Pan'er shook her head repeatedly, "No, I'm full."
As she spoke, she unconsciously swallowed.
Jiang Qinyu put down her chopsticks and looked at her gently, "Can you tell your aunt why you've been eating so little lately?"
At seven or eight years old, she was at a crucial stage of growth, and Jiang Qinyu couldn't rest easy until the problem of food was solved.
Pan'er blinked her big eyes, biting her lip and remaining silent.
“Pan’er, if you don’t want to eat it yourself, then we won’t take you to see a doctor later. But if you’re feeling unwell, then you’ll have to see a doctor and drink bitter medicine,” Lu Yanzheng said in a serious tone.
Upon hearing that she had to take medicine, Pan'er frantically waved her hands, "I don't want to take medicine! I only ate less because I didn't want to..."
"Why don't you want to eat?" Jiang Qinyu interrupted her. "Is it because it doesn't suit your taste?"
The cook in the manor was specially hired according to the children's tastes. She had no problems with the food, and Shufan's health had improved a lot recently, which meant that there was nothing wrong with the cook's cooking.
Pan'er shook her head subconsciously and started biting her lip again.
"Why is that?" Jiang Qinyu continued to press.
Seeing this, Shufan looked at Pan'er with a serious expression, "Pan'er, do you want your aunt and uncle to worry about you?"
This was the first time Shufan had ever scolded her, and Pan'er burst into tears, "Auntie, Uncle, don't worry, brother, don't scold Pan'er... I... I didn't eat so much because... because I didn't want to get fat, waaaah..."
The little girl cried her eyes out, and when she opened them, she kept looking at Jiang Qinyu with her eyes full of grievance.
Jiang Qinyu sat down beside her, then picked her up and kissed her forehead. "Pan'er, don't cry. Tell your aunt, why are you afraid of getting fat?"
This era is different from the one she lived in. People are more likely to like someone who is overweight because being overweight means having a wealthy family background.
Especially in farmers' homes, they don't care if you're fat, they just worry if you don't have the strength to work.
On the contrary, wealthy families, because of their love of beauty, often have young ladies who pay great attention to managing their figures and not wanting to have an unattractive physique.
Pan'er lowered her head, sobbing as she said, "My classmates at the academy said that if I want to grow up to be as beautiful as my aunt, I can't get fat..."
For the first two days of school, she brought some snacks with her every day, ate them after class, and shared them with her classmates.
But one of her classmates knew that her biggest wish was to be as beautiful and capable as her aunt in the future, so she told her not to eat too much, or she wouldn't look like her aunt anymore.
After hearing Pan'er's words, Jiang Qinyu was both annoyed and amused. "So you gave all the pastries you brought to the academy to that classmate?"
Pan'er nodded obediently.
Shu Fan looked at his younger sister with a heavy heart, and suddenly felt very powerless.
With such a naive and simple-minded younger sister, he's going to have a lot to worry about in the future.
Lu Yanzheng frowned slightly and said gently, "You're still a child, and it's the time when you're growing. Even if you're chubby, you'll lose weight later."
Straight men are just that direct when comforting someone.
Jiang Qinyu glanced at him, signaling him to be quiet, before asking Pan'er, "Pan'er, what do you think makes a person beautiful?"
Pan'er immediately exclaimed in a clear voice, "Auntie is the most beautiful!"
Jiang Qinyu smiled. Although she was happy to hear this, she still needed to correct any misunderstandings in the child's understanding. "So, does Pan'er think Aunt Chen Hong is beautiful?"
Chen Hong is not ugly, but she has dark, healthy skin and is very energetic.
“Beautiful!” Pan’er nodded without hesitation.
Jiang Qinyu nodded, then asked, "What about Zhu Zi's mother? Is she beautiful?"
The pillar she mentioned was Wang Tiezhu's son in the village, named Xiaozhuzi.
Because of her improper behavior at her parents' home, Xiaozhuzi's mother had difficulty finding a husband, while Wang Tiezhu was over forty and still unmarried. So, he spent some money to marry her.
Zhu Zi's mother was quite beautiful, but she was mean-spirited and one of the few women in the village who was on good terms with Ma.
Upon hearing the name of Zhu Zi's mother, Pan'er's face immediately scrunched up, and she shook her head, saying, "She's not pretty! She's ugly!"
In the past, when she and her brother played in the village, Zhu Zi's mother would spit at them as she passed by. It wasn't until her aunt became more ruthless in the last two years that she stopped doing such things.
Jiang Qinyu didn't know about this, but that didn't stop her from teaching Pan'er, "So Pan'er, do you understand what beauty is now?"
After thinking hard for a long time, Pan'er replied, "Are good people beautiful, but bad people aren't?"
Jiang Qinyu smiled and nodded, "You could say that. No matter what a good person looks like, their heart is beautiful; while a bad person, no matter how good-looking, is still a bad person."
"What Auntie is trying to say is that a person's beauty is not determined by their weight, but by their heart," Shufan chimed in.
Pan'er nodded as if she understood, "So even if I get fat, as long as I'm not a bad person, I'll still be beautiful, right?"
“You’re right to think that way, but like Uncle just said, we’re still growing and won’t get fat,” Shufan nodded seriously. “And even if we do get fat, you’ll lose weight if you help Auntie with more chores.”
Just like before, they were busy with chores every day and became skin and bones. How could they gain weight?
Upon hearing this, Pan'er's eyes immediately lit up. "That means I can eat whatever I want, as much as I want?"
"I told you you're a little foodie, didn't I? You're showing your gluttonous side again." Jiang Qinyu tapped her nose and handed her a shrimp dumpling. "Eat up."
Pan'er didn't have time to say anything more. She jumped off Jiang Qinyu, grabbed her own bowl and chopsticks, and quickly ate until her belly was round.
"At least I won't go hungry today." She slumped in her chair, her eyes crinkling with satisfaction.
Jiang Qinyu was both helpless and angry. "From now on, you're not allowed to torture yourself like this just because of a few words from others, understand?"
"I've got it!" Pan'er quickly replied.
She really suffered a huge loss this time. She hasn't been able to eat properly for half a month, and just thinking about it makes her want to cry.
Jiang Qinyu patted her head and said earnestly, "Shufan, Pan'er, remember, beauty in this world comes in many forms. Everyone has their own strengths, and we don't need to grow up to be like others. Perhaps you are already dazzling enough as you are?"
In modern times, she felt that the public's aesthetic standards were somewhat distorted, with everyone having a V-shaped face and an A4 waist, as if people had forgotten that in a certain dynasty, plumpness was considered beautiful.
Of course, this weight gain wasn't random.
Shufan and Pan'er both nodded at Jiang Qinyu, and from that moment on, a seed of tolerance was planted in their hearts, which led to different adventures later on.
But that's a story for another time; let's get back to the present.
Since she no longer needed to take Pan'er to the doctor, Jiang Qinyu returned to her daily work.
"Girl, I heard your general has returned..."
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