They hurried past the two rows of old glass display cabinets and pushed open the door connecting to the living room.
Once again, they were dumbfounded.
The TV in the living room was still on. A finished puzzle lay scattered on the floor. White, dirty flour footprints were trampled everywhere. The kitchen looked like it had been ransacked—flour all over the counter, the sink piled high with several used bowls, a whisk, and remnants of unrinsed batter. The oven door was open, still greasy and uncleaned.
On the counter sat a baking tray with seven or eight lopsided little foil cups. Yu Meizhen leaned over for a closer look—inside each cup was indeed an egg tart, but they were all crumbled into pieces.
She tried to pick one up, but as she walked over, she kicked a roll of aluminum foil lying on the floor, pulling out a long strip.
Yu Meizhen quickly picked it up and looked around. No sign of the kids—they’d probably run upstairs.
Tao Guangzhi stood frozen in place, eyes wide, staring at the tray of egg tarts, the flour-covered counter, the roll of foil on the floor, the abused oven, the pile of unwashed bowls in the sink…
His lips quivered, opening and closing, opening and closing. Finally, unable to hold it in any longer, he spun around, strode to the bottom of the stairs, yanked the bamboo switch hanging from the back of the door, and roared furiously upstairs:
“Pu! Tao!!”
“What the hell are you doing?! The whole kitchen is a disaster! Is flour free?! I was going to use that aluminum foil! Take a look at this mess!”
“You get your butt down here right now! Looks like your skin’s itching for a bamboo shoot braised with pork!”
“Hey, hey, calm down!” Yu Meizhen tried to hold him back but failed.
Soon, rustling sounds came from the stairwell.
Two little heads slowly rose from below the staircase railing—timidly.
One above—Tao Tao. One below—Yu Luan.
Both kids had messy hair and flour smeared all over their faces. They crouched at the corner of the stairs, peeking down with four wide eyes fixed on the furious Tao Guangzhi below, too scared to come down.
Seeing these two little snowmen, Tao Guangzhi nearly fainted.
“Come on, come on, get down here!”
“Hurry up! Don’t make me come up there and get you!”
Tao Tao spotted the ancient weapon in his hand—the special switch for spanking kids—and instinctively clenched her butt in fear. This thin bamboo switch was pulled from a broom made of bamboo branches. Thin as it was, it never broke no matter how many times you hit with it. It was especially springy. One lash left a red welt that would swell up after a while.
Making a mess to distract Tao Guangzhi from wondering why she’d suddenly made Portuguese egg tarts… that had been her goal. But she didn’t want to get hit!
She’d already gotten more than enough spankings as a child. Just seeing that bamboo switch made her butt hurt already!
Tao Tao gripped the railing and forced an ingratiating smile, trying to awaken his fatherly love. “Daddy, you’re back? Did you have fun dancing? Hehe, I made you a midnight snack!”
Tao Guangzhi raised the switch in his hand, smirking as he took off his shoes. “Hehe, what ‘hehe’? You dare ‘hehe’ at me? You could call me the Jade Emperor today and it wouldn’t help! I’m going to beat some sense into you! Not coming down? Just you wait!”
Tao Tao turned and bolted upstairs.
“Taro… Yu Luan was hungry, so I went to make food! Don’t hit me first, go take a look! That tray in the kitchen—I made it, it’s really good! Go try it, don’t hit me! I learned from you, I put my heart into it!”
“We’ll see about that—I’ll hit you first and then go look! Don’t run!”
“Waaah…”
Ten minutes later, Tao Tao lay face-down on the hard rosewood sofa in the living room, tears streaming down her face, sobbing pitifully and clutching her butt. Based on her extensive spanking experience from her previous life, Tao Guangzhi had actually held back today. But her eight-year-old self was tender, her summer clothes were thin, and one lash made her burst into tears instantly.
