At the state-run restaurant (guoying fandian) in Qing Shui Town, Shen Kaiyue pulled open the door and let Su Xingye and the children enter.
Today, he was wearing a neat, crisp white shirt over a pair of straight military trousers.
The more Su Xingye looked at him, the more she felt she had gotten a bargain. She smiled at him. "I thought you would just try to get past my brother and sister-in-law's hurdles and wouldn't bother coming to my house."
When Shen Kaiyue arrived at her house today, she was startled. He had been going to her brother's house for several days; she hadn't expected him to come to hers.
Shen Kaiyue pulled out a stool for her. "I felt that if your brother and sister-in-law disagreed, then coming to see you alone wouldn't be appropriate or respectful."
Su Xingye paused, then pressed her lips together and nodded.
Shen Kaiyue took the restaurant menu and handed it to her. "What do you want to eat? You order."
The "menu" was just a single sheet of paper listing the day's dishes. Su Xingye took it, looked at the four children sitting on either side of her, and her voice instinctively softened. "What do you all want to eat?"
Shen Jiabao still clearly remembered this auntie. Last time, he counted—she bought two rolls of haw flakes, and he only ate two pieces; the rest went to his sister.
He couldn't afford to lose out this time. The moment Su Xingye finished speaking, he shouted eagerly, "Meat!"
He emphasized, "I want a whole big bowl of meat, just for me!"
Su Xingye glanced at him, smiled, and nodded. "Okay, you'll eat meat. I'll get you a big bowl."
Shen Kaiyue frowned. "Don't listen to him. This child has been spoiled beyond belief."
He'd only been around the boy for a few days and was already nearing his limit. He felt the boy was constantly asking for a beating.
Su Xingye didn't mind. "We'll take it slow. What about the rest of you? What do you want to eat?"
Zhou Xiaoyang held his little brother's hand, looking from Su Xingye to Shen Kaiyue. "Mom, my brother and I can eat anything."
Su Xingye stroked the boys' little heads. "Then Mom will order what you like."
She then spoke to Shen Yueyue. "Shall we have eggs and meat, Yueyue?"
Shen Yueyue didn't speak. Su Xingye looked at Shen Kaiyue, not being perfunctory. "If you don't have any dietary restrictions, I'll go ahead and order?"
Shen Kaiyue nodded. "You order."
Su Xingye didn't hesitate. She called the waitress and ordered a potato stewed chicken, specifically asking for it to be stewed until very soft. She also ordered minced pork and tofu, chili stir-fried pork, and finally, egg drop soup and rice.
Shen Kaiyue, seeing she was done, asked, "Just these?" He took the menu, intending to order a few more dishes.
Su Xingye shook her head. "No, no need. The children and I can't eat much. More would just be wasted." She then asked the waitress, "Do you have steamed egg custard?"
The waitress's attitude was lackadaisical. "No. We only serve what's on the menu."
True to the iron rice bowl of the state-run restaurant, the service attitude is certainly commanding. Su Xingye looked at the children's small faces and decided to try again.
"Could I make it myself? It won't take much time."
The waitress looked at Su Xingye and nodded. "Fine. There's a small stove in the back. Ask the head chef for ingredients, and we'll calculate the cost later."
"Perfect." Su Xingye looked at Shen Kaiyue. "I'll go in and steam some eggs for the children."
Shen Kaiyue stood up. "I'll help you."
"No need. You watch the children. I'll do it. It will only take a few minutes." She told Zhou Xiaoyang and Zhou Xiaoliu, "Mom is going in to make you something delicious. I'll be right out. Listen to Uncle Shen."
She followed the waitress into the kitchen. Seeing that the area was clean and tidy, she smiled. "Thank you for the trouble, Big Sister. I'll be quick."
She asked for a soup plate, quickly chopped some green onion into it, added some salt, whisked four eggs with about the same amount of water, and finally added half a spoonful of peanut oil and a few drops of sesame oil. Once thoroughly mixed, she put it on the stove to steam.
The head chef glanced over. "Oh, a professional."
Su Xingye smiled. "I'm not as professional as you. The children are too small, and too much meat might be hard to digest. I'm making them some egg custard."
The chef's attitude was much better than the waitress's. "That's thoughtful of you. I won't charge much for this. Call it fifty fen (five jiao)."
Even though she had a preliminary idea of the prices of the time, Su Xingye still felt it was very cheap.
Last time, three bowls of noodles with added eggs only cost one yuan in total, and that was because it cost more without food stamps. Since Shen Kaiyue brought stamps today, the food was even cheaper.
However, she also understood that, correspondingly, money was harder to earn.
In a few minutes, the egg custard was ready. Su Xingye greeted the chef and carried the soup plate out.
In the dining hall, Shen Kaiyue was telling the children a story.
As Su Xingye approached, she heard his warm, gentle voice.
The story reached its end—the bad guy was defeated and ran away. He concluded the story, stood up, and took the soup plate from her.
The children's faces were flushed. Su Xingye knew Shen Kaiyue's story must have been captivating. "What were you telling them? Look how excited the children are."
Zhou Xiaoliu's eyes were shining. "Fighting bad guys!"
Shen Kaiyue smiled. "Nothing much. Xiaoyang asked me if I could shoot a gun, so I told the children a story."
"No wonder. Boys all love that."
Zhou Xiaoyang watched Shen Kaiyue put the soup plate down and looked at Su Xingye, his eyes sparkling slightly. "Mom, Uncle Shen is really amazing."
Su Xingye smiled. "Do you want to be like Uncle Shen someday?"
The boys nodded simultaneously.
Su Xingye immediately encouraged them. "Good. Mom will be watching your efforts."
She winked at Shen Kaiyue. "Set a good example for our little real men here, new dad."
