The “sanatorium” Xie Wanwan had mentioned was no proper sanatorium at all. It was the sort of place that could drive a person insane.
Her mother had finally managed to cast off all the shackles weighing her down and learned to love herself.
There was no way Xie Wanwan would allow Xie Zhenxing and those rotten people from the Guo family to come anywhere near her mother again.
Xie Zhenxing clearly hadn’t expected someone so young to say such things. Looking at Xie Wanwan now, he couldn’t see even the slightest trace of the daughter who used to follow him around, begging for a little attention.
He immediately flew into a rage. “I’m your father! Tell me, what have I ever done that wasn’t for your own good?”
“I spent so much money enrolling you in all kinds of training classes and used my connections to get you onto variety shows.”
“Back then, I even worked my tail off to team you up with one of the hottest stars in the industry. Do you know how much effort that took?”
“It was your own lack of ability and ambition! You couldn’t outshine Xie Tangning, so who else can you blame?”
“And now you’ve turned around and started criticizing your own father, just like that mother and brother of yours. You ungrateful daughter—what right do you have?”
Xie Wanwan listened as he continued manipulating her with the same old tactics. But this time, she didn’t react in the slightest.
She had already made peace with her past self. Words like these no longer had any effect on her.
So Xie Wanwan ignored Xie Zhenxing’s tirade and simply turned to the two bodyguards behind her. “Did you record everything he just said and send it to my brother?”
One of them nodded. “It’s already been sent to the boss. Don’t worry, Miss Xie.”
Only then did Xie Wanwan nod in satisfaction. “My dear father~ Why don’t you guess how my brother will react when he hears what you just said?”
She smiled like a sly little fox. Today, she had deliberately provoked Xie Zhenxing into losing his temper and saying things he shouldn’t.
Who told him to keep acting up and trying to join forces with those rotten people from the Guo family against her brother?
It was already common knowledge that Xie Shen was pouring the full resources of his overseas company into Leyuan. He had long since become a thorn in the side of all the families of comparable standing in Sea City.
There was only so much pie to go around. Whenever a new force appeared, everyone wanted a slice.
The Guo family was no exception—especially since Xie Shen was beyond their control.
That was why Xie Zhenxing had started plotting, hoping to join forces with the Guo family to deal with Xie Shen.
Xie Wanwan considered herself the most thoughtful little sister in the world, so of course she had to give her brother an excuse to deal with Xie Zhenxing!
Her brother would definitely be furious when he heard what Xie Zhenxing had said. And when her brother got angry, Xie Zhenxing’s life would become even more miserable.
After all, it was only natural for an older brother to protect his little sister.
Xie Zhenxing opened his mouth, clearly wanting to say something, but Xie Wanwan had no interest in listening to him spew garbage.
“Stop making such a racket. I don’t feel like listening to you right now!”
“Dad, you’ll have to be understanding. I’m a teenager, so of course I’m rebellious. I say things that get on people’s nerves!”
“As my father, shouldn’t you be more understanding toward your daughter? Just put up with it. Other people’s dads are like this too, so maybe you should learn from them!”
With that, she picked up her bag and walked out of the little villa without so much as a backward glance.
Today’s assignment of behaving outrageously toward her father was complete!
And after today, her brother would soon arrange a new place for Xie Zhenxing to move to.
Let him live by himself in a small apartment!
Why should that old bastard still be living in a villa with people waiting on him hand and foot? He was only getting away with it because her brother had been busy lately and hadn’t had time to deal with him.
A scumbag like him deserved to experience a few hard days!
Xie Zhenxing watched Xie Wanwan walk away, so furious that his eyes rolled back. Yet he still didn’t pass out.
Xie Wanwan and Xie Shen had both entertained the utterly unfilial thought that perhaps one day he might actually drop dead from anger. They had even discussed it privately.
Xie Zhenxing was just like an indestructible cockroach. No matter how much they infuriated him, he never seemed capable of becoming seriously ill from it.
The siblings both found this astonishing, especially Xie Wanwan, who hadn’t believed it at first.
