My Love, My Whole Life

"What are you talking about? Is there anything Dad can't do? Do you know there are one hundred and eight dishes in the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast? Do you think you could cook one hundred and eight dishes in one day?" Tang Yuran's dad glanced down at her, replying disdainfully.

"One hundred and eight dishes? That many?" Tang Yuran was a bit surprised; she had originally thought the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast was just one dish. She thought all she had to do was learn how to pack it into a lunch box and bring it to kindergarten the next morning, but now...

"Yes, so let's think about which dish would be best to bring to school." Tang Yuran's dad's eyes sparkled as he took her little hand and headed straight into the study.

In the study, Tang Yuran's dad's laptop lay quietly on the table.

Tang Yuran scurried excitedly to the computer, looked up at her dad with eager eyes, and asked, "Dad, quick, look it up."

"Okay, don't rush." Tang Yuran's dad sat down at his desk with a serious demeanor, opened the computer, and looked up the encyclopedia entry on the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast.

"This entire menu consists of one hundred and eight dishes."

"These dishes are divided into six types of banquets, namely the Mongolian Princely Banquet, the Court Official Banquet, the Longevity Banquet, the Millennium Banquet, the Nine White Banquet, and the Seasonal Banquet."

"Inside the Mongolian Princely Banquet, the dishes include..."

Tang Yuran's dad kept mumbling to himself while reading the encyclopedia explanation.

Staring with her big, clear black and white eyes, Tang Yuran listened for a long time and still didn't understand what her dad was talking about.

"Dad, which dish are we actually going to make today??"

"Hmm... tea snacks, almond Buddha's hand, crispy apples, harmonious cakes, dragon and phoenix gold filigree piled-high boxes, dragon column platter... tiger skin peanuts..." As Tang Yuran's dad got to this point, his eyes lit up, he slapped his thigh, and said, "Got it! Let's make tiger skin peanuts!"

"Tiger skin peanuts??" Tang Yuran looked at him bewildered.

"Yes, tiger skin peanuts, peanuts made with tiger skin. How about that? Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it??" Tang Yuran's dad winked at her and said with a mischievous grin.

"Cool... what's that?" Tang Yuran was filled with question marks.

"Ahem, it's nothing..." Tang Yuran's dad coughed awkwardly a couple of times, then waved his hand at her, saying, "Just forget about that last sentence I said, okay, okay, it's just a way to say that this dish is impressive. How about it, why don't you take this to school tomorrow, and let that Gu Yu try some?"

"Peanuts made with tiger skin..." Tang Yuran smacked her lips, still a bit puzzled as she asked her dad, "But where do we get tiger skin from, and besides, our teacher said tigers are national protected animals. Dad, this doesn't seem very nice does it??"

"This... this is just a metaphor." Tang Yuran's dad was stumped by his daughter's question all of a sudden. "It means the peanut's skin is wrapped in flour that looks like tiger skin, oh stop fussing about it, we can buy them just outside our community. Come on, Dad will take you to buy some."

"What??" Before Tang Yuran had the chance to continue questioning, she felt herself being lifted off her feet, as her dad had already hoisted her up and was heading outside the community.