The worst spanking she’d ever gotten in her past life was when her dad cooked rice, but she didn’t want rice—she wanted congee. So Tao Guangzhi pressure-cooked congee. Then she said she couldn’t eat—she wanted noodles. So he went out to buy noodles. When he came back, she complained that they weren’t round oil noodles but thin ones. So he went out again to buy new ones. When he brought back the oil noodles, she said, “Actually, maybe I’ll just have rice after all…”
And the crazy thing was—she had no memory of this incident at all. It wasn’t until she was grown, and Tao Guangzhi was looking at old photos and reminiscing about her childhood, that he told her. Tao Tao couldn’t understand it and asked him, “I was such a brat. What is there to miss about that?”
Tao Guangzhi just laughed. “You were little. Kids are brats. But I was the adult. I’d lose my temper and hit you so hard, make you cry until your voice went hoarse, until your palms were swollen. Then I couldn’t sleep at night, kept thinking I shouldn’t have hit you like that. Luckily, you don’t remember…”
It seemed the pain of the original family had landed on Tao Guangzhi instead… Tao Tao awkwardly scratched her sore, burning, slightly itchy butt and continued sniffling in shame.
Yu Luan had been terrified by the chaotic scene. He looked back and forth between Tao Tao, whose butt was thoroughly whipped as she bawled her eyes out, and her parents in the kitchen, who were cleaning up while eating the egg tarts. He had no idea what to do.
Yu Meizhen was mopping the floor while cautiously glancing at Tao Guangzhi, who still wore a sour expression.
She had just eaten one of the crumbled egg tarts from the baking tray. Though it looked terrible and had gone cold, the taste wasn’t bad—quite unique, actually. She found it even more fragrant than the old-fashioned egg tarts sold in teahouses.
Especially the flaky, crispy crust. It was really different.
“Guangzhi, come on, stop being angry,” Yu Meizhen coaxed. “She’s just a kid. The fact that she could make something like this is already impressive. It’s normal to make a mess. You just ate one, didn’t you? For an eight-year-old to pull this off is really good! You should be praising her.”
Tao Guangzhi had, of course, eaten one. The moment he tasted it, he was pleasantly surprised. The texture, the flavor… it was excellent. He even doubted whether he could replicate it. He had no idea how Tao Tao had come up with this. While cleaning up, he’d noticed that the butter, shortening, lard, and custard powder had all been touched.
It seemed Tao Tao had just thrown in a bit of everything, and somehow stumbled upon something great.
The only strange thing was—how did she know how to make laminated dough? Although the egg tarts themselves weren’t perfectly baked, the crust had laminated beautifully. He’d never taught her that before. But before he married Yu Meizhen, it had just been him and Tao Tao at home. When he got too busy with baking, he did let his daughter help out.
Could she have learned just by watching?
But back then, she’d always been reluctant to help and would often sneak out to play.
Tao Guangzhi was both astonished and secretly delighted. He could hardly believe it. Tao Tao was only eight, yet she’d managed to make laminated dough on her own. His daughter—terrible at schoolwork, but…
Could she be a baking prodigy?
If he hadn’t been getting so excited about it, feeling a little proud deep down, he wouldn’t be scrubbing away with that sour look on his face right now.
If it were purely about the mess, he’d have made Tao Tao clean it up herself with the bamboo switch standing by.
At one point, Tao Tao had hesitantly offered to help, but Tao Guangzhi had chased her off with disgust. “Forget it, forget it. Without you ‘helping,’ I’ll get this done much faster!”
Utterly crushed, Tao Tao had whimpered and crawled back onto the sofa.
Yu Meizhen watched Tao Guangzhi, who was putting on a fierce front, and smiled to herself. He had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. For all his complaints, he just didn’t want Tao Tao doing housework.
Sure, spank a kid when they’re being naughty—that was one thing. But Tao Guangzhi rarely made the child do heavy chores like laundry or mopping. The Tao family lived in a self-built house, not a small apartment assigned by the state. Mopping meant mopping four floors.
Same with laundry. Yu Meizhen had brought a washing machine as part of her dowry, but before that, the Tao family didn’t have one. Tao Guangzhi scrubbed everything by hand. Even with a wild child like Tao Tao, who could climb to the heavens and dig to the earth, he still managed to keep all her clothes spotless.
