When Xie Tangning was six, she went with her parents to attend a birthday banquet.
That was where she met her best friend, Qin Shuchun.
The very first time Xie Tangning saw Qin Shuchun, she thought the girl was incredibly beautiful—and very aloof.
She was simply too cool. This had to be the best friend fate had chosen for her!
But Xie Tangning was already six, and after the summer vacation she would be starting elementary school. She had already developed an image to maintain—she was pretending to be aloof.
So she didn’t immediately go over to greet the little girl who had caught her eye. She merely stole the occasional glance at Qin Shuchun.
However, because she was so busy acting cool, she failed to notice that Qin Shuchun was making exactly the same little movements.
Their parents had gone off to socialize, so the two people accompanying Xie Tangning were her older brothers.
Xie Changyu was holding a mango-flavored cupcake. He noticed at once that something was off with his little sister and asked casually, “Xie Xiaoning, did you take the wrong medicine today? Why are you being so quiet?”
He was beginning to suspect that the pretty, haughty little creature in front of him, who looked like a mountain sprite, wasn’t his sister at all.
There was no way his little sister could possibly be this quiet and well-behaved.
Xie Tangning fought down her exasperation and tried to keep up her aloof persona to the bitter end. She gave Xie Changyu a sweet, obedient smile.
“What are you talking about, Second Brother? Haven’t I always been like this?”
Xie Changyu’s eyes widened slightly. Then he exposed her without hesitation.
“Don’t pretend. How could I not know what you’re really like?”
“Do you want me to go over all the earth-shattering things you’ve done in the past?”
Xie Tangning felt her fists clench. She really wanted to punch this utterly tactless idiot and teach him how to behave.
Lu Huaiyu watched the look of gritted-teeth fury on his little sister’s face and thought to himself, This little thing is so adorable!
He wanted to ruffle her fluffy little head as he usually did, but Xie Tangning had spent the evening getting an elaborate hairstyle, so he withdrew his hand.
“Pretending to be aloof isn’t fun. It’s exhausting~”
“Our Ningning is best when she’s just being herself. If you want something or feel like doing something, be open about it. No one would dare laugh at you.”
Xie Tangning looked utterly baffled, and Xie Changyu instinctively chimed in.
“Big Brother is right. Mom and Dad didn’t work so hard and climb so high just so you wouldn’t have the freedom to live however you want.”
“So stop pretending to be some little adult. That act doesn’t suit you!”
The confusion on Xie Tangning’s face only deepened.
“What are you two talking about? When have I ever been trying to act like a little adult?”
“I’m just pretending to be cool! If I don’t put on a little act, I’ll scare away all the pretty girls. Then who’s going to be friends with me?”
The little girl was perfectly self-righteous. She had grown up surrounded by the love of her entire family.
How could she possibly pretend to be a mature little adult for the sake of some so-called family dignity?
Her parents had never taught her anything like that!
Hearing this, the brothers paused at the same time.
We were worried for nothing. She wasn’t about to get all twisted up over this!
Xie Tangning could tell immediately that her brothers had gotten the wrong idea. She gave them a smug smile.
“Hehe~ Your brains short-circuited, didn’t they?”
“You two go play by yourselves~ Don’t get in the way of me establishing my image and luring in pretty friends!”
“You’re standing beside me like a pair of gate guardians. All the pretty girls are too scared to come over and play with me!”
In response to the little girl’s shameless habit of using people and then casting them aside, Lu Huaiyu and Xie Changyu both poked her on the forehead in protest.
Even so, they turned around and went to find their own friends, so they wouldn’t interfere with the little girl’s efforts to make new ones.
Xie Tangning put on an act for a while, then found a seat as close to Qin Shuchun as possible.
The entire sequence of movements was so smooth and natural that she perfectly captured the essence of looking effortlessly aloof.
Qin Shuchun was still too young to see through the performance.
She only thought that the other girl was beautiful and adorable. This had to be her friend!
So she imitated the adults and greeted Xie Tangning with great reserve.
For the next five minutes, the two children continued to put on their adult faces, chatting with one another in a distant, aloof manner.
“Big Brother, our little sister is being so pretentious right now! I’m going to record it and show Mom and Dad~”
“Keep your movements subtle. If she catches us, neither of us will make it out alive!”
At some point, Lu Huaiyu and Xie Changyu had come together again. In a corner not far away, they were pointing at their little sister and whispering among themselves.
“You have to admit, the way she’s pretending is pretty entertaining. Her acting is absolutely perfect! She must have learned it from you, Er Yu.”
“Big Brother, don’t make things up. The good parts obviously came from me, but this kind of nonsense clearly didn’t!”
“You really are shameless!”
The brothers’ muttering went completely unnoticed by Xie Tangning. All she knew was that she was about to break character.
Because in just a few minutes, she had already determined that Qin Shuchun was pretending too.
She wasn’t any better herself.
Xie Tangning had figured it out, and there was no way Qin Shuchun hadn’t noticed the signs as well.
The two suddenly made eye contact—and instantly lost control of themselves at the same time.
And just like that, they became friends at first sight. Their friendship continued to grow stronger until, eventually, they became family by choice despite sharing no blood relation.
When Liang Zhou and Shen Yunqiong wandered over because they were bored, they found two exquisite little girls chatting away animatedly.
The brothers exchanged a glance, then tacitly decided to pretend to be normal people as they walked over to greet them.
As soon as strangers appeared, Xie Tangning and Qin Shuchun immediately put on their little-adult expressions again.
In short, not one of the four children was being genuine.
The adults nearby had noticed them long ago and couldn’t help laughing to themselves as they watched.
The four troublemakers from these families were famous throughout their social circle. Seeing them pretend to be obedient and aloof was almost like watching their own children put on airs in front of them.
After the four children continued pretending to socialize for a few more minutes, someone finally let their true nature show.
The atmosphere, which had been perfectly respectable until then, immediately descended into chaos.
The four children hit it off at once and began sharing stories of all the things they had done that had nearly earned them a beating from their mothers.
As the conversation grew more exciting, they even agreed to experience one another’s chaotic, trouble-filled lives.
For example, when Xie Tangning mentioned that her two older brothers had once blown up cow dung—but that she herself had never tried it—the other three immediately lit up. They began eagerly making suggestions and plotting out the details.
Qin Shuchun offered a solution right away.
“You can come back to my hometown with me. There’s cow dung everywhere there. You can blow up as much of it as you like!”
Shen Yunqiong readily agreed.
“In that case, I want to be a shepherd boy from a poem!”
Liang Zhou waved a hand grandly.
“Fine! I’ll ask my dad to buy me a private jet. I’ll cover all the expenses!”
The reason Little Monkey Bro could throw money around so boldly at such a young age was entirely because his parents had yet to put a limit on his allowance.
But it was also clear from this that his spend-money-like-water, spoiled-rich-kid tendencies had destined him to have his allowance restricted in the future.
Xie Tangning was thrilled. “Then it’s a deal! Neither of us is allowed to go back on our word!”
She wanted to experience the childhood fun her two older brothers had once shared, too!
“Of course. We never go back on our word!”
And true to their word, they really did spend the following Spring Festival at Qin Shuchun’s hometown, experiencing all the childhood delights they had missed out on.
