Starting from a Bankrupt Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant

Kindergartens these days mostly focused on group games. The main thing was for the kids to have fun playing together.

Maybe if Zhou Momo went to school, she really could get all the slide time she could ever want.

After watching from outside the wall for a bit, Zhou Yan led her away.

"Brother, so when are you going to help me catch a panda?" Zhou Momo asked earnestly.

"What?"

"A panda! The big panda from the New Year's painting."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to hold it down by myself," Zhou Yan said with a laugh.

"Then… then you can bring Hai with you! He can hold it down."

"Alright, I'll bring Hai with me to catch one later."

"Okay!"

Zhou Momo was ecstatic the whole way. She insisted on getting down to walk by herself, hopping and skipping ahead. One moment she was crouching down to look at a passing beetle, the next she was jumping up to chase a sparrow. When she saw a big dog, she knew to shrink back to Zhou Yan's side. Then, emboldened by his presence, she bared her teeth at the big yellow dog and barked, "WOOF! WOOF WOOF!"

The big yellow dog glanced at her, then at Zhou Yan, and ran off with its tail between its legs.

"Brother, look! The big yellow dog is scared of me!" Zhou Momo looked up at him, her face full of pride.

Zhou Yan reached out and pinched her chubby cheek, smiling. "Yes, but next time you see a big dog, you should walk around it or find a grown-up to walk with, understand?"

"I understand!" Zhou Momo nodded obediently. Her attention was quickly captured by a stall selling pulled malt candy set up at the school gate. She ran two steps forward, then stopped, swallowed hard, and forced herself to look away.

"Want some?" Zhou Yan asked with a smile.

Zhou Momo nodded, then quickly shook her head. She reached for his hand. "Let's go! Mom said we're not allowed to spend money on candy anymore! Or she'll spank you too, Brother."

Zhou Yan looked at the little girl who kept glancing back with every step, her conviction clearly not as strong as her words. He couldn't help but laugh. "Here's a jiao. Go buy it yourself. We'll go home after you're done eating."

"Really?!" Zhou Momo's eyes instantly lit up. She stared at the jiao coin in Zhou Yan's palm, hesitated for three seconds, then took it and ran toward the lady selling the pulled malt candy.

A moment later, she came running back with two sticks of pulled malt candy. She held one up high, offering it to Zhou Yan with a grin. "Brother! Two for one jiao! One for you, and one for me. We can eat them together!"

"Alright," Zhou Yan said with a smile as he took it.

A ball of malt sugar was wound around two small bamboo sticks. It was stirred until it turned white, giving it a texture of countless fine threads. You could tell a lot of effort went into stirring it; the process of pulling it back and forth was actually a bit like making hand-pulled noodles.

In the north, this stuff was called malt syrup.

Two for one jiao was a pretty fair price.

Zhou Yan took a bite. It was soft and sticky, with the fragrance of pure malt sugar. It wasn't as cloyingly sweet as he'd imagined; it was actually quite good.

Zhou Momo had a blast, stirring her candy and taking bites.

The happiness five fen could buy was just that simple.

After they finished the candy, Zhou Yan helped her wipe her mouth clean and checked to make sure no syrup was stuck to her teeth. Only then did they head for home.

"Brother~ Momo's feetsies are tired from walking, I want uppies~" Zhou Momo tugged on the hem of Zhou Yan's clothes, then ran in front of him and spread her arms, swaying back and forth. Her little ponytail bobbed along with her.

How could Zhou Yan resist the sweet-talking of the little girl, who looked just like a little figurine? He bent down and picked her up.

Zhou Momo was tiny. She was soft and smelled sweet in his arms, and she would even rest her head on his shoulder and thank him. She wasn't tiring to carry at all.

As they neared the restaurant's entrance, they happened to see Mrs. Zhao getting off the back of Comrade Zhou's bicycle. She was holding a stack of clothes tied with string. Seeing Zhou Yan and Momo, she called out with a smile, "Come on! The new clothes are ready, come try them on!"