Huayu: Starting by piggybacking on the fame of "Fairy Mom"

Chapter 47 Tonight, let's eat chicken!

Evening, the staff quarters of the song and dance troupe.

"Xixi, are you having an extra treat tonight?" Aunt Li, the neighbor, asked curiously when she saw the plucked chicken in An Xixi's hand.

"Okay! Aunt Li, let my mom do it later," An Qianqian replied politely.

"Can your mother really do this well?" Zhou Xiaobai, who was standing beside Aunt Li, looked helpless after Aunt Li had walked away.

To celebrate the successful signing, Chen Minghua sent someone to deliver a pig and a dozen chickens to the orphanage in the afternoon.

Zhou Xiaobai originally wanted to finish eating before leaving, but he couldn't resist An Qianqian's words, "Returning home in glory is like wearing fine clothes at night," and insisted on sharing this joy with his mother.

So the two of them took a chicken and borrowed a cookbook from Grandma Wang, and set off for home.

"Isn't there a recipe? People on TV can learn by watching it. Mom is very smart, she'll definitely be able to do it." Anxi waved the recipe in her hand, full of confidence.

"Alright," Zhou Xiaobai replied, but his eyelids kept twitching, and a sense of foreboding crept into his heart.

Before long, we arrived at our doorstep.

"I planted a seed, and it finally grew into fruit. Today is a great day..." Anxi hummed "Little Apple" and kicked the door.

Liu Xiaoli, who was sitting on the sofa, was startled. Before she could react, An Qianqian had already handed her the chicken and the recipe, arrogantly saying, "Da Meili, I've made... I've got something delicious. Hurry up and make it. We're having chicken tonight!" She almost let it slip and quickly corrected herself.

Seeing her actions, Zhou Xiaobai, who was following behind, was so frightened that only one word remained in his mind—run!

In the blink of an eye, he turned and ran—he was going home tonight to seek his mother's protection; he was terrified, truly terrified.

Inside the house, Liu Xiaoli was also taken aback by the scene. She stared at the naked chicken and the recipe book in front of her, dumbfounded.

It took her a while to come to her senses. Her finger trembled as she pointed at An Qianqian, then she roared, "An Qianqian! Are you crazy? What's going on now?"

"I—say—we—eat—chicken—to—night!" Anxiqian said, enunciating each word clearly. If you have money, when else would you show it off? She pointed to her chubby face, "I've been starving for three days straight following you, look how skinny I've become."

"Ha!" Liu Xiaoli laughed in exasperation.

She slapped the chicken away, grabbed Anxi and pinned her to her lap, yelling, "You've gotten thin from hunger, haven't you? You want to eat chicken, haven't you? You call me Da Meili, haven't you? I'll treat you to bamboo shoots and pork first!" She then slapped Anxi's buttocks a few times.

"Waaah... Mommy, please forgive your little darling! I was wrong, you've just gotten thin from hunger!" Anxi cried and begged for mercy.

"Still a little baby? You're as fat as a pig now!" Liu Xiaoli pinched her round little face.

"Yes, yes, I am a pig... Mom, look, I even borrowed a recipe, just so I could give you a little something extra!" Anxixi said, trying to please her mother despite her pain.

"Tell me, where did the chicken come from?" Liu Xiaoli glanced at the cookbook.

"Waaah... Today, some kind people came to the courtyard to sponsor us. I wanted to share with my mom, so I took a chicken with Xiaobai and wanted to cook it for you..." Anxi explained, sobbing.

"Xiaobai? Where is he?" Liu Xiaoli looked towards the door—there wasn't a trace of him.

Anxi then remembered someone and turned to shout, "Little brother! Little brother... come and explain to Mommy!"

There was no response from outside the door!

She suddenly realized something and was horrified—Zhou Xiaobai had actually run away? Was she supposed to take all the blame?

She was instantly enraged, her teeth itching with anger: You, Zhou Xiaobai, dare to make me take the blame all by myself! I'll eat my hat if I don't drag you down with me!

With a quick glance around her eyes, An Qianqian began to shift the blame with a wronged expression: "Mom, it's all because Zhou Xiaobai said that you eat fried rice with eggs every day, that your cooking is not good, and that you've lost weight... He borrowed the chicken and the recipe, saying he wanted to make spicy chicken cubes for you."

