We're Both Waiters Today

Seeing this, Liu Bo shouted, grabbed the fishing rod, stood up, and reeled it in.

He gave it a hard pull upwards. Swish!

Under the sunlight, a sparkling little white fish hung on the hook as it was pulled out of the lake.

"Hahaha, how about that, Brother Yang, Lao Song?! What did I tell you? A catch on every cast!"

Su Yang, standing to the side, nodded and smiled. "Not bad, Fatty. You've got some skills."

"Awesome, Brother Fatty! You caught a fish right after casting," Song Anquan shouted excitedly.

Hearing their praise, a smile curled on Liu Bo's lips. "Of course. Your buddy here has been fishing professionally for fifty years..."

"Haha, by the way, Brother Fatty, what kind of fish is this?" Song Anquan asked with a smile.

Liu Bo held the rod in one hand and reached out with the other to grab the small fish still thrashing in the air. The fish looked to be about ten centimeters long, very slender, and mostly silvery-white.

Once he had the fish in hand, he took a look and smiled. "This is the white stripe fish Brother Yang was talking about."

"Really? Is this kind of fish tasty?"

"It's alright. It should be pretty good grilled. Oh right, Lao Song, could you do me a favor and grab something to hold the fish? I'm feeling really good today, I reckon I'll catch a lot more later."

"Sure thing." Song Anquan turned around with a smile and ran toward where the barbecue grill was set up.

He went over, found a stainless steel basin, held it up, and shouted to Su Yang, "Brother! Are you going to use this basin later?"

Su Yang shook his head and smiled. "No worries, just bring that over to hold them."

"Okay!" Song Anquan returned to the lake with the basin. He dipped it into the lake to scoop up some water, and then Liu Bo tossed the white stripe fish into it.

"Not bad, not bad at all. There really are a lot of white stripes in this lake. Catch some more, Fatty, and we'll skewer and grill them later."

"You got it! Watch me." Liu Bo, squatting on the ground to bait his hook again, agreed. Then he stood up and cast his line once more.

In the exact same spot, the bobber had barely righted itself before it violently plunged into the lake again.

Seeing this, Liu Bo quickly reeled in his line, successfully catching another white stripe of about the same size.

Su Yang nodded and gave Liu Bo a thumbs-up. "You really are good! We can add another dish to our meal later."

"This is really interesting." Seeing Liu Bo catch fish on two consecutive casts, Song Anquan also got excited.

He only wished there were extra fishing rods right now; otherwise, he would have loved to give it a try.

Noticing this, Su Yang smiled and asked, "Fatty, did you only bring one rod?"

"Yeah, I didn't think to bring a couple more."

"Never mind then. Song Anquan, just watch and learn from the side for now."

"Alright, I'll just watch."

"Su Yang! Su Yang!"

Su Yang, who was watching Liu Bo fish, heard the shouts and turned around to see Shen Yixue jogging out from the courtyard.

He went to meet her and asked, "What's wrong, Yixue?"

"SOS, we need help."

"With what?"

"You know I bought some seafood, right? Some of it is still alive, and the girls don't know how to handle it, so they told me to come get you."

"Isn't it just some shrimp?"

"There are also fish, eels, crabs, and stuff."

"Oh, right." Su Yang looked toward the courtyard. "Alright, let's go. I'll take a look."

The two walked toward the courtyard as they spoke. Before they even got close, Su Yang could hear a cacophony coming from inside the house.

"Damn, are they fighting?"

"I have no idea."

They quickly entered the house. Su Yang looked up and saw Xia Li and Zhao Mengrou lying in massage chairs with pained expressions, occasionally letting out strange noises.

Gu Xiaoman, Jiang Mengyun, and Zhong Qing, three people who hadn't known each other at all before, were currently chasing each other around the sofa for some unknown reason, looking like best friends of over a decade.

Music was playing in the living room, and a babble of various noises was coming from the kitchen, making it impossible to tell how many people were crammed in there.

"What the hell?" Hearing the chaos from the living room and kitchen, Su Yang rubbed his head in exasperation.

"Are you guys fighting a war in here? It's so loud. Good thing the neighbors are far away, or they'd definitely come over to complain."

"Su Yang, you're here?" Gu Xiaoman turned around and smiled.

"What are you three doing?"

"Mind your own business, it's girl stuff."

"Alright, alright. By the way, Sister Mengrou, weren't you helping prep the food? How did you end up prepping in a massage chair?" Su Yang looked at Zhao Mengrou and laughed.

