I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 299
Chapter 299: A Lonely Nuo’er Car Maid Meows
“This is a two-colored glutinous rice dish!”
Among the dishes ordered by Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei, the easiest to make naturally is glutinous rice.
Most of the glutinous rice dishes in the restaurant are actually prepared in the morning, and after they are cooked, they are kept warm in a professional steamer. If someone needs them, they just need to be reheated slightly and then plated and served.
Considering that many parents will bring their children over these days, we specially arranged a “children’s special” version when steaming glutinous rice, which means adding sugar. This way, the glutinous rice will be fragrant and sweet, greatly loved by the children.
“Here, the black glutinous rice is made with maple leaves, the yellow one is with gardenia flowers, the red one is with red-blue grass, and this green one… this is an extra gift, made by steaming glutinous rice with spinach juice.”
Carefully taking out glutinous rice of different colors from the steamer in the kitchen according to a certain ratio, then using tools to plate them, forming a colorful plate, I took out bowls and chopsticks from the disinfection cabinet, poured some sugar into two cute cat-shaped bowls, divided them into two servings, and then handed them to Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei at their table outside.
Although these colorful glutinous rice dishes look particularly delicious on the outside, in most cases, they don’t taste significantly different from ordinary glutinous rice. For younger children, it might be a bit disappointing. Without knowing how much Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei like sweets, my best choice is to prepare more sugar for them.
“Is this glutinous rice made with maple leaves? Is it the maple leaves we know?”
Clearly, Li Denghua’s family doesn’t seem to usually prepare these things for the little one. At this moment, this little girl, who usually appears aloof, looked at the colorful rice on the table with both eyes shining brightly.
“I remember maple leaves are red, shouldn’t the rice dyed with it be red too?”
“Maple leaf juice isn’t red.”
Clearly, Zhou Xiaofei seems to understand quite a bit about this common knowledge. She took the plate initiative, and earnestly said to me, “Thank you, Sister Nuo’er.”
“Thank you, Sister Nuo’er!”
Li Denghua seemed to realize something and followed up with a sentence. Then she carefully took the cat-shaped bowl containing sugar and said, “Even the bowls here are so cute!”
“Yeah, so if you have time in the future, feel free to come and play anytime.”
I helped separate the chopsticks and bowls for the two.
“How many days off does the school have for Dragon Boat Festival?”
These cat-shaped bowls are actually one of the café’s main features. Under Ouyang Xue’s leadership, the focus here is on “details.”
For example, near the QR codes on our table surfaces, besides some advertisements and small tips, there are also some annotations written in a cute font, like “Please don’t waste food” and “Don’t bully the cats.” All the bowls and chopsticks in the store are specially customized versions.
Some plates are shaped like large cat paws, and some chopsticks have a pair of cat ears at the back. Besides various warm decorations hanging on the glass around the restaurant, there are also some graffiti, such as “Meow Meow Meow! ? Cat was here,” and when you see this line, you’ve already been spotted by the cat, so quickly hand over the cat food.
Even our restroom is made particularly cute, filled with decorations both inside and outside, keeping the air fresh throughout, making customers feel everything is cute no matter what they do or where they look, feeling that the café has “put their heart into it.”
Moreover, some decorations and texts in certain places change every day, such as graffiti on the windows, which might change to “Stupid humans – Anti-Cat Alliance ‘Building 3’ was here” or “I don’t like fish, who says cats have to eat fish.” Then the wind chimes here are replaced with shining star ornaments, and the original three-meter-high cat climbing frame is split into two, one of which has become the “charging station entrance” for the floor cleaning robot.
Usually, Ouyang Xue sets the standard for us – hygiene, safety, and customer experience always come first, and then we try to make sure that every returning customer feels a completely different atmosphere in the café each time they come in.
“Three days off.”
In response to my question, Li Denghua picked up the chopsticks eagerly.
“We’re off since last Friday, plus today and tomorrow, three days in total, which equals just one day off, and then the weekend.”
“Oh, I see…”
I poured a cup of Luo Han Guo tea (chinese herbal tea) for both of them.
“Don’t your parents have a day off?”
In my impression, Li Denghua’s father seems to rarely be in contact with the family and has always been working in the craftsman district, while her mother is also very busy and has been lax in disciplining her daughter since she was young, which has made Li Denghua’s personality somewhat peculiar from a young age.
