31. Poor People Speak Plainly (Please Cast Your Votes)

Zhang Tan took the peanuts handed to him by Xiaobai and asked, "Are you waiting for me?"

Xiaobai nodded repeatedly. *Pop!* Her little mouth didn't stay idle; she bit open the peanut she had been savoring for a few seconds, gave a little suck, and the peanut was gone. She dropped the shell on the floor.

"Waiting for me for something?"

Zhang Tan walked past her, set his shopping bag on the ground, and fished out his keys to open the door.

Xiaobai stood up, brushed the peanut shells off her clothes, patted her little bottom, and holding her glass jar, followed Zhang Tan inside. "I wanted to come over and chew the fat with you."

*Click.* The door opened. Zhang Tan paused and looked down at her. "What? What does that mean?"

"You know, have a chinwag."

"And what does *that* mean?"

Xiaobai scratched her head, muttered something under her breath, and then said loudly, "Chatting!"

Zhang Tan: "..."

Good grief, why couldn't she just say "chatting"? I thought it was some top-secret military business.

"Come on in," Zhang Tan invited her. "Here are your little slippers."

"My little slippers look even cuter now," Xiaobai praised her footwear.

"Heh," Zhang Tan gave a dry laugh. He didn't know how to respond to that unless the slippers had come to life.

"Uncle, give me the broom, please. I need to sweep up the peanut shells."

Xiaobai hadn't come all the way in yet, standing instead by the doorway.

"I'll clean it up," Zhang Tan said.

"But I was the one eating them."

"Fair enough."

Having that sense of responsibility was impressive. Zhang Tan found a broom and a dustpan for her. The little girl swept the shells off the floor with surprising dexterity; her movements were practiced, clearly something she did often at home.

Once the cleaning was done, Xiaobai carried her glass jar into the room. She spent a while admiring her little slippers, and only after she had satisfied her obsession did she follow him into the kitchen, watching curiously as Zhang Tan started to cook.

"Uncle, didn't you have your grub yet?"

Zhang Tan took out the ingredients he had bought, preparing to make cold noodles.

"Not yet. I'm making dinner now. Did you eat?"

It was a polite formality; the children had all eaten before coming to the Little Red Horse Academy, which didn't provide meals.

"I'm already full," Xiaobai said, patting her small belly. "Here, have some peanuts."

Her little hand reached into the jar, grabbed a few, and offered them to Zhang Tan.

Zhang Tan wiped his hands, took them, and peeled one. They were boiled peanuts, salted and fragrant.

"These are delicious. You ate dinner and you're still eating so many peanuts?"

"Peanuts are my dinner."

"What?"

As Zhang Tan asked, he learned that the half-jar of peanuts she was clutching was her entire meal for the night.

"Doesn't your aunt make you dinner?"

Zhang Tan felt a surge of anger. He had never seen someone take such poor care of a child—not even making dinner, just letting her eat half a jar of peanuts.

Xiaobai picked out another peanut and peeled it, answering, "My aunt and uncle had a fight, so no dinner was made."

Zhang Tan sighed, took the glass jar from her, and said, "Don't eat these anymore. I'm making dinner, we'll eat together."

"But I'm full."

"Then go kick a soccer ball for a bit; you'll be hungry soon enough."

Xiaobai didn't go play soccer. Instead, she stayed in the kitchen, watching him cook and helping him pass things. To his surprise, she was quite handy to have around.

Cold noodles might look simple, but they are actually quite complex. The key lies in the broth, which determines whether the dish is delicious or not.

"Are the garlic cloves washed?" Zhang Tan asked.

"Coming, coming! Just a sec!" Xiaobai stood on a small stool to wash the garlic.

Zhang Tan crushed six cloves of garlic into a paste, adding sugar, rice vinegar, salt, MSG, and beef seasoning powder. He then juiced a pear, giving the juice to the thirsty Xiaobai, and mixed the pear pulp into the garlic. After stirring it well, he poured in clear beef broth. After about ten minutes, he strained it through a fine mesh, discarding the solids. The broth was ready. He put it in the fridge to chill, then prepared the toppings—shrimp, beef, and squid.