This was actually why Yu Meizhen had married him. Raising a child alone, he never treated her like child labor. Three meals a day, running the shop, all the endless housework—he did everything himself and did it well. The child was clean, the house was clean… He even grew scallions, celery, and sweet potatoes on the rooftop.
The first time she came to his house to discuss marriage, he shyly showed her around. When she went upstairs and saw the lush foam boxes of vegetables growing under the rooftop wall, she burst out laughing.
Take Xiao, the noodle shop owner a few doors down. His eldest daughter, Xiaofen, was only a few years older than Tao Tao. By the time she was six or seven, she was already scrubbing the whole family’s laundry, washing dishes, and carrying water.
Everyone praised her for being so capable, but both Tao Guangzhi and Yu Meizhen found it hard to watch.
After half an hour of work, Tao Guangzhi and Yu Meizhen finally had the house clean again. The sink, counter, and oven were all washed.
Yu Meizhen took the mop and rags outside to rinse.
Tao Guangzhi stood there, glancing at the two remaining crumbled egg tarts on the baking tray. After a moment’s thought, he walked over, picked one up, removed the foil cup, and examined it closely.
The custard had cracked from overbaking, and the bottom of the crust was burnt. He pinched the crust—it crumbled into flakes at the slightest touch. After crushing it, he could clearly see the layers upon layers of lamination. The crust itself was actually very well made; it was just the heat control that had been off.
He put the custard in his mouth. Fragrant, smooth, rich, and sweet. As someone accustomed to Cantonese-style egg tarts, he found it a bit too sweet and a little overly greasy—though that might have been because it was cold. Still, objectively speaking, the flavor was passable, and the texture was smooth and tender.
For the custard to be this smooth, she must have strained it. He’d seen the unwashed strainer in the sink. She even knew to strain the egg liquid… this kid.
The more Tao Guangzhi ate, the more astonished he became. He couldn’t help glancing over at Tao Tao, who was once again lying face-down on the sofa with her butt in the air, whimpering. He thought for a moment, deliberately put on a stern face, and called out, “Putao, come here.”
Tao Tao had been keeping one ear cocked toward Tao Guangzhi’s movements the whole time.
When she heard him call, she thought, Here it comes.
But she didn’t move. She deliberately turned her butt away, pretending to be angry and turning her head aside.
“Hey, hey, hey. You made this mess, and you have the nerve to throw a tantrum? Do you have any sense?” Tao Guangzhi called out from across the room.
Tao Tao pouted, turned her whole body away, clutched her sore butt, and ignored him.
Her butt hurt so much!
As she turned, she came face-to-face with Yu Luan, who had been staring at her the whole time.
She hadn’t noticed before, but now she got a shock. Yu Luan’s mouth was turned down, and his big eyes were filled with tears, barely held back.
What was wrong with him? It wasn’t his butt that got hit—why was he crying?!
Tao Tao was so startled that she quickly reached out and covered both his eyes with her hands. “Why are you crying? You didn’t get the switch. Don’t cry, don’t cry—if you do, I’ll never be able to explain myself.”
If Tao Guangzhi saw this, his dumb brain would definitely think she was bullying Yu Luan!
“Sister.” Yu Luan sniffled and whimpered a couple of times, his hot tears streaming down like a river into Tao Tao’s palms.
“Sister’s right here. Stop crying, okay?”
Yu Luan struggled to lift his face out of Tao Tao’s hands, shaking his head with effort. His dark, pitch-black eyes, freshly washed by tears, glistened wetly. “Sister… does your butt still hurt?”
Tao Tao’s heart softened. Ignoring the pain in her own rear, she sat up and hugged him. She was silent for a long moment before finally saying quietly, “…It doesn’t hurt at all. Stop crying.”
“Okay.”
He rested his head on Tao Tao’s shoulder. “Are you going to die?”
Tao Tao froze. In her previous life, she vaguely remembered Auntie Yu mentioning that when Yu Luan was only three years old, he had stood across the street and witnessed his biological father being tragically crushed by a coal truck…
“I’m not going to die. Be good.” Tao Tao patted his head. “Don’t cry.”
“Okay.”
