“Yeah, I wonder who she got that stubbornness from?”
The twodidn’t lower their volume when they talked about her, even though Cheng XiaoXiao had already left the living room, she still heard the entire conversation.But the conversation didn’t bother her at all.
She told Yesu,who had been following her, to grab her other. Her big aunt….
Thinkingabout that term, Cheng Xiao Xiao’s look was a bit odd. “Big aunt” was not agood term1, and she was afraid this big aunt who was coming to visit wasn’t anygood character either.
She didn’tgo get her mother herself because she had no interest in meeting theirrelatives. If she didn’t have such a close relationship with her mother, she wouldn’teven allow them to enter the Cheng’s residence!
Sure enough,when Mrs. Cheng heard that her older sister was visiting, she was so emotionalthat tears just streamed down her face. She took her younger daughter with herto greet her sister, and asked that her older daughter must be present as well.
Cheng XiaoXiao just pretended she didn’t get the message and returned to her room to takea nap. She didn’t want to be bothered by that.
It didn’ttake long before Cheng Xiao Xiao realize that her plan to avoid her relativewas short-lived. When they were hosting dinner, she was forced to be present byher mother.
“Yo!2 Sothis is Xiao Xiao huh? She is quite elegant and looks so much like you, Yuqin.She’s quite pretty, quite good!”
As soon a.s.she walked her, Cheng Xiao Xiao was greeted by her big aunt’s high pitch voiceand she saw a chubby, middle-aged woman in a bright red brocade dress in frontof her. If her look didn’t somewhat resemble that of her mother’s, she’d thinkshe was but a bad replica.
She lookedtoo dissimilar to her mother. One is an elegant, n.o.ble woman, the other lookedlike a mean and fat matchmaker, it was difficult to think of the two of them a.s.sisters.
“Xiao Xiao,quick! Come over, this is your big aunt!” introduced Mrs. Cheng tenderly.
Cheng XiaoXiao walked up slowed and bowed slightly, “Mom, big aunt!”
“Good, good.Xiao Xiao is such a nice girl!”
Her littlebeady eyes looked Cheng Xiao Xiao up and down. Luo Yujie’s chubby face wasfilled with a smile. She reached out and dragged Cheng Xiao Xiao over andintroduced her to the man next to her, “Xiao Xiao, he is your big uncle TianFusheng, he is also an elder of Dongming Sect!”
“Greetings,big uncle!” nodded Cheng Xiao Xiao showing neither friendliness nor hostility.
All shewanted to do is to shake off that hand that has her in a tight grip. Naturallyshe was more than capable of shaking it lose, but she put up with it for hermother’s sake.
TianFusheng’s smile was a bit stiff. He nodded slightly at Cheng Xiao Xiao inreturn.
Luo Yujiehad no intention to let go of Cheng Xiao Xiao. Still gripping onto her, sheshouted to the ones behind her, “Tian Jiang, Tian Feng, Tian Xiu, Tian Li,c’mon over already!”3
The four ofthem were four youngsters of a range of ages, who got up reluctantly when theywere called out. One could tell they were Luo Yujie’s children just from theirnames. The two young men were around seventeen, eighteen. They were quitedecent looking, but they have an arrogance like they were above everybody else.The two girls were around thirteen or fourteen, they were quite elegant intheir own ways. It was quite unfortunate that they body shape resembled that oftheir mother’s, not the type that would be popular with handsome boys.
“Xiao Xiao,look, they are your (male) cousins, Tian Jiang and Tian Feng. The other two areyour (female) cousins, Tian Xiu and Tian Li. You should hang out together moreoften in the future!”
Luo Yujieintroduced her kids excitedly.
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Notes:
1. “Bigaunt” (da yima) is also used to refer to females’ menstrual period in Chineseculture. I guess because of the subtle culture, girls won’t refer to theirperiod directly, so usually they’d made up something like “my (big) aunt iscoming to visit” when they don’t feel well. :/
2. p.r.o.nounced like “Yor” (like in New York), not like “Yo,dude!” in American English.
3. The characters of their names “Jiang Feng Xiu Li” together meant“beautiful mountain tops”.
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