Tang Zhuyun offered to teach Linlin Muay Thai, but she discovered that her own body was feeble, and Linlin wasn't in particularly good health either.
Considering what the family had been eating before, it would have been strange if they were healthy.
There was nothing to be done about it except nurse their bodies back to health slowly.
"What do you want for lunch? I'll make it for you." After exercising for a quarter of an hour, Tang Zhuyun wiped her sweat and asked with a smile.
"Anything is fine. Could you... never mind." Linlin started to speak, then stopped.
You little brat, do you know talking like that could get you beaten up?
Tang Zhuyun resisted the urge to pinch his little cheeks and said, "I can, of course I can. Your aunt can do anything! Come on, tell me!"
"Could you bring me lunch tomorrow?" Linlin lowered his head, but stole a sidelong glance at her as he bit his lip and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's whine.
He was very nervous, his hands unconsciously kneading the hem of his clothes.
Tang Zhuyun understood at once. Linlin must have faced discrimination at school too, and most likely he hadn't even gotten enough to eat at mealtimes, but had been too embarrassed to tell his family.
He had probably noticed the change in her today and worked up the courage to make this "excessive" request.
"Sure!" Tang Zhuyun agreed at once with a smile, then said with exaggerated dismay, "Oh dear, why did I agree so quickly? What if I don't make it well and embarrass you?"
"You won't," Linlin said softly. "It'll be better than what I have now, anyway."
Tang Zhuyun's heart ached at that, and she could hardly stop herself from asking what exactly he had been through at the school in Prince Rong's Residence.
But she held herself back.
She and Linlin weren't that close yet.
Tang Zhuyun made a lavish meal as she had before. It was clear that her father and brother were both extremely pleased with how she was now.
If there was anything amiss, it was probably the doubt and worry that always lingered in their eyes. They were probably afraid her enthusiasm would last only three minutes before she reverted to her old self.
The next morning, Linlin got up very early and ran excitedly into the kitchen before he had even finished dressing.
Tang Zhuyun was folding wontons. Her hands turned and pinched deftly, and plump wontons shaped like ingots were lined up neatly on the cutting board.
"You're awake so early? Xiu'er, go pour some water and help Linlin wash up."
"Are you making dumplings?" Disappointment showed on Linlin's face.
"They're wontons, shredded chicken wontons," Tang Zhuyun said. "I'll cook them in chicken broth in a bit and add plenty of cilantro for you. How does that sound?"
Linlin nodded and looked around, seemingly searching for something.
But he didn't find it. His gaze immediately grew dejected, and he was a little angry too.
She had clearly promised yesterday to bring him lunch, yet today she had forgotten all about it!
He was so angry! He really shouldn't have gotten his hopes up about her!
But the next moment, he heard Tang Zhuyun say, "What would you like for lunch? Once I've seen you all off, I'll go buy groceries and make it, then have Xiu'er bring it to you at the prince's residence. They'll let her in, won't they?"
The surprise came so suddenly that Linlin could hardly believe it. "You're... you're going to have Xiu'er bring me lunch at noon?"
He had only meant to bring it with him in the morning. How could he have dared imagine that she would think everything through so carefully?
Tang Zhuyun misunderstood him. "You don't want Xiu'er to go? Then should I go?"
Linlin hesitated, then nodded.
Aunt was different now. He wasn't afraid she would embarrass him by going.
"All right, then." Tang Zhuyun smiled. "Go wash your face and comb your hair. We'll have wontons in a bit. Eat your fill and become the top scholar!"
Linlin said solemnly, "I will! I'll become the top scholar in the imperial examination, just like Grandfather and Father."
Tang Zhuyun said, "No, no, no..."
"What?"
"I mean, don't put so much pressure on yourself," Tang Zhuyun said. "When I said top scholar, I was just making a comparison. Even if you come second or third, or become a jinshi or a tong jinshi, that's still very, very impressive."
Children shouldn't carry such a heavy burden of pressure. It wasn't good for their healthy development.
"You don't believe in me!" Linlin looked hurt.
Tang Zhuyun was speechless.
She had never been a mother, but she had heard her colleagues complain so often about their children not being driven that her ears were practically growing calluses.
What rare breed was this child of the Tang family, tiger-parenting himself?
She didn't even have to tiger-parent him. Had she transmigrated here to lie back and win?
He was a self-tiger-parenting child. Assessment complete.
"You can do it. If not you, then who?" Tang Zhuyun immediately adopted a solemn attitude, her face saying "I believe in you" and her sparkling eyes filled with "You're so outstanding!"
After she spared no effort in delivering a sincere performance worthy of an Oscar-winning actress, Linlin finally showed a hint of a smile and said solemnly, "I will! I'm going to read for a while."
What a fine young man, moving all of Huaxia! Keep it up! Three top scholars in one family are just around the corner, oh yeah!
After Tang Baixin took Linlin out, Tang Zhuyun went out to buy groceries.
She had actually prepared everything the night before, kneading the dough and letting it rest in advance, using pumpkin for one batch and spinach juice for another. After returning with the groceries, she quickly made cute little pig and frog buns and put them in a steamer to steam.
Children had little resistance to cute things, but their meals still had to be nutritionally balanced.
Tang Zhuyun sliced the fresh grass carp she had bought into thin pieces, picked out all the bones, and made fish in sour broth, mildly spicy to suit Linlin's taste.
She also made pumpkin baked with egg yolk, stir-fried lettuce stem with pork, fried small river shrimp, and a cold dish of wood ear mushrooms and sliced lotus root. Then she peeled a melon and cut it into small pieces, arranging it on a fruit platter with mulberries.
"Bring two wet towels as well, to wipe his mouth and hands," Tang Zhuyun told Xiu'er.
There was so much food that she packed it into two food boxes and went with Xiu'er to Prince Rong's Residence.
When the gatekeeper at Prince Rong's Residence heard that they had come from the Tang residence to deliver a meal, he looked as though he had encountered visitors from another world. He waved Tang Zhuyun in impatiently, muttering, "The Tang family is dirt poor, but this maid is quite pretty."
Your dog's eyes must be blind!
But she said nothing and went in with Xiu'er.
"Hit him! Knock him down!" Hearing a group of children shouting excitedly in the distance, Tang Zhuyun's heart skipped a beat. Carrying the food boxes, she hurried forward as if on wings, leaving Xiu'er behind.
"Tang Duo, you good-for-nothing, get up! I bet thirty taels of silver on you to win!"
"Ha ha, you're bound to lose today."
When Tang Zhuyun drew near and heard those two remarks, she set the food boxes on the ground and shoved her way through the crowd like a madwoman.
Tang Zhuyun had never dreamed she would see such a scene: a boy much taller and sturdier than Linlin was sitting astride him, fists raining down on him, while Linlin could only curl up in a ball and try in vain to protect himself.
Fine, fine, fine!
None of you bastards is living through today!
Blood surged straight to Tang Zhuyun's head. Without thinking, she rushed forward, grabbed the boy and slapped him left and right more than a dozen times, turning his face into a pig's head before he could react. Then she seized his arm and kicked him viciously in the thigh again and again, cursing, "Picking on someone smaller, are you? Fine, I'll play with you!"
Her hair came loose and her clothes fell into disarray, but she paid no attention and had abandoned all method. All she could think was, You dare hit my child? I'll hit you back even if it costs me my life!
"How dare you, how dare you!" The boy's attendants panicked and swarmed forward to pull Tang Zhuyun away. "He's Prince Rong's young commandery prince!"