Chapter 10

Tong Jiaming only washed up after he had first cleaned his sister’s hands.

Tong Jiaxin ran over, looking upset, “Second Brother, why didn’t you let me give her a piece of my mind? What were you worried about?”Tong Jiaming still didn’t make a sound. Tong Jiaxin went on and on like a little firecracker. “Don’t worry, Second Brother. Only little sister will be fooled by some sweets. Not I! I won’t even have the dinner that she prepared!”Tong Xuelu never needed to do any housework. She was raised in a family of government officials. Surely, she wouldn’t know how to do anything. The food that she cooked must taste nasty. He wouldn’t eat anything that she had made even if it killed him!Tong Xuelu, “… …”Tsk, tsk, tsk. It looked like the third child was the most difficult of the three of them. But that fit his personality from the previous life. Tong Jiaxin had a lot of ideas and very unique ones especially when it came to clothing design. As the country revolutionized, he was very successful in that field and even earned a few international awards. His personality, however, was a big issue. Especially when being raised in a very suppressed environment like at Beihe. It made him sensitive and explosive. He didn’t know how to handle emotions and his wife finally divorced him. Unfortunately, she also died in a car accident on the day of the divorce. Tong Jiaxin regretted a lot about it and never remarried. Tong Jiaming carried his sister into the house after they had finished washing up. They saw that food was already ready on the table. Pausing a little, he finally sat down with his sister. Tong Jiaxin was about to say something but he finally stopped himself after his Second Brother gave him a stare. Nevertheless, his mind was already made up. He would not, would not touch anything that she cooked!Absolutely not!!!Nevertheless, as soon as he sat down, an unbridled aroma attacked his nose. He had never smelled anything like that before nor had he ever seen fried rice that was so pretty. Each of them was golden colored and glistening under the light. They looked so delectable. He wondered how they tasted?He gulped loudly and, at the same time, his stomach started to grumble. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had already scooped up a big spoonful and put it inside his mouth. Oh, my lord. That was delicious!The rice was the perfect softly. He couldn’t see any eggs but each bite tasted like egg. He had egg fried rice a few times before but none of them as good as it was today!He picked up some cabbage with his chopsticks. The cabbage was crispy and the aroma of garlic danced on his tongue. The one who said he would not have any even if it killed him had already finished off a bowl in no time and had no problem scooping out seconds for himself. He was clearly demonstrating the meaning of self-faceslapping.He had no idea whether it was because the food was too tasty or that the light was too soft, he felt that Tong Xuelu was not as annoying as she had seemed just a little while ago. She wasn’t as useless as he had initially thought. It wouldn’t be bad at all if he could have such tasty food from now on. Tong Jiaming couldn’t even watch how his brother was wolfing down the food like he had been starved for a long, long time. Who was it that said he would not be bought with just some food just a little while ago? And who was it who proclaimed that he would not eat anything that she cooked?How embarrassing!Tong Mianmian’s little cheeks puffed up as she ate. She looked very satisfied. Tong Xuelu smiled as she picked rice off of Tong Mianmian’s face. No matter the era and location, there would always be those who went back on their words. ***The Fang family in the compound. Fang Jingyuan’s chopsticks crawled over the dishes. Fang Wenyuan frowned when he saw that. “Where did you pick up that habit from? How are others going to eat after you have done that?”Displeased, Fang Jingyuan pouted. Nevertheless, she had always been intimidated by her Big Brother. All she could do was grumble softly. “What do you mean they can’t be eaten anymore?”Fang Wenyuan gave her a look and she quickly kept her mouth shut. She felt unreconciled though. She felt that her Big Brother had been becoming more and more solemn in the last few years and had a long face day in and day out like an old man. Suddenly, she recalled running into Tong Xuelu that afternoon. Her eyes rolled around and she said, “Big Brother, guess who I ran into this afternoon?”Fang Wenyuan kept on eating as though he didn’t hear her. His reaction did not surprise Fang Jingyuan. “I ran into Tong Xuelu. You probably haven’t heard about this yet, Big Brother. Tong Xuelu was kicked out by the Tong family!”The living room went silent for a few seconds, then it exploded. Mother Fang looked shocked. “She was booted out by the Tong family? No way!”There were a lot of ruckuses about the Tong’s real and fake daughters and the entire compound had heard about it. It was very sad that the daughter whom they had raised for over ten years turned out not to be their real daughter. They loved both children and weren’t able to let either one of them go. It was sad to watch. Everybody assumed that the Tong family wouldn’t make their adopted daughter leave. Partly because Tong Xuelu didn’t want to go and partly because it had been so many years and they’ve had feelings for each other. Why would they want her to go back to her original family and suffer?As such, they were very shocked to hear that Tong Xuelu had been booted out. Fang Jingyuan felt very complacent when everybody’s focuses was on her. “Why can’t they? I saw her carrying several bags of different sizes as she headed for the bus station! Mom, Dad, now that Tong Xuelu had been booted out by the Tong family, Big Brother’s betrothal with her is considered off, right?”Mother Fang and Father Fang exchanged a look before they turned to their son. “Wenyuan, what do you want to do about this?”Fang Wenyuan didn’t even look up. He said in a very calm tone. “That works out perfectly, no? I had never taken it seriously anyway.”Mother Fang gave him a look and sighed. “Oh well. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I’ll let the Fang family know when I see them next time. We don’t want to hurt our relationship with them over this.”This was a betrothal set by Old Mr. Fang and Old Mr. Tong. Lo and behold, Fang Wenyuan never liked Tong Xuelu but Tong Xuelu only wanted to marry Fang Wenyuan. That had been a sore spot for both families. As Fang Wenyuan never liked Tong Xuelu, now that Tong Xuelu wasn’t even a child of the Tong’s, they were no longer a good match and, naturally, the betrothal could be called off. Fang Wenyuan looked nonchalant but Fang Jingyuan looked excited. Her eyes rolled around and she was planning when to go see Tong Xuelu and threw this on her face. She wanted to see how arrogant Tong Xuelu could still be after this. Tong Xuelu had no idea that she had turned into the Fang’s dinner topic. There weren’t a lot of entertainments back then so everybody quickly washed up and turned in after dinner. The Tong family, too, had their lights off by now. Tong Mianmian was snuggled up to Tong Xuelu like a doll and her cheeks pink in her sleep. Insect noises could be heard coming from outside the house and it was very quiet inside the room.Suddenly, a low voice broke the silence –“Spill, why are you back?”