Little Genius

Xiaoguo looked at the expressions of the two chefs and laughed. “That’s too exaggerated.”

“Sigh… Madam, it’s not an exaggeration at all.” The fat chef shook her head. “If it weren’t for my strong willpower, I would have finished the soup long ago.”

The old cook nodded in agreement. This was not a lie at all. She did not know what kind of spices were added to the pot. It was clearly bone soup, but she had never made anything that smells like that.

“All right. We’ll prepare the noodles and balls now.”

“Okay!”

The two chefs spoke loudly. In fact, they could not wait to participate in the process of creating novel food.

Xiaoguo handed the meatballs and noodles to the two chefs while she prepared the potato noodles. As the potato noodles were not easy to process, it was more convenient for her to make them herself.

The two chefs worked quickly and divided the work clearly between themselves. The three of them chatted while working with their hands. Soon, all the ingredients were ready. All that they had to do was cook.

In order to ensure the taste of the soup, Xiaoguo had the two chefs bring out a clean pot and pour in water to boil. After a while, she would cook the noodles and meatballs in this pot, then, she would add the pork bone soup to these ingredients in serving bowls.

It was still too early to start dinner. Hence, Xiaoguo let the two chefs rest for a while.

She returned to the front of the house and went to the room first. She did not find Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi inside.

Xiaoguo then went to the study room. She found out in the morning that the two of them had been studying there. They must be in that room now.

Before Xiaoguo entered the room, she could hear voices reading out loud from the books. She pursed her lips and smiled, thinking to herself that the voices of the two children sounded really nice.

Then the childish voices stopped and a deep voice spoke,

“To cut and grind, to carve and polish.”

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi recited after the voice, “To cut and grind, to carve and polish.”

Xiaoguo thought that Jiang Danhe’s voice reciting those words sounded so good.

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo bent down and sneaked to the window. She tiptoed to peep through the open window.

“So do you know what that means?”

Jiang Danhe sat at the table. Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi sat on either side of him like primary school students. Their backs were straight. In front of each of them was a stack of rice paper and an ink brush.

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi wrote down the line that Jiang Danhe had read on paper. They had just put down their brushes when they heard his question.

The two children looked at each other and then at Jiang Danhe.

Xiaoyi shook his head in embarrassment and looked at Zhuang Zhuang. He must know the answer again.

As expected, Zhuang Zhuang immediately raised his hand to show that he knew.

“Tell me.”

Zhuang Zhuang immediately coughed happily when he was called out. “This means that a gentleman’s cultivation is like the stone carving process. After cutting the stone, you have to keep grinding it. It’s also like how a piece of jade is cut, carved and polished.”

After saying that, Zhuang Zhuang looked at Jiang Danhe with sparkling eyes. “How was it?”

“Good! Very good!” Jiang Danhe wanted to clap loudly. It was simply too awesome.

Xiaoyi was very happy for him. Zhuang Zhuang was indeed very good. There was nothing he didn’t know, unlike him, who didn’t know anything…

Zhuang Zhuang took in their gazes and felt a little embarrassed. “No, no. I just happened to have read it.”

Jiang Danhe looked at Zhuang Zhuang and was a little curious. How much knowledge did Zhuang Zhuang have? “Zhuang Zhuang, do you know the original text?”

When Zhuang Zhuang heard this, he scratched his head and nodded with uncertainty. “Pretty much.”

Jiang Danhe raised his eyebrows in interest. “Let me hear it.”

“Yeah.”

Zhuang Zhuang sat up straight and spoke slowly.

“It’s from a book on linguistics.” Zhuang Zhuang first explained the origin of the poem. Then, his little head immediately got into high gear. He swayed like a primary school student. “Zigong said, ‘Poverty without flattery, wealth without arrogance. What is it like? Confucius said, ‘It’s possible. If one is not poor but happy, wealth and courtesy are possible.’ Zigong said, ‘Poetry is like cutting and grinding! It’s like carving and polishing! Does it mean that?’ Confucius said, ‘You and I are able to discuss poetries from now on, since you are able to draw inferences effortlessly.’ ”

As Zhuang Zhuang said the last word, Xiaoyi was even happier than him. “Wow… Zhuang Zhuang is awesome!”

Zhuang Zhuang scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. Then, he stole a glance at Jiang Danhe to observe his reaction.

Without hesitation, Jiang Danhe clapped his hands. His applause was loud and powerful.

“Awesome, Zhuang Zhuang!” Jiang Danhe stood up excitedly. He was only three years old, but he could memorize the original text perfectly and recite it on the spot. He was a rare find! His son was really a genius!

Jiang Danhe hugged Zhuang Zhuang and threw him up high before catching him steadily.

Zhuang Zhuang was frightened at first, but out of trust in his father, he started to enjoy the fun of being lifted up high.

“Hahahahahahaha, again!”

Jiang Danhe kept on tossing and lifting Zhuang Zhuang until he shouted for him to stop.

Xiaoyi watched their interaction enviously from the side. She was tempted. Would that person do this to her…

Xiaoguo looked at the scene in the room with relief and left quietly.

After a short rest, Xiaoguo returned to the kitchen. It was almost time for dinner. The two chefs were already waiting inside.

“Shall we start now, Madam?”

The chefs asked the moment they saw Xiaoguo.

“Okay, let’s do it!”

Xiaoguo estimated that it was about time. Now that they were asking, she was sure that it was time for dinner.

With Xiaoguo’s permission, the two chefs immediately lit the fire.

They had been waiting for this moment for a long time. They were really curious about the taste of potato noodles. Upon hearing Xiaoguo’s words to start cooking, they quickly boiled the water.

Xiaoguo put all the meatballs into the pot and waited for the contents to boil again.

As there was a lot of water, the water did not boil too quickly. At this time, the sky was getting dark. The two chefs had lit the candles early, so there was plenty of light in the kitchen.

Xiaoguo had added enough ingredients for everyone in the residence. The potato noodles and noodles were cooked in a ratio of one to one. When they were cooked, she scooped everything into a large basin that she had just found. Then, she added a finger-high amount of bone soup into the basin. Following that, she scooped up a lot of fish balls and pork balls and added them to the noodles. Finally, a handful of scalded vegetables was added as garnish on top.

As the basin was a little heavy, the fatter chef took the initiative to hold it for Xiaoguo.

The two chefs were usually the ones to prepare and serve every meal. Therefore, they naturally took it upon themselves to bring out the bowls, chopsticks, and the basin of food.

Xiaoguo could not out-talk them, so she could only follow behind and walk into the dining hall empty-handed.

When she arrived at the door, she realized that the house had been lit with candles. As soon as she entered, she saw that everyone was gathered around the table, waiting to dig in.

“Mother…”

Zhuang Zhuang called out to Xiaoguo. She nodded and walked over.

The others were attracted by the fragrance and stared unblinkingly at the basin in the chef’s hand.

The chef left after putting down the dishes. Seeing that everyone was still not moving, Xiaoguo took the initiative to start serving the food.

There were three big bowls and two small bowls. Xiaoguo placed a lot of meatballs in every bowl.

“Let’s eat.”

Xiaoguo sat down with a bowl in her hands. She was touched when she saw the rest waiting for her to start, without moving their chopsticks.

When everyone heard Xiaoguo’s words, they picked up their chopsticks and hurriedly opened their mouths.