Chapter 71 Cute Little Sister, We're Blood Sisters!
Qiu Xiaoman's drowsiness vanished instantly.
That adorable baby voice... she recognized it. It was the little kid who had called her before.
That's strange. Didn't we agree that I would wait for her to come back before we met? Why did she come over now?
Qiu Xiaoman quickly put on her trench coat and came out. One look at her made her burst out laughing.
What? Are those three little rabbits at the door? They're all wrapped up tightly, peeking out one by one, so cute.
Qiu Xiaoman didn't want to involve her three innocent younger siblings in her feud with her parents, so she smiled and walked to the door, bending down to pat the little girl's head: "Are you Xiao Yan Yan?"
Cao Yan looked up at her sister, raised her voice crisply, and asked, "Are you my sister?"
“It seems so.” Qiu Xiaoman picked up Cao Yan and looked at the two brothers beside her. “You are Xinxin, and you are Leilei.”
Cao Xin asked with a smile, "Hello, sister, may we come in?"
"Come in." Qiu Xiaoman didn't want to refuse the three children, so she walked into the house. However, she didn't speak to Chen Baihui; whether she came in or not was up to her.
Seeing that her eldest daughter ignored her, Chen Baihui felt embarrassed and wanted to leave. However, her second son held her hand and kept pulling her inside. Xin Xin, who was walking in front, turned around and glared at her. She had no choice but to give in and followed at the back with her canvas bag full of gifts.
Li Tuantuan roughly guessed their identities, smiled politely, closed the door, and returned to her room without disturbing Qiu Xiaoman.
At this moment, the other children in the yard also heard the commotion and looked out from the doorway or window.
The repeated calls of "Auntie" forced Chen Baihui to put on a smile and politely respond to the children's greetings until she entered Qiu Xiaoman's room, at which point the curious and surprised greetings stopped.
Chan Pak-wai stood at the doorway, ready to evacuate at any moment.
The three children weren't as awkward as she was; they all crowded around their sister's bed, some moving stools, others taking gifts.
Cao Yan turned to look at his mother at the door: "Come here, Mom, where are the two dolls I brought?"
Chen Baihui sighed and took out two plush toys from her canvas bag. They were both sky blue, one was a lop-eared rabbit and the other was a lucky cat.
Cao Yan climbed down from his sister's arms, ran over and snatched two dolls, then ran back to the bedside like presenting treasures to Qiu Xiaoman: "Sister, sister, do you like them?"
Qiu Xiaoman accepted it with a smile: "I like it, thank you Xiaoyan."
Cao Yan breathed a sigh of relief: "You're welcome, I'm glad you like it. I originally wanted to bring the dolphin and the panda, but Mom said we couldn't carry them all, so we'll bring them next time."
Qiu Xiaoman was both amused and exasperated. It was hard to refuse a child's kindness, so she could only smile and reply, "Okay, then next time."
Cao Yan was overjoyed and tilted his head to ask, "Sister, Mom said you're going to Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow, and Mom is going too. Can my two brothers and I come along?"
"Don't you have any homework?" Qiu Xiaoman didn't really want so many people following her, it was too much trouble, but the little girl's eager eyes were hard to refuse, so she had to find an excuse in a roundabout way.
Unexpectedly, Cao Yan said, "We can do it on the plane, there's not much homework."
"Fine," Qiu Xiaoman said helplessly, "whatever."
"Great! See, Mom? I told you, my sister definitely wouldn't refuse. We're sisters!" Cao Yan was overjoyed. Standing in front of the bed, she stood on tiptoe to hug her sister's neck. Qiu Xiaoman quickly bent down and hugged her again.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you like dogs?"
"I love it! I see the dogs in my sister's room! What are their names?" Cao Yan asked excitedly, turning her head to point to the dogs lying in the basket.
Qiu Xiaoman then picked her up and squatted down in front of the mango basket. She let Cao Yan sit on one of her legs and introduced her, "This is the first dog my sister raised here. Her name is Mango. It was Mango who helped my sister and Director Wen see my sister's abilities. She deserves a lot of credit for my sister's work."
"Really? What an amazing dog!" Cao Yan felt sorry for her sister when she saw her sister's bandaged hand. Not wanting her sister to get tired, she quickly got up, grabbed her sister's hand, and blew on it. "Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt, it's already scabbed over," Qiu Xiaoman told a white lie.
Relieved, Cao Yan walked over and squatted down, half-craning his body into the basket. He touched the mango's bulging belly and asked curiously, "Sister, sister, did you eat too much mango?"
"No, Mango's going to be a mom soon! Her tummy is full of little puppies!" Qiu Xiaoman asked with a smile. "After she gives birth, I'll invite you over to see, okay?"
"Oh, great! I want to see the puppies!" Cao Yan excitedly turned to look at her two older brothers. "Brothers, come on over! Oh dear, Mango's tummy is moving!"