"Are the tomatoes washed?" Zhang Tan was slicing beef and glanced back at Xiaobai, who was washing the tomatoes.

"All done, all done! Don't rush me, this is my specialty!"

Xiaobai finished in a flash, turned off the faucet, jumped off the stool, and brought over the bright red tomatoes.

Zhang Tan took them, rinsed his knife, and began slicing.

Xiaobai stood by his feet, looking up and asking if there was anything else she could do.

"No, we're almost done."

Xiaobai said "oh," wandered around behind him, stood on tiptoes, and snuck a peek at the shrimp frying in the pan. She sniffed the air—it smelled divine.

About five minutes later, the cold noodles, perfect in color, aroma, and taste, were ready. Zhang Tan felt a sense of accomplishment. He took a couple of photos with his phone before placing them on the dining table. He set out two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks—one set large, one set small. Remembering that Xiaobai might struggle with chopsticks, he also prepared a fork.

Xiaobai stood on her stool, gently turned on the kitchen faucet to a thin, chopstick-wide stream, then tightened it until the water was just a trickle. She washed her hands under it, turned it off, wiped her hands on her clothes, and climbed down. As she passed the dining table, she shot a quick glance at it, gave a silly giggle, and walked toward the living room.

In the living room was the small stool she usually sat on. She crouched down and hugged her glass jar to her chest.

Zhang Tan thought she was just grabbing her jar, but the little girl didn't come back. Instead, she walked straight to the door, placed the jar gently on the floor, and bent down to change into her shoes, looking as if she were leaving.

"Xiaobai, where are you going?" he asked, feeling perplexed.

Xiaobai opened the door while changing her shoes. She looked up, surprised. "I'm going home, silly."

She looked genuinely confused, as if she couldn't understand why he would ask such an obvious question. Why would she stay for dinner?

"Bye, Uncle! You must be really hungry, hurry up and eat your grub! Being hungry is awful, your tummy just goes *grumble-grumble* all the time."

Without waiting for a reply, she picked up her jar, stepped out, turned back, stood on tiptoes to grab the doorknob, and flashed a grin at him, revealing two rows of small, white, milky teeth before pulling the door shut.

"Wait, but..." Zhang Tan started.

He hurried after her and opened the door, only to see Xiaobai already at the stairwell landing, jar in hand, the lid off, popping a peanut into her mouth.

"Xiaobai! Xiaobai, don't leave, come eat with me."

"Huh?" Xiaobai looked up, startled, the peanut still in her mouth.

"Dinner is ready! Why are you leaving?"

*Crunch.* The sound of the peanut being crushed echoed. Xiaobai chewed and wiped her little mouth. She was a poor kid, and poor kids didn't beat around the bush.

"I don't have any money."

Zhang Tan found it amusing.

"Who said anything about money? It's free!"

Xiaobai insisted, "I really don't have any money."

Poor kids truly didn't beat around the bush.

"I told you, I don't want your money. How much money could a little kid have anyway? Come on, don't you want some shrimp?"

At the mention of shrimp, Xiaobai couldn't help but gulp. She couldn't resist the temptation; her little head nodded uncontrollably, though her mouth stubbornly protested, "What do you want?"

"What do you mean, 'what do I want'? I'm inviting you to eat! You didn't have dinner, did you?"

Xiaobai patted her jar and said, "Peanuts are delicious."

Zhang Tan thought to himself, *No wonder you're so thin and small. You're four and a half, but you don't look much bigger than three-and-a-half-year-old Meng Chengcheng.*

"Peanuts are fine as a snack, but you can't have them as a meal. Otherwise, you won't grow up big and strong."

Xiaobai put the empty peanut shell into her pocket and hesitated. "Is that really okay?"

Zhang Tan could tell the little girl was tempted. He walked over and patted her head. "You worked hard helping me out, and we made this dinner together, so you're not a guest. Come on, I can't finish it all by myself."

He took her little hand and led her back.

Xiaobai continued to fret, "But, I really don't have any money."

"You already paid by helping out," Zhang Tan said. "So you don't need to pay anything else."

Xiaobai kept babbling and hesitating as she was led back, but in her dazed state, she suddenly realized she was back in the living room. *Oh well! Might as well eat then.*