Description:
Tong Xuelu had the nickname Queen of Green Tea.
She was stunning in looks, has a shapely body, and had a lot of suitors, although she had never been in any serious relationships.
By the time she was done being a green tea and was about to be a nice person, her retribution had caught up to her!
She had transmigrated into a book. Into the 70s where materialistic goods were rare and she was a poor soul who was the fake daughter of a wealthy family!
Per the story, she would be face slapped by the real daughter who was rebirthed, be married to an old man who had once been married, and finally die from domestic violence.
Tong XueLu: …I'd rather continue to be a green tea.
Raise three bosses of the future and be a salted fish such that all she had to do was to lay around and wait for things to be handed to her. [check]
Cheat her way into a government-run restaurant and have good food every day. [check]
Use her agility and wit to avoid being faceslapped by the real daughter. [check]
As far as an excellent green tea was concerned, she would be able to handle any scripts handed to her and still end up the winner.
Wen Rugui, a physicist, was young, handsome and had his entire life ahead of him. He had, however, let his research distracted him from starting a family.
All of his bosses were eyeing him to become part of their family.
Until one day.
Wen Rugui brought a charming girl into his research facility and with love in his eyes announced, "This is my fiancee. We are here to report our upcoming matrimony."
His bosses: Shocked beyond words.
His female colleagues: All hearts are broken.
Tong XueLu: Sorry, all. My charm is but a passive skill.
Associated Names:
The Green Tea's Crushing Victories.
Chapter 1 - Tong Zhenzhen had rebirthed to take revenge; she better find something to keep her busy.
Tong Xuelu was woken up by the noises of cicadas from outside of the window.
Wait a minute. She recalled that she was skiing at a ski resort before she lost consciousness. Why would there be cicadas in the middle of winter?
She opened up her eyes, confused. What she saw was a crude mosquito tent, an old-style thermos sitting on top of a wooden table next to it, and an enamel mug with the words "Women Hold Up Half the Sky" printed on it.
Source:
Tong Xuelu was still in a daze when the door was pushed open violently.
When Cai Chunlan walked inside and saw that the person lying on the bed had her eyes opened, she immediately pursed her thick lips and started complaining.
"Aiya, little sister. You are old enough already. Just why would you do such a thing? Trying to hang yourself inside the house. Had I not come in and taken a look, you would have died in the house!"
"Alright, knock it off already…"
"Why do I need to knock it off? I thought she was your real sister and my real sister-in-law before and that was the only reason that I was nice to her. We have already confirmed that she was not a daughter of the Tong's. So why do I still need to tiptoe around her like she is an ancestor of ours? If you ask me, we should just toss her out as soon as she wakes up!"
Cai Chunlan looked at the person laying in bed, pleased by her misfortune.
Everybody in the compound knew that the youngest daughter was the two elderlies' favorite. They worried that they'd drop her if they were to carry her in their hands or that she'd melt if they were to carry her in their mouths. They even favor her over their two sons. Tong XueLu had been pampered with the best of everything since she was a child and, as such, her skin was whiter and softer than a peeled hardboiled egg.
Tong XueLu was a spoiled brat and even Cai Chunlan, as her [older] sister-in-law had to tiptoe around her. Cai Chunlan had expected long and rough days ahead of her but, lo and behold, some girl came running over to the Tong's two months ago and said that she was the real Tong's daughter who were kidnapped 15 years ago.
The news struck the Tong's like a lightning and stunned everyone.
Fifteen years ago, the three-year-old Tong XueLu had been kidnapped and was found two years later. As she had a mole on her back and other information matched up as well, the Tong's never suspected a thing.
Nevertheless, they had been raising someone else's child this entire time.
The woman voice was high-pitched and she was loud. Her voice gave Tong XueLu a headache and she only wished she could jump up and slap her across her cheek.
She had, by now, digested all of the memories in her head that didn't originally belonged to her and she very much wanted to cuss out the god of transmigrated. Yup, she had transmigrated into a book.
Just a moment ago she was skiing with a little fresh meat in a ski resort. The little fresh meat was handsome with broad shoulder and long legs. And he was from a very good family. He was a very quality suitor.
All these years, many had fallen for her and she very much enjoyed the feeling of being pursued. She just didn't fall for them easily.
As such, she was referred to as the VIP among green teas, the aircraft of scum women. She merely chuckled at those when she heard them.
Comparing to men, women were always the meaner of the two genders.
The little fresh meat had chased after her for three years. He was docile and obedient. Very competent as well. She had more or less decided that he was going to be the one and that she would retire from the scene and become a good wife and mother.
Lo and behold, before she was able to develop a relationship that encompass both emotional and physical component, she had slammed into a tree on the side of the ski track.
And she was in the 70s when she had woken up.
Chapter 2 - Tong Zhenzhen had rebirthed to take revenge; she better find something to keep her busy
Prior to transmigrating, she had a conversation with her plastic sisters about the best period to go back to should they be transmigrated. At the time, Tong XueLu said any period of time would be find as long as it was the sixties of the seventies.
Lo and behold, she was transmigrated to the 70s.
What in the Sam's hell?
Problem was that this book with questionable moral standards was utterly ridiculous.
In the novel, the female lead used the fact that she was rebirthed as her gold finger to take over the fake daughter's fiancée and job and accomplished great things with her life.
Tong XueLu had, nevertheless, transmigrated as the fake daughter in this book. As the braindead cannon fodder, she would be faceslapped repeatedly by the female lead, then married off to a divorced old man, and finally died a victim of domestic violence.
Long story short, she was a tool-like character in the book that was destined to be an idiot!
Was this her karma?
But she had never been a third person in a relationship nor had she ever been mean to any fellow females. So why was this happening to her?
Ah well, what had happened had happened, she would just have to figure out her next steps.
Besides, this body was only 18 years old. That was 7 years younger than her pre-transmigration body. She came out ahead on that front.
She was not worried about the so-called story plot or the gold finger.
She'd just see it as defeating more NPC in a different map.
As it stands, both of the original owner's birth parents died in a car accident and there were three more children in addition to the original owner.
The three children might be living in poverty right now but they would become the elites in their respective fields.
She had two options laid out in front of her right now:
1. Stay at the Tong's and battle the female lead every step of the way.
2. Leaving the Tong's and return to raise the three future bosses.
When one was transmigrated into a book, who would want to be in a constant battle with the female lead? Being one's own female lead and going up and up was naturally the better option out of the two.
She wanted to play child-rearing!
Thinking of that, she blinked a couple of times and grumbled a little.
Noticing the stirring, Cai Chunlan walked over and shoved her roughly, "Get out of the bed if you are awake!"
Tong XueLu's lips moved a little and she mumbled some more.
Cai Chunlan couldn't tell what she was saying so she leaned in and had her ear right up next to her mouth. "What are you staying to say? Say it louder!"
Tong XueLu tightened her lips some, grabbed Cai Chunlan on her shoulder and shrieked like a groundhog, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
Abrupt.
Earthquake within one's ear.
Sudden death.
Cai Chunlan felt that she was about to go deaf from it. She smacked her hand away. "What is wrong with you? Why did you shriek like that all of a sudden? Oh, my ear…"
Tong XueLu sat up, put her hand over her chest, and put on a fearful look. "I… I dreamed that Second Sister-In-Law turned into a shrew and was about to kick me out of this house. Oh, mi. That was so scary."
Second Brother Tong, "… …"
Cai Chunlan, "… …"
Cai Chunlan's ear was still ringing and now, hearing that she was being called a shrew, had a vicious look on her.
She was just about to start yelling when she heard footsteps coming from outside the door.
"What just happened? Who was screaming so loudly?"
Big Brother Tong and Chen Yueling, his wife, came rushing in.
Second Brother Tong, "It was nothing. Little sister had a nightmare and was startled awake."
As soon as he finished talking, he saw tears streaming down Tong XueLu's cheeks.
All four in the room were startled.
Cai Chunlan was the one with the guilty conscience. With a stiffened neck and widened eyes, she said, "You had a nightmare all on your own. I have never said that I want you to leave. Don't try to blame that on me!"
Even though they were already certain that Tong XueLu was not a daughter of the Tong's, but they had been raising her for over 10 years. Even if she was a pet, they had feelings for her by now.
Her father- and mother-in-law were still attached. As such, until a decision had been made, she dared not offend Tong XueLu too much. She worried that she would retaliate later on.
Tong XueLu get down from the bed and inadvertently showed the redness on the back of her hand where her sister-in-law had smacked her earlier and said, "Don't worry, Second Sister-in-law, I am not blaming you for anything."
When both of the Tong brothers saw that, both of them turned and gave Cai Chunlan a stare.
Cai Chunlan, "… …"
Tong XueLu wiped her tears away and rubbed so much that her eyes were reddened. "Big Brother, Second Brother, this might be the last time I get to address you two this way. I know I am not welcomed here. I shall take off now."
Big Brother Tong, "Don't be silly, Little Sister. Your Big Brother is here, nobody can kick you out of here."
Second Brother gave his wife another stare. "Yes, Little Sister, you stay right here. The Tong is a big family. We can afford to support one more."
Cai Chunlan was so mad that she gritted her teeth. "… …"
Tong XueLu shook her head. "I will miss Mom, Dad, and my brothers and sisters-in-law, but it will only complicate things if I stay. I should leave. You have put up with me for all these years. I know that I have been a spoiled brat in the past and had disappointed you many at times. That shall not happen again… Mom has bad knees would they hurt on rainy days. Please take care of her. Dad gets migraine from time to time. You have to watch out for him so he doesn't drink behind your back…"
Her voice broke toward the end. Tears welled up in her eyes and she forced them back as best she could.
People are strange sometimes.
If someone had always been a mature and considerate one, others would only think that that coming from them was normal. Nevertheless, that coming from someone who was normally a spoiled brat, others would feel that they had matured.
And that was what was going through the mind of Big Brother Tong, his wife, and Second Brother Tong's minds.
Especially when they saw the usual spoil brat Tong XueLu with her eyes reddened but dare not cry, their heart melted right away.
Chen Yueling went up to hold her hand. "Little Sister, you should stay. If you just leave like this, what should we tell Mom and Dad when they return?"
Their newly returned sister-in-law suffered from malnutrition. On top of that, she was yelled at my Tong XueLu. She passed out in angst and was taken to the hospital. Seeing that her parents were ignoring her, Tong XueLu made a big fuzz and tried to hang herself. All in all, she had caused a lot of ruckuses at home.
Chen Yueling had never been a big fan of this sister-in-law but now she felt that Tong XueLu, too, was in a very difficult position. The family that she had been with for a dozen of years turned out to be not related with her at all and her real parents had passed away.
Tong XueLu had been doted her entire life. It only made sense that she reacted the way that she did. If it was her, she would be very upset as well.
Tong XueLu shook her head. "Thank you, sister-in-law. But I have already made up my mind. Please take care of this family with my brother going forward."
Having said that, she pulled her hand back.
Everybody had complex feelings watching her leave.
Big Brother Tong pulled out all the money that he had on him and even said to his wife, "We can't let Little Sister leave empty handed. Yueling, pack her clothes up for her to bring with!"
Second Brother Tong also tried to fish out all the money that he had on him when he witnessed that but he didn't have much on him. He turned to Cai Chunlan and had her go get some from their room.
Cai Chunlan was not happy about that.
She couldn't possibly argue with him in front of everyone so she turned and went back to their room with a long face.
Hearing the words from her Big Brother, the corners of Tong XueLu's lips curved and she slowed to the speed of a turtle as she walked forward.
By the time she walked to the entrance in their courtyard, she counted backward in her mind, "Three, two, one."
The next minute, she heard Chen Yueling running up behind her. "Wait, Little Sister."
Tong XueLu turned around and gave her a baffled look. "First Sister-in-law, what is the matter?"
Chen Yueling handed her a backpack and a duffle bag. Panting, she said, "Take these clothes with you. There are some money and meal tickets in there as well. Keep them. If you run out…"
"No, you shan't!" Tong XueLu interrupted her in surprise and pushed the bags back to her. "I am not longer a Tong's daughter. I can't possibly accept these from the Tong's family."
Seeing her like that, Chen Yueling could notice her change from before even more acutely. "Little Sister, just accept them. I have asked around previously. That other Tong's family, your real parents' one, was not very well off. You will need to eat. Mom and Dad would be upset with us if they learned that we have let you leave empty-handed."
Tong XueLu gave them a troubled look. Biting down on her lower lip, she said, "… Alright, I will take them for the time being. I will repay Big Brother and Sister-in-law when I have earned some money."
She didn't really want to take advantage of them but she knew that the other Tong's family was very poor and she would need some seed money.
She would pay them back several folds once she was able to earn her own money.
Chen Yueling lifted up her hand and patted Tong XueLu on her head. "How did you mature just like that, child? That makes one's heart aches."
Tears welled up in Tong XueLu's eyes. "One should mature after one had died once. Sister-in-law, truth is…"
"Truth is what?" Seeing how Tong XueLu was hesitating, Chen Yueling thought she had other troubles. "What is it? It's okay. You can tell me."
Tong XueLu gave Chen Yueling a sympathetic look. "Sister-in-law, I fear that you will be bullied here after my departure."
"… …"
She had been the little tyrant at the Tong's family. Who would bully her after she was gone?
Tong XueLu, "I trust that you have already noticed it, Sister-in-law. Tong Zhenzhen had formed an alliance with Second Sister-in-law in just the two short days after her return. Sister-in-law, you are kind and tend to avoid conflicts with others. I worry that they will take advantage of you!"
"… …"
Chen Yueling had never thought about that but, now that she had mentioned it, her heart sank al ittle.
She never got along well with Cai Chunlan. Tong XueLu might be a brat, but she was somewhat respectful to her still. Besides, Tong XueLu had always hated Cai Chunlan so it was always the two of them against Cai Chunlan.
Now that they got themselves a new sister-in-law, and she sided with Cai Chunlan? How was she to deal with the two of them just by herself?
Seeing how Chen Yueling's brows had furrowed, Tong XueLu patted her on her shoulder before she turned and left.
As soon as she had turned around, the corners of her lips curved upward.
There was a bright smile on her fair face.
Tong Zhenzhen had rebirthed for revenge. As such, she must find something to occupy her time with.
That way she would not have the extra time to bother her.