"Keep making things up!" Liu Xiaoli smacked her little bottom again.

"Waaah... It really was Xiaobai who said it..."

"Fine, then you find him and bring him back to me. If I don't get chicken tonight, you're not going to sleep either!" Liu Xiaoli sneered, issuing her final ultimatum.

……

At this moment, Zhou Xiaobai, who had just run home, was panting heavily.

The old lady was startled to see him like this: "Xiaobai, what's wrong? Aren't you at Qianqian's house?"

"Uh..." Zhou Xiaobai chuckled awkwardly, "Mom, Qianqian and Sister Li went shopping. I don't like shopping, so I'll just go first—"

Before he could finish speaking, the phone rang.

The old lady picked up the phone without thinking, and An Qianqian's tearful voice came from the other end: "Grandma, sob... Xiaobai... is Xiaobai back?"

"I just got home, what's wrong?" The old lady was taken aback, thinking it was a child throwing a tantrum, and asked gently.

"Waaah..." Anxi cried even harder, remaining silent for a long time, as if all the world's grievances were weighing on her alone.

After much coaxing from the old lady, An Qianqian finally sobbed, "Xiaobai... he complained that Mom's cooking wasn't good enough and said he wanted to cook for himself. He prepared everything, but then he ran away... Mom said... she said if Xiaobai doesn't come back, he'll beat me tonight..."

She made it sound simple, but she placed all the blame on Zhou Xiaobai.

She both filed a complaint and expressed all her grievances.

The old lady was taken aback. Although she felt that things were not so simple, she did not ask any further questions. She said gently, "Don't cry, Qianqian. Your aunt will teach him a lesson for you."

After another round of reassurance and a promise that Zhou Xiaobai would return immediately, he hung up the phone.

She turned to Zhou Xiaobai and said, "Tell me, what happened?"

"Sissi is a liar. I was scared back." Zhou Xiaobai looked innocent. "If I hadn't run away, I would have been doomed."

"Oh! What could possibly scare you like this?" The old lady was both amused and annoyed. "Is your cousin going to punish you again?" She knew very well that the two of them often caused trouble and had been punished by Da Meili quite a bit.

"This time it's really not my fault, it was Qianqian who caused this." Zhou Xiaobai quickly explained the whole story, especially vividly imitating An Qianqian's arrogant appearance when she kicked the door.

The old lady was amused and shook her head, saying, "You'd better go quickly, or Qianqian will get a beating again."

Half an hour later, at Liu Xiaoli's house.

In the living room, Liu Xiaoli was telling Zhou Wenqiong on the phone about their daily antics and sharing her parenting tips.

She said she would definitely be tougher on these kinds of things in the future. She was very proud of herself and also recounted how she had confiscated their pocket money yesterday.

She warned Zhou Wenqiong: "Don't give the two of them any pocket money anymore, or they might really run away."

Zhou Wenqiong deeply agreed: she had wanted to do this for a long time, but she didn't expect her cousin to take action first.

After hanging up the phone, I could hear the clanging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen, along with Zhou Xiaobai's occasional pleas.

Liu Xiaoli couldn't suppress a smile. Heh! Let's see if you dare cause any more trouble.

She couldn't be bothered with the mess in the kitchen; she'd already made her stance clear—if she didn't manage to prepare a whole chicken feast tonight, no one would get any sleep.

Now the requirements have been upgraded; it must be a whole chicken feast consisting of four dishes and a soup.

Two hours later, Zhou Xiaobai and An Qianqian, looking disheveled, carefully placed the plates on the table.

It really was four dishes and a soup—the spicy diced chicken was burnt to a crisp, the braised chicken pieces were half-cooked, the stir-fried chicken giblets looked like they hadn't been washed properly, and the only decent dish, the steamed chicken, was so salty it tasted bitter…

Only the soup with egg drop soup was barely edible.

Liu Xiaoli didn't say anything, since she had already eaten some snacks.

She stared at the two of them quietly until they each forced down a whole bowl of rice before she looked away.

Since you dare to cause trouble, you should honestly bear the consequences.