Quan Jiu liked to eat ci ba, sweet and chewy, crispy on the outside and springy on the inside. But her fondness for ci ba stemmed from the first year of her marriage, when Chu Rong, perhaps seeing her liking for it, specifically made a batch for her.
Making ci ba was not complicated, but it was time-consuming. If there was no glutinous rice flour, the glutinous rice had to be soaked a day in advance for six hours, then drained and steamed. After that, it had to be pounded into a glutinous rice dough and chilled for two hours. In total, a small plate of ci ba could take over ten hours.
The Chu family was wealthy and lacked nothing. Quan Jiu was also a dedicated full-time wife, so opportunities for Chu Rong to cook or personally labor were almost nonexistent, unless he volunteered.
Therefore, when Chu Rong presented a plate of homemade ci ba to Quan Jiu, her joy was even greater than on the day she was proposed to.
The ci ba he made was moderately sweet and perfectly soft and crispy. He had that knack for doing anything well, even culinary arts he had never touched before.
The ci ba was one of the few things that could fill the void in Quan Jiu's heart at that time, because she had asked, and even Jiang Mengran had never eaten anything made by Chu Rong's own hands.
Quan Jiu managed to sustain herself for two years with that self-deception.
But after leaving, the things she once loved the most, when faced again, often brought back bloody memories. To avoid seeing them and being bothered, Quan Jiu never ate ci ba again.
Five years had passed. Was it fate? This thing had reappeared before her without any warning, just like him.
Mi Mi saw Quan Jiu staring at the lunchbox and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Mom?"
Quan Jiu suddenly snapped back to reality, smiled slightly, and said, "Nothing, here, Grandpa next door sent some ci ba."
Mi Mi looked a bit strange, "Why would he send ci ba?"
Quan Jiu shook her head, "Probably because the old man likes it." As she spoke, she picked a piece for Mi Mi, "Try it."
Mi Mi didn't stand on ceremony. After taking a bite and savoring it, she exclaimed in surprise, "It's delicious, Mom, you try it too."
At this moment, Quan Jiu had completely projected her fondness and regret for her grandmother onto the old man next door. Although the ci ba was a bit unsettling, she didn't want to disappoint the old man's kindness. So, she put aside her reservations and ate a piece.
Whether it was because she hadn't eaten it for five years or because she had some peculiar emotions towards ci ba, the sweet taste was surprisingly delightful to Quan Jiu.
Quan Jiu took two more pieces and fed them to Tu Tu, who was playing games, and Wang Feifei. Neither of them even turned their eyes, their controllers clattering. Soon after, a scream from Wang Feifei echoed through the living room.
"I can't do it, I can't do it anymore. I'll never play games with you again, it's too demoralizing." She, who was nearing thirty, couldn't even beat children as young as four or five. It was truly a blow to her self-esteem.
Tu Tu solemnly comforted her, "Godmother, don't be discouraged. My IQ is too high, that's why this happened. It's not unfair that you lost."
Wang Feifei chuckled, "Alright, so it's not that I'm bad, it's that my IQ isn't high enough."
"No," Tu Tu corrected, "It's that my IQ is too high. You are at a normal level, and I am at a supernormal level. We are not on the same dimension. To you, I am a dimensionality reduction attack, there is no comparison."
Wang Feifei was a bit stunned, "I don't know if I'm being comforted or insulted."
"What little brother means is that he is an anomaly, and Godmother you are the normal one. Let's not bother with anomalies," Mi Mi handed Wang Feifei a piece of ci ba.
Wang Feifei immediately felt much better. She planted a kiss on Mi Mi's cute, chubby cheek, "My precious, good goddaughter."
After getting covered in the milky scent, Wang Feifei reluctantly let go of Mi Mi and asked Quan Jiu, "I came today to ask about your company. Has it gotten on track? Do you need people? I can get some people from my dad's company for you."
Quan Jiu smiled gratefully, "No, we don't need anyone. We recently picked up a bargain."
"A bargain?" Wang Feifei immediately became interested and pressed Quan Jiu for details.
Quan Jiu then briefly explained the situation.
