novellhall Chapter 28 Walking into a Trap
Chapter 28 Walking into a Trap
Anxi is very happy today.
When the younger brother, who was raised outside, came into the house, a big meal had to be served.
But when she thought of her mother's cooking skills, she couldn't help but puff up her cheeks and exclaim that she had become thin from hunger.
Finally, he shamelessly claimed that his mother had sacrificed her life for art, leaving the Liu family with no face.
Just as Liu Xiaoli's anger reached its peak, An Qianqian found someone to take the fall and bravely pulled Zhou Xiaobai into taking on the job—cooking.
Zhou Xiaobai was completely dumbfounded and almost ran away.
In the past life, it was a man's world; men worked in the fields, and women gave birth to babies.
Cooking was a huge challenge for Zhou Xiaobai, but he couldn't resist An Qianqian's encouragement and decided to try his talent—if these rising stars could come home to a hot meal after working themselves to the bone, that would be the greatest favor he could do for them.
In the living room, Liu Xiaoli called Zhou Wenqiong with a smug look on her face, her tone half-serious and half-joking: "Wenqiong, they're cooking right now, I can enjoy it."
"Really?" Zhou Wenqiong expressed disbelief, saying that the two little brats couldn't even tell the difference between salt and sugar.
"You don't understand. I mean, it's my brother's first time visiting, so as his older sister, I have to show my appreciation, right? An older sister has to know everything." Liu Xiaoli concealed the insults An Qianqian had made to her and shared all her parenting tips.
Zhou Wenqiong asked curiously, "What are they doing? Is it edible? Won't they burn the kitchen down?"
Liu Xiaoli touched her still-growing waistline—eating was out of the question, she needed to lose weight, and besides, it was definitely unhygienic.
She continued boasting, "No, I saw it from the living room, it smells quite nice." Before Zhou Wenqiong could respond, she lowered her voice, "Did you ask Xiaobai about the enlargement thing? Was it him who did it?"
"I interrogated him last night, and he said it was an ancestral technique, and that's how he learned martial arts."
Zhou Wenqiong shared with a smug look how she used torture to extract confessions.
Last night, she started to settle accounts, listing all of Zhou Xiaobai's evil deeds, all of which were plotting against her sister. She wouldn't sleep until she got an explanation for this.
Knowing that Zhou Xiaobai gets dizzy when he reads, she decided to give him another lesson, so she took the textbook and became his teacher.
Studying gave Zhou Xiaobai a headache, and not getting enough sleep made her still-developing brain buzz.
No matter how skilled you are, you can't outlast a woman with ulterior motives.
An hour later, Zhou Xiaobai was so sleepy he couldn't stand it anymore and made a choice between getting punished and how to grow bigger.
He made up an excuse about an ancestral martial art—whether you believe it or not is your business, anyway, you can't find out.
Furthermore, he had already fabricated a story about his ancestors hiding in the mountains during wartime, and how he stumbled upon an orphanage gate while searching for food after the death of a relative. Besides, his own martial arts skills combined with his popularity were indeed a bit too extraordinary, so he continued to fabricate stories.
"Can the ancestral martial arts technique help reduce it?" Liu Xiaoli touched her stomach, asking hopefully.
After moving out of the An family home, her belly seemed to be in sync with An Qianqian's appetite, unable to resist the temptation of delicious food, and growing bigger day by day.
Although I criticized Men Wenyuan earlier, he was absolutely right; physique is the foundation of a dancer. I've been dieting and cutting back on food lately, and it's only had a slight effect, but my stomach is so upset!
The key is that presenting oneself as a beautiful person is a family tradition, and I can't let myself down.
"Uh!" Zhou Wenqiong was stunned for a moment. She didn't even think twice before plotting against her own little brother. "Didn't you say you wanted revenge? He's with you. You can interrogate him."
"Mmm!" Liu Xiaoli glanced at the kitchen, her voice trailing off...
In the kitchen, Anxi held a bowl of noodles in her hand, looking at the red-hot pot with a worried expression: "Little brother, should I put in the water first or the noodles first?" It doesn't matter if you can't cook, then we'll just make egg noodles.
