"Yes." Tang Yuran nodded as if it were a matter of course.
"Do you know what the Manchu Han Imperial Feast is?" Tang Yuran's dad asked her with a face full of amusing expression.
"It's a name of a dish." Tang Yuran answered loudly and clearly.
With a light "Pfft" of laughter, Tang Yuran's mom waved the spatula in her hand somewhat helplessly and then said to her husband, "You go and have a good discussion about the Manchu Han Imperial Feast with your daughter, I'll continue cooking."
"Alright, my dear wife." Tang Yuran's dad nodded and walked down the stairs to squat in front of Tang Yuran, asking her kindly, "Youyou, can you tell Daddy why you want to learn how to make the Manchu Han Imperial Feast?"
"To become Gu Yu's wife." Tang Yuran pulled at the hem of her clothes with her little hands and said very seriously.
"..."
???
Tang Yuran's dad twitched the corners of his mouth, full of question marks as he looked at his daughter.
"Gu Yu... who is that??"
"The new student in our class."
"A boy?"
"A boy."
"Is he handsome?"
"Quite handsome."
"Between Dad and him, who's a bit more handsome?"
"Um, it should be Dad who's more handsome." Tang Yuran thought for a long time with her head tilted, then answered her dad.
"Very good." Tang Yuran's dad felt very satisfied with this answer.
"But Daddy, you're already old, and Gu Yu is still young. When he grows up, he will definitely be an even more handsome guy than you." Tang Yuran didn't even let her dad bask in joy for three seconds before she hit him with this line.
The smile on Tang Yuran's dad's face suddenly froze.
He's old?
His daughter says he's old??
Is there some mistake? He's only thirty this year okay!! Including the traditional nominal age, he's only thirty-one!! Doesn't everyone say a man is in full bloom at thirty-one, so why is it that to his daughter, he's already old?
Tang Yuran's dad took a deep breath, barely maintaining the smile on his face, and continued to speak in an even tone to Tang Yuran: "Well, Mommy is the same age as Daddy, so does that mean Mommy is old too?"
"Not at all!" Tang Yuran said loudly to her dad, quite unhappily: "Mommy is only eighteen this year, you're already thirty, how can you two be the same age??"
"..."
Tang Yuran's dad closed his eyes, feeling the veins on his forehead throbbing insistently.
"Alright, Daddy, let's not discuss this topic anymore. Just teach me how to make the Manchu Han Imperial Feast!" Tang Yuran didn't notice the expression on her dad's face and just kept urging him to teach her to cook.
Tang Yuran's dad took a deep breath, a faint curve forming at the corners of his lips.
Ha! The Manchu Han Imperial Feast!
What brat dares to make his precious daughter learn how to make the Manchu Han Imperial Feast!
"Daddy, Daddy...??" Seeing the inexplicable smile on her dad's face and yet he didn't say a word, Tang Yuran couldn't help but push him on the arm.
"Hmm." Tang Yuran's dad came back to his senses, stroked his daughter's head, stood up, took her little hand and started heading towards the study while speaking, "Come on, Daddy will first look up the recipes for the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, and then we can decide what to make."
"Oh... so we need to look up recipes... Dad, could it be that you don't know how to make it either??" Tang Yuran obediently followed her dad, asking casually as they went.