Faced with her eldest brother’s barrage of three questions, Xie Tangning immediately shot back, “There’s no one behind me because the people standing there are all gods!”
Xie Changyu was still faster with his mouth than his brain. “Or maybe they’re all bad news! Just like our eldest brother!”
“So, when you put it all together, there’s no one behind either of us!”
The siblings spoke at the exact same time, but their answers were worlds apart. Lu Huaiyu was so exasperated he nearly laughed.
“Xie Eryu, you seem to have a pretty big problem with me!”
Hearing the calmness in his eldest brother’s voice, Xie Changyu’s alarm bells instantly went off. He hurriedly began explaining himself.
“Not at all! Big Brother, just because you’re the boss now, you can’t go around suspecting everyone of everything. That doesn’t suit your image as a wise and mighty man at all!”
“I’m your number-one superfan! How could I possibly have a problem with you?”
Lu Huaiyu gave two dry laughs. “Do you think I believe that?”
Xie Tangning seized the opportunity to pour oil on the fire. “Forget whether he believes you or not. Second Brother just called you paranoid!”
“If you don’t beat him up now, he’ll be climbing onto your head and pooping on it next!”
That was what happened when you had a little sister whose life mission was to set her brothers up. She didn’t care one bit whether her brother survived!
Xie Changyu: “!!!”
“Xie Tangning, did you ever stop to think about who’s going to pay the rest of your appearance fee if you get me killed?”
Xie Tangning stiffened.
Tricking her brother was something encoded in her genes, and in that moment, she really hadn’t thought about the money.
So, as someone whose eyes saw nothing but cash, she immediately demonstrated what it meant to be flexible and know when to yield.
She dropped to her knees and slid right over to Xie Changyu. “I was wrong, Second Brother! Please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me~”
“You’d better open those dog eyes of yours and see clearly that the person coming after you is Big Brother. This has absolutely nothing to do with me~”
Xie Changyu: “…”
He drank poison like water, yet his own little sister had managed to leave him speechless?
Who would believe that?
“Hahahaha! Honey, look at the little thing we made! She’s so much fun! How can someone so tiny be so good at putting on a show?”
“She’s always so full of energy, and she’s different every second. She’s just too adorable!”
Watching his youngest daughter kneeling on the floor and clinging theatrically to her second brother’s leg, Xie Yanxun couldn’t help sighing with emotion.
Lu Qiwu nodded proudly. “She inherited the best genes from both our families, of course she’s adorable!”
Catching the key words, Xie Tangning quickly cut in, “Exactly! I inherited all of your excellent genes!”
“But I inherited the most from Mom. I’m Mom’s greatest masterpiece!”
“So, logically speaking, I should have Mom’s surname. Isn’t that right, Xie Huaiyu?”
Lu Huaiyu: “…”
That little rascal could run her mouth all she wanted, but why did she have to change his surname without permission?
What an outrageously wicked little brat. She never missed a chance to seize the throne.
Xie Changyu loved nothing more than watching the chaos unfold, so he opened his mouth to provoke his brother again. “Big Brother, stop laying eggs and say something already! Anyway, I think Lu Tangning is absolutely right!”
Xie Tangning gave him a thumbs-up. “I hereby declare that Second Brother is the most perceptive person in the entire world!”
Lu Huaiyu glanced at the two of them, then walked over to Xie Yanxun and forcibly shifted him one seat to the side. He then squeezed himself between Xie Yanxun and Lu Qiwu.
He casually hooked an arm around Lu Qiwu’s and pressed his face against hers.
“See? Mom and I were carved from the same mold. I’m the handsomest and smartest person in this family!”
“I have no idea why the people who were clearly carved from Dad’s mold keep trying to steal my surname!”
It was a provocation. A blatant, shameless provocation!
Looking at the face that so closely resembled their mother’s, Xie Tangning and Xie Changyu instantly broke down.
“Waaah, Dad! Big Brother is bullying me!”
Xie Tangning produced tears on command and began clinging to Xie Yanxun’s arm, sobbing and whining. Even a famous actress’s acting couldn’t compare to hers.
One eye cried while the other secretly peeked at her eldest brother. No one knew how she managed it.
Lu Huaiyu, the person she was spying on, had already pulled out his phone and started snapping photo after photo of her.
His little sister was using a fake-innocent, manipulative act against him, but Lu Huaiyu didn’t feel angry in the slightest. He only thought her expressions were especially lively.
It would be such a shame not to photograph them and add them to her childhood album.
“Hold that pose! Yes, exactly like that!”
“No, no, make your left eye a little smaller and open your right eye wider so more tears can flow out! Perfect, absolutely perfect!”
As soon as Lu Huaiyu finished taking the pictures, Lu Qiwu and the others immediately crowded around to look at them. The photos were so adorable that everyone fawned over them.
Xie Yanxun, who was closest to Xie Tangning, wiped away the tears she had faked before pinching her little cheek.
“Who taught our Ningning to make that expression, hmm?”
“You’re so cute. Are you trying to melt your old father’s heart?”
Once Xie Yanxun got things started, Chen Linmei, Qi Rou, and the others also began praising the little girl without holding back.
Everyone openly expressed their affection. Xie Tangning wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest, because she knew she deserved to be loved.
After receiving a barrage of praise for no particular reason, she stopped teasing her beloved eldest brother.
Instead, she and Xie Changyu continued sharing the gifts they had brought back for everyone, explaining why they had chosen each gift and the thoughtfulness hidden behind it.
The harmonious, love-filled atmosphere at the Xie family estate lasted until nine that evening, when the entire place descended into chaos once again.
The reason was that Xie Tangning had to start making up her summer homework.
“Waaah! I already know all this stuff, so why do I have to write it out myself?”
“Can’t I just pay someone to do it for me?”
The little girl hugged the stair railing and refused to let go, stubbornly resisting being taken upstairs to the study to complete her “one pen, one miracle” activity.
Lu Huaiyu lightly tugged on one of her braids, but he didn’t immediately drag her off to finish her homework.
Instead, he let her make a scene for a while. He knew his little sister’s personality all too well.
When there was something she had to do, she would do it eventually. But first, she had to throw a tantrum and be coaxed a little.
Clearly, she had picked up this little habit from Xie Changyu.
The whole family was more than happy to indulge the two of them—or rather, the three of them.
Because Lu Huaiyu had been the same way when he was little. He had only become slightly more restrained after he started working.
“You can’t. You said yourself that you know how to do it, so why aren’t you doing it?”
Xie Tangning answered him with complete justification. “Because I’m lazy! Do I look like someone who works hard?”
Seeing his little sister throwing a fit, Xie Changyu immediately began digging a hole for her.
“In that case, to help you break this bad habit…”
“Let’s add a few more test papers. The more you write, the more you’ll get used to it. Once you’re used to it, you’ll get rid of your laziness!”
Xie Tangning continued clinging to the railing. “Wow~ Second Brother, you should become an assassin. A real assassin has to get their hands dirty to complete a job.”
“You can kill people just by moving your lips. How convenient is that!”
“Why even bother becoming a singer? This profession was practically tailor-made for you!”
You could tell from her tone just how thoroughly rattled the girl was. Anyone who tried to pile more homework on her was, in her eyes, a demon from hell!
