After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 34

Huang Li was a singer by profession, and now that she was a guest performer, she was eloquent when discussing adaptation ideas with the mentors. They quickly settled on a general direction.

That day, Tao Nian followed behind Huang Li and her teammates, seeing Huang Li meet with the mentors, listening to Huang Li and the mentors talk, and hearing her teammates and mentors brainstorm. She remained silent, pondering what Lin Qianman had told her about empathy.

She still couldn’t figure it out.

In the evening, it started to drizzle outside. Fang Wen came to Tao Nian’s dorm room, bringing her a lot of late-night snacks.

Fried skewers, pan-fried buns, cold noodles…

This was, of course, Lin Qianman’s arrangement, but Lin Qianman still didn’t quite understand Tao Nian.

For example, the first few times Tao Nian went out for late-night snacks were because Zhang Jingyue controlled her and wouldn’t let her eat, so she did it secretly. But later, Zhang Jingyue found that Tao Nian just ate a lot without gaining weight, so she stopped controlling her diet.

However, late at night, everyone in the dorm was dieting and not eating, so Tao Nian eating in the dorm would make the room smell too strongly. Even with all the windows and doors open, the smell would linger, which was pure torture for those on a diet. Zhang Jingyue, worried that others might have issues with Tao Nian, suggested she go to the cafeteria to eat. That place had ample space, large dining tables, and all the necessary utensils. After eating, someone would even clean up the leftovers.

But sometimes Tao Nian went too late, and the cafeteria aunties had already gone home, so Tao Nian would go to the back door steps to eat.

However, no one knew about these things. Tao Nian felt that eating anywhere was fine, saw no problem with it, and never told anyone.

Today, seeing the late-night snacks Fang Wen delivered, Tao Nian, as usual, asked her dorm mates if they wanted any. After receiving negative replies, she wanted to take her food outside to eat.

But it was raining outside, and Tao Nian didn’t want her clothes to get wet and couldn’t find anywhere to go.

So she simply went to the stairwell and arranged the food neatly on the steps behind her.

The production team had arranged a hotel nearby for Huang Li. Lin Qianman saw that Huang Li was overly tense today, so she stopped her and comforted her for a while just before Huang Li was about to leave, delaying their departure.

Behind the dorm building’s elevator was the staircase. While Lin Qianman waited for the elevator, she smelled a fragrance in the stairwell.

Almost the moment she smelled the scent, a name surfaced in Lin Qianman’s mind.

Tao Nian.

She pushed open the stairwell door and peeked in.

Indeed, it was Tao Nian, sitting on the stairs, with a line of food behind her. She herself was lowering her head, taking a bite of a milky steamed bun, then a bite of a lamb skewer.

No wonder it smelled so good.

Lin Qianman actually understood for a moment why Tao Nian always wanted to bite her. When Tao Nian smelled her, it must have been like how she was smelling this aroma now.

But that wasn’t a reason for Tao Nian to disregard her feelings and bite her.

Lin Qianman walked over and sat down next to Tao Nian.

Tao Nian glanced at her, reached behind her on the steps to find a bundled skewer of duck intestine, pulled one out, and offered it to Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman shook her head, indicating she wouldn’t eat it.

Tao Nian offering things to others was merely for the sake of “sharing.” She wasn’t doing it out of initiative; it was because Lin Qianman had told her to, and she was very obedient, so it was more like she treated “sharing” as a task.

Now that she had completed the task, and Lin Qianman didn’t eat it, she felt nothing and ate the entire skewer of duck intestine herself.

Lin Qianman still had a bit of a headache, looking at Tao Nian and wondering how she could explain herself so Tao Nian would understand.

But as she pondered, time quickly passed.

Tao Nian quickly devoured the fried skewers and pan-fried buns, then guzzled down milk.

Then she reached out and poked Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman came back to her senses, seeing that Tao Nian had finished all the food. Her mouth was stained with cumin seasoning from the fried skewers and sesame paste from the cold noodles, and a drop of milky white milk hung from her cupid’s bow.

Tao Nian sniffled, a little embarrassed: “I forgive you.”

Where did she learn this tsundere behavior?

Most importantly, Lin Qianman was confused: “Did I do something wrong?”

Tao Nian’s eyes widened: “You stepped on my Jianbing yesterday!”

As she spoke, her mouth opened, and the drop of milk on her cupid’s bow slid down, reaching her chin, leaving a milky white line on her lips.

Now in the stairwell, the sound-activated light turned on because of Tao Nian’s sudden loud voice. In the empty space, there was only the lingering scent of food and the echo of Tao Nian’s words.

Lin Qianman looked at the messy area around Tao Nian’s mouth, turned back to the steps behind her, and found the tissues given by the fried skewer shop.

Tao Nian was still speaking loudly: “You stepped on my Jianbing! And after you left…”

Before she could finish her sentence, a wad of tissue was pressed against her mouth, blocking the rest of her words.

Tao Nian: “Mmm, mmm, mmm…”

Lin Qianman wiped Tao Nian’s mouth clean—because she used too much force, she also rubbed off Tao Nian’s makeup around her mouth.

Tao Nian was originally very satisfied. The fried skewers were delicious, and the milky steamed buns and fried nian gao (rice cakes) were her current favorites. She had eaten a lot and was very happy.

