Dreaming With My Dragon Lover - Chapter 131

Yuan Ge took a clean set of clothes out of the cupboard and changed into them, but he still couldn’t muster up enough courage to walk out of the room. He could clearly hear the sound of Rong Qiuchen’s brisk movements in the corridor – probably busy putting up the New Year’s couplets on the doors of each room.

This guy, so enthusiastic, can’t he just go to his room and rest for a while? It will also give him a chance to slip downstairs and throw his dirty clothes in the washing machine.

So not wanting to bump into him right away – it’s just too embarrassing to face him!

Yuan Ge picked up the script for “A Journey in Brocade” and continued to study it, but he couldn’t even read a word of it. He had intended to discuss with him how the two men in the script had gone from brotherly love to same-sex romance, but now they had put it into practice!

How distressing! Yuan Ge tossed the script aside and covered his head with the blanket, his mind in a tizzy. He wanted to sleep off, but he could hear Rong Qiuchen’s footsteps, walking upstairs and downstairs. Shortly afterwards, the sounds of washing, chopping and cooking came from the kitchen, accompanied by him leisurely humming an opera tune, obviously feeling happy and in a good mood.

It’s New Year’s Eve today, and I have promised the guy for a proper celebration, so I really should go downstairs to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner together with him, shouldn’t I? But … but …

Yuan Ge, who has always been the worst at dealing with emotional matters, eventually chose to avoid facing them. Waking up for a while, sleeping for a while, he actually dawdled until the sun went down, then he heard Rong Qiuchen’s voice coming from downstairs –

“Gege, please come down for dinner!”

Yuan Ge slowly dragged his feet to the kitchen on the ground floor amidst some crackling sounds. He saw New Year’s paintings and couplets plastered everywhere, brimming with the festive atmosphere of the New Year. However, Rong Qiuchen apparently thought this was not enough and he actually turned on the electronic fireworks they had bought at the farmers’ market earlier to create a more lively atmosphere.

“New Year’s Eve feast is usually preceded by firecrackers to greet the various gods, right?”

With a smile on his face, Qiuchen uncorked the small, antique looking jar of rice wine and poured full glasses for both of them.

The large dining table is laid out with a dozen dishes. Many well-known dishes with auspicious meanings have been included, such as squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, sweet and sour spareribs, braised prawns and perfect chicken soup, all these difficult to prepare dishes are cooked to perfection in style and colour.

“You’re a pretty good cook! It seems that I have underestimated you.”

In the face of the healing power of the good food, Yuan Ge also quickly dropped his uneasy feelings and threw himself into their private New Year festivities for two.

They clinked glasses, drank wine and ate the sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner cooked by Rong Qiuchen. The two of them chatted and without realising that time had flown by, their New Year’s Eve dinner had already lasted for several hours.

“I’m not really good at drinking, but with you, everything feels so quaint that I’m even starting to develop a taste for wine.”

Yuan Ge’s face has already turned red from the extra glasses he drank, but he won’t let go of the last bit of wine in the small jar, “Sorry I didn’t help you cook today, let’s make dumplings together later.”

Rong Qiuchen drank the wine with him without changing colour and smiled, “Everything is worth doing as long as Gege likes it. Dumplings are a must for New Year’s Eve, and I have already rested the dough.”

“Resting the dough?” Yuan Ge blinked, “No wonder the dumplings my family made every time since I was little were not very tasty. I see it’s because my parents didn’t even know about this process.”

So the two began to clear the table and soon it was transformed into a dumpling making area.

“What is it that Gege has made?”

Rong Qiuchen saw Yuan Ge break one of the dumplings and then he quietly stuck two dumpling wrappers together to form the shape of a poached egg, trying to cover up his mistake. Amused, he exposed Yuan Ge’s little trick without mercy, “When you do that, the dumpling skin is too thick and won’t cook easily. Why don’t you take a break… allow me…”

As soon as Yuan Ge heard the words “allow me”, he immediately remembered the intimate episode between the two earlier in the day and hastily shifted his thoughts before his cheeks reddened even more, “No way, you’ve made a feast all by yourself. If I don’t help with the dumplings, I’ll be completely spoiled for a prince.”

“Gege can just watch on the side. If you lend a helping hand, it might slow down the process instead. I’d really like to be able to eat these dumplings by midnight.”

Rong Qiuchen smiled naturally, without any awkwardness, and his hands continued to wrap the chubby white dumplings one by one, quickly and skillfully.

Yuan Ge looked at the dumplings Rong Qiuchen had made, each one was round and sturdy, and when he looked at the ones he made, all of which looked lifeless. It seems that his Chinese cooking skills are no match for this man, so he should concentrate more on Western food in future.

When Rong Qiuchen saw Yuan Ge sitting aside playing with the dough, looking rather bored, he smiled and said, “If Gege is free, perhaps you can find some copper coins for me?”

“What for?”

“When I think back to the past, the happiest time for me and my brothers was when we had New Year’s Eve dinner together and found copper coins while eating dumplings. Back then, when the Jinyu Troupe was still very poor, the Second Master would put the copper coins into the dumplings and whoever of the brothers ate the dumplings with the copper coins in would have good luck for the year.”

Yuan Ge nodded his head as he listened, “I can’t believe I know this tradition! My mum used to do something similar when I was a kid, wrapping coins in dumplings. One time it nearly broke my teeth, another time it almost choked me to death, and then this bad practice was strictly forbidden by my dad.”

“How is it a bad practice? It is obvious that Gege had eaten too quickly.”

Qiuchen couldn’t help but smile, “The dumplings that the two Empresses Dowager rewarded on New Year’s Eve were often wrapped with gold ingots inside. If everyone ate as fast as you did…”

“Don’t be absurd! It’s about time you recovered from these delusions, talking as if you had actually eaten at Cixi and Cian’s state banquet!”

“I am not being delusional.. My fifth brother was lucky enough to have chanced upon the gold ingot in his dumpling, and although he had to turn it in to the two masters, he was ecstatic for several days. But in my mind, even such a precious dumpling is not as good as the dumplings made by the combined efforts of my brothers in the Jinyu Troupe …”