Nina smacked her tongue. She could not help but mumble, “The two of them are truly prodigal."
"Wine is meant to be drunk. Of course, it's perfect to enjoy a glass of good wine during happy times. Besides, Mr.
Crawford and Mr. Mallory are people who can afford the wine," said Luca with a smile. She shot a glance at Otto
and nodded at him.
Otto nodded and left.
Nina could not help but exclaim, "That makes sense."
"Are you worried that there'll be a dent in Mr. Mallory's wallet?" Luca could not help but tease her. She picked up
the cattail leaf fan and fanned the grill so that the charcoal could burn evenly.
Luca turned on the ventilating fan in the gazebo too. It was to prevent the concentration of carbon monoxide from
getting too high.
Luca would not have chosen a charcoal grill if it were not for the kids who wanted to try the traditional way of
barbecuing.
Nina blushed. She immediately shook her head and said, "No. Stop talking nonsense."
"You're blushing. Even so, you're Mrs. Mallory now. It's normal for you to be worried about Mr. Mallory's expenses."
Luca smiled. She saw the three kids holding hands together and walking toward them when she looked up.
Luca pushed the glass door open and said, "Hurry up. Come in."
"Wow. It's a feast." Tommy was the first to come in. He could not help but cheer happily when he saw the food
placed on the table.
After Lanie and Rainie came in, Luca asked, "We can start barbecuing. What would you like to have?"
"I'd like to have barbecued chicken wings," Tommy spoke first.
Luca took two chicken wings and looked at Lanie and Rainie.
"Ms. Luca, I'd like to have steak," said Rainie.
"Okay. What about Lanie?" Luca picked up the steak Rainie wanted to eat. Then, she asked Lanie.
Lanie was the eldest brother. He always let his younger brother and sister choose first. It made Luca cherish him
more for being sensible.
"I'll have some ribs. Ms. Luca, can I barbecue them myself?" Lanie asked.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Of course. Ribs for you. Here you go," replied Luca. She handed Lanie take some ribs. "If you'd like to barbecue the
food yourself, just grab anything you'd like to eat."
"Thank you, Ms. Luca." Lanie took the plate of ribs from her. He sat on a chair and placed the ribs on the grill. Then,
he looked at Nina and said, "Ms. Nina, what would you like to have? I'll help you grill them."
“Thank you, but I can do it myself,” replied Nina. She picked up the chicken wings and placed them on the grill.
When Tommy and Rainie saw Lanie grilling the food himself, they wanted to grill the food themselves too. They took
the ingredients from Luca, sat down, and began to grill their food.
Luca was overwhelmed with mixed feelings when she saw that.
Her kids had grown up.
Barbecuing was all about enjoying the fun of grilling your own food.
Luca picked up a piece of steak, sat down, and placed it on the grill.
Luke's favorite food was probably still steak. He did not have to spit out any bones or eat with his hands.
On the second floor of the villa.
Luke finally won two consecutive rounds.
Percy was unconvinced as he cried out, "One more. You're just lucky."
"Again? Your wife would've finished her dinner if we play another round," said Luke. He walked toward the window
wall and stared at the garden.
He could see what was happening in the garden gazebo.
The others were already barbecuing there.
"What do you mean?" Percy walked toward the window wall and noticed that Nina and the others were already
barbecuing. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "They started barbecuing without telling us?"
"It was to satisfy your desire to win." Luke placed the cue stick on the table and said, "You lost. I'm going down for
dinner now."
He believed Luca had already grilled some food for him.
"Fine. I lost. It's not like I can't afford the wine," Percy replied unconcernedly.
Percy did not play with Luke for the sake of deciding who would be paying for the wine. He only wanted to play with
Luke and learn some skills from him.
The two of them came to the garden.
Tommy saw them and said, "Daddy and Mr. Percy have finished playing."
Luca turned around and looked behind her. Luke and Percy were walking toward them. She used a pair of poultry
shears to cut the cooked steak into smaller pieces.
"Are these for Mr. Crawford?" Nina asked. She placed all the grilled chicken wings on a plate.
Luca looked at Nina's gesture. She smiled and asked, "Are these for Mr. Mallory?"
Nina's face reddened.
Luke and Percy walked into the gazebo. Each of them voluntarily walked toward the women they loved and sat
down beside them.
Luca handed Luke the plate filled with the steak bites and asked, "Mr. Crawford, would you like to have some steak
bites?"
"Yes. Thank you." Luke took it from her and shot Percy a dirty look.
Nina handed Percy the plate filled with chicken wings.
The two of them ended in a draw.
Tommy rolled his eyes and after he took a bite of the chicken wing. He asked, “Daddy, who's the winner?"
"I won." Luke smiled.
Percy let out a snort and said querulously, "That's because you cheated. You wouldn't have won if we played
another two rounds."
"Just accept the fact that you lost. Stop whining." Luke took a bite of the steak bites Luca had prepared for him. A
blissful feeling overflowed in his heart.
The food Luca grilled for him tasted heavenly good.
"Let's continue tomorrow," Percy said with dissatisfaction.
"I'm unavailable tomorrow." Luke rejected him without a second thought.
"Why? Are you afraid?" Percy goaded.
"I'm going to scope out the ancestral hall." Luke was not afraid. He did not forget what the old master had assigned
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmhim to do.
Since he was already here, he might as well just complete his mission.
"Why are you going there?"
"The ancestral hall needs to be reconstructed. I've been assigned to design it," explained Luke. He glanced at the
table and realized there was no wine on it. Then, he asked Luca, "Aren't we having some wine?"
"Mr. Muller has already decanted the wine," answered Luca. She put down the food she was about to grill and stood
up.
"Where are you going?" Luke grabbed her hand.
"Didn't you ask for the wine? Let me go take a look at it." Luca withdrew her hand and caught a glimpse of the
opposite direction out of the corner of her eyes.
"I'm not in a hurry. He'll send the wine here after it's decanted," said Luke. He put down his plate and asked her,
"What would you like to have? Let me grill it for you."
"It's okay. I can handle it myself." Luca randomly picked some ingredients and began grilling the food.
"You'll be the one designing the building? No way. Perhaps it'll become another attraction in X City after the
reconstruction is done. It's going to attract a lot of people," said Percy.
There were many architectural designers in T Corporation, but their achievements were not as good as Luke's.
Luke could still depend on his capabilities and shine in the architectural industry even if he was not working at T
Corporation.
If he was not running T Corporation and had more free time, he would have had a lot more achievements in the
architectural industry.
Luke would only design things himself when there were some international architecture competitions and some
other big projects. He would leave the other projects to his company's architects.
If Luke were to design the reconstruction of the ancestral hall...
Percy could foresee large crowds coming in and out of the ancestral hall at that time.
“The old master made a promise," said Luke. Fortunately, the area of the ancestral hall was not that big. It would
not be difficult for him to come up with a design.
The features of X City had to be included in the design of the ancestral hall. Luke had already figured out the
features of X City when he was designing the villa back then.