Cao Xin was a bit older and always considered himself the older brother, so he was very mindful of boundaries. Even now that he had an older sister, he didn't want to seem too casual, so he pushed Cao Lei over: "Leilei, go keep Yan Yan company."
Cao Lei didn't know what his brother was being dramatic about, but anyway, he went wherever his brother asked him to.
He squatted down next to his sister and touched Mango's belly: "Sis, how long until Mango gives birth?"
"About a month more." Qiu Xiaoman glanced at the reserved Cao Xin and thought to herself that this child was quite refined and indeed had the composure of an older brother.
Upon hearing this answer, Cao Lei immediately looked up at Chen Baihui at the door: "Mom, your birthday is still a month away, maybe it will be on the same day."
Chen Baihui was unhappy; her face darkened. How could this silly boy compare her birthday to a dog's?
However, Cao Lei couldn't tell from her emotional fluctuations and still smiled, saying, "I hope it really is the same day, that way it'll be easier to remember."
Cao Xin, standing behind her, could already see his mother's displeasure, but he said nothing. He simply watched quietly as his older sister accompanied his younger brother and sister. The scene was quite heartwarming, and it would have been even more so if his mother hadn't been standing at the door like a guardian deity.
Then Qiu Xiaoman introduced Xiaobai and Xiaohua to them, and told them about how the two dogs helped her solve the case.
Cao Yan listened with great interest, her big eyes brimming with surprise and excitement.
Every now and then, she would chime in with a joke, exclaiming in surprise, "Wow, that's amazing! Your sister is even more amazing!"
Qiu Xiaoman surrendered. Seriously, this little brat is so emotionally valuable, who could bear to refuse him coming back next time?
Cao Lei is a bit more easygoing and occasionally makes some inappropriate analogies. Whenever this happens, Cao Yan will laugh out loud and say, "Brother, you're so silly."
Cao Xin listened and watched quietly from the side, his gaze sweeping over Qiu Xiaoman's bandaged hand. Occasionally, when he heard a dramatic part of the story, he would subconsciously ask, "Was it when you injured your hand, sister?"
After receiving several negative answers, Cao Xin finally couldn't help but ask, "Then how exactly did you hurt your hand?"
"That was when I took Grey Grey to catch the bad guys." Qiu Xiaoman didn't have a photo of Grey Grey, so she could only describe Grey Grey's appearance roughly.
After hearing how the case was discovered and solved, Cao Xin was amazed and exclaimed, "Sister, you're really amazing! But you're in trouble. Yan Yan loves listening to stories about police catching bad guys. Be careful, she might come to you every day to hear stories from now on."
"Sometimes I have to go out on fieldwork and won't be home, so we'll see how it goes." Qiu Xiaoman didn't want to see her little sister's sad expression, so she didn't rule out the possibility of a fight.
Cao Yan was still young and didn't understand the other meaning behind his sister's words. He only knew that his sister had agreed, so he excitedly hugged his sister's neck and gave her a kiss.
Qiu Xiaoman was caught off guard and stood there stunned, but after thinking about it, she still smiled.
She rubbed Cao Yan's head: "Alright, it's getting late, let's go back and get some sleep. See you tomorrow."
“Okay, sister! Oh, right, sister, there’s also this—” Cao Yan ran to Chen Baihui, pulled a beautiful nanmu box out of her canvas bag, and ran back to Qiu Xiaoman like a treasure, “Sister, sister, I asked my mom to take me to buy these. There are hair flowers, hair clips, and lots of pretty hair ties. They’re for you!”
Qiu Xiaoman accepted the gifts with a smile. Cao Xin and Cao Lei also prepared gifts, namely a fountain pen gift set and a harmonica.
She hadn't prepared any gifts, so she could only take out three hundred-yuan bills, one for each child.
She explained with a smile, "I didn't know you were coming, so I didn't prepare any gifts. Please don't think it's too little."
"Sister, we can't accept this." Cao Xin gathered the money in his own hand, grabbed Qiu Xiaoman's hand, and insisted on returning it to her. "Sister, Mom still has a gold shop and two clothing stores. We're not short of money. But you, you just started working. How can you manage without money? If you really want to give us a gift, then just make something handmade. Anyway, we'll come again in the future."
“Yeah, sister, giving money is so tacky,” Cao Lei chimed in.
Cao Yan then ran to the door and reached into his mother's pocket for money.
In the end, the three siblings ransacked Chen Baihui's body and bag, finding a total of more than three thousand yuan in cash, which they left to Qiu Xiaoman.
Qiu Xiaoman was extremely helpless and wanted to return it, but Xiao Yanyan cried in front of her, so she had no choice but to accept it and return it to Chen Baihui at a later opportunity.
She dropped the three children off at the gate and then noticed the car parked there, with Zheng Linmao sitting in the driver's seat watching them.
That expression... it was hard to tell whether it was happy or unhappy, like someone who was constipated.
