"It may look normal, but the taste is another story," Su Miao said enviously. "It might not even be cooked properly, or you might have mistaken sugar for salt."
Her own failure was daunting enough, but her son's success was even more heartbreaking. Even if it didn't taste good, at least he had nailed the appearance, while she couldn't even manage that.
Defeat.
Su Yuyan ignored her and stepped onto the small stool to serve two bowls of rice.
Su Miao held a bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other. "I'll do you a favor and try your culinary disaster."
She picked up a piece with her chopsticks.
It felt somewhat like marching valiantly to her death.
Su Yuyan watched Su Miao intently as she put the food in her mouth, his small hand gripping the chopsticks nervously.
He wasn't sure how well he had done, as this was his first attempt. His previous living space didn't even have a kitchen, so he never had the chance to try cooking before.
As the food entered her mouth, Su Miao frowned.
Su Yuyan tightened his grip on the child-sized chopsticks. Was it that bad?
Su Miao tilted her head and took another bite. "I'm not quite sure."
Su Yuyan was bewildered.
What did she mean by "not quite sure"?
"This is incredibly delicious! Did you really make this?" Su Miao exclaimed excitedly. "You didn't just order takeout and transfer it to the plate while I was on my phone, did you?"
Hearing this, Su Yuyan breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, it wasn't terrible.
"You can check the kitchen trash if you want," Su Yuyan replied with a hint of pride.
Su Miao let out a long sigh.
Of course, she knew he had made it. She was just expressing her jealousy.
How could someone cook so well on their first try?
It made her feel foolish.
In the end, Su Miao channeled her frustration into appetite, eating three full bowls of rice that night until her stomach condition flared up.
She lay on the couch, groaning in pain.
Su Yuyan thoughtfully retrieved medicine from the first aid kit and brought it with a glass of warm water. "Take this."
Su Miao propped herself up, accepted the medicine from Su Yuyan, and swallowed it in one go. She then stretched her neck to drink some water directly from the glass in Su Yuyan's hand.
After taking the medicine, she flopped back onto the couch, whimpering.
This body was truly too delicate.
In the apocalyptic world, she hadn't made a sound even when her arm was broken, but now a minor stomach ache made her want to cry.
Su Yuyan put down the glass and sat on the opposite couch. "No matter how delicious it is, you shouldn't eat that much. Your body can't handle it."
"Why didn't you stop me when I was eating earlier?" Su Miao rolled her eyes.
Su Yuyan: "..."
He had forgotten.
Seeing her eat so happily, he had completely forgotten about it.
The next day.
After a night's rest, Su Miao felt much better.
Since Xiao Zeyan hadn't sent her any messages yet, it seemed the kindergarten matter wasn't settled.
Su Miao decided to take Su Yuyan along to deliver takeout.
She got a small helmet for Su Yuyan and had him sit on the back of the electric scooter. The mother-son duo spent the whole morning delivering takeout.
During this time, Su Yuyan was complimented no less than ten times.
When picking up orders, restaurant staff praised Su Yuyan for being handsome and polite.
This attractive mother-son pair caught everyone's attention wherever they went. Customers receiving their orders couldn't resist the urge to pat Su Yuyan's cute, delicate face.
However, our little anti-hero was too aloof and too clever, always managing to dodge the customers' reaching hands in advance.
Su Yuyan's behavior only amused the customers more, and they began offering him snacks. Despite Su Yuyan's repeated refusals, he couldn't fend off the enthusiastic feeding from the office ladies.
Seeing Su Yuyan's pockets stuffed full of snacks, Su Miao couldn't stop laughing.
It was just too comical.
His little face was serious and expressionless, but his pockets were bursting with snacks, the corners of the packaging peeking out. Not just his pockets, even the hood of his thin sweatshirt was filled with snacks.
Su Miao laughed uncontrollably, "Son, you're way too popular. I'm really worried about my future."
The boy was indeed popular. Not only did customers feed him snacks, but they also didn't leave bad reviews even when deliveries were late.
Su Yuyan looked at her.
If he was popular, why was she worried?
"In the future, there will definitely be suitors trying to win over the future mother-in-law to get close to you. By then, I'll be surrounded by a group of young and beautiful girls, all eager to offer gifts," Su Miao continued, clicking her tongue. "What a headache it'll be when there's no place to put all those gifts."
Su Yuyan: "..."
You're thinking too far ahead.
As the lunch rush died down and orders became fewer, Su Miao took Su Yuyan back to the delivery station.
Xia Zhoujian was very satisfied with Su Miao's performance over the past two days. Although she hadn't taken many orders, it was a significant improvement from before.
Xia Zhoujian had seen Su Miao's account accepting orders on the platform, so he naturally assumed she had been delivering yesterday as well. He didn't know that today was actually Su Miao's first day delivering takeout.
Seeing Su Miao walk in, Xia Zhoujian's face broke into a smile, "Su Miao, you've done well these past two days. Keep it up."
It seemed her son was indeed keeping her in check.
Before Su Miao could respond, Su Yuyan stepped out from behind her. "Hello, Mr. Xia. We meet again."
"Hello, little Su Yuyan."
Xia Zhoujian was fond of Su Yuyan and seemed pleased to see him.
When delivery riders had no orders, they would rest at the delivery station, so there were several large sofas in the room.
Su Miao took off her helmet and flopped onto the sofa, her entire back sinking into the cushions.
Xia Zhoujian ignored her and walked straight to Su Yuyan. "Yuyan, have you had lunch? It doesn't seem to be the weekend, so why are you helping your mom deliver takeout? Don't you have school?"
"I've eaten," Su Yuyan replied.
He only answered the first question, choosing to ignore the latter two.
As it was just after lunchtime, orders were generally slow, and many delivery riders were resting at the station.
When they saw Su Yuyan, they all came over to play with him.
They asked him questions left and right, and Su Yuyan, considering that these people were Su Miao's colleagues, tried to be patient.
But as time went on, he couldn't take it anymore.
Su Yuyan took a deep breath, pressed his lips together, and said, "Uncles, aren't your mouths dry?"
Couldn't they stop talking to him? If they were really that bored, they could go sunbathe outside.
Even though the temperature outside was already 28 degrees Celsius.
"Thank you for your concern, little one. We're not thirsty, but what about you? Let us buy you a drink," they said, thinking themselves considerate.
Su Yuyan: "..."
Why can't they understand what I'm saying?
They might not have understood, but Su Miao certainly did. Eager to stir things up, she embellished, "My son is worried you might be thirsty. He's shy and doesn't have many friends. He's never had so many people talking to him before, and he wants to thank you all."
"He wants to treat you to drinks as a way of saying thank you for chatting with him."