Barbecue

A flock of crows cawed across Ling Yun's forehead.

"Qianqian, for basic drawing, you need to pay attention to your reference object, then draw its form," he said, handing her a skewer of loaded grilled meat infused with twenty percent of the basic painting skill.

"Daddy, I'll study hard!" the little one mumbled, licking the grilled meat. It was too delicious!

"Cousin, hurry and give me two skewers." Having finished laughing, Lin Yueyan caught the scent wafting from the grilled meat and swallowed hard for the umpteenth time.

"Here, don't eat too fast, or you'll just be standing there watching later." He handed her a skewer, ignoring her dissatisfaction at getting only one.

"Qianqian, I'll give you two skewers. Take one to Grandma."

"Mm, Daddy, they're almost gone. Hurry up and grill more." The little one finished one skewer, licked it back and forth, and took the two new ones while her eyes darted around again.

"It's not that Daddy is almost gone, it's that the meat skewers are almost gone. Off you go, while I put in some effort."

"Cousin, hurry up and grill. I'll help you prep," Lin Yueyan said, licking her skewer.

Lin Qiuyan, who was cleaning the living room, heard her granddaughter calling her and saw she was holding a barbecue skewer.

"Qianqian, is the barbecue ready?"

"Mm-mm, Grandma, Daddy told me to bring this barbecue to you." The little one reluctantly handed the grilled meat to Lin Qiuyan, looking like she was losing her most beloved toy.

Lin Qiuyan took the barbecue skewer, and the little one said in a babyish voice, "Grandma, the bad Daddy's grilled food isn't good at all. Not good at all."

Catching the scent of grilled meat filling the house, Lin Qiuyan saw right through her granddaughter's little scheme and handed the skewer back. "Qianqian, I'll give this skewer to you. When your dad grills more later, you can bring it to me then. I still have to clean."

The little one brightened up at those words, her speech muddled as she ate her barbecue. "Thank you, Grandma! Then I won't stand on ceremony. When I have lots and lots, I'll give them to Grandma." She felt warm and fuzzy inside, knowing Grandma loved her best.

Lin Yueyan's phone rang, and the caller was Song Song.

"Hello? Where are you guys? The main gate? Mm, drive to the left, Sector 11, 2403." She hung up right after speaking.

"Cousin, my besties are here. Hurry up and put some effort in—they're a bunch of foodies."

"Knowing they're foodies and still inviting them over, aren't you just setting me up?" Ling Yun joked.

"Hmph, who told you to call me a little chubby-girl when we were kids? If I don't set you up, who am I going to set up?"

"Great-auntie, who's a little chubby-girl?"

"Little niece, stop eating so much. Eat any more and you'll be a little chubby-girl."

"Wuwu, Daddy, I don't want to become a little chubby-girl." With one hand she rubbed her eyes, while the other brought a barbecue skewer to her mouth. She was torn inside—a little foodie who didn't want to get fat.

"Eat up, don't worry. Daddy has a way to keep you from becoming a little chubby-girl and turn you into a little fairy with a great figure. Your great-auntie is the real little chubby-girl."

"Really? Then I'm going to eat lots and lots." Qianqian chose to unconditionally believe Ling Yun.

"Yo, I never took cousin for someone who could lie without turning red or blinking an eye."

Ling Yun didn't plan to explain it to her either. Why bother telling her all that? She wouldn't understand anyway, and it would just be a waste of saliva.

Beep-beep.

Beep-beep.

A Volkswagen SUV and a red BMW pulled up at the entrance—Lin Yueyan's besties had arrived.

"Yueyan, I had no idea your cousin was so rich. Tsk tsk!" Song Song said as soon as she got out of the car and looked at the villa. At the same time, she caught the scent of the grilled meat. It smelled too good—how did he even make this barbecue?

Everyone stepping out of the cars was captivated by the aroma. Whose barbecue could this possibly be? It was going against the heavens! There was a handsome, celebrity-like guy standing by the grill.

So this must be Yueyan's cousin? So young—did he really grill this?

Looking at Ling Yun's handsome face, several of the girls felt like they had seen him somewhere before, yet they couldn't quite remember.

"Hey, hey, I must say you guys got here way too early." Lin Yueyan never expected her cousin's grilling to be so slow that she didn't even have enough for herself, and now so many people had shown up.

"We were all bored, so we came early to see if there are any programs," Gao Feifei said.

"Aunties, did you bring gifts for Qianqian?" The little one saw Gao Feifei and the others get out, so she kept eating her meat skewer, stretched out her hand, and stared at them like that.

"Yes, we did. Every single auntie brought one this time." Jiang Ning knew it would turn out like this, so she had already bought them before coming.

Song Song and Gao Feifei hurriedly unloaded the large stuffed toy and several small toys from the car.

The little one was endlessly happy to see so many gifts. Just as she reached out to take them, Ling Yun stopped her, saying her hands were dirty. With no other choice, they could only hand all the gifts over to Lin Qiuyan.

"You must be Yueyan's cousin, nice to meet you, handsome. My name is Song Song, this is Gao Feifei, and this is Jiang Ning. We're all Yueyan's besties, and the guy next to us is Gao Yunjie, Feifei's good-for-nothing younger brother," she said, pointing at them.

What does good-for-nothing mean? Am I one? Even if I am, you shouldn't bring it up in front of outsiders! Do I want any face? My image! Gao Yunjie had ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeding through his mind!

"Hello everyone, I'm Ling Yun. Since you're all Yueyan's friends, just treat this like your own home. There are stools inside, bring them out to sit on—no need to stand on ceremony."

Ling Yun cast a casual glance at them. Four had arrived all at once, and three of them hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so he was going to be busy again.

A few moments later, the girls greeted Lin Qiuyan, and the whole group quickly warmed up to one another.

After placing a dozen new skewers on the rack, he instructed Lin Yueyan to flip them and apply the sauce and seasonings at any moment, then headed into the kitchen to prep more ingredients.

This clearly wouldn't be enough to eat. Just now, Ling Yun's divine sense had spotted Qin Lan on her way here with Beibei and that injured woman from the other day, and the group seemed pretty large, which was why he needed to prep a bit more.