"I think we should turn on the water first. Stay away, or you'll get splashed." Zhou Xiaobai stood in front of An Qianqian, not wanting to hurt her pretty little face.
"Mmm, little brother, you're so good to me." An Qianqian's face was full of happiness. But since they were working together, in order to show off her all-around abilities as an older sister, she threw down the noodles before Zhou Xiaobai could react.
The result was self-evident: by the time Liu Xiaoli rushed into the kitchen, it was already filled with thick smoke.
Liu Xiaoli was so angry she was jumping up and down. Her boast had been exposed so quickly.
She blamed all the mistakes on Zhou Xiaobai, thinking, "I'm not afraid of being itchy anymore, I'll settle all the scores with you later."
Although she was angry, Liu Xiaoli personally cooked a National Day set meal so that her child wouldn't go hungry—rice as the staple food and eggs as the main dish, which was fried rice.
After dinner, An Qianqian went to the bedroom to help Zhou Xiaobai with his homework, while Liu Xiaoli also began her own plan.
With An Qianqian gone, Liu Xiaoli can do whatever she wants.
She grabbed Zhou Xiaobai and made him straddle her lap, then pressed her hands against the back of his head, staring at him with a chilling gaze.
Zhou Xiaobai was startled and kept wondering to himself: What's going on? I didn't do anything to you. Didn't we settle our score yesterday?
He was completely unaware that women hold grudges regardless of day or night, and besides, Liu Xiaoli had a clear objective.
Seeing his cowardly appearance, Liu Xiaoli was quite pleased with herself—if the negotiation goes well, then we'll break our vow and settle our old scores. If it doesn't go well, then she'll just be a submissive woman.
Thinking of this, Liu Xiaoli decided to start with a warm topic and tease her with a smile: "Should I call you little cousin or little brother? Or Xiaobai?" The drama of sibling rivalry between An Qianqian and Zhou Xiaobai had amused her all day.
"You can call me whatever you want." The smile was beautiful, but it clearly harbored ill intentions. Zhou Xiaobai, playing her cards close to her chest, whispered a compliment, "You're so pretty, can I call you Sister Li from now on?"
"Call me Sister Li, aren't you afraid that Qianqian will cause you trouble?" Liu Xiaoli looked at his scared little face and chuckled to herself.
"Sisi said, everyone should call each other their own names," Zhou Xiaobai quickly explained.
"I heard you know martial arts. You can't just train your body; you have to study hard too!" Liu Xiaoli said slowly, circling around the topic.
When it comes to studying, Zhou Xiaobai is even more cautious. He uses the excuse he made up before, "I hit my head, but it's almost healed." He estimates that he will be able to accumulate enough popularity points before the end of the year to solve the problem of studying.
Liu Xiaoli slowly tightened her grip, lowered her head and bit his ear, "When you scolded me before, I swore I'd beat you every time I saw you. You even instigated your sister to hit me, and I hold grudges!"
She paused, staring into Zhou Xiaobai's eyes to convey her purpose, "Or, you could use that 'ancestral technique' to hit me?"
She broke down the ancestral skill into individual words and phrases. Through her conversations with Zhou Wenqiong over the past two days, she realized that her little cousin was a clever little man and couldn't possibly misunderstand her meaning.
"what!"
Zhou Xiaobai was shocked. Was this a prelude to settling scores with him? Had he walked into the lion's den?
Zhou Xiaobai genuinely felt that Liu Xiaoli was a bit unreliable.
I thought the old scores were settled, and I went to their door happily, but I never expected to walk into a tiger's den.
If you weren't Anxixi's mother, we would have beaten you until you cried for your parents.
"Then what do you want to do?" Zhou Xiaobai tried to push away the hand gripping his head, but it wouldn't budge.
"Wenqiong is your sister, and I'm your sister too. Aren't siblings closer than family?" Liu Xiaoli falsely accused her, without giving her a chance to refute. "But you don't show any brotherly affection at all. Your cousin's belly is swollen from anger. If you're not in a good mood, it will only get bigger."
