Quick to Warm Up

After buying groceries at the supermarket, they also bought yogurt from a popular shop in the nearby mall. The group then ended their grocery shopping trip and went straight home to Liu Shiling's house.

"Wow! Egg Pie! It's even cuter than it looks in the video!"

As soon as she entered, Yang Zhen'er saw "Egg Pie" running to the door to "greet" her, and she excitedly exclaimed, taking off her shoes and wanting to pet the cat.

"Egg Pie" was startled and displayed an agility disproportionate to its size, darting back into the Little Chubby Girl's room and hiding under the table.

However, with Liu Shiling's help and the lure of various cat treats, Yang Zhen'er managed to hug "Egg Pie" and pet it happily for a while.

She even took several photos and posted them on her WeChat Moments, with the caption, "I have a cat now!!!!"

Even Tang Baona, while condemning Yang Zhen'er's "hypocritical showing off" behavior, couldn't help but hug "Egg Pie" and take several photos.

There's no way around it, the chubby "Egg Pie" is just too cute, especially that slightly reluctant yet reluctant and humiliating expression under the temptation of snacks. No girl could resist playing with it a few times.

Well, apart from Lao Xia.

Xiang Kun went to prepare the ingredients, while Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Xia Libing looked at the Little Chubby Girl's drawing together.

Originally, Shiling's Mother also wanted to help in the kitchen, feeling embarrassed to let Xiang Kun do the work alone. However, after a while, she realized that she couldn't help much, and Xiang Kun gently persuaded her to leave and watch Tang Baona and the others guide their daughter in painting.

"Little Bell, why are you so insistent on giving 'Egg Pie' wings? It's 'Egg Pie,' isn't it?" Yang Zhen'er looked at the orange cat with several pairs of wings drawn on several pictures and couldn't help but ask with a smile. She remembered that when Nana taught the Little Chubby Girl to draw through video before, this girl also drew a lot of ducks with wings, as if she had a special attachment to wings.

Liu Shiling replied, "Because if you have wings, you can fly."

"Then a pair of wings will suffice, right?" Yang Zhen'er asked again.

"More wings mean it can fly faster and higher, and it can also carry me," Liu Shiling said matter-of-factly.

"Then we could draw a pair of really big wings, right? The bigger the wings, the stronger and more powerful the wind they create!" Yang Zhen'er said. "Besides, a pair of wings looks better than so many pairs of wings!"

Liu Shiling, however, said, "If you only have one pair of wings, what if the wings get injured? Wouldn't you be unable to fly? Having more wings is safer."

Yang Zhen'er was taken aback, and suddenly realized that what the Little Chubby Girl said made a lot of sense.

Thinking this way, when she looked at the cats with wings all over their backs in the painting, she suddenly felt that they looked quite harmonious, and even had a kind of inexplicable artistic feel.

Tang Baona didn't interfere with what the Little Chubby Girl wanted to draw, and even affirmed her imaginative drawing style. She mainly taught her some drawing techniques, such as how to arrange so many wings so that they don't overlap and look too messy, how to start drawing certain lines, how to focus on the key points when drawing a cat, how to focus on the key points when drawing a person, how to determine the proportions, and so on.

Of course, the Little Chubby Girl seemed to be nodding as she listened, but her Shiling's Mother, knew very well that the girl probably didn't understand even half of it.

In fact, according to Shiling's Mother, her Little Chubby Girl's progress in drawing is already tremendous. For a kindergarten child who has not received systematic training, to have made such a big improvement in just a few days is something that her mother is very satisfied and proud of.

For this reason, Shiling's Mother has a very good impression of Tang Baona, the "pretty sister" who teaches her daughter to draw through videos, and is very grateful to her.

After looking at the paintings, they also "inspected" the dances that the Little Chubby Girl had been learning at kindergarten recently, as well as the song "Learn to Meow" that she had learned from "Little Apple" a few days ago.

Although she genuinely liked and was very close to her three older sisters, the Little Chubby Girl couldn't help but feel shy and nervous when she saw them and her mother sitting on the sofa, looking at her with expectant and loving eyes. Her performance became a bit awkward.

