Chapter 102: He is a Greedy Bad Child

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: He is a Greedy Bad Child

This bowl of sweet rice dumplings with red bean and osmanthus—

Nan Zhi had taken the time to slow-cook the red bean paste during the day. She’d intended for it to be Nan Yi’s breakfast tomorrow, so she had been especially attentive, personally watching over the stove.

While the osmanthus syrup was store-bought, Nan Zhi had compared multiple shops at the market to pick out the very best one.

The glutinous rice dumplings were small and the portion was light, as Nan Zhi worried that Nan Yi might get indigestion if he ate too much at night.

A dessert prepared with such care, the paste was velvety smooth and delicately sweet. It was like silk gliding down his throat, leaving a lingering fragrance in his mouth.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the most exquisite delicacy on Earth!

On this slightly cool spring night, a warm, delicious bowl of sweet rice dumplings with red bean and osmanthus warmed Nan Yi’s body from the inside out.

After he finished eating, Nan Zhi had him slowly walk two laps around the restaurant. She felt his stomach to make sure he wasn’t uncomfortable before having him brush his teeth and wash his face again, then changing him out of the pajamas that had gotten dirty from his fall.

Now, it was time for bed.

After such a busy day, Nan Zhi was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open.

She forced herself to stay awake, gently patting Nan Yi through the blanket to lull him to sleep while humming a slow, off-key nursery rhyme.

Nan Yi said, "Mom, you can go to sleep first."

Nan Zhi blinked rapidly, forcing herself to sound alert.

"No, Mommy’s not tired. I’ll sleep after you do."

In the darkness, Nan Yi’s eyes shone like self-luminous obsidian.

He stared intently at Nan Zhi for a long moment before resolutely shutting his eyes.

In an instant, Nan Yi’s breathing became slow and even.

’Is he asleep? So quickly?’

Nan Zhi leaned in to listen, then softly whispered Nan Yi’s name.

When he didn’t react at all, Nan Zhi finally relaxed and fell asleep.

「A few minutes later.」

Nan Yi opened his eyes.

He stared unblinkingly at Nan Zhi’s peaceful, sleeping face. He wanted to touch his mother’s cheek, but he was afraid of waking her.

He wasn’t the least bit sleepy.

The panic from mistakenly thinking his mom had abandoned him still lingered in his small body, refusing to leave.

It piled on top of the emotions that had built up over the past two days, pressing down on his tender, young heart until he could barely breathe...

Of course, Nan Yi was happy after eating the sweet soup.

It wasn’t just because the sweet dumplings were delicious.

It was also because his mother had made it just for him. It was his and his alone.

Unlike that afternoon, when his mother had patted his head first, only to then go and pat the other children’s heads too.

’He hated sharing.’

’He wanted his mother’s eyes to only ever rest on him. He didn’t want her to share her affection with anyone else.’

Of course, Nan Yi knew this was wrong.

’Grown-ups liked good, generous children who knew how to share, not greedy, bad children like him.’

’So he didn’t dare let it show.’

’He could only hide this dark, sticky emotion away in secret.’

’Sometimes, Nan Yi would wonder who he took after, being so awful.’

’It definitely wasn’t his mother. She was so good, so gentle, so perfect.’

’So it must be his father.’

’...It’s all his fault!’

Nan Yi’s brow furrowed in frustration. He couldn’t help but be angry that he had such a terrible father.

Just then, Nan Zhi suddenly turned over in her sleep.

Nan Yi flinched.

He looked at his mother’s back and pouted unhappily.

Then, he began to inch his body across the bed.

He wiggled and squirmed, squirmed and wiggled.

Finally, his forehead gently touched Nan Zhi’s back.

A faint, sweet scent drifted over, along with her warmth.

Nan Yi felt at ease.

-

「10:00 PM.」

Nan Zhi and Nan Yi were already asleep.

But for many, the night’s entertainment was just beginning—

For twenty-eight-year-old Qiqi, birthdays weren’t lavish, debaucherous affairs.

As a busy teacher and homeroom advisor, just managing children all day was enough to leave her physically and mentally exhausted.

Bars? Clubbing?

’Yeah, right.’

’She simply didn’t have the energy!’

The best part of her day was washing up, getting comfortable in bed, and scrolling through her phone.

Occasionally, she’d go out for some good food to treat her exhausted body.

These were some of the few ways she had to relieve stress.

...a perfect snapshot of a modern young person’s life!

Out of habit, she opened a social media app.

First, she went through the updates from the bloggers she followed.

Then, she started scrolling through other new posts.

The algorithm’s recommendations were scarily accurate.

Qiqi casually tapped on a post and noticed the IP address was located in Yanjing, same as hers—

[I ate at the most delicious restaurant in the world today! The sweet and sour pork ribs are absolutely to die for! I’m obsessed!]

Qiqi scoffed.

"Another paid shill."

As a seasoned user of the app, she could easily spot the tell-tale phrasing and tactics of an ad.

The app was just too powerful at promoting things; it could easily make a restaurant go viral, so it was no surprise that so many people wanted a piece of the pie...

’Wait, why did I even click on this?’

’Could it have been the power of those five words: "sweet and sour pork ribs"?’

As Qiqi wondered about this, she scrolled through the photos the original poster had shared.

Her eyes froze.

She unconsciously swallowed.

It seemed plenty of others had stumbled upon the post just like she had.

As Qiqi scrolled down, she realized the post was far more popular than she’d thought. It already had over a hundred comments.

Some people had the same idea as her and got straight to the point, asking if it was a paid post.

[OP: If I’m a paid shill, I hope I get hit by a car! This is absolutely not an ad! It’s a restaurant I genuinely want to recommend! Here’s the address.]

Now that was a serious oath...

Qiqi felt it would be a shame not to go try it at least once!

She gave it a quick glance, memorized the address, and closed the post.

And so, Qiqi never saw what the rest of the comment section looked like further down:

[The decor in this restaurant looks so familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.]

[Isn’t this the restaurant that Fu Chao and that Nan Zhi opened on the reality show *Cub Observation Diary*?]

[Isn’t Nan Zhi that villainess from the show *XXX*? Her acting is worse than when I used to fake stomachaches to get out of school. What a hack.]

[That’s her. But she’s on that kid’s show recently and got a little famous for her food. This post is about her restaurant. I heard Nan Zhi is the head chef and the food is amazing.]

[OP: Don’t lie to me! How could a celebrity have those kinds of cooking skills! She’s clearly a state-banquet-level chef! I don’t believe it!]

[Sis, you’re laying it on a bit thick. It’s not that deep.]

[If you don’t believe it, go try it for yourself!]

...

Qiqi scrolled through a few more posts before she got a call from a colleague at her school.

She was a colleague, but they were also good enough friends that a late-night call during personal time wasn’t considered an intrusion.

Qiqi and her colleague chatted for a bit about school, taking the opportunity to complain about some of their more eccentric coworkers.

Before long, the conversation turned to food.

When her colleague, Xiao Li, brought up the fried rice stall she was still obsessed with, Qiqi found it amusing.

"...It’s just fried rice. It can’t be as amazing as you make it sound. Besides, that was so long ago, and you’re still hung up on it! Tell you what, I just found a restaurant that’s supposed to be delicious—someone on that lifestyle app recommended it. How about we go try it tomorrow? It’s right near the school, called Nan Family’s Small Restaurant!"