Chapter 145: Things Seem to Have Gotten Even Worse

"Right!"

Cheng Qiuluo clapped her hands.

"Makes sense, that's exactly right!"

But she soon scratched her head in confusion.

"Still, which famous scholar said that? How come I've never heard of it?"

Cheng Qiuruo tilted her chin up slightly, looking thoroughly self-assured.

"I did!"

Cheng Qiuluo: "..."

Famous scholar, my foot!

But setting aside her narcissistic little moment just now, what she said really was spot on.

"Elder Sister, I think what you said makes total sense—why is it I could never come up with something like that?"

"Sigh!"

Cheng Qiuruo looked at her and shook her head with a sigh.

"I can't really blame you. The only one to blame is your Elder Sister here for being too clever, drowning out your light."

Then she looked at her seriously and spoke with deep, earnest feeling.

"So, Luoluo, from now on you should just shine and warm yourself up in the fields you're actually good at. Thinking things through isn't really your thing."

"Oh."

Cheng Qiuluo nodded, but the next instant she caught sight of her big sister pressing her lips together to hold back a laugh. She caught on at once and turned on Cheng Qiuruo, fuming.

"Fine! So you were calling me stupid!"

But Cheng Qiuruo had already darted off into the distance. Hearing her voice, she even turned around and made a face at her.

"Catch me if you can."

Cheng Qiuluo bent down, scooped up a handful of snow from the ground, packed it into a little snowball, and hurled it at her.

Cheng Qiuruo dodged and kept running to the side.

"Can't hit me, can't hit me..."

"Just you wait!"

Cheng Qiuluo bent down again, scooped up two chunks of snow, and chased after her.

Cheng Qiuluo ducked behind a snowman and shouted at Cheng Qiuluo.

"Hold it!"

"This snowman was piled by Yu'an. If you smash it, just see how you explain that to him."

Cheng Qiuluo stamped her foot in fury.

"Come out! What kind of skill is hiding behind a snowman?!"

Cheng Qiuruo waved her hand and shook her head, looking the picture of a shameless rogue.

"I'm not coming out."

Seeing her act so shamelessly, Cheng Qiuluo was absolutely furious.

She lobbed several snowballs in front of her, but carefully controlled the distance—none of them touched the snowman at all.

"Come out, come out here!"

Seeing this scene, Cheng Qiuyun couldn't help bursting out laughing.

Cheng Qiuruo, standing beside the snowman, caught the smile on her face out of the corner of her eye, and quietly felt a little relieved inside.

At least she's cheered up a bit. It wasn't for nothing that she'd made such a fool of herself, acting so shamelessly.

"Eek!"

In a moment's lapse, a big clump of snow came flying at her face-on. Cheng Qiuruo got a face full of it, and quite a bit of fine, crumbly snow fell down the back of her neck—cold straight through to the bone.

The shock made her shiver violently several times.

"Hahaha, I got you, didn't I?"

Seeing her in such a sorry state, Cheng Qiuluo laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up.

Cheng Qiuruo clenched her trembling teeth tightly.

"Cheng! Qiu! Luo!"

You're actually going for real!

"Just you wait!"

After shouting that, she bent down, scooped up a big handful of snow, and flung it toward Cheng Qiuluo.

Cheng Qiuluo, laughing heartily, got a mouthful of snow cold enough to freeze her teeth off.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!"

Cheng Qiuruo flung the snow and ran. Cheng Qiuluo, fuming, grabbed two handfuls of snow and chased after her.

"Don't you run!"

Watching her two younger sisters getting closer and closer, a bad premonition rose in Cheng Qiuyun's heart.

Sure enough, just as Cheng Qiuruo ran up, she suddenly stopped, flashed her a smile, then swiftly dodged to the side.

Cheng Qiuyun decisively raised her hand to shield her face, and sure enough, the next instant a snowball smacked her arm.

"B-big sister, I didn't mean to."

Cheng Qiuluo hurriedly tossed the snowball in her hands onto the ground.

Cheng Qiuyun stood up and brushed the snow off her clothes, then exchanged a look with Cheng Qiuruo. The two of them together charged toward Cheng Qiuluo.

