Chapter 67: Do You Want Chili in Your Luosifen?
“Awoo?” Daddy doesn’t have a job? Is Daddy a house husband then? The white fluff ball looked shocked, his big eyes filled with disbelief.
A house husband needs to know how to cook, but Daddy doesn’t know how to cook… The moment the white fluff ball imagined Tang Yinlang becoming a house husband and himself becoming a little tiger with no food to eat, his tail couldn’t help but droop, looking listless.
“Daddy isn’t a house husband. In a few days, I still have to go to work.” Tang Yinlang saw the white fluff ball’s tail wilt and really wanted to know what scenario the little guy had concocted in his head.
“What are your plans?” How could Lin Xia not know the white fluff ball’s thoughts? He smiled, patting the white fluff ball’s fleshy little butt while asking Tang Yinlang.
“I want to open a technology company in Jiangcheng.” Tang Yinlang was concise, summarizing his future career plan in one sentence.
“A technology company sounds very high-end. I probably won’t be able to help much.” Lin Xia knew deeply that starting a business wasn’t easy. Even opening his small shop required a lot of money and energy; opening a company would be even harder. Lin Xia didn’t understand tech startups, so he just thought about giving the hardworking Tang Yinlang extra nourishment.
“You don’t need to help me with anything. You and An An are the driving force for me to move forward.” Tang Yinlang looked down at his partner and cub, his gaze soft and the corners of his mouth slightly hooked. His words were firm and powerful, yet not lacking in tenderness.
“Don’t tire yourself out.” A person like Tang Yinlang wouldn’t be content with mediocrity. He was a favored son of heaven; even in a mountain valley, he would strive to soar. But in this process of waiting to take off, who knew how much effort he would have to pay.
“I will be careful.” Tang Yinlang nodded. He was a man with a partner and a cub now; he wouldn’t work frantically to the point of harming his body like before.
“Awoo!” Daddy, go for it! The white fluff ball waved his paws to cheer Tang Yinlang on, his pink paw pads making one itch to touch them.
“Thank you, An An.” Tang Yinlang’s smile reached his eyes, feeling his whole body fill with energy.
“Let’s go, let’s take a look over there.” Lin Xia saw a small truck surrounded by people; they seemed to be selling something.
On market days here, people would bring a truckload of goods and sell directly from the open back doors, without setting up on the ground.
Only when Lin Xia and the others got close did they see what the small truck was selling.
It turned out the truck was selling fruit and sugarcane. Everything looked fresh and cheap.
“Awoo!” An An likes eating sugarcane! The white fluff ball’s eyes lit up when he saw the sugarcane. He liked gnawing on sugarcane; it was a sweet, juicy teething stick.
“Okay.” Lin Xia handed the white fluff ball to Tang Yinlang and went in to buy fruit and sugarcane himself. They sold it in the city too, but this was grown by the locals themselves. Most importantly, Lin Xia saw it was cheap and couldn’t help but splurge.
“Young lad, buying fruit?” The boss, who was standing by the truck weighing for someone else, found a moment to ask.
“Yes,” Lin Xia replied with a smile.
“My fruit is very sweet, want to taste one?” The boss had just finished weighing and didn’t wait for Lin Xia to say yes before generously handing him a tangerine, obviously very confident in his fruit.
“No need.” Lin Xia smiled gently and took a plastic bag to start picking fruit.
The fruit here didn’t look as perfect as in the city, but it won on taste and naturalness. Lin Xia picked a big bag and bought several stalks of sugarcane. Sugarcane was hard to carry, so Lin Xia asked the boss to chop it into segments and tie them up with rope.
The white fluff ball really wanted to eat some, so Lin Xia asked the boss to peel a few sections. Once back in the car, the white fluff ball couldn’t wait to start gnawing.
“Awoo…” The white fluff ball ate until his mouth was full of juice. Lin Xia gnawed on his own piece while wiping the cub’s mouth.