When singing, I often forget the lyrics, so I can only lower the volume and mumble through it without much confidence, or simply meow along with the lyrics.

But this adorable dazed expression only made Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er find it even more endearing, both beaming with maternal smiles. After the song, they showered her with praise and encouragement, making the Little Chubby Girl herself start to doubt – could she really have sung so well?

Compared to painting, Tang Baona has even more to teach in singing. The last time Yang Zhen'er had "Little Apple" teach the Little Chubby Girl was because Tang Baona wasn't there.

Just after Tang Baona taught Liu Shiling a new children's song, Xiang Kun finished preparing dinner.

Seven dishes and two soups filled the entire table, which was quite a feast for six people.

The others were all very familiar with Xiang Kun's cooking skills and were no longer surprised. However, Shiling's Mother was a little shocked when she saw the table full of colorful and fragrant dishes.

No wonder Ms. Yang calls Mr. Xiang. Xiang "Chef Xiang"—just looking at him, without even eating, is already at a chef's level.

After trying several dishes, especially the "dry pot rabbit" that looked almost identical to what she had eaten at the restaurant at noon, Shiling's Mother was even more shocked.

Although she was the one who first Xiang Kun's cooking skills to Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Xia Libing in the elevator, praising him as having "chef-level skills," she actually only thought that Xiang Kun was better at cooking rabbit meat and didn't really believe that his cooking skills could surpass those of a top-notch restaurant chef.

But after tasting Xiang Kun's "dry pot rabbit meat" and comparing it with the "dry pot rabbit meat" dish that cost several hundred yuan at the famous restaurant at noon, the taste was completely superior, giving a feeling of "this is how it should taste". Shiling's Mother was really hard to believe for a moment.

In just a few months, Xiang Kun's cooking skills have improved to this level?

Is he really going to open a restaurant?

Didn't Ms. Tang and Ms. Yang mention during dinner earlier that Xiang Kun wanted to start a game company?

Why can a programmer cook so well?

Not only her, but her daughter Liu Shiling was also eating with her mouth full of oil, her eyes squinting happily, as if she were in the dream of "Roast Chicken Wing Sister".

Compared to Liu Shiling and her mother, Tang Baona and Lao Xia felt that today's dishes weren't as delicious as usual. Of course, they both knew that this was because Xiang Kun had deliberately adjusted the flavors to cater to Liu Shiling and her mother, so they didn't say anything. Hunan cuisine, after all, is a bit spicy.

As for Yang Zhen'er, she usually prefers spicy food and has a strong palate, so the dishes for dinner suited her style perfectly, and she ate with great enjoyment.

For dinner, Xiang Kun naturally adjusted the dishes to suit the tastes of Liu Shiling and her son. He hadn't eaten with them when they lived in 706, but after they moved to Xiang Kun, they ate together twice, both times eating Star City meat. This real-time feedback helped him determine their preferences, especially with Liu Shiling Emotion-Infused Object. The emotional connection established through the chopsticks made the information even more accurate. Furthermore, influenced by the food in Lao Xia's dream, she had virtually no resistance to Xiang Kun's cooking; it was always the best, the most delicious.

After dinner, Yang Zhen'er suggested that Liu Shiling and her daughter try out the voice game that Xiang Kun had made.

Liu Shiling naturally clapped her hands in approval when she heard that she could play games. Shiling's Mother had also been curious about Xiang Kun's plans to make games and start a company, and was willing to play as well.

Since they wanted to play, Xiang Kun used the hardware that Liu Shiling's family could use, configured the game environment, connected to the server, and installed the client on Liu Shiling and her daughter's mobile devices.

Liu Shiling was still holding onto the tablet she used to video chat with Xiang Kun and study.

Because setting up the game environment and figuring out how to play the game took Liu Shiling and her daughter quite a bit of time, it was almost 11 o'clock by the time they finished one game.

This time, they were playing a story about exploring and finding treasure in another world. Apart from Xiang Kun, who was in charge of "customer service" and did not participate in the game, all five of them were members of an "exploration team".

