"Bro, why are you always looking at me? Eat your food," Little Fatty, who was burying his head in his bowl, couldn’t help but lift his gaze to Tang Fei and voice his confusion at being stared at.
"I’m looking for something," Tang Fei said.
"What are you looking for?"
He broke a peeled egg in half and placed it into Tang Fei’s bowl, suggesting, "Bro, it tastes really good dipped in the noodle soup... you should try it."
"The epitome of ’clear stupidity’."
"What is that? Where can I find it?" Little Fatty looked bewildered.
"I’ve found it," Tang Fei said. "You go ahead and eat, have a little more."
"Alright!" Little Fatty said cheerfully.
Since Big Bro had already found it, he didn’t need to help search.
"The food you make is much tastier than what robots cook; there’s really no flavor in their food. It lacks the taste of cooking fumes..."
"That’s the smell of life," Tang Fei corrected.
"Right, right, the smell of life. It just tastes so plain and flavorless, not good at all."
Tang Fei looked at Little Fatty, who was frantically pouring hot sauce into his noodle bowl, and said, "Could it be that you haven’t put enough chili in?"
"That’s not it, it’s just that the food Big Bro makes is delicious," Little Fatty stubbornly said.
"Alright, alright, we’ll go with your answer," Tang Fei didn’t want to argue about this and spoke up, "After you finish your meal, you can go to school by yourself."
"Bro, you’re not going to school?"
"I’m going to rest at home," Tang Fei said. "Didn’t Teacher Ran Ran already say? He told me to rest at home for a few days, and that I don’t need to go to school until the admission notice from White Crane Academy arrives."
Tang Fei’s reluctance to go to school wasn’t to rest at home; he wanted to quietly observe how things would unfold.
"But you didn’t rest, you even trained this morning."
"That is... my personal diligence, a Cultivator’s self-cultivation."
"Oh." Little Fatty went back to eating his noodles.
He wasn’t a Cultivator; he had no self-cultivation...
Tang Fei understood Little Fatty’s feelings and asked him, "What has Shang Xiulin taught you recently?"
"Nothing new, he still has me smash rocks every day." Little Fatty looked dejected.
"I’ll go and talk to him when I have time," Tang Fei said. "See what he’s actually thinking. Always making someone smash rocks... Could it be some exclusive training secret book?"
"What kind of secret book is that? I can smash them myself," Little Fatty said. "My godfather used to make me smash rocks every day, and now my master does the same..."
"So, do you think, is Director Shang Xiulin a very formidable person?"
"Of course," Little Fatty said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He’s the head of the First Military Academy, naturally, he’s the most formidable."
"What about the old man?"
"Godfather is formidable too... just a bit lazy..."
"So, if two very formidable old guys both made you smash rocks, what does that tell you?"
"What does that tell us?" Little Fatty asked.
"It tells you that you really are suited to smashing rocks."
Although Little Fatty felt dejected inside, he still nodded seriously and said, "Indeed, I’m getting better at smashing rocks..."
Tang Fei saw "clear stupidity" once again...
The old man might not be good at anything else, but he had a first-rate eye for people.
The brothers had just finished their breakfast when the doorbell outside the yard began to ring.
Tang Fei was about to check the video doorbell to see who had come when Little Fatty had already run toward the yard door.
The guy was still used to opening doors manually...
Little Fatty opened the gate and saw Phoenix standing at the doorway. He exclaimed happily, "Wow, Sister Phoenix..."
He glanced outside, didn’t see anyone else, and shouted loudly, "Bro, Bro, come quickly... Sister Phoenix is here..."
Phoenix handed over the box of pastries she was holding to Little Fatty and asked, "Have you had breakfast? Am I too late?"
"We’ve eaten," Little Fatty took the box of pastries, and to avoid disappointing Sister Phoenix, he quickly added, "But I can still eat..."
"Then I’m relieved," Phoenix said, smiling.
Tang Fei came out and saw Phoenix standing in front of him.
They had only been apart for a short dozen hours, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.
When Phoenix had grasped Tang Fei’s hand and had him drive the dagger deeply into her chest...
In that moment, Tang Fei felt as if his blood had frozen and his heart had stopped beating.
As if he really did kill her.
Really stabbed the dagger through her heart...
Today, Phoenix was dressed very fresh and beautiful, wearing a green plaid floral dress with casual canvas shoes on her feet. Her long hair was simply tied up on her head and fixed in place with a bamboo phoenix hairpin.
Tang Fei looked at the bamboo hairpin, his heart filled with contentment and joy.
Phoenix owned countless pieces of precious jewelry, and among her jadeite hairpins she had no less than hundreds, but she chose to wear the cheapest and most common...
Noticing where Tang Fei’s gaze had fallen, Phoenix said shyly, "It was just at hand, so I casually put it on..."
"I know," Tang Fei nodded earnestly.
Little Fatty glanced at Tang Fei, then at Phoenix, and thought to himself, no wonder Big Bro asked him to go to school—he had already arranged for Sister Phoenix to come and keep him company.
Since he understood Big Bro’s ulterior motives, Little Fatty cheerfully said, "I’m going to school now. Big Bro is too tired, he needs to rest at home... Sister Phoenix, you must need a few days’ rest, right?"
"I’m fine..." Phoenix said.