After his bath, Ye Yaodong wore only a pair of shorts. He hung the clothes A Qing had laid out for him on the recliner and sat down bare-chested to eat his noodles.
Eating would warm him up, so there was no need to put on a shirt only to get hot again. Although a fine rain still fell outside, the temperature was rather high, with a muggy, stifling heat.
He slurped down big mouthfuls, occasionally stopping to take a couple of bites of mantis shrimp. But the sharp edges of their shells cut his mouth, and eating them was too much trouble, so after two bites, he tossed them aside to feed the dogs later. They were actually quite full of red roe.
The sun-dried shrimp and blue mussels were better. They made the noodles taste fresh and savory and were easy to eat, with no shells to peel.
Shellfish like those were only suited to drinking, as snacks to slowly peel while chatting with friends.
While he was slurping away, a little hand kept patting his lower back.
"Ah... ah-ah... Dada... Dada..."
Ye Yaodong bit through his noodles and turned around. It was Ye Xiaoxi again. "What do you want?"
"Ah~ Ah~"
She called out twice, smacked her lips a couple of times, then started calling again.
Ye Yaodong was helpless and amused. He quickly picked up half a piece of shrimp with his chopsticks. She opened wide to take it, then stood there chewing without leaving.
Once she swallowed, she started calling out again.
He could only keep feeding her.
The old lady was probably listening to the radio outside, so she had let the girl come indoors without stopping her.
After cooking the noodles, A Qing had gone to the back door to wash his dirty