Chapter 12

I will not let you die.

“I apologize for her waywardness. She’s still young, so she says and does a lot of mindless things. You don’t have to pay much attention to them.”

“Is she truly still young?”

Su Jieyu looked at him with a hurt look. “Zuxu, she’s no longer a small kid at the age of eighteen! If you guys carry on spoiling her like this, she’ll only go from bad to worse! Look at her, she has neither any regards for her elders nor the most basic manners—”

“Well, if you dislike her so much, you can choose not to appear in front of her!”

She had yet to finish what she wanted to say but she was cut short by the man’s cold and curt interruption.

“…”

As she silently regarded him, hints of hurt flashed across her eyes. “Zuxu…”

“My apologies,” Chi Zuxu faintly apologized, “I’ll slowly teach and correct her on the things she has done wrong! There’s no need for you to be overly concerned about her as of now.”

His meaning was clear. He wanted her to keep her nose out of their affairs and, of course, she had no right to meddle in them in the first place!

With that, he turned around and left the room.

As if venting her anger, the resentful woman tore apart the gift box packaging and ripped the contents into pieces before dumping them into the trash bin. “Chi Yi, you don’t want me marrying into your family? All the more I want to do so! By then, I’ll make you suffer real good!!”

............

Chi Yi’s face was drooping in sullenness as she played with the swing in the garden alone. Upon sighting the approaching man, she snorted and turned her face away in feigned ignorance.

Taking a seat in the swing opposite to hers, Chi Zuxu reached a hand out and clamped down on her sharp chin when his swing reached her. He forcibly turned her oval-shaped face over to him and made her meet his sharp gaze. “Child, it’s been a decade since we last saw each other, but your temper is getting worse!”

“… Right back at you!”

She shot back a retort. Even though she liked how pleasant his endearment for her sounded, she solemnly corrected him, “I’m no longer a child! I’m already eighteen!”

“Eighteen, and you’re still so rude?” His eyes narrowed.

“Rude? I hate Su Jieyu, that’s all! Need I display a fawning look to someone I hate just like how she does it? She clearly dislikes me, yet she still pretends to dote on me. Are you telling me that’s manners? If so, I’d rather not have any! I, Chi Yi, would rather stay willful and be faithful to my likes and dislikes. Doing otherwise is just plain pretentiousness!!”

“…”

That speech of her strong convictions momentarily rendered him speechless.

“A child’s naive words.”

The man patted her little head. He did not appear to be particularly angry with her, either.

Indeed! No pretense about one’s likes and dislikes, isn’t that a trait only innocent children would have?

“Third Uncle, aren’t you mad at me?” asked the lass in disbelief.

He indolently raised a brow. “Well, you’ve got me convinced, but… just this once!” He tapped her little nose in warning. “No matter how much you dislike her, you mustn’t forget basic manners!”

“… Fine!”

She nodded, but her brows soon knitted as she seemingly recalled something. “Third Uncle, you aren’t considering to make her my ‘Third Aunt’, are you? I don’t want that to happen!”

“Over your dead body?”

“Over my dead body!!”

“… Alright, I won’t let you die then.”

Those words from the man got her breaking into a grin at once.