Morning came, and the boy was the first one to wake up. His eyes twitched under the lids as he groaned softly, the warmth of the quilt forbidding him to slip out from the bed. He rolled on his right, expecting to b.u.mp on his uncle but hit nothing.
He grunted and forced himself out of the bed to find his uncle, making his way to the kitchen where he could hear some voice. If he had thought that Little Xinxin couldn’t get any cuter than she already was, Shen Yi was dead wrong. Little Xinxin was in her small white kitchen ap.r.o.n, and Shen Yi felt that his small heart had been pierced by an arrow.
“Daddy, add more chocolates!” she told Lu Sibai who was standing next to her, stirring a batter for her cake.
“Now, darling. We can’t add more chocolates, or your teeth will fall off one by one,” Sun Meixiu told her daughter. Taking her chance, she pulled out a camera and started taking pictures of her husband and child, especially Xinxin’s messy face with specks of flour and sugar on her ap.r.o.n.
Shen Yi saw his Uncle Jin having his breakfast while crying dramatically as he watched Lu Sibai and Xinxin. The boy sat beside him and started to eat his meal, wondering what was up with his weird uncle.
“Uncle, what’s wrong with you?”
The man sniffed and shook his head.
“Xin’er is so adorable.” Sniff. “Life is so unfair! Why can’t I have a beautiful and cute niece like her? Instead, I got two hard-headed boys as my nephews who would always sneak in and steal my food.” Shen Jinxiu nibbled his bread. The Shen family needed more female descendants. How could such a cute child exist?
“Just to be clear, Uncle; I did not steal your food. It was Xue who found your secret stash of snacks in your office and ate it,” Shen Yi responded in defense.
Shen Jinxiu fell silent, and the two continued their meal in silence while watching the Lu family make a mess in the kitchen. Suddenly, Shen Jinxiu exclaimed, startling his nephew.
“I know!”
“Know what?” The boy raised a brow to his uncle.
“You should marry Xin’er when you grow up. When she becomes your wife, she’ll be my niece! I’m a genius!” his uncle replied confidently as if he was pleased with his plan.
Young Shen Yi looked at his uncle as if he had grown another head on his shoulder. His uncle was really an odd man.
“Uncle, do you realize that I’m only eight, and Xinxin is just a kid? Have you not considered what her parents will think of it?”
Shen Jinxiu chuckled and winked at him.
“Already got her approval,” he said in a low voice enough for Shen Yi to hear. He kinda suspected that Lu Sibai would go insane, and everything would be in chaos if he knew what Shen Jinxiu was planning to do to her precious daughter. “Meixiu said she didn’t mind having a son as handsome as you, hehe.”
“Ridiculous.” The boy scoffed and pushed his clean plate away.
Who would want to marry a cute girl with a black hole stomach like her? She ate so much that Shen Yi thought she could finish a full fridge in a day, but looking at her smiling face, he shrugged at the idea. If Xinxin had to marry, her husband must be filthy rich to be able to afford her as his wife.
—
“Are you sure about this?” Sun Meixiu asked her friend, with concern reflecting in her eyes.
“I’m sure,” Shen Jinxiu said straightforwardly, but there was a hint of nervousness in his voice.
She smiled, glad that something good was about to happen in his life. When she first met Shen Jinxiu at that ski resort, she hadn’t thought that the Shen’s Young Master could be as carefree as he was.
“Then, I’ll do my best to make sure you’ll be able to do it.” Sun Meixiu smiled.
Meanwhile, Lu Sibai rejoiced inwardly that the ‘Shen brat’ would be leaving soon, and he could have his daughter’s attention all for himself. It was just that he didn’t expect that his Little Xinxin would start crying as soon as she found out that her new playmate was leaving.
The news of departure shocked her, resorting to throwing a tantrum to her parents, running back to their room, and locking herself. She didn’t want them to leave, and she didn’t want to be parted from the first friend she had in her life.
“Xinxin?” Sun Meixiu asked quietly as she knocked on the door before opening it. She found her little girl nothing more like a lump beneath the covers crying. She sat next to her child and rubbed the lump gently. “They are leaving. Won’t you say goodbye to Yi’er?”
“I don’t want to!”
“You don’t want to say goodbye, or you don’t want them to leave?”
“Both! I don’t want to say goodbye! I want them to stay! I want Brother Yi to stay with us.” Lu Xinyi continued to cry her heart out. “Why do they have to go, Mommy?” She peeked from the covers, revealing her teary eyes to her mother.
“Xinxin…” Her mother s.h.i.+fted to face her. “Yi’er has to come home. He also has a Mommy and a Daddy waiting for him. Did he tell you he also has a brother as small as our Little Xinxin?”
The girl shook her head but still refused to move from her place.
“If our Xinxin also takes too long to come home, Mommy will be sad and Daddy will be worried. That’s also the same thing for Yi’er’s parents. He has a family waiting for his return.”
“But—”
“Come say goodbye to Yi’er and to your Uncle Jin. Maybe once the storm pa.s.sed, we can visit them before going home.”
“R-really?” Lu Xinyi blinked twice, hopeful that her Mommy wasn’t lying.
“Of course, darling. Now, go before they leave without you bidding them goodbye.”
Little Xinxin nodded as she hopped from the bed, her mother’s hand at her back as the two made their way outside and found Shen Yi adjusting the b.u.t.tons of his coat. Shen Yi lifted his head and saw Xinxin come back with eyes a little red from crying.
Not a single word was spoken when she suddenly ran towards him and tried to engulf him into an embrace surprising Shen Yi and her parents. Shen Yi hesitated for a moment before returning her embrace.
The elders watched the two children hugged and said goodbye to each other, the girl once again catching them in another surprise as she placed a chaste kiss on Shen Yi’s cheek before moving to Shen Jinxiu. The man kneeled down to her eye-level to let her hug him.
“Uncle Jin and Brother Yi should come back”—she demanded—”or else, Xinxin will have to find you!” She said with a serious voice, but her pouting face was enough to make her parents and Shen Jinxiu laugh in her attempt to be serious.
“I’m sorry we have to leave,” Shen Jinxiu murmured softly as his hand patted the top of her head. “Tell you what, next time you see your Brother Yi. I’ll tell him to bring you your favorite cheesecake. What do you think?”
“You promise?” Little Xinxin’s mood lightened up upon hearing her favorite dessert.
Shen Jinxiu nodded, a.s.suring the girl that Shen Yi wouldn’t forget her cheesecake on their next visit. Too bad though that that next visit he promised never happened, and it took years for the children to be reunited.