Chapter 161: Little Adult with a Sly Mind

Hearing this, Yan Chixia could not help letting out a sigh of admiration:
"Ah! Chen Xiaobao's child is already old enough to run errands and buy soy sauce? I remember back then, when we used to study together at the Temple of Literature, Xiaobao was the shortest of us all, only standing this high... Heh, and now his son has grown to this height too! Who would have thought, Xiaobao's genetic makeup is simply too strong; his son looks exactly like him! Taohua, stand here and wait for me for a moment; I must go and have a word with Xiaobao's son."
With that, he turned around and hurried in two or three steps behind Jindou, calling out:
"Jindou, don't run! Stop right there, I have something to say to you."
Originally, Yan Chixia assumed that Jindou would immediately stop in his tracks, turn around, and speak to him. However, contrary to his expectations, upon hearing these words, Jindou kept running without even looking back, and refused flatly:
"No way! You are a stranger. Both my father and my mother have repeatedly warned me never to speak to strangers!"
Upon hearing this, Yan Chixia grew even more astonished! For the milky, childish tone of Jindou's voice was precisely identical to the way Chen Chixia—no, Chen Xiaobao—used to speak back in the day. Yan Chixia found himself growing increasingly fascinated by Jindou. He instantly leaped forward, landing right in front of Jindou, and smiled at him:
"Jindou, what your father and mother said is right; you shouldn't speak to strangers. But I am not a stranger. I am your father's dearest childhood friend!"
"You're lying!" Jindou stopped in his tracks, standing right before Yan Chixia. Tilting up his innocent and adorable little face, he carefully looked Yan Chixia up and down while speaking with extreme vigilance, "My father only has a few dearest childhood friends, and I know them all by heart: there is Uncle Li Xiaohuo, Uncle Zhao Jinshuo, Uncle Zhang Shitou... Oh, and there is also the most formidable, the most incredible Uncle Yan Chixia! Aside from those four, nobody else is... You're trying to impersonate one of them, but you don't stand a chance!"
"Hahaha..." Yan Chixia was thrown into a hearty laugh by Jindou's overly mature response.
Upon seeing this, Jindou's guard instantly went up even higher as he demanded:
"What are you laughing at? Is it because my words have exposed your scheme and left you speechless?"
Hearing this, Yan Chixia checked his laughter and replied:
"Jindou, you are a little person with an old soul, and you're terribly clever. Truly, 'the student has surpassed the master'! To tell you the truth: I am that very 'most formidable, most incredible Uncle Yan Chixia'."
"Impossible!" Jindou retorted in his childish voice, "A long, long time ago, my Uncle Yan went off to Mount Zhongnan to cultivate the Dao. How could he possibly appear here? Humph! Don't think that just because you're handsome and look like a good person, you can fool me!"
"Heh... He's not lying to you!" At this moment, Taohua stepped forward with a smile, "Jindou, he really is your Uncle Yan, back from Mount Zhongnan!"

