Pah! Pah! Pah!
Hong Yu watched the scene before her eyes with an unbelievable look plastered all over her face. She could not believe what she saw, not only him, even Han Ying was surprised while Kang Myung-Hee was amazed.
Heero pulled then he twisted the dough in the air and slammed it on the bar from time to time. After five to eight minutes repeated the same things, he pulled the dough, hand-pulled noodles. It was the noodles Heero currently made.
From the big and stretchy dough, Heero divided the dough into two with his finger. From two to four… eight…
"Sixteen… thirty-two… sixty-four… a hundred and twenty-eight…" Hong Yu counted it in a dazed expression. Heero truly made it, he successfully made the noodles, hand-pulled noodles at that, one of the hardest techniques to make a noodle.
"Heng, it's still not finished yet, let's see how your noodles taste…" Still not wanting to admit her husband better than her, Hong Yu refused to believe the noodles made by Heero were as good as hers.
Heero did not refute, but a smug look could be seen from his face. He was confident that his noodles were perfectly made. Just as he wanted to continue to the next step, dipping his noodles into a boiling pot for one to two minutes.
"Te-Teacher Xing, can I… can I have some too…" a timid voice resounded from Hong Yu's side. It was Kang Myung-Hee's voice.
"You can still eat!?" Heero exclaimed in surprise. The little girl just finished her breakfast a little over an hour ago, then Hong Yu brought her out for more snacks in the morning, and now she also wanted to eat the noodles he made.
"Um… I-I w-want to be the first one to taste… Teacher Xing's noodles.." the little girl voiced out her feelings which incited Hong Yu's jealousy. She was jealous that Myung-Hee was more intimate with her husband than her.
"Good, I will make a small portion for our little princess~" Heero smiled in return as he proceeded to the next, but once again, another little girl called him. Myung-Hee
"Humph, I want one as well~" Shen Miao harrumphed as she voiced that she wanted to taste the noodles as well.
"Good, another small portion for Little Tigress~" Heero responded with a big smile.
"You…" Shen Miao stood from her seat, she almost had her finger pointed at Heero, but she realized something.
Still with smugness covered his face, Heero turned around and asked jokingly, "Do you have a special request, Little Tigress?"
From the look of her face, Shen Miao was certainly angry being called Little Tigress. But somehow, the Little Tigress suppressed her anger and sat back, "Nothing."
The smugness on Heero's face became more apparent. He certainly noted that the Little Tigress acted reserved only in front of Dong-Woo and Myung-Hee. So he chose this time to tease Shen Miao and she could only endure it.
'He called his ex-student little princess, but he called me, his step-daughter, little tigress. This is unfair,' Shen Miao grumbled inwardly without knowing she already admitted Heero as her step-father.
Heero divided the noodles into three portions and put the noodles into boiled water. While waiting for the noodles, he began mixing the spice into the bowl. Sweet and spicy for his wife and Original broth (Umami Broth) for the two little girls.
Heero's action was fast, after mixing the spice that had been mixed with broth, he immediately picked the noodles and put it into the bowl.
"Three serving noodles are ready~" Heero skillfully put the three bowls before the three girls. The bowl released out a steam and fragrance aroma could be smelled from the bowl.
Even though this was not the first time for Myung-Hee, it had been a long time since the last time she ate the noodles. With a bowl of noodles served before her, the first thing she did was not tasting the broth or taking the chopsticks, but sniffing around the bowl.
Her nose heaved up and down, just like a cat sniffing. Looking at this, Heero could not help but smile, a wide smile formed on his lips. He immediately took a picture of Myung-Hee sniffing the bowl of noodles.
The little girl was not aware that Heero secretly took her picture, but Shen Miao noticed. She felt something, an inexplicable feeling stirred inside her. On one hand, her rational thought still could not accept Heero. However, when this happened, she could not help but feel jealous.
'Why only Myung-Hee? Why didn't he take my picture too? Why does he treat Myung-Hee better than her?'
It was in Shen Miao's mind, but her ego prevented her from speaking it out. So, she endured it and stuffed her mouth with the noodles.
'Heng, my mommy's noodles must be much better than this guy's…'
However, that thought instantly vanished as she chewed the noodles. Even though she did not know what the difference was, she could tell the noodles in her mouth were different than the noodles made by her mommy.
The noodles in her mouth were better while the broth was the usual broth she ate. Not only Shen Miao, but Hong Yu also felt the difference and she realized that her husband was doing better than her.
"How come you are so good at everything…" She did not especially comment on the noodles, but her words were enough to prove that the noodles were good.
Han Ying who always watched from the sideline approached her little sister. She was curious about how the noodles taste. Taking new chopsticks, she picked the noodles into her mouth.
She carefully and slowly chewed the noodles in her mouth to feel the texture. To her surprise, the noodle's texture was good, the noodles were chewy yet also firm at the same time. It was as if this was not the first time Heero making the noodles, just like an experienced cook made a noodle.
"Indeed, it's better than yours," Han Ying teasingly commented. Her words were directed toward the sulking Hong Yu.
"I know… I know already… you don't have to say it… You haven't officially confirmed it yet, but you two are already bullied…" Hong Yu could not finish her words as Han Ying moved her hand to cover her mouth.