Tang Yinlang also joined in gnawing the sugarcane. Although he was expressionless, one could tell he quite liked it.
“We’ll buy a few more stalks later; it’s quite sweet.” Lin Xia thought it was pretty good and planned to buy more to take back.
“Awoo!” Yes, yes! Hearing they would buy more, the white fluff ball immediately cheered.
“Have you eaten sugarcane before?” Lin Xia saw that Tang Yinlang looked unskilled at eating it and guessed he hadn’t really had it before. That made sense; Tang Yinlang looked like someone who didn’t partake in “earthly food,” so he likely hadn’t eaten something so troublesome to consume.
Just as Lin Xia guessed, Tang Yinlang shook his head. “I haven’t eaten it before.”
“That’s a pity. Your previous life lacked a certain joy. We’ll buy more later so you can gnaw to your heart’s content and make up for what you missed.” Lin Xia joked. However, gnawing sugarcane was a joy. Tang Yinlang’s previous tiger life was truly “poignant.”
“Okay.” Just like the white fluff ball, Tang Yinlang fell in love with this “teething stick” after one bite and wished Lin Xia would buy more.
The sight of a family of three hiding inside a car gnawing on sugarcane was hard to describe. Luckily, people outside couldn’t see in, otherwise, it would have been awkward…
After finishing the sugarcane, Lin Xia tallied up what they needed to buy. They had bought everything, and even exceeded the list. After grabbing lunch here, they would head back.
“Let’s go eat.” Lin Xia touched the white fluff ball’s belly. It was still flat, even after gnawing on a stick of sugarcane.
“Awoo!” Okay! Hearing they were going to eat, the white fluff ball wagged his tail and immediately stood up, wanting to go out.
“What do you want to eat?” Lin Xia asked the two tigers.
“Awoo!” / “Anything is fine.” The big white tiger and the white fluff ball weren’t picky eaters. As long as it wasn’t just vegetables, noodles or buns were fine.
“I don’t know what to eat either. Let’s go look around,” Lin Xia said after thinking for a moment.
“Awoo!” / “Okay.” Tang Yinlang and the white fluff ball had no objections, so the family of three left the car to find food.
There were only a few noodle shops here, scattered loosely at one end of the market. Since market day was only once every three days, there weren’t many people here at other times. Consequently, there weren’t many food shops, mostly run by nearby residents.
Lin Xia looked around and found two shops selling the same kind of noodles: plain soup noodles and meat soup noodles, using standard round rice noodles or flat-cut noodles. Lin Xia and the others weren’t very interested in that, so holding the white fluff ball, they went to check other noodle shops.
“Awoo?” Smells so good, what is this? Before they even entered, the white fluff ball was sniffing hard.
“This is Luosifen (Snail Rice Noodles).” Lin Xia recognized the smell immediately.
“Awoo?” What is Luosifen? An An doesn’t seem to have eaten it? The white fluff ball searched his brain for memories of Luosifen but found nothing.
Awoo, An An hasn’t eaten Luosifen!
” Luosifen is spicy, and Baby can’t eat spicy food, so Papa never bought it.” Lin Xia used to be a loyal fan of Luosifen, but after having the white fluff ball, he hadn’t eaten it again. Although Luosifen can be made without chili, eating it without spice isn’t satisfying. He didn’t want the white fluff ball to eat spicy food at such a young age, so he led by example—if he could avoid eating it, he would.
“Awoo…” An An really wants to eat it… The white fluff ball smelled the fragrance of the Luosifen and couldn’t control his desire to eat.
Papa, An An didn’t make the first move on the Luosifen; it was the Luosifen that seduced An An first!
“Papa wants to eat it too. Let’s eat the non-spicy version.” Lin Xia looked at Tang Yinlang as he said the last sentence. Tang Yinlang was fine with anything, so he nodded.
