HLM -Chapter 1124 Leisure Activities

The appearance of freshwater corals had brought obvious benefits to Sunset Town. Even before it started impacting tourism, it had already brought an interception boat, an AOS squad, and an aquarium.

But managing and protecting these freshwater corals was exhausting for Wang Bo. This week, he had so many matters to handle because of the corals that by Friday night, he was too tired even to do anything intimate with Eva.

However, he did get a chance to draw from a lottery that night and pulled a “Mysterious Heart.” Excitedly imagining what it could be, it turned out to be a first-grade Academic Heart.

“What is this thing?” Wang Bo was completely baffled. He thought it might have something to do with school, but whether it was elementary or middle school, neither would accept this Heart.

There wasn’t even a regular plot of land big enough to hold it, so, with no other option, he stored it in the Heart Container Box.

Receiving a Lord’s Heart that he had no idea what to do with made Wang Bo feel even more exhausted. “It’s all tricks, all tricks,” he muttered.

On Saturday morning, he wanted to linger in bed a bit longer. But the power of the Level-3 Castle Heart kept him full of energy, and the moment he opened his eyes, he was no longer sleepy.

He wanted to make up for last night with Eva, but the beautiful teacher had already gotten up early and left.

This was very strange. Wang Bo scratched his head. Eva loved to sleep in. On weekends, if she had nothing to do, she would lie in bed until 10 a.m.—she had never gotten up this early.

Heading downstairs, he found Eva in the kitchen, tidying up a bucket of fresh milk.

Wang Bo yawned and asked, “Honey, what are you doing?”

Eva turned and gave him a good morning kiss. “I saw that you were really tired this week, so I wanted to get up early and make some pastries to reward you.”

Hearing this warmed Wang Bo’s heart. He washed his hands and said, “Why don’t we do it together? I’ve never made pastries before. You can teach me.”

Eva smiled, pressing her lips together. “If you learn, then there will be no place for me in the kitchen anymore, right?”

Wang Bo said, “Then shall we go to the baking room to do it?”

Eva looked at him. “Good idea. You really are a genius.” She laughed to herself.

After putting on an apron, Wang Bo asked, “So what are we making today?”

Eva asked, “What kind of pastries do you know how to make?”

Wang Bo shrugged helplessly. “I don’t even know how to use this baking machine.”

Hearing this, Eva smiled satisfactorily. “Perfect! Finally, I can show off my cooking skills. Let’s start simple: we’ll extract cream and butter ourselves, and then make a basic light cheesecake.”

“No problem. Start teaching me—I can’t wait!”

First came cream extraction. Eva said it was very simple—just control the force properly.

“You have to separate the cream from the milk, but you can’t use fresh milk directly. The fresh milk has to be stored in the fridge for at least a day.”

Eva had taken the milk out of the fridge that morning. Wang Bo had thought she was just putting the milk in.

“Look, what’s in the milk now?” Eva asked with a playful smile.

Wang Bo pretended to study carefully. Squatting down and glancing sideways, he saw two long, shapely legs.

“What did you see?”

Wang Bo looked up. “So white, so smooth, so long.”

Eva frowned in mock confusion. “White and smooth are normal, but why ‘so long’? There are no fibers in milk, how could it grow?”

Wang Bo grinned and reached to touch her legs. Eva also smiled seductively, then bent her knees and bumped them against his nose.

The impact was strong. Wang Bo’s nose immediately stung. Covering it, he stood up and shouted, “What was that for?”

“It’s punishment for not paying attention,” Eva said proudly.

Wang Bo gave a helpless sigh. “Alright, alright. I’m paying attention now. I can see a clear dividing line between the upper and lower layers of milk.”

Eva nodded. “Yes, that’s the cream line. The upper layer is cream, the lower layer is skimmed milk.”

She paused, then added, “Actually, the cream content varies depending on the milk and the season. In winter, the cream content is higher; in summer, it’s lower.”

While explaining, she took out a long-handled spoon and skimmed off the top layer of cream.

They collected the remaining cream—over ten liters of milk yielded eight cups of cream.

“Next, we’ll ferment the cream,” Eva said. “This step isn’t strictly necessary, but fermented cream makes the butter richer and more flavorful.”

In the past, people made fermented butter mainly for preservation. Today, it’s for flavor.

Eva explained there were two methods. The first is natural fermentation: leave the cream on the stove for 12 hours, or until it cools to 21–24°C, and it should smell slightly sour. This creates a subtle tang in the butter.

The second method adds a fermenting agent to speed up the process, shortening it to five or six hours.

“So we’ll skip this step. It takes too long, and we don’t need to waste the time. Besides, you might not like fermented butter anyway,” Eva shrugged.

Wang Bo smiled suggestively. “Aren’t you supposed to like long processes?”

Eva understood his innuendo, slapped him lightly, and raised an eyebrow. “That’s to go along with your pride! I actually don’t like it—I want it right away!”

Wang Bo looked skeptical. “You’re talking tough now, but in bed, you’re honest…”

At that moment, Father Bo and Mother Bo returned from morning exercise to prepare breakfast, and Wang Bo quickly fell silent.

Eva chuckled. “Keep talking. How was I honest? I’m honest everywhere.”

Wang Bo wasn’t bold enough to flirt in front of his parents. He smiled awkwardly and went back to work.

After extracting the cream, making butter was simple.

Eva instructed Wang Bo to shake the cream rapidly. “Butter is solid, and under high-speed motion, it separates from the skimmed milk. If you put the cream in a lidded jar and shake it back and forth for 5–15 minutes, the butter will form.”

“The butter gradually solidifies, and you’ll feel the jar getting heavier. When you sense the butter has solidified, you can slow down the shaking.”

Wang Bo nodded. After a while, he asked, “Don’t you have a small centrifuge here? That’s for making butter, right?”

Eva nodded. “Yes, not only the centrifuge. You can also use a food mixer to speed up the butter forming. As the mixer spins, butter chunks float to the top, and that’s how you extract butter.”