Chapter 5

The Tong’s unit was adjacent to that of Aunty Cai’s.

Tong Xuelu hasn’t even got to the front of her unit when she saw a little girl sitting there propping up her chin. She was staring at the ground motionless and nobody knew what she was looking at. The little boy twisted and turned again. “Put me down, Mommy. I want to go play with Mianmian.”Aunty Cai smacked him a couple times on his bottom again and said, “You are covered in mud, brat. Stop trying to get her dirty like you.”Mianmian?Tong Xuelu’s eyes lit up. The little boy started wailing half-heartedly and Aunty Cai ignored him. She turned and said to Tong Xuelu, “Mianmian is your little sister. It makes my heart ache seeing how she had lost her parents at such a young age.”Having said that, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. When Tong Dajun and his wife passed away at the same time, one of the Tong’s children went working at the factory and the other one had to go to school. She had been helping watching Mianmian. It wasn’t so much that she was reluctant to do so. Mianmian was a nice child who never fussed or cried. In fact, she was so docile that it made one’s heart ached. The problem was that she had a lot of her plate every day and she had a lot of children on her own. Throwing another child on top of that was not easy task. Now that Mianmian’s real sister was back, she could hand her back over to her real sister. The little girl seemed to not have noticed the ruckus in the courtyard at all. She continued to stare at the ground, being eerily quiet. As they approached her, Aunty Cai’s loud voice rang again. “Mianmian, c’mon over. Your sister is back.”Perhaps it was the word “sister”, the little girl looked up immediately. The little girl has a very delicate face. Her eyes were large and bright like grapes and her long and dense eyelashes looked like two brushes. Tong Xuelu whistled to herself. Yup, no wonder she was the actress who was famed both domestically and internationally in the 90s. She was already very pretty at her young age. Tong Mianmian would earn the titles “World’s top 10 most popular female singer” and “World’s top 10 most popular actress” in the 90s and would become the only celebrity who was known outside of China. Unfortunately, she committed suicide during the peak of her career leaving not even a word behind. It was a very regretful event for all. Some analyzed later on that her decision had a lot to do with her several failed romances and, more importantly, her very sad childhood. It takes a lifetime to cure an unhappy childhood. The insecurity stemmed from one’s original family can follow one for life. All three of the Tong’s children became successful in life but none of them were happy. In fact, one could say it was tragic. All three of the bosses were either sick or died. None of them had kids of their own.Things were different now, however. She was here now!With her being there, she would never let those from Beihe get their hands on of them, nor would she allow their childhood to become gloomy. Tong Mianmian was expecting to see Tong Zhenzhen but she saw an unfamiliar woman instead. She was stupefied and her limpid eyes were filled with uncertainty. Aunty Cai tossed the little boy onto the ground and told him to stay where he was as she turned over to Tong Mianmian. “Mianmian, why aren’t you talking? This is your real sister. Call her!”Tong Mianmian’s eyes flickered. Her milky voice intimidated, “She… is not my sister.”“She is your real sister. That Tong Zhenzhen isn’t a real daughter from your parents. She was but a white-eyed wolf. It’s best you just forget about her”Aunty Cai went to get some water as she talked. There was a big tub of water in the yard. With the weather this hot, it was perfect for bathing. Tong Mianmian looked at Tong Xuelu with intimidation. She bit down on her lips and didn’t say a word. She looked like a docile and timid bunny. Tong Xuelu’s heart was melted right away. She went over and squatted down in front of her, “Mianmian, I am your sister Tong Xuelu. I will be taking care of you from now on. What do you say?”Tong Mianmian lowered her limpid eyes. She remained silent as she twisted her fingers. Tong Xuelu didn’t push her. She pounded on her own right arm and said in a coquettish way, “Oh, my bag is so heavy and I need to put it down right away. Mianmian, can you open the door for me?”Tong Mianmian looked up at her and, after a little hesitation, finally got up and docilely showed Tong Xuelu the way. Tong Xuelu didn’t have much patience with children, especially the naughty ones. But she had no problems with docile ones like Tong Mianmian. Tong Mianmian walked in front of her on her two short legs and pushed opened the old wooden door that was never closed all the way. She turned around and said to Tong Xuelu in her milky voice, “You can put it here.”Tong Xuelu pinched her fair and tender little cheek and said, “Thank you, Mianmian. You are such a nice kid.”Tong Mianmian pursed her lips a little. Her little alabaster ears turned a slight pinkish color. Tong Xuelu walked over and saw two beds, an old set of table and chairs, and a short table missing a corner in a corner with cups, bowls, and chopsticks on top of it inside the room that was less than 20 square meters in size.The room was very crude and simple but it was clean, slightly better than what she had expected. She placed her duffle bag on top of the bed and waved at Tong Mianmian, who was peeking at her from outside. “C’mon over here, Mianmian. Your big sister will braid your hair for you.”Tong Mianmian was very clean all over and there was no snort on her alabaster face. Her hair, however, was tied up in a very messy way, making it look like a bird’s nest from afar. Tong Mianmian reached out her little hand and scratched the door a little. “Do you… really know how to braid hair?”Tong Xuelu smiled, “Of course. I will turn you into the prettiest girl in this compound. Now, hurry up and come over.”There was light in Tong Mianmian’s large and limpid eyes. She only paused for a little before she ran toward Tong Xuelu.The little girl had a hair full of black and shiny hair. Tong Xuelu tied it up into two braids.When she was done, she took the mirror from the table and showed it to her. When Tong Mianmian saw that her braids were prettier than how her other used to do them, she looked up and smiled at Tong Xuelu.