At this moment, Zhu Qiu was already asleep in bed, hugging a pillow.
Seeing that she could not wake Zhu Qiu with a simple call, Zhu Xiaxia had no choice but to go upstairs to check on her.
Zhu Xiaxia walked into the room and pinched Zhu Qiu’s small cheeks.
“Daughter, wake up. Lunch is ready.”
Hearing Zhu Xiaxia’s voice, Zhu Qiu stopped lingering in bed and jumped up quickly, her eyes shining.
“The food is ready? Where is it? Give it to me quickly!”
“It’s on the dining table downstairs. Come on, Mother will take you there.”
“Yay!”
Zhu Qiu obediently reached out her small hand, letting Zhu Xiaxia lead her.
‘I can finally eat the delicious food Zhu Xiaxia prepared for me! I’m so excited, so looking forward to it! It wasn’t a waste of time cleaning those ingredients for so long; now is the time to reap the rewards.’
Led by Zhu Xiaxia, Zhu Qiu skipped over to a chair by the dining table.
Zhu Xiaxia sat down opposite her.
Due to her height, the dining chair had been adjusted so the person sitting on it could eat in the most comfortable way possible.
In addition to two sets of utensils, there was also the large pot Zhu Xiaxia had used to stew the food earlier.
“Quick, quick, quick, Zhu Xiaxia! I’m starving. Let’s eat!”
Looking at such a large pot, Zhu Qiu was already fantasizing about the taste of the food inside.
“Alright. Now, it’s time to witness a miracle.”
Zhu Xiaxia confidently picked up the lid and opened it slowly.
At that moment, a golden light radiated from the gap between the lid and the pot, spilling into the surroundings.
This shocked the little glutton, Zhu Qiu.
‘Wow, wow, wow! So everything Zhu Xiaxia said was true. Her cooking skills must be extraordinary. The fact that the food itself glows is unusual. I actually questioned why she cut the banana peels in earlier; I really misunderstood her.’
As the lid was fully removed, the contents of the pot were revealed before Zhu Qiu’s eyes.
However, what appeared in the pot was not the appetizing golden-yellow color Zhu Qiu had expected.
Instead, it was a slight… well, not slight, but a very deep fecal yellow.
“…”
“Eat up, Daughter. There’s a big spoon here so you can serve it into your bowl. It’s very convenient.”
Zhu Xiaxia looked at the unidentified object in the pot with supreme confidence.
‘My dear daughter, although you certainly won’t accept your identity as a member of the Dragon Race so quickly, I, as your Mother, can conquer your taste buds with food and make you accept it.’
However, the thoughts in the mind of Zhu Qiu, sitting opposite her, were the exact opposite of Zhu Xiaxia’s.
She looked at the food in front of her, not knowing what to say.
This Zhu Xiaxia really knew how to make one’s eyes light up, only to make them go dark immediately after.
Furthermore, not only was there no special fragrance wafting from the pot, but there was also a slightly pungent, irritating smell.
‘Psh, and here I thought it was something special. My expectations were for nothing.’
Judging by the appearance of the food alone, Zhu Qiu had already rejected it. Her appetite plummeted.
It seemed that Zhu Xiaxia’s plan to use food to get Zhu Qiu to accept her Dragon Race identity had already failed by half.
Seeing that Zhu Qiu had not moved for a long time, Zhu Xiaxia decided to take the initiative.
“Come, dear daughter. Mother will serve a bowl for you first. Good things must be eaten by my daughter first.”
Zhu Xiaxia snatched the bowl in front of Zhu Qiu, picked up the large spoon, and plunged it into the unidentified, fecal-yellow, thick, solid-liquid mixture.
She scooped up a spoonful and lifted it high into the air.
As if the unidentified substance did not want to leave its home, it left long, gooey strings along the spoon’s path before finally breaking.
The portion in the spoon was successfully served into Zhu Qiu’s bowl.
She handed the bowl to Zhu Qiu and then served herself a portion of the unidentified object from the pot.
“Eat quickly. It must be delicious.”
