Ai Wei thought the little child might come here to play, but
she never expected that the little child came back again after moving out with
his dad, this time to beg for food.
The little child had a milk bottle hanging around his neck,
and he looked like he had lost some weight compared to a few days ago.
Ai Wei was shocked and picked up the begging child, and asked
with a low voice, “Ningning, did your dad not make food for you today?”
Ningning, who was held by his aunt, looked even more
aggrieved with his chubby face. “He did. Daddy feeds Ningning five times a
day.”
Ai Wei: “......”
When Ai Wei picked up the little child, she had already
confirmed that the child had indeed lost weight. But according to reason,
feeding five times a day shouldn’t make him thinner and thinner.
The little chubby child, who looked a bit desperate for food,
had already started begging for food. In his eyes, as long as he wore a bib, he
could eat!
The head chef also heard the voice and saw the begging child.
He picked up the spoon, and his face turned rosy.
“Ningning, your food will be ready soon!”
While the head chef was cooking, Ningning, who was waiting
for his food, was lucky enough to wear the milky yellow bib. His food was not
yet ready, but others’ food had already been served.
Ningning, who had not received his food yet, looked at
everyone eating and then began to open his mouth to beg for food, “Brother,
give Ningning a bite!”
Huo Lin: “......”
Huo Lin picked up his small spoon, took a bite of his own
food, and fed it to him.
Ai Wei felt sorry for him and fed him several bites of her
own food. Even Ludwig gave him a piece of meat when he climbed onto his lap,
and even Wagner gave him half an egg.
After being fed a few bites by everyone, Ningning sat back in
his seat contentedly, waiting for the head chef to feed him.
The head chef’s eyes were sharp, and he immediately noticed
that the little chubby child had lost weight. Although he knew that it would
help with his weight loss, he still felt sorry for him and cooked a very rich
meal for him.
Watching the little one finish a large bowl of rice with a
lot of meat, Ludwig’s eyelids twitched. He walked over and picked up the child
who had finished eating.
Ai Wei understood his intention and lifted the child’s
clothes.
The two of them touched the small, round belly of the child.
The next moment, one of them picked up the child, and the other ordered someone
to collect the bowls.
“Ningning is hungry!”
“You’re not hungry.”
Ludwig lowered his head and directly took off the child’s
bib. “You’ve eaten enough. Now go to the study with your brother and study.”
Ningning, who didn’t like to study, shook his head like a
rattle drum.
Huo Lin, who had finished his meal earlier, took him away,
and Wagner followed.
After the little children left, Ai Wei called Zhan Xi. Zhan
Xi’s tone sounded normal, and he only said that he knew Ningning had been at
the palace for lunch.
After thinking for two seconds, Ai Wei asked him, “Do you know
why Ningning came?”
“Isn’t it because you couldn’t finish the food at home and
sent him there?” Zhan Xi asked.
Ai Wei: “......”
It seemed that this little chubby child hadn’t told Zhan Xi
the truth yet.
Ai Wei smiled and continued to ask him, “Do you mind if I
come to your house for dinner next time? By the way, I want to see what your
life with Ningning is like at home.”
“Sure.” Zhan Xi chuckled. “My shop is also opening in a few
days. You can bring Xiao Lin and come to eat the buns I made.”
Zhan Xi bought two big bags of flour and piled them all into
the kitchen. He was choosing an auspicious day on the calendar to officially
open his shop.
The two talked for a while before hanging up the phone.
In the bedroom, the well-fed and well-rested little kid had
already fallen asleep.
He had his own special bed, complete with bedding, and even a
closet with several rows of clothes and shoes.
After putting the child to sleep, Huo Lin read a book for a
while before resting as well.
In the afternoon, the drowsy child was awakened and sat up in
bed, rubbing his eyes. He looked at his brother, who had come to wake him up,
and in a sleepy voice asked, “Brother, what’s going on?”
Huo Lin replied, “It’s time to go to school.”
At the sound of Huo Lin’s words, the little child sat up and
promptly fell back down onto the bed. With his eyes still closed, he muttered,
“Ningning doesn’t want to go.”
Huo Lin sat down and pinched the child’s chubby cheeks.
“Wagner is already awake and waiting for you,” he said.
After a while of trying to coax the child out of bed, Huo Lin
simply pulled him out of the covers and helped him wash his face and get
dressed.
During this time, the child, still grumpy from being woken
up, tried to suffocate himself with the covers in an attempt to avoid going to
school.
Finally, Huo Lin managed to get him ready and took him and
Wagner to school.