It wasn’t until today, after she had spent several days coming over to put on one outrageous performance after another without managing to send him into any kind of crisis, that Xie “Stubborn Little Donkey” Wanwan finally gave up.
She decided to take a break and save the task of angering Xie Zhenxing again for tomorrow.
In the end, she simply got her brother to make up his mind: Xie Zhenxing would move out of the little villa and live on his own, either in a nursing home or a small apartment.
…
After spending the entire night catching up on her homework, Xie Tangning woke up from hunger around noon the next day and drifted downstairs in search of food, looking as though her life force had been sucked out of her.
Lu Huaiyu found her half-dead appearance rather amusing.
He immediately took a picture of her pathetic state and sent it to their mother and father as material for Xie Tangning’s growth album.
“Good morning, Big Brother~”
Xie Tangning felt like a wandering ghost at that moment. She greeted her big brother weakly, without an ounce of energy.
Lu Huaiyu casually pulled out a chair for her at the dining table. “What do you mean, good morning? It’s already noon!”
“All I asked you to do was catch up on some homework! How did you manage to work your brain right out of your head? Was it really that difficult?”
He was a classic example of someone who could stand around criticizing others because the stick wasn’t hitting him. If it didn’t hurt him, of course it was easy to talk!
Without even raising her head, Xie Tangning shot back, “Working overtime isn’t that hard either. How come I’ve never seen you enthusiastically volunteering for overtime at the company?”
Lu Huaiyu was silenced for a moment. He had finally experienced what it felt like when the stick landed on him, and he wisely stopped running his mouth.
As a big brother who loved his little sister dearly, he couldn’t tease her all the time!
It definitely wasn’t because his sister’s mouth was as deadly as a poisoned switchblade, and teasing her too much might get him killed.
“Eat more. You need the energy to keep working once you’re full~ Especially for Chinese homework. That stuff is manual labor!”
He said he wasn’t teasing her, but Xie Tangning was small, and while other people trembled at the thought of tigers, she trembled at the mention of homework.
How entertaining was that?
If he didn’t take the opportunity to make a few more digs at her, he’d have to wait until winter vacation for the next chance!
Xie Tangning angrily stuffed the food Lu Huaiyu had placed in her bowl into her mouth. “Big Brother, you know, sometimes I really feel like poisoning you into silence.”
“Second Brother’s mouth isn’t even half as lethal as yours sometimes!”
As he carefully removed the bones from her fish, Lu Huaiyu replied, “As the eldest, how am I supposed to keep you two little demons in line without a few skills?”
“Have you ever stopped to think about what kind of angels you and Er Yu are? If you don’t climb onto the roof and tear the place apart, I count myself lucky!”
“I can’t bring myself to hit you, so if I don’t sharpen my tongue, how am I supposed to become the world’s most successful educator?”
Xie Tangning grumbled but said nothing, because he was telling the truth.
It took a genius like Lu Huaiyu—someone even less respectable than the two of them—to keep those two Beagle-like troublemakers under control!
Since she was in the wrong, she began awkwardly changing the subject. “Where’s Second Brother? Is he still asleep?”
“And what about Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa on Mom’s side? Great-Grandpa too? Did he go back to the old residence again?”
The little girl fired off her questions like a machine gun. Lu Huaiyu answered them one by one, unhurriedly.
“Er Yu went out to meet some friends. S.D. has been in serious turmoil lately, so he’s planning to make a big move with them.”
“He doesn’t even want to spend the weekend relaxing. He’s desperate to take a bite out of that fat piece of meat.”
“Grandma and the others went out first thing this morning to gallivant around. Don’t forget, it’s Saturday. Do you really think those old ladies and gentlemen are the stay-at-home type?”
“Besides, you’ll be starting school the day after tomorrow. They’ll definitely be back by then.”
“Great-Grandpa went out to play chess with his old buddy. That hopelessly bad-but-utterly-addicted old rascal won’t be home until tonight.”
“Mom and Dad went out to pick out a back-to-school present for you.”
