The alcohol and the rainy night made her lower her guard. Wen Mubai felt that the dream was too real. It was as if a pair of warm hands encircled her when she lost control of her emotions and whispered something in her ear.
What was it again?
Wen Mubai blinked her eyelashes lightly, and as she cleared her mind, she heard what sounded like soft breathing beside her. She looked down and saw Xu Chacha curled up in her arms, sleeping soundly.
She remembered.
"Cha Cha will always be with Auntie."
Her eyelids drooped, and she smiled silently, reaching out to ruffle the child's hair.
Xu Chacha murmured a few times, turned her face away, and the messy hair that was stuck to her face slipped down, revealing the dark circles under her eyes. Even in her sleep, she could not hide her exhaustion.
Wen Mubai frowned. If she remembered correctly, she got drunk after just one drink last night. It seemed that her memory started to become fragmented and incoherent from the moment she started drinking.
Could it be that she had a child take care of her last night? Wen Mubai raised his arm and twisted his neck, finding that there was no soreness or weakness anywhere on his body.
They took good care of me.
"You've worked so hard, Cha Cha." She leaned down and touched Xu Cha Cha's forehead, then gently lifted the blanket.
The old man never eats breakfast, and the housekeeper he hires only comes at noon. Yesterday morning, Xu Yanshu just ate some bread, but today Xu Chacha is here.
There was a lot of food in the refrigerator, which the housekeeper had just bought the day before.
Wen Mubai hesitated before taking out a box of luncheon meat and two eggs. She never cooked at home and always relied on takeout when she was out. The only recipe she could think of right now was fried eggs and luncheon meat.
The hair tie he used to tie his hair had somehow ended up somewhere, so Wen Mubai casually grabbed a chopstick and used it to secure his long hair, full of energy.
Wen Mubai held the eggs and looked at the luncheon meat, seemingly wondering which to deal with first. In the end, she put the food down and chose to start cooking.
Once the fire was turned on, the pot quickly began to steam, which gave her a sense of urgency. She had to throw the ingredients in immediately, so she grabbed an egg and cracked it in. With a sizzle, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, all you have to do is wait for it to cook through and then take it out.
But soon he smelled the burning smell and Wen Mubai remembered to flip the egg. As a result, he smashed the egg into two pieces with a spatula, and the other part of its charred "corpse" was still stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Wen Mubai held the shovel, remaining motionless for quite some time.
"This is even harder than playing claw machines."
Xu Chacha was awakened by the pungent smell. She has a very sensitive sense of smell, and her room was located near the stairwell and close to the kitchen.
She quickly recognized the smell as burnt food, and upon opening the door, she heard clanging and banging noises coming from the kitchen.
The bed behind him was empty, so... it was Wen Mubai who blew up the kitchen downstairs?
She quickly put on her slippers and ran downstairs. The first thing she did as she rushed into the kitchen was to shout to Wen Mubai, "Auntie, turn on the range hood!"
"Rainbow hood?" Wen Mubai, still holding an egg in his hand, turned around and looked around. "Where is it?"
Xu Chacha patted her chest to calm herself down, then pointed to the top of the stove, "Touch that round finger."
"Beep—" The range hood finally started working.
"Why did you come down?" Wen Mubai put down the eggs and walked over. "Are you hungry? Wait a minute, Auntie will make you breakfast."
Xu Chacha didn't hear what she was saying at all; her eyes were fixed on the pot still burning behind her. "The fire's still on! Fire, fire, fire!"
"It seems so." In this critical moment, Wen Mubai was surprisingly calm. She turned off the stove, threw the pot into the sink, and turned on the cold water. There was another hissing sound and a large plume of white smoke.
Seeing her clumsy scrubbing of the pan, and then looking at the mountain of eggshells beside her, Xu Chacha's expression was indescribable. "Auntie, if you keep frying a few more eggs like this, you'll scrub a hole in the pan."
Wen Mubai paused, feeling somewhat embarrassed to have exposed his terrible cooking skills in front of a child.
"I'm sorry, Auntie isn't very good at cooking."
"I can tell." Xu Chacha rolled up her sleeves. "Let me help Auntie."
"How can you do this? Go out. Your aunt can manage." Wen Mubai shook his head.
“Yes, you can do it. You can totally blow up the kitchen.” Ignoring her objections, Xu Chacha took a bowl and skillfully cracked three eggs into it, stirring with chopsticks as she said, “Luckily, I didn’t wake Grandpa up, otherwise no matter how many cups of wine he drank, he wouldn’t be able to calm down.”
Wen Mubai touched the tip of his nose, having nothing more to say in rebuttal.
"You're so young, yet you're quite good at scolding people." Wen Mubai stared at her fluid movements. "When did you learn all this?"
"I..." Xu Chacha's mind raced, and a lie came out of her mouth, "I used to make breakfast at their house."
Wen Mubai didn't want her to recall bad things, so he quickly changed the subject, "Auntie will help you. Just tell Auntie how to do it."
"First, wipe the pot clean, make sure there's no water at the bottom, otherwise the oil will splatter." Xu Chacha moved a small stool over and placed it under her feet, then put her hands on her hips and gave instructions, "Cut the luncheon meat into cubes and mix it with the egg liquid."
Wen Mubai followed the instructions, "And then?"
Xu Chacha came down, took a small spoon, added some salt and cooking wine to the egg mixture, stirred it well, and put the bowl back.
"Heat the pan and add oil, then add the eggs." Xu Chacha stood on tiptoe to monitor her every step. "Use medium-low heat, and keep stirring with chopsticks in the pan. This will make the eggs more tender."
