Chapter 423 - 163: Dishes? I Only Need One.

Chapter 423: Chapter 163: Dishes? I Only Need One.

"Huh?" Ling Shuyu was confused.

She hurried out of the building. Just as she was about to reach Su Chen, she stopped.

The scene before her was so beautiful that she felt it would be a sin to disturb this picturesque moment.

"Hey, after these two, there won’t be any more," Su Chen’s clear voice drifted over. Leaning against a wall and basking in the sunset, Ling Shuyu listened intently.

"Wow! Big Brother, how did you know I like sausages?" the little girl next to him asked, tilting her head with a look of pure innocence.

"Hah! What kid from Huaxia doesn’t love these things?"

"But Mommy says... this stuff is really unhealthy. Back home, she wouldn’t let me have it. My grandpa secretly bought some for me, and he got scolded by Mom too!"

Su Chen turned his head slightly. "Enough talk. When your mom comes out of the hospital and sees you eating this, you’re going to get another scolding!"

"Sigh..."

It was a sigh that didn’t quite suit a girl so young.

Su Chen polished off the starch sausage in his hand in a couple of bites.

"Big Brother, what if I want to eat fried sausage again in the future?"

Su Chen ruffled the little girl’s hair. "Then you have to eat all your meals and grow up fast. When you’re all grown up, you can eat whatever you want! Your mom won’t be able to control you anymore."

"Oh..."

That answer seemed a bit too far off for the little girl, so Su Chen decided to add more fuel to the fire.

"When your mom gets old and wants to eat something, you can just tell her it’s unhealthy and she can’t have it! Hehe..."

"Exactly!" The little girl took a big final bite of her sausage. "Then I’m going to eat all my meals and grow up super fast! And then..."

She gave Su Chen a mischievous look, and the two of them shared a wicked laugh.

’Good grief...’

A moment ago, Ling Shuyu had been thinking how beautiful the scene was. How did the tone suddenly change so completely?

’Boss Su seems so proper, but sometimes he’s anything but! Still, this personality of his...’

Ling Shuyu turned to look ahead. ’I like it!’

Whose childhood doesn’t have a few regrets?

Ling Shuyu remembered how, when she was little, she loved a type of crispy instant noodle snack sold outside her school. She thought it was called Mage or something.

She’d use her daily breakfast money to buy that snack instead of eating a proper meal.

Later, a rumor spread that the stuff was fried in human oil!

Her family was so scared they immediately cut off her allowance. To prevent her from secretly eating snacks, they started escorting her right into her classroom and picking her up from there every day.

But Ling Shuyu wasn’t that fragile as a child. If they wouldn’t let her eat it, then she wouldn’t. What else could she do? A hunger strike would be torture!

But Ling Shuyu never had a big appetite. At home, she was usually full after just a few bites, so she always maintained a good figure. She just thought she was naturally like that.

Until she met Boss Su.

’Turns out my mom’s cooking was just terrible!’

Ling Shuyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this realization. She started weighing herself every night; fortunately, her weight was still within a controllable range.

"What are you doing? Spying on me?"

Ling Shuyu’s trip down memory lane was interrupted by the sudden voice. "Of course not!"

She jutted her chin toward the mother and daughter on the bench. "Are they Chinese? Do you know them? Where did you buy the fried sausage?"

"Don’t know them. I was just wandering around by myself and saw the little girl sitting sadly on the bench. As for the fried sausage," Su Chen chuckled, "take a guess."

Malaysia is different from back home. Outside the hospital, there are only restaurants, no street food stalls.

Let alone a snack like fried sausage.

After thinking it over, Ling Shuyu could only come up with one possibility.

’Boss Su must have bought sausages from a supermarket and then paid to borrow a restaurant’s kitchen and seasonings.’

She didn’t press the issue. "How did the observation go? Are you confident about the competition in three days?"

Su Chen and Ling Shuyu leaned against the wall side-by-side. "Confidence... how should I put it? I have some, sure, just not a lot."

"Have you decided what you’re going to make?"

Su Chen nodded.

"I’ve researched the cause of the condition and spoken with a few parents. Actually, childhood anorexia is relatively easy to treat. If it’s not addressed now, it becomes much harder when the child gets older."

"The usual methods are psychological suggestion and behavioral intervention, but neither of those is an option from our position. That leaves only one method."

Ling Shuyu asked, "And what’s that?"

"You know how back in our country, some foods are so good they can make a kid cry for a bite? Yep, that’s the method. Their anorexia isn’t because they physically can’t eat; it’s due to some strange psychological block. When the temptation from the outside world is greater than that block, the so-called anorexia disappears."

When it all came down to it, there was only one principle: make food so tempting it would make a kid cry for it!

"I always thought that was just a meme. Can food really be good enough to make a kid cry?"

Su Chen nodded emphatically. "Yes!"

When it comes to food in the Huaxia Country, anything is possible!

Haven’t you seen it? In certain provinces, all you need to do is set up three or four little tables and stools from one end of the street to the other and lay out some pre-made delicacies!

Everyone who passes by, from adults to children, can’t help but spend some money to have a taste.

The moment you see it, you start drooling.

The moment you smell it, you lose all self-control.

"Alright, let’s head back to the hotel now. There are a lot of ingredients and seasonings I need to order from back home. I just don’t know if three days will be enough time."