Chapter 264: 257: Really Can Eat!
If her own Miaomiao were apart from her for two months, she would be missing her to death.
Mrs. Lin had no choice but to sit down, and Mr. Lin felt pained by her anxiety. But there was nothing they could do; they both missed their daughter.
Xu Miaomiao opened the door, intending to go to the bathroom, only to spot the Lin couple sitting in the living room. They had been studying with the door shut, completely focused on their books, so they had no idea someone had come.
She turned her head and called inside.
“Lele, your mom and dad are back. Come out quickly!”
Lin Yile dropped the pen in her hand on the table and dashed out.
“Mom, Dad…” The moment she saw the two people sitting on the sofa, she leaped into their arms.
Before Mr. and Mrs. Lin could react, they were hugged by a young girl.
“Well…” Mr. Lin awkwardly pushed the girl away. “You must have mistaken us. I’m not your dad?”
Xu Miaomiao nibbled at her finger in confusion. What was going on? Had Lele’s parents lost their memory?
Upon hearing this, Lin Yile started to cry. Her sobs moved Mrs. Lin to tears; this little girl certainly seemed like her daughter.
“Lele, Lele…” Mrs. Lin quickly rushed over and put her hand on her daughter’s face. Yes, this was her daughter. The hair, the eyes; this child was unmistakably her Lele.
“Mom, Dad, why don’t you recognize me?” Lin Yile was on the verge of tears. When her parents had been away for over half a year once, they still recognized her upon return. Why had they forgotten her after just two months this time?
It wasn’t that Mrs. Lin didn’t recognize her, it was that she dared not admit it.
The change in Lin Yile was dramatic. She had grown taller and her face had filled out. Most importantly, her complexion was radiant. She bore little resemblance to the Lin Yile of the past.
Lin Yile used to be thin and small, her face devoid of any flesh, her skin dry. She showed no signs of being a girl in the bloom of youth. But now, she had grown taller and seemed full of life, like a blossoming child.
No wonder the Lin couple struggled to recognize their daughter; her transformation was drastic.
Perhaps Xu’s family did not realize this because they saw her every day and might not have noticed these changes. But for Mr. and Mrs. Lin, who had been separated from their daughter for two months, the changes were startling.
“Hey, what are you all doing?”
Mrs. Xu emerged from the kitchen, holding a tray of dumplings. Mrs. Lin quickly wiped away her tears and helped serve the dumplings.
In no time, two large plates of dumplings were placed on the table.
“Miaomiao, go call Yuxin over for dinner.”
“Okay,” Xu Miaomiao promptly went to the room and dragged Tang Yuxin, who was doing math problems, out.
When Tang Yuxin came out, the Lin couple was taken aback. The girl standing at the door was so radiant it was almost overwhelming. Her presence seemed to perfume the room with a delicate, unforgettable fragrance.
They were aware that this was the natural aroma emitted by Tang Yuxin’s body, an aroma that was unforgettable. They couldn’t fathom how such an extraordinary child was born.
“Hello, Uncle. Hello, Aunt,” Tang Yuxin greeted Mr. and Mrs. Lin politely.
Mrs. Lin couldn’t help but stroke Tang Yuxin’s hair, “Yuxin, you’ve grown too.”
“Just a little,” Tang Yuxin thought about the one centimeter she had grown and felt like crying. If anything, the one who had changed the most here was Lin Yile. Lin Yile had grown about five centimeters in these two months.
She once said her clothes had shrunk. How silly! Even if they did shrink, not all of them could have shrunk, right? Clearly, she was just growing taller.
A large table full of people sat down to eat. Mr. Xu had to work overtime that day, so he wasn’t home. Chen Lidong’s family had returned to their hometown for a visit, so they weren’t around either. Otherwise, it would have been even livelier.
“Yuxin, would you like to invite your father over for dumplings?” Mrs. Xu suggested to Tang Yuxin. She knew that Tang Zhinian was back. It would be nice if they could all have dumplings together, given the unusual crowd that day.
“No need, my father is busy,” Tang Yuxin pouted. Her father was dating someone. She thought about herself, dressed in shabby clothes, with two tousled braids on her head and rows of yellowish Chinese cabbages in the fields behind her, while an old song she used to listen to echoed in her ears:
Little cabbage, your leaves are yellowing. At the age of two or three, you are motherless…
She shook her head quickly to shake off these strange thoughts, picked up a dumpling to quench her panic—yes, to calm her nerves.
Lin Yile grabbed a dumpling and placed it in her bowl, and began eating. Seeing how pretty her daughter now looked, Mrs. Lin felt a surge of joy. Her little Lele had finally grown into a big girl. Just that, she hadn’t yet…
It gave her a headache. Luckily, someone had recommended a good traditional Chinese doctor to her. She planned to take her daughter there during the holiday.
While she was lost in thought, Lin Yile had already eaten about ten dumplings.
She was the one who ate the most, the fastest, and was least picky. Whether the dumplings were filled with meat or vegetables, she stuffed her mouth with them.
Mrs. Lin dropped the chopsticks in her hand onto the table, startling Mr. Lin who sat in silence for a while.
“Dad, Mom, why aren’t you eating?” Lin Yile picked up another dumpling and stuffed it into her mouth, “Auntie’s dumplings taste really good. Auntie, can I have them again tomorrow?”
“Sure, we can have them again tomorrow.” Mrs. Xu loved it when others complimented her cooking and enjoyed every bit of food. This was a great morale booster for her.
Meanwhile, Lin Yile contentedly picked up another dumpling. She didn’t even know how many she had eaten — she just knew they were delicious.
“When did she start eating so much?” Mr. Lin pointed at his daughter after a while. Was this really his girl who used to eat less than a cat? When had she started eating so much? My god! This wasn’t eating, this was more like feeding a pig.
No wonder she had fattened in just two months. Of course, she wasn’t fat right now, just of normal weight. Who could blame her? The old Lin Yile had been so thin that she was almost skeletal.
“She’s always eaten this much,” Xu Miaomiao quickly snatched a dumpling for her bowl. If she moved any slower, they would all be gone, “She even snatches my cookies at night. Even combined, Yuxin and I don’t eat as much as her.”