Which scared Cheng Qiuluo into whipping around and bolting.

"Ah! Help!"

"Two against one, that's not fair!"

Just like that, the three sisters had a snowball fight in the yard.

……

Over in the Modern Era, Yu'an was also having a great time at her daddy's house.

The little one sat on the sofa, her short little legs that couldn't reach the ground dangling and swaying, her big grape-like eyes fixed on the cartoon on TV, a cookie in one hand and yogurt in the other—glance, take two bites, glance again, then take two sips……

Cheng Sitao walked out of the Study.

"Time's up, no more watching."

Hearing her daddy's voice, Yu'an pouted her little lips and took one reluctant glance at the cartoon.

How did half an hour pass so quickly?

Though she really wanted to finish this episode, the little one obediently picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

Seeing this, Cheng Sitao raised his hand and rubbed Small Dumpling's head.

"Yu'an's such a good girl."

The little one tilted her small head up, her big dark eyes wide open, looking at him expectantly.

"Then can such a good Yu'an play with the remote-control airplane?"

Cheng Sitao squatted down, first using a tissue to wipe the corners of the little one's mouth, then picked up the water cup and gave her a sip of warm water, gently booped the little one's nose, and said affectionately.

"Of course you can, but first recite the multiplication table you learned the day before yesterday."

"Does Yu'an still remember?"

"Of course I remember!"

The little one clasped her small hands behind her back, puffed out her chest and held her head high, and in a serious little milky voice, began to recite.

"One ones are one, one twos are two…… nine nines are eighty-one."

After finishing, Yu'an looked at her daddy expectantly, her big eyes sparkling, full of 'praise me, praise me.'

Cheng Sitao smiled and gave the little one's baby fat a rub.

"All correct, Yu'an's amazing."

Having finally gotten her daddy's praise, Small Dumpling felt shy instead, her little face flushed red as she lowered her head and smiled bashfully.

Cheng Sitao took the remote-control airplane down from the cabinet.

"Alright, Daddy still has a video meeting later, will Yu'an play by herself for a bit?"

Yu'an hugged the remote-control airplane, her little mouth stretched into a grin showing a row of pearly white little teeth, and nodded obediently and sweetly.

"Okay!"

The little one set up the remote-control airplane, both small hands gripping the controller.

Activate!

She piloted the little airplane to do a lap around the bedroom first, then flew back to the Ke Ting, and just as it reached the doorway, it was knocked to the ground by the door suddenly opening.

Madam Cheng had heard from her daughter that the Eldest Branch was sick today and would be working from home.

Her keen sixth sense told her there was definitely something off about this!

So she dragged her daughter along and quietly came over.

Using the password she had wheedled and coerced out of Assistant Chen, they quietly opened the door.

The moment the door opened, she saw a little one—fair and tender, milky and soft, cute and adorable, like a blessing doll from a New Year painting.

Madam Cheng was instantly stunned.

The blessing doll was even running toward her with a 'pitter-patter pitter-patter'!

Just as she was about to squat down to catch the little one, she saw Small Dumpling squat on the ground and pick up the remote-control airplane.

Then the little one tilted her small head, her big watery grape-like eyes looking at her, and apologized in a sweet milky voice.

"I'm sorry, pretty auntie, Yu'an didn't mean to hit you with the little airplane."

This polite, cute, and adorable little appearance, along with the soft little milky voice, instantly won over Madam Cheng's heart.

She quickly stepped forward, picked up the little one, and asked.

"Sweetie, your name is Yu'an?"

Suddenly being picked up by this pretty auntie in front of her, Yu'an was still a bit dazed, blinked her eyes, and slowly nodded.

"Yes, pretty auntie, my name is Cheng Yu'an."

"Good, good, good!"

She has the surname Cheng!

Madam Cheng beamed from ear to ear.

At this moment, Cheng Sitao, who had vaguely heard the commotion, paused his meeting.

"Yu'an, what happened?"

Seeing those two uninvited guests at the door, he rubbed his forehead with a headache.

Things seemed to have gotten even worse.

How did they get here?