Granting You A Second Life

Madame Qin sighed and helped Zhou Suyin up. "So young and already involved in the schemes of her aunt".

Zhou Suyin sniffed: "Thank you, beautiful big sister." 

Madame Qin smiled: "Who are you little one?"

Zhou Suyin was thrown a little, this wasn"t the script that her auntie said would happen. Madame Qin had seen her several times during the year at banquets and parties. Her temper started to flare a little.

Zhou Suyin said: "Auntie don"t you remember me. I"m Suyin."

Madame Qin quirked a brow "Downgraded from big sister to auntie in 0 to 60 mph. Her mouth is almost as fast as my driving."

Zhou Fengmian turned her nose up at the caretaker: "Hmph." She immediately changed her demeanor as she approached Madame Qin. 

Zhou FengMian: "Auntie Qin, I hope you don"t mind this small intrusion."

Madame Qin questioned: "ZhouFengMian how did you find out about this gathering?"

Zhou FengMian smiled and giggled: "Well I overheard Song talking about this little garden party for Little 4th. I was just talking about it with our family"s Suyin and she had her heart set on coming. I couldn"t dissuade her otherwise. You know how children can be when they really wat something. I couldn"t say no when she looked at me with such pleading eyes. I thought that you all are so magnanimous that you wouldn"t begrudge one small guest." She ignored Li Xiuying the whole time.

Li Xiuying stood there with a blank expression. "Why are all these annoying women following me around? Is this punishment for my past life because I didn"t recognize people like Li Yu Yan for what they are? Now I"m" constantly a platinum member attending a white lotus party. Mmm, that reminds me Li Yu Yan should be starting University soon. I haven"t visited Northwest Uni in this life yet."

Zhou FengMian looked at Li Xiuying from the corner of her eye. "She doesn"t even realize what"s coming her way. She can only blame herself; she had to come and fall in front of my red bottoms. Well at least she has the privilege of having me step on her" 

Madame Qin noticed Li Xiuying was deep in thought she responded to Zhou Fengmian: "Well since you both have already made yourselves comfortable."

Little 4th had slowly made his way over to Li Xiuying"s side and squeezed her gloved hand. 

Li Xiuying glanced down into the face of the little bun and saw the concern in his eyes. She used her other hand to gently pinched his rosy cheeks. 

Li Xiuying: "Bouncy castle?"

Little 4th smiled his 1000 watt smile: "Let"s go big sister YingYing."

He completely ignored Zhou FengMian like she had ignored Li Xiuying. "So plastic banshee you want to pretend to be blind? Hmph. This young master is the king of pretend."

Zhou Fengmian put on what she thought was an endearing smile: "h.e.l.lo little 4th."

Little 4th: "Big sister yingying let"s go to the castle."

Madame Qin was amused by her son"s antics: "Little 4th, say h.e.l.lo to Zhou FengMIan." She had to at least behave like an elder sometimes. 

Little 4th: "Mommy, I was waiting for elders to be greeted first before I as the junior member offered any greetings."

The trio all turned their attention to Zhou FengMian. 

Zhou FengMian "this brat is actually forcing me to speak to this s.l.u.t." 

Zhou FengMian forced a smile: "h.e.l.lo Miss Li, forgive me for not greeting you as your elder sister." She used Litle 4th"s words to pull rank and identify herself as the elder and Li Xiuyign as the one lacking manners. 

Li Xiuying: "I don"t believe we"re related."

Zhou FengMian almost choked on her anger as she gritted her teeth "I was being polite, I"m your elder and it would be nice to create a closer relations.h.i.+p."

Li Xiuying: "Not necessary."

Zhou FengMian: "It"s important to build relations.h.i.+ps with people. You should never burn bridges."

Li Xiuying: "There are roughly 1 million bridges in China."

Zhou Fengmian was confused: "What are you talking about?"

Little 4th spoke confidently: "There are so many bridges my big sister can burn most of them down!"

Madame Qin cleared her throat: "I believe your sister meant that there are so many bridges in China that in this lifetime she will not need to cross all of them." She gave a perplexed glance at Little 4th and began to wonder if her son has always been so violent. 

