San Bao held her chubby face with her hands. After hesitating for a while, she sighed. Qiao Nan thought that this sigh meant that San Bao was going to compromise and eat vegetables. Who knew that San Bao suddenly said, “Da Da. Er Er. Vegetables. Give them. Give…”

  Didn’t Da Da and Er Er like vegetables? She didn’t like them. Since Da Da and Er Er liked them so much, she could give all her vegetables to them so that they could eat more. That way, she no longer needed to eat those hateful vegetables and could eat more meat.

  “…” How would Qiao Nan, the mother, not understand the meaning in her daughter’s words? Seeing that her daughter knew how to throw baggage to her brothers at such a young age, Qiao Nan really wanted to slap San Bao’s buttocks. To think that Da Bao and Er Bao usually took care of San Bao so well. San Bao would actually bring misfortune to her two brothers so simply just because of vegetables. “Bad girl. Da Bao and Er Bao have already eaten their vegetables. This is your share. Eat it yourself. If Da Bao and Er Bao would still like them, there’s more on the table. They don’t have to eat your share.”

  The little girl was young, but she had an agile mind. She could actually think of such a solution.

  San Bao started to throw tantrums and slam the table, using this to protest against her biological mother’s ‘unkind behavior’ of forcing her to eat vegetables. “Ah…” San Bao became unhappy. Out of anxiousness, she couldn’t speak even if she wanted to. She just started to yell. That tone, speed, and volume sounded extremely fierce. It was as if she was arguing with others.

  “What are you ‘ah-ing’ for? Eat.” Qiao Nan’s temper was about to become bad because of San Bao. “If you don’t eat them, I’ll only carry Da Bao and Er Bao today. Also, I’m about to get angry. San Bao’s so disobedient. I’m so sad that I’m going to cry.”

  \r \r \r

  As she said that, Qiao Nan wiped the corners of her eyes with her back facing San Bao.

  Cry. San Bao understood this.

  Upon hearing that her mom was upset and going to cry, San Bao stopped in her actions of slamming the table. She looked at her mom carefully with big and watery eyes as if trying to see if her mom was really upset and wanted to cry. However, as Qiao Nan’s back was facing her, San Bao couldn’t see her face at all. What San Bao could see was that with her mom’s back facing her, her mom’s body was moving very much like the way she did when she usually cried.

  San Bao became guilty for causing her mom to cry. “Mom, Mom.” She tried to please her. “Vegetables. Eat. San Bao. Eat.” Mom, stop crying. I’ll eat my vegetables.

  “Is San Bao really going to eat her vegetables?” Qiao Nan didn’t turn around. She asked again to confirm the meaning in San Bao’s words.

  San Bao patted her head. “Yes, San Bao. Vegetables. Eat. Mom, don’t cry.” She mispronounced the word ‘cry’ as she couldn’t say it as accurately.

  San Bao was finally willing to eat her vegetables. Qiao Nan couldn’t help but wipe the sweat on her forehead. Ever since having children and they became picky, she had to rely on acting to coax them to eat every day. Qiao Nan suspected that under the intensive ‘training’ by San Bao, her acting skills could allow her to mingle with the rest of the actors in the entertainment circle.

  “No cry, no cry.” Seeing that Qiao Nan was wiping her face with her hand, San Bao really thought that she was wiping her tears when they were actually sweat. San Bao, who thought that Qiao Nan really cried, became anxious. “Vegetables. Eat vegetables.”

  “San Bao’s so obedient. Let’s eat vegetables.” Miao Jing tried to feed San Bao. This time, San Bao frowned and opened her mouth with the same pitiful expression that Da Bao and Er Bao carried previously when they were made to eat vegetables. After chewing for a while, she swallowed the vegetables and they went down her stomach. Miao Jing, who was in the know, couldn’t help but suspect if she was holding a piece of green vegetable or poisoned vegetable after seeing the exaggerated look on San Bao’s face. Miao Jing’s heart nearly softened when she saw San Bao’s look. Wasn’t it just a few mouthfuls of vegetables? Forget it. If she wasn’t going to eat today, she could eat more tomorrow. The results would be the same. Furthermore, after San Bao grew up, she would choose to eat more vegetables instead of meat no matter if it was for beauty or health reasons.

  The Zhai family had really gone all out in order for San Bao to eat a few pieces of vegetables. After waiting for San Bao to finish her meal with much difficulty, Miao Jing and Qiao Nan both felt very tired.

  Seeing the triplets who were playing together after having their fill, Miao Jing tapped her old elbow. “I’m already a grandma, but this is the first time I found children difficult to take care of.” When she was young, she was too willful. She passed her newborn daughter and son to her father-in-law to take care of back then. At this moment, Miao Jing couldn’t help but think that San Bao was Zhai Sheng’s daughter and Zhai Hua’s niece.

  Were her own daughter and son picky about food like San Bao when they were young? Back then, her father-in-law had taken care of both children and she wasn’t by their side. Miao Jing immediately felt guilty upon wondering if her daughter and son were similar to San Bao and were picky about food. Back then, she had really let her father-in-law down. He was already so old but still had to raise two mischievous children. Initially, she should have been the one to suffer all of this. However, it was her father-in-law who had suffered for her.

  Seeing that Miao Jing was quiet as if in deep thoughts, Qiao Nan, a daughter-in-law who was close to her mother-in-law as if she were the latter’s birth daughter, immediately guessed what Miao Jing was worried about. It must be back when Old Master Zhai was still alive.

  The dead were gone.

  To Qiao Nan, not only was Old Master Zhai gone, but those elders who were extremely well to her and took good care of her in her dream were also gone. As humans, they couldn’t immerse themselves blindly in the sadness of the dead. They had to straighten their faith, look to the future, and live themselves out. Living well was the best way of nostalgia and gratitude to the dead.

  Blindly remembering the past would only let the people close to them become worse off as well. Life would then be dim and without color.

  “Nan Nan, who do you think San Bao inherited her pickiness from?” Miao Jing couldn’t help but ask the doubt in her heart. “Since you’ve married over, I realized that you eat everything. There isn’t anything you don’t like to eat.” Nan Nan was so good-tempered. San Bao’s pickiness definitely had nothing to do with Nan Nan. No matter how Miao Jing thought about it, she felt that San Bao’s habit came from the Zhai family. If that was the case, Old Master Zhai had first brought up his granddaughter, followed by his grandson. It really wasn’t easy for an elder to bring up two children.

  Anyway, when Miao Jing saw her daughter and son again, she couldn’t find the habit of them being picky eaters. If Zhai Hua and Zhai Sheng had such bad habits before, then her father-in-law must have spent quite a lot of effort to correct them.

  It was just that times were different now. Parents’ attitudes toward children had changed tremendously.