Tao Guangzhi had called for Tao Tao several times without her coming over. He really couldn’t do anything with his daughter, so he finally carried the baking tray over to find her himself. Who knew that when he got there, he’d see Tao Tao acting like a real big sister, hugging Yu Luan and comforting him?
Whatever remaining anger he had completely vanished. He instantly forgot that his daughter had nearly dismantled the kitchen just earlier, and instead thought smugly: How strange—yesterday Tao Tao was glaring at Xiao Luan like a hostile black-eyed chicken, and today they’re already this close?
But that was how kids were—sunny one moment, stormy the next. Impossible to figure out.
At least they were getting along.
Now he wouldn’t have to be caught between his daughter and his wife, not knowing which one to appease.
He put on a kindly, smiling face and leaned over. “Good daughter, how did you make these egg tarts? How do you know how to do this?”
Tao Tao, still hugging Yu Luan, glanced at him briefly. “I don’t know. I just messed around.”
“I know you messed around. But how did you mess around? And also, what gave you the idea to make laminated dough for the tart shells?”
Given the disastrous state of the kitchen, of course Tao Guangzhi knew it was a mess of trial and error.
“I saw it on TV. Fang Tai on TV said that’s how Macau egg tarts are made. She called them Andrew-style Portuguese tarts, said they’re really delicious,” Tao Tao said matter-of-factly.
“Huh? Which channel?” Tao Guangzhi was surprised. How had he never seen that?
“I forgot.”
Tao Guangzhi was speechless. “What a waste asking you.”
He paused, then hissed, puzzled. “Wait, that doesn’t make sense. How did you know how to make that flaky laminated dough? Did they teach that on TV too? And even if they did, you learned it just by watching once?”
Tao Tao had already prepared her story. “I learned from you. Isn’t that how you make the dough for char siu pastries? So I just gave it a try.”
The light bulb went off in Tao Guangzhi’s head. It was true—for many Cantonese-style pastries, making the water-oil dough required folding it three times, rolling it three times, and chilling it at low temperatures. The only difference was that laminated dough required an additional butter wrapping step… It seemed Tao Tao had really learned just by watching him.
“Come on, come on, make it again!” Tao Guangzhi grew a bit excited.
“I don’t want to. I’m sleepy!” Tao Tao let go of Yu Luan, wiping his tears with one hand while her eyes darted around. Then she squinted at Tao Guangzhi and rubbed her fingers together. “Daddy, it’s not that I can’t do it for you… but you’ll have to give me two more yuan of allowance.”
Tao Guangzhi: “…”
“If you don’t give it, I won’t do it.”
Tao Guangzhi ground his teeth. “Fine, fine, fine! I’ll give it to you!”
What a little money-grubber!
Seeing she’d hooked him, Tao Tao grinned and reached out to pinky-swear. “You said it! A promise is a promise! Grown-ups can’t lie to kids.”
Forced into a corner, Tao Guangzhi had no choice but to nod. Only then did Tao Tao triumphantly take Yu Luan’s hand and head upstairs, turning back to make a funny face. “Then I’ll do it tomorrow!”
When Yu Meizhen came back after rinsing the mop, she found only Tao Guangzhi on the first floor. He was holding some pastry crumbs in his hands, staring blankly, crushing them one by one with his fingers.
Curious, she asked, “Where are the kids?”
“Upstairs.” Tao Guangzhi was still a bit dazed. He turned to Yu Meizhen, stumbling over his words. “Wifey, you… I… let me tell you, our Putao seems to have a talent for baking. I’ve never formally taught her how to make bread. And now she can make this just by watching TV? Wow, even I wasn’t that good back then. This kind of laminated dough, water-oil dough—I studied with a master chef for a long time.”
Yu Meizhen thought it was no big deal and laughed. “Isn’t that great? Tao Tao is really talented.”
“Yeah, yeah, actually, I always thought she was really smart too…” Tao Guangzhi grew more and more elated. He stood there silently for a while, holding the crumbs in his hand, then suddenly broke into a goofy, “hehehe” laugh.
Good. This was very good.
A genius!
He, Tao Guangzhi, had fathered a genius!
Wahahaha!