The Little Dumpling’s Daily Dad Hunt

Pei Xieyuan thought that after eight years of enduring the borderlands’ wind and snow, his blade had long since lost any place for tenderness. That is, until a little girl with pigtails grabbed his trouser leg. “Uncle, can you weave grasshoppers out of straw? My mother says people who can weave them are all good people.”

She dragged him into the leaky Spring Glutinous Rice Café, where he smelled the hot soup bubbling on the stove and tasted the sweet steamed milk pudding Gu Xichun handed him. He discovered that the warmth of everyday life could burn hotter than battlefield blood.

He thought the café was shabby, so he had its roof replaced with glazed tiles. He claimed he was “just passing by,” but in truth he waited at the alley entrance every day for A Nuo. What he could hide least of all was the marriage contract A Nuo had tucked into his armor. He secretly kept it inside the jade pendant he wore close to his heart.

As the truth behind the Gu family’s old case surfaced with the aroma of crab roe, Pei Xieyuan took Gu Xichun’s hands. “These hands should hold a soup ladle, not a cleaver. From now on, I’ll protect you.”

The little girl rose on tiptoe and tugged his sleeve. “Papa, have you finished weaving the grasshopper? Mother says once it’s done, we have to hold the wedding ceremony!”