I only eat a little bit of spice.

Zhang Tan took the glass jar from Xiaobai’s hands and set it on the coffee table. "Come on, let’s head to the dining room. Dinner is ready."

"Heh heh heh~~" Xiaobai stood still, giggling foolishly. "Is that really okay?"

Seeing her acting like a shy little bride, Zhang Tan couldn’t help but smile. He gently nudged her toward the dining area. "What’s not okay about it? We made all of this together, and I can't finish it alone, so just do me a favor and help out."

Once pushed to the dining table, Xiaobai found herself staring at a large bowl of cold noodles, neatly topped with three bright red fried shrimp, several slices of beef... it was absolutely packed.

Faced with such delicious food, Xiaobai couldn't help but swallow hard. Her genuine inner delight made her blurt out, "Holy moly! Smells divine!"

Zhang Tan: (￣ェ￣;)

"Quick, sit down. Eat if you’re hungry."

Under Zhang Tan’s enthusiastic hospitality, Xiaobai sat down half-reluctantly. She gazed at the cold noodles with a look of pure bliss, but when she noticed Zhang Tan watching her, she became shy and bashful again.

Zhang Tan was astonished. What was going on? Was this the same tough-as-nails Xiaobai who chased people around calling them "butt-face" and got into brawls with Luo Zikang? How was she acting shy now?

"Xiaobai, sit over here."

"Don’t be so formal, Uncle."

*Emmmm~~~* I’m not being formal with you!

Zhang Tan looked at his own small bowl, then at Xiaobai’s large one. Should he mention that the small bowl was intended for her? Kids usually couldn't handle such a big portion, but thinking of her as his little guest, he stayed silent and grabbed another large bowl for himself to match hers.

Zhang Tan served Xiaobai half a bowl, piling on the shrimp, beef, and squid. "Do you eat spicy food?"

"What? A little bit."

"Then I’ll add some spicy kimchi for you. Try it, it’s quite hot."

He tasted the cold noodles first—not bad at all, maybe seven or eight points out of ten compared to Old Li’s place.

"Eat up," he said, noticing Xiaobai just watching him instead of using her chopsticks.

Xiaobai grinned. "Thank you, Uncle. I'm going to eat now."

"Go ahead."

He watched as Xiaobai skillfully used her chopsticks to pick up a large shrimp and took a small, delicate bite.

"Is it good?" Zhang Tan asked.

Xiaobai nodded without hesitation. "Grand!"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"It’s incredibly delicious."

"As long as you like it."

Seeing her enjoy the shrimp, Zhang Tan picked up the two in his own bowl and placed them in hers. When he looked up, he saw Xiaobai staring at him, her chopsticks motionless.

"What’s wrong? Why aren't you eating?"

Xiaobai silently picked up one of the large shrimp and placed it back in his bowl.

"That's for you," Zhang Tan insisted.

Xiaobai didn't say a word, picked up the other one, and gave it back to him.

"You eat it, Uncle. You haven't had your grub yet."

"Don't you like them?"

"I already had my grub, I'm not hungry."

You only had a few peanuts; that hardly counts as dinner.

Zhang Tan told Xiaobai he didn't really care for the shrimp. He was trying to get her to eat more, but he didn't expect the little girl to lecture him quite seriously. Her point was that if he didn't like them, why did he buy them? What a waste! And they were expensive, too.

Oh my, she even knew shrimp were expensive. When Zhang Tan asked, he learned she’d heard it from her aunt, because the family had bought shrimp for her uncle’s birthday—the first time she’d ever had them. If you could only have them on your uncle's birthday, they had to be pricey.

Zhang Tan humbly accepted the lesson. "I'll keep that in mind. But Xiaobai, since they’re already bought, just eat them, won't you?"

Xiaobai nodded with reserved dignity, saying she would help him out just this once.

Before she finished, she reminded him, "Don't do this again, okay?"

"Alright, I’ve got it."

