Lu Huaiyu was nearly driven to a fit of rage by the little brat. He snapped, “Quit messing around here and go over there to do your summer homework.”
“You’ve only got a little over two weeks before school starts. Hurry up and get it done. I’m checking it tonight!”
Xie Tangning took a devastating blow and nearly dropped dead on the spot.
“Big brother, you’re so heartless! I’m mad at you!”
“I hereby declare that for the next three seconds, you are no longer my beloved big brother!”
Lu Huaiyu kept working without even looking up, but still managed to humor the kid. “Mm… sure, sure. Three seconds are up. Now go do your homework!”
“And if you mess around again, you’re going to stand in the corner and face the wall!”
Xie Tangning wasn’t remotely intimidated by his threats. She pulled out her phone and snapped several pictures.
Everyone said a big brother looked his best when he was hard at work—and it was true!
She admired her handsome big brother for a while, then promptly sent the photos to the family group chat.
Chen Linmei and Xie Heng’an, who were far away in Huacheng, replied almost instantly. Xie Tangning stood behind Lu Huaiyu’s office chair, using his head as a phone stand while she typed her responses.
Lu Huaiyu couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. He simply worked a little faster.
Clearly, he wanted to get everything taken care of before dinner.
Who knew how long he’d been at it when he suddenly chuckled. “Er Yu’s friend really came through. The paperwork’s all in order!”
Xie Tangning took a quick look. “The friend of Second Brother’s who works in government? The older sister surnamed He?”
It wasn’t unusual for people to pull a few strings for each other, as long as nothing illegal was involved. It didn’t really count as collusion between business and government.
Lu Huaiyu nodded. “That’s her. Some things are hard to handle without the proper paperwork, so Er Yu asked his friend for help.”
Getting citizens’ personal information without authorization was against the law. Having Xie Changyu ask his friend directly had saved them a lot of time.
Xie Tangning beamed with pride, praising her second brother without a second thought. “That’s just like Second Brother. Outstanding people always hang out with other outstanding people!”
Lu Huaiyu hummed. “With a perfect big brother like me and an excellent little sister like you, how could he not be outstanding?”
After that, he quickly sent off the last file, then ushered Xie Tangning downstairs for dinner.
As they passed another study, he knocked on the door and called for Old Xie to come down too.
“Dad~ Your stomach’s been singing the empty-pot song long enough! Mom’s cooking tonight, so come down and eat!”
Xie Tangning called through the door as she knocked, then pressed her ear against it to listen for a response.
She was being sneaky again. Who knew what kind of little scene she was playing out in her head this time?
Lu Huaiyu simply leaned against the other side of the door. The siblings stood facing each other, both bent over with their backsides sticking out as they tried to eavesdrop. Old Master Xie walked past, took one look at them, and declared that they were both crazy.
“I’m coming, I’m coming! You two go on ahead. I’ll be down in a minute—just need to finish this!”
Xie Yanxun replied from inside without looking up, speeding up his hands as he worked.
As soon as they heard Xie Yanxun’s voice, the siblings hurried after Old Master Xie and followed him into the little old man’s “private” elevator.
When they stepped out, they found Xie Changyu sitting in the middle of the living room, enthusiastically tearing into presents.
Xie Tangning stared at the mountain of gifts and was stunned. “Second Brother, have your presents come to life or something?”
The gifts covered so much of the floor that she could barely find a place to step.
Xie Changyu kept unwrapping them with great enthusiasm as he explained, “My friends just got back from their graduation trip and brought me all these gifts.”
“Those people are crazy, I swear. Who sends someone presents by the truckload?”
“There’s still a whole pile outside that hasn’t even been brought in! Good thing our house is so big, or there’d be nowhere to put them!”
He’d graduated that June and had originally made plans with his friends for a two-month graduation trip.
But then he’d signed on for Director Zhang’s variety show, and learned from his little sister that the show was the start of that accursed plot.
So he’d given up the trip. But his friends hadn’t left him out.
The moment they got back from their travels, a truckload of presents arrived at the manor gates.
Lu Huaiyu went over and sat beside Xie Changyu, on the other side from Xie Tangning. Like her, he watched Xie Changyu unwrap the gifts.
“Are you showing off to us? Showing off that your wonderful friends went traveling without forgetting you, and brought you all these presents?”
“Unbelievable! Why don’t my friends ever send me presents by the truckload?!”
Xie Tangning chimed in too. “Sending presents by truck is such a fun idea!”
“Next time, I’m going to deliver presents to my friends with a forklift. It’ll look awesome and be so original—and they’ll be stuck unwrapping gifts for a whole day and night. They’ll be exhausted!”
Xie Changyu unwrapped a skateboard, then stood up to give it a try.
The moment he stepped on, it started blasting a bizarre novelty tune.
It was the same off-key, ridiculous little song Xie Changyu had once made up on the spot while clowning around in front of his friends.
The goofy music was somehow greasy too—an obnoxious mix of childish, ridiculous, and downright unhinged.
The room fell silent for two seconds, then several people burst out laughing.
Xie Tangning clutched her stomach. “I’d expect nothing less from Second Brother’s terrible friends. What a creative gift!”
“But Second Brother, you should be grateful you tried it the moment you opened it, instead of finding out when you were about to show off outdoors, completely unaware!”
Lu Huaiyu looked at the skateboard, which was still blasting its novelty tune. “Where did they buy this? Ask your friend to send me the link!”
“Next time, I’ll get one for Luo Junliang and Shen Lin too. It’ll be even better if they’re publicly humiliated by it!”
Old Master Xie gave an impressed “Wow,” his eyes shining. “What a vicious gift. What vicious friends. And the three of you are even worse!”
“Make sure you send me the link too! Though a skateboard isn’t quite right. A chess set that sings this kind of song would be even better!”
It would be just the thing to tease all his little old-lady and little old-man friends in their seventies and eighties.
That’s right—Old Master Xie called all his friends, who were a decade or more younger than him, little sisters and little brothers.
Xie Changyu immediately jumped off the skateboard and fumbled around for a switch, only to discover there wasn’t one.
It was controlled by a gravity sensor, and wouldn’t stop until the song had finished playing.
“What’s wrong with those guys? Have they never seen anyone give a present before?!”
“Some friends they are! They’re always pulling stunts that make me look like an idiot! Bunch of jerks!”
As the bizarre music echoed through the living room, Xie Changyu kept grumbling and opening the rest of his gifts.
Xie Tangning and Lu Huaiyu only watched him open a few of the strange presents. They didn’t help him unwrap the mountain of gifts.
Presents were surprises meant for the person receiving them. Only when their owner opened them with their own hands did the gifts truly mean anything.
The older and younger siblings watched Xie Changyu casually unwrap yet another bizarre gift, laughing themselves silly before turning around and diving into the kitchen to help Mom.
Not that Auntie Zhong, who was already helping in the kitchen, needed them at all.
But the siblings didn’t care. If they couldn’t be of any real help, they were perfectly happy to make things worse!
Two minutes later, just like Xie Changyu twenty minutes earlier, the pair were driven out of the kitchen by Lu’s mother.
Wielding a spatula, Lu Qiwu grumbled as she headed back into the kitchen. She really couldn’t understand what was wrong with those three kids!
Why were they so determined to go into the kitchen and make trouble before they could be happy?
