Chapter 178: Chapter 176: The Big Mutton Sheep
"Little Sprout, shall we have lamb hotpot tonight?"
As soon as lamb was mentioned, Elliana Lyle started craving it too. She realized she hadn’t had lamb in a long time, or rather, had forgotten its deliciousness.
Just imagining aromatic lamb slices with chive sauce, or with dipping sauce and sesame paste, made her mouth water.
Without hesitation, she said, "Sure, but I don’t think we have lamb in the kitchen, so we’ll have to go out and buy some."
"Let’s go to the supermarket," Hannah Collins said, already getting up.
Elliana shook her head, "I’m not going, I need to look at the script. This script is quite long and has many lines; I should take a good look."
Seeing her serious expression, Hannah chuckled, "I’ll buy you some chips."
"Huh?" She was surprised but still said, "It’s not about the chips; this is work."
"I’ll get you some cola."
Uh, this...
"You tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll buy it for you, but you can’t eat too much at once."
Hannah’s words were indeed tempting. Thinking carefully about it, well... it wasn’t impossible. Going to the supermarket wouldn’t take much time, and mainly, if Norman Bennett asked, she could confidently say that Hannah got it for her.
"Let’s go!"
...
― 4 PM.
Hannah was handling lamb while Elliana was nestled on the sofa looking at the script, but all she had was a bag of chips since Hannah said to save room for the lamb. Thinking about it, she wasn’t really bothered.
Two hours later, the aroma coming from the kitchen was irresistible. Hannah was simmering lamb broth, which must be ready by now.
She walked to the kitchen door, peeked inside, and saw Hannah serving the broth, large chunks of lamb going into bowls, topped with scallion and cilantro, making her drool.
"Little Sprou..." Hannah turned and saw a little glutton, not entirely surprised.
Seeing Hannah beckon to her, she quickly walked over.
"Try it."
Swallowing her saliva, she took the spoon from Hannah and went for the lamb broth in the bowl.
She blew on the soup before taking a sip, feeling an exquisite flavor; the aroma of the meat was rich, the broth capturing the essence of the lamb perfectly, and the salt was just right, with the cilantro and scallion preventing it from being too gamey.
"Hannah, it’s delicious, amazing!"
Hannah smiled and said, "I’ll bring it out for you; the meat has chilled, I’ve sliced it, we’ll start eating at 7."
After finishing a bowl of lamb with broth, Elliana’s phone suddenly rang.
"Hello, Luna."
"I’ve arrived in North City, I’m taking a cab right now."
Luna’s voice sounded a bit melancholic, but Elliana was more concerned about what happened, quickly asking, "How did the search go? Any news? And why are you taking a cab? Can’t you drive here?"
"Eh, can’t drive, I’ll tell you when I get back; I’m a bit tired, please save me some dinner, thanks."
Beep ―!
Luna hung up as swiftly as ever, so Elliana could only wait. She turned to call out to Hannah: "Hannah..."
Suddenly realizing it was inappropriate, she figured she should be helping instead, feeling awkward about eating without contributing.
Upon entering the kitchen, hearing her offer to help, Hannah quickly said, "Just go out and play, don’t come in here and create a mess."
"... Oh, alright, Luna will be coming over later, will three people be enough food?"
"Little Sprout number two is coming?" Hannah gestured with her hand, "How much can you two eat? There’s plenty."
Before leaving the kitchen, Elliana reminded, "Luna eats a lot; last time she had three bowls with double servings of duck feet snail noodles."
Hannah: "..."
"Better steam a pot of rice then."
PM.
The table was set with a partitioned hotpot; due to not having a copper pot, it was done this way.
One side was clear broth with lamb, the other was spicy red broth, the kind that looked very spicy, bursting with beef fat aroma.
The meat slices were also laid out, only a small portion for fear of them thawing, the rest still in the fridge.
Besides lamb, there were tripe and some greens, but mainly, they were there for the lamb.
Hannah prepared four kinds of sauces: sesame paste, chive flower sauce, garlic in sesame oil, and spicy mixed dipping sauce.
For eating tripe in red broth, she preferred the garlic in sesame oil.
"Is Little Sprout number two here?" Hannah brought out the last dish.
Elliana finally tore her gaze from the food, "I’ll call and ask her." Saying this, she picked up her phone.
Just as she unlocked it, Luna’s call came through.
"Hello, Luna, where are you?"
"Outside, come out and pay. I’m out of money."
Elliana: "..."
Surely Luna spent all her money again; Elliana knew Luna had a bunch of little skirts—collaborative editions, limited editions, custom editions...
A whole mountain of them, and Luna being a dragon, dragons love collecting "treasures" and sitting atop them.
That’s why Luna is always short on cash; although she’s quite well-off, she spends it all on expensive little skirts and strange gear.
"Hannah, I’m stepping out for a bit, I’ll be right back." She said and rushed out; at the door, she saw a taxi with Luna in the back.
Seeing Elliana, Luna got out, but her appearance shocked Elliana speechless.
Bruised face, it looked startling, her right hand wrapped in a towel, forehead bandaged...
This look screamed a fight, and it seemed she lost.
"Miss, I’m in a hurry." The driver extended a hand with a QR code through the window.
Finally responding, Elliana quickly paid the driver.
Once the taxi left, she looked at Luna’s indifferent face in shock and asked, "How did you end up like this?"
"I’m hungry."
She had come back by high-speed train, bought the ticket on credit, money long spent, traveling all the way hungry.
Now it felt as if her stomach was a cacophony of birds tweeting incessantly.
"Alright, I’ll help you inside."
She said and went to support Luna, but Luna pushed her away, saying, "My legs are fine, only my hand is broken, no need."
...
"Wow, what is she doing here?" Luna looked over at Hannah in disbelief.
At the same time, Hannah also stared at Luna in surprise, figuring it was a fight, but knowing Luna’s character, it wasn’t all that surprising.
Just as Elliana was about to explain, Luna plopped down, reverting to her indifferent expression and said, "Get me something to eat first; I’m starving."
Hannah asked, "Do you want some lamb broth?"
After drinking a bowl, Luna felt revived and more spirited, warning Hannah, "Since you’re here, you’re a friend, but if you mess around in this territory, you’ll have problems."
Then Luna pointed at Elliana, "She’s vegetarian, but I’m not."
"Oh, so you’re a meat-eater?" Hannah chuckled, unfazed by Luna’s threat, picking up Luna’s empty bowl, asked, "Want another bowl?"
Just moments ago intimidating, Luna instantly softened her expression and said, "A small half bowl, I’d like some lamb slices." Saying this, she prepared her personal sauce dish with sesame paste, then picked up her chopsticks with her left hand.
"Luna, what happened to you?" Finally, Elliana couldn’t hold back her curiosity, but more so her concern; under the indoor lights, Luna’s injuries were even more apparent.