Vera Xavier looked into Cara Preston’s eyes. They were filled with such sincerity that Vera thought, ’No wonder I fell into her trap in my last life.’ Cara was a natural-born drama queen; her gaze radiated a sincerity so profound it was as if she genuinely had your best interests at heart.
She had to admire Cara. They had already had a major falling-out the other day, yet here Cara was, acting as if nothing had ever happened.
However, Vera was no longer the girl from her past life, the one Cara could manipulate at will. ’Since Cara loves putting on an act so much, I’ll just play along.’
She said with an expression of deep feeling, "Cara, I know you’ve always looked after and been so good to . But you call your sister, so by all rights, it should be taking care of you. It’s just that my abilities are so limited, and there’s no way I can help. I already feel so guilty that I can’t help you. How could I possibly let you get into trouble because of ?"
"But I don’t mind! I genuinely want to help you!" Cara said earnestly.
"But I mind!" Vera retorted just as earnestly. "I’ve always felt pretty useless, but this ti, I want to face the consequences on my own. Cara, you don’t need to say another word. I’ll never forget your kindness. I want us to be sisters for life, which is why I have to learn to take responsibility for myself!"
Then, to her satisfaction, she saw the look on Cara’s face—it was as if she’d just eaten shit.
A faint coldness flickered in Vera’s eyes. ’Sure enough,’ she thought, ’you have to give people a taste of their own dicine. Backing them into a corner with their own words is so much more satisfying!’
Cara was livid, but she couldn’t find a better reason to persuade Vera, which only made her more frustrated. ’This won’t do,’ she thought. ’I have to get Rona Langdon back here. Otherwise, Vera will actually move into Nathaniel Nathan’s house!’
With this on her mind, she was distracted and listless afterward.
Vera, for her part, paid her no mind and got to work efficiently preparing the al.
Her culinary skills, honed through the hardships of her past life, were actually quite excellent. Master Nathan’s visit today had been unexpected, so they didn’t have many ingredients on hand. However, he had arrived carrying a duck, a rabbit, a pound of at, half a pound of chili peppers, and various other green vegetables.
Vera’s mouth twitched when she saw the items. It was then she rembered that in this era, while the period of extre scarcity was over, the general standard of living in inland cities hadn’t risen that much. It was still very common to bring food as a gift when visiting friends and family.
The at had already been cleaned and dressed, and the vegetables were mostly trimd. Most likely, Master Nathan had his housekeeper, Lana Cheney, buy and prepare everything that morning before he brought it over.
Since the ingredients were already mostly prepped, Vera was able to cook quickly. Even with Cara standing in the kitchen and constantly getting in the way, it didn’t slow Vera down one bit.
She started by chopping the duck into small pieces, then blanched them to remove any impurities. As luck would have it, there was a bottle of beer in the house, leftover from Zachary Preston. After searing the duck pieces, she poured the entire bottle into the pot to make Beer Duck.
While the duck was simring, she diced the rabbit and prepared it with a handful of chili peppers and garlic. Next, she washed the other vegetables and julienned a potato. By the ti she had finished her prep work, the Beer Duck was just about done. She finished it with a sprinkle of chopped scallions, and a perfect Beer Duck was complete.
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