After arriving at New Star, they bought a lot of frozen dumplings at the mall to save trouble. Little Fatty ate them and couldn’t stop praising, never expecting that there could be such delicious food in the world.
"Never expected that there could be such delicious food in the world" was Little Fatty’s catchphrase; he would give such high praise whenever he first tried anything that wasn’t too awful...
"I’ll do the dough, you chop the meat," Tang Fei started assigning tasks.
Chopping the filling for dumplings was practically made for Little Fatty, who was full of energy.
"Don’t worry, bro, I’ll chop the filling really fine."
"You don’t need to chop it too fine," Tang Fei said. "You just start, and I’ll watch over. I’ll tell you when it’s good enough..."
He was worried Little Fatty might apply too much force and turn the filling into a mush.
Instead of retaining the desired texture.
So, the brothers started getting busy, Tang Fei mixing and raising the dough with adept movements. Little Fatty meanwhile selected a piece of desert pork with more fat than lean—both brothers preferred meat with some fat.
Unlike Phoenix and Sheng Xinhua, who would cut away even slight edges of fat from the meat.
When the meat was chopped sufficiently, Tang Fei threw over some washed celery stems asking Little Fatty to chop them together with the meat.
After all was prepared, they began to wrap the dumplings.
Tang Fei was quick, Little Fatty was slow.
Tang Fei’s dumplings were round and pleasing, while Little Fatty’s were oddly shaped, as if he had strained with all his might to pinch them together.
Since it was the holidays after all, Tang Fei made a few additional side dishes.
The brothers opened a bottle of white wine; dumplings paired with wine just hit differently.
Tang Fei had two plates, Little Fatty devoured two pots.
After eating, they lay satisfied on the sofa, patting their bellies.
"Bro..." Little Fatty called out.
"What’s up?" Tang Fei asked.
"What do you think godfather is doing now?" Little Fatty questioned.
Tang Fei knew Little Fatty was missing the old man again.
The old man was not ordinary...
"He must be eating dumplings too," Tang Fei said reassuringly.
"Bro, you’re lying. How could godfather get any dumplings? He doesn’t even have any flour," Little Fatty said.
"Besides, they don’t even celebrate Winter Solstice in the Old Land, only the New Year. When we’re not around, godfather surely must be stewing a big pot of mutton, then drinking a big bowl of cassava wine, sitting in the yard listening to those bizarre songs..."
"Maybe Aunt Cheng is also there; godfather must be telling her his old jokes, making Aunt Cheng burst into laughter..." Tang Fei continued along with Little Fatty’s imaginings, anyway damaging the old man’s reputation.
Though he didn’t really have a reputation to damage.
"Do you think godfather might already be with Aunt Cheng? She often comes over to help us with chores... When you go hunting in the hills, and I go mountain rock gathering, it’s just the two of them at home..."
"Did you see something?" Tang Fei asked gossipingly.
"I didn’t see anything; I’m just guessing."
Tang Fei looked at Little Fatty and asked, "By the way, you’ve been at school for so long, have you met any girl you like?"
Little Fatty widened his eyes, looking at Tang Fei, and asked, "Bro, why are you asking me this?"
Tang Fei, equally puzzled, looked at Little Fatty, asking, "Why can’t I ask this? Don’t you like girls?"
As a brother, he’d support him.
After all, love knows no age, borders, gender, or color.
"Why should I like them? I don’t even know them," Little Fatty said. "I like Sister Phoenix, and now I also like Mr. Sheng..."
"I’m not talking about that kind of like..."
"Then what kind of like are you talking about?" Little Fatty asked.
"The kind where your face goes red, your heart races, and you just want to marry her and spend your life with her..." Tang Fei looked at Little Fatty, explaining, "I’m talking about that kind of like."
Little Fatty frantically waved his hands, now genuinely blushing, and said, "No, no... I don’t like any girls like that."
"Okay, there’s no rush," Tang Fei said. "First focus on improving yourself, and we’ll see about the rest later... Fate is something that just happens."
"Like with you and Sister Phoenix? She fell from the sky and you just happened to pick her up?"
A Lin Daiyu falling from the sky?
How could such things happen so easily?
Little Fatty sighed softly and said, "I really miss godfather... would be great if he was here with us..."
"He will be," Tang Fei reassured him confidently. "There will come a day."
"Yeah." Little Fatty nodded resolutely. "Once we become more powerful, we’ll go to the Old Land and bring godfather back."
"Alright," Tang Fei said. "Let’s bring him back."
Thinking of the old man, they both fell silent.
Little Fatty felt melancholic, while Tang Fei harbored other concerns.
When could they all be together?
The old man’s identity was a secret, even their relationship with him couldn’t be exposed to the world.
Could it really be that they had to eliminate the Zhong Family father and son and replace the ruler of the Phoenix Empire first?
Moreover, that ruler had to be one of their own...
Thinking of what he had to do, Tang Fei felt a sense of sorrow and helplessness.
This wasn’t just an ambition; it was a pipe dream, delusional.
It was many times harder than becoming a Great Grandmaster.
Even though becoming a Great Grandmaster was incredibly difficult, at least it offered some hope.
But their task was utterly bleak, with no hope in sight.