Lin Xia went in and ordered three portions of non-spicy Luosifen to go. When he said “no chili,” it was a struggle for him to get the words out.
Carrying three bags of Luosifen and takeout containers, they returned to the car to eat. If they ate in the shop, it wouldn’t be convenient to feed the white fluff ball, and holding a pet while eating in a restaurant was bad manners, let alone feeding it.
“Awoo!” Papa, open it quick! Back in the car, the white fluff ball scratched his paws, unable to wait to eat the fragrant Luosifen.
“Papa will taste it first; it might be spicy.” The soup for Luosifen comes from a large pot that contains chili oil. Even if you ask for no spice, the boss just pushes aside the chili oil to ladle the soup, so there will inevitably be a little chili oil in the broth.
“Mmh, it’s okay.” Lin Xia took a sip of the soup. Just a hint of spice, very mild.
“Ah-woo!” The white fluff ball opened his mouth and bit the noodles Lin Xia brought to his lips.
“Awoo…” Yummy… The white fluff ball ate the Luosifen he had been craving and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction, his rhythmically swaying tail expressing his mood.
“Awoo!” Papa, you eat too! The white fluff ball used both paws to push the chopsticks toward Lin Xia, signaling for him to eat as well.
“Okay, Papa will eat too.” Lin Xia had been craving it badly too. Seeing the white fluff ball eating so happily, he couldn’t hold back and took a bite himself.
It had to be said, this shop’s Luosifen was quite good. The noodles were cooked perfectly—soft yet chewy and smooth. The soup was also good, boiled with river snails, so the snail flavor was rich. The yuba (tofu skin) was deep-fried; it slowly softened in the hot soup but retained its chewiness. The sour bamboo shoots in the noodles had been pickled for a while, tart and very appetizing.
Two adults and one little tiger cub slurped up the noodles until they were finished, feeling warm all over.
“Awoo?” Luosifen is so tasty. Papa, will there be Luosifen when we get back? The white fluff ball licked the corner of his mouth, wanting more.
“…Yes.” Lin Xia smiled wryly. Sure enough, Luosifen is addictive once you eat it.
“Awoo!” Awesome! The white fluff ball immediately made a plan: eat Luosifen when they get back!
“Good boy, we have to go back now.” Lin Xia patted the white fluff ball’s head and spoke softly. Now that they had eaten, it was time to return.
Lin Xia got out of the car to buy a few more stalks of sugarcane before heading back. The trunk was packed full. The back seat also held items; you could say they were returning fully loaded.
“Awoo!” Going home! The white fluff ball stood on Tang Yinlang’s thigh, leaning against the car window, a black hat on his head.
Tang Yinlang had a bandage on his head, so Lin Xia found a hat for him; otherwise, the bandage would attract too much attention.
On the way back, Tang Yinlang took the hat off. The white fluff ball asked Tang Yinlang to put it on him because it looked cool.
Thus, a “big cat” wearing a black hat lay against the window, letting out exclamations of “Awoo” at the passing scenery. He called out enthusiastically, completely unaware that Tang Yinlang was secretly taking photos of him.
Tired from calling out, the white fluff ball slumped onto Tang Yinlang’s thigh to rest his eyes and fell asleep a moment later.
“Were you as rowdy as Baby when you were little?” Lin Xia suddenly had a question: whose personality did the white fluff ball take after?
Both he and Tang Yinlang seemed to have quiet personalities. Lin Xia himself was very quiet as a child, so was it possible that Tang Yinlang was playful like the white fluff ball when he was young?
Lin Xia’s lips curved into a faint smile. He remembered when Tang Yinlang turned into a big white tiger. In his original form, he clearly loved to play, so why was he so serious in human form?
“No, I was very quiet when I was young.” Tang Yinlang told the truth; his childhood personality was just as quiet as it was now.
“Is that so?” Lin Xia smiled, believing him. It didn’t matter who the white fluff ball took after; he was the treasure they both loved most.
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