Chapter 3 - Oh boy. This boss seemed to be a villain cloaked in a nice guy's front!
Tong XueLu walked over to the entrance from her memory.
The Tong's family lived in the compound belonging to the General Logistic Department. Everyone there was a government official.
Father Tong was the Director of the Oil Department of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army and Mother Tong was the Director of Women's Federation. All the other members of the Tong's family also worked for the government.
Family background like this was very impressive even in modern time. It made sense to Tong XueLu why the original owner was reluctant to leave.
Tong XueLu was just thinking how she had lucked out not running into the other women in the compound.
And then.
She had just got to the front door of the compound before a Phoenix brand bicycle stopped just half a meter in front of her with a squeak.
It blocked her way like a tiger.
Tong XueLu looked up.
In front of her stood a girl around 17 or 18 years old in a casual military outfit. Her hair braided behind her and sunlight reflected off of her forehead.
She seemed surprised when she saw Tong XueLu and then her eyes lit up. "Tong XueLu, are you kicked out of the Tong's family? Hahaha… Didn't you say that they wouldn't have the heart to let you go?"
Listen to that.
Just listen to that.
She couldn't have sounded any happier.
The girl standing in front of her was Fang Jingyuan, sister of the original owner's fiancé, Fang Wenyuan. Fang Wenyuan was a handsome man and the original owner was head over heel in love with him.
Fang Jingyuan, not wanting the original owner to become her sister-in-law, had tried at best she could to stand in between the two of them. The original owner was also not a subtle person. As such, the two were always at each other's throats.
That was, however, the original owner. Tong XueLu, on the other hand, had no intention of becoming Fang Jingyuan's sister-in-law.
Tong XueLu ignored Fang Jingyuan altogether and walked around her.
"… …"
Fang Jingyuan felt looked down upon!
When Tong XueLu walked past her, Fang Jingyuan grabbed her by her hand and said, "Tong XueLu, have you gone deaf? Didn't you hear me talking to you?"
Tong XueLu stopped in her tracks and looked over at Fang Jingyuan's forehead.
Fang Jingyuan was very sensitive when it came to her forehead. "What are you looking at? Did you want to tell me that I have a big head again?"
She had a big head and Tong XueLu had many nicknames for her since their childhood.
Something along the line of big skull, turnip, big-headed doll, the worst of it all, tiger head goldfish.
That angered her to no end!
The guard at the entrance cracked his mouth opened and smiled. "It wasn't just recent when Xiao Lu made fun of your big head. That's exactly what she meant."
Tong XueLu, how had yet to have an opportunity to respond, "… …"
Sir, can you not try to make matters worse?
Fang Jingyuan's face turned beet red, "My mom said that having a big head is a sign of good fortune. You only wish you have it too!"
She thought Tong XueLu would, for sure, rebut her. Lo and behold, she saw her red lips curved, showing off her light dimples, and said, "You can't be more right. Most people with a big head are quite smart."
Fang Jingyuan, "?"
What was up with Tong XueLu today? Not only was she less combative, she was praising her?
She lifted her chin and asked, "What are you trying to pull? Don't think that I will drop this just because you had said something nice to me."
She had been fighting with Tong XueLu since they were kids. Tong XueLu, however, was the sly one and she was the one who lost to her every time.
Now that Tong XueLu was being kicked out by the Tong's family, it was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she would not let it slip her by.
Tong XueLu looked up and down her face and said slowly, "Your features are lively and you are already 80% a beauty. Your problem is that your hairstyle doesn't suit you. And that's where your 20% deduction come from."
Fang Jingyuan, "? ? ?"
She had no idea how to react to that all of a sudden. She figured she would adopt the strategy of wait and see. She wanted to know what else was going to come out of Tong XueLu.
As it turned out.
Tong XueLu was done talking.
Retrieving her own hand, she left without looking back.
Oh, oh. How annoying was that!
Tong XueLu walked toward the bus stop with the duffle bag.
Tong XueLu had been a green tea for many years and defeating NPC had already become a passive skill of hers. She couldn't stop herself when she saw one.
Fang Jingyuan might be a bit spoiled but she wasn't a bad person. Most importantly, she was a Second Generation Government Official.
Her father was the Minister of the Military Supplies Department in the General Logistics Department and ranked higher than even Father Tong. Of course it would be beneficial for someone like her to be on her side.
From what she could recall, going head-to-head with Fang Jingyuan was not the best approach.
That being said, with them being at each other's throat in the past, simply becoming the weaker side would not be a good approach either. She needed some sort of a hook to hook her.
Fang Jingyuan's big forehead and her hairstyle was the best bait.
Now that she had dropped the bait, all she had to do was to wait for the fish to bite.
She walked for half an hour to the bus stop and waited another hour before the bus heading over to Yanqing County had arrived.
The buses in the capital were white and red striped with a layer of thick dust caked on its exterior. The inside was very beat down with a pungent smell.
After getting inside the car, Tong XueLu handed 30 cents over to the stuck-up ticketing person whose nostrils pointed at the sky and found a spot at the very last row.
After the bus started again, the driver hummed a little tune and drove the bus like he was driving a Mayback all the way till they were in the rocky Yanqing County.
The road was so rocky that Tong XueLu almost vomited on her way. She sat on a rock for a long, long time before the nauseated feeling went away.
At this Tong's family, both Father and Mother Tong worked and both workers of Hongxing Textile Factory.
She asked for direction all the way until she reached the compound for the factory workers.
The environment at this compound was much worse than she had expected.
There were some 20 families in the not-so-big compound and each of them have at least three generations residing in them, sometimes four.
In short, there were over 100 people residing in this compound.
With so many people packed into such a small area, many personal items spilled into the common areas. It made the environment seemed crowed, dirty, and messy.
Before she had transmigrated, she lived in a mansion that was over 1,000 square meters in size. Any of the bathrooms in her mansion was bigger than a unit here.
Tong XueLu had a headache coming on before she even walked inside of it.
"Hi, fellow comrade. Who are you here to visit?"
A loud voice came from behind her.
Tong XueLu finally recollected herself. She turned around and saw a middle-aged woman in a blue outfit standing behind her. She had boy around 3-year-old or so in age clamped under her armpit.
The little boy was so dirty that she could barely stand looking at him. He looked like he had just finished rolling around in mud and he had snorts coming out of his nostrils.
When Tong XueLu looked over at him, his mouth cracked out and he have her a big, bright smile. "Big sister is so pretty!"
The middle-aged woman let out a cry to herself when she saw Tong XueLu. For the dozens of years that she had been around, she had never seen a girl like her. Tong XueLu's skin was so fair that she looked more tender than tofu.
Then there was her casual military outfit, her satchel with the wordings "Servicing the People", and her duffle bag with the pattern of a panda. All of them emphasized that fact that she was no ordinary person.
Of all the years that she had been staying at this compound, she had never seen anyone with relatives that looked like Tong XueLu.
"Hi, aunty. I am looking for Tong Dajun's unit." Tong Dajun was the name of the original owner's birth father.
Hearing the words Tong Dajun, the middle-aged woman quickly looked up and down Tong XueLu. "How are you two related?"
Tong XueLu lowered her eyes and put on a sad look. "I am his daughter."
"Oh, my gosh. You are Tong Dajun's daughter who was switched?"
The middle-aged woman's voice had a built-in sound effect of a loud speaker. When she was done talking, a few other came running out from inside of the compound.
"Lao Cai's woman, what are you yelling about now?"
"Come take a look. This is Tong Dajun's daughter who was switched!"
A few women came running out. They surrounded Tong XueLu and looked her up and down as though she was an animal at a zoo.
"Oh, mi. She sure is Tong Dajun's daughter. I have seen a picture before."
"Now that you mentioned it, she does kind of look like Tong Dajun and his wife, especially her nose."
"Girl, are you here to visit your parents or your siblings? Are you parents from the other side okay with you coming back?"
Tong XueLu felt that there were tens and thousands of flies bustling over her head but she did not let any of her impatience show.
When the young and older women all finished talking, she finally said, enunciating every word, "I am here to return to my family."
What?
Return to her family?
"Aiyo, girl, you are joking, right?"
"We've heard that your other parents are government offices. Why would you come back to your parents over here?"
Tong XueLu looked up and gave them a serious look. "I am a daughter of the Tong's family. Of course I should return. If I don't even recognize my own parents, how do I differ from an animal?"
Noticing how trendy she dressed and how fair she was, the others felt for certain that she would not want to live her days like them over there. What came out of her truly surprised them.
They felt that she was a child who would not forget about her roots.
Someone, however, raised a question, "It had been two weeks since your parents passed away. Why are you just now returning?"
That made everybody frowned. That's right. The Tong couple passed away two weeks ago. If she was truly as familial as she said, she should have been back a long time ago!
Tong XueLu frowned and immediately made her eyes turn red. "Big sister, it wasn't that I didn't want to come back. I fainted the moment I found out what had happened to my parents. Then I got severely ill. I was only able to get out of bed two days ago. Just look at my hand…"
She rolled up her sleeve as she talked and showed them the needle marks in her arm. As her skin was so tender, there was a big patch of bruised area around the needle marks and they looked startling.
Every one was convinced immediately.
She was, indeed, a very conscientious good child!
Unlike that Tong Zhenzhen. Tong Dajun and his wife had raised her all these years and she just up and left them.
What an ungrateful child!
Tong XueLu rolled her sleeve back down and lowered her eyes.
The needle marks were real as was the bruises. They weren't from her being sad though. The original owner had purposefully made herself sick when she found out about her real identity to get sympathy from her adoptive parents.
Who doesn't like a conscientious person?
Everybody was even more affectionate toward Tong XueLu and ushered her inside the compound.
Tong XueLu learned more about the Tong's family from their chattering.
Tong Dajun and his wife were from Beihe Province originally. They had saved the textile factory's director son back in the days and were taken to the capital to work in the factory. Tong Dajun was a stevedore and Mother Tong was a textile worker.
When there were two persons working in a family, it was an honor to villagers. Nevertheless, their days were tough. Not only did they have four children to support, they had to send back half of their salary to their home at Beihe.
Two months ago, Tong Zhenzhen, their oldest daughter fell ill and suddenly said that she was not their daughter after she had recovered. She said her real parents were government officials and insisted on leaving despite the objection from the Tong's couple.
The couple worried so much about her and they worked and looked for her at the same time. They were able to locate her in the end but they were told that Tong Zhenzhen, indeed, was not their daughter.
What made matters worse was that neither of the two daughters wanted to recognize them as their parents and to go home with them!
The couple returned to their work at the factory, heartbroken. Lo and behold, they were involved in a car accident on their return trips and both were killed.
Back then, traveling was a big deal so the matters of their funeral was taken care of by the factory workers.
Tong XueLu's eyes flickered. "You mean to say that our family back in Beihe still haven't learned of my parents' accident?"
The little boy under the armpit twisted back and forth. Aunty Cai smacked him on his butt. "Of course they knew. Jiaming gave them a call right after the accident. It was said that they were tied up and wouldn't be able to come over for a little while."
"Jiaming is still at school right now, right?"
It took Tong XueLu a little while to realize that Jingming was original owner's oldest (younger) brother.
"No, he quit school a while ago!" Interjected another middle-aged woman.
"Jiaming had to take care of his younger siblings and work at the factory since your parents had passed away. It had been very difficult for him."
Children without parents were worthless like weeds. All of the bosses had fairly sad childhoods.
That being said, the family back in Beihe looked at Tong Dajun and his wife like they were their money tree.
Every time they have visited the capital, they would wipe out everything like locusts. How was it possible that they did not come over after Tong Dajun and his wife had passed away?
Never mind about the compensation from the government and their factory unit. They would, at the very minimum, be eyeing the two positions at the factory that had now been opened up.
Meaning…
It wasn't that their family back at Beihe was too busy; they probably hadn't learned of the incident yet!
Recalling about Tong Jiaming, the future elite in the business world, Tong XueLu raised her brows.
Oh boy. This boss seemed to be a villain cloaked in a nice guy's front!
Chapter 4 - Having the future actress on her side – Done!
The Tong's unit was adjacent to that of Aunty Cai's.
Tong Xuelu hasn't even got to the front of her unit when she saw a little girl sitting there propping up her chin. She was staring at the ground motionless and nobody knew what she was looking at.
The little boy twisted and turned again. "Put me down, Mommy. I want to go play with Mianmian."
Aunty Cai smacked him a couple times on his bottom again and said, "You are covered in mud, brat. Stop trying to get her dirty like you."
Mianmian?
Tong Xuelu's eyes lit up.
The little boy started wailing half-heartedly and Aunty Cai ignored him. She turned and said to Tong Xuelu, "Mianmian is your little sister. It makes my heart ache seeing how she had lost her parents at such a young age."
Having said that, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
When Tong Dajun and his wife passed away at the same time, one of the Tong's children went working at the factory and the other one had to go to school. She had been helping watching Mianmian. It wasn't so much that she was reluctant to do so. Mianmian was a nice child who never fussed or cried. In fact, she was so docile that it made one's heart ached.
The problem was that she had a lot of her plate every day and she had a lot of children on her own. Throwing another child on top of that was not easy task.
Now that Mianmian's real sister was back, she could hand her back over to her real sister.
The little girl seemed to not have noticed the ruckus in the courtyard at all.
She continued to stare at the ground, being eerily quiet.
As they approached her, Aunty Cai's loud voice rang again. "Mianmian, c'mon over. Your sister is back."
Perhaps it was the word "sister", the little girl looked up immediately.
The little girl has a very delicate face. Her eyes were large and bright like grapes and her long and dense eyelashes looked like two brushes.
Tong Xuelu whistled to herself.
Yup, no wonder she was the actress who was famed both domestically and internationally in the 90s. She was already very pretty at her young age.
Tong Mianmian would earn the titles "World's top 10 most popular female singer" and "World's top 10 most popular actress" in the 90s and would become the only celebrity who was known outside of China.
Unfortunately, she committed suicide during the peak of her career leaving not even a word behind. It was a very regretful event for all.
Some analyzed later on that her decision had a lot to do with her several failed romances and, more importantly, her very sad childhood.
It takes a lifetime to cure an unhappy childhood. The insecurity stemmed from one's original family can follow one for life.
