The four of them absolutely refused to admit they were jealous. It was all that husband and wife’s fault!
What were they jealous of?
The three younger ones were jealous because Mom had found her true love and no longer wanted her little loves!
The old one was jealous because his wife had been gone for many years, and whenever he saw those two being all lovey-dovey, it sent his longing into overdrive!
Lu Qiwu and Xie Yanxun were left completely baffled. They stared at each other, eyes wide.
They were a legally married couple. What was wrong with hugging in their own home?
How had that become unsuitable for children? Those four had to be out of their minds!
Humming and grumbling, Xie Yanxun wrapped an arm around Lu Qiwu and led her toward the dining table as well. “Don’t mind them, honey. They just can’t stand seeing other people being affectionate!”
“They’re just like Fahai, who knows nothing about love. Their brains are seriously broken!”
Lu Qiwu couldn’t help poking him. “Are you broken too? How can you say that the three children we raised with all our love don’t understand love?”
“Can’t you speak properly? If not, then keep your mouth shut!”
Mrs. Lu was fiercely protective of her husband, but she was just as protective of her beloved children.
Xie Yanxun immediately put on an apologetic smile. “My fault, my fault. I misspoke. The children in our family are all the best, no matter what!”
He wasn’t merely saying it to placate her. In the eyes of both of them, their three children really were the best in the world.
A thousand-and-six layers of parental filters were no exaggeration!
Lu Qiwu reached over and pinched him around the waist. “At least you know how to talk sense. Come on, come on, time to eat~”
Er Yu, that glutton who seemed to have been reincarnated from a hungry pig, would be getting impatient soon.
With smiles all over their faces, Xie Yanxun gently ushered his wife toward the dining table.
…
On the night before Xie Tangning was due to start school, Chen Linmei, Qi Rou, and the others, who had disappeared for two days, gathered at the Xie family estate once again.
Their official excuse was that they had come to keep Xie Tangning company during her last dinner of the summer. It was all rather inexplicable.
For a while, Xie Tangning even suspected that they had specially come to throw a party celebrating the fact that she was finally going back to school.
But everyone denied it with all their might, firmly refusing to admit that they were unusually excited because the little menace was starting school and they were about to enjoy a long stretch of peace and quiet.
Qi Rou was sitting nearby, helping Xie Tangning check her summer homework. She then began praising her with great enthusiasm.
“Our Ningning is amazing! Your accuracy is practically one hundred percent!”
Of course, that excluded Chinese. After all these years, Xie Tangning had never made any progress whatsoever when it came to Chinese reading comprehension.
For example, on the Chinese test paper in Qi Rou’s hands, one question asked: Why does the author repeatedly mention the osmanthus tree by the entrance to the house?
Xie Tangning’s answer was: Because the author really likes osmanthus flowers!
If the author mentioned it repeatedly, then obviously they liked it. What kind of idiot would ask such a question?
That was how Xie Tangning saw it, anyway.
When Qi Rou saw the three long blank lines on the answer sheet, filled with only a few words from the little girl, she couldn’t help wanting to laugh.
Then there was the next question: Why does the author feel tears welling up when she sees red bean cake?
Xie Tangning had written: Because red bean cake is super delicious, and the author was about to cry from hunger!
If her Chinese teacher saw answers like that, they would probably be so furious they’d knock Xie Tangning on the head!
Chen Linmei leaned over to take a look as well and felt extremely lucky that she wasn’t the one who usually checked Xie Tangning’s homework.
It was also a good thing she wasn’t a teacher. Otherwise, having a student with such a wonderfully peculiar way of thinking would probably drive her to despair.
That said, not a single person in either the Lu or Xie family ever tried to correct Xie Tangning’s approach to answering these questions.
Everyone in both families agreed that there were a thousand Hamlets in a thousand readers.
Reading comprehension did not have only one “correct” answer. They sent their child to school to learn, not merely to earn a score on a piece of paper.
So what if her Chinese grades were a little poor? They certainly weren’t going to let grades crush the child’s unique way of thinking.
Of course, this was merely the personal opinion of the two families and did not represent everyone else.
It was simply their own educational philosophy, with no intention of criticizing the educational philosophy practiced by the schools.
Chen Linmei and Qi Rou flipped through all of Xie Tangning’s Chinese test papers. When the two little old ladies exchanged a glance, neither of them managed to keep a straight face.
The little girl’s short yet forceful answers were truly beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Xie Tangning had been immersed in the sorrow of starting school, but when she turned around, she discovered that the two little old ladies in the family had been holding her test papers and staring at them for ages.
Every now and then, their shoulders even shook. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought they were reading a comic book!
“Grandma, Grandma Chen~ You two are being a little mean!”
“Are my answers really that funny? I came up with them after giving them serious thought!”
Qi Rou and Chen Linmei shook their heads in unison. “Not funny at all! What’s funny about them?”
Xie Tangning gave them a deeply skeptical look. “Really? Anyone who lies has to stay at home for a whole month~”
The two little old ladies sucked in a sharp breath.
That punishment was far too cruel!
Especially with three little demons in the house. Wasn’t that basically a death sentence for them?
Seeing their silence, Xie Tangning began whining and went to find her mother to complain.
But Lu Qiwu was busy preparing the school uniform she would wear the next day and had no time to deal with her.
“Sweetheart, go play by yourself for a little while. Mommy is choosing the uniform you’ll wear tomorrow! I promise I’ll pick the prettiest one.”
Xie Tangning: “…”
I have no idea what you’re even choosing! All the uniforms look exactly the same. No matter how carefully you pick, you can’t make a flower grow out of one!
With nothing else to do, the little girl wandered over to Lu Wenhua and Xie Heng'an.
“Dear Grandpa and Grandpa~ What are you two doing?”
Lu Wenhua and Xie Heng'an didn’t even look up. The two old men were comparing a pile of water bottles.
“Ningning, go over there and play with your great-grandfather first. Grandpa will finish choosing the water bottle you’ll use at school tomorrow in a moment!”
“Old Lu, I still think this pink one looks better!”
“Let’s look at a few more. I think the green one looks better!”
Xie Tangning: “…”
Those two old men had lost it too.
It was just a water bottle. What was there to deliberate over?
How could they put aside a super little beauty who was loved by everyone, made flowers bloom wherever she went, and even caused cars to crash when she passed by?
The little girl grumbled angrily to herself before turning around and wandering over to Old Master Xie and Xie Yanxun.
“Great-Grandpa, Dad~ What are you two doing now?”
Xie Yanxun held two backpacks in his hands and kept comparing them. “We’re choosing a backpack for you~ You’re starting school tomorrow, so you’ll need all these things!”
Old Master Xie was beaming as well. “Exactly. Since you’re the only child in our family who’s still in school, you must go to school full of energy tomorrow!”
There was nothing wrong with that logic. Xie Changyu had officially graduated in June this year, so once school began in September, Xie Tangning really would be the only “school beast” left in the family.
Naturally, they had to make a big occasion of it!
It certainly wasn’t because they also wanted the child to experience what it felt like to be tormented.
After all, the three of them usually tormented these old bones whenever they had nothing better to do!
“A Xun, I think the one in your left hand looks better! It’s bursting with youthful energy!”
Xie Tangning followed Old Master Xie’s gaze toward the backpack he was talking about, and instantly felt a dozen black lines descend over her face.
There was absolutely no trusting her dad’s taste in fashion—and Great-Grandpa’s was no better!
What on earth were those two generations thinking?
They actually called that backpack—pink with green, green with yellow, and a giant Pleasant Goat sticker slapped on the yellow—“bursting with youthful energy”?
That was more like a deathly color scheme!
