Not Much to Eat

Xiaoyi was ready. Let the storm come at full speed!

“Ah!!! …Eh??”

Xiaoyi gritted his teeth. Before he could cry out in pain, he felt a different sensation on his back. It didn’t hurt at all.

Jiang Danhe had already practiced the intensity of his strength on Zhuang Zhuang, so he was able to do it with ease now. He is now better at gauging the amount of strength to apply when scrubbing Xiaoyi’s back.

“It feels good. So good.”

Xiaoyi looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Zhuang Zhuang looked at Xiaoyi in disbelief. Is it good? How was that possible? His back was still burning with pain.

As the water was turning cold, Jiang Danhe rinsed them quickly and put on clean clothes for them.

It was Jiang Danhe’s first time putting on clothes for a child, so he was a little flustered. He got the pants inside out and tied the belt of the robes wrongly. It took him a long time to get the boys dressed.

Once they were dressed, the two children left for the study.

Jiang Danhe returned to the kitchen as he was feeling extremely hungry. He was preparing to eat earlier, but then he was tasked to bathe the kids before he had a chance to eat. Now he was so hungry that his stomach was almost in spasms.

“General.”

Auntie Xu was putting food on a tray when she looked up and saw Jiang Danhe.

“Yes.” Jiang Danhe nodded. He smelled the fragrance in the air and felt even hungrier. “How fragrant. What did you make?”

“Madam came over to make this just now. She took one set away and left this for you.”

As Mrs. Xu spoke, she placed the tray in front of Jiang Danhe.

The fragrance of the food wafted into his nose, making his stomach cry out for it.

“She prepared this for me? “Jiang Danhe’s lips curled up. Looking at the bowl of ordinary-looking braised noodles, his heart felt like it had been hit by a deer.

All he could think about was, “She made this for me, she made this for me…”

Jiang Danhe carried the noodles back into the room happily. He didn’t hear what Mrs. Xu said after that.

Xiaoguo was wolfing down the noodles in her room. To be honest, she was very hungry. In order to avoid bumping into Jiang Danhe at noon, she did not leave the room to eat. She had quite a workout earlier chasing after Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi. She also took a long time to wash the clothes as the oil stains on them were extremely difficult to remove.

After washing the clothes, she headed to the kitchen. Because she was so hungry, she wanted to find something to eat. However, it was not mealtime yet, so she had to whip up something herself. While she was cooking, she learnt from Mrs. Xu that Jiang Danhe had not eaten either. He had come in a while back to look for food, so Xiaoguo made an extra portion for him without thinking.

She was still eating her noodles when there was a knock on the door.

Xiaoguo put down her chopsticks and opened the door with noodles still in her mouth. Jiang Danhe’s handsome face appeared at the door with a tray in his hands.

Although he was very handsome and his dressing looked impeccable, Xiaoguo really wanted to say, “Thank you. I don’t need room service.”

“Shall we eat together?”

Since neither of them had eaten lunch, Jiang Danhe came out of the kitchen to look for Xiaoguo, thinking that they could have some alone time together.

“… Come in.”

Xiaoguo let him in and wiped her face frantically behind him. She had been eating quite heartily just now, so her face must have been splattered with vegetable soup.

The moment Jiang Danhe turned around, Xiaoguo acted normally again.

The two of them sat opposite each other. There were a lot of noodles in Jiang Danhe’s bowl, but in Xiaoguo’s bowl, there was only half a portion left.

“This is… What’s that? There’s less noodles in my bowl…”

Xiaoguo stammered. She didn’t know if Jiang Danhe believed her, but she was convinced by her own words.

Jiang Danhe nodded and didn’t say anything. From the moment he entered, he had been smiling non-stop. Hearing Xiaoguo’s words, Jiang Danhe’s gaze turned to look at the side of her mouth.

“Your…”

“I really don’t have much noodles…”

The two of them spoke at the same time. Xiaoguo didn’t hear Jiang Danhe’s words and was only focused on explaining. She couldn’t let Jiang Danhe think that she was a glutton.

