Chapter 100
Dinner was once again arranged at the village square.
Two large pots for cooking noodles were set up outdoors, along with a row of insulated containers filled with various noodle toppings.
The dads, brought over by the staff earlier, were sitting at their respective tables, waiting for their babies.
After finishing their acting practice, the other dads all went back to their homes. Wei Chengli, because his house was being used by the babies for their task, was homeless and could only accept Shen Jianghe’s invitation to visit his house. With all due respect, that pigsty… In this summer heat, Shen Jianghe’s tolerance was truly admirable.
Because he was told he couldn’t go home, Wei Chengli had also received some hints from the staff, what they would be eating for dinner would depend on the babies’ work results this evening. What to eat, how much to eat, whether it was good or bad, it was all up to the little chubby dumpling’s efforts, Wei Chengli felt it was all good. He just… hoped there wouldn’t be any “surprises” like at lunch.
The evening summer breeze carried a hint of coolness. While the other dads were either chatting or leaning back in their chairs, enjoying their free time, only Wei Chengli couldn’t help but look towards the alley leading to the small square.
And he was indeed the first to see the babies coming.
Most of them were happy… Wei Chengli’s gaze swept past Cheng Rongrong, who was the only one who didn’t seem happy, and landed on the little chubby dumpling, walking at the back, hand in hand with Cheng Tingyan. Mmm… Energetic, head held high, she must have done well, right? A smile unconsciously appeared on Wei Chengli’s face, he suddenly felt that even if dinner came with a “surprise,” it wouldn’t be so bad.
There was indeed a “surprise,” but it was different from the one at lunch.
After entering the small square, the babies dispersed to their respective tables. For a moment, the sound of small, crisp objects landing on the wooden tables filled the air.
And the sounds from the Wei family’s table were the loudest and most persistent.
“This is…” Wei Chengli looked at the small, square bamboo tokens, about half the size of his palm, that Wei Maomao had scattered on the table, he picked one up. “‘Vegetarian’?”
Did it mean plain noodles?
“Your ‘Meat Meat Meat Vegetarian Noodles.’” Wei Maomao pushed four more tokens towards Wei Chengli from the table.
Wei Chengli looked at the four tokens, each engraved with “Meat,” “Meat,” “Meat,” and “Noodles,” and exclaimed, “Baby! You can read!”
Wei Maomao continued distributing the remaining tokens, her head still lowered. “Sister Mingming taught me, they look different.”
“Baby! You’re amazing! You can read!” Wei Chengli picked up the little chubby dumpling and shook her. “Let’s send you to school after summer!” Don’t waste such a smart little brain at home!
“No!” The determined, carefree Maomao struggled free, returned to the stool, and continued distributing the tokens.
“You little lazybones.” Wei Chengli ruffled the little chubby dumpling’s soft hair and casually glanced at the tables next to them.
This glance… something seemed wrong.
“What task did you do this evening? Why did you bring back so many?” Wei Chengli rummaged through the pile of tokens that hadn’t been given to him by the little chubby dumpling and whispered, “Why do you have so many more than Shen Zilin and Wen Jiangyue next to us? So many ‘Meat’… So many ‘Vegetarian’… Only two ‘Noodles.’ Mmm? What’s that separate pile of ‘Meat Meat Meat Vegetarian’ without ‘Noodles’ for?”
“Picking sealing rings. This is yours, this is mine.” Wei Maomao pointed her chubby paw at the pile of tokens in front of Wei Chengli, then at the ‘Meat Meat Meat Vegetarian Noodles’ in front of her, and finally at the four separate ‘Meat Meat Meat Vegetarian’ tokens. “Yan Yan.”
Wei Chengli: “… “ Mmm, he should have known, look at his talkative mouth.
But…
Wei Chengli looked around, then asked curiously, “Baby, did you get first place again for this task?”
Wei Maomao nodded and looked at Wei Chengli. “Yan Yan will be eating with us later.”
“Mmm?” Wei Chengli looked at the four small bamboo tokens under the little chubby paw, then at the little chubby dumpling’s serious expression, he felt something was wrong. But he couldn’t suppress his curiosity, he pointed at the temporary noodle stall in the distance and asked, “Didn’t we all eat at our own homes these past two days? These are tokens for getting food there, right? Why didn’t you just give them to Yan Yan?”
