Sheng Qiu was deeply touched by Grandma Kang’s recognition of her cooking skills, but she turned her down without hesitation. It took three refusals before she finally managed to dissuade her.
Originally, Sheng Nian had wanted to go find Hao Hao to play with Kang Kang, but after knocking on the door for a good while, no one answered—it seemed no one was home. So the two little ones had to come back.
Sheng Nian showed off his counting skills for Sheng Qiu, and Kang Kang shyly sang a song for her too. Before long, Kang Kang headed home.
That evening, while Sheng Qiu was helping Sheng Nian with his bath, he suddenly spoke up: “Auntie, is Kang Kang going to come to our house for dinner every day from now on?”
“Don’t you want Kang Kang to come?” Sheng Qiu paused and looked at Sheng Nian.
“It’s not that… I just don’t want to share you, Auntie.” To Sheng Nian, Kang Kang coming over for dinner felt like he was coming to take his aunt away. Even if Kang Kang was his good friend, Sheng Nian still didn’t like the idea.
Sheng Qiu found this amusing, but she explained patiently, “Nian Nian, don’t worry. Auntie will always be your auntie, and no one can take me away from you. You’ll always be Auntie’s little treasure.”
Hearing his aunt call him her little treasure, his face—already flushed from the steam—turned even redder.
“Grandma Kang said Kang Kang is a very picky eater, but he really likes the food I make. So she asked me for a favor—she hopes I can let Kang Kang come over for meals. Would you be okay with that, Nian Nian?”
At this point, Sheng Qiu felt a bit regretful. She should have talked to Sheng Nian about this sooner. Over this period of time together, she’d come to realize that Sheng Nian was a child who really lacked a sense of security—he was always worried about being taken away.
She couldn’t help but wonder how Sheng Chun had been raising him.
Sheng Qiu found herself feeling a little resentful toward her biological sister.
By rights, she shouldn’t feel this way. But compared to the sister who only existed in her memories, the well-behaved and sensible Sheng Nian—whom she spent every day with—held far more weight in her heart.
Sheng Nian hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I’m okay with it.” He was willing to share good food and fun toys with his friends—but his aunt was not up for sharing.
She was his aunt and his alone.
“Kids don’t need to be that understanding all the time. If you’re not okay with it, that’s fine too—everyone has the right to say no.” Sometimes Sheng Qiu was happy that Sheng Nian was so sensible, but other times she wished he wouldn’t be that sensible.
“I’m okay with it, Auntie.” Sheng Nian eagerly grabbed his aunt’s arm. Kang Kang was his good friend—he really was okay with it.
Because of that movement, a good portion of Sheng Qiu’s clothes got wet.
“Alright, alright, Auntie knows.” Sheng Qiu gently pried his hands off and continued scrubbing.
“Auntie, can I wash myself?”
“No.”
“But Auntie just said I could say no if I didn’t want something—everyone has the right to refuse.” He was already a big kid—he could bathe himself.
Sheng Qiu scrubbed a little harder, determined to get all the grime off him. Even though he looked clean and fair-skinned, with all the sweating he did, she could always scrub off quite a bit of dirt.
She gave Sheng Nian a kind, motherly smile. “Auntie also has the right to refuse—so Auntie is refusing your request to bathe yourself.”
At that, Sheng Nian deflated. “Okay…”
That deflated look stayed with him until the next morning.
Sheng Qiu took Sheng Nian out for rice noodle rolls, and his spirits perked right up.
Even though Auntie had said no to his bathing request, she’d taken him out for rice noodle rolls! Smooth, slippery rice noodle rolls—they tasted just as good as he’d imagined.
Even after arriving at kindergarten, Sheng Nian was still savoring the memory of that meal.
“Nian Nian, why didn’t you guys come out to play yesterday?” Hao Hao squeezed in next to Sheng Nian and asked.
His mom and dad had picked him up from school together yesterday, taken him out to eat, and even bought him the remote-control car he’d been wanting. On the way back, he’d urged his dad to drive faster—but by the time they got downstairs, he didn’t see any of his usual playmates.
They were always playing outside at that time! He’d wanted to show off his new car to his friends—especially Nian Nian.
He’d even thought about going up to Sheng Nian’s place to find him, but his mom said no. So the first thing he did when he got to kindergarten today was ask Sheng Nian about it.
“Kang Kang and I wanted to go find you after dinner yesterday, but you weren’t home, so we didn’t go out after that.”
“Did Ming Ming and Fei Zai come out to play?”
Sheng Nian glanced at Hao Hao. “We didn’t go out. We ate at home and just played inside.”
A rare spark of cleverness lit up in Hao Hao’s little head. “Nian Nian—Kang Kang had dinner at your place yesterday?”
“Yep.”
Hao Hao was filled with regret. If only he hadn’t gone out to eat with his parents yesterday—then he could have had dinner at Nian Nian’s place too.
“We had beef noodle soup yesterday. The noodles were delicious, the beef was delicious, and the broth was the best—Kang Kang and I both had two bowls.” If his stomach hadn’t been too full, he could’ve had another.
Hao Hao felt like crying. “I want some too.”
“But we finished it all yesterday. Today Auntie’s making something else.” Even though his aunt hadn’t told him what was for dinner, he knew it would be amazing—everything she made was.