At this moment, Xiaoguo had forgotten that if she can really eat a lot one day, Jiang Danhe will definitely be happy. How will he complain that she is eating too much?

“Heh…” Jiang Danhe was overjoyed when he heard that. “It’s here…”

Xiaoguo was stunned as Jiang Danhe leaned forward and reached to touch her mouth. While she was still in a daze, Jiang Danhe had already finished what he was doing and there were some green onions on his fingers.

Xiaoguo was as red as a tomato now.

“This, this, this… this isn’t… I…”

Xiaoguo was furious. She snatched the green onions from him and threw them away, pretending that nothing had happened.

“Oh… These noodles are really good. I’m starving.”

Jiang Danhe nodded to indicate that he understood. He immediately changed the topic and started eating the noodles.

“Mmm, delicious…”

Jiang Danhe lowered his head and ate his noodles with a smile on his face. She was too cute. Since she didn’t want to mention it, so be it.

Xiaoguo looked angrily at Jiang Danhe, who was smiling. Did he think that she couldn’t see?

The two of them ate their noodles facing each other. Because Jiang Danhe was around, Xiaoguo didn’t dare to eat very quickly. She ate in small bites, trying to look as refined as possible.

Jiang Danhe might have sensed Xiaoguo’s thoughts, so he ate the noodles as heartily as he could, hoping that his behavior would help her relax.

Xiaoguo gradually became less reserved. This time, it was different from having a meal with a large group of people.

As this was the first time the two of them were eating alone, Xiaoguo felt a little shy. After watching how Jiang Danhe was eating his noodles, Xiaoguo felt less inhibited.

Occasionally, she would laugh at his exaggerated slurping.

“Pfft, haha…”

Xiaoguo immediately covered her mouth.

Jiang Danhe looked over and couldn’t help but laugh. It was indeed a little too exaggerated just now. “Haha.”

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. The atmosphere became more harmonious.

–

As they were leaving tomorrow, everyone was gathered in the hall during dinner.

Chef Xu and the fat chef each offered a toast to Xiaoguo.

The fat chef was a sentimental person and almost couldn’t hold back her tears. Xiaoguo couldn’t stand emotional scenes, so she quickly took out the recipes that she had written earlier in the afternoon.

“Auntie, these are the home-cooked recipes I wrote today. Although it’s not complete, you can try them out. They should last you for quite some time.”

Xiaoguo handed the stack of paper to the two chefs. Although there weren’t many dishes inside, many recipes were actually worth exploring. They could learn a lot from studying those recipes. Also, what she had written were mostly home-cooked dishes, so it should be quite useful for the chefs.

“This… thank you so much, Madam!”

Auntie Xu took the recipes, as her hands trembled in excitement.

Xiaoguo hurriedly told her that it was nothing. She was bad at handling emotional scenes like this.

At the side, Li Shouji was overjoyed. “In that case, we will get to enjoy Sister-in-law’s special dishes in the future. The two of you have to study them well. Haha.”

Auntie Xu and the fat chef nodded heavily. “Of course, we will definitely study the recipes carefully!”

Jiang Danhe did not say anything else. He just kept putting food into Xiaoguo’s bowl.

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi were also saying their goodbyes. They really didn’t know when they would meet again, and they just couldn’t accept it.

This was especially so for Xiaoyi. He felt like crying at the thought of it. If it weren’t for the fact that they were in the hall, Xiaoyi would have hugged Zhuang Zhuang and cried.

At the table, Li Shouji was chatting and laughing, so the atmosphere was not too depressing.

After everyone had dispersed from the dining table, Li Shouji brought away the two little ones who wanted to follow Xiaoguo. He gave Jiang Danhe a knowing look and left.

No matter how much the two children struggled, Li Shouji did not care. He grabbed them under his arms and walked out.

“Shall we walk?”

Jiang Danhe smiled and said to Xiaoguo, who was beside him.