After listening, Wang Feifei was stunned for a long time before chuckling, "Jiu Jiu, you handled this beautifully. However, the people from Hei Li Entertainment, carrying the burden of Hei Li's massive public opinion, will likely cause considerable controversy later on."
"I know, it's okay. We'll deal with whatever comes our way," Quan Jiu said with a reassuring smile.
Wang Feifei nodded emphatically, "Of course, I believe in you. You played half the role in raising such cute and smart children like Mi Mi and Tu Tu. But if you ever need my help, don't hesitate to ask, or I'll consider you distant."
Quan Jiu squeezed Wang Feifei's hand, "I know, I won't hesitate if I need to."
After thinking for a moment, she asked again, "The crew of 'Floating Life' should be finishing soon, right?"
Seeing Quan Jiu still eating ci ba, Wang Feifei went to the kitchen and brought out the reserved dishes. "We'll be completely finished the day after tomorrow. Jiang Nan Chen also asked me to ask if you want to have a gathering when filming wraps up."
Ever since Jiang's mother's birthday banquet, Jiang Nan Chen had felt somewhat ashamed to face Quan Jiu.
"Okay, the day after tomorrow is the weekend. I'll bring the children too."
"After we entered the crew, many reporters were staking out at the entrance, hoping to capture Nine's true appearance. But after more than two months, they didn't get a single shot, hahahaha... Especially that Wei Tao, he pestered me every day asking about your whereabouts, and even complained to me, saying that as an editor-in-chief, you never visited the set, which was irresponsible."
Wang Feifei placed the food in front of Quan Jiu, "With Jiu Jiu's involvement, is there a need to visit the set? Once the script is finalized, that's the most perfect outcome."
Quan Jiu chuckled, gave Wang Feifei a peck, and picked up her chopsticks to eat.
"Wei Tao is quite a good person, a reporter with a strong sense of justice. He's also helped me a few times, and I plan to find an opportunity to treat him to a meal."
In her line of work, connections were important, and Quan Jiu was happy to meet more people.
"By the way, how did the matter you asked Song Ren to inquire about turn out?" Wang Feifei asked curiously.
Quan Jiu hesitated for a moment. If the other party were an ordinary person, she would have told him without hesitation. But the other party was a gang leader, and the fire at the old house might be related to him, which meant he could be a dangerous individual, and for some reason, he had targeted her.
She didn't want Wang Feifei to worry, nor did she want Wang Feifei to get involved.
"I asked him to inquire about Shen Lu's situation. I told you about Shen Lu and He Miao's previous incident. He Miao would definitely not dare to cause any more trouble, but Shen Lu... the Shen family has some influence, and I don't think she will give up so easily. And with no news for so long, she might be plotting something bad."
Wang Feifei sighed, "You've only been back for a short while, and you're already encountering all sorts of troublesome people. None of them are easy."
Quan Jiu smiled indifferently, "I encountered even more troublesome things when I was abroad."
"Dingling~" A text message sounded.
Quan Jiu glanced at it. It was from the grandpa next door. She quickly opened the message.
【Was the ci ba delicious?】
Quan Jiu imagined her grandmother affectionately stroking her head: 【It was delicious, wasn't it? If it was delicious, Grandma will make it for you again next time.】
She couldn't help but smile, unconsciously becoming childlike: 【Mhm, it was very delicious, thank you Grandpa.】
"What are you looking at, smiling like that? Are you in love?" Wang Feifei asked, as if discovering a new continent, and leaned her head over to peek.
Quan Jiu smiled helplessly, "No, it's the grandpa next door. He's a lonely old man, and I always imagine him as my grandmother. Anyway, he's alone, and when the time is right, maybe he'll come to live with us."
"What?" Wang Feifei was both surprised and scared, "Jiu Jiu, there are so many bad people these days. You just casually bring strangers into your home, that's not okay, it's too dangerous."
Tu Tu quickly said, "Don't worry, Godmother. Sister and I have been to his house many times and verified that he's not a bad person."
Quan Jiu also advised Wang Feifei, "He's just a pitiful old man, and he has social anxiety. I haven't seen him go out much. It's quite difficult for him. Anyway, I have no other family besides the children. If he's willing to come, it would be good for the children to have another grandpa."