Qiu Xiaoman ignored her; after all, she hadn't spoken to Chen Baihui all night, so there was no need for her to be insincere.
As she closed the door, she heard Cao Yan's excited voice: "Uncle Zheng, my sister is amazing! Let me tell you the story of how she caught the bad guys!"
Zheng Linmao didn't want to do anything undignified in front of the three children, so she forced a smile and said, "Okay."
The little girl's chattering voice faded away along with the sound of the car engine.
Qiu Xiaoman leaned against the courtyard gate, not returning to her room for a long time.
The moon is waning and the stars are few overhead; human life is filled with joys and sorrows, partings and reunions
This matter has always been difficult to resolve perfectly.
On Shen Qinghuai's side, the father was trying to ease tensions, but unfortunately, his second wife and several children were not good people. His second wife even wanted to kill him.
On Chan Pak-wai's side, the mother had no intention of easing tensions, but her three children were proactive and incredibly enthusiastic.
If they switch sides, at least she'll have one side to get closer to.
As things stand, I can only distance myself from both sides, unless my younger siblings come knocking on my door, then there's nothing I can do.
When she returned to her room, she didn't notice Li Tuantuan at the window. The room had long been dark, but the underage boy in the darkness had already made up his mind to work hard, study hard, and try to get into a good school so that he could have a good job in the future and take on the corresponding responsibilities.
He absolutely did not want to see Xiaoman's sister looking so sad, not at all.
*
Four Seasons Karaoke.
Shen Qinghuai got completely drunk. He couldn't understand why his eldest daughter wouldn't be more forgiving and insisted on distancing herself from him because of this incident.
The person urging Jiang Mingyuan to drink was his father. After thinking for a long time, he could only directly quote Jiang Mingyuan: "Your wife wants her dead, but you only care about your face and the company's interests. Maybe you also care about the political background checks of your other four children. In short, the scales are too skewed. If I were in that situation, I would be angry too."
Shen Qinghuai thought for a long time but couldn't find a reason to refute it, so he had no choice but to continue drinking.
Just as they were drinking, the bodyguard called: "Mr. Shen, today's covert protection mission was successfully completed. Miss Qiu is safe and sound and has already closed the courtyard gates to go to sleep."
"Who took her back? That beast Liu Kun?" Shen Qinghuai's words were almost slurred.
The reply came from the other side: "Yes, Liu Kun gave her a photo at the door. The two were in an ambiguous pose. Perhaps your concerns are justified. When it comes to young men and women, anything is possible."
"I won't allow that to be possible!" Shen Qinghuai looked down on Liu Kun's background, and he was furious. He asked, "Did the two of them hold hands or kiss?"
The person on the other end said confidently, "No, Miss Qiu pinched his mouth and twisted his ears. The way she did it was weird. I felt like Miss Qiu was coaxing a dog."
"A dog?" Shen Qinghuai hiccuped. "Surely not."
"Yes, she pinched Li Tuantuan's mouth yesterday too, and it felt just like she was teasing a dog." The bodyguard was sure he hadn't misjudged her; Qiu Xiaoman was indeed teasing a dog.
Shen Qinghuai was a little bewildered. His daughter was already a bit strange; she could understand animal speech and even used this ability to find a job within the system.
Thinking about it now, it all seems strange. Is it possible that she saw all of them as dogs?
That's why she so ruthlessly kicked her father aside.
Shen Qinghuai was hurt by this speculation. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that all his efforts these past few days had been in vain. He could only force himself to say, "I know. Just keep an eye on her and make sure no one hurts her. Don't interfere with anything else."
"Yes, Mr. Shen. By the way, your ex-wife just visited Miss Qiu with her three children. They were chatting and laughing, and seemed to have a good relationship. Should I report similar incidents to you in the future?"
What? Shen Qinghuai is now completely sober.
You, Chan Pak-wai, are trying to take advantage of my vulnerability, aren't you?
Damn it, my daughter is mine, mine! Shen Qinghuai was furious. He gave the bodyguard a few instructions, then hung up the phone and called Chen Baihui.
But Chan Pak-wai rejected him, which completely enraged him. He had already drunk quite a bit, and the turmoil in his blood that he had suppressed with his emotions surged up again because of his anger.
He wanted to get an explanation from Chan Pak-wai. After leaving the karaoke bar and getting into his car, he vaguely said, "Let's go to the courtyard house."
Shen Tenglong looked bewildered but had no choice but to do as he was told.
Poor Qiu Xiaoman, she had just fallen asleep when her cell phone rang.
"Little sister, Uncle is drunk and acting crazy in the car, demanding to see you. Would you be willing to come out for a bit?" Shen Tenglong was very anxious. "He was hospitalized before due to a perforated stomach, and today I couldn't persuade him no matter what I did. He's completely drunk, and if he keeps acting like this, he might have to go to the hospital for emergency treatment again."
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