"Shhh… You have promised me…" Han Ying whispered, but looking at her sneaky sister, Hong Yu no longer sulked as a mischievous smile formed on her lips.
"Henggg, My mommy's noodle is much better than this one!" Shen Miao chimed in proudly, she did not want to admit the noodle was good.
"But Teacher Xing's noodles are also yummy." Myung-Hee immediately took on Heero's side and Shen Miao immediately shut her mouth, commenting no further and ate the noodles silently.
With that, from that morning, Heero replaced Hong Yu in the kitchen. At nine-thirty, the three newly hired waitresses came. While Heero and Han Ying prepared the dough for the noodles, the broth, and the topping while Hong Yu replaced Heero in the front.
She went for a quick brief with the newly hired waitresses while the two little girls followed Hong Yu. As for Dong-Woo, the boy practically stayed on the rooftop all morning. It was unknown what the boy was doing on the rooftop.
Sharp at 10 A.M. the noodle shop opened, the customers raided and filled every corner of the shop. That day, Heero spent his time in the kitchen and no special event happened that day.
*** ***
The next morning, right at 5 A.M. Heero went out of his cottage with a refreshed look all over his face. But then, he furrowed his brows as he thought of something in his mind.
"Should I transform this rooftop to a normal room?" Heero muttered in a low voice as last night's scene flashed in his mind. Last night, Hong Yu was more reserved than usual because they were not in their usual room.
The cottage they lived in had a bad soundproof, so she was more reserved than usual. Because of this, Heero planned to renovate the rooftop. Nodded his head, Heero went down as he promised Dong-Woo to start the training this morning.
He came down to the third floor, just as he wanted to take stairs down to the second floor, there was a child's voice trying to surprise him, "Hiyaaa!"
Of course, Heero was not surprised at all. Instead, he turned around while making a strange expression to surprise her back, "Heyooo!"
"Yaaaa…" the little girl was not expecting this and she was certainly startled. However, Heero immediately covered the little girl's mouth. Shen Miao struggled to break free from Heero's hand.
"Ssssshhhhh! Lower your voice or you might wake up Dong-Woo and Myung-Hee!"
When Heero brought up the Kang siblings, Shen Miao stumped and lowered her resistance.
"Where are you going? You look suspicious, moving out sneakily this earlier! You must be up to something not good, I will report this to Auntie!" the little girl immediately came up with her fantasy imagination as soon as Heero released his hand.
Hearing this, Heero came up with something playful. He wanted to tell the little girl that he had made a promise with Han Ying, but he canceled his mischievous thought as he thought of something.
"I am going to train my disciple of course. Haven't I told you that I am Sun Zhou Yi's Master? I have other disciples as well, Lan Lan's father and my new disciple, Dong-Woo."
The first step was to introduce the little that Xing District was a paradise for her. Heero had achieved it by introducing the premium meal that could only be gotten here.
The second step, was the most crucial step, showing the little girl how amazing he was. What did Heero try to achieve by doing this? He wanted Shen Miao to accept him as her stepfather and mainly, he wanted the little girl to stay here for Han Ying.
Just like the other kids, Shen Miao also idolized the heroes. The first idol was of course her father. The second was the cold female hero, Bai Xin Yue, and third was surprisingly his disciple, Sun Zhou Yi.
Yes, Sun Zhou Yi's achievement stopping level 10 Calamity made him become an idol to many people, including the children. He wanted to use his status as Sun Zhou Yi's Master to impress Shen Miao.
However, the little girl did not believe him that Sun Zhou Yi was his disciple. But Shen Miao knew Sun Zhou Yi lived in the Dragon Pit district which was Xing District. However, even with Han Ying and Hong Yu speaking for him, the Little Tigress still did not believe him.
"Heng, boast all you want, there's no way I will believe a mere teacher and waiter is Sun Zhou Yi's Master. Now you add Brother Dong-Woo as your disciple as well? This trick might have succeeded to the other kids, but me."
"Kang Dong-Woo is a successor of Kang Family, there's no way Kang Family will let someone like you train their successor. You are not professional as a liar, can't even trick a little kid like me!" Shen Miao looked complacent as she got into this conclusion.
Her reasoning was not groundless as Kang Family was a family based in the core region. She also knew about Kang Family well, about Kang Dong-Woo's grandfather, an ex-Emperor Class Hero who became a hero instructor.
So, there was no way the Kang Family would let Kang Dong-Woo be taught by Heero, who was in her mind just a mere Boss of a district in the outer region.
However, to her surprise, Heero smiled back at her and shrugged nonchalantly, leaving her to go downstairs afterward. It certainly piqued the Little tigress' curiosity.
She went down to the first floor and saw Heero truly went out. Shen Miao chased after Heero, but she did not go out. She dragged a chair to the window and got in the chair to see where Heero was going to.
She climbed the chair and opened the curtain a little. It did not take a long time before the little girl found Heero. Shen Miao was shocked by what she saw and found out Heero did not lie to him.
Lan Lan's father was outside, but it was another figure who shocked her. Kang Dong-Woo also there with Lan Lan's father. They seemed to be talking, but she could not hear what they talked about.
"Don't tell me he did not lie… Don't tell me Sun Zhou Yi is truly that guy's disciple…" Shen Miao muttered unbelievably. Excitement could be seen from her eyes as she fantasized about meeting her idol.