HLM -Chapter 1307 Competing for Affection

They had originally planned to pick some mushrooms on the mountain and head back down, but Eva had finally found a rare chance to relax and refused to leave.

So they caught a wild mountain goat up there, lit a fire and roasted it, then after lunch continued wandering around, lingering until the sun dipped behind the western hills.

They followed a narrow path to descend the mountain. At that moment, brilliant evening clouds slowly spread across the western sky, shades of orange and red—some deep, some pale—splashed lavishly across the horizon, breathtakingly beautiful.

As the temperature dropped, evening mist began to rise gently from the surface of the lake. Green mountains and verdant trees, red flowers and white rocks were all reflected in the water. Across most of the lake, the reflection was a vast blue sky, white ripples undulating like drifting clouds.

Even more wonderful, flocks of birds returning to their roosts flew over the lake. Black cranes beat their wings with effortless grace, linking lake and sky together in perfect harmony.

Seeing this, the group all stopped walking. Hou Haibo murmured, “So beautiful.”

Wang Bo said, “Rosy clouds fly with black cranes together; spring waters share one color with the endless sky.”

Atulu laughed. “What the boss says sounds great. Unlike us uneducated folks—we can only say ‘so beautiful’ or ‘looks amazing.’”

Hou Haibo turned around. “I feel insulted!”

With so many mushrooms picked, dinner was naturally going to be all about mushrooms.

Wang Bo said, “Honey, you go hold the baby. I’ll clean the mushrooms. I’ll make sure you eat really well later.”

Eva replied, “Come on, darling. You teach me how to clean the mushrooms. I’ll do the work—you go take care of the baby. The baby loves her daddy the most.”

Mother Bo came out holding the little girl and said, “She was pretty good today—didn’t cry or fuss. When the little Rottweilers were sleeping, I tucked her in among them and she slept too. You know, this child really should be around puppies.”

Wang Bo took his daughter. Just a few seconds after she was in his arms, the little girl widened her eyes to look at him, then opened her mouth and once again blew her little conch horn:

“Waaah—waaah!”

Wang Bo felt like crying himself. “They say a daughter is her father’s lover from a past life. What on earth did I do to wrong you in my last life that you’re tormenting your daddy like this in this one?”

Luckily, there were plenty of furry kids around. Wang Bo grabbed the chubby cat brothers and had them lie down on the carpet, then nestled his daughter between them.

When she first saw the chubby cat brothers, the little girl would cry in fright. Now that she had seen them often—and grown a bit—she had begun to like these furry companions.

She was still too small to roll over, sit up, or crawl. When Wang Bo tucked her between the chubby cats, she lay there in the middle, sucking on her fingers and entertaining herself.

Eva went over to replace her fingers with a pacifier. The little girl spat it out, opened her mouth, and was about to cry again.

Da Pang swept his fluffy tail back and forth in front of her. The little girl blinked, stopped crying, raised her tiny hand, and babbled “ah, ah, ah,” reaching out to grab the big tail.

Da Pang kept swishing his tail, and the baby’s attention was completely captured. She stopped wailing and began playing happily on her own.

Seeing this, Eva didn’t leave. She sat cross-legged on the carpet, resting her chin in her hand, smiling as she watched over her daughter.

Wang Bo asked, “Weren’t you going to clean the mushrooms?”

Eva made a shushing gesture and whispered, “Don’t disturb her. You go do the work yourself. I want to stay with our daughter. We were apart for so long today—I really missed her.”

Wang Bo was speechless. He finally understood—Eva liked their daughter when she was well-behaved. Just like him…

Different mushrooms required different preparations. Father Bo and Mother Bo came to help, and the three of them washed everything clean. Shiitake and gray mushrooms were marinated with soy sauce, chicken essence, and honey, while the others were cooked directly.

White mushrooms could be stir-fried, but since they had picked a lot and there were many people staying for dinner, Mother Bo said, “Let’s also stew some ribs. Straw mushrooms stewed with ribs were Xiao Bo’s favorite dish when he was little.”

Father Bo said, “Wasn’t my favorite dish scallions scrambled with eggs when I was little?”

“No,” Mother Bo replied. “That was just the dish our family could afford to make back then that you liked best.”

Father Bo refused to concede. “Oh? So you’re the one who understands our son best, huh? Xiao Bo, you tell us—what did you like to eat most when you were little?”

Wang Bo said, “I liked eating the food my mom and dad made together.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet-tongued.”

“At least you’ve got some sense, kid.”

Both elders were very satisfied with his answer.

Stir-frying straw mushrooms was simple: tear them into strips, heat peanut oil, sauté scallions, ginger, and garlic, then toss in the mushrooms along with green onion leaves and stir-fry. A unique fragrance quickly filled the air.

The seasoning was just as simple—only a sprinkle of salt. The finished mushrooms were snow-white, the peanut oil golden and rich, the fresh aroma of the mushrooms blending perfectly with the fragrance of the oil. They were especially good eaten with steamed buns.

Father Bo handled the mushrooms while Mother Bo prepared the ribs.

Recently, the ranch had started producing a batch of young fragrant pigs, and Wang Bo had brought back some pork ribs, perfect for stewing with mushrooms.

Mother Bo was very particular: she used spring water to make the soup, added the blanched ribs, then scallions, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel, brought it to a boil, skimmed off the foam, poured in cooking wine, added a whole array of seasonings, and finally let it stew vigorously over high heat.

Wang Bo was about to add salt when his mom shook her head. “Don’t rush. Add it right before serving. This dish only needs a hint of salt. If you add it now, the meat and bones will absorb it all—you won’t taste the saltiness, and then you’ll end up adding too much, which isn’t healthy.”

Hearing this, Wang Bo laughed. “Mom, you’re eating pretty carefully these days.”

Father Bo curled his lip. “Needlessly fussy.”

Wang Bo made a plate of oyster mushrooms stir-fried with meat—one of the most common ways to cook oyster mushrooms. But he used meat from the young fragrant pig, which was exceptionally tender. When the large plate came out, the aroma was outstanding.

Shiitake mushrooms were the highlight. They were best stewed with chicken, but since they already had a pot of rib soup—and stewed chicken with shiitake was too common—after finishing the straw mushrooms, Father Bo decided to make a shiitake stir-fry with chicken.

He used chicken thigh meat, steaming it until half-cooked so it could be easily torn into strips, then stir-fried it.

As soon as the shiitake hit the pan, an extraordinary fragrance rapidly filled the kitchen.

Father Bo sniffed in surprise. “Are these shiitake really okay? They’re way too fragrant.”

Shiitake contain a unique aromatic compound called shiitake essence, which gives them their distinctive flavor. Wang Bo said, “These are definitely natural wild shiitake. The essence content is probably high. Don’t worry, Dad—go ahead and cook them. They’re absolutely fine.”

Mother Bo said regretfully, “If I’d known these shiitake were this good, I would’ve stewed chicken so the baby could drink the soup. She really needs more nutritious broth right now.”

Wang Bo waved his hand. “Let’s not, Mom. Eva isn’t lacking nutrition—she’s doing great. Don’t make too much soup. In the end it’ll all go into your son’s stomach, and the one getting fat will still be your son.”