“Oh, and after Kang Kang and I eat tonight, we’ll come find you, and we can all go out to play with Ming Ming and Fei Zai.”
“Nian Nian—is Kang Kang eating at your place again today?”
Sheng Nian nodded. “Yep. Auntie said Kang Kang will be having dinner at our place from now on.”
Those words hit Hao Hao like a ton of bricks. “Why? Why does Kang Kang get to eat at your place? Can I come too?”
“You’ll have to ask my auntie. She said Kang Kang’s grandma asked her for a favor.”
Hearing that, Hao Hao made up his mind right then: when school let out today, he was going to tell his mom and dad that he wanted to have dinner at Nian Nian’s place too.
Every single day!
With that thought in mind, Hao Hao spent the rest of the day distracted, scheming about how to convince his parents. He was so absorbed that he didn’t even notice when Sheng Nian pulled out cookies to snack on—normally, the moment Sheng Nian brought out snacks, Hao Hao would be right there, first in line. Today, all the other kids had already gotten their cookies before Hao Hao even moved. Sheng Nian had to save two pieces for him, or he wouldn’t have gotten any at all.
Before he could come up with a plan, kindergarten let out. Sheng Qiu was, as always, the first to pick up Sheng Nian.
Sheng Nian waved goodbye to Hao Hao and ran over to his aunt with his backpack. “Auntie, let’s go home.”
Watching Sheng Nian leave with his aunt, Hao Hao felt like there were needles poking him through his chair.
Normally, Hao Hao didn’t mind waiting for his dad to pick him up. But today, it felt like his dad was taking forever. Why couldn’t he come in the car?
He didn’t have to wait long, though—soon he spotted his mom walking in.
Before the teacher could even call his name, Hao Hao had already flung himself at his mother’s feet.
“Mom, I want to have dinner at Nian Nian’s place!”
His loud voice rang through the entire classroom, leaving Hu Li feeling a bit embarrassed. “Teacher, I’ll take Hao Hao home now.”
“Mom, I want to have dinner at Nian Nian’s house. Kang Kang gets to go.”
Hu Li couldn’t be bothered with her son right now. He said that practically every day—he was always begging to eat at Nian Nian’s. So she didn’t think much of it.
But clearly, today was different.
Seeing his mom completely ignoring him, Hao Hao let go of her hand and planted himself in place.
“Mom, I want to have dinner at Nian Nian’s place.”
“Oh, that’s someone else’s home—you can’t just go whenever you want.” Honestly, if she could go, wouldn’t she want to eat there too? Come on.
“But Kang Kang gets to go. I want to go too.”
“We can’t go. Come on, let’s head home.” Hu Li assumed Kang Kang had simply been invited over by Nian Nian.
Truth be told, after talking it over with her husband yesterday, Hu Li had been mulling over how to approach Sheng Qiu. But she still hadn’t figured it out. There was always so much to do at the shop every day, plus taking care of her little one.
By the time the day was over, her brain never had a moment to rest.
“I want to go! I want to go! I want to have dinner at Nian Nian’s house!” When his mom wouldn’t agree, Hao Hao plopped himself right down on the floor.
His face said it all: if you don’t say yes, I’m not getting up.
Hao Hao’s tantrum drew stares from everyone around them. Hu Li regretted it instantly—she should never have agreed to her husband’s idea. Now her dignity was being flushed down the drain.
“Get up first.” Hu Li tried to keep her voice calm.
But Hao Hao couldn’t care less about what his mom said. He wanted to have dinner at Nian Nian’s place.
“No! Unless you say yes! I want to go, I want to go! Nian Nian said Auntie made beef noodle soup yesterday—it was so delicious! I want some! I want some!” Hao Hao was practically wailing now, and he even flopped all the way down onto the ground.
Hu Li scooped him up in one swift motion, tucking him under her arm and marching briskly out of the kindergarten.
Hao Hao, now airborne, struggled and kicked—but his mom, who normally complained about carrying a plate, had him clamped down tight. He didn’t stand a chance.
After the mother-and-son duo left, other kids tugged at their parents’ hands and asked, “Mom/Dad, I want beef noodle soup for dinner tonight.”
Beef noodle soup? Where were they supposed to find that?
That terrible, wonderful beef noodle soup—causing trouble far and wide.
Still carrying her son under her arm, Hu Li hurried home. But the moment she stepped out of the elevator, the aroma wafting from next door hit her.
The growl of Hu Li’s empty stomach was immediately drowned out by her son’s yelling.
“Mom, I want some! I want to eat at Nian Nian’s house! I want to go! I want to go!”
Hu Li’s head was throbbing from all the noise. And the kid wouldn’t stop squirming. She tightened her grip—she was not putting him down.
“I want to go! I want to eat there!”
Fumbling for her keys, Hu Li was about to unlock the door when Sheng Qiu, clutching a spatula, stepped out at the sound of the commotion.
No one can resist a good scene—not even someone in the middle of stir-frying.
Sheng Qiu came out, and right behind her were two little shadows.
Taking in the sight of Hu Li and Hao Hao, Sheng Qiu’s eyes went wide in disbelief.
“Hao Hao’s mom… what’s going on?”
Hu Li flashed an awkward but polite smile. She opened her mouth to speak, but Hao Hao—still clamped under her arm—beat her to it.
“Auntie, I want to have dinner at your house! Please!”