"..."This mother and son are truly remarkable!"
Su Huaiming choked, and under the little girl's clear and innocent gaze, he carefully chose his words, "It's just that some celebrities have made some rather serious, unforgivable mistakes."
The little girl nodded thoughtfully, her fair and delicate face filled with seriousness. "Then does this phrase use a metaphor, like saying celebrities are like houses that collapse when problems arise?"
Su Huaiming nodded. "That's one way to understand it."
The little girl, having resolved her long-standing question, politely said, "Thank you for your explanation. For the sake of people like my mother who love you, please don't collapse your house."
Su Huaiming wasn't angry at being lectured by a child much shorter than him; he just found it fascinating and answered very seriously, "I will."
Su Huaiming found it amusing and was about to continue chatting with the little girl when he saw the little girl's mother leading Fu Xiaoxiao over.
"Teacher Su, I really like you. I never expected to see you on my birthday. I'm so happy!" The little girl's mother's eyes were still red, and beads of sweat were on her nose. Her voice was trembling with excitement.
Su Huaiming smiled and handed her his autograph, wishing her a happy birthday once again.
The little girl's mother was extremely excited to see her current favorite celebrity, and she kept talking nonstop.
Su Huaiming was quite patient, talking to the little girl's mother the whole time, while the two children stood by watching them.
Fu Xiaoxiao, who used to be a timid and fearless girl who wouldn't cause trouble, now had red ears, shyly twisted her fingers, and cautiously stole glances at the pretty older sister standing next to her, her eyes sparkling.
He thought his actions hadn't been noticed, but he hadn't expected to be exposed from the start. The little girl couldn't stand being stared at any longer, so she turned her head and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao expressionlessly, "Is there something on my face?"
When Fu Xiaoxiao saw the pretty woman talking to him, his eyes widened, he stood at attention, and his mouth gaped open in surprise.
The little girl waited for a full half minute without getting a reply from Fu Xiaoxiao, then wrinkled her little nose and asked, "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Fu Xiaoxiao was surprised that the beautiful older sister who looked so cold would talk to him for so long. He was so happy that his tail was wagging, and he couldn't help but smile foolishly at the little girl.
Seeing that she couldn't communicate with Fu Xiaoxiao, the little girl stopped wasting time and silently looked away.
Two or three minutes passed before Fu Xiaoxiao came to his senses. Ignoring the little girl's indifference, he approached her like a chubby puppy, trying to be friendly, "Did you see the flyer I gave you?"
The little girl was pondering the influence of metaphor on the meaning of words in Chinese culture when Fu Xiaoxiao's words interrupted her train of thought. She turned and asked, "What did you just say?"
"Well, well..." Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly blushed and stammered, "The piece of paper I gave you was drawn by me, isn't it beautiful?"
The little girl wasn't uninterested in the silly-looking child, but she politely didn't ignore him. Instead, she took out the flyer from her pocket, unfolded it, and read it again.
Children's ideas are boundless and unpredictable. Fu Xiaoxiao's work, which she had been working on for an hour, looked to most people as nothing more than a random smearing of colors together.
"I like your colors," the little girl continued. "They're warm and original, but the brushstrokes are a bit rough. If you want to improve, you can work on that."
Fu Xiaoxiao barely understood anything, but he could sense that the little girl was praising him, and he chuckled happily, his invisible tail spinning like a top.
Fu Xiaoxiao continued boasting, "This painting of mine is amazing! It lets you eat ice cream for free, and the ice cream is really delicious! My dad doesn't let me eat too much, but he eats a lot himself. With this painting, you can eat lots and lots of ice cream, and your dad can't stop you!!"
Fu Xiaoxiao speaks whatever comes to mind, her words completely disjointed and illogical.
"Dad?" The little girl looked up at Su Huaiming, who was chatting with his mother, and asked, "Is it him?"
Fu Xiaoxiao nodded like a chick pecking at food, then leaned close to the little girl's ear and whispered, "He's really annoying. You have to be careful; he cries and throws tantrums, so we kids have to be patient with him and never make him angry!"
Hearing this, the little girl pondered for a few seconds, then her gaze returned to the two adults who were talking.
Su Huaiming and his mother are the same type of people, so there shouldn't be any major problems... He can rest assured that his mother is a fan of Su Huaiming.