Wen Mubai's movements were a bit clumsy, but he managed to succeed in the end, even though the omelet was fried in pieces.
"Great!" Xu Chacha clapped her hands.
"Is this enough?" Wen Mubai placed the egg in front of her. "I've already heated up the milk for you."
"Is there any toast in the fridge?" Xu Chacha asked.
"Yes," Wen Mubai said, reaching for the bread machine. "But we don't have one."
"It's okay, you can use a pot too," Xu Chacha instructed her. "Just turn on low heat and bake it, no need to add oil, it'll be done quickly."
Bread is much easier to work with than eggs, and Wen Mubai quickly baked four pieces.
"Mmm." Xu Chacha put on disposable gloves, put the broken part of the egg into the toast, squeezed on some salad dressing, and then covered it up.
"Okay, try it." She held the plate and handed it to Wen Mubai, her eyes full of anticipation.
Wen Mubai took a bite of the sandwich and found it to be much more amazing than he had imagined. The toast was thin and crispy on the outside, and the filling inside was soft and warm. The fried egg and salad dressing were also very delicious.
"Is it tasty?"
"tasty."
"That's good." Xu Chacha smiled with relief before picking up her milk to drink.
The two didn't go to the dining table. Instead, they stood on one side of the kitchen, looking at each other and smiling. They finished their sandwiches in no time, and Xu Chacha rolled up her sleeves to wash the dishes.
"My aunt cooks and I wash the dishes; we have a clear division of labor."
"I'll do it, there's only one plate." Wen Mubai took the dishcloth.
"What happened here?" As soon as she stretched out her wrist, Xu Chacha noticed several small red burn marks. Considering the series of actions this person had just performed, it wasn't so surprising that she had been burned.
"How could you be so careless?"
"It doesn't hurt, and the marks will be gone in a couple of days."
"Who said that? It's easy to leave a scar if it's not treated properly." Xu Chacha had been burned on her neck before, and because of the blisters, she couldn't resist picking at them, which left a mark.
"Come here, let me apply the medicine for you."
"That'll be enough after you finish washing this." Wen Mubai's hands didn't stop moving. He quickly washed the dishes and put them back in their place. Then, the impatient Xu Chacha pulled him upstairs.
After searching for most of the day, the little girl turned around angrily, reluctantly showing her weakness, and asked, "Where's the medicine box?"
Wen Mubai chuckled and patted her head. "I'll do it."
She found the medicine box, unwrapped the cotton swabs, applied some ointment, and handed them to Xu Chacha. "Hurry up, my dear, if you don't apply the medicine soon, it'll heal on its own."
Xu Chacha glared at her, her expression both cute and fierce, "You don't pay attention at all."
For some reason, Wen Mubai quite enjoyed being cared for by her. He propped his head up with one hand, listened to her rambling with his eyes down, and occasionally responded with a "hmm".
Xu Chacha got angry at her nonchalant attitude and tightened her grip on the cotton swab.
"Hiss..." Wen Mubai gasped, then chuckled and said, "You were pretty ruthless with your aunt."
"I didn't mean to." Xu Chacha put down the cotton swab, puffed out her cheeks, and blew cool air on the spot where she had been pressed. "Let me blow on it a couple of times, is it any better?"
"This won't get better."
"Then what should we do?"
"You have to say that line." Wen Mubai suppressed a laugh, his teasing manner making him seem unserious. "Whoosh, whoosh, the pain has flown away."
Xu Chacha: ?
How old are you?
Wen Mubai was getting a little addicted to teasing her, so he rested his chin on his hand and shook his head, "I forgot, maybe she was just three years old?"
Fine, Xu Chacha gritted her teeth inwardly, determined to prove herself to the best of her ability.
You think you can outplay me as a child?
The next second, a sweet smile quickly bloomed on her face, her eyes crinkling into crescents. She raised her arm and patted Wen Mubai's head, her voice so soft it could melt honey, "Good girl, big sister will blow on it for you, and the pain will fly away soon."
Wen Mubai was caught off guard by her head pat. He opened his eyes slightly, speechless for a moment.
Well, this attack hurt the enemy by a hundred while inflicting eight thousand on itself.
Chapter 33
The old man really can sleep in. Even though the housekeeper has come over and prepared lunch, he still doesn't want to get up.
Wen Mubai, still worried, called out to him. He mumbled something and said, "Give me another half hour," before continuing to snore away.
Seeing that his complexion was rosy and he seemed to be alright, Wen Mubai could only close the door and leave. Turning around, he saw Xu Chacha standing behind him and asked her, "What's wrong?"
Xu Chacha tugged at her clothes, "I want to go play over there."
Wen Mubai looked in the direction she was pointing and saw the gardenia field that her grandmother had carefully tended to before her death.
The rain outside had stopped without her noticing, and the clear chirping of birds from the branches seemed to be inviting them to go for a walk.
"Go put on your rain boots." Wen Mubai patted her. "The roads outside are difficult to walk on."
"Okay!" Xu Chacha knew that this meant she agreed, so she happily ran downstairs and slipped her little yellow boots on. "Auntie, come quick, come quick!"
Wen Mubai's movements were always unhurried. Even when urged by Xu Chacha, he still slowly tied his shoelaces into a bow and straightened them before standing up.
"Let's go." She took Xu Chacha's small hand and pushed open the back door.
The air after the rain smells fresh with a faint earthy scent, making you want to take a deep breath.