All three of the Tong's children became successful in life but none of them were happy. In fact, one could say it was tragic.
All three of the bosses were either sick or died. None of them had kids of their own.
Things were different now, however. She was here now!
With her being there, she would never let those from Beihe get their hands on of them, nor would she allow their childhood to become gloomy.
Tong Mianmian was expecting to see Tong Zhenzhen but she saw an unfamiliar woman instead. She was stupefied and her limpid eyes were filled with uncertainty.
Aunty Cai tossed the little boy onto the ground and told him to stay where he was as she turned over to Tong Mianmian. "Mianmian, why aren't you talking? This is your real sister. Call her!"
Tong Mianmian's eyes flickered. Her milky voice intimidated, "She… is not my sister."
"She is your real sister. That Tong Zhenzhen isn't a real daughter from your parents. She was but a white-eyed wolf. It's best you just forget about her"
Aunty Cai went to get some water as she talked.
There was a big tub of water in the yard. With the weather this hot, it was perfect for bathing.
Tong Mianmian looked at Tong Xuelu with intimidation. She bit down on her lips and didn't say a word.
She looked like a docile and timid bunny.
Tong Xuelu's heart was melted right away. She went over and squatted down in front of her, "Mianmian, I am your sister Tong Xuelu. I will be taking care of you from now on. What do you say?"
Tong Mianmian lowered her limpid eyes. She remained silent as she twisted her fingers.
Tong Xuelu didn't push her. She pounded on her own right arm and said in a coquettish way, "Oh, my bag is so heavy and I need to put it down right away. Mianmian, can you open the door for me?"
Tong Mianmian looked up at her and, after a little hesitation, finally got up and docilely showed Tong Xuelu the way.
Tong Xuelu didn't have much patience with children, especially the naughty ones. But she had no problems with docile ones like Tong Mianmian.
Tong Mianmian walked in front of her on her two short legs and pushed opened the old wooden door that was never closed all the way. She turned around and said to Tong Xuelu in her milky voice, "You can put it here."
Tong Xuelu pinched her fair and tender little cheek and said, "Thank you, Mianmian. You are such a nice kid."
Tong Mianmian pursed her lips a little. Her little alabaster ears turned a slight pinkish color.
Tong Xuelu walked over and saw two beds, an old set of table and chairs, and a short table missing a corner in a corner with cups, bowls, and chopsticks on top of it inside the room that was less than 20 square meters in size.
The room was very crude and simple but it was clean, slightly better than what she had expected.
She placed her duffle bag on top of the bed and waved at Tong Mianmian, who was peeking at her from outside. "C'mon over here, Mianmian. Your big sister will braid your hair for you."
Tong Mianmian was very clean all over and there was no snort on her alabaster face. Her hair, however, was tied up in a very messy way, making it look like a bird's nest from afar.
Tong Mianmian reached out her little hand and scratched the door a little. "Do you… really know how to braid hair?"
Tong Xuelu smiled, "Of course. I will turn you into the prettiest girl in this compound. Now, hurry up and come over."
There was light in Tong Mianmian's large and limpid eyes. She only paused for a little before she ran toward Tong Xuelu.
The little girl had a hair full of black and shiny hair. Tong Xuelu tied it up into two braids.
When she was done, she took the mirror from the table and showed it to her.
When Tong Mianmian saw that her braids were prettier than how her other used to do them, she looked up and smiled at Tong Xuelu.
The little girl's marble-like eyes were clear and bright and she had two little dimples on both of her cheeks.
Tong Xuelu couldn't help but lowered her head and gave her a peck on her cheek. "Our Mianmian is so pretty. Prettier than a little fairy."
Tong Mianmian looked at her with her big and limpid eyes like a startled deer. Her little face turned beet red right away.
Tong Xuelu stopped teasing her and, for the first time, had a chance to look at her own reflection in the hand-held mirror.
What she saw in the mirror was a face that was more eye-catching than a flower in the spring time. Curving her lips and two dimples appeared on both of her cheeks. There was a little birthmark that resembled a tear below her left eye, making her eyes seemed even more limpid than they already were.
This was a very beautiful face, so beautiful that it was almost somewhat seductive.
She wasn't unattractive in her previous life but she also had work done on it. This, however, was a completely natural look. She almost didn't want to benefit any man. Couldn't she just date herself?
After she had returned the mirror where she found it, she stood up to inspect the food situation in the house.
It was disappointed.
There was only a little bit over 10 jin of rice and half a bag of sweet potatoes left in the house along with a small jar of pickled vegetables.
She did not see any fresh vegetables and there was definitely no sign of meats. Tong Xuelu's lips twitched with that knowledge.
This was poor as poor would have it. But, now that she had decided to live here for the time being, she had no intention to be mean to her own stomach.
"Mianmian, big sister is going to head over to the CSMC (China supply & marketing cooperatives), do you want to come with?"
Tong Mianmian blinked her long eyelashes a few times and shook her little head. "No, I can't."
Even though this big sister was pretty, even more so than her big sister Zhenzhen, but her brother had warned her about leaving with strangers.
Tong Xuelu did not force her to go with. She gave Aunty Cai a heads up, asked about the whereabout of the CSMC and the marketplace for vegetables, and left her with military backpack.
The vegetable marketplace opened at 4 PM sharp every day. It was barely 3:30 PM now but there were already two long lines outside of its door.
From what Aunty Cai had told her, this was the only vegetable marketplace in this area and they only provide one load of goods a day. When it ran out, it ran out.
For sure she would not be able to get anything today.
Tong Xuelu asked about it from an older lady there and went over to wait where the tricycle would pass.
She waited for about 20 minutes before she saw a middle-aged woman coming toward her direction on a tricycle. She had roughly 700 – 800 jin worth of goods on her.
Tis was August and the sun was baking down on the ground. The steam rising up from the ground made one felt like one was inside of a steamer.
Liu Hungying was riding her tricycle with some 700 – 800 jin's worth of goods on her.
Sweat rolled down along her dark cheek and onto her neck, making her both sticky and uncomfortable. Her stray hair on both side of her stuck to her cheek and she was panting in the heat.
Suddenly, a young girl came from the side of the road ran up to her. "Big sister, you are about to hit the uphill part. Let me help you!"
Liu Hungying shook her head. "It's alright. Women can prop up half the sky. I got this."
Tong Xuelu had a serious look. "Big sister, you don't need to feel bad about it. Our comrade chairman had said that we should serve the people. We are all working class sisters. It's only right for us to help each other out!"
Having said that, Tong Xuelu did not give her another chance to decline before she ran over and started pushing from behind.
With someone pushing from behind, it was much easy for Liu Hungying to go uphill. This had always been the most difficult stretch of her road and it was much easier today.
When they were about to reach the marketplace, Liu Hungying stopped and said, "Comrade. Thank you so much for your help today. Take this bundle of vegetables with you. It will be my treat!"
Tong Xuelu's face was red from the heat. She walked up to the woman while wiping away the sweat on her forehead. Frowning, she said, "Big sister. What kind of a person do you take me for? I refuse to take little advantages like this!" She was one who wanted advantages in a much bigger magnitude.
This woman worked at the vegetable marketplace. It would be much easier for her to buy things there if she had a good relationship with this woman.
Liu Hungying smiled, "You look young but your attitude is correct!"
Tong Xuelu gave her a very sincere look. "My name is Tong Xuelu. You can just call me Xuelu. I'll pay you for this bundle of vegetable."
Liu Hungying's smile became more genuine. "You can call me Big Sister Liu. Just come and look for me when you come to the market going forward!"
"Thank you, Big Sister Liu!"
That was exactly what she was waiting for.
She went over to the market with two bundles of vegetables with Liu Hungying and handed both money and meal tickets over to the worker before leaving under the others' envious looks.
She then headed over to CSMC and purchased 1 jin of eggs and milk candies. They cost a total of 2.6 yuan.
They were all out of pork since that morning so Tong Xuelu went home with what she was able to buy.
When she reached the entrance of the compound, she saw half a head poking out from behind the door and the pig tails on the head waved along with it.
.
Tong Xuelu said, "Mianmian, why are you hiding behind the door?"
Aunty Cai walked out right about now. When she saw that Tong Xuelu was back, she said in her loud voice. "Oh, good, you are back. Mianmian went and waited by the door right after you left and I couldn't get her to come back no matter what!"
Tong Mianmian, realizing that she had been exposed, walked out from behind the door, blushed.
She looked at Tong Xuelu with her grape-like dark eyes and was both pretty and loveable.
Her look melted Tong Xuelu's heart. She handed the milk candies over to her. "Ah, was Mianmian waiting for her big sister here? Mianmian, good girl. Big sister bought some milk candies for you. Do you like them?"
Tong Mianmian eyes immediately lit up like stars at night. She nodded her little head and said, "Yes, Mianmian likes!"
She had thought that this big sister of hers, much like her parents and her big sister Zhenzhen, would never return after they left. She was so worried that she waited by the door the entire time.
She hadn't expected that not only did her big sister returned, she even brought her milk candies.
She had these milk candies in the past. They were very, very sweet.
Tong Xuelu rubbed her on her head. "Good. I am glad you like them. You let big sister know when you are done with them and want more."
"Let's go inside. Big sister will cook you dinner," said Tong Xuelu as she walked inside their unit.
Tong Mianmian followed closely behind her on her short little legs.
She followed behind Tong Xuelu like a tail.
Tong Xuelu was pleased when she looked at the little girl who followed her around everywhere she went.
The first battle had been concluded.
This was much easier than she had imagined.
Bringing the future actress onto her side – Done!
Chapter 5 - Two future bosses appeared at the same time!
When Tong Zhenzhen woke up in the hospital, she blamed herself for fighting with Tong Xuelu and that she was so fragile that Mother and Father Tong had to worry about her.
Then she insisted on being discharged from the hospital as she felt that it was too wasteful to stay in one.
Mother and Father Tong were already feeling guilty toward their real daughter and, seeing how mature she was, started blaming Tong Xuelu for being too immature.
When they arrived home, however, they were told that Tong Xuelu had left!
Tong Zhenzhen had a look of disbelief on her. "Sister-in-law, did Tong Xuelu really leave?"
She felt for sure Tong Xuelu was just being manipulative and wanted those at the Tong's to feel bad for her!
She was evil! And cunning!
Chen Yueling gave her a look. "Why would I lie about that? She had been gone for hours!"
"How come she left without saying goodbye?"
Mother Tong was just thinking how immature she was a minute ago but, now that she found out that she had left, she felt sad immediately.
Tong Xuelu might not be their real daughter but she had raised and doted on her for over 10 years. She wasn't someone that she could just walk away from right away.
Tong Zhenzhen was unhappy when she saw the look on Mother Tong.
With a guilty look on her, she said, "It was all my fault. I shouldn't have argued with her. I should just let Xuelu yell at me. That way I wouldn't have passed out and she wouldn't have left without saying goodbye either. Mom, don't be sad. I will go bring her back!"
Her words were very loaded.
They sounded like she was saying it was her fault but each and every single thing that she had said pointed toward how unreasonable Tong Xuelu was!
When Chen Yueling heard that, all the more she felt that her new sister-in-law was no simple woman.
She reached out her hand and stopped her. "Zhenzhen, little sister left to free up the space for you. Her effort will be wasted if you go and bring her back now. What if the two of your get into a spiff again after she had returned?"
"… …"
Tong Zhenzhen was so angry that she always stopped breathing!
Whatever did it mean to "free up the space for her"? She had always been the real daughter of the Tong's family. Tong Xuelu was the one who took her spot!
Besides, was she the one who wanted to fight with her? It had always been Tong Xuelu who had been picking fights with her, alright?
But she couldn't say any of those loud. She was so angry!
Chen Yueling ignored her and turned toward Father and Mother Tong. "Mom, Dad, little sister said she didn't want to put you in that situation nor did she want to have conflicts at home day after day. It's best for her, the outsider, to take off. She also asked us to take good care of you two in the future…"
Mother Tong's eyes reddened when she heard the last part. "That child. How did she become to mature all of a sudden? That was so sad to hear…"
"… …"
Tong Zhenzhen's look was stinkier than stinky tofu.
Mature her $$!
Anyone could spiel those words out. How did that make her mature?
And, what was going on with big sister-in-law? Why was she on Tong Xuelu's side all of a sudden?
This bunch of jerks!
Tong Xuelu had no idea that the trap that she had set for Tong Zhenzhen would start paying off so quickly.
She put down the stuff that she had purchased inside their unit, grabbed a handful of candies and two eggs and went over to Aunty Cai's next door.
The little boy was watching ants moving their homes and immediately ran toward Tong Xuelu when he saw her, "Big sister is so pretty!"
Tong Xuelu gave him two pieces of candies and asked, "What's your name?"
With the milk candies clutched tightly in his hand, he couldn't have smiled more, "My name is Zhudan!" (translation: pig's egg)
Zhudan?
Tong Xuelu almost choked on her own saliva. "Is your brother's name Goudan?" (translation: dog's egg)
Zhudan's mouth turned into O shape as though he was shocked that she would know that. He then nodded repeatedly. "My big brother's name is Goudan; my second brother is Yangdan; and I am Zhudan!" (translation: sheep)
"… …"
Alright. Guess they had all eggs handled.
Aunty Cai was about to snatch the candies out of Zhudan's hand as soon as she walked over. "Milk candies are expensive. You should bring them back. They will be wasted on this child!"
Tong Xuelu stopped her right away. "Aunty Cai, it's just some snacks. It is fine. You take such good care of our Mianmian and I am very appreciative of that!"
Everybody loves to hear good words.
Aunty Cai immediately smiled so much that her eyes disappeared and only her teeth could be seen. "Ah, there is no need to be so polite. We are neighbors. It's only right that we help each other out!"
Remembered her root, had a good conscience, and appreciative of kindness offered by others. What a great child that she was!
The more she looked at Tong Xuelu, the more Aunty Cai was fond of her. She held her hand and affectionately invited her to go inside her unit to chat.
That was exactly what Tong Xuelu had wanted.
In addition to thanking Aunty Cai for helping taking care of Tong Mianmian, more importantly, she wanted to find out more about the Tong's family's two factory positions.
She had Tong Mianmian played with Zhudan outside the house and went inside with Aunty Cai.
