The next day, Ye Yaodong was woken by Ye Xiaoxi smearing drool over his face.
Still half asleep, he felt wetness on his face, as though a puppy had licked him.
He opened his eyes in confusion and saw Ye Xiaoxi lying beside his pillow, staring at him, glistening strings of drool hanging from the corners of her mouth.
When she saw his eyes open, she grinned, showing her toothless gums, and an even bigger blob of drool dangled down...
"My sweet girl, you're awake? How are you so good? Giving your daddy kisses to wake him up first thing in the morning? Are you cold? You haven't even got a quilt over you."
His daughter practically melted Ye Yaodong's heart first thing in the morning. Smiling, he gathered her into his arms and pulled up the quilt, wrapping her up with only her little head showing. She looked adorable no matter how he looked at her.
He seemed to have forgotten how disgusted he had been when Ye Chengyang was little and had lain on top of him like this, dripping drool all over his face.
Father and daughter snuggled under the quilt and played affectionately for a good while. Only when he accidentally touched her soaking-wet diaper did Ye Yaodong sigh helplessly and sit up to play daddy, changing her diaper and putting on her clothes and trousers before getting dressed himself.
Once they were both dressed, he carried her out of the room and caught the meaty aroma filling the house.
Lard was rendering in the wok with a sizzling sound, its fragrance drifting through the house. The two boys stood beside the stove, fidgeting impatiently, up on their tiptoes with their necks craned.
"You two, stand farther back. If the oil splashes onto your faces, you'll