Troubled families breed troubled children… Oh well, this is someone else’s family matter, and I have no right to intervene.
Now, Li Denghua has at least Zhou Xiaofei as a good friend, so I hope their friendship can continue.
“They never take days off, they just work day after day.”
Li Denghua pouted discontentedly.
“Xiaofei is always the best to me.”
“I…I’m not really…”
Zhou Xiaofei blushed a bit at this statement.
“Denghua is also very good to me, you even gave me this dress…”
“In that case, Xiaofei, how about growing up and marrying me to repay me?”
“W…What are you saying, we’re both girls…”
“What’s wrong with being girls? Sister Nuo’er and Sister Xiamo are both girls too.”
“……”
Huh?
Watching the two of them flirting on the table, I was a bit dumbfounded. Has your relationship heated up so quickly?
“Sister Nuo’er.”
After a moment of “affection” between them, Li Denghua turned her head.
“Is this red glutinous rice dyed with that flower?”
“It’s not a flower, it’s a kind of grass.”
I snapped back to attention, “It’s called red-blue grass, some places call it ‘mountain sorghum.’ Its leaves are green, but the rice dyed from it turns red.”
“Then can I dye glutinous rice red with dragon fruit?”
“With dragon fruit…well, you can, but it’s a bit expensive!”
I chuckled, “Here, red dragon fruit seems to be even more expensive than rice, so it’s generally not used for dyeing.”
Is it true that kids will be kids, remembering to eat dragon fruit just by seeing this color? How does that saying go? Out of the mouths of babes?
Indeed, dragon fruit can be used for dyeing, but from a business perspective, using it to dye glutinous rice and sell it would be a loss, so…
“Well, when I learn to make glutinous rice in the future, I’ll dye red glutinous rice for Sister Nuo’er to eat.”
Li Denghua scooped up a spoonful of glutinous rice with a small spoon.
“It’s so sweet!”
“Is it sweet?”
Zhou Xiaofei was a bit curious, “My grandma used to make this kind of glutinous rice for me before, it didn’t seem sweet, though?”
“It’s really sweet!”
Li Denghua directly scooped a large spoonful of black glutinous rice from her own bowl and put it into Zhou Xiaofei’s bowl.
“Try it, there’s also a kind of herbal taste, super delicious!”
“Huh?”
Zhou Xiaofei took a bite, showing a surprised expression, “It’s really sweet. Sister Nuo’er, did you add sugar in it?”
“Yeah.”
I tentatively asked, “If you don’t like it, I can change it to the regular flavor.”
“No, I like this one.”
Li Denghua first added a large spoonful of glutinous rice to Zhou Xiaofei’s bowl, then filled her own cat-shaped bowl.
“It’s my first time eating this kind of festival food.”
One can imagine how strict the upbringing of this young lady from a wealthy family must be…
“You guys go ahead and eat here, there are a few more dishes, and later Sister Xiamo or a Sister named Fei Luo will bring them over to you.”
Seeing the two of them enjoying their meal so much, I pointed outside and said, “If you need anything, just find Sister Xiamo. You should know what she looks like, right? I need to make a quick trip back to Starry Garden Community, I forgot something at home.”
“Okay!”
Li Denghua lifted her little head. “Do you need to take a car back?”
“No, it’s not far, I’ll just walk.”
I crouched down and patted the heads of the two little girls holding their cats. Then, I waved to them, “See you later.”
“See you later, Sister Nuo’er, be safe on the way.”
After bidding farewell to the two little ones, I almost instinctively walked out of the café, basking in the warm sunshine outside, feeling quite content.
Ah… is this what it feels like to be a big sister? So comfortable.
Taking care of the kids, and then hearing them call me “Sister Nuo’er” one after another, I don’t know why but I always feel a deep sense of happiness.
Wait a minute, why do I enjoy being a “big sister” rather than a “big brother”?
Even being an “uncle” would be fine. When did I get used to this unspoken rule?
Could it be that even my subconscious has defaulted to seeing myself as a girl? Are there no traces left of my old “uncle” identity?
Probably… I hope… it’s not to that extent yet, right?