According to Aunty Cai, Tong Jiaming had temporarily took over Tong Dajun's stevedore position at the factory.
It was temporary because Tong Jiaming was only 11 years old and not yet of working age.
Even if the factory leaned toward helping out the Tong's family, they would not dare to make him a permanent worker.
As for the weaver position vacated by Mother Tong, Tong Jiaming had temporarily lent it out to Zhou Fang.
Zhou Fang was the wife of Xu Baigen, a stevedore. She was a villager and had never held a job before.
As for the compensation from the government and the factory, the manager was not comfortable handing an amount that big to some children so he said he would pay them when the Tong family from Beihe arrived.
Tong Xuelu raised her brows subtly when she finished listening to what Aunty Cai had told her.
If she was right, Tong Jiaming stalled the family members in Beihe and quit school to go to work for the purpose of selling the two positions before the family members from Beihe arrived so he could get his hands on the money.
He was, undoubtedly, a future prodigy in the business world, being able to figure something like this out at his young age.
Unfortunately, he was too young. Having the right ideas was one thing, implementing them the way he had intended was another.
Not only would the factory not hand over the compensation t him, nor would they let him make the decision to sell off the positions. That was one of the major reasons that the bosses' childhood was such a tragic.
These were what she needed to have done before those from Beihe arrived at the capital:
1. Convert her household register over.
2. Get her hands on the compensation.
3. Sell or trade the positions at the factory.
In addition, those from Beihe would try things once they had arrived. She needed some ways to prevent them from doing so.
Time always flies when one was gossiping.
Tong Xuelu took a look outside and stood up, "Aunty Cai, it's getting late. I shouldn't keep you any longer."
Aunty Cai took a look outside as well and shouted. "Oh mi, I had forgotten about the time when we chatted. Xuelu, you come over to look for me whenever you want. Bring the eggs back with you!"
The days were rough for everyone, especially the kids who had lost their parents. She couldn't take their eggs.
"Aunty Cai, it is fine. It's just a couple of eggs. Keep them."
Tong Xuelu was never good at the custom of being overly polite. She quickly slipped out after she finished talking.
The sky outside looked like someone had spilled a bottle of orange juice. The entire sky was red and the entire yard was covered in afterglow.
Smoke from dinner being prepared began to rise from the compound. Many of those who had never met Tong Xuelu before looked at her curiously.
Tong Xuelu smiled and nodded at everyone before she went back inside the house and take the ingredients for dinner out.
Every family's stove was built immediately outside their entrance and there was no privacy to speak of.
What was even worse was that the Tong family has a wood-burning stove.
Tong Xuelu knew how to use a wood-burning stove but it would stink her eyes and it wasn't easy to use at all.
As Tong Xuelu busied herself with the ingredients, she also thought about how she could make money and improve their quality of life.
She started the rice and cracked the eggs into a porcelain bowl. She rinsed out the bok choy and sliced each bundle into 4 sections. And she minced the garlics.
She planned to make egg fried rice and a dish of garlic bok choy stir fry.
When the aroma of the rice crept out of the pot, she started on the bok choy. She let them cooked for a few minutes in boiling water before she drained them, rinsed them with cold water, and had them ready to go in a plate.
They used lard at home and when the oil was heated up, soy sauce and salt were added, and the minced garlic was stirred fried, an amazing garlic aroma could be detected in the compound.
"Xuelu, what are you making over there? Why does it smell so good?"
Aunty Cai was the closest to them and the smell made her hungry right away.
Tong Xuelu replied to her while pouring the sauce over the bok choy, "Aunty Cai, I am making stirred fry bok choy."
Most people only boil vegetables in water back in the days and adding a drop of two of oil at most. Nobody used that much oil and sauce as Tong Xuelu did.
Those in the compound were all surprised when they heard her.
She made a dish of vegetables with minced garlic and oil? What a prodigal child.
Tong Mianmian ran over and gulped while looking at the plate of bok choy. She looked like a glutton little kitten and could not be cuter.
Tong Xuelu busted out laughing when she saw that. "Are you hungry, Mianmian?"
The little bun shook her head as she gulped. "Mianmian is not hungry. She will wait for her brothers to come home first."
"Good girl, Mianmian. You go play inside. It's smokey out here. We will start dinner when your brothers get home."
Tong Mianmian nodded like a chicken pecking on rice and went back inside their house on her short little legs.
After Tong Mianmian had walked away, Tong Xuelu scooped the cooked rice out and broke them apart. She then beat the eggs and added some salt in them.
She added some more lard into the frying pan when it was hot and stirred fried the rice inside of it. She quickly added the eggs inside and mixed them up.
It had been barely two minutes when a dish of nice smelling and steaming fried rice was done.
The aroma spread with the breeze and went straight over to Aunty Cai's nose, making her more and more hungry.
She couldn't help herself anymore but to run over and looked. Immediately, she was shocked. "Aiyo, Xuelu, how did you make this rice? How is it so pretty and smells so good?"
"It's nothing special. Just have to use the right amount of oil is all."
"Aye, you aren't wrong but oil is expensive. You should be more frugal given the situation of your family."
Aunty Cai gave her a friendly advice as she nodded.
Tong Xuelu smiled and nodded.
Aunty Cai got curious again. "Speaking of. I was just wondering earlier whether you know how to cook. Did you need to do housework at your other family's place?"
Tong Xuelu lied through her teeth, "Yes, I will help out with cooking at my adoptive parents' place."
Truth was, the original owner had never done a bit of housework her entire life. She was the one who knew how to cook.
She wasn't born a green tea. She had never been loved by her parents before. Her father re-married a year after her mother had passed away and, as far as her family was concerned, she no longer existed after that point.
She learned how to be a good cook to appease her family and almost ended up become their cook at home!
Her stepmother and stepsister walked all over her. Her stepsister had issues and love taking what was hers – her clothes, her friends, and, finally, her fiancé!
As the saying goes, one either explode silently or die silently. She ended up turning "green" silently.
She had conquered everyone in her family before her transmigration.
Even though she only picked up cooking to appease others, but it had, subsequently, turned into her biggest weapon in her process of "greening".
Now that she had transmigrated to the 70s, she shall continue to carry it forward.
With Aunty Cai making a fuss over it along with its tempting aroma, everybody gathered around to look.
They saw each grain of rice in the wok was coated with egg and was gold in color, loose from each other. They both looked and smelled amazing.
They possessed aroma, look, and taste. Just one look was enough to make one feel hungry.
The thick aroma attacked everybody's sense of smell and everybody gulped and rumbling noises from their stomach could be heard.
An old lady wanted to scoop the fried rice with the spatula she had in her hand reflexively and Tong Xuelu quickly placed the cover over work as she said, "Ah, I don't want them getting cold."
Stingy girl!
The old lady pursed her lips and walked away with her spatula.
Everybody was short clothes and food these days and normally they would not have dinner over at someone else's places. As such, as tempting as Tong Xuelu's cooking was, nobody asked to have a try.
Tong Xuelu took the opportunity to bring the fried rice and garlic bok choy stir fry inside and, right when she was about to wash up, saw two boys standing by the door when she looked up.
The older one was around 11 years old and standing with his back very straight. He looked a little skinny and his thick eyelashes covered up most of his profound eyes.
The younger one was around 7 or 8 years old with a buzz cut. His hair stood up like a that of a hedgehog and his pair of round eyes looked Tong Xuelu up and down.
The two young boys did not look very much alike but they were both looking at Tong Xuelu in an unfriendly manner.
If she was right, these would be her instant brothers Tong Jiaming and Tong Jiaxin.
Two future bosses appearing at the same time.
How exciting was that!
Chapter 6 - "Spill, why are you back?"
Tong Jiaxin had on him a schoolbag that was put together from multiple pieces of fabric. He scooted over closer to his brother and said, in surprise, "Second Brother, isn't she that, you know who?"
Their parents had brought back a photo before the accident. The person in the photo looked a lot like the one standing in front of them right now.
That wasn't the problem. The problem was: what was she doing here?
Tong Jiaming stared at Tong Xuelu and didn't say a word.
As much as the two of them would grow into big bosses, they were just two children in front of Tong Xuelu right now. Naturally, she would not feel intimidated by them.
She walked over to the water tank and scooped out a bucket of water. She said to them as she washed up. "Ah, you two are home. Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."
Tong Jiaxin nudged his brother. "Second Brother, why do you think she is here? What do we do now?"
He wasn't so young and so naïve. He was fully aware of what was going on!
Their so-called real sister had refused to come home back then. Both she and Tong Zhenzhen were white-eyed wolves who fought to stay over on the other side. They learned that everybody in the other family were government officials. To put it bluntly, they both thought that their family was too poor.
And if she had resented it so back then, what was the point of her returning now?
Besides, if it wasn't for her and Tong Zhenzhen, their parents would still be alive!
The more Tong Jiaxin thought about it, the angrier he became. His fist became hard uncontrollably.
Tong Jiaming looked at Tong Xuelu and said nothing.
Seeing that neither one of them engaged with her, she decided to stop trying as well. Turning around, she walked back inside the house, light the light, and got ready for dinner.
These two future bosses were not three-year-old children like Tong Mianmian. She wouldn't be able to win them over with just a piece of candy.
Tong Jiaming, in particular, was an angel on the outside but a devil inside. Being able to come up with plans like he did at this day and age would definitely make him a difficult one to win over.
She wasn't worried though. Every person has their weaknesses. All she needed to do was to find out what that was and she would be set.
Besides, if she couldn't even handle two children, then she had waste all the years being a green tea.
Tong Mianmian, sitting in bed inside the house, found a pair of scissors from somewhere and was trying to cut her own toenails.
Sticking out one of her little feet, she reached over one of her toes with the pair of scissors. Her toes, as though sensing the danger, avoiding the pair of scissors like it had a mind of its own.
Her hand followed quickly but her foot avoided it again. That repeated a few times and her hand was still unable to get close to her foot.
Finally, she seemed to have worn herself out. She pointed at her own little foot and lectured it in her milky voice like a little adult. "You are bad. You are not as docile as Mianmian is!"
Tong Xuelu couldn't help but busted out laughing.
She was started when she saw Tong Mianmian with the pair of scissors in her hand. She didn't that her little foot was able to save itself.
Hearing her chuckle, Tong Mianmian looked up. She immediately stretched out her chubby little arms at her. "Big Sister, Mianmian wants hug."
Tong Xuelu walked over, picked her up, and took the pair of scissors from her. "No more playing with scissors on your own. It's very dangerous, okay?"
Leaning over her shoulder, Tong Mianmian wrapped her little arms around Tong Xuelu's neck and said, "Okay, Big Sister. Mianmian won't do that again."
The little bun's milky voice was sweet and soft. She couldn't be more docile.
Tong Xuelu's heart was melted by her all over again. She kissed her on her dimple and Tong Mianmian started giggling.
At this moment, Tong Jiaxin ran inside, snatched Tong Mianmian from her and scolded her, "Tong Mianmian you little idiot. Didn't Big Brother tell you to not talk to strangers?"
Tong Mianmian, startled, pouted and said with her voice breaking, "Big Sister is not a stranger."
Big Sister had braided her hair for her, gave her candies, and kissed her on her cheek. She liked this big sister.
Tong Zhenzhen, her sister from before, would only call her stupid. And she would even pinch her when nobody was around. That hurt a lot.
She even told her that she was not allow to tell that to their parents. She didn't like that big sister.
Seeing that his little sister was defending Tong Xuelu, he was so angry that he pinched her on her cheek. "You are such an idiot! Who are you calling Big Sister? Why are you so affectionate toward her? She just might turn around and sell you!"
Feeling wronged, Tong Mianmian's eyes reddened. "Mianmian is not an idiot! Big Sister will not sell Mianmian!"
Tong Xuelu, seeing that Mianmian's cheek was red from the pinching, frowned and said coldly. "Mianmian is just a three-year-old child. What does she know? If you have anything to say, just say it to me!"
Hrm. Fine! He would say it to her! What did he need to worry about?
Tong Jiaxin was just about to unleash when he was stopped by Tong Jiaming. "Shut up, Jiaxin."
Having said that, he walked over, took Tong Mianmian from him, and patted her gently on her back.
Tong Mianmian, curled up in Tong Jiaming's arms, couldn't have sounded more wronged. "Second Brother, Big Brother is not a bad person. She gave me candies."
Her little hand fished around inside of her pocket, pulled out a milk candy, and tried as she might to shove it into her brother's mouth.
This was a piece of candy that her sister had given her. She only had one. She saved the other two for her two brothers.
But as her third brother had just yelled at her and her big sister, she didn't want to share with him anymore.
Tong Jiaming avoided her, "Second Brother doesn't want it. You save it for yourself."
Tong Mianmian was anxious. "Try it, Second Brother."
If Second Brother had a piece of Big Sister's candy, then he wouldn't say that she's a stranger anymore.
Tong Jiaming couldn't convince her otherwise so he finally accepted the piece of candy. "Second Brother will have it in a little bit."
Tong Mianmian was convinced but she didn't forget to remind him in her milky voice. "Don't forget to eat it later then, Second Brother."
Tong Jiaming nodded and carried her out to wash her hands.
Noticing that his little sister did not offer him a piece of candy, Tong Jiaxin was so angry that his nostrils flared. Even so, he was still looking at Tong Xuelu as if she was a thief.
He finally run after his Second Brother and little sister after they had left.
Tong Jiaming only washed up after he had first cleaned his sister's hands.
Tong Jiaxin ran over, looking upset, "Second Brother, why didn't you let me give her a piece of my mind? What were you worried about?"
Tong Jiaming still didn't make a sound.
Tong Jiaxin went on and on like a little firecracker. "Don't worry, Second Brother. Only little sister will be fooled by some sweets. Not I! I won't even have the dinner that she prepared!"
Tong Xuelu never needed to do any housework. She was raised in a family of government officials. Surely, she wouldn't know how to do anything.
The food that she cooked must taste nasty. He wouldn't eat anything that she had made even if it killed him!
Tong Xuelu, "… …"
Tsk, tsk, tsk. It looked like the third child was the most difficult of the three of them.
But that fit his personality from the previous life. Tong Jiaxin had a lot of ideas and very unique ones especially when it came to clothing design.
As the country revolutionized, he was very successful in that field and even earned a few international awards.
