Chapter 757 A Furious Blush
Benjamin said indignantly, “Still, I want to try a bite!” As he spoke, he snatched the barbecue skewer from Arissa, who gaped at him in shock.
Gavin, Tim, Zachary, Oliver, Jasper, and Jesse stared at Benjamin, equally wide-eyed. Gavin exclaimed, “Daddy! Why are you eating Mommy’s food?”
His father would never eat someone else’s food. Innocently, Zachary piped up, “Mr. Graham, there’s plenty of food on the plate!”
“You ate Mommy’s saliva, Mr. Graham!” Jasper yelped. Benjamin cringed in awkwardness while Arissa blushed as red as a tomato at Jasper’s words. She glared at Benjamin before explaining to the children, “I haven’t eaten that skewer yet!”
Alas, Oliver merely smiled at his mother and replied, “You don’t need to explain anything, Mommy. We understand.” Oliver’s knowing smile embarrassed Arissa to no end.
Thankfully, Tim and Jesse did not chime in. Arissa put on a stern expression and chided, “Eat up! Stop talking!”
The children laughed for a good moment. As though fearing no one had noticed Arissa’s blush, Jasper even teased, “Mommy, your face is so red!”
Arissa lowered her head and began eating. When the children tried to take the barbecue skewers in front of her, she held on to the plate and refused to share.
“These are mine!”
Meanwhile, Benjamin had finally swallowed the bite of skewer he had impulsively taken from Arissa. His face reddened from how spicy the food was.
Arissa’s love and tolerance for spicy food were making his stomach churn. He could not believe how she enjoyed such torture.
“Hehe! Daddy’s face is red too!” Gavin burst into a fit of laughter after spotting his father’s blush.
The other five children instantly whipped their heads around to stare at Benjamin.
Arissa shot Benjamin a surprised look and mocked, “My, my, Graham. That’s a furious blush you’re wearing. Are you shy?”
That earned her a warning glare as Benjamin defended himself. “The food is too spicy!”
Arissa’s lips twitched in amusement. She scoffed and said, “Please. This isn’t spicy at all.”
Tim nodded in agreement and added, “Not spicy!”
She smiled at the young boy and said gently, “Yeah. It’s not spicy at all!”
Her response drew a small smile from Tim.
Arissa’s gaze softened at the sight of her son’s happy expression.
Benjamin was equally relieved when he noticed that Tim was gradually lowering his guard against them.
Softly, he asked, “Do you like spicy food, Tim?”
Tim nodded and replied, “Yes!”
He used to plant and sell chili peppers with Mary in the winter. The peppers were small but packed a punch. Mary used to marinate them and cook them with pasta, which was absolutely delicious.
Zachary noticed how Tim’s eyes had lit up, and he asked curiously, “Tim, what was the spiciest dish you ever ate?”
“The chili pepper that Great-grandaunt and I planted!” Tim announced quietly but proudly.
“Wow. You guys plant your own chili peppers?” Oliver’s curiosity was piqued.
Nodding, Tim explained, “Many people in the village plant them. You can sell them for money.”
“How big was your field?” asked Jasper.
Tim scratched his head as he mulled over the question. He replied hesitantly, “Maybe about one thousand and five hundred square meters!”
Gavin and Jesse had no concept of how big that space was, nor did the other children, who looked equally perplexed.
Arissa, however, grew up in the countryside and immediately knew just how big that piece of land was.
She asked, “Did you and Grandaunt harvest the peppers alone?”
“Uh-huh!” Tim nodded.
Arissa was stunned. It was already difficult for an old woman and a child to manage a chili pepper field larger than a thousand square meters, let alone harvest the crop by themselves.
“Sweetheart, was the harvest good?”
Tim lowered his head dejectedly and muttered, “No. We couldn’t plant them well, so the chili peppers didn’t look nice, and we had to sell them for a low price!”
Arissa’s heart ached for the boy. Farming had never been easy.
She stroked Tim’s head tenderly and consoled, “Let’s not plant that next time. Study hard, Tim, and you can do bigger things and earn a lot of money!”
Tim’s eyes lit up with hope, and he nodded somberly.
“Yeah! A lot of the older kids in the village studied hard and found jobs outside the village. They always bring a lot of money home during festivals!”
