Chapter 15: Chapter 15: About Nuanbao

Sanliqiao is located on the plains, so people here mostly eat noodles.

For lunch, the Yu family had lo mein. But the noodles weren’t made from pure wheat flour—hardly any family in Sanliqiao could afford that luxury. Instead, the noodles were a mix of sweet potato flour, bean flour, and just a little bit of wheat flour. This three-flour blend made for darker noodles that weren’t particularly chewy, but no one minded.

Life in the countryside meant every household had its own vegetable patch. If you wanted to eat something, you just went out and picked it from your own garden.

For the noodle topping, the Yu family used eggplant. Add a bit of minced garlic when eating, and the flavor was still excellent.

Yu Nuannuan watched everyone slurping their noodles, and she couldn’t help but move her mouth along with them.

It had been half a year since she’d arrived here, and she hadn’t tasted anything flavorful the whole time. Not only that, but she had to watch others eat every day—it was pure torture!

Yu Nuannuan turned her head away, deciding that what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.

At that moment, Yu Shuai came over, holding his little bowl and bouncing along. He picked up a small strand of noodle with his chopsticks and tried to feed it to Yu Nuannuan.

Xu Shuhua saw this and quickly stopped him. “Xiao Wu, eat your own food. Nuanbao can’t eat that!”

Yu Shuai looked at Xu Shuhua, then at Yu Nuannuan, utterly confused. “But, Grandma, look—Nuanbao has her mouth open!”

Xu Shuhua looked down and, sure enough, saw Yu Nuannuan with her little mouth open, her soft pink tongue just at her lips, moving slightly.

“This…”

Xu Shuhua hesitated for just a moment, and Yu Shuai had already popped the noodle into Yu Nuannuan’s mouth.

Yu Shuai was Yu Hu’s eldest son, the fifth grandchild in the Yu family, four and a half years old, and already quite skilled with chopsticks.

As soon as the noodle entered her mouth, Yu Nuannuan quickly closed her lips and started sucking on it.

She had no choice—without teeth, there was only so much she could do!

Seeing all this, Yu Shuai was overjoyed, his voice rising with excitement. “Grandma! Look! Nuanbao ate it! She loves the noodles I fed her! That means she likes me best!”

Xu Shuhua glanced at Yu Shuai, unable to burst his bubble. She knew her granddaughter best—she just liked noodles, that’s all!

Yu Nuannuan sucked on the noodle for a while, until her cheeks started to ache, and finally had to spit it out.

Xu Shuhua burst out laughing at the sight, but her heart ached at the same time. She secretly resolved that after the summer harvest, she’d make something tasty and easy to digest for Yu Nuannuan.

After lunch, the whole Yu family went back to their rooms to rest.

Noon was the hottest time of day, and there was no shade in the fields. If you went out to work now, you’d probably faint from the sun.

So after lunch, everyone would rest indoors for a while, to avoid the worst heat and recharge for the afternoon’s work.

Chen Qiaoqin, holding Yu Nuannuan, called out to Xu Shuhua, who was about to head back to her room. “Mom, come here, I need to talk to you.”

Xu Shuhua looked at Chen Qiaoqin curiously. “What is it? Can’t you just say it here?”

“Mom, let’s go inside first. I’ll tell you there—it’s about Nuanbao.”

As soon as Xu Shuhua heard it was about Nuanbao, she didn’t ask any more questions and hurried after Chen Qiaoqin into the room.

Yu Hai was already lying on the bed. Seeing Chen Qiaoqin and Xu Shuhua come in one after the other, he was puzzled. “Mom, why didn’t you go rest? Is something up?”

Xu Shuhua ignored Yu Hai, her eyes fixed anxiously on Chen Qiaoqin. “What’s wrong with Nuanbao? What is it? Hurry up and tell me!”"

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