His personality, however, was a big issue. Especially when being raised in a very suppressed environment like at Beihe. It made him sensitive and explosive. He didn't know how to handle emotions and his wife finally divorced him. Unfortunately, she also died in a car accident on the day of the divorce.
Tong Jiaxin regretted a lot about it and never remarried.
Tong Jiaming carried his sister into the house after they had finished washing up.
They saw that food was already ready on the table. Pausing a little, he finally sat down with his sister.
Tong Jiaxin was about to say something but he finally stopped himself after his Second Brother gave him a stare.
Nevertheless, his mind was already made up. He would not, would not touch anything that she cooked!
Absolutely not!
Nevertheless, as soon as he sat down, an unbridled aroma attacked his nose.
He had never smelled anything like that before nor had he ever seen fried rice that was so pretty. Each of them was golden colored and glistening under the light.
They looked so delectable. He wondered how they tasted?
He gulped loudly and, at the same time, his stomach started to grumble.
Before he even realized what he was doing, he had already scooped up a big spoonful and put it inside his mouth.
Oh, my lord. That was delicious!
The rice was the perfect softly. He couldn't see any eggs but each bite tasted like egg. He had egg fried rice a few times before but none of them as good as it was today!
He picked up some cabbage with his chopsticks. The cabbage was crispy and the aroma of garlic danced on his tongue.
The one who said he would not have any even if it killed him had already finished off a bowl in no time and had no problem scooping out seconds for himself.
He was clearly demonstrating the meaning of self-faceslapping.
He had no idea whether it was because the food was too tasty or that the light was too soft, he felt that Tong Xuelu was not as annoying as she had seemed just a little while ago.
She wasn't as useless as he had initially thought. It wouldn't be bad at all if he could have such tasty food from now on.
Tong Jiaming couldn't even watch how his brother was wolfing down the food like he had been starved for a long, long time.
Who was it that said he would not be bought with just some food just a little while ago? And who was it who proclaimed that he would not eat anything that she cooked?
How embarrassing!
Tong Mianmian's little cheeks puffed up as she ate. She looked very satisfied.
Tong Xuelu smiled as she picked rice off of Tong Mianmian's face.
No matter the era and location, there would always be those who went back on their words.
The Fang family in the compound.
Fang Jingyuan's chopsticks crawled over the dishes. Fang Wenyuan frowned when he saw that. "Where did you pick up that habit from? How are others going to eat after you have done that?"
Displeased, Fang Jingyuan pouted. Nevertheless, she had always been intimidated by her Big Brother. All she could do was grumble softly. "What do you mean they can't be eaten anymore?"
Fang Wenyuan gave her a look and she quickly kept her mouth shut.
She felt unreconciled though. She felt that her Big Brother had been becoming more and more solemn in the last few years and had a long face day in and day out like an old man.
Suddenly, she recalled running into Tong Xuelu that afternoon. Her eyes rolled around and she said, "Big Brother, guess who I ran into this afternoon?"
Fang Wenyuan kept on eating as though he didn't hear her.
His reaction did not surprise Fang Jingyuan. "I ran into Tong Xuelu. You probably haven't heard about this yet, Big Brother. Tong Xuelu was kicked out by the Tong family!"
The living room went silent for a few seconds, then it exploded.
Mother Fang looked shocked. "She was booted out by the Tong family? No way!"
There were a lot of ruckuses about the Tong's real and fake daughters and the entire compound had heard about it.
It was very sad that the daughter whom they had raised for over ten years turned out not to be their real daughter. They loved both children and weren't able to let either one of them go. It was sad to watch.
Everybody assumed that the Tong family wouldn't make their adopted daughter leave. Partly because Tong Xuelu didn't want to go and partly because it had been so many years and they've had feelings for each other. Why would they want her to go back to her original family and suffer?
As such, they were very shocked to hear that Tong Xuelu had been booted out.
Fang Jingyuan felt very complacent when everybody's focuses was on her. "Why can't they? I saw her carrying several bags of different sizes as she headed for the bus station! Mom, Dad, now that Tong Xuelu had been booted out by the Tong family, Big Brother's betrothal with her is considered off, right?"
Mother Fang and Father Fang exchanged a look before they turned to their son. "Wenyuan, what do you want to do about this?"
Fang Wenyuan didn't even look up. He said in a very calm tone. "That works out perfectly, no? I had never taken it seriously anyway."
Mother Fang gave him a look and sighed. "Oh well. I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll let the Fang family know when I see them next time. We don't want to hurt our relationship with them over this."
This was a betrothal set by Old Mr. Fang and Old Mr. Tong. Lo and behold, Fang Wenyuan never liked Tong Xuelu but Tong Xuelu only wanted to marry Fang Wenyuan. That had been a sore spot for both families.
As Fang Wenyuan never liked Tong Xuelu, now that Tong Xuelu wasn't even a child of the Tong's, they were no longer a good match and, naturally, the betrothal could be called off.
Fang Wenyuan looked nonchalant but Fang Jingyuan looked excited.
Her eyes rolled around and she was planning when to go see Tong Xuelu and threw this on her face. She wanted to see how arrogant Tong Xuelu could still be after this.
Tong Xuelu had no idea that she had turned into the Fang's dinner topic.
There weren't a lot of entertainments back then so everybody quickly washed up and turned in after dinner.
The Tong family, too, had their lights off by now. Tong Mianmian was snuggled up to Tong Xuelu like a doll and her cheeks pink in her sleep.
Insect noises could be heard coming from outside the house and it was very quiet inside the room.
Suddenly, a low voice broke the silence –
"Spill, why are you back?"
Chapter 7 - She wouldn't even mind being trapped in bed with him.
The young boy's voice sounded particularly clear and abrupt in a night like this.
Tong Xuelu opened up her eyes and said in the most green-tea way, "This is our home and you are my only family left on this world. It's only right for me to return to be with you."
A snicker could be heard in the air. "Save your spiel for someone else. Have you forgotten what awful things you have said about our parents when they died? You said our Tong family was like a beggar's den and that you would rather than to return with them!"
Tong Xuelu was taken aback a little. That reminded her of the chit that the original owner had pulled.
Tong Dajun and his wife had visited them a total of three time with the original owner passing out the very first time when she found out that she was the daughter of the Tong's.
The second time, the original owner pointed her finger straight at Tong Dajun and his wife's noses and told them to get. She even threw everything that they had brought with them onto the floor. The third time did not end uglily; she straight up refused to meet with them.
And the Tong's couple had the accident on their way back.
Tong Xuelu had a headache when she thought about that.
She had wanted to play the affection card but the point was now moot.
"Well, alright then. I might as well just tell you the truth. I can't stay there anymore and I need a place to stay."
A snicker came from the bed across from her again. "What gave you the idea that you can just come whenever you want?"
Tong Xuelu's red lips curved upward some. "You ate the food that I prepared, didn't you?"
Had Tong Jiaming really wanted to kick her out, he would have thrown a hissy fit as soon as he saw her.
But he didn't.
Naturally he didn't exactly hold himself back because he had feelings for this instant sister of his but that ––
She was of use to him.
The other end went silent.
It was dark and Tong Xuelu couldn't see the look on him.
But it didn't take much to figure out that he was most likely gritting his teeth right now.
Tong Xuelu said calmly, "If I guessed it correctly, you had quit school and been working at the factory for the sake of trying to sell off the two positions before those from the old family in Beihe come over, am I right?"
Her words struck him hard!
Tong Jiaming bounced up from the bed and stared at her. "You. What is your agenda?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that I don't have an agenda? But I don't need you to say anything to figure out that you don't believe me. Besides the two positions at the factory, I also know that you have not yet informed those at the old family at Beihe about what had happened. How do you think the management at the factory would look at you once they've found out about it?"
Tong Xuelu's voice was a little languid but her word, nevertheless, sliced him open like a sharp knife.
Tong Jiaming's fist tightened by his sides. "I don't care what your intentions are but if you dare breath a word about this, I…... I will go after you no matter what it takes!"
He was scared, scared, scared.
Tsk tsk. It looked like the future boss was still a bit naïve at this point in time.
Tong Xuelu sat up in bed and switched away from her languid attitude. "Let's join forces."
Tong Jiaming didn't say anything.
"You know, with your current age and status, there is no way the factory would let you sell off the two positions nor would they hand over the compensation for your parents' death over to you. In other words, it didn't matter how much you can plot. It had already been half a month since the accident. How much longer do you think you can keep this from the old family at Beihe?"
Tong Xuelu paused for a little while before she carried on, "When those from Beihe get here, not only would you not get the compensation and the positions, you would all be brought to Beihe. Never mind about going to school, you may not even be given enough to eat then."
Tong Jiaming stared at her with his piercing eyes in the dark night. He had bitten down on his lower lip so hard that it was turning pale.
Tong Xuelu continued to dangle the bait in front of him. "If you work with me, however, I can not only guarantee that those from Beihe would gain nothing from us but that the three of you can continue to stay in capital city and attend school here. You would not need to go back to the village to gather pig droppings."
"… …"
After a long while, a stiff voice came from across, "What exactly are you proposing?"
"It's very simple. I make the calls around here," said Tong Xuelu crisply. "It's alright if you can't trust me fully; just don't pull my legs externally."
Tong Jiaming raised his brows, "That's it?"
Tong Xuelu nodded, "That's it."
Tong Jiaming thought it over, frowning, before he nodded stiffly, "Alright. But you must guarantee that you will not bring any harm to Jiaxin and Mianmian!"
"Of course. It's nice working with you," said Tong Xuelu as she laid back down facing the wall. "Let's sleep. We can talk about the details tomorrow."
Tong Jiaming looked at the back across from him for a long, long time motionlessly.
He had followed behind his parents to the other Tong's family the other day and happened to see this woman throwing out all of the stuff that they had brought her. She even went as far as point at his parents and telling them to never go see her again.
He was so angry that his lungs were about to explode when he saw how belittled and sad his parents were when they apologized to her.
If only he had any other options, he would never allow this person to return to the Tong's.
He could only move forward one step at a time now. If she dared bring any harm to his family, she would never see the end of it!
Tong Xuelu, hearing nothing from behind her, figured that the future boss was still struggling with everything.
She couldn't be bothered with him. She had acted, travelled, and cooked today. She was actually feeling tired.
The little bun in her arms rolled around and wrapped her chubby little hands around her arm. She even nuzzled her reflexively.
Tong Xuelu, putting her arms around the little bun, fell asleep quickly.
The first day of her transmigration, Tong Xuelu was sound sleep with the live pillow. Someone somewhere else, however, was up all night.
Tong Zhenzhen was flipping back and forth on her bad like a piece of pancake She was about to explode from frustration.
Tong Xuelu did, indeed, leave the Tong family as she had wanted. Nevertheless, that did not make her happy.
Her plan was to have Tong Xuelu take off from the Tong family like a rain-soaked chicken. Not her leaving voluntarily like she did today and earning everyone's guilt and compassion.
In addition, she had no idea what had gotten into her oldest sister-in-law. There were subtext in everything that she said and she was being driven insane.
No way. She could not just let Tong Xuelu off the hook like that.
She wanted her to experience all the pain that she had gone through in her previous life!
Tong Xuelu was woken up by cooking noises coming from the outside at daybreak the next morning.
She stretched in bed before she sat up and she saw Tong Jiaming preparing porridge outside the door.
Much like how she had the two brothers did dishes the night before, she found nothing wrong with that.
She wasn't here to play a child-rearing game, or to be a mother. She had no intention to take care of every aspect of their lives.
Besides, boys need to be trained in having the concept and ability of helping out in housework since a young age. That way they would not grow up to become a jerk who couldn't find themselves a woman.
Tong Jiaming quickly turned his head when he saw that Tong Xuelu was up. He looked a bit awkward.
Tong Xuelu didn't let that bother her. After she had finished washing up, she saw that Tong Jiaming was finishing up a bowl of sweet potato porridge and the only other dish that went with it was a small plate of pickled vegetables.
Ugh, that wasn't going to work. She refused for her stomach to be wronged.
She pulled out a small bundle of yam noodles and soaked them in water to soften them up. She then pulled out the left-over eggs from yesterday.
Her plan was to make an egg pancake with green onions.
She chopped up the green onions, cracked three eggs into a bowl with some salt, mixed them all together evenly and poured the egg mixture into a pan after the oil had been heated up.
Once the egg mixture had solidified, she flicked the pan gently and the egg pancake flipped upside down. Once the eggs were cooked, she immediately added in two drops of soy sauce and the egg pancake with green onions was done.
It was early in the morning and everybody was either washing up or chowing down on their wotou (Chinese corn bread) in the courtyard. There were no exhaust back in these days so, when the wind blew, the delectable smell went straight to everyone.
Wuwuwu. That smelled delicious!
In the past, it was a joyful event just to have a couple of wotou. All of a sudden, wotou no longer smelled good.
And that wasn't the end of it.
They watched as Tong Xuelu shredded the pickled vegetables, and minced the ginger, garlic, and green onions. Her movements were quick and beautifully executed.
When the oil was heated up, she tossed the ginger, garlic, and green onion in for the aroma and immediately added in soy sauce and salt. She stir fried them for a little while before she added in a bowlful of cold water and, when the water began to boil, added in the yam noodles.
After simmering them in a low heat for about 10 minutes, she lifted the pot cover.
The steam and the aroma came straight at her and immediately spread within the courtyard.
Tong Xuelu dished out the pickled vegetables along with the yam noodles and added some green onions on top to garnish.
The noodles were clear and translucent. Along with the green onion, they looked very appetizing. It was a bummer that she didn't have any meat or pepper to go with it; otherwise, it would smell even more appetizing.
The middle-aged lady that lived kitty-corner to them, enveloped by the aroma with no escape, gulped and asked, "The girl at the Tong's, what is it that you are making so early in the morning?"
Tong Xuelu smiled and said, "Oh, nothing much. Just some egg pancakes with green onions and a plate of yam noodles with pickled vegetables."
"Aye, girl, you can't eat like that every day. This will not be sustainable."
"Exactly. This is the Tong's, not your adopted family. You can't be like this everyday."
"Exactly. It's too wasteful!"
The other middle-aged and old ladies who couldn't have any were bitter and their bitterness were reflected in their words.
