Chapter 44 - "I don’t care what you think of me, but I am going to need your full cooperation." (4)
After the Tong Zhenzhen incident, other than reflecting upon herself, Tong Xuelu had also told Tong Mianmian to hide and protect herself next time when she saw Tong Xuelu got into a fight with someone else.
The little bun was unhappy when she heard that. She said she wanted to help her Big Sister fight the bad people. Tong Xuelu finally had to agree to let her help when she got older before the little bun agreed begrudgingly.
Tong Mianmian’s little cheeks were beet red, and she pulled out two pieces of hard fruit candies from her pocket and handed them over to Tong Xuelu. “Here, Big Sister!”
Tong Xuelu, “Did Mianmian save these specifically for Big Sister?”
Tong Mianmian’s big eyes curved into two new moons, and she nodded her little head. “Aunty gave Mianmian three pieces. Mianmian gets ones, Big Sister gets one, and Second Brother gets one.”
As soon as she had finished talking, Tong Jiaxin came running out like a little firecracker. “That’s not fair, Little Sister. What about your Third Brother?”
Little Sister was truly an unattentively white-eyed wolf. He had been so nice to her but she would rather give the fruit candy to Tong Xuelu and not him.
Tong Jiaxin: So angry.
Tong Mianmian twisted her meaty paws, stuck out two fingers and said, “Mianmian only had three pieces. That’s all.”
Tong Jiaxin said angrily, “You little fool. You can’t even tell two from three!”
The little bun cocked her hand and looked at her own stubby fingers, confused.
Do-you-have-a-lot-of-???-little-kid.JPG
Tong Mianmian was so cute that Tong Xuelu was speechless. She lifted one more finger of hers and said, “This is three. What you have earlier was two.”
“Big Sister is so smart!”
Tong Jiaxin, “? ?”
He was the first who pointed that out. Why didn’t she say he was smart? His little sister was hopeless when it came to favoritism.
Tong Jiaming couldn’t stand looking at his brother’s foolish face anymore. He gave him his piece of fruit candy and had him go play somewhere with Tong Mianmian.
The sun made the sky red and the smoke from cooking rose from the compound.
Tong Xuelu took a look at the time of the day and got ready to go wash her hands and to prepare dinner.
Tong Jiaming followed behind her and said in a low voice. “Why did you insist on having Aunty Lin sent back to her family?”
Tong Xuelu’s red lips curved and she chuckled. “To prevent the situation of two Shameless* in one, of course.”
It would be a pain if Jie Jinhua and Old Lin's wife were to team up. She might as well have Old Lin's wife sent home while she could.
Tong Xuelu would have those from Beihe taken care of by the time Old Lin's wife was back from her home town.
The two Swords (Shameless) in one?
Tong Jiaming frowned a little. He was unable to associate Old Lin's wife and the others as “swords” no matter how hard he tried.
They were more like feather dusters, if he must say.
Looking at Tong Jiaming’s baffled look, Tong Xuelu nicely explained it for him. “I said shameless, not sword. Not the same character.”
Tong Jiaming, “……”
***
After dinner that day, Tong Xuelu called for the first ever family meeting.
Presented at the meeting was: Tong Xuelu, Tong Jiaming, and Tong Jiaxin.
Absentee: Tong Mianmian.
Tong Xuelu gave the two brothers a look and said, “You two heard what Old Lin's wife said earlier. Those from our hometown will be here in two days at the very latest. We will have to go against them head on. You get that, right?”
Tong Jiaxin, the future unruliest boss reached out is paw and be the first to speak up, “Yes! We understood that clearly!”
Tong Jiaming, the future rotten-on-the-inside-but-gentle-on-the-outside boss nodded, quiet as usual.
Tong Xuelu was somewhat happy with how cooperative the two of them were. “I don’t care what you think of me, but I am going to need you to place your full trust in me and work with me in all ways. Can you do that?”
Tong Jiaxin turned and looked over at his brother when he heard that.
Tong Jiaming nodded once again, with no hesitation.
Seeing that his brother had nodded, Tong Jiaxin’s eyes rolled and he, too, nodded.
___
Translator's notes:
Tong Xuelu used a play on words here. The original saying was “two swords in one”, but she replaced the word “sword” with “shameless” as they sound alike. Tong Jiaming still thought she was using the original term of “sword”.