Lu Jin looked at Gu Nianzhi’s beautiful and lively smile intently. He looked at her clear and bright eyes that were like snow mountains and ice springs. His heart was filled with love and reluctance.
The proudest thing he had ever done in his life wasn’t winning two Nobel prizes, discovering parallel spaces, or realizing the perfect optimization of human genes. Instead, it was having such a cute and intelligent daughter.
He was content.
Lu Jin smiled with satisfaction and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do a DNA test for you.”
Gu Nianzhi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as she walked behind Lu Jin’s seat. She clenched her little fists and gave him a series of back slaps, she said obsequiously, “Thank you, daddy! I’m going to think about how to get their hair or blood samples. Saliva samples are fine too, right? But saliva is too disgusting. Using blood is more accurate.”
Lu Jin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He turned around and tapped her a few times in the air. “Whatever, hair is fine. Blood is too disgusting. Besides, I’ll be the one testing your DNA. Are you afraid that it won’t be accurate? Even if I only use one of their cells, I’ll be able to accurately measure it.”
“I know, I know! My daddy is the best!” Gu Nianzhi was so happy that she didn’t know what to do. She reflexively hugged Lu Jin’s neck from behind and gave him a peck on the cheek.
After the kiss, even Gu Nianzhi herself was stunned.
Lu Jin was completely dumbstruck. His intelligent face showed a rare dazed expression.
“… I’ll go see if dinner is ready…” Gu Nianzhi was very embarrassed and ran out of the study in a hurry.
After all, she hadn’t grown up by Lu Jin’s side. Although they were father and daughter, this kind of rare intimacy had never been experienced before. It was a brand new experience for Lu Jin and Gu Nianzhi.
Seeing Gu Nianzhi leave in a hurry, Lu Jin sat in his computer chair motionlessly. Even the expression on his face made him seem like he was frozen in time.
There was no sound in the room. Soon, the voice-activated ceiling lights were gradually extinguished, then the study room with the sunshade and soundproof curtains became pitch black.
Lu Jin, allowing the darkness to envelop him, sat in the dark.
He thought that he alone should bear the dark, the filthy, dirty, and shady things.
The happiness he experienced during this period of time was surreal. How could he bear to let his daughter, who was as bright as the sun, be attacked by dark forces again?
He would never allow anyone to extend their evil claws at his daughter again.
Let him end everything.
Let him end all darkness and give his daughter a bright future.
Lu Jin closed his eyes and allowed himself to become one with the darkness.
..
Gu Nianzhi ran out of the study excitedly. She was caught off guard and fell into someone’s arms.
Gu Nianzhi’s heart suddenly calmed down when she smelled that familiar yet also unfamiliar scent.
She quickly took a step back and looked up to see Huo Shaoheng standing at the door of the study. She couldn’t help stammering, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to tell you guys that dinner is ready. What’s wrong? Where’s Uncle Lu? Isn’t he going to have dinner?” Huo Shaoheng looked up at the door of the study.
When Gu Nianzhi ran out, there was still a light in the study.
When she looked back, the study was already pitch black.
“The light is voice-activated. The light goes off automatically when there’s no sound. “Gu Nianzhi said embarrassingly, “I’ll go to the dining room first. Is dinner ready?”
She ran away quickly without looking back.
Huo Shaoheng looked at her back and then at the study’s door. He thought for a moment before knocking on the door. He coughed and said, “Uncle Lu, dinner is ready. Please go to the dining room.”
There was silence in the study.
Huo Shaoheng was about to push the door open when the door opened in front of him.
Lu Jin glared at him resentfully and said, “Why are you sneaking around here?! This is my daughter’s home. Don’t act like this is your home!”
Huo Shaoheng: “…”
Huo Shaoheng lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he said calmly, “… President Lu made your favorite cherry blossom snapper stew.”
This trick really worked on Lu Jin.
His eyes lit up and he asked anxiously, “Did he use soy sauce, shredded ginger, burdock, and apricot mushrooms to stew it with plum wine?”
Huo Shaoheng looked troubled as he said,”… I don’t know. Presdent Lu made it. I was just helping on the side. I saw plum wine, but I’m not familiar with anything else.”
“Hmph! You don’t even recognize dishes! You’re useless!” Lu Jin scowled and walked past him with his head held high. He walked into the dining room quickly.
In the dining room, Lu Yuan washed his hands and was introducing Gu Nianzhi to the special dish he had made today, “This is called Plum Huang Shiyu. It’s a cherry blossom snapper stewed with soy sauce, shredded ginger, burdock, and apricot abalone mushrooms with plum wine. Have you ever eaten a snapper before? When this fish is at its freshest, its entire body is cherry-blossom-colored. Its meat is especially tender and sweet. It doesn’t have any fishy smell at all. There’s no need to add seasoning wine to spoil its delicious taste.”
Gu Nianzhi listened with relish, and the little bit of awkwardness from before disappeared.
Lu Jin hurried over and looked at Gu Nianzhi eagerly, but didn’t dare walk over to sit next to her.