She grabbed Zhou Xiaobai's hand and pressed it against her stomach: "If you can enlarge, you can definitely shrink too. Once you're done being angry, we'll settle our scores."
"puff!"
Zhou Xiaobai was both amused and annoyed. "You've gone through all this trouble just for this little thing?"
Threats and framing, why can't you learn from An Qianqian and speak your mind directly?
You find pleasure in bullying children; that's a completely perverse sense of humor.
We need to see what your true colors are like!
Thinking of this, Zhou Xiaobai sent out a signing spell.
Seeing this result, Zhou Xiaobai was completely dumbfounded. This was too much of a rip-off!
A master dancer goes off to work as a dancer?
What are you thinking?
He finally understood what Zhou Wenqiong meant by the clause "Don't let her run away" in her contract.
I guess these two cousins were just bored and had nothing better to do. When things didn't work out, they came back.
My poor little baby, you're completely ruined by those two idiots. They've turned you into a magnet for negativity.
It seems the system was right to take them in—although I'm no longer worried about Anxixi going out with Run. But they're all family, and a family looks better when they're all together.
Since that's the case, let's broaden our perspective. It's just about making it look nice, right?
Thinking of this, Zhou Xiaobai had an idea. He put on a troubled expression and said, "You're my cousin, and I'm the one who made you angry. I'll definitely get back at you, but—"
Before she could finish speaking, Liu Xiaoli hurriedly interrupted, "Is it not working or what? I don't care, I can't calm down. Otherwise... hehe... you know..." She was actually just trying her luck, but she got stuck in the end, leaving her no choice but to be anxious.
"No, I can only cultivate this technique a little bit each day," Zhou Xiaobai said, pinching his index finger to show his progress. Seeing Liu Xiaoli so anxious, he suppressed a laugh. "It takes time."
"How long will it take?"
"We can start today, and it will continue for several days."
Liu Xiaoli was overjoyed, and with a pop, a bright red lip print was placed on Zhou Xiaobai's forehead.
With the conditions met and her mood brightening, Liu Xiaoli unconsciously began humming a song: "What a beautiful jasmine flower, fragrant and beautiful, full of branches, so fragrant and white, everyone praises it..."
While Zhou Xiaobai was taking a shower, the mother and daughter started arguing about how to sleep that night.
Liu Xiaoli said she would sleep with her little cousin because the child was shy on his first day and needed his mother to stay with him—Zhou Xiaobai said that pressing his stomach would help him breathe easier.
Anxi protested: "Why should you sleep with my brother? I want to sleep by myself!"
So, under Liu Xiaoli's murderous gaze, Zhou Xiaobai and An Qianqian were forced into the master bedroom.
With a wave of her hand, Liu Xiaoli separated the two little figures, one on the left and one on the right.
But Anxi, who had just lay down, was wide awake and full of energy again—as the older sister, she had to act generously.
In the darkness, Anxi described how delicious her mother's steamed buns were.
But Zhou Xiaobai wasn't hungry at all. He was busy massaging Liu Xiaoli's stomach and could only respond with "ah ah oh oh".
"What are you 'ah' about? What are you 'oh'ing about? Can't you talk?" Anxixi snapped, "Sister, I have something good to share with you, aren't you going to thank me?"
At that moment, a warm current was gently flowing across Liu Xiaoli's waist, making her feel so comfortable that she wanted to sleep. But An Qianqian kept chattering on and on, and Liu Xiaoli angrily shouted, "An Qianqian, shut up!"
"Okay, Mom."
The next day, a strong numbness in her arm woke Liu Xiaoli up.
Looking left and right, I saw a little person nestled on one side.
Without thinking twice, she eagerly got up and ran to the dressing mirror, lifted her clothes to examine herself carefully—the effect was obvious, she had lost a lot of weight.
Liu Xiaoli was overjoyed, feeling that Zhou Wenqiong and her daughter were her lucky stars, and her little cousin was her lucky star.
And so, "Jasmine Flower" began to play again!