Wang Lala put on a menacing expression and reached out to pinch her mischievous cousin's cheek. There was no choice—bullying one's younger brother had to start from an early age, because once he got any bigger, she wouldn't be able to beat him.
Su Yizhou stepped back a few paces, nimbly dodging his cousin's sudden assault, and loudly protested with stubborn defiance:
"You're in the wrong, Cousin, and you still won't admit it! Even I can solve those math problems, yet you got them wrong. Dummy cousin!" He then pulled a provocative face at her.
Wang Lala felt a surge of irritation; she simply had to teach this cousin of hers a lesson today. However, the commotion inside the room caught the attention of her mother, who was still chatting outside. Wanting to check if her daughter was actually doing her homework, she pushed the door open and walked in.
There she saw her daughter grabbing Su Yizhou, looking as though she was about to smack his bottom.
"Lala, have you finished your homework already? You're playing with your brother instead?"
Just as Wang Lala was about to answer, Su Yizhou—acting for all the world like a scheming little green tea—said to his aunt:
"Auntie, I saw that Cousin got several math problems wrong, but instead of listening to me, she tried to bully me."
His aunt didn't think much of it, assuming Su Yizhou was just being mischievous again. But Su Yizhou broke free from his cousin's grip and pointed out the mistakes in the workbook to his aunt.
When she looked, she saw that the problems indeed had mistakes—and they were the very same ones Wang Lala usually made. So she prepared to have a serious talk with her.
Liu Shiran also pushed the door open. Expecting that Su Yizhou was up to his usual mischief (there he went again, having to take the blame for everything), once she figured out what was actually going on and looked at her son's sheepish expression, she knew he had been up to no good.
His aunt was also puzzled as to how Su Yizhou was now able to solve second-grade homework. Liu Shiran simply laughed it off, claiming she taught him well, thus denying our young master Su any chance to show off.
Wait a minute, you're stealing the credit for this too? Talk about lacking boundaries, Mom.Auntie also marveled at how well Liu Shiran had raised Su Yizhou, and secretly resolved to turn up the heat on Wang Lala as soon as she got home. After all, Wang Lala had just a little over thirty-six hundred days left until the college entrance examinations, and children's education had to start early. She went back into the living room to ask her older sister for advice on child-rearing.
Having successfully carried out his plot, Su Yizhou grinned mischievously as he watched his cousin head toward impending doom. He seemed to have completely forgotten that the adults were all in the living room, because next to enter was a furious Wang Lala, filled to maximum capacity with rage.
Then followed a thorough pummeling by his cousin, which also swept up that adorable little girl in the crossfire.
Ji Qianxi was naturally thin-skinned, and Wang Lala had rubbed her face so hard it left a few little red marks, making her entire face glow bright red. Su Yizhou had no choice but to break through the encirclement with her and flee toward the living room.
At lunchtime, having finished consulting her older sister on educational strategies, Auntie declined Liu Shiran's invitation to stay for a meal. Instead, she dragged an unwilling Wang Lala back home to properly "instruct" her.
Looking at all the dishes Auntie Shiran had prepared—fish and meat alike—Ji Qianxi couldn't help pressing her lips together, her inner foodie still difficult to conceal. Seeing Ji Qianxi like this, Liu Shiran smiled gently.
She lifted her onto a chair and started piling food onto her plate nonstop, wanting to use her own actions to let this very sensible little girl feel the kind of parental warmth she had never experienced before.
Ji Qianxi didn't speak either; she just stuffed whatever Liu Shiran put on her plate into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like a pufferfish.
Su Yizhou, sitting beside them, wanted to pinch his little sister's swollen cheeks, but the hand he reached out was promptly slapped away by Liu Shiran.
Su Yizhou felt the disdainful look Liu Shiran was giving him, and then looked back at the tenderness she poured over Ji Qianxi."Seriously, who is your actual biological child here? Wow, so love really is dead, huh?"
In his past life, Su Yizhou would have been intensely jealous of Ji Qianxi over this, but in this life, he only felt a little envious—just a tiny bit! Already, his mind was spinning with the plot of a web novel where he was the adopted son mistreated by an evil stepmother.
*Sigh, my heart is so cold!*
After finishing the meal, Ji Qianxi's little head bobbed up and down like a baby chick pecking at rice. With her eyes half-closed, she struggled hard to stay awake—children her age never seemed to get enough sleep.
When Su Jin originally bought this apartment, they only had one child, so the layout was designed with two bedrooms and a study. With no other choice, Ji Qianxi had to share a room with Su Yizhou.
Liu Shiran carried a yawning Ji Qianxi over to the bed to take an afternoon nap with Su Yizhou, lingering by the bedside as she watched the two little ones slowly drift off to sleep.
Though Su Yizhou had slept for so long already that he wasn't really tired, feeling the small hand lightly clutching his arm caused him to drift off into a deep sleep beside her.
When he woke up, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon. Ji Qianxi rubbed her eyes and looked at Su Yizhou sleeping quietly beside her.
"Big brother is much cuter when he's asleep. At least he doesn't pinch my cheeks then."
Remembering what Granny had told her about not sleeping too long in the afternoon, she gave in to a rare mischievous streak, playfully pinching Su Yizhou's cheek over and over to wake him up, as if she wanted payback for all the bullying from before.
Yet, she didn't use any real force. Feeling the tickle on his face, Su Yizhou slowly woke up and stared blankly at Ji Qianxi. Only after making Ji Qianxi's face turn completely red did he finally bring himself to get up, taking her out to the living room to watch his favorite cartoon.
In the blink of an eye, evening arrived. Su Jin finished work and dragged his exhausted body back home, longing to see his wife and child right away so he could forget the exhaustion of the day.
Wait a second? Did he just say child? Who was this exquisitely sculpted little girl?
Remembering what Liu Shiran had mentioned to him last week, Su Jin suddenly understood—this must be Ji Qianxi.
The little girl hid behind their son and softly addressed him: "Uncle, you're back!"
Instantly, he felt that his own son wasn't so appealing anymore. Strange, the boy usually looked quite cute, so why did he seem so utterly ordinary right now?
Su Jin crouched down, looking at the little girl who didn't even reach his eye level, pinched her cheek, and replied gently: "Ah, you must be Qianxi, right? Did you have fun today?"
Ji Qianxi nodded. She couldn't understand why everyone liked pinching her cheeks so much, or why they smiled at her so gently.
Wasn't she supposed to be a burden? Otherwise, her mother wouldn't have abandoned her and left.
Liu Shiran had already told Su Jin last week all about this sensible and heartbreaking little girl, so he had already grown quite fond of Ji Qianxi and readily agreed to Liu Shiran's proposal.
He nudged his son aside, walked right past him, picked up Ji Qianxi, and carried her over to the dining table.
*Wait a minute? What about me?!* Su Yizhou was left standing alone in the living room, completely bewildered. *Fine, fine, I see how it is—I'm the only outsider here, right?!*
Jealousy aside, dinner still had to be eaten; otherwise, how was he ever going to execute his grand plan of growing up tall? But watching Su Jin shower Ji Qianxi with all sorts of gentle gestures at the dinner table sent a shiver down Su Yizhou's spine.
*Excuse me, Dad, but why on earth are you using that cutesy, high-pitched baby voice when you talk to Ji Qianxi?*