During breakfast, Tang Miao brought up the suggestion of going shopping for New Year goods together as a family.
Originally, we could just have the servants handle the procurement directly, but I have always felt that shopping for New Year goods is better when our whole family goes out to do it ourselves.
Wen Jingyu, sitting nearby, completely agreed.
New Year goods are a cultural inheritance, carrying the warm emotions of family reunion, while also serving as a symbol of happiness and people’s yearning for a better life.
Thinking about being able to go outside, Luo Jin felt a surge of excitement. After quickly tidying up, he sat on the sofa with Tang Miao and Wen Jingyu, waiting for Wen Niao.
Ten minutes later, Wen Niao finally came downstairs bundled up like a round little ball.
Seeing Wen Niao wrapped up so tightly that he looked like a goofy little goose, Luo Jin couldn’t help but think of the chubby penguin sitting on his own bedside table.
Mmm, they really do look alike.
This was Luo Jin’s first time seeing such a magnificent and spacious large-scale building.
Inside the Wanji Shopping Plaza, Wen Jingyu and Tang Miao were in charge of procuring ingredients, while Wen Niao and Luo Jin were responsible for picking up their snacks and choosing some fireworks they liked.
Wen Niao grabbed a small shopping cart, pushed it over to the snack aisle, and turned to Luo Jin.
“Brother Jin, see which ones you like. Whenever you see something you want, take it down and put it in this small cart. I am going to grab some of my favorite snacks first.”
After giving Luo Jin his instructions, Wen Niao walked over to the shelves stocked with his usual favorites.
Potato chips, shrimp crackers, Oreo cookies, sachima, Wahaha milk drinks, sandwich biscuits, cream puffs.
Readers: Alright, stop talking, my tears are uncontrollably flowing from my mouth again!
(﹃ )
After grabbing the snacks he regularly ate, Wen Niao returned to the shopping cart and placed all of them inside.
Luo Jin looked at the unfamiliar products before him and didn’t really know where to start.
Niao Niao said to pick whatever I like. Mmm, this one looks nice, I will take this. That packaging also looks pretty good, yeah, I will take that too.
After walking around for a while, Luo Jin had only managed to pick up three or four packs of snacks. After browsing a large section of the shelves, Wen Niao finally found Luo Jin’s figure.
Seeing that Luo Jin had only picked up such a meager amount of snacks, Wen Niao felt somewhat dissatisfied.
“Why did you only take these?”
Noticing Wen Niao’s unsatisfied expression, Luo Jin thought he had somehow annoyed him, so he kept his head down and didn’t dare say a word.
Wen Niao simply scooped Luo Jin up in a bold move and placed him right into the child seat of the shopping cart.
Luo Jin, unexpectedly scooped up into the air without warning, felt a wave of panic from the weightlessness and instinctively grabbed tightly onto Wen Niao’s hands, which were braced on either side of the cart.
“Brother Jin, don’t be afraid. I am here, I won’t let you get hurt. Relax your body, woohoo, takeoff!”
The moment Wen Niao finished speaking, he pushed the cart forward at high speed, grabbing one package of every single snack off the shelves as they zoomed past.
After satisfying his shopping spree, both the shopping cart and Luo Jin’s lap were piled high with snacks. Seeing that Wen Niao still wanted to cram more things into the cart, Luo Jin hurriedly spoke up to stop him.
“Wen Niao, alright, you don’t need to grab any more. These snacks are already enough for us to eat, and if we take any more, they won’t fit.”
Once Wen Niao’s shopping frenzy finally subsided, he realized that Luo Jin was embedded inside a small mountain of snacks, staring at him with an aggrieved expression. He guiltily rubbed the tip of his nose.
“Sorry, once I start shopping, I just can’t stop. Hahaha.”
After finishing with the snacks, the two of them headed over to the firework aisle.
After making a full circle, the two finally selected some fairy sparklers, fountain tubes, and upward-shooting Roman candles.
Once Wen Jingyu and Tang Miao finished picking out some fresh fruits, vegetables, and premium cuts of meat, they rendezvoused with Wen Niao and Luo Jin at the parking lot.
After loading the purchased items into the trunk, Wen Jingyu drove them to a restaurant he used to frequent.
Entering the restaurant, Wen Jingyu handed his old membership card to the waiter. After verifying the information, the waiter led them to a private dining room on the third floor.
