Lu Huaiyu was almost driven to a heart attack by the two of them and hurriedly called a halt. “Xie Tangning, stop learning all that nonsense!”
“You’re a flower bud carefully nurtured by the motherland. Don’t let that bastard second brother of yours turn you into a black lotus!”
Xie Tangning nodded obediently. “I understand, Big Brother. I’ll only learn from your qualities!”
Xie Changyu, who had been eating like a starving pig, finally lifted his head. “Big Brother! Don’t slander me!”
“And you, Xie Tangning—what’s wrong with me? I’m not inferior to Big Brother in the slightest, okay?”
Lu Huaiyu and Xie Tangning, one big and one small, both gave a cold laugh and said nothing. They quietly went back to eating.
Since no one was paying him any attention, Xie Changyu puffed out his cheeks, cursed inwardly, and buried his head in his food.
The other elders at the table watched the siblings bicker as they ate, finding the whole thing quite amusing.
Sometimes, this kind of background noise really did make a meal more appetizing.
This wasn’t a family banquet or some formal party, and there were no outsiders present. Among family, no one cared about table manners. As long as everyone was enjoying themselves, that was enough.
After dinner, Xie Tangning and Xie Changyu opened the enormous suitcases they had brought home in perfect unspoken agreement, taking out all kinds of gifts.
Old Master Xie and the others very naturally lined up on the sofa, waiting like a group of children for the two youngsters to hand out their presents.
The scene was unbelievably warm and harmonious.
“Big Brother, look at this! I had it specially made: ‘The Most Successful Education Expert in the World—Mr. Lu Huaiyu!’”
“Take a look and see if you like it. If you do, I’ll give you one every day from now on. And if you increase my allowance every day, that would be even better!”
Xie Tangning held out a custom-made trophy nearly as long as her arm and presented it to Lu Huaiyu. Two little figurines stood beneath the base—one of her and one of Xie Changyu. At the very top was another figurine modeled after Lu Huaiyu in chibi form.
The inspiration had come from the gift Director Zhang had given Wu Weixiang.
Lu Huaiyu held the trophy, his emotions rather complicated.
Especially when he saw the two little figurines grinning so smugly, the mockery was practically overflowing.
He asked uncertainly, “Are you sure this is a gift meant to cheer me up, and not something you had specially made to provoke me?”
Although he really didn’t want to admit that he had been utterly disgraced in the field of education, there was no way to ignore the fact that it was true.
The shock on Xie Tangning’s face seemed genuine, and there was even a hint of hurt in her eyes. “Big Brother, how could you think that?”
“With students as outstanding as Second Brother and me, if you’re not the most successful education expert in the world, then who is?”
This time, the little girl wasn’t acting. She was completely sincere. After all, that really was what she believed.
Xie Changyu had just placed a Go set that played bizarre songs into Old Master Xie’s hands. Now he turned around and joined in, looking deeply incredulous.
“Big Brother, please don’t sell yourself short, okay? You can question your teaching methods, but you absolutely cannot question the excellence of your students!”
Xie Tangning immediately nodded in agreement.
Lu Huaiyu: “…”
Who had given these two the confidence to say such things? If he ever found out, he would have to knock that person’s head off!
Seeing that her big brother remained silent, Xie Tangning blinked uncertainly and asked, “Big Brother, you don’t like it?”
“Or have you started taking the humble route and no longer like flashy things like this?”
Xie Changyu chimed in as if there were something wrong with him. “So, Big Brother, are you going to start being a poser?”
“But that makes sense too. Your brain is so good at holding things in, you really should become a professional poser!”
Lu Huaiyu continued sitting there in stunned silence, unable to get a single word out.
Because his native language was speechlessness.
Lu Qiwu held it in for a while, but in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and began slapping her thigh as she laughed mercilessly.
“Hahahaha! Lu Huaiyu, these are the wonderful little sister and little brother you raised! Now suffer the consequences yourself! Hahahaha!”
The two youngsters looked completely serious, without the slightest trace of acting. It was obvious they had always believed that their big brother was the best educator in the entire world.
But Da Yu had been rendered speechless by their earnest expressions, and that was simply too funny.
Xie Yanxun slipped an arm around his laughing wife, who had nearly collapsed against him, his shoulders shaking nonstop.
“How wonderful! Your little brother and sister clearly hold you in the very center of their hearts. Even I, their father, have to rank behind you!”
“You really should be satisfied… haha… Do you know how envious I am of you… haha…”
Dad Xie tried to deliver those words in a serious tone, but by the final sentence, he couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.
Lu Huaiyu clicked his tongue. “Mom, Dad, you two are being a little too much!”
“At least I rank extremely high in their eyes. Instead of laughing, you should reflect on why neither of you made it to first place!”
The Xie family elders: “…”
Seeing their big brother fire back at the elders, Xie Tangning and Xie Changyu watched with great amusement. But once the show was over, they suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right.
Xie Tangning smacked Xie Changyu hard on the arm and shouted, “Oh no! Big Brother, this bastard is trying to drive a wedge between us! He’s coming after the two of us!”
The blow from his incredibly strong little sister cleared Xie Changyu’s head by a couple of degrees through sheer pain. He hurriedly protested, “Great-Grandpa, don’t listen to Big Brother’s nonsense! In Ningning’s and my eyes, everyone is treated equally!”
Xie Tangning immediately played along. “That’s right! Everyone in our family ranks first in our hearts!”
“There’s no order of precedence. But the fact that Big Brother could even think that way proves he must have ranked everyone in his heart long ago!”
Xie Changyu began enthusiastically playing the straight man. “Such vile behavior, which undermines family unity, must be firmly resisted!”
At the end, the siblings shouted in unison, “Resist Lu Huaiyu, starting with all of you!”
They could start with everyone else, anyway. There was no way they could start with themselves!
Because neither of them could possibly resist Big Brother. In their hearts, Big Brother was simply the most amazing person in the world!
Lu Huaiyu: “…”
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so he chose to give each of them a light smack on the head.
“So you treat everyone equally, huh?”
“Undermining family unity, huh?”
“You two just make things up as you go! Where did you learn to spread rumors like internet trolls?!”
“With the way you two act, you still have the nerve to tell me that we’re the best in the world? Who gave you that courage? Miss Liang?”
The siblings had been disciplined by their big brother. They immediately played dead and looked pitifully toward the adults gathered on the sofa.
Old Master Xie and the others instantly felt sorry for them—but only for three seconds.
Those two little devils deserved it. Their mouths caused trouble wherever they went, and only the eldest had any hope of keeping them in line!
What happened next made Lu Huaiyu laugh outright.
The several mischievous adult demons all turned their faces away in perfect unison, refusing to look at the two youngsters—a textbook display of minding one’s own business.
But at the same time, they perked up their ears and continued listening to the legendary scene of Lu Huaiyu lecturing his little sister and brother.
“See that? There’s no one behind you!”
“Take a good, hard look at yourself and ask why you’ve ended up with a reputation as bad as Director Zhang’s. Is it because you’re not working hard enough? Is your emotional intelligence still lacking?”