But just now, when Lin Qianman reached over and wiped her mouth, she smelled Lin Qianman’s scent, which was so close, and she felt a little unsatisfied.

She really wanted to take a bite.

Lin Qianman wouldn’t let her bite, but if she didn’t use force, just a taste would be fine…

She stared intently at Lin Qianman.

Lin Qianman now saw Tao Nian’s gaze and knew what her next words would be.

The stairwell was small, and they were standing side-by-side. If Tao Nian suddenly lashed out, her position would make it difficult to escape.

Lin Qianman nonchalantly stood up and slowly walked to the stairwell door. Feeling Tao Nian’s gaze following her, she calmly looked back and asked, “What did you just say? After I stepped on the Jianbing?”

After Lin Qianman said this, she realized something was off.

She had stepped on that Jianbing, and logically, it shouldn’t be eaten. A normal person should know this, but did Tao Nian know?

Did the stingy and food-protective Tao Nian know? Could she bear to give up that Jianbing?

Lin Qianman held her breath, looking nervously at Tao Nian: “You didn’t eat it, did you?”

“No!”

Tao Nian pouted aggrievedly: “A cat took it!”

A cat…

A Taotie, after all, is an ancient ferocious beast. How could a cat snatch a Jianbing Guozi from her? Is there any logic to that?!

And also, a cat took it. From the sound of it, did you actually still want to eat that stepped-on Jianbing?

Lin Qianman didn’t know where to begin, but finally, she patiently said: “You can’t eat dirty things.”

Tao Nian looked at Lin Qianman, her face full of grievance, and said nothing.

Lin Qianman watched her for a moment, her mind filled with the image of Tao Nian sitting on the steps, eating Jianbing, and watching the cat run off with her Jianbing. She knew there were cats nearby, not stray cats, but a large cat belonging to a nearby coffee shop owner, with a fluffy, beautiful tail. The little Taotie must have been sitting there, just like that, aggrieved, watching that big cat run away with its tail wagging.

Actually, Taotie also have tails, like a lamb’s tail, white, fluffy, short, and puffy. When Lin Qianman first met Tao Nian, the Taotie was still a young cub.

All creatures’ cubs are adorable. Even a Taotie, in its cubhood, was round-headed and very cute. The short, puffy, lamb-like tail hanging behind it would sometimes perk up, and when the wind blew, the thick white fur would float, making the short little tail look like a layered little wing.

A little bit, cute.

Lin Qianman clenched her hand into a fist, placed it over her mouth, and lightly coughed.

Tao Nian’s eyes were still open, unaware that Lin Qianman was already imagining her in human form, with a fluffy tail behind her.

Because of the sudden silence, the sound-activated light in the stairwell went out. Now the stairwell was in complete darkness, with only a small window at the first-floor landing, where outside lights shone through, casting a patch of light the size of a floor tile on the ground.

Better than nothing, yet seemingly useless.

In the darkness, Tao Nian heard Lin Qianman’s breathing. For some reason, in this darkness, Tao Nian felt Lin Qianman smelled even more fragrant. She couldn’t help but walk closer to Lin Qianman, unconsciously grinding her teeth.

This sound startled Lin Qianman.

She stomped her foot, and the sound-activated light turned on again.

In the light, Lin Qianman immediately realized how strange her thought had been.

How did she go from being afraid of Tao Nian to finding Tao Nian adorable? And how did she unconsciously come to find Tao Nian so cute? She even started imagining a chibi Taotie doll of Tao Nian.

Very strange, very strange.

As Lin Qianman thought, she took two steps, gathered the leftover trash from Tao Nian’s meal: the aluminum foil from the fried skewers, the wooden skewers, the paper box from the pan-fried buns, the individual chili oil packets.

She haphazardly crammed all these things into a plastic bag, and walked out, holding it: “Let’s go back and rest.”

Tao Nian followed behind Lin Qianman. She had been thinking about something just now, and now she reached out to poke Lin Qianman’s back again, whispering to her: “Empathy means, I don’t want the cat to take my Jianbing Guozi, so I won’t take other people’s Jianbing Guozi either, right?”

It seemed right, but also a little strange. However, it was already very good for a child to have such a thought!

“Right!”

Lin Qianman affirmed her, encouraging her: “And you can expand this concept further. You don’t want the cat to take your things without permission, so you also shouldn’t take other people’s things without permission.”

As mentioned before, Tao Nian has a very strong learning ability, and she is vivid in her understanding and generalization.

Now too, she blinked innocently, stating her understanding: “Then if I’m willing to let the cat take my things, can I take other people’s?”

Lin Qianman: “No.”

“Why?”

“Because even if you’re willing, others might not be.”

“But if I’m not willing, others might not be unwilling.”

It’s who knows what day of child-rearing, and Lin Qianman finally understood why educating children gives parents such massive headaches that they resort to parenting classes.

This was clearly not a skill that could be self-taught.

And in a hotel not far from here.

Huang Li changed into her slippers, then whimpered and collapsed onto the floor, hugging her furry child and weeping about today’s ordeal. Every word was full of tears.

Oh my god, not only do I have to be a guest performer for that Taotie, but I also have to carry her and make her shine.

Help, I can’t take this anymore!