Once inside the private room, Wen Niao voiced the question that had been lingering in his mind.
“Dad, did you often come to this restaurant to eat in the past? I noticed the private rooms here seem to require advance reservation.”
“Back before the Wen Group grew large, Dad frequently came to this restaurant to eat, and occasionally entertained clients here for business dinners, so I am an old customer.
Back then, though, this restaurant’s business wasn’t quite this massive, and reservations weren’t necessary. I loved their dishes at the time, so I went ahead and got a membership card.
Later on, work got busy, and I hadn’t been here for many years. Coming back now feels a bit surreal, things have changed so much.”
Wen Jingyu recalled with a touch of sentimentality.
A knock sounded from the waiter outside the door. Wen Niao stood up, opened the door, and stepped aside to let the waiter push the serving cart in.
After arranging the utensils sterilized by ultraviolet light, the waiter handed two tablets to Wen Jingyu and Tang Miao. Tang Miao passed her electronic menu over to Wen Niao, telling him and Luo Jin to order whatever dishes they wanted to eat.
After the food was ordered, the waiter withdrew.
“By the way, Niao Niao, why did you two buy so many snacks earlier? Eating too many snacks isn’t healthy, you should cut back!”
“Mommy, there are so many snacks we’ve never tried before, so we were just curious how they tasted, and then we grabbed a few extra, and before we knew it, we took too many.
Mommy, I’ll pay attention next time, let’s turn the page and let this one go, okay?”
Wen Niao brought his hands together in a pleading gesture and looked imploringly at Tang Miao.
Seeing Wen Niao acting like this, Tang Miao couldn’t bear to scold him anymore, and helplessly waved her hand to let it go.
A short while later, the dishes were all served.
Wen Niao had a special devotion to fish and could never go a meal without it.
On the dining table were six dishes: sweet and sour pork ribs, paper-wrapped fish, garlic shrimp tails, curry chicken, braised chicken wings, and loofah clam soup, accompanied by four bowls of rice.
Wen Niao stood up to ladle a few spoonfuls of the loofah clam soup over his rice; he always loved dousing his rice in delicious soup before eating.
Luo Jin felt rather constrained and didn’t dare to pick up too many dishes, simply poking at his plain white rice and eating it with a sense of bland detachment.
Seeing him like this, Wen Niao felt a bit helpless. He stood up to scoop some extra meat onto Luo Jin’s plate and placed a bowl of soup right in front of him.
Seeing Wen Niao being so attentive, Wen Jingyu felt a sudden surge of competitive spirit. He stood up to pick out some dishes for Tang Miao, put on plastic gloves to peel shrimp for her, and carefully removed the bones from the pork ribs.
“Brother Jin, eat more. Look how thin you’ve gotten. Dad often eats here, so his taste definitely isn’t bad, and the flavor of these dishes is guaranteed to be amazing.
You have to try this. The curry chicken is super fresh, and it’s much better at cutting through greasiness than ordinary chicken dishes.”
“Come, come, Brother Jin, I’ll peel shrimp and debone meat for you too! My skills are definitely no worse than Dad’s, hmph!”
Luo Jin didn’t want Wen Niao to keep looking after him like this and opened his mouth to refuse, only to have a piece of peeled shrimp stuffed right into his mouth by Wen Niao.
In a flash of lightning,
A battle between men officially commenced.
In the end, ginger is indeed spicier the older it gets; Wen Jingyu used his years of rich experience to defeat Wen Niao, the amateur rookie.
Although Wen Niao felt a bit unconvinced, he gracefully accepted defeat, looking thoroughly deflated from his failed challenge.
Seeing Wen Niao looking unhappy, Luo Jin recalled the steps Wen Niao had taken to peel the shrimp, and clumsily peeled a few pieces himself.
Once they were peeled, Luo Jin picked up a piece of shrimp meat, extended it toward Wen Niao, and signaled for him to eat.
“Niao Niao, have some shrimp. Once you eat it, you won’t be unhappy anymore.”
Wen Niao made a spoiled demand:
“Not enough, I want fish too, and curry chicken, and chicken wings as well, and oh, and that one too.”
Wen Niao bossed Luo Jin around without a single shred of burden, while Luo Jin without a single complaint kept picking up and serving every dish Wen Niao pointed to.
One was making a fuss, while the other smiled along.
The two of them wrapped up the entire table of food in this relaxed and cheerful atmosphere.