Steam rose from four porcelain bowls of longevity noodles on the courtyard table. Gu Changsheng used his [Rank 5 Sky-Flipping Golden Spatula] to ladle rich bone broth over the golden fried egg sitting on top of eleven-year-old Gu Nian’s bowl.
“Don’t bite the noodle in half,” Gu Changsheng said, setting the ladle down. “Slurp the whole strand in one breath for a long life.”
Gu Nian sat straight on his wooden stool. He wore his clean blue school shirt underneath his favorite yellow bunny apron, and his dark eyes shone in the warm dawn light.
“I know, Dad,” Gu Nian said, though his ears turned a little pink. He picked up his chopsticks, took a deep breath, and sucked the entire ten-foot longevity noodle into his mouth without breaking it once.
“Yay!” seven-year-old Jiang Tuntun cheered, banging her giant wooden soup ladle against her own bowl. “Big Brother Nian didn’t chew!
Now he gets to live for ten thousand years and eat ten thousand birthday cakes!”
Beside her, a giant feeding bottle sat in a bucket of hot spring water, warming white spirit-milk for the baby brother they hadn’t met yet.
Nine-year-old Su Nuannuan giggled and set a small wreath of fresh yellow honey-blossoms on Gu Nian’s head. “Happy eleventh birthday, Second Brother! Nuannuan grew these flowers with sweet morning dew so your hair smells like rock candy.”