Shen Kaiyue scooped out the egg custard and responded, "Will do."
With one scoop, the fragrant smell of the egg custard wafted out, immediately drawing the attention of the children.
Once Shen Kaiyue finished serving, Su Xingye took the bowl to cool it down. Seeing the children's eager looks, Su Xingye set a rule first. "This time, we line up from oldest to youngest. This one is for little sister."
Shen Jiabao was the first to object. "She's a money..."
Before he could say the three words "money-loser," he saw Su Xingye's stern gaze and changed his tune. "She's... she's a girl. Eating good things is useless. Give it to me first!"
Su Xingye put the cooled egg custard in front of Shen Yueyue. She watched the girl quietly take a bite with her spoon and nodded in satisfaction. Only then did she respond to Shen Jiabao.
"The four of you children, regardless of whether you are boys or girls, are all treasures in this family. When there's good food, you eat it together, got it?"
She picked up the next bowl, cooling it while teasing him. "And you said you wanted meat, a big bowl of meat. The meat is coming soon, so you don't need to eat this egg, right?"
Shen Jiabao watched the second bowl of egg custard being placed in front of Zhou Xiaoliu. He was so anxious he almost jumped up. "I'll eat the egg! I'll eat the egg! I'll wait in line."
That was better. Su Xingye put the third bowl of egg custard in front of him. Just as she was about to get the fourth bowl, Shen Kaiyue placed it in front of Xiaoyang.
Zhou Xiaoyang took the spoon, looked at Shen Kaiyue twice, and quietly said, "Thank you, Uncle Shen."
Shen Kaiyue nodded. "Eat."
The smooth, tender egg custard, enhanced by the sesame oil and green onions, was savory and delicious. After the first bite, the children had no other thoughts and began to gobble it down.
Su Xingye kept an eye on all of them. "Slowly, slowly. There's plenty more. There will be delicious meat soon. It's all for you. Eat slowly."
Shen Jiabao kept stuffing his mouth while staring at the soup plate. He didn't want to slow down! There was only a little bit left in total; if he was slow, he wouldn't get any more.
Ignoring the food he hadn't yet swallowed, he eagerly pushed his bowl out. "I want more."
Su Xingye looked at his bowl. "Only when the bowl is completely clean."
"It's clean."
"Look closely."
Shen Jiabao glanced twice. There were still a couple of mouthfuls left. He didn't understand why this auntie was so demanding, but for the sake of the good food, he didn't argue. He lowered his head and ate the remaining two bites.
Only then did Su Xingye give him half a bowl more.
Shen Jiabao was dissatisfied. "I want a big bowl."
As he spoke, the waitress brought over the dishes they had ordered. Since they were mostly finished or semi-finished products, they arrived quickly.
The aroma of the potato stewed chicken wafted over. Su Xingye smiled. "Are you sure you want a big bowl of egg custard?"
Shen Jiabao rubbed his tummy, looking at the chicken meat, then back at the egg custard. His eyebrows knitted together.
"I... I want half a bowl."
The meat's appeal was much greater than the egg custard.
Zhou Xiaoyang and Zhou Xiaoliu had finished. They didn't want egg custard anymore; they wanted meat.
Shen Kaiyue took the bowls to serve them meat, gesturing to Su Xingye. "You eat. I'll serve the children."
Su Xingye noticed he used new chopsticks and was selecting pieces of meat with fewer bones and easy to chew. She nodded approvingly—he is indeed a good father.
Shen Jiabao felt cheated. Seeing his dad giving the best cuts of meat to those two, he hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of egg custard. "Dad, save that chicken leg for me."
Shen Kaiyue didn't indulge his bad habit. There was only one chicken leg per bowl. "You eat something else."
Shen Jiabao opened his mouth, ready to wail.
Su Xingye immediately set the standard. "A real man who fights bad guys doesn't cry."
Shen Jiabao stifled his cry immediately, pouting, caught between tears and stopping.
Su Xingye hid her smile. That trick was always effective. Seeing that Shen Yueyue was also nearly done, she took her small bowl to serve her meat. She smiled at the children. "This time, Xiaoyang and Xiaoliu get the chicken legs, and Jiabao and Yueyue get the large wings. Next time, we'll switch. No one is allowed to snatch! We line up, okay?"
The fighting between children is often because they feel things are unfair and that adults are biased. With Su Xingye's system, Shen Jiabao stopped trying to snatch things. "Okay, I'll eat the large wing."
Su Xingye noticed Shen Kaiyue was serving mostly meat to Xiaoyang and Xiaoliu. She added a few chunks of potato to their bowls and instructed them both, "You have to eat both the meat and the potatoes, or your tummy will hurt."
For Shen Yueyue, she deliberately used a spoon to mash the soft, stewed meat, removed the bones, and crushed the potatoes to a mushy consistency. She estimated the child probably hadn't eaten meat often and too much might cause indigestion, so she intentionally added more mashed potato.
Seeing Shen Yueyue eat spoon after spoon without stopping, Su Xingye's heart softened. She looked at Xiaoliu, who was also eating with great relish. "Xiaoliu, do you want Mom to mash yours up like your sister's?"
Zhou Xiaoliu clenched his chicken leg and took a bite. He glanced at Shen Yueyue's bowl and shook his head. "No. I'm the same as my brother. I'm a real man."
Such a little nursing baby, yet he calls himself a man.
Shen Kaiyue smiled, reached out, and patted his head. He said to Su Xingye, "You eat. I'll watch them."
Seeing that the children were all eating, the two of them finally relaxed enough to talk.
Shen Kaiyue served Su Xingye a piece of chicken and brought up the schedule. "I only have a few days of leave left. The journey takes several days. Should we get the certificate, host a couple of tables for a banquet, and then leave?"
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