Wei Maomao smiled.
On her chubby little face, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, it was an innocent, determined, and slightly mischievous smile.
Wei Chengli had a bad feeling, he instinctively tried to stop her. “Don’t…”
But the little chubby dumpling, how could she be easily stopped?
“Mine.” Wei Maomao pressed her paw lightly on the four bamboo tokens. “No one can use my things to show generosity.”
Wei Chengli: “… “ With your strong sense of property protection, who would dare to use your things to show generosity?
“Daddy, I remembered everything you said, am I amazing?” Wei Maomao, dissatisfied with Wei Chengli’s silence, reached out and patted his face.
“… “ Wei Chengli, feeling the firm pressure of the little chubby paw on his face, nodded. “Amazing…”
Who would dare to use Wei Maomao’s things to show generosity? Of course, it was…
Cheng Feiying looked at the four bamboo tokens in front of him, “Meat Meat Vegetarian Noodles,” then at the single “Noodles” token in front of each of his daughters. He craned his neck, glanced at the amount of tokens on the tables around them, then shook his head and said, “It seems the task this afternoon was quite difficult, every family has about the same small amount of tokens.”
Neither of his daughters responded.
Cheng Feiying fiddled with the tokens in front of him, logically, they had shown their filial piety, now it was his turn to show his fatherly love. But how should he divide them? He had to be fair, right? He should give each of them one “Meat” token, then he would eat plain noodles with soy sauce? But he really wanted to eat meat… Cheng Feiying glanced at the lonely “Noodles” token in front of Cheng Tingyan, but giving one “Vegetarian” and one “Meat” to them, while keeping one “Meat” for himself, that would be too obvious.
He could only…
Cheng Feiying eventually picked up two “Meat” tokens, pushed one towards each of his daughters, and said kindly, “How can we only eat noodles? We have three topping tokens, let’s share them.”
Cheng Rongrong said loudly, “She doesn’t need it!”
Cheng Tingyan said softly, “I don’t need it…”
They both spoke almost simultaneously, Cheng Rongrong’s voice was fast and urgent, Cheng Tingyan glanced at her.
Cheng Feiying looked at Cheng Rongrong, then at Cheng Tingyan. “What do you mean by ‘don’t need it’? Cheng… Yan Yan, you don’t want to eat meat, you want to eat vegetarian?” Cheng Feiying asked, pushing the “Vegetarian” token in front of him towards her with a hint of expectation.
“I’m going to eat at Maomao’s house later.” Cheng Tingyan pushed the two tokens, “Meat” and “Vegetarian,” back to Cheng Feiying.
“Older sister doesn’t need Dad’s meat and vegetable toppings. Maomao arranged ‘Three Meat One Vegetarian’ for her, she’s not eating with us.” Cheng Rongrong, realizing her earlier outburst, quickly adjusted her tone, making it gentler and more suggestive.
Get angry! Get angry! Even dogs don’t dislike their poor homes, your precious daughter dislikes the food at home and wants to eat at someone else’s house, don’t you feel ashamed! Cheng Rongrong stared at Cheng Feiying, waiting for his outburst.
Then… she saw Cheng Feiying touch the “Meat” and “Vegetarian” tokens that Cheng Tingyan had pushed back, then… he smiled.
Cheng Rongrong’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Okay. Maomao, not bad. I didn’t expect her to be so capable at such a young age.” Cheng Feiying smiled and gestured for Cheng Tingyan to leave. “Then you go.”
Cheng Tingyan didn’t expect Cheng Feiying, who had returned to his normal state this morning, to be so agreeable again, she was stunned for a moment before standing up, taking her “Noodles” token, and walking towards the Wei family’s table.
Just like that?
Cheng Rongrong looked at Cheng Feiying in disbelief. Clearly, in the past two days, Cheng Feiying had been quite unhappy about Cheng Tingyan always going to that stinky fatty’s house to eat, how come today… Was he too exhausted from the motion-sensing game this morning to be angry?
“Daddy, Older sister is not eating with us again. We’re family, but she likes Maomao more…” Cheng Rongrong said, looking aggrieved. She refused to believe it, after saying this, wouldn’t Cheng Feiying realize, wouldn’t he feel rejected?
Cheng Feiying… truly didn’t feel rejected.