Zhao Mengrou looked up and said, "There are too many people in the kitchen. They didn't need me at all, so I came over to get a massage."

"Fine, you guys have fun. I'll go take a look." Su Yang pulled Shen Yixue along and walked into the kitchen.

Just as he reached the doorway, he saw a bunch of fair legs moving about inside.

He was just about to speak when suddenly, a four or five-pound silver carp leaped into the air from out of nowhere.

A series of ear-piercing screams instantly erupted in the kitchen.

Ahhh!

Su Yang preemptively covered his ears.

Smack.

The silver carp seemed to have thrashed its way out of Tang Ziyun's hands, landing right in the middle of the kitchen floor. The commotion terrified the other girls, sending them scrambling toward the door.

Su Qingci reached the door first and crashed headlong into Su Yang's chest, and he naturally caught her in his arms.

"Ouch, that's so loud, stop howling!!" Shen Yixue's ears were also hurting from the noise, and she yelled at them with a laugh.

Only then did the girls stop their deafening screams.

"Uh, the fish, the fish is too slippery!" Tang Ziyun walked over and looked at Su Yang with a perfectly innocent expression.

Looking at the pitiful Tang Ziyun, Su Yang smiled helplessly. He let go of Su Qingci, walked into the kitchen, bent down, grabbed the fish, and tossed it back into the sink.

"You guys have been at this for ages, so how come these fish are still alive and kicking? You haven't killed a single one this whole time."

They scratched their cheeks and offered embarrassed smiles. "We aren't very good at handling live things."

"Then why didn't you call me earlier? Hey," Su Yang scanned the group and asked, "Where's Muhan? She should know how."

"She went to the restroom."

"Alright, how about this: you girls just stick to prepping the vegetables and the meat, and I'll handle the live stuff, okay?"

"Okay."

At this point, Lu Yun went to the side, grabbed a mop, and dried the water on the floor. After that, the girls re-entered the kitchen to chop meat and wash vegetables.

Su Yang watched them and shook his head. It was truly a bit tough for people who didn't usually do chores to suddenly handle all this.

Plus, there were too many people. With everyone just doing a little bit here and there and no one taking charge, the division of labor was a mess. That was why only a third of the prep work was done after all this time.

Su Yang thought about it and decided he'd better do it himself.

He took an apron and tied it on, then walked over to the sink to start dealing with the live fish, shrimp, crabs, and the like.

Not long after, Li Muhan returned to the kitchen. Seeing Su Yang there, she walked over and asked, "Brother Su Yang, why did you come over?"

"They're just too slow at prepping the food. I'd better do it."

"Sorry about that, my stomach hurt earlier so I went to the restroom."

"It's fine. We'll do it together, it'll be faster that way."

"Okay!"

At that moment, Shen Yixue also came over to help.

With Su Yang present, it was as if everyone had found their pillar of support, and they started working much more efficiently.

Several tens of minutes later, almost all the live seafood had been processed, and the others had finished washing the vegetables and slicing the various meats.

Su Yang took a look and nodded. "Yeah, this is good for now. Let's carry everything we've prepared down to the lake."

"Okay~"

The kitchen work came to a temporary halt. Everyone began moving toward the lake, carrying an assortment of plates, bowls, and baskets. The people hanging out in the living room also came over to lend a hand.

Soon, a large pile of supplies was set on the table next to the barbecue grill.

Meng Wenzhou and Zhang Ziming had already borrowed a grill and set it up earlier; the two of them were currently squatting by the lake, watching Liu Bo fish.

Seeing the main group approaching, they stood up and walked over to help.

"Old Meng, you and Ziming move the grill you borrowed over to the left."

"Sure." The two of them lifted the large borrowed grill and positioned it on Su Yang's left side.

"OK, now for the fire. If I had known it would take this long, I would have started it later. It's already gone out," Su Yang said as he squatted down to tend to the charcoal.

Soon, the charcoal was lit once again. He shoveled some of it into the borrowed grill and then placed the rest into his own.

Plumes of smoke began to drift through the air.

"The fire is ready. Muhan, take the girls and start skewering the meat and vegetables on the bamboo sticks."

"Okay."

The girls didn't bother worrying about their image; they simply sat right down on the grass and started skewering the food.

It was an easy task, and a large bunch of beef skewers was ready in no time. Su Yang took the skewers, split the batch in half, and handed a portion to Meng Wenzhou beside him. "Old Meng, we're playing the waiters today. Let's grill together."

"Sure, no problem."

Meng Wenzhou smiled, took the meat skewers, placed them on the grill, and started cooking.

......