The little girl received important information from Fu Xiaoxiao and thanked him politely.
Fu Xiaoxiao, however, thought the little girl admired him for being able to treat her to ice cream. He chuckled twice, then scratched his head and became shy.
This older sister is so pretty! Although she seems a bit aloof, she's willing to chat with him and even admires him. He likes her even more now!
Fu Xiaoxiao, radiating silliness, continued to show off, "My painting can get you free ice cream!"
Little girl. "..."
This was the third time Fu Xiaoxiao had repeated this; she had a bad memory and seemed rather slow-witted.
It's difficult for the little girl to play with people her own age, let alone those younger than her. The little girl's attitude towards Fu Xiaoxiao had a perfunctory, child-coaxing feel to it, but Fu Xiaoxiao didn't notice and kept chatting with the little girl about this and that.
The two parents finally finished talking and came over to find the two children.
Seeing her mother's condition, the little girl realized she probably couldn't even walk home on her own, so she sighed maturely, went over and took her mother's hand. "Uncle Su, it's a pleasure to meet you. We have other things to do today, so we'll be going now."
Su Huaiming responded and waved to the little girl and her mother.
He watched the two figures, one big and one small, from behind, recalling the little girl's appearance just now. She looked very cute, but he could hardly sense any childishness in her.
This was the first time he had ever seen a child like this.
After Su Huaiming snapped out of his thoughts, he noticed that Fu Xiaoxiao was also staring longingly in the direction the mother and daughter had left.
Su Huaiming found it amusing and tapped Fu Xiaoxiao's forehead, teasing him on purpose, "You like her so much, why don't you go after her?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Xiaoxiao's eyes widened in surprise. "Can I?"
"..."You really want to catch up with him!
Su Huaiming looked at this ungrateful brat and was so angry he laughed.
Fu Xiaoxiao seemed to sense his emotions. She pouted, thought for a moment, and shook her head. "Let's forget it. You'll be in big trouble without me by your side."
"What problem could I possibly have?" Su Huaiming countered.
Despite her young age, Fu Xiaoxiao seemed to have developed a parental instinct, looking at Su Huaiming with the eyes of someone looking after the weak. She murmured and couldn't utter a complete sentence, but her meaning was very clear.
Su Huaiming realized that his image in Fu Xiaoxiao's mind was very strange. He reflected deeply on his recent words and actions and found that, apart from being drunk, he had always acted like a proper parent.
There's nothing seriously wrong with it!
Su Huaiming coughed twice guiltily, not wanting to say much in front of the camera, and simply changed the subject. "Don't look anymore, we're opening the day after tomorrow, they'll still be here."
Fu Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up, she made a big circle with her hand, and jumped up excitedly. "I'm going to treat the pretty lady to lots and lots of ice cream, she'll definitely love it!"
Upon hearing the term "pretty sister," Su Huaiming paused for a moment, hesitated, and did not speak.
Children's voices are quite immature and haven't gone through puberty yet, so it's normal for them to sound androgynous. Judging a child's gender solely based on this is too arbitrary. Even Su Huaiming himself wasn't sure, so naturally he didn't want to say much.
The little girl left a deep impression on Fu Xiaoxiao. Fu Xiaoxiao was immersed in the dream of meeting the beautiful older sister all day long. Her face was flushed and she was walking unsteadily. Fortunately, she could still giggle from time to time.
Jameel and Yu Xuanxuan quickly noticed the store manager's unusual behavior and curiously came over to ask.
Su Huaiming remained uncooperative, so Fu Xiaoxiao finally found someone to boast to and immediately began to chatter on and on about the beautiful older sister she had met to Yu Xuanxuan.
"This lady is the most beautiful person I've ever met! She has a beautiful smile, and she speaks with such wisdom—she's even more insightful than my dad! I gave her my drawing, and she'll be coming over in a few days for free ice cream."
Yu Xuanxuan and Jameel listened with sparkling eyes, leaning forward eagerly to get closer to Fu Xiaoxiao, "What's this pretty lady's name?"
Fu Xiaoxiao was stumped, her expression blank. "I... I forgot to ask."
"But that's not important." Fu Xiaoxiao snorted, hands on her hips, and said with a confident yet intoxicated expression, "What's important is that my sister really likes me!!"
