Tian Yue Comes to Steal a Taste

There were still some pork chops in the refrigerator. Qian Xunqian simply cut off a thick piece, blanched it, then mixed starch and cornmeal with water and egg wash to create a batter. She coated the pork chop and roasted it over her fingertips.

Once it was roasted to medium-well, she sprinkled on some black pepper, and the roasted pork chop was ready!

She then fried two slices of bread and sandwiched the pork chop and a fried egg between them, completing a simple little burger. Paired with a large roasted chicken and a small bucket of rice, it was more than enough to eat!

"Hiss—so fragrant~"

Qian Xunqian was so focused on making her midnight snack that she forgot there was a sneaky little glutton outside the door.

Tian Yue, the granddaughter of the Consecration Hall's Second Elder, would sneak out of her room whenever she got hungry at night to see if there were any good leftovers in the main kitchen.

Usually, she enjoyed these treats all by herself, but today was different—someone had actually beaten her to it!

"Alright! Come on in. Let me see which little glutton is here stealing food?"

Qian Xunqian projected her voice into a line, sending it straight into Tian Yue's ears. The little girl shuddered in fright, pushed the door open in embarrassment, and crept inside.

In the late-night kitchen, the two stared at each other with wide eyes. Tian Yue let out a couple of "hehe" laughs and said:

"Big Sister Pope, are you here to steal food too?"

Qian Xunqian was so amused she was almost angry. As the Pope, did she really need to steal food? However, seeing Tian Yue staring intensely at the burger in her hand with drool pooling on the floor, her eyes darted, and a plan formed in her mind.

Taking advantage of her height, Qian Xunqian held the burger above Tian Yue's head, tapped the child's forehead with her other hand, and teased, "Do you want to eat it?"

"I do!" Tian Yue reached her hands up high, but she couldn't reach the tempting burger. Qian Xunqian, being a bit of a bully, intentionally moved the burger up and down.

Just as Tian Yue managed to touch her hand, she would lift it higher, and just as Tian Yue was about to give up, she would lower it again, giving her hope.

After all, Tian Yue was only a nine-year-old child; how could she withstand such teasing? She soon began to cry:

"Wuu wuu wuu! The Pope is bullying me! I'm going to tell Grandpa!"

Qian Xunqian chuckled triumphantly, crouched down, scooped the child up with her left arm, and moved to feed the burger to Tian Yue with her right hand.

"Alright, alright, eat up, eat up. I won't tease you anymore..."

Little Tian Yue had learned her lesson. As the burger reached her mouth, she turned her head away. Although her eyes kept darting toward it, she kept telling herself: It's a trap! She's going to mess with you again!

"If you don't want it, I'll eat it then!" Qian Xunqian said mischievously, pretending to shove the large burger into her own mouth.

Tian Yue panicked, shouting with a tearful voice, "I want to eat! I want to eat!"

In the end, Tian Yue got the burger she had been dreaming of. She was now sitting on Qian Xunqian's lap, clutching the large burger with both hands and taking big bites.

After placing the mischievous Tian Yue on a chair, the equally mischievous Qian Xunqian went back to rummaging through the refrigerator. She took out the remaining pork chop, cut it into small pieces, pan-fried them with oil, sprinkled them with white sesame seeds and pepper, and plated them, garnishing the dish with broccoli. The fried pork cutlets were done.

She poured a glass of milk, tore off a large chicken leg, and began to gnaw on it, using her chopsticks to feed herself pieces of pork chop in between bites.

Of course, a portion of it also ended up in Tian Yue's stomach.

Tian Yue gave Qian Xunqian a haughty look, thinking to herself: In exchange for your cooking being so delicious, I'll forgive you for teasing me just now!

"Not sleeping in the middle of the night, coming to the kitchen to steal food? Did you wake up hungry?" Qian Xunqian asked.

Tian Yue nodded, though in her heart, she knew it was simply because she was a glutton.

"What did you have for dinner?" Qian Xunqian continued.

"Pig trotter rice."

Qian Xunqian chuckled: "You couldn't get full from such a big bowl of pig trotter rice? What a huge appetite!"

Tian Yue rubbed her head and said honestly: "Actually, I was full, but I still wanted to eat!"

Qian Xunqian couldn't help but think of a future acquaintance, the man known as the Gluttony Douluo, Xuan Zi. She looked at Tian Yue strangely, her brow furrowing. Could this child have awakened the Gluttony bloodline?

"Child, are you sure your martial soul is the Golden Crocodile King and not the Gluttony Crocodile King?"

Tian Yue puffed out her little cheeks: "You're the Gluttony Crocodile King! Your whole family is the Gluttony Crocodile King! This young lady has a pure Golden Crocodile King martial soul, inherited from the Golden Dragon King, and possesses a trace of dragon blood!"

Qian Xunqian pondered, I suppose Gluttony is a type of dragon, too!

Watching Tian Yue's frantic expression, Qian Xunqian wiped her greasy little hands, patted the child's smooth cheek, and teased: "I'll scout out a food-type Spirit Master as a husband for you, so you'll never go hungry again!"

Tian Yue put her hands on her hips and shook her head firmly: "No! The things food-type Spirit Masters make are all the same; it's too monotonous, I'd get sick of it!"

"Yue-zi, can you still eat?" Qian Xunqian's sense of mischief grew, and she gave Tian Yue the nickname "Yue-zi," imitating the Gluttony Douluo, Xuan Zi.

"I can! Bring it on, I'll eat it all!" Tian Yue patted her small chest, indicating there was plenty of room inside.

The big glutton and the little glutton finished off the large roasted chicken, the pork chops, and the bucket of rice in one go.

"Ugh... so full! I want to sleep..." After all, Tian Yue was still a child. After consuming a pile of carbohydrates and given the late hour, she drifted off into a drowsy sleep.

Qian Xunqian scooped the child up, sent a message to Uncle Sky Crocodile, and took the child to her bedroom.

"Calling me sister? That's not right, the seniority is all messed up; I'm the same generation as her father!"

In her sleep, Tian Yue mumbled incoherently, giving the half-awake Qian Xunqian a jolt. Good grief, what kind of wild talk is that.

"Hee hee... Big Sister Pope, your cooking is so good. When I grow up, I'm going to marry you and bring you home so you can cook for me every day! Big pork chops, big chicken legs..."

"Fine! Tian Chen, to raise your own seniority, you'd even sell out your daughter! You won't succeed!" Qian Xunqian hugged Tian Yue like a little pillow and drifted off into a drowsy sleep as well.

Both of them had regular sleep schedules and opened their eyes promptly at eight. Tian Yue rubbed her eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room. Huh? Where is this?

"Ah! I have to go to school!" Tian Yue looked left and right, just happening to see the alarm clock on the nightstand. It was 8:10, twenty minutes until class!

She hurriedly threw off the quilt. This wasn't a big deal, but the act of throwing it off startled Qian Xunqian, who had been trying to catch a little more sleep.

A chill slipped into the bed, so Qian Xunqian had no choice but to sit up. She looked at Tian Yue, who was searching for her shoes, with a look of complaint, stretched comfortably, rubbed her heavy eyes, used her spiritual detection to sense the location of the shoes, and quickly got out of bed barefoot to find the child's shoes.

Once Tian Yue had put on her shoes, (someone) scooped her up, left the bedroom, and arrived at the main hall of the Pope's Palace, where breakfast was already laid out on the desk.