He touched the “Meat” token in his hand, mmm… he wondered what kind of meat topping they had today. Only one “Meat” token, he had to choose a meat dish with more meat, he was truly hungry today.
As for Cheng Rongrong’s words…
Cheng Feiying glanced at the “Meat” token next to his younger daughter. “Rongrong, look at how well Yan Yan gets along with the other babies. She only got plain noodles, and Maomao, worried that she wouldn’t eat well, invited her to join them. You should also work hard.”
Cheng Rongrong followed Cheng Feiying’s gaze and looked at the “Meat” token next to her: ???
Did they run out of rice at home? One daughter eating out wasn’t enough? He didn’t even want to raise the other one anymore? Seriously! Was he that short-sighted? Would he starve to death if he didn’t eat meat for one meal!
Work hard, how could she work hard? Besides that stinky fatty, who else had extra food? Asking her to be friends with Wei Maomao, she might as well die!
Cheng Rongrong thought about the earlier noodle redemption incident and was so angry that her face hurt.
At that time, the host asked Cheng Tingyan what she wanted to do. Cheng Tingyan chose to redeem noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish for Cheng Feiying, then combine the remaining points with Cheng Rongrong’s to see what they could get for the two of them. It was nothing special, Cheng Rongrong had 2.6 sheets left, Cheng Tingyan had 7.8 sheets, combined, they could only redeem two bowls of plain noodles with soy sauce, which cost five sheets each.
Filial piety, it was Cheng Rongrong’s suggestion, she thought Cheng Feiying wouldn’t eat alone and watch them eat plain noodles with soy sauce. With this redemption, she could have both face and substance. As for using 2.4 sheets from Cheng Tingyan’s earnings, who made her only three and a half years old? It was normal for a six-year-old older sister to contribute more, Wang Zhizhi and Wei Maomao, those two idiots, were just being difficult.
Up until then, everything had been going smoothly for Cheng Rongrong.
But the unexpected happened.
Wei Maomao, the last one to settle her earnings, with her two chubby paws, had actually earned enough for three portions of noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish.
Hearing the number “three,” Cheng Rongrong knew it wasn’t good.
As expected, Wei Maomao immediately declared that one portion was for Cheng Tingyan. After whispering to Cheng Tingyan, she said that with the noodles Cheng Tingyan redeemed herself, they had an extra bowl, and immediately called Li Mu, the staff member, over.
They discussed using Cheng Tingyan’s 5.4 sheets, not for plain noodles with soy sauce anymore, but for extra toppings. They could redeem three meat toppings and add them to the three portions of noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish that Wei Maomao earned, turning them into three portions of noodles with three meat dishes and one vegetable dish.
Cheng Rongrong, at that time, looking at the lonely “Noodles” token in her hand, couldn’t help but say, “Maomao’s side already has noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, and Older sister is still adding her meat toppings to their family?”
It was just a casual comment, because the contrast was too strong.
But Wang Zhizhi was the first to jump out, retorting, “Not adding to Maomao’s family, adding to yours? Why don’t you treat Yan Yan to the noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish, then she can add meat toppings to yours too.”
Cheng Rongrong didn’t understand why he was criticizing her. Wei Maomao was always clinging to Cheng Tingyan, it was her own business if she wanted to buy her the better noodles. Now that Cheng Tingyan had her own food and drinks, would she just ignore her own family? Why help others when she could help her own family? Helping or not was another matter, she had to point it out to the viewers, this was Cheng Tingyan being ungrateful.
Sadly, after being bombarded by Wang Zhizhi, just as Cheng Rongrong was about to retaliate, that stinky fatty also spoke up.
Wei Maomao directly pulled the rug out from under her, she asked Yan Yan to keep her “Noodles” token and chose to exchange one bowl of her three portions of noodles with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish for three meat toppings.
Cheng Rongrong didn’t understand at the time, what was the difference?
Then Wei Maomao turned to her and said, “Now these three meat toppings are bought with my money. Sister Rongrong loves making arrangements so much, isn’t arranging for your own family enough? You can’t be arranging mine too, right?”
Those words, even now, thinking about them made Cheng Rongrong’s face hurt.
How could she say such things! Who wanted to arrange for her!
And…
Cheng Rongrong glared at Cheng Feiying angrily, who wanted to be friends with her!
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