Daddy's Gourmet Shop-Chapter 408 - 398: Little Cutie Is Almost Worried Sick
"Daddy, can you help me make lots and lots of little animals later?"
Xuanxuan sat in the safety seat at the back, unable to contain her excited anticipation, chirping away like a happy little lark, with her delightful and melodious voice.
"How many is lots? Just like you, Daddy has never done any crafts! How do you know Daddy can do it?"
Huang Tao glanced at Xuanxuan through the rearview mirror and teased her, "What if Daddy can’t do it either, then what?"
"Oh..."
Xuanxuan covered her little rosy mouth with her chubby little hands in disbelief, her big eyes suddenly filled with a look of surprise.
That’s right!
The innocent little one believed it.
Then she looked nervously at the side of Huang Tao’s face and asked anxiously, "Daddy, what should we do? I can’t do it by myself, and if I can’t hand in my craft homework tomorrow, will Teacher Ye be mad at me?"
Teacher Ye seems gentle, but when she’s strict, she can be quite scary!
Even though I’ve never been scolded, it doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it!
Xuanxuan was already very cute, and now her serious worrying look was even more amusing and fun.
"Haha~"
Seeing her face scrunched into a little bun of worry, Huang Tao couldn’t help but laugh.
For safety’s sake, he gently pressed the clutch, slowing the car down a little.
Daddy, you’re still laughing~
Your little cutie is almost worried to death~
"Sigh~"
Xuanxuan, with a face full of clouds, couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
Seeing this, Huang Tao felt both heartache and self-reproach.
Blaming himself for teasing her.
That way, the little one wouldn’t be so worried!
He quickly reassured, "Alright, alright, don’t worry, Daddy will help you make lots of little animals, I promise! I definitely won’t let you fail to hand in your homework and be scolded by Teacher Ye."
Xuanxuan’s spirits lifted instantly, but her big eyes were still filled with disbelief, "Really?"
Huang Tao laughed, "Really."
Xuanxuan was a bit puzzled, "But... Daddy, you just said that like me, you’ve never done any craft homework!"
"And you said you couldn’t do it either..."
"Uh..."
Huang Tao wiped away his sweat and said, "Even though Daddy hasn’t done it before, I can learn from videos!"
Xuanxuan accepted this explanation, "Oh..."
After a moment.
Huang Tao drove Xuanxuan to the vegetable market.
Parked the car.
Huang Tao got out of the car, went to the back seat, and lifted Xuanxuan out from the child seat, "Let’s go, we’ll buy some vegetables for the craft."
As for Mimi, it was left in the car to continue its nap.
The father and daughter walked into the vegetable market, heading straight for the vendor’s stall.
It was already getting late, many vendors had started packing up.
However, seeing the father and daughter approaching, they warmly greeted them, "Hey, Boss Huang, Xuanxuan, here to the market so late!"
Xuanxuan replied in her childish voice, "Uncle, we need vegetables for a craft project."
"Xuanxuan, come to Uncle, I still have some vegetables, come over and pick some," the vendor enthusiastically invited them over.
Xuanxuan and Huang Tao both smiled and waved to the other vendors before arriving at the stall to select the needed materials.
They bought white radishes and bitter melons.
Since they didn’t buy much,
The vendor refused to take any money, "These veggies aren’t worth much, Boss Huang, just take them! No need to pay."
Huang Tao didn’t insist further and with a smile, accepted, "Thanks, I’ll leave 10 buns for you tomorrow morning!"
Seeing her daddy’s good connections, Xuanxuan felt very happy too.
She sweetly thanked, "Thank you, Uncle, goodbye Uncle."
Before leaving the market, Huang Tao intended to check the eel quality in the market.
If the quality was good, he could directly discuss delivery details.
Unfortunately!
He came too late!
The eel vendor had packed up and gone home.
So he had to temporarily give up and carried Xuanxuan back to the car.
They drove back to their own neighborhood, parked the car.
A big one, a small one, and a cat went upstairs back home.
After changing shoes, the dad headed to the kitchen to wash the vegetables first.
"Daddy, do you need help? Xuanxuan can help you wash the vegetables~"
Xuanxuan, being sensible, dragged over a small stool, stood next to the sink, rolled up her sleeves, ready to help.
"Alright, come on then!"
Huang Tao made some space and handed her a smaller bitter melon.
The little one earnestly started washing the bitter melon as if giving it a sauna bath.