In the classroom, Jian Ning was listening to the teacher talk
about mecha knowledge. The Empire believed that strong military force was the
important foundation for maintaining peace.
They didn’t coddle their children, and as soon as they were
able to walk, families in the Empire would begin exposing their children to
mecha and combat training.
The Imperial Military Academy’s kindergarten, in order to
ensure that the young children could safely and effectively take mecha courses,
provided them with mecha specifically designed for their size by the
kindergarten teachers.
The price of the mecha was 12,000 star coins.
This price was not even enough to cover the cost, and only
the children in the school could afford to buy it at such a cheap price.
The children who are sent here for classes were basically
either rich or powerful, either with outstanding abilities or from wealthy
families. The former could easily buy several mechas, and the latter could also
get rewards from the school without worrying about not being able to afford
them.
Only the curly-haired kid listening to the mecha price was
counting with his fingers.
Wagner was a child who could have gone to the regular
kindergarten class, but he thought it was more comfortable to stay in the Green
Grass class. Although the group of young children in the Green Grass class were
a bit inexperienced, their personalities were all good.
“I’m doing the math.”
Jian Ning had a serious expression on his tender and delicate
face as he spoke in a small, earnest voice, “Daddy’s steamed buns costs two
coins. How many steamed buns does the mecha need?”
Zhan Xi, who had already bought some buns back home, had told
his own children about the prices.
They were selling three types of buns: plain ones for 1 star
coin, vegetarian ones for 2 star coins, and meat-filled ones for 3 star coins.
Jian Ning only remembered the one that cost 2.
Wagner listened to the question and was also at a loss. “I, I
don’t know.”
The two cubs were still learning about tens, and for more
advanced math word problems, their two small faces were equally bewildered.
That night, they met the principal Hardy at school, and the
little child who successfully got the milk powder from the principal, with a
milk bottle hanging from his neck, was picked up by Zhan Xi and taken back
home.
Seeing him sucking on the milk bottle, Zhan Xi was very
worried. “Didn’t the queen say you stopped drinking formula milk? Why are you
drinking it again?”
The little child who had sucked the last drop of milk from
the bottle struggled to get down from his father’s arms and said, “Ningning
likes it!”
Zhan Xi: “...”
Sigh.
Quitting milk was really difficult.
The father and son now lived in a clean and tidy house. Zhan
Xi had also planted a fruit tree in the yard, and besides the tree, he had also
opened two vegetable gardens. The larger vegetable garden was his, and the smaller
one belonged to Jian Ning.
Zhan Xi was busy preparing for the opening of his business,
but he hadn’t neglected taking care of his child.
He went to the kitchen to prepare dinner and supervised his
child eating before going to the shop to clean up.
“Dad.”
Jian Ning followed him and looked at their shop, asking, “Are
we going to sell steamed buns tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Zhan Xi was not the type of person to wait for food to fall
from the sky.
When he picked up his child earlier, he also received a
notification from his teacher. They needed to pay 12,000 star coins for the
mecha class as soon as possible. Otherwise, his child would not be able to wear
the mecha suit in the class.
The tuition fees for the kindergarten and the expenses for
his child during this period were all paid by the palace.
Zhan Xi did not want the palace to continue to pay for them.
Zhan Xi cleaned the shop until it was spotless. The little
child beside him was very sensible, wiping here and there with a handkerchief.
Until nightfall.
The father and son lay down together.
If he was going to open a bun shop, he needed to wake up very
early in the morning, at least by three o’clock, to knead the dough, make the
filling, and steam the buns.
Jian Ning knew that his dad had to wake up early, so he didn’t
make much noise when he went to bed. He leaned on his father’s arm with his
chubby face pressed against him.
“Dad.” Before going to bed, Jian Ning was still coaxing his
father. “If the buns don’t sell well, I will eat them all!”
He meant that if the buns didn’t sell, he would eat them all.
Just like the food his father made, he always bravely
finished it!
He used to only eat his father’s cooking, and since he didn’t
have much to compare it to, Jian Ning always thought that all food should taste
like his father’s.
Later, when he went to the palace, Jian Ning realized that
not all food tastes like his father’s!
In other aspects, the transition from luxury to simplicity
was easy for the little one to adapt to. Only when it came to meals, the little
one had to go begging with his father every few days.
Listening to the words of his precious little child, Zhan Xi
leaned down and kissed his chubby face several times with a heart full of
emotion. “Don’t worry, Dad will definitely be able to sell the buns!”
He had already surveyed the terrain, and it might be because
of the location of this area. Therefore, all the shops in this area were
relatively high end, but there was no one who opened a simple bun shop!
