CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 8 THE AIR OF FIREWORKS

Li Yu searched for "steamed bass" on Bilibili and clicked on the most-favorited video, titled "Chef Teaches You How to Make Steamed Bass," which was ranked first.

He had actually learned to cook before, and it was not just limited to stir-fried tomatoes and eggs or boiled noodles. He could basically make any common home-cooked dish, and his specialty was sweet and sour ribs.

Unfortunately, after he began working, his job was too busy and Li Yu no longer had time to cook, resulting in his cooking skills becoming seriously neglected.

While playing the video on his phone, Li Yu threw away the bamboo chopsticks from the chopstick holder that had been unused for too long and had grown moldy.

Then he began to clean the stove, knives, and cutting board.

It had been about half a year since this little kitchen was last used to cook.

It was a Saturday when several friends came over to Li Yu’s place, bringing vegetables and meat they bought from the supermarket. Everyone cooked together and then played the game Werewolf.

Since then, Li Yu hadn’t touched the spatula again.

As for Wang Guowei, this guy was even lazier. He wouldn’t even buy bagged instant noodles just to save trouble. According to himself, he had never cooked a meal from birth to the present, the kitchen for him was just a place to boil water and use the refrigerator.

Because no one had touched it for so long, many places had accumulated a thin layer of grease. It took Li Yu nearly half an hour to clean it up, but he didn’t really feel tired.

He worked while listening to music, and wisps of white steam rose from the mouth of the electric kettle, diffusing into the small kitchen of less than five square meters, also giving Li Yu a long-lost sense of the breath of life.

And after he put the beef brisket on to stew and the bass on the stove without starting to steam yet, Li Yu brewed a pot of tea with the leaves he bought at an unknown time, took off his apron, and sat on the sofa.

He didn’t turn on the TV, just looked up, holding the teacup, staring at the ceiling in a daze, and after a while went to the bedroom to get a book.

About fifty minutes later, there was the sound of the door opening outside, and Wang Guowei rushed in, "Did the new company fire you? You’re off work so early."

Before Li Yu could answer, he added, "What about dinner, come on, hurry up and serve it! I risked getting scolded by my supervisor to leave early just to eat this meal, and I haven’t eaten anything since this afternoon, I’m so hungry I could die."

"Just a moment," Li Yu said, "Have a cup of tea first. The beef brisket should be almost done, and the fish will be ready after steaming for seven minutes. I’ll stir-fry some greens, and it’ll all be ready in no more than ten minutes."

"Great, great," Wang Guowei exclaimed with joy, "I could smell the meat right at the door, I was almost drooling."

Ten minutes later, Li Yu served all the dishes on the table, while Wang Guowei had already dished up two bowls of rice and was holding his chopsticks, ready to dig in.

As soon as Li Yu sat down, Wang Guowei couldn’t wait to pick up a piece of beef brisket, stuffed it into his mouth, not even caring if it was hot, and while eating he offered the highest praise, "Damn!"

Then he grabbed a mouthful of steamed bass, "Damn, this is delicious too, so fresh!"

"Is it that exaggerated? It’s not like you’ve never eaten meat before."

"But can the stuff made outside loaded with oil and salt compare with homemade dishes?" Wang Guowei said, "I haven’t had home-cooked food like this in such a long time. But speaking of which, what’s been up with you these past few days? You’ve been getting off work so early every day."

"Early? I just leave work on time."

"Leaving work on time is the problem," Wang Guowei said while gobbling up his rice, "Is your company going bankrupt, or is there a downturn in the industry?"

"The company’s management should still be pretty stable."

"No way, you went to a foreign company? I heard they generally don’t work much overtime, but the pay is less."

Wang Guowei ate a few more pieces of beef brisket, then suddenly put down his chopsticks and sighed, "I now think earning a little less is pretty good."

"Why? Weren’t you always saying that you’d work for whoever pays more, and work yourself to the bone as long as it doesn’t kill you?"

"Back then, I had just left school and was still young. I thought my body could handle it, but a recent health checkup showed that some of my indexes were not too good. My blood lipids are high, and I sometimes experience palpitations... Plus, someone in our team worked overtime till they had a cardiac arrest. He’s only a few years older than me and looked healthy. We even played Monster Hunter online together. Although he was resuscitated, it scared a lot of people."

"Are you thinking of changing jobs too?"

"I have been considering it... but I can’t give up my current salary," Wang Guowei admitted. "Besides, it’s not easy in our industry to find a job without overtime. I plan to save some more money, and if it doesn’t work out, do as my parents say and go back home to take the civil service exam."

"That’s not a bad idea." Li Yu paused, "Right, I remember you signed up for a gym membership back when you first moved here; you only went twice. How is that gym?"

"Oh, you’re thinking of working out?" Wang Guowei was a bit surprised, "I’d advise against it. For office workers, a gym membership is basically just donating money to the gym. Think about it, you’re already exhausted from work every day, how would you have the energy to step into a gym? Not just me, none of the people in our team who got memberships have stuck with it."

"I get off work at five now, and I have weekends off."

"..."

"Forget I said anything. The gym is actually pretty good, hasn’t been open too long, and the equipment is all new, so it probably won’t be closing down anytime soon. Plus, a few of the female instructors are pretty good-looking."

"I plan to find videos online to follow along; I just want to use the equipment there."

"But my trainer said it’s better to have someone guide you the first time you train, otherwise, it’s easy to get injured."

"Did your beautiful trainer ever mention her national certification, or NSCA, ACE certifications?"

"Er... I don’t think she did."

"Then it’s no different than following along with videos." Li Yu concluded.

Wang Guowei was taken aback, then remarked, "I think this behavior of judging people by certificates is not very good. Maybe she is very skilled but just disdains taking the test."

"It’s not that difficult, even the hardest one to get, the ACE certificate, has a seventy percent pass rate. Since she’s in the industry, she should at least get some sort of certification, if only for the sake of appearance." Li Yu said.

"Alright, wait... you’re not in this field, why do you know so much about this stuff?"

"Because I know how to use the internet. It’s the information age now; it can’t hurt to do some research before doing anything."

Li Yu rose to his feet after speaking, and reminded him, "Remember to wash the dishes and wipe down the table before you play games."

"You’re going out? Now? Where to?" Wang Guowei asked.

"Going for a walk after dinner, and I’ll have a look at the gym you mentioned."

"Ah... don’t talk about it anymore, I’m already feeling jealous. I used to work so hard on construction sites every day and never felt like giving up, all because Brother Li, you worked even later overtime than me. Just thinking about that gave me the energy to keep coding at night, and eat an extra two bowls at meals."

"Then you’d better get used to it soon, because from now on, I plan to cook at home." Li Yu said, "You just keep eating takeout and coding at the company."