Leaving aside the various joyful and funny moments along the way, the final result was quite dramatic, with Liu Shiling and Yang Zhen'er surviving to the end.

Yang Zhen'er wanted to ambush Liu Shiling and take all the treasures obtained from the adventure, but was pounced on and killed by the big tiger that Liu Shiling had subdued halfway. Yang Zhen'er was so angry that she shouted that the Little Chubby Girl was "cheating" and that the system was "biased".

Shiling's Mother was a little worried when she saw her daughter still chuckling to herself while holding the tablet after the game ended. She was afraid her daughter would become addicted to the game. However, since the game's creator, Xiang Kun, was right there, and Ms. Yang and Ms. Tang were also participants, she was too embarrassed to say much.

Xiang Kun noticed her worry and comforted her softly, "Don't worry, my game hasn't officially launched yet; it's still in closed beta, so you can't play it regularly. And even if it does launch later, Little Bell will never get addicted. She's not very interested in this kind of game. The reason she's so happy is mainly because she's playing with Zhen'er, Nana, and Lao Xia."

"Oh, is that so?"

Seeing that Shiling's Mother was still somewhat skeptical, Xiang Kun didn't explain further. He naturally couldn't say that the Little Chubby Girl had real-life "magical games," and that virtual games didn't hold much of her interest.

"Sister Lin, after you finish picking up and dropping off Little Bell, why don't you join us in doing game testing? Data from real players like you is something we need to focus on collecting right now, and of course, there will be compensation," Yang Zhen'er suddenly said to Shiling's Mother.

"Ah? Well... I'm not a professional player either, and I'm not very good at it... I kept laughing just now..." Shiling's Mother said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Oh dear, we don't have any 'professional' players in this game. What we need is a genuine user experience, and someone like you is the most authentic user. Our game is designed for users like you to play, and your experience is the most authentic market feedback. If you don't do it, we'll have to commission a company to do it ourselves," Yang Zhen'er said.

"Oh... Well... I'll give it a try. If I don't do well..." Shiling's Mother hesitated.

"No way! Just like what you said when we finished playing the game, those were very accurate user feedback, and they were very useful." Yang Zhen'er said decisively as she hugged the "egg Egg Pie" that she had "lured" with freeze-dried fish and stroked it a few times.

Seeing that Shiling's Mother had been persuaded to participate in the game test during her free time after sending the Little Chubby Girl to kindergarten, Xiang Kun Yang the Third had done a great job.

His original intention in having Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er come to Star City today was to expand their circle of friends and thus better influence Shiling's Mother, so that he could help them in a more natural way when they needed it.

If it were just Xiang Kun, even though they had a good relationship because of Liu Shiling Shiling's Mother, he was still, in the end, a "former neighbor," and a male "former neighbor" with whom she had only met a few times. If something serious happened, especially involving a large amount of money or other serious matters, given her personality, she was unlikely to take the initiative to ask Xiang Kun for help. Even if Xiang Kun offered to help, she might be refused.

However, if she integrates into the entire circle of friends, and gets to know Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Lao Xia, she will have more avenues and ways to naturally help the mother and son.

Just like what Yang Zhen'er just said.

It wasn't that Xiang Kun had given her any prior instructions or hints; it was Yang the Third's own choice. She might not have been aware of Shiling's Mother's financial difficulties; she might simply have felt that Shiling's Mother was temporarily raising Liu Shiling alone and might be bored without a job.

When it comes to being outgoing and friendly, Yang Zhen'er is truly a top expert.

Seeing that Liu Shiling and "Egg Pie" had started yawning, Xiang Kun and the Tang Baona two got up to say goodbye.

Upon reaching the entrance of the residential compound, Xia Libing suggested, "It's not far anyway, let's walk back to the hotel."

Yang Zhen'er immediately raised her hand in agreement. "Great! Let's walk along the boardwalk by the river, the scenery there is beautiful."

Tang Baona looked up at the night sky and smiled, "Yes, the moon is beautiful tonight. It would be nice to take a walk back."

The three agreed, Xiang Kun naturally had no objections. However, he glanced at Lao Xia and knew in his heart that Lao Xia had other purposes.