A moment later!
She carefully cleaned the bitter melon, mimicking her father’s actions, and followed him to the dining table.
"Xuanxuan, in a moment we’re going to make a frog out of the bitter melon and a swan out of the white radish. You watch from the side, and later you can help with inserting the toothpicks. The knife work will be done by Daddy, okay?"
Huang Tao was worried that Xuanxuan might get hurt with the knife, so he assigned her the safer task of inserting toothpicks.
Xuanxuan nodded obediently, "Uh-huh~"
Then she knelt on the dining chair, propping her elbows on the table, holding her rosy little face with her hands.
Her big, lively eyes curiously watched her dad’s hand holding the small knife.
She was curious about how her dad would turn a bitter melon into a little frog, and how he would transform a plump white radish into a beautiful white swan.
With a face full of anticipation, she watched intently...
Huang Tao picked up the cleaned white radish, cutting about a 10-centimeter section from the top.
He began to skillfully wield the knife, peeling the radish...
The "swish swish" sound was constant as radish shavings kept falling onto the table.
He moved quickly, the tip of the knife flipping.
The radish was cut into two, and then into four.
From one of the quarter sections, he made a cut half a centimeter wide, leaving it unsevered.
Turning it to another direction, he repeated the process.
He carved a curve on the edge.
The back was done in a similar manner!
Then he made several cuts on the surface to make it look more like swan feathers.
For the tail feathers, he used a V-shaped carving tool for direct carving.
He then tilted the knife slightly, making a few ridges on the small piece for the wings.
Initially, he made several slices with single cuts.
On the second cut, he removed the section below it.
After three to four slices, he proceeded with continuous single cuts, increasing speed as he went.
A moment later!
The body of the swan was finished.
He then started on the swan’s neck, cutting a half-centimeter thick slice from another quarter of the radish.
On the thin slice, he carved out a shape resembling the number 2 and adjusted to create a beak shape!
He added eyes as embellishments.
"Wow..."
Xuanxuan exclaimed in awe at the lifelike swan.
The little one’s mouth involuntarily opened wide enough to fit an egg, and realizing her lapse, she modestly reached out her chubby hand to cover her mouth.
Huang Tao smiled slightly. He hadn’t practiced these carvings before; he had just accidentally come across carving videos online before. However, with his current knife skills, carving these small animals wasn’t too difficult!
But being able to mesmerize his beloved daughter and make her exclaim was a source of tremendous achievement for Huang Tao!
"Mimi, look, my Dad turned a white radish into a beautiful swan~"
She excitedly shared the good news with her friend, Mimi.
Poor Mimi was lazily asleep, startled awake by her little master’s shout. It opened its sleepy eyes confusedly, saw its little master waving, and instinctively let out a "meow" in response.
Huang Tao cheerfully picked up the bitter melon next to him and got to work.
With each rise and fall of his knife, the frog’s body and parts were carved out.
"Xuanxuan, come, put this toothpick into the frog’s legs and body..."
Huang Tao encircled Xuanxuan in his arms, holding the frog’s legs and body in his left hand, and guiding Xuanxuan’s small hand holding the toothpick with his right hand.
Tutorial by hand, guiding Xuanxuan in using the toothpick to connect the frog’s parts to its body.
"It should be inserted like this..."
The toothpick connected the frog’s legs and body, and with big hands holding little hands, they slowly outlined the frog’s entire shape.
A big body, bent hind legs, pointed head, round eyes...
The room was silent, only the faint sound of the toothpick passing through the bitter melon could be heard.
A few minutes later...
A lively frog appeared before them, as if it might jump around at any moment.
"Wow!"
Xuanxuan’s eyes sparkled as she watched the bitter melon transform into a frog, her mouth wide open in awe, "Daddy, Daddy, this frog looks so real! The swan looks so real too!"
Listening to this, Huang Tao felt immensely proud.
He asked with a smiling face, "Do you like it?"
"Uh-huh, I like it, Daddy is amazing!"
Without hesitation, Xuanxuan nodded her head, hugging Huang Tao’s shoulder. She leaned over with her rosy lips and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "mua."
Oh dear!
Huang Tao felt like his soul had flown away, turning his head and mumbling, "Daddy will kiss Xuanxuan too."
Xuanxuan thought for a moment and then pressed her cheek against her dad’s lips.
Wow!
Huang Tao was overflowing with happiness!
