uncle Luo, you should eat some too."

Cao Xuezhen laughed and said, "Oh dear, we're all family, no need to be so polite, let's start eating."

Just as they were about to eat, Zhou Weiqiang noticed that Luo Qiming was using his left hand to hold the chopsticks, and couldn't help but ask, "Qiming, why are you eating with your left hand now?"

In his memory, Luo Qiming was not left-handed.

"Sigh, I got injured a while ago." Luo Qiming raised his right hand.

Zhou Yu noticed that Luo Qiming's right hand showed obvious signs of being disconnected and reconnected.

Cao Xuezhen couldn't bear to look at him and said, "Ah? Qiming, what's wrong with you?"

Luo Qiming made no attempt to hide his injury.

Instead, he proudly boasted to Zhou Weiqiang, "Let me tell you, I was invited back to the bureau to give a speech a few days ago, and it was because of this hand injury."

He said with a ruddy complexion, "At the beginning of last month, I was having a late-night snack with some old colleagues at a roadside stall in the west of the city. We happened to witness a knife attack. I couldn't stand by and watch, so of course I went straight up to stop him."

"I never expected that thug would actually dare to attack with a knife. When he saw me yell at him, he immediately swung the kitchen knife at me. Luckily, I reacted quickly enough to grab the knife and subdue him!"