"Really?" Jindou looked at Taohua's radiant, smiling face and asked half-convinced, "But, Aunt Taohua, my dad said that my Uncle Yan went to Mount Zhongnan to cultivate the Dao, and one day he's going to become an immortal! Immortals do not partake in mortal food and remain detached from the rolling dust of the mundane world... Therefore, he would never return to Supporting Mountain Village!" At this point, his two dark, rolling eyes shifted back to Yan Chixia's face. "Since you are Uncle Yan, you must have mastered Daoist magic and be as formidable as an immortal! If you can pull off a trick right here and now for me to see, I'll believe you are Uncle Yan!"
"Very well!" Yan Chixia agreed readily. "Jindou, Uncle Yan is so happy to see you today! Now, Uncle Yan would like to give you a welcome gift, but I wonder what you would like? Just name it, and Uncle Yan will give it to you right away!"
"Really?" Jindou asked joyfully, "I want to eat candied sugar-coated haws. Can you give me some right now?"
"I can," Yan Chixia nodded. "Jindou, besides candied haws, what else would you like to eat?"
"Ah? Can you give me whatever I want to eat?" Jindou asked, pleasantly surprised. Seeing Yan Chixia nod again, his little face flushed red as he giggled, "Hehe... I also want to roasted peanuts, flaky pastries, and trough cakes."
Seeing that Jindou stopped there, Yan Chixia asked with a smile:
"Just these? Jindou, is there anything else? You can ask for a few more things."
"No more, no more!" Jindou answered without the slightest hesitation, "My father and mother both told me that a person shouldn't be too greedy!"
"Well said!" Yan Chixia immediately praised, "Jindou, Uncle Yan will give you the candied haws, roasted peanuts, flaky pastries, and trough cakes right now!"
"Brother Chixia, can you really... give those to him?" Taohua couldn't help asking.
Knowing that Taohua was worried for him, Yan Chixia smiled and said:
"No problem. Taohua, let me give Jindou his welcome gift first; once we get home later, I'll give you a gift as well!"
With that, he silently recited a spell, summoning a piece of talisman paper stored within his "storage ring," and used his true qi to control the talisman so that it floated and flattened out in mid-air right in front of him.
"Ah?" Seeing this, Jindou let out a startled cry, and his grip loosened, causing the jar of soy sauce he was holding in his arms to suddenly slip downward.
With quick eyes and nimble hands, Yan Chixia immediately reached out, caught the soy sauce jar, and set it gently on the ground. Then, he silently recited another spell to summon his cinnabar ink brush, grasped it in his hand, and began to paint with swift, sweeping strokes...
Both Taohua and Jindou watched with wide-open eyes.

In an instant, Yan Chixia finished painting with strokes as fluid as a dragon in flight and a snake in motion. He withdrew the ink brush, grabbed a corner of the paper talisman, and gave it a sudden flick. With a flash of golden light, a woven basket was instantly activated and landed steadily on the ground.
Inside the basket lay half a basket of roasted peanuts still in their shells, topped with a box of flaky oil-crust sesame biscuits, a package of trough cakes, and a jar of stinky tofu, with a circle of bright red, translucent candied haws stuck around the perimeter.
"Ah—!" Seeing this, both Taohua and Jindou were struck dumb with astonishment.
Yan Chixia reached out, lifted the basket filled with delicacies, placed the jar of soy sauce from the ground back into the basket, and smiled at Jindou:
"Jindou, this is the gift Uncle Yan has for you. Take it."
Instead of taking the basket directly, Jindou dropped to his knees right in front of Yan Chixia with a loud thud and kowtowed deeply, making his head strike the ground:
"Uncle Yan, you really are my most formidable, most incredible Uncle Yan! Uncle Yan, thank you for giving me so many delicious things!"
"Heh, you little rascal, you sure know how to talk," Yan Chixia chuckled. "Who told you to kowtow? Get up now and take these things home."
Jindou acknowledged the command, stood up, and eagerly took the basket of delicacies, his mouth watering as he said:
"Ah, these peanuts, these candied haws, these flaky pastries, and these trough cakes smell so good! It's just this jar of stinky tofu that smells way too foul! Uncle Yan, I didn't even say I wanted stinky tofu, why did you give it to me?"
Yan Chixia replied:
"Jindou, that stinky tofu isn't for you; it's a gift from Uncle Yan to your father... I remember that when your father was little, stinky tofu was his absolute favorite thing to eat! Alright, Jindou, hurry up and carry the basket home. When you get there, tell your father that I'll go see him shortly."
"Mm-hmm," Jindou agreed happily. "Uncle Yan, you are welcome to come visit our home! Right now, my father isn't in; he went up to Big Solitary Mountain to chop firewood. Come over to our house after my dad gets back, and I'll have my mom wrap up some dumplings for you to eat! Uncle Yan, Aunt Taohua, goodbye!"
With that, Jindou carried the basket brimming with delicacies and ran happily toward his home.