Zhou FengMian could feel the veins in her forehead pulsating as her rage fully ignited, She tried to keep her voice even: "Clearly you are not experienced enough to know what"s good for you and the importance of certain people over others."

Little 4th: "Auntie what are you saying? My big sister knows how to treat important people wth importance. Everyone else is cannon feeder."

Li Xiuying: "Fodder."

Little 4th: "Cannon fodder."

Madame Qin: "Why don"t you both head to the bouncy castle before it gets busy."

Li Xiuying knew that Madame Qin was trying to diffuse the situation. It was such a large bouncy castle that it could support everyone present including the bodyguards and even Zhou FengMian and her ego. 

Madame qin went back to sit on her seat and Zhou Fengmian took Li Xiuying"s former seat. 

Zhou Suyin sopped putting on her teary act and was already following Lee HuiQing around. 

Li Xiuying and little 4th entered the bouncy castle after taking their shoes off. To Li Xiuying this reminded her of the time her parents had rented a bouncy castle for her to play on; her mother had joined her on the small bouncy castle. They rolled and tumbled and laughed together, whilst her father watched them with love and happiness in his eyes. 

She and little 4th laughed with unadulterated joy as they bounced around. 

Their happiness was so infectious that it attracted the attention of the other members of the Bun Army. Gou Sheng, Jun Wen, and Rui Rui managed to justify entering the castle because they wanted to keep little 4th company and keep an eye on Li Xiuying. Lee HuiQing made his way towards everyone followed by his second shadow Zhou Suyin.

Zhou FengMian fiddled with the sleeves of her coat and secretly checked the time. "Roughly 1 hour to wait until the excitement truly begins."

........

Qin Family Black phantom  

Qin Song checked the time yet again. 

Qin Xian Jun: "Bro what"s going on? You"ve looked at your watch 37 times in the last 30 minutes."

Qin Song didn"t answer he just began to stare out the window. 

Qin Xian Jun continued talking happily, it didn"t matter to him if he had a one-sided conversation: "Today has been frantic. Someone actually dared to pull the fire alarm as a prank. I never even got to see who it was because security was jumping on him like they were in WWE."

Qin Song clenched his teeth, highlighting his jawline "Deliberate pulling the alarm when I was about to leave the company premises. Childish but effective in stalling me. So there needs to be ma.s.s extermination of vermin." 

Qin Song finally spoke: "Message Jie and tell him and mother to be vigilant. They should be subtle."

...

Zhou Suyin had become closer to Rui Rui as they had both decided to get off the bouncy castle earlier than the other. Zhou Suyin had learned that Rui Rui did not really like Li Xiuying.

She held on to Rui Rui"s hand and whispered: "Shall we play hide and seek? That way we can ditch Li Xiuying."

Rui Rui nodded enthusiastically. 

The bun army and Li Xiuying were putting on their shoes and still breathing hard because they were so tired out. 

Zhou Suyin nudged Rui Rui forward. 

Rui Rui nodded and said: "Can we play hide and seek?"

Gou Sheng and Jun Wen exchanged glances and both had a tactical understanding of what the other was thinking "we can use this opportunity to ditch Li Xiuyin to see what Li Xiuying was really like." They may be young children but their families had taught them that you only get the purest of gold after it has been tempered by fire.

Zhou Suying nodded her head gently in agreement. 

Gou Sheng: "Let"s play hide and seek!"

Little 4th didn"t look convinced. He couldn"t figure out why any of his friends would want to play this game. He distinctly remembers Gou Sheng and Jun Wen calling such games a waste of time. 

Jun Wen: "Let"s play. Let"s play!" 

Li Xiuying: "Okay." It was a simple request to fulfill.  

Gou Sheng: "I"ll be the first seeker. I"ll count to 100."

Madame Qin looked over at the group: "What are they doing to do now?"

He Bo spoke into the walk talky with his colleague then responded: "They are playing a game of hide and seek madame."

Madame Qin was slightly worried: "Maybe they should stay within this area?"