Yu Xuanxuan and Jameel were very supportive.
Su Huaiming suppressed a laugh and deliberately asked, "How do you know he really likes you? Did he tell you himself?"
Fu Xiaoxiao, recalling her conversation with the pretty lady, wrinkled her nose in disbelief. Unable to refute Su Huaiming, she waved her hand dismissively and declared, "The pretty lady likes me! There's no one in this world who doesn't like Xiao Xiao!"
Su Huaiming chuckled, pinched Fu Xiaoxiao's soft cheek, and revealed a curious expression.
Fu Xiaoxiao's curiosity was piqued, and she didn't even care that her face was being pulled out of shape. She asked indistinctly, "Your school is in the desert?"
"You're not speaking clearly, say it again," Su Huaiming said.
"You're from the desert at your pig school?" Fu Xiaoxiao dragged out the sound, trying hard to pronounce it.
Su Huaiming discovered the endless fun in teasing children, and deliberately imitated Fu Xiaoxiao's tone. "Please recite the common law."
Fu Xiaoxiao: Uh-huh ah ah (`⌒?メ)ノ
The viewers in the live stream couldn't stand it anymore.
[Su Huaiming, can't you act like a father? (pointing and gesturing)]
Raising children is meaningless if it's not for playing with them.
Fu Xiaoxiao's cheeks are so soft, Auntie wants to pinch them too!
Don't you adults feel any remorse for bullying children?!
[Hilarious! How could I possibly have a conscience?!]
[Ah, my conscience hurts so much, I have to pinch Fu Xiaoxiao's cheeks to feel better, lol]
After handing out the flyers, everyone returned to the dessert shop to continue preparing for tomorrow's opening.
Zhou Hanyan and Yu Ruicheng went to buy some ingredients to try making ice cream and other desserts in the afternoon, so they could adjust them if there were any problems with the taste.
The coconuts here are all the freshest and of the best quality. Following the proportions given by the shop owner, Su Huaiming put the coconut juice and coconut meat into the blender and got a cup of fragrant coconut milk.
Everyone tasted it and thought it was good, so they used the coconut milk to make coconut milk jelly in the shapes of various small animals.
Making your own coconut milk not only reduces costs, but also has a flavor that finished products can't match, and you can use its all-natural qualities as a selling point—a win-win-win situation.
Su Huaiming and his team then followed the recipe given by Miss Sun to make ice cream.
This dessert shop mainly sells ice cream, with more than a dozen flavors. However, Su Huaiming and his team were not yet familiar with the flavors, so they focused on selecting a few popular ones: sea salt caramel, lychee rose, coconut, refreshing grapefruit, and rich chocolate.
Su Huaiming grated fresh grapefruit and lemon peels to remove the bitterness, then mixed them with grapefruit sauce and put them into the ice cream making machine, along with other ingredients.
Ji Mingzhe made sea salt caramel flavored ice cream. Although he had never made desserts before, he had been cooking for many years and was very familiar with controlling the heat. He only tried twice before he made a near-perfect caramel sauce.
Other flavors weren't too difficult. Yu Ruicheng and Zhou Hanyan gave it a try, and although they were a bit clumsy, they managed to make the finished product successfully.
Sun Siyuan and the children were kept outside the kitchen, for fear they would cause trouble or hurt themselves.
Sun Siyuan looked at the others through the glass, his face somewhat unpleasant, and he snorted in dissatisfaction.
Letting him hang out with children is underestimating him!
After making the various ice creams, Su Huaiming separated them into different containers for everyone to enjoy.
The four kids' eyes lit up when they saw the ice cream in front of them. They pressed themselves against the table, rested their chins on the tabletop, and stood on tiptoe, trying to get closer to the ice cream. Yu Xuanxuan and Jameel were practically drooling.
Su Huaiming chuckled helplessly, handed them small spoons, and asked them to help taste the flavor.
Children's world is very simple. Just eating ice cream makes them as happy as if they are in paradise. They squint their eyes happily, as if pink bubbles are floating around them.
Su Huaiming asked, "What do you think of the taste?"
"Delicious!" Ji Youyou exclaimed in her sweet, childish voice, showering the ice cream with praise. "This is the best ice cream I've ever eaten!"