Chapter 26: Pancakes with Soy Milk

I knew it, I knew it—I must have been found and adopted.

“Tieniu, Tieniu, my dear grandson!” Old Lady Xu’s voice came calling.

Tieniu smugly looked at Zhao Hu and A Dou. See? I’m the one grandma cares about most.

Old Lady Xu pushed past Tieniu and the others, snatched the village chief from Da Ya’s arms, cradled her gently, and said with worry, “So light, so light, the village chief has wasted away from exhaustion. Those damned human traffickers deserve to be struck by thunder!”

Tieniu thought: If only I weren’t a boy right now.

“Shuan’er, Shuan’er!” The village chief of Xiahe Village was helped forward by a few men. Seeing his dear grandson, tears immediately streamed down his face.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! I’m back!” Hearing his grandpa’s voice, Shuanzi’s fear exploded and he cried as he threw himself into his grandpa’s arms.

“Zhuzi.”

“Heiwa.”

Zhuzi and Heiwa saw Shuanzi crying and also bawled as they threw themselves into their mothers’ arms, almost unable to come back from the trauma. Boohoo.

“Going home!” Xiaojiu shouted to everyone.

“Yes, yes, going home!”

“Going home!”

The group happily and noisily made their way back to the village.

That night, the village lights shone especially bright, and everyone’s hearts were filled with gratitude and warmth.

Especially Xiaojiu, who among the children became the brightest memory of the night, forever etched in their hearts.

‘Successfully rescued villagers, reward: 500 points + 1 lottery draw.’

Hearing this familiar voice, Xiaojiu wasn’t overly happy.

She was thinking about the group of children she saw inside the cave today.

Were they also abducted?

How long had they lived there?

Were their parents, like Aunt Liu and the others, desperately worried?

Were they beaten every day?

Master Yan said they were probably captured young to be trained as death warriors.

They might even be controlled by drugs,

and if they left the cave, they would die immediately.

Now they were numb, without thoughts.

But how can people have no thoughts?

Xiaojiu didn’t understand.

…..

Xiaojiu was restless and couldn’t sleep.

She flew up to the rooftop to wait for sunrise.

The sky gradually brightened to dawn, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the mist and gently shone on Xiaojiu, coating her young face with a soft glow.

She sat on the rooftop, swinging her feet lightly, eyes passing over the overlapping roofs as if searching for something, or perhaps pondering deeper questions.

The village’s roosters crowed and dogs barked, announcing the start of a new day.

Villagers began to come out of their homes and start work, their smiles brighter than usual.

Xiaojiu flew down from the roof, and soon the chubby boy and the others woke up and came out into the yard.

Seeing Xiaojiu, the chubby boy immediately ran over excitedly. Yesterday, everyone had been too focused on escaping to ask their little benefactor’s name.

“My name is Wang Zherong. What about you? Why do they call you village chief?” the chubby boy asked.

“What did you say your name was?” Xiaojiu quickly turned to ask the chubby boy.

“Wang Zherong. What’s wrong with that?” The chubby boy was puzzled. Was there something wrong with his name?

“Nothing, nothing,” Xiaojiu said awkwardly with a smile.

“What’s your name? Why do they call you village chief?” The chubby boy wasn’t satisfied with her not answering, so he asked again.

“Shi Xiaojiu. I was born the village chief here—naturally,” Xiaojiu replied.

Shen Zhiyuan pushed past the chubby boy, grabbed Xiaojiu’s hand, and said, “Little benefactor, you’re so amazing! Are you a little fairy?”

Just as Da Ya entered the village chief’s courtyard, she saw Shen Zhiyuan holding the village chief’s hand. Alarm bells immediately rang in her head.

She rushed over, snatched the village chief’s hand from Shen Zhiyuan, and put it into her own.

Hmph!
Where did this little demon come from, trying to snatch the village chief from her?

“Village chief, are you hungry?” Da Ya asked with concern.

After a day of running around last night, the village chief looked exhausted and clearly hadn’t slept well.

“Mm, Sister Xu is already making breakfast,” Xiaojiu nodded in reply.

She glanced at the people brought back yesterday and said, “After breakfast, I’ll have the villagers send you all home. Do you remember where your homes are?”

The chubby boy scratched his head and said, “My dad is Wang Fugui. We live at the east end of town. Our family is the richest in town.”

Shen Zhiyuan quickly added, “My dad is the county magistrate. Just send me back to the county office.”

Other children also reported their home addresses one after another.

Only one little boy remained silent.

Da Ya looked at Shen Zhiyuan in surprise and asked, “How were you all captured?”

Shen Zhiyuan said angrily, “Hmph! I got separated from my cousin and maid. We ran into a group of black-clothed men in an alley, then I passed out. When I woke up, I was tied up in that house.”

It turned out the girl holding her hand was her cousin.

The chubby boy said a bit foolishly, “I just heard the Yongfu Restaurant had new dishes, so I went to try them, but then somehow got kidnapped there.”

At that moment, the chubby boy’s stomach growled.

He looked up at Xiaojiu eagerly: “Little benefactor, when are we going to eat breakfast?”

Well, this guy was definitely a foodie who never stopped thinking about food.

“Almost ready,” Xiaojiu replied.

Just then, Xu Xiaoxiao came out of the kitchen calling everyone to eat.

Today’s breakfast was Jianbing Guozi (Chinese savory pancakes) with soy milk.

Both the pancakes and the soy milk were made according to the recipe Xiaojiu had given Xu Xiaoxiao last time.

Xu Xiaoxiao wasn’t sure how it would taste.

“What’s this?” The chubby boy was the first to rush to the table.

It smells so good!

“This is a new dish I developed following the village chief’s recipe — Jianbing Guozi with soy milk,” Xu Xiaoxiao said.

It had been a long time since they had Jianbing Guozi.

Xiaojiu picked one up, took a bite, then sipped some soy milk.

Delicious! Just as she remembered.

Xiaojiu happily squinted her eyes.

The chubby boy imitated Xiaojiu, took a big bite, and drank some soy milk.

“Wow, this is so good!” The chubby boy’s eyes lit up instantly as if he had discovered a treasure. His mouth was full, but he exaggeratedly praised it with a satisfied smile, his cheeks puffing up adorably.

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoxiao finally relaxed. She had worried it wouldn’t taste good, but hearing such high praise made her very happy.

“Xiaoxiao sister, if you sold these Jianbing Guozi and soy milk in town, a lot of people would definitely love it,” Shen Zhiyuan said, giving Xu Xiaoxiao a thumbs-up while eating.

Xu Xiaoxiao was a bit shy but mostly delighted to see everyone enjoying the food so much.

At this moment, the usually silent little boy suddenly spoke up: “Delicious! The pancake shell is crispy, the filling rich, and the soy milk thick, sweet, and fragrant. The combination is perfect.”

The chubby boy, hearing this, couldn’t stop eating and muttered, “So you’re not mute! You can talk?”

The little boy ignored him.

The chubby boy pouted. How boring.

After breakfast, everyone had already forgotten about going home.

The chubby boy just wanted to stay here forever.

He heard Xiaoxiao sister say they’d have hotpot for lunch. Although he didn’t know what it was, it had to be super delicious.

He refused to leave — no matter what, he wouldn’t go back.