Gu Nianzhi looked up and saw him. She smiled and waved at him. “Dad, come sit here!”
Lu Jin breathed a sigh of relief. He felt as if he was alive again.
He smiled as he walked over to Gu Nianzhi and sat down. He said to Lu Yuan, who was sitting on Gu Nianzhi’s other side, “Boss Lu, I didn’t expect you to be willing to make cherry blossom snapper today.”
Lu Yuan smiled nonchalantly and moved his seat back. “I wanted to give Nianzhi a taste of something delicious. You should eat less today. I only made four cherry blossom snappers.”
The four of them had one each.
Lu Jin unceremoniously distributed the food. “Nianzhi will have two, I’ll have one and a half. You and Peter can split the remaining half.”
Lu Yuan: “…”
With public chopsticks, Huo Shaoheng scooped up two cherry blossom stewed snappers for Gu Nianzhi and placed them on her plate. “I don’t eat this kind of fish. You guys can have them.”
“Hmph! Unappreciative!” Lu Jin rolled his eyes and quickly said to Gu nianzhi, “Nianzhi, let’s eat. Ignore them.”
Gu Nianzhi smiled and nodded. She looked at the pale cherry pink fish on the plate and used her chopsticks to pry out a small piece of golden meat the size of a soybean from under the fish’s eyes. She put it into her mouth and chewed slowly.
At the beginning, the taste was subtle and she savored it bit by bit.
She took another bite, and suddenly the previously subtle taste became more rich and intense. The delicious and sweet taste almost exploded on the tip of her tongue, awakening all her taste buds.
Gu Nianzhi’s eyes suddenly widened, and she almost swallowed her tongue.
“It’s so delicious!” Gu Nianzhi swallowed the best piece of meat and gave Lu Yuan a thumbs up. “The taste of the fish itself is completely unmasked by the braised seasoning. There’s soy sauce, but it doesn’t have the salty taste of soy sauce at all. President Lu, your cooking is really superb!”
“Isn’t it delicious?” Lu Jin was smug, as if he had made the fish himself. “Here, I’ll give you this one too!”
Gu Nianzhi quickly shook her head. “No, no, this one weighs a pound. It’ll be good enough if I can finish one.”
She looked at the two fish in her bowl, then at the people around the table and said apologetically, “President Lu, Mr. Peter, I’m sorry. This fish was left on my plate, so I don’t want anyone else to eat it and will give it to my dad. My dad won’t mind eating what was on my plate, right?”
Lu Jin shook his head and nodded again. He laughed so hard that his eyes narrowed into slits. He even proudly made a v-shaped scissor at Lu Yuan and Huo Shaoheng.
Lu Yuan: “…”
Huo Shaoheng’s face was expressionless as he lowered his head. He picked up a eggplant and ate it.
..
Lu Jin and Gu Nianzhi chatted endlessly about how delicious the cherry blossom snapper was throughout the entire meal.
In the end, Huo Shaoheng “reluctantly” ate the remaining half of Gu Nianzhi’s fish under the excuse of “not wasting food”.
Lu Yuan, on the other hand, didn’t eat at all. He said that he was full after seeing Lu Jin’s appearance and couldn’t eat anything else.
After dinner, Gu Nianzhi and Lu Jin were both full. They made pu’er tea, then walked to the living room to chat and digest their food.
Lu Yuan was about to tidy up the kitchen when Huo Shaoheng raised his hand to stop him. “President Lu, I’ve disturbed your meal today, so I’ll be the one to clean up the dishes.”
Lu Yuan didn’t stand on ceremony with him, but he didn’t want to go to the living room to look at Lu Jin’s smug face. He sat in the kitchen and chatted with Huo Shaoheng while he looked at his phone.
“You’ve never eaten cherry blossom snapper before?” Lu Yuan was actually asking if Huo Shaoheng had ever eaten cherry blossom snappers in the other world.
Of course Huo Shaoheng had eaten it, but he didn’t want to fuss with Lu Jin and Gu Nianzhi.
He put the dishes into the dishwasher and said, “No, the wild ones are too expensive and the farmed ones aren’t tasty. I’m not interested.”
“The price of the wild ones have already risen to five to six thousand per kilo. Although it’s not that I can’t afford to eat them, I can’t afford to eat them every day.” Lu Yuan shook his head with a smile, “It’s also because it’s the New Year. This is the first time Nianzhi is spending the New Year with us. Lu Jin can’t wait to get all the delicious food in the world for Nianzhi to eat.”
Gu Nianzhi was chatting with Lu Jin in the living room when she suddenly heard her phone ring. She took it out and saw that it was Luo Piaopiao’s phone call. She immediately answered the call with a smile and asked, “Piaopiao? Are you home? Is your second brother okay?”
Luo Piaopiao was delighted by her friendly attitude and quickly said, “We’re all fine, but…”
She looked at Grandfather Qin, who was sitting in front of her, and said with a smile, “Cousin Gu, are you free tomorrow? Tomorrow is the New Year, and I’d like to invite you to my house for a little New Year’s dinner.”