Tong Xuelu put on a ah-I-get-it-now look and said, "Oh, thank you aunties. You are right." Not!
Having said that, she carried her two plates of food and headed inside the house.
She didn't care what others think or say. She was still going to do what she wanted to next time. She would have meats and fish daily if she could.
That being said, she needed to figure some way for them to move away from here. This place had no privacy to speak of.
Tong Jiaming, too, acting like he didn't hear a thing. He quietly rinsed off the cutting board and the ladle and carried the sweet potato porridge with him inside.
The Tong family members had another great meal this morning.
When she was done eating, Tong Xuelu put down her chopsticks and said, "I will be transferring my household register over today. I will bring Mianmian with me."
Tong Mianmian, hearing her own name, immediately looked up and smiled. "Awesome. Mianmian likes to be with big sister."
Brown noser!
Tong Jiaxin gave his sister a stare.
The never next moment, he heard Tong Jiaming nodded and said, "Okay."
Tong Jiaxin was so shocked that he almost dropped his chopsticks onto the table.
What had gotten into his Second Brother?
Second Brother, just blink at me if you were being blackmailed.
Tong Jiaming did not have the time to look at his brother's silly look. He did the dishes and headed out for work.
Tong Jiaxin had the odd feeling that he was the only one who still hadn't lost his mind.
His second brother and his little sister had been bribed, just like that. How useless!
He shoved a big chopstickful of noodles into his mouth as he thought that.
Aowu. This was so good. He would have more of it!
Tong Xuelu helped Tong Mianmian tied her hair into two cute little buns, gave Aunty Cai next door a heads up, and left with the excited-looking Tong Mianmian.
She headed over to the CSMC first, bought two boxes of snacks there, before she brought Tong Mianmian with her to take a car ride back to the city.
"Big Sister, this is Mianmian's first time riding in a car." Tong Mianmian was so excited that her little face was red.
The little bun, curious like a little animal, her limpid eyes were widened and she was looking around left and right.
Tong Xuelu's heart shuddered from her cuteness. Kissing her little cheek, she said, "If you like, Big Sister can take you out more often in the future. What do you say?"
"Okay," said Tong Mianmian in her milky voice. Her little arms wrapped around her Big Sister's neck, she had dimples on each side of her cheeks when she smiled.
Her big sister was good looking. She smelled good. She hugged her in her sleep. And now she was going to take her out to have fun.
She liked this big sister only too much.
The coach rocked its way all the way into the city. Tong Xuelu had, once again, turned pale from all the rocking.
Tong Mianmian was proven to be the mighty one. She didn't get motion sickness at all.
Tong Xuelu did not head for the compound where the Tong family were but headed straight to the Women's Federation Office.
Little did she know, as soon as she reached the corner, a figure dashed toward her like a firecracker.
Startled, she just had enough time to push Tong Mianmian away but she did not get out of the way in time and was – Trapped! Against! The! Wall!
Oh shoot! Who wasn't watching where they were going?
Who dared do the trapped-against-the-wall trick at this day and age? She could go to the police station sue them for indecency!
Tong Xuelu pushed the person away before they were even able to regain their balance. She then looked up with a slight frown.
Little did she know that she would be met with a pair of dark, black eyes.
The owner of those eyes had very defined features. He was so handsome that one would not be able to look away. His long and slender phoenix eyes pointed slightly upward and would hook one's heart like a hook.
His face was attractive as was his perfect body.
The young man had board shoulders and narrow waist. His legs were long and slender and he was every bit as attractive as models and stars that she had seen in her previous life.
With his attractiveness, watching where he was going when he walked was no longer important.
With that face and body, never mind about being trapped against the wall. She wouldn't even mind being trapped on bed with him. (*^▽^*)
Translator's rambling:
Boy, oh, boy. I have been meaning to post this on the 15th of this month but, alas, real life doesn't always go as planned. But I finally got it done. Whew! :)
Chapter 8 - Tong Zhenzhen, you are done for.
The man standing in front of her was wearing a Shanghai Tourbillon watch. Let it be his temperament or his outfit, he looked extraordinary.
When running into a fairytale-like character such as this man, regardless of whether Tong Xuelu wanted to score him, she must at least earn his good will.
Her mannerism switched 180 degrees instantly.
Gasping as though she was in pain, she apologized voluntarily, "I'm sorry. I apologize. Are you alright? I didn't mean to push you earlier."
"I should be the one apologizing. How's your head?"
After Wen Rugui had regained his balance, he quickly took a step back and made some distance between the two of them.
His voice was deep and textured but it lacked intonation, making it difficult to read.
Tong Xuelu shook her head, "I'm alright. I see that you are in a rush. I'm alright. Don't let me keep you."
Her voice was soft and sweet, almost honeylike and her words so thoughtful.
Wen Rugui lowered his head reflexively.
And looked down at her.
From the top of her head, then it was a clean and shiny forehead, followed by a pair of foggy almond eyes.
Behind her was a grey wall and the light beaming down made her skin appear even fairer, almost porcelain like. A strand of loose hair dangled next to her forehead. The tear-like mole below her eye, against the light, looked like it could roll down any minute.
Wen Rugui's eyelashes shuddered and he looked away from her. "I'm so sorry. I am in a hurry and I won't be able to accompany you in getting a checkup at the hospital. Let me give you my number. I'll take care of the cost. What do you say?"
Tong Xuelu didn't think she would be able to get his contact information so easily. She was secretly happy about it.
She has yet to put up a show in declining his offer when Tong Mianmian threw herself at her as she threw her arms around her leg.
The little bun had tears welling up in her eyes. She was scared to death but she still comforted Tong Xuelu. "Big Sister is okay. Mianmian will blow at it for you."
Tong Xuelu quickly picked her up and comforted her. "Big Sister is alright. Big Sister is not hurting at all.'
Tears were rolling in Tong Mianmian's eyes. Mimicking what an adult would do, she patted herself on her chest and said, "Mianmian feel better now that Big Sister is not hurting."
What a cute little thing.
Tong Xuelu was about to go nuts from Mianmian's cuteness. She looked up and said in her green tea way, "It's alright, comrade. It's just a harmless bump. You don't need to pay for anything."
The wall behind them blocked a portion of the sunlight and part of it casted on his face. His long and thick eyelashes were distinct and casted shadows under his eyes.
He was patiently standing under the mid-summer sun while she was talking to the little bun.
The man seemed to have his mind made up. He pulled out a little notebook and a pen from his pocket and scribbled something on a page.
The fingers holding onto the pen were long and even and his nails kept very short. They were pinkish in color, very much like a pair of hands that would belong to a pianist or a doctor.
Tong Xuelu tried to guess his profession.
The man tore out the page from this notebook and handed it over to Tong Xuelu, "Please accept this."
Tong Xuelu didn't pretend to be reserved again. She took the piece of paper from him with alacrity.
She saw a name and a string of numbers on the piece of paper. She looked at the characters that said "Wen Rugui".
His writing was strong with just the right amount of force and very poised.
Holding the piece of paper in her hand, Tong Xuelu looked up and smiled, "Alright then. I will contact Comrade Wen should the need arise."
"Again, I am very sorry."
Wen Rugui apologized once again before he turned and left quickly.
Tong Xuelu turned around after him and checked out his long legs. She whistled in her mind, such nice legs.*
Translator's rambling:
And our ML had been objectified. =D
Tong Mianmian's big eyes stared at the ground. She tugged at her sister with her little hand and said, "Look, Big Sister."
Tong Xuelu looked over at where she was pointing and saw a red booklet the size of her palm.
She put down the little bun and picked up the booklet. Opening it up, she noticed that it was a pass.
The information on it said:
Organization: Base Research Center
Name: Wen Rugui
Age: 25
Job Title: Researcher
Hometown: Capital City
ID No.: 1-3177
Next to it was a black-and-white photo. Wen Rugui looked very young in the photo but his eyes were deep and dark like ink.
Tong Xuelu looked at the wordings "Base Research Center" and "Researcher".
She figured that Wen Rugui was no ordinary person but this was more extraordinary than she had expected.
Recalling that he seemed to have been in a rush, she wondered if he would need this for anything. She quickly wanted to chase him down but she was a bit too slow.
Wen Rugui had already stepped into a black car and the car had driven away.
A car back in 1976 was showier than a top-of-the-line sportscar in modern time.
It'd seemed that Wen Rugui was truly a TRH (Tall Rich and Handsome).
She put away his pass and planned to figure out how to get it back to him later.
Mother Tong was sighing and talking with the Vice Director of the Women's Federation Office when someone knocked on the door to the office.
An administrative clerk walked inside and said, "Director Tong, your daughter is here. She's waiting for you outside."
Mother Tong was caught off guard, "Which daughter is that?"
The clerk scratched under her eye and said, "The one from before, Comrade Tong Xuelu."
Mother Tong let out an "Oh". It was until the vice director had given her a push before she recollected herself and hurried outside.
She finally believed that Tong Xuelu was really here when she saw her. "Xuelu, what are you doing here? Where did you come from? Why did you leave without a word yesterday? Your dad and I worried so much last night that we couldn't even sleep!"
After she was done talking, she saw the little bun next to Tong Xuelu. "This one is…?"
Tong Mianmian was hiding behind Tong Xuelu's bottom. She poked half of her head out when she heard Mother Tong mentioned her but, as soon as she met Mother Tong's eyes, she quickly retreated back behind Tong Xuelu like a startled bunny.
Tong Xuelu smiled and said, "This is my little sister. Mianmian, say 'Aunty'."
Mother Lu's oldest grandson was only 6 months older than Mianmian. She could be very well address Mother Lu as Grandma Lu, but that way the generations would be all off.
Tong Mianmian stuck out half of her face again and, her limpid big eyes blinked, and she said shyly, "Aunty~"
"Oh, what a nice child. Have some candies."
Her milky voice was sweet and soft. Mother Tong's heart softened. She pulled out two pieces of candies from her pocket and handed them over to Tong Mianmian.
Tong Mianmian dared not accept them until Tong Xuelu gave her the okay.
Tong Xuelu handed over the snacks to Mother Tong then, holding her hand, said, "Mom, I come to visit you and I also want to move my household register out."
"You didn't need to bring me anything when you come visit." Hearing her words, Mother Tong's smile lessened. "You really wanted to move your household register out?"
Tong Xuelu nodded. "Mom, I know you don't want me to go and I will miss you and Dad but Tong Zhenzhen and I really can't live under the same roof."
Mother Tong let out a long sigh.
Tong Xuelu put her arm around Mother Tong's shoulder. "Mom, don't do that. Even though I am not living here, you are still my mother. I will come and visit you and Dad often."
"Okay, you promised. You have to come visit us often."
Tong Xuelu nodded and promised. She then changed the subject. "Mom, I need to hurry over to get this household register thing taken care of. I'll come back and chat with you later. If I don't go there before they close, I will have to make a second trip."
Mother Tong said, "Alright. Let me give your second sister-in-law a call and have her had the stuff ready for you. That way you can get right to it once you get there."
"Thanks, Mom!"
Part of the reasons that Tong Xuelu came looking for Mother Tong was to visit her and also partly she had hoped that Mother Tong would help her with the matters of the household register.
Cai Chunlan hold an administrative position at the Public Security Bureau and was responsible for the area of household register.
Tong Xuelu wasn't worried that Cai Chunlan wouldn't do it for her but, with their history, for sure she would drag it out. But the Tong family side had no more time to wait around.
Tong Xuelu was about to head to the Public Security Bureau after Mother Tong had placed the call but she was stopped by Mother Tong.
"Are you bringing this child with you? It's far and it will be inconvenient to bring a child with you. Why don't you leave her here? I'll look after her for you."
Tong Xuelu felt that what Mother Tong said made sense.
It was an hour walk to the Public Security Bureau from where she was.
Tong Mianmian was a child and couldn't walk for that long. She would need to carry her then but she wouldn't be able to carry her with her small arms and legs.
If Tong Mianmian was not going with her, she could borrow a bicycle and ride over there. It would save her a lot of time that way.
Nevertheless, she still patiently asked the little bun's opinion. "Mianmian, Big Sister need to go take care of some things. Do you want to stay here or go with Big Sister?"
Tong Mianmian blinked her big eyes and cocked her head. "Mianmian will wait here for Big Sister like a good little girl."
She understood what Aunty had said earlier. She was a good girl and she did not want to hold her sister back.
Tong Xuelu reached her hand out and rubbed Tong Mianmian on her hair. "Mianmian is a good girl. Stay with Aunty. Don't run around. Big Sister will be back to pick you up soon."
The little bun nodded docilely.
Mother Tong borrowed a bicycle from someone at the Women's Federation Office for Tong Xuelu and Tong Xuelu took off for the Public Safety Bureau immediately.
It took Tong Xuelu 20 minutes to head over to the Public Safety Bureau.
As Mother Tong had already spoken to her, as much as Cai Chunlan was reluctant, she dared not give Tong Xuelu a hard time.
Nevertheless, the head of the Public Safety Bureau was out at the time and Tong Xuelu still had to wait for half an hour to get her permission slip.
She will need the permission slip to move to household register over to the other Tong family.
She folded up the slip, placed it in her pocket, and started heading back.
Tong Zhenzhen walked toward the Women's Federation Office with a frown. She could not have looked more upset.
Tong Xuelu entered the Literary and Art Troupe through her family's connection in the past. Now that Tong Zhenzhen was back, naturally Tong Xuelu could not keep that position.
What Tong Zhenzhen was upset about was that those over at the Literary and Art Troupe thought that she wasn't as attractive as Tong Xuelu!
They also said that her singing was awful and her dancing was too stiff.
She was so mad!
Tong Zhenzhen's eyes widened all of a sudden and shrieked after she rounded the corner, "What are you doing here, Tong Mianmian?!"
Startled, Tong Mianmian looked up and turned pale. "Sis, Sister Zhen."
"Who you calling sister?" Tong Zhenzhen ran up and grabbed Tong Mianmian by her arm. "Speak. Who brought you here? Was it the tramp Tong Xuelu?"
Hurting from her arm being grabbed, tears rolled down Tong Mianmian's cheeks. "Don't call my sister names! You are a bad person!"
Seeing Tong Mianmian was defending Tong Xuelu, Tong Zhenzhen was so angry that she turned into a puffer fish immediately.
