Xibao, drooling with impatience, urged, "Mom, hurry up, I want to eat meat!"
"You can’t hurry and eat hot tofu; what’s the rush? Eat your greens and potato slices first. By the time you finish them, the meat will be ready."
Xibao blinked her watery big eyes, "Mom, there’s no tofu—I didn’t ask for tofu; the meat is what I want to eat, the meat!" she said, pointing at the sizzling lamb skewers and chicken wings on the grill.
"No veggies, no meat!"
Feng Qingxue pouted, turned over the lamb skewers, continued grilling, and brushed them with sauce and sprinkled some cumin.
The child couldn’t eat spicy food, so naturally, she didn’t sprinkle any chili powder.
Fubao, with her face smeared like a little painted doll, held a potato slice in one hand and reached out with her left hand to Feng Qingxue’s mouth, "Mom, eat!"
"Fubao is such a good girl!" Feng Qingxue turned her head and took a bite.
The little girl bounced over to Lu Jiang, holding it up to him, "Daddy, eat!"
"My dear big girl is so sweet, so caring!" Lu Jiang was so delighted that his eyes and eyebrows squished together. Xibao hadn’t thought to give him even a leaf of vegetable. "Daddy is working, go to your mom and let her give you some grilled meat to eat."
The little girl bounced back, "Mom, Daddy is working!"
Feng Qingxue’s mouth curled with a smile, "Hmm, Daddy is working. Shall we grill some meat for Daddy?"
"Yeah, lots of meat!" The little girl sure knew how to sweet talk. But then she shifted the subject, "For Daddy to eat, for Mommy to eat, but not for brother, because brother didn’t do any work!"
Xibao stuck out his tongue and wrinkled his nose at her, "I’ll eat it, eat lots of meat, and not give any to Fubao!"
"Veggies!" Fubao pointed at the greens and potato slices on the plate in front of Xibao.
Xibao grabbed them and stuffed them into his mouth, swallowing them whole. "Mom, I ate the veggies, now I want the meat!"
He never stopped thinking about the meat.
Once the meat was cooked, Feng Qingxue took it off the grill and put it on a plate, then continued to place raw lamb skewers on the grate. She turned around and slipped the cooked lamb skewers and chicken wings onto plates, blowing on them to cool before handing them to Xibao, and also took a piece of lamb for Fubao.
Fubao chewed for a long time while Xibao had already polished off several chunks of lamb.
The lamb skewers they had prepared themselves were each generously sized, albeit a bit thin to facilitate grilling.
Fubao only managed to eat one piece of lamb but did eat a chicken wing and couldn’t eat another bite.
"Mom, I’m full. I’m going to help Daddy!" The little girl patted her belly and ran over to the tent that was already set up. "Daddy, Fubao will help you work, and you eat meat!"
Such sweet, tender words—who wouldn’t be pleased to hear them?
Lu Jiang scooped up his big girl in his arms, "Fubao is still little. Daddy will work, and Fubao can eat meat."
Father and daughter cuddled up together in front of the grill while Feng Qingxue pointed to the basin. "Wash your hands first, then you can eat," she said, placing several skewers of sausages and vegetables on the grill—these tend to cook quickly since they’re easy to grill.
When Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue started to eat, Xibao gradually slowed down, probably full by then.
"Mom, I’m going to play!" Xibao had been curious about the surroundings for a while now, eager to fly around and see everything.
Feng Qingxue held onto him, "Wait until Mom and Dad have finished eating, then we’ll take you and your sister to play."
"Okay then, hurry up!"
As for Fubao, she had already squatted by the basin, wiping her face and hands with a damp cloth, then rummaged through Feng Qingxue’s bag for the small mirror to admire her own pretty face, "Mom, where’s my snow cream? I want to smell nice."
You can’t use Mom’s; use your own, alright!