My Love, My Whole Life

As he passed through the living room, Tang Nan, who was watching TV, saw Dad carrying his sister out and quickly caught up, asking, "Dad, Dad, where are you going?"

"We're going to buy a dish from the Manchu Han Imperial Feast for your sister." Tang Yuran's dad turned his head to glance at Tang Nan, asking with a smile, "Does Nannan want to come along?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Tang Nan nodded repeatedly, stretching out a chubby little hand to clutch at Dad's clothes, and followed them out.

Across the street from the entrance to the housing complex, there was a shed made of plastic tarps, arranged with a long table inside, loaded with all sorts of fried snacks—sunflower seeds, peanuts, broad beans, hawthorn slices, you name it.

In front of the shed stood groups of people. Someone grabbed a few sunflower seeds, tossed them into their mouth to taste, and then started hollering for the shopkeeper to weigh out some for them.

Tang Yuran's dad, with Yuran on his shoulder and holding Tang Nan by the hand, approached the stall cheerfully and called out loudly, "Boss, give me a pound of tiger skin peanuts."

"You got it!" The middle-aged man hustling around grabbed a plastic bag, skillfully shoveled a few scoops of tiger skin peanuts into it, then tossed it onto the digital scale, chuckling, "That's ten yuan and seventy cents, but just give me ten yuan."

"Okay." Tang Yuran's dad nodded, casually took out ten yuan from his pocket, and handed it over.

In just about five minutes, the tiger skin peanuts were in hand.

Tang Yuran blinked her big, moist eyes, gazing at the plastic bag in her dad's hand with full curiosity, murmuring softly, "Dad, these are tiger skin peanuts?"

"Yes." Her dad nodded, casually took out a peanut, tossed it into Tang Yuran's mouth and said, "Try it, how is it, tasty? These were what only the Empress Dowager used to eat!"

After crushing the peanut in her mouth, Tang Yuran found it fragrant and quickly nodded her head, saying, "It's tasty."

"I want some too, I want some too!" Tang Nan stared eagerly at his dad and sister, biting on his finger and clamoring.

----

The next day, Tang Yuran carried a pound of tiger skin peanuts to kindergarten.

As soon as Gu Yu had taken his seat, she proudly presented the peanuts like a precious treasure, holding them up in front of him and saying, "For you."

"What?" Gu Yu glanced down and hesitated for a moment, saying, "Peanuts?"

"Mhm mhm." Tang Yuran nodded, grinning as she said, "These are tiger skin peanuts, they're part of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast, well... at least a part of it. Do you want to try it? They're really tasty!"

"..."

Gu Yu looked at her with a somewhat speechless expression.

So that's why she agreed so readily yesterday when I asked her to make the Manchu Han Imperial Feast; to her, the feast was just peanuts?

Seeing Gu Yu staring motionlessly at the peanuts in her hand, Tang Yuran couldn't help but say, "Why aren't you eating? They're really tasty, do you want me to feed you?"

As she spoke, she picked up a tiger skin peanut and brought it to Gu Yu's mouth, saying, "Ah—open wide."

Gu Yu turned his head away, saying indifferently, "I don't want to eat."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I don't feel like eating."

"Oh..." Tang Yuran nodded, casually tossing the peanut into her own mouth before asking, "Now that I've made the Manchu Han Imperial Feast for you, can I be your wife now?"