That tramp Tong Xuelu. She knew that she wouldn't take off just like that. She had just left yesterday and she brought a child back with her today.
What was she up to?
It didn't matter what she was up to. There was no way she'd let her have her ways!
With one hand over Tong Mianmian's mouth, Tong Zhenzhen pulled Tong Mianmian toward an alley with nobody there.
Arriving at the Women's Federation Office, Tong Xuelu could see her mother and two clerks searching for something. "Mom, what are you doing?"
Mother Tong was frantic. "You are back, Xuelu, you sister Mianmian had disappeared!"
Tong Xuelu braked abruptly and asked anxiously, "What happened? How did Mianmian disappear?"
Mother Tong recounted what happened with her eyes reddened.
After Tong Xuelu had left, Mother Lu noticed that Tong Mianmian's clothes were turning white from too many washings. Knowing the Tong family's situation, Mother Tong quickly asked around for money and tickets.
Tong Mianmian was playing by the entrance when Mother Tong walked inside and she was gone when Mother Tong turned back around.
She asked the security guard by the entrance and he told her that he did not see Tong Mianmian leaving.
That meant that Tong Mianmian was still inside the compound.
Tong Xuelu was not happy but now was not the time to point fingers.
"Let's split up and look for her."
Chapter 9 - Perhaps Fang Wenyuan could convince her. She had always listened to him.
Tong Xuelu rode her bicycle as she called out, "Mianmian, Big Sister is back. Respond to me if you can hear me.
"Mianmian, c'mon out quickly and come home with Big Sister."
Tong Xuelu kicked herself for being too careless. She never should have left Tong Mianmian behind by herself.
Who else could be as reliable as herself?
She would feel awful for the rest of her life if anything happened to Tong Mianmian!
She seemed to heard a child's crying voice coming from inside of an alley when she rode past it. It sounded a lot like Tong Mianmian.
Tong Xuelu leaped off her bicycle and ran in that direction without giving it a second thought.
Inside the alleyway, Tong Zhenzhen was shouting at Tong Mianmian while gripping onto her ear. "You stupid little baggage. Did you hear what I have told you? You go back and tell you two brothers that Tong Xuelu hit you and have them kick her out of the house!"
Tong Mianmian's little face was red from her crying. Her voice hoarse from crying. "No, no, no. Mianmian doesn't want Big Sister to be kicked out."
"You stupid child. How stupid are you OOWWWW ––"
She hasn't even finished with what she was saying, her hair was grabbed by someone from behind.
She let go of Tong Mianmian's ear reflexively and shouted like a pig being slaughtered. "OOWWWWWW, who was it?"
"Your ancestor!"
Tong Xuelu's eyes were cold. "I hate two types of people the most in my life – men who beat up their women and scums who abuse helpless children. We got a problem here."
Tong Zhenzhen was enraged when she heard Tong Xuelu's voice. "Tong Xuelu you tramp. Let go of me or you better watch out!"
"Oh? I better watch out? What are you going to do, huh?"
Having said that, Tong Xuelu turned Tong Zhenzhen to face the wall and gave her a hard kick on her butt.
Tong Zhenzhen slammed into the wall like a pancake thrown against it. Even her nose was almost flattened from the impact!
She was in so much pain that tears came streaming down her cheeks. "That's it, Tong Xuelu! You asked for it!"
Tong Xuelu took the opportunity to do three things:
1. She squatted down and wipes some dust onto her own face;
2. She pulled her hair loose and roughed it up;
3. She picked up Tong Mianmian and started running with her in her arms as she shouted out, "Help! Someone is trying to kill us––"
"You tramp! Stay right there if you dare. I am going to kill you today."
Tong Zhenzhen, infuriated, chased after Tong Xuelu without thinking it through.
Tong Xuelu ran outside of the alleyway and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Someone come, please. Help! Someone is trying to kill us!"
Mother Tong came running over with two clerical staff and all three of them were shocked when they heard what Tong Xuelu was shouting.
Mother Tong turned pale and quickly gave orders to one of the clerical staff. "Xiao Hui, go get the cops quickly."
Xiao Hui quickly answered her, turned, and took off as fast as she could.
Two other persons ran toward them from another direction.
They were none other than Fang Wenyuan, the original owner's original fiancé, and the Tall, Rich, and Handsome Wen Rugui, whom Tong Xuelu had met earlier.
Tong Xuelu's eyes lit up and she quickly ran toward Wen Rugui.
When Fang Wenyuan heard someone shouting out for help, he didn't even give it a second thought before he came running over.
He couldn't help but frowned when he saw that the person running toward them was Tong Xuelu.
Didn't Tong Xuelu already take off from the Tong family? How was she back already?
Well, that made sense. That sounded more like something that Tong Xuelu would do.
He never quite believed it when he heard that she had taken off from the Tong family.
And, he was right. It hadn't even been one whole day yet and Tong Xuelu was already back. It was like a joke to her.
Was this scene another trick of hers?
He couldn't help but slowed down when he thought of that.
And it didn't take long for Wen Rugui to be way ahead of him.
Tong Xuelu did not noticed Fang Wenyuan's actions.
Panting, she dashed in front of Wen Rugui. "Comrade Wen, please help me and my sister. Someone wants to kill us!"
As though proving her right, Tong Zhenzhen came charging at them with her head of messy hair as soon as Tong Xuelu finished talking. "You stay right there, Tong Xuelu. I am going to kill you!"
Wen Rugui stretched out his arms quietly and blocked in front of Tong Xuelu and her little sister.
Even though he didn't say a word and that his back was tall and thin, lanky, even, but he was somehow able to offer a great sense of security.
Tong Zhenzhen ran up and, before she could shout again, her arms were grabbed and twisted behind her back by Wen Rugui, nevermind about laying a finger on Tong Xuelu.
Wen Rugui's actions were smooth and quick. It didn't match her lanky researcher image. His taut and stern side profile made him look more like a well-trained soldier.
Tong Xuelu was surprised when she saw that.
"You *****! Who do you think you are?!" Tong Zhenzhen was about to vomit blood with her arms twisted behind her. "Let go of me now!"
Not only did Wen Rugui not let her go, he exerted some force and quickly brought her down onto the ground.
Both Fang Wenyuan and Mother Tong Mother Tong were startled when they witnessed that.
The former was surprised that Tong Xuelu wasn't lying and the latter that her daughter was the one trying to kill Tong Xuelu.
Mother Tong was much more frantic than Fang Wenyuan.
She had just had a clerical staff went to fetch the cops. If the cops got here, Tong Zhenzhen would be done for.
When that thought had occurred to her, she hurried up to save Tong Zhenzhen.
Naturally, Tong Xuelu wasn't going to let Mother Tong save Tong Zhenzhen.
Seeing Mother Lu approaching them, she buckled her knees and fell down onto the ground. "Mom, help me. Tong Zhenzhen wants to kill me!"
"Xuelu, what is going on?"
Mother Tong quickly caught her and, seeing all the dirt on her hair, had very complicated feelings.
"Mom, Tong Zhenzhen said I had taken her identity and, for the sake of revenging me, not only had she hurt Mianmian, she also wanted to kill me. Wuwuwuw…"
Tong Xuelu put her head down on Mother Tong's shoulder and bawled.
Seeing that her Big Sister was crying, Tong Mianmian burst into tears as well. "Bad person. Beat up the bad person."
Hearing the crying from the little bun, Tong Xuelu stopped with her acting.
She quickly looked up and hugged the little bun. "It's all Big Sister's fault. Big Sister shouldn't have left Mianmian there by herself. Mianmian, good girl. You can stop crying now."
Tong Mianmian cried so hard that she was having hiccups. Her eyes and nose were read and she looked particularly pitiful.
Tong Xuelu checked her out and noticed that her entire left ear was red and swollen. She wanted to kill Tong Zhenzhen now.
"Xuelu, Mom will apologize for Zhenzhen. When the cops get here, you… can you forgive Zhenzhen just this one time?"
Mother Lu's head was about to explode from all the wailing.
Looking at Tong Mianmian's red and swollen ear, she, too, wishe to kill Tong Zhenzhen.
Nevertheless, her daughter didn't grow up with her, which had caused her warped personality. So how would she dare to place the blame on her?
Mother Tong knew that it wasn't fair for Tong Xuelu but what choice did she have? She loved the both of them.
Tong Xuelu's eyes widened when she looked over at Mother Tong. Giving her a surprised look and, seeing the cops approaching out of the corners of her eyes, she rolled her eyes and passed out.
She was so angry that she passed out.
Of course it was all acting.
She understood that Mother Tong was stuck between a rock and a hard place and she could overlook the fact that Mother Tong favored her own daughter.
But, asking her to let Tong Zhenzhen off the hook? That's impossible. Not in this lifetime.
Eh?
Mother Tong was dumbfounded. What had just happened?
All she said was one sentence and Tong Xuelu passed out from anger?
Xiao Hui returned with comrade cops shortly thereafter.
Tong Xuelu had thought that Tong Mianmian would wail when she saw her sister passing out. Well, she did cry, but she also shuffled over in her two short legs to hit Tong Zhenzhen as she cried and told the story to comrade cops.
With Wen Rugui and the others as witnesses, there were no denying what had happened and Tong Zhenzhen was brought back to the police station and locked up temporarily.
Tong Xuelu, on the other hand, was taking to a hospital nearby.
At the hospital.
Tong Xuelu regained consciousness under the doctor's "treatment".
Tong Xuelu saw Wen Rugui feeding some water to Mianmian patiently when she opened up her eyes. Except that his movements were a unfamiliar and stiff.
Sniffling, Tong Mianmian's voice was still cracked. "Uncle, when will Big Sister wake up?"
Uncle?
Tong Xuelu frowned a little and said, "Mianmian, you should call him Big Brother, not uncle."
If Tong Mianmian referred to him as Uncle, she would have to call him Uncle as well.
Tong Mianmian happily climbed off the chair when she heard her Big Sister's voice. She shuffled over to Tong Xuelu's bed on her stubby little legs and said, "Big Sister, you have awoken."
Looking at the tears that were still in the little bun's eyes, Tong Xuelu felt her heart ached. She rubbed her on her head and said, "Yes, Big Sister has awoken. Does your ear still hurt?"
Wen Rugui had the doctor applied medication on Tong Mianmian's ear in addition to checking out Tong Xuelu while she was "unconscious".
Tong Mianmian stood on her tip toes and rubbed her not-so-swollen ear and shook her head. "No, it doesn't hurt anymore. It was Un, Big Brother who had the doctor put medication on Mianmian."
Tong Xuelu looked up at Wen Rugui and said to him sincerely, "Thank you, Comrade Wen."
The sun came shining in through the window and her limpid eyes along with her fair skin was very charming.
Wen Rugui lowered his eyes. "There's no need to thank me. It was nothing."
Tong Xuelu pulled out the red booklet from her pocket and handed it over to him. "Comrade Wen, here's your pass. I was going to bring it back to you after I had my matters taken care of. Now I can give this back to you."
Wen Rugui, "Thank you so much! Oh, right. Does your head still hurt? Would you like me to have the doctor come over to check on you?"
Tong Xuelu shook her head quickly. "No, no, I am fine. It's not hurting anymore."
Wen Rugui let that go after he heard that.
The cops came to take a statement from her afterward.
Tong Xuelu wasn't nervous at all. She embellished the story as she recounted it.
"… It wasn't really my fault what had happened. She should blame the traffickers. Besides, the Tong family raised her for 15 years. Even if she was mad, she still shouldn't have beat up on her adoptive parent's child!
"My poor little sister is just 3 years old. She had recently lost her parents and was now she was abused like so. Even a servant in the old society received better treatment than that. And here we are in the new society. Comrade cops, I am asking you to do what is right for my little sister. Wuwuwuw…"
With Mother Tong's pleading and the Tong family's network, the cops were hoping to settle this privately.
Tong Xuelu's statement upset them.
They have seen heartless people but not someone this heartless!
They were already in the new society and she was shouting about killing people up and down the street. People like her need to be reformed!
Wen Rugui, too, said his goodbyes after the comrade cops had taken off.
Tong Xuelu expressed her most sincere appreciation again. "Thank you so much for your help today, Comrade Wen!"
"No problem," said Wen Rugui nonchalantly.
He paused and turned around when he got to the door. "If you run into any troubles on this issue, feel free to give me a call. You have my number."
Tong Xuelu was taken aback a little. She didn't think that he would offer to help, especially after he had learned of the Tong family's background. That ought to tell her that his background was even stronger than that of the Tong family's.
Now that he had volunteered to help, naturally, she would not decline his kindness.
She smiled with her dimples showing. "Comrade Wen is such a handsome gentleman who loves helping others. I will be sure to let you know should I need any help!"
"Mmm."
Wen Rugui grunted and quickly turned and left the room. His look was still nonchalant but the bottom of his ears started to burn uncontrollably.
The Tong family on this side quickly learned that Tong Zhenzhen was locked up and they were shocked beyond words.
Shouting about killing someone in the middle of the streets?
How could she do such a thing?
Mother Tong didn't want Tong Zhenzhen sent to the farm but she was also in a difficult place to try to talk her out of it herself. She had no choice but to send her son and her daughter-in-law to visit Tong Xuelu.
If Tong Zhenzhen was really sent to the farm, it would taint the Tong family's reputation as well. As such, no matter what others thing, they would need to go and convince Tong Xuelu at the hospital.
The moment that Tong Xuelu saw the embarrassed look on her Big Brother when he showed up at the hospital, she knew the purpose of his visit.
Welp, alright. If they dare to come to her, she would show me the true skill of a green tea.
Before they could say a word, she started crying at him. She started with how Tong Zhenzhen had abused Tong Mianmian; how she was chased by Tong Zhenzhen shouting the entire that she was going to kill her; she mentioned how scared she was and how she almost didn't get to see him again.
Big Brother Tong's head swelled to twice its original size after her crying complaint and finally left the hospital without getting a word in.
Tong Xuelu adopted the same strategy to the rounds of people who visited her after ward and they all failed their mission.
The Tong family, running out of options, turned to Fang Wenyuan for help.
After all, Tong Xuelu had always listened to Fang Wenyuan since she was a child.
Tong Xuelu would, for certain, gave up on reporting Tong Zhenzhen if only he would go and talk to her.
