A wonderful day starts with a good meal!

Early in the morning in Hunter Town,

some moisture from the forest still lingered over the town's roads.

Enjoying the fresh morning air, Li Xing arrived at Aniekra's door.

Just as Li Xing was about to knock, the front door opened. Lucy's gaunt figure appeared inside.

"Hm!" they both exclaimed.

"Why are you here?" Lucy asked warily, taking a step back.

Li Xing held up the basket in his hand and explained why he had come with a smile.

"I'm here to bring breakfast!"

"Bring breakfast?"

As Lucy slowly pushed the door shut, she asked warily,

"Breakfast! What's breakfast?"

Through the steadily narrowing gap in the door, Lucy saw Li Xing slap his forehead and begin to explain in a slight panic.

"Breakfast is..."

As Li Xing explained, he lifted the cloth covering the basket, revealing the egg flatbreads inside.

At that moment, Lucy didn't hear what Li Xing said breakfast was! Her eyes were simply fixed on the stack of golden flatbreads, still steaming hot!

As the steam drifted toward Lucy, the aroma of oil mixed with the scent of eggs assaulted her senses. It stirred her appetite and made her hands gradually loosen their grip on the door.

"Um... anyway, the flatbreads in that basket are for us, right?" Lucy asked, swallowing the saliva that was about to spill from her mouth.

"Yes. But could you open the door? This really isn't a good way for us to talk, is it?" Li Xing helplessly lowered the basket in protest.

As the flatbreads disappeared from view, Lucy's gaze returned to Li Xing's face.

Only after seeing the helpless expression on Li Xing's face did Lucy say mildly,

"Are you just here to bring us food? Nothing else!"

"I came looking for you early in the morning to bring you something. Even if you thought about it with your bare heels, you'd know I must have something to say! Make it quick. Are you letting me in or not?"

Perhaps Lucy's brain wasn't working because she had just woken up. In any case, Li Xing was growing a little impatient with how she was hemming and hawing and dragging things out.

Seeing that Li Xing looked ready to leave, Lucy hurriedly called out, "Wait a moment!"

Bang! Li Xing turned around and saw that the door behind him had been shut.

Li Xing: ...

After nearly five minutes, the door to Aniekra's house opened again.

"Li Xing, all right! You can come in now."

And so, at Lucy's invitation, Li Xing entered Aniekra's home once more.

After the two reached the dining area, Li Xing set the basket on the table while Lucy brought over a plate.

Lucy pushed Li Xing aside and took it upon herself to move all the flatbreads from the basket onto the plate she had brought.

Sitting at the table, Li Xing watched Lucy stuff flatbread into her mouth while arranging and dividing up the flatbreads on the plate.

"Lucy! Are you the only one awake? Where's Aniekra? I brought enough flatbread for two, so don't hog it all!"

"Ha! Am I that kind of person?" Lucy retorted disdainfully.

A little while later, Li Xing watched Lucy wolf down her food and said, at a loss for words,

"You've already eaten three flatbreads. Could you stop for a moment? I still have something to talk to you about."

When she still didn't respond, Li Xing held his forehead and exclaimed, "Can't you stop for a moment? Nobody's going to fight you for it!"

After chewing and swallowing the flatbread in her mouth, Lucy took a gulp from her cup and began to defend herself.

"Li Xing, the flatbreads you made really are delicious, and they taste different from the ones last night."

Even as she defended herself, she picked up another flatbread, ready to continue enjoying it.

"Heh heh! Delicious, aren't they? Never had anything like them, right? You want more, don't you?"

Watching Lucy nod repeatedly in agreement with the flatbread in her hand, Li Xing sighed casually.

"What a shame. Your flour jar's nearly empty, so I doubt you'll get any more for the next few days!"

Hearing this, Lucy reflexively swallowed the flatbread in her mouth. She nearly choked and hurriedly took another sip of water to recover. Rising to her feet, she said to Li Xing,

"Is that what you came to talk to me about? And it hasn't even been a day, yet you've used up all the flour in our jar! Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

Hearing this, Li Xing argued back, "Come on! Think about how many mouths there are to feed, and from last night to this morning, those kids have all been eating like you just did, as if they'd never had a meal before. Do you really think that little flour jar of yours could keep up?"

"What! Did you say this morning? Does that mean you made the children a meal before you came?"

"What else? They're all still growing, so isn't it normal for them to eat breakfast?"

"Breakfast is normal? Wait, what's breakfast?"

Li Xing: ...

So my explanation outside the door was a waste of breath, Li Xing thought. He went on to explain to Lucy what "three meals a day" meant and why eating breakfast was important.

After listening to Li Xing go on and on, Lucy pointed at the flatbreads on her plate and said,

"What I just ate was the breakfast you were talking about?"

"Yes!"

Lucy's mind went hazy. Perhaps, like the children, her brain was starved of oxygen from digesting food. Or perhaps Li Xing's enthusiastic care had left her worried about their nearly depleted food supply.

Lucy plopped back into her chair, then slumped over the table in dejection.

At that moment, Aniekra came in from the inner room and asked,

"Lucy, what happened? Why were you arguing just now..."

Seeing the flatbreads on the table and Lucy slumped over it, Aniekra stepped forward and asked Li Xing,

"Li Xing, big... sir~"

"Hm? Big sir!?" Li Xing asked in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Uh~~ no, may I call you Big Brother Li Xing, like Little Jerry does?" Aniekra asked, her face full of shyness.

Seeing the beautiful woman before him acting so girlishly, Li Xing smiled and replied,

"Of course. It's just a form of address. As long as you mean no harm, Aniekra, you can call me whatever you like."

"Really? Big Brother Li Xing..."

Just as Aniekra was excited about the form of address she could claim for herself, she caught sight of Lucy slumped over beside her.

"Big Brother Li Xing, what's wrong with Lucy? I heard her getting worked up from inside just now, so why is she so listless now?"

Seeing Aniekra sit down at the table, facing Lucy,

Li Xing placed her portion of the flatbreads in front of her and said,

"Don't mind her. Maybe she ate too much and got stuffed!"

Just as Aniekra was about to respond, Lucy, roused by Li Xing's words, sat up across from her, raised her head, and shouted back,

"What are you talking about! You're being so extravagant. Do you have any idea how many days that food could have lasted? Do you know how hard it was to borrow it? Do you?"

Faced with Lucy's somewhat angry shouting, Li Xing replied casually,

"Of course I know. Isn't that why I came to talk to you about how to solve the problem? Besides, why're ya hollerin' so loud?"

Li Xing's calm attitude and his words startled Lucy into settling down, and she murmured,

"What! You have a solution..."