This side of Xiaobai was truly amusing. Once she finished the shrimp with great satisfaction, Zhang Tan added two large slices of beef to her bowl. Sure enough, she stopped again and looked at him. "What are you doing? Aren't you eating the meat either, Uncle?"

Zhang Tan: "I’ve already had three slices. Any more and I’ll get fat. I’m a bit worried about that, so you help me out."

Xiaobai scrutinized Zhang Tan seriously, then looked down at herself—her little arms and legs, and her round, chubby tummy. "Do you want to turn me into that blockhead Luo Zikang?"

Zhang Tan was caught between laughter and tears. "That’s not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You're a bit thin; you need to eat more meat."

"I'm not thin, I'm super pretty~~~"

"…Emmmm~"

"What does your 'emmm' mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything. You are indeed very cute. I'm just worried about gaining weight, so I'll stick to other things."

"Uncle, you are a bit chubby."

"..."

Persuading Xiaobai to eat was harder than he thought. He had to come up with all sorts of excuses, and he even ended up hurting his own feelings. Zhang Tan gave up and just ate his own food. He watched as Xiaobai finished the shrimp, then the beef, and finally downed the spicy kimchi in one go.

"Uncle, can I have more of the spicy leaves? Is that okay?"

"Sure. What spicy leaves?"

Xiaobai pointed to the spicy kimchi on the table.

Zhang Tan gave her more kimchi and tried some himself—it was very hot.

After a while, Xiaobai asked again, "Uncle, can I have even more spicy leaves? Is that okay?"

"Aren't you burning up?" Zhang Tan asked, feeling uneasy. He didn't dare eat much more.

"It’s grand."

"What does that mean?"

Xiaobai, used to his slow-witted look, explained, "It means it's delicious."

"Alright, I'll give you some more."

Zhang Tan pushed the kimchi closer to her and poured her a glass of chilled pear juice to soothe the heat.

Before long, Xiaobai had finished the kimchi again and reached out to grab another serving herself.

Zhang Tan asked worriedly, "Are you sure it's not too spicy? You'll get a stomachache if you eat too much."

Xiaobai gave an awkward laugh. "Heh heh heh, then I won't eat anymore."

Zhang Tan: "I'm not trying to stop you, I'm just worried you'll get a tummy ache."

"It's not spicy at all."

"Just a little more."

"Just a little more."

"Ho ho~"

...

"Ah~~~"

"What's wrong?"

"I bit my lip."

"Let me see."

Xiaobai had been eating too fast and bit her own lip, causing it to bleed.

"Waaaah, I'm so unlucky."

"Don't worry too much, it's just a tiny scrape, but you can't have any more spicy food now."

Hearing that she couldn't have spicy food anymore, she grew even more convinced. "I told you, I'm just unlucky."

"Here, have some cold pear juice."

Biting her lip was the turning point; after that, Xiaobai ate with caution, her "combat effectiveness" dropping by twenty percent.

Together, they finished all the cold noodles—not a single strand left. Zhang Tan looked at Xiaobai, who was lying on the floor with her little belly bulging, then at the empty dish that had been filled with kimchi, all consumed by the "little bit of spice" kid.

A child from Sichuan, even at four and a half, seemed to be born with a talent for spice that left Zhang Tan in the dust.

Seeing Xiaobai lying there motionless, Zhang Tan asked with concern, "Xiaobai, are you alright? Is your stomach hurting?"

Her stomach wasn't hurting; she just needed to go to the bathroom.

Zhang Tan: "..."

He led her to the restroom, and soon after, singing drifted out. The little one was actually singing in there! She started with her signature, "Malan Flower," then sang a new one that shared one thing in common with the first: it was cheeky.

"My home is on the Loess Plateau, my dad is my mom's cousin, they were being sneaky before they were even together, and oops, here I am, here I am~~~"

She was clearly in high spirits after such a good meal. Who knows where she learned that.