Passing by a roadside fruit stall, seeing these green tangerines looked good, I bought some for you to try!
Feng Yi exclaimed, "That was close, I almost flipped over, thankfully my skills are superb."
"Ah! Open your mouth, have something sour first to whet your appetite!"
Feng Yi peeled the green tangerine, and offered a segment to Hu Tao's mouth.
"Ah... wow, so sour, so sour!"
Hu Tao knitted her small brows, swallowed doubtfully, and instantly regretted it to the point of tears with the first bite.
"I shouldn't have believed Feng Yi, that big pig trotters' nonsense! Can a human eat these green tangerines?"
Hu Tao's saliva flowed uncontrollably, and she kept swallowing. She felt like her sense of taste was ruined!
"Feng Yi, can we not eat them? Please?"
Seeing Feng Yi offer another segment to her mouth, Hu Tao covered her mouth and shook her head frantically.
"Then we won't eat them!"
Feng Yi couldn't help but regret buying too many; two would have been enough.
Seeing Hu Tao's relieved expression of having escaped a near-death experience, Feng Yi thought, "You're celebrating too soon!"
"Checking the time, the old butler's medicinal liquid should be ready by now!"
Feng Yi took out the packed sweets and bear paws for Hu Tao to eat first. He then got up to check on the decoction.
After Feng Yi left, Hu Tao, enjoying the warm sweets Feng Yi had meticulously kept warm, blinked with joy, her eyes sparkling with a smile.
"These are delicious! Where did Feng Yi buy them? How come I never noticed such interesting desserts before?"
Holding a fried ice cream slime in one hand and a ceramic bowl of caramel milk tea in the other, Hu Tao felt this was the taste of pure happiness!
Suddenly, a familiar bitter smell wafted into her nostrils.
Hu Tao's expression changed drastically. She looked up and saw Feng Yi walking towards her with the bowl of accursed medicinal liquid.
"Hu Tao, it's time for your medicine!"
Feng Yi gently said, blowing on the steam rising from the liquid.
"Feng Yi, I don't actually need to take medicine to recover!"
Every part of Hu Tao's face screamed refusal. She'd rather eat another green tangerine than take medicine.
"You can't be willful! Otherwise, I'll have to spank someone!"
Feng Yi said with a stern face, serious. If she didn't take the medicine, wouldn't all his money be wasted?
"If getting spanked means I don't have to take medicine, then... then spank me!"
Hu Tao crawled out from under the covers, turned her back to Feng Yi, stuck out her butt, and shyly said.
Feng Yi: "I was just kidding, why are you taking it so seriously?"
Hu Tao was only wearing golden briefs, which were also a bit disheveled from her movements under the covers.
"Little girl, put your underwear on properly! Aren't you embarrassed?"
Feng Yi reached out and pulled up her golden briefs, not agreeing to Hu Tao's whim.
"Hmph! It's not like you haven't seen it before!"
Hu Tao burrowed back under the covers, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. It seemed she couldn't escape taking the medicine after all!
"Then I want you to feed me! Just like last time!"
Since taking the medicine was inevitable, all she could do was choose how she took it!
"I'm defeated by you!"
Feng Yi smiled helplessly. Another arduous battle was about to begin.
Hu Tao, blushing shyly, retorted with a scolding tone.
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself, I lost control!"
Feng Yi smiled sheepishly, caught red-handed by Hu Tao, and quickly apologized.
"If you can, why can't I?"
Hu Tao retorted with a smile.
Amidst their playful banter, the medicinal liquid gradually dwindled, and the battle soon ended.
Feng Yi: "What a hard-fought battle of equals!"
However, this advantage was only temporary. Once Hu Tao got used to his rhythm in a few days, it would be his turn to beg for mercy!
Having narrowly won this battle, Feng Yi glanced at the remaining sweets and bear paws on the table, then at Hu Tao, who was lying limply on the bed, her eyes hazy.
"In the end, I still have to clean up the battlefield!"
Feng Yi didn't mind Hu Tao's drool, picked up the fried ice cream slime she had left behind, and chewed it.
"Hmm?"
The texture, the taste, it had a unique flavor!
By the time Feng Yi had finished everything, Hu Tao had also regained her spirit.
"Rest well! I'll come see you again tomorrow!"
Feng Yi glanced at the dark night outside the window, tucked in Hu Tao's blanket, and said softly.
"Feng Yi, don't go! I can't sleep!"
Hu Tao grabbed Feng Yi's arm and pleaded.
She had been lying in bed all day, sleeping day and night, and now she wasn't sleepy at all.
If Feng Yi left, she would be bored again, staring at the ceiling!
Hu Tao wanted Feng Yi to stay and keep her company, to pass some of the boring time.
Seeing Hu Tao looking at him with wide eyes, twinkling with a faint light, Feng Yi couldn't bear to refuse.
"Alright! Just this once!"
Feng Yi patted Hu Tao's little head and smilingly agreed to her request.
"Come over here and lie down with me, I've saved you a spot!"
Hu Tao shuffled over, making space for Feng Yi to get into bed.
Feng Yi couldn't refuse and took off his shoes before crawling into the covers.
As soon as he was in bed, he felt Hu Tao's legs wrap around his thighs and her arms tightly around his arm, as if afraid he would run away.
Hu Tao: "Since you're here, do you think you can easily slip away?!"
Feng Yi tried to struggle a little, but found that Hu Tao was holding on quite tightly.
"It seems Hu Tao has recovered well! She should be able to move normally again soon!"
"And now, if I can just coax Hu Tao to sleep, I can make my escape!"
When it came to coaxing someone to sleep, storytelling was naturally the first choice!
"Hu Tao, shall I tell you a story?"
"What story?"
"Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Match Girl'," but with a slight alteration.
"What's a nuclear bomb?"
"It's a very powerful bomb!"
"Wow! Tell me, tell me quickly, I'm getting excited!"
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl, holding a nuclear bomb, walking on the cold street.
Barefoot, she saw a middle-aged man and earnestly said, 'Sir, please buy a nuclear bomb. I haven't eaten for three days.'
The man ignored her.
The little girl thought, 'If I don't sell another nuclear bomb, I'll really starve to death.'
As night fell, in the cold wind, the little girl shivered violently.
She curled up in a corner, so cold her body trembled. She felt like she was dying. She wanted to detonate a nuclear bomb, because that might warm her up a little.
Then the little girl remembered her deceased grandmother, and tears streamed down her face.
Slowly, she fumbled in the pocket of her ragged dress and took out a red button. This button should bring her some pleasant surprise.
She pressed the button.
And so, a colorful mushroom cloud appeared in the sky above the city. That night, as she had wished, she was reunited with her dear grandmother, along with everyone else in the city.
Hu Tao: "I really envy the coffin sellers in that city, they must have had so much business!"
Feng Yi: "???"