I must have been bullied too long by Xiao Mo and Fei Luo, that’s for sure.
As usual, I walked out of the café, descended the small hill along the winding path outside, and as I walked back, my mind was still dwelling on the scenes of Xiao Mo “bullying” me as usual.
Hmm… so what if she’s a few thousand years older than me? So what if she has a little more experience… Anyway, she’s just a clone, once I “endure” and develop my skills, I’ll surpass the clone first, then surpass the original. It’s just a matter of time!
Speaking of which, the sun today seems unusually scorching.
As I thought, I walked onto the small road on the right side of the café’s south side, discreetly sweeping aside the bangs on my forehead.
*Pata, pata, pata.*
As I walked on the hard cement pavement, the round-toed leather shoes matched with the maid outfit made a slightly muffled tapping sound against the ground.
I could vaguely feel the slight pressure on my heels.
The thigh-high stockings wrapped around my entire foot and calf, leaving a bit of flesh exposed halfway up the thigh. The two straps connected directly to the waistband, causing a noticeable tug on the waist, thighs, and legs with each step.
Occasionally, a breeze would blow under the skirt, giving a cool sensation to the exposed flesh of the thighs.
I’m not sure if it’s because of drinking too much Fei Luo Dragon King Milk recently, but my chest has grown slightly. The flat chest originally designed for children now bulges slightly, pushing out the front of the top a bit, allowing some summer breeze to flow in from the bottom of the skirt, making my whole abdomen feel cool.
The maid decorations on both hands felt exceptionally soft, constantly rubbing against the skin of my arms as my hands swayed, causing an itching sensation.
Wait a minute.
After walking on the road for a while, amidst the curious glances of passersby, I instantly realized something was wrong.
How did I… end up going out wearing a maid outfit?!
Realizing this, I instinctively glanced behind me.
I had already… walked quite far.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, behind me stretched a very long road.
From this spot, the slope of the café could only be vaguely seen, with that huge banyan tree.
Oh no, this is bad. If I go home like this, I should change my clothes.
But now, dressed like this… with white thigh-high stockings and small leather shoes of a maid outfit, completely out of place compared to the ordinary attire of the people around me, it’s drawing a lot of attention.
But I can’t just walk back like this, right? It would take a lot of time back and forth, and I’d probably miss my lunch break.
But if I choose to go back like this… will people mistake me for a cosplayer or a vain little girl?
The people in the Nanqi District are more open-minded than in the Central District, but that doesn’t mean I like being the center of attention on the whole street…
It seems like… I have no choice but to go back like this now, huh?
Oh, do I have to walk this road twice in a maid outfit?
Just now, I reckon I chatted too long with Zhou Xiaofei and Li Denghua, and I completely immersed myself in my “maid” identity. Then, when I remembered I had to go get Dragon Milk for Ouyang Xue, my brain somehow defaulted “going home” to “just going to fetch something”, completely forgetting about “changing clothes”.
This is probably also related to my life at the café over the past two months, because over here not only me and Xiao Mo, even Ouyang Xue often wears a maid outfit, so maybe I habitually think of this outfit as “casual wear” in the café.
But the problem is, forget about the maid outfit, just the attribute of “white thigh-high stockings” alone is an extremely rare presence outside…
Nowadays, girls or professional women might wear black stockings, black pantyhose, or black knee-high socks. Those pair well with school uniforms or office attire. But white stockings… from what I recall, they’re worn by either little girls learning ballet, sitting in the backseat of their parents’ car in a ballet outfit, or by very young children, six or seven years old, who don’t know much about the world.
Whatever, let others look if they want.
After hesitating for several tens of seconds, I made a decision — I’ll just go home wearing this outfit!
It’s not a big deal. White thigh-high stockings demand a particularly high standard for a girl’s figure, especially her legs, but Nuo’er, your figure is perfect enough, wearing them won’t make anyone feel uncomfortable.
People will just be happy to see a cute little girl today.
So you don’t need to be too shy, just treat it like a usual day at the café.
After a brief internal struggle, I resumed my steps towards the direction of Starry Garden Community.
If I ever encounter someone with ill intentions, just press the cat bell on my neck to call for Xiao Mo.
Scratch that, not a cat bell, just a regular walkie-talkie. Yeah.
“……”
……