Zhu Xiaxia showed a confident smile.
She believed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with what she had made.
“…”
Zhu Qiu looked at the fecal-yellow stuff in her bowl.
Bubbles constantly rose from the center of the unidentified substance, eventually popping and emitting a pungent odor.
‘Is… is this really edible? Are you sure it’s not that stuff?’
Setting aside whether Zhu Xiaxia did this on purpose or not, this simply did not look like edible food.
Zhu Qiu placed the small spoon in her hand on the table and climbed down from her chair to leave.
“?”
“Daughter, where are you going? Eat first!”
“No thanks, Zhu Xiaxia. I’m a bit full,” Zhu Qiu answered tactfully.
“But Daughter, Mother spent a lot of time and effort to make this. Are you really not going to taste it?”
“No.”
“If that’s the case, Mother will have to eat lunch all alone and lonely.”
“…”
Zhu Qiu, who was halfway out, turned her head to see Zhu Xiaxia propping her head up with one hand, looking miserable.
‘Why doesn’t my daughter like the food I prepared so carefully? She isn’t even willing to take a single bite, even though she was looking forward to it just now.’
‘Sigh.’
‘I prepared so much, but I can’t finish it all. Since my daughter doesn’t like it, it can only go to waste.’
Zhu Xiaxia stood up, prepared to dump the contents of the pot.
But at that moment, Zhu Qiu turned back.
She sat on the chair, closed her eyes, used her small spoon to gently scoop a tiny bit from the surface, and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
Less than half a second later.
Hurk—
She spat it all out.
“Water, water, water! I want water!”
Zhu Qiu immediately ran into the kitchen, stepped on a small stool, stood on her tiptoes, and frantically rinsed her mouth and tongue.
‘I only did it because I felt bad that Zhu Xiaxia’s sincerity was being misunderstood, but what kind of dark cuisine is this? I’m convinced it really is that stuff!’
Zhu Xiaxia was stunned after seeing Zhu Qiu’s reaction.
Refusing to believe it, she put down the pot in her hand and took a bite herself.
The result:
Hurk—
Just as Zhu Qiu finished rinsing her mouth, Zhu Xiaxia followed her in, also rinsing her mouth and washing her tongue.
Well, it seemed the conclusion was now very clear.
The unidentified object Zhu Xiaxia made was so terrible that it earned Zhu Qiu’s disdain.
At the same time, Zhu Qiu reached a conclusion: Zhu Xiaxia’s cooking skills were poor—extremely poor, to a certain degree.
If any random person were to mix fruits and vegetables together into a salad, it would at least be edible.
But Zhu Xiaxia… she actually managed to turn such fresh ingredients into something that tasted like feces.
Looking at it from another perspective, Zhu Xiaxia’s cooking skills were indeed quite special.
After rinsing her mouth, Zhu Xiaxia turned and walked into a room to honestly prepare some Nainai for Zhu Qiu.
‘I’ll have to learn from Xiaguang in the future.
Losing face in front of my own daughter like this… it must never happen again.’
After making the milk, Zhu Xiaxia found Zhu Qiu, who had returned to her room.
She was currently lying sideways on the bed, bored out of her mind.
“Dear daughter, drink your Nainai.”
Zhu Xiaxia stood behind Zhu Qiu and handed the bottle to her.
Zhu Qiu didn’t care about anything else and started drinking immediately.
‘As expected, Nainai is much better! I don’t want any of Zhu Xiaxia’s dark cuisine.’
“Daughter, I’m very sorry. Mother didn’t think things through this morning,” Zhu Xiaxia poked Zhu Qiu. “Can you forgive Mother?”
“Hmph!” Zhu Qiu deliberately turned her back to Zhu Xiaxia.
“You lied to me. I’m angry now, and it’s the kind of anger that can’t be fixed with simple coaxing!”
“Then, what do I have to do for my daughter to forgive me?”
‘Oh?!’
‘Wow, Zhu Xiaxia actually took the initiative to ask! I have to seize this opportunity!’
“Unless… unless you teach me some things.”