Chapter 10 - "She walked right passed you like you are a pile of s**t."
Tong Xuelu spent the night at the hospital with Tong Mianmian.
Even though she had called and let Tong Jiaming knew but, if they spent another night away, Tong Jiaming very well might go and file a police report.
Besides, she was running out of time on matters with both the positions and the death benefits. She planned to take care of Tong Zhenzhen's matter once and for all today.
That being said, she needed to first take care of matters of Tong Mianmian's and her own stomachs.
She went over to the hospital's cafeteria holding Tong Mianmian's hand.
They ordered a large bowl of meat porridge, two vegetable buns, and two hard boiled eggs. That cost a total of 7 meal tickets and 0.78 yuan.
"Big Sister, let's not eat here. We are going to go broke," said Tong Mianmian in her milky voice as she stared at the food on the table and drooled.
Tong Xuelu almost busted out laughing. "Don't worry, Mianmian. Big Sister is good at making money. You stay with Big Sister and she will feed you meats every day. What do you say?"
The little bun's limpid eyes sparkled and she nodded happily. "Okay, I follow Big Sister and I will have meats to eat."*
"Ahahahaha…" Tong Xuelu finally couldn't help but busted out laughing. "You are right. Follow Big Sister and you will have meats to eat."
Fang Wenyuan, witnessing the scene as he walked inside the cafeteria, frowned a little.
From what he could recall, Tong Xuelu never had patience like that for children. She was always yelling at the two nephews at the Tong family until they cried.
Somehow, he felt that Tong Xuelu had changed.
Regardless, that did not concern him. He was here today to talk Tong Xuelu out of filing a report on Tong Zhenzhen.
He really didn't want to have anything to do with Tong Xuelu.
Unfortunately, the Tong and the Fang families were family friends and Mother Tong called him in person last night and asked for his help. He couldn't turn her down so he promised that he would give it a try.
He called it a try but he was fairly certain that Tong Xuelu would listen to him. He was almost certain of it.
Thinking of that, he walked over to her.
A shadow casted down on the table.
Tong Xuelu looked up and saw Fang Wenyuan's big pig trotter face.
She rolled her eyes to herself and lowered her head to peel the eggs. She then poked the egg with the chopsticks so Tong Mianmian could hold onto them and eat the egg.
Tong Mianmian had never ate an egg like that before and was very excited.
Tong Xuelu had her eat carefully so as not to choke herself then, she tore one of the vegetable buns into halves and started eating it slowly.
Fang Wenyuan, "?"
Why did he feel that he had been ignored?
He cleared his throat and sat down in the chair across from Tong Xuelu. "Xuelu, don't misunderstand. I am here today to talk to you about Tong Zhenzhen…"
He worried that Tong Xuelu would think that he was there for her so he started with telling her to not misunderstand him. Nevertheless, he didn't even finish talking when he was interrupted by Tong Xuelu.
Tong Xuelu looked up, gave him an impatient look, and said, "Did you not see that I am having lunch right now?"
? ?
That took Fang Wenyuan a while to process.
If her ignoring him earlier might be his illusion, then Tong Xuelu's impatient was very obvious on her face now.
Was she upset that he didn't help her out yesterday?
He really thought she was pulling some sort of a trick yesterday, which was why he slowed down his steps. He even felt a pang of guilt when he saw Tong Zhenzhen chasing after her but she wasn't hurt after all, no?
Never mind, he would be the bigger person. "Okay, I will wait for you to finish. Then we can talk."
Tong Xuelu couldn't even be bothered to look his way.
Chewing slowly on her vegetable bun, she thought about all the delectable food in her previous life.
Crab roe soup dumplings, crystal shrimp dumplings, molten custard egg buns, and crispy bird next puff egg tarts. The thought of them alone could make her drool.
Tong Xuelu was not surprised to see Fang Wenyuan there.
No matter what was his reason for being there, his trip would be in vain.
Fang Wenyuan watched her eating one little bite at a time, looked at his watch, and became more and more impatient.
He thought he could have this whole thing done in two minutes or less but 20 minutes had passed and she still was not done with her breakfast!
He would be late to his work at this rate. "Can you eat faster?"
Tong Xuelu lifted her brows and looked at him for the first time. "Can you scram further away?"
"! ! !"
Fang Wenyuan was so stunned that it took him a while to react to that. When he finally recollected himself, his face turned beet red. "Tong Xuelu, do you know what you are talking about? Since when have you become such an unreasonable person?"
Tong Xuelu snickered. "Haven't you always found me unreasonable? Why are you asking me that now?"
Her retort made his face long like an old cucumber. "I don't have time to fight with you. I am here to ask you to not file a report on Tong Zhenzhen. Have a conscience as a person. The Tong family had raised you for 10+ years, is that how you repay them?"
Tong Mianmian was so startled that she turned pale and the egg slipped out of her hand and fell onto the ground.
Tong Xuelu picked Tong Mianmian up, put her on her lap, covered up her ears and said in a cold voice, "Who exactly are you, comrade? What is our relationship and who are you to tell me what I should or should not do?"
The other patrons looked over at Fang Wenyuan and started pointing at him while whispering to each other.
"I'm your… it doesn't matter. You must listen to me on this one. Go and cancel out your report with the police station right now!"
He was going to say that he was her fiancé but he recalled that he never acknowledged that relationship, ever.
Tong Xuelu looked at him as though she was looking at a fool. "Have you looked into the mirror lately?"
"Haha. This girl is so funny."
The others giggled around them and Fang Wenyuan looking more and more unhappy.
Tong Xuelu couldn't be bothered to pay him any more attention. Seeing that they were about done with the food, she picked up Tong Mianmian and was about to take off.
Her contemptuous look provoked Fang Wenyuan and made him lost his rationality for a split second there. He reached out to grab her but accidentally bumped into the table.
All the plates and bowls from the table smashed onto the floor.
The scene was very chaotic all of a sudden.
The Fang family quickly received a call from the police station informing them that Fang Wenyuan had been arrested.
The Fang family, "? ? ?"
Tong Xuelu, "? ? ?"
Not only the Fang family, even Tong Xuelu was baffled.
All she did was shout out a "What are you trying to do?" and, before she was even done with her sentence, the chef from the cafeteria came running out and tackled Fang Wenyuan onto the ground. And the cops came shortly thereafter.
She even explained that that was not necessary but the chef thought she was worried about being revenged on and comforted her in return.
… It was all a big joke.
At this moment in time, the Fang family members were leaving the police station accompanying Fang Wenyuan and all of their faces were the color of monkey butts.
Mother Fang held Tong Xuelu's hand with a very appreciative look. "Xuelu, it was our Wenyuan's fault. Aunty thank you for willing to put in good words for him. Here's something for you to show our appreciation."
Having said that, she shoved the miscellaneous tickets and money into Tong Xuelu's hand.
Tong Xuelu quickly pushed them back to her. "Quickly put them away, Aunty. I can't possibly accept that."
It was a misunderstanding but it was also a favor [that they owed her]. Naturally, she wouldn't settle the scores so easily.
Seeing that she had declined to accept her offerings, Mother Fang all the more felt that Tong Xuelu was generous and mature. She held Tong Xuelu's hand and told her to visit often.
Tong Xuelu smiled and agreed to it before she headed toward the Tong family holding Tong Mianmian in her hand.
Mother Fang looked at Tong Xuelu from behind and sighed, "Xuelu was a bit of a spoiled child in the past but she's a nice child. Wenyuan, whatever happened to you? I thought you went to talk some sense into her. How did you end up in an altercation?"
Fang Wenyuan's face was dark like the bottom of a wok. "…"
He wanted to explain himself, badly. But would anyone believe him?
No! ! !
Fang Jingyuan looked back and, with a shocked look, said, "Big Brother, I noticed that Tong Xuelu didn't even look your way the entire time!"
"…"
Fang Wenyuan's face turned completely into charcoal color.
When Tong Xuelu arrived at the Tong's, the Tong family was just coming home from work in the afternoon.
They were all a little surprised when they saw Tong Xuelu.
The Chen Yueling, the oldest brother's wife, was the first one who recollected herself. "You've came, Little Sister. Hurry up and come inside."
The others, too, finally recollected themselves as well. Mother Tong looked awkward and embarrassed. "Ah, we didn't know that you will be coming. Have you had lunch yet?"
Tong Xuelu shook her head and said that she hadn't yet.
Father Tong quickly had Big Brother Tong went to buy some braised pork from the cafeteria.
Tong Xuelu quickly told them that that would not be necessary but Big Brother Tong had already taken off.
Sitting down on the couch, all of the Tong family members looked at Tong Xuelu and all of them wondered the purpose of her visit.
Father Tong sighed and said, "XueLu, Zhenzhen was the one at fault this time. Dad will apologize for her…"
He hadn't even finished talking when Tong Xuelu covered up her face and started to cry. "Dad, you saying that made me feel so sad. I am not a real Tong's daughter but you have raised me for 15 years. How could I do anything that would hurt the Tong family?"
Father Tong, too, got nervous. "Aiya, that's not what Dad meant. Dad wasn't blaming you…"
Chen Yueling, too, added quickly, "It's alright, Little Sister. Do stop crying. You are going to scare your little sister like that."
Tong Mianmian, snuggling up to Tong Xuelu, her eyes were teary and the she-was-about-to-cry-but-not-quite-yet look looked very pitiful.
Cai Chunlan was the only one who rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and said, "You can stop with your little trick to try and fool Dad already, Little Sister. You have been crying and fussing since yesterday and caused the entire Tong family to spin around with you. What are you really trying to accomplish?"
Tong Xuelu cried some more while still covering up her face. "Second Sister-in-law, is that how you look at me? Oh, that is so hurtful!"
Second Brother Tong, upon seeing that, gave Cai Chunlan a stare and said, "You like muddling into anything and everything. Just shut up already!"
Cai Chunlan was so mad that she almost puked out blood.
Tong Xuelu said in a very green-tea way, "Second Brother, don't fight over me. I'd hate to see you fighting because of me."
With the classes green tea speech, Tong Xuelu was almost disgusted by her own self.
Second Brother Tong, "Look, even Little Sister is more mature than you at her age!"
"…"
Cai Chunlan felt that she had been pierced by Tong Xuelu's green tea arrows.
Tong Xuelu said in her most sincere tone, "Mom, Dad, Tong Zhenzhen was the one who abused a child and shouting about wanting to kill someone. And it all happened under the public eyes. I can forgive her for you but what about the others? What happens when others find out that Tong Zhenzhen could beat up people in the middle of the street and get away with it? What do you think others will think?"
The Tong family all looked baffled. What would the others think?
Tong Xuelu could not have looked more solemn. "They would feel that the Tong family was abusing their power! Mom and Dad will be retiring soon so that would affect you much. But what about my brothers and their wives? They are still young. Do you think they will still get promoted at work with that kind of a label?"
The Tong family seemed to get what she was getting at now.
All of the Tong family members were government workers but they were very high up. In particular, Father Tong was about to retire but neither of the two Tong brothers were outstanding at work.
With a label like that, they would never be promoted for the rest of their careers.
They might even be demoted.
Cai Chunlan changed her tone immediately and said emotionally, "Oh my gosh. Don't go retracting your report then, Little Sister!"
As much as she disliked Tong Xuelu more so than Tong Zhenzhen but, when her husband and her own gains were in harm's way, naturally she chose to sacrifice Tong Zhenzhen.
Second Brother Tong and Chen Yueling felt the same way; they just didn't say that out loud.
Father and Mother Tong exchanged a look and their hearts sank more and their feelings more complicated.
The living room was so quiet that it was somewhat awkward.
Tong Xuelu ignored Cai Chunlan but also didn't keep on talking.
She had said what she needed to. There were not need to more.
She could understand that Tong Zhenzhen's hate toward the original owner. Had she had gone after her, at most she would just have taught her a lesson.
Tong Zhenzhen's mistake was that she went after Tong Mianmian.
Child abuse happens either 0 times or many times.
She couldn't risk having someone so dangerous around. Tong Zhenzhen just might go after the Tong's siblings again someday.
She must have Tong Zhenzhen sent to the farms.
After having lunch at the Tong's, Tong Xuelu headed back to County Yanqing with Tong Mianmian, bringing with them a lot of compensation that the Tong family had given to Tong Mianmian.
Two persons walked toward them on their way out of the courtyard.
When it rains, it pours.
They were Fang Wenyuan and Fang Jingyuan siblings.
Fang Wenyuan frowned a little reflexively when he saw Tong Xuelu.
Thinking about his awful experience from the morning, he only wished that he would never run into this woman again for the rest of his life!
Except that his mother told him a million times that he must thank Tong Xuelu in person.
Having thought of that, he took a deep breath and said, "Tong––"
Before he was even done talking, Tong Xuelu walked straight passed him.
It was as though she hadn't seen hi at all.
Fang Wenyuan, "…"
Fang Jingyuan, "See, Big Brother, I wasn't kidding. Tong Xuelu didn't even bother looking at you. She walked right passed you, like… you are nothing but a pile of dog poop."
"…"
It was quite a bit of distance from the bus stop to their living quarters. Tong Xuelu, carrying all the stuff in her hands, was exhausted like a dog.
She missed modern transportation and the convenience of going places a lot.
It looked like she would need to work hard on making money. Even if she couldn't buy a car anytime soon, she could at least get herself a bicycle.
"Oh, you are aback, Xuelu?" said Aunty Cai to Tong Xuelu loudly when she spotted Tong Xuelu walking into the compound.
Tong Xuelu smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Aunty Cai. I spent a night over at my adoptive parent's place. They didn't want me to leave so soon but I worry about Jiaming and Jiaxin."
Aunty Cai had a look of relief. "They are so lucky to have a sister like you! But I am glad you came back. If you don't come back soon, who knows what kind of rumors others will be spreading about you!"
Tong Xuelu left after just being back for one day so many had all kinds of speculations after founding out that she was gone.
Some said that Tong Xuelu had taken off because she couldn't handle the hardship; others said that she was only back to take away Tong Mianmian. Tong Mianmian had always been a pretty one, and there were plenty of market for a girl like her.
Aunty Cai got into fights with these people after she had heard that.
As such, how could she not sing out loud when Tong Xuelu had returned?
Translator's notes:
A modern internet slang.
