“Yeah, I wonder who she got that stubbornness from?”
The two didn’t lower their volume when they talked about her, even though Cheng Xiao Xiao 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….
Thinking about that term, Cheng Xiao Xiao’s look was a bit odd. “Big aunt” was not a good term1, and she was afraid this big aunt who was coming to visit wasn’t any good character either.
She didn’t go get her mother herself because she had no interest in meeting their relatives. If she didn’t have such a close relationship with her mother, she wouldn’t even allow them to enter the Cheng’s residence!
Sure enough, when Mrs. Cheng heard that her older sister was visiting, she was so emotional that tears just streamed down her face. She took her younger daughter with her to greet her sister, and asked that her older daughter must be present as well.
Cheng Xiao Xiao just pretended she didn’t get the message and returned to her room to take a nap. She didn’t want to be bothered by that.
It didn’t take long before Cheng Xiao Xiao realize that her plan to avoid her relative was short-lived. When they were hosting dinner, she was forced to be present by her mother.
“Yo!2 So this is Xiao Xiao huh? She is quite elegant and looks so much like you, Yuqin. She’s quite pretty, quite good!”
As soon as she walked her, Cheng Xiao Xiao was greeted by her big aunt’s high pitch voice and she saw a chubby, middle-aged woman in a bright red brocade dress in front of her. If her look didn’t somewhat resemble that of her mother’s, she’d think she was but a bad replica.
She looked too dissimilar to her mother. One is an elegant, noble woman, the other looked like a mean and fat matchmaker, it was difficult to think of the two of them as sisters.
“Xiao Xiao, quick! Come over, this is your big aunt!” introduced Mrs. Cheng tenderly.
Cheng Xiao Xiao walked up slowed and bowed slightly, “Mom, big aunt!”
“Good, good. Xiao Xiao is such a nice girl!”
Her little beady eyes looked Cheng Xiao Xiao up and down. Luo Yujie’s chubby face was filled with a smile. She reached out and dragged Cheng Xiao Xiao over and introduced her to the man next to her, “Xiao Xiao, he is your big uncle Tian Fusheng, he is also an elder of Dongming Sect!”
“Greetings, big uncle!” nodded Cheng Xiao Xiao showing neither friendliness nor hostility.
All she wanted to do is to shake off that hand that has her in a tight grip. Naturally she was more than capable of shaking it lose, but she put up with it for her mother’s sake.
Tian Fusheng’s smile was a bit stiff. He nodded slightly at Cheng Xiao Xiao in return.
Luo Yujie had no intention to let go of Cheng Xiao Xiao. Still gripping onto her, she shouted to the ones behind her, “Tian Jiang, Tian Feng, Tian Xiu, Tian Li, c’mon over already!”3
The four of them were four youngsters of a range of ages, who got up reluctantly when they were called out. One could tell they were Luo Yujie’s children just from their names. The two young men were around seventeen, eighteen. They were quite decent looking, but they have an arrogance like they were above everybody else. The two girls were around thirteen or fourteen, they were quite elegant in their own ways. It was quite unfortunate that they body shape resembled that of their 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 are your (female) cousins, Tian Xiu and Tian Li. You should hang out together more often in the future!”
Luo Yujie introduced her kids excitedly.
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Notes:
1. “Big aunt” (da yima) is also used to refer to females’ menstrual period in Chinese culture. I guess because of the subtle culture, girls won’t refer to their period directly, so usually they’d made up something like “my (big) aunt is coming to visit” when they don’t feel well. :/
2. Pronounced 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”.
