Transmigrating into the Genius Cannon Fodder’s Aunt

Chapter 58 – Little Angel Prepares A New Debut

After Xiao Feng’s birthday, the weather grew colder by the day as if winter had arrived overnight. That morning, Xia Mian was sleeping soundly when she heard Xia Wenyue outside exclaiming in surprise, “It’s snowing! Wow, such heavy snow!”

Xia Mian’s eyes flew open. Just as she was about to lift the covers to take a look out the window, the cold air rushing in gave her a sharp shiver, and she quickly retreated under the blanket. But in the process, she accidentally flipped part of Xiao Feng’s blanket as well, waking the little guy with a jolt from the cold.

“Auntie?” the child rubbed his eyes, feeling the chill too, and snuggled deeper into the blanket.

“Kids, don’t get up yet,” Xia Wenyue called from outside. “I’m going to add more coal to the boiler. Wait until it’s warm, or you’ll catch a cold.”

One of the great things about this courtyard house was its central heating system. It was just an old-fashioned system with cast iron radiators, but still far better than using a coal stove. Otherwise, winter would have been miserable. From Xia Mian’s memory, using a coal stove was not only barely warm but also filthy, with soot everywhere and nails always blackened.

Just thinking about that, Xia Mian shivered again in relief.

Xia Wenyue had never experienced central heating before, but after learning how to use it, she came to appreciate its benefits. Still, being frugal as that generation was, she never used much coal—just enough to keep the house from freezing. Today was clearly an exception.

Xiao Feng had heard her too and burrowed deeper under the covers. After a while, Xia Mian felt a warm little foot stretch over and nudge her arm.

She grabbed it. “Oh, my! What do we have here?”

Xiao Feng giggled and squirmed. Xia Mian let go, pulled the blanket open, and the little guy quickly rolled into her arms. “Auntie!”

“Mm~” His little body was like a warm furnace.

“Come on, let’s stretch and grow taller!” Xia Mian ran her hand from his head to his toes. The child stretched with all his might, arching his back, then burst into laughter.

The frigid wind howled outside, but inside the house, the aunt and nephew snuggled closely under the blankets, enveloped in warmth and happiness.

Soon, Xia Wenyue came in, placing a set of little cotton-padded jackets and pants on the radiator by their bed. “It’s especially cold today—put these thick clothes on him.”

Xiao Feng flipped over and peeked his little head out to look at the outfit. “Mine?”

“That’s right, yours,” said Xia Wenyue. “Great Aunt made them just for you. They’ll keep you warm.”

Xiao Feng beamed.

He played around in Xia Mian’s arms for a while. Once the room warmed up, Xia Mian quickly got dressed and fetched the padded outfit from the radiator—it was toasty from the heat.

“Wow, so warm! Quick, put it on while it’s hot!”

Xiao Feng sat up and stretched out his arms and legs. Once dressed, Xia Mian couldn’t help but laugh—the padded red jacket with white polka dots was so thick they made him look like a little puffball. His arms stuck out stiffly at his sides like a penguin chick.

Seeing him, Xia Mian felt secretly grateful that Xia Wenyue was too busy with her stall and had no time to make padded outfits for the entire family—only the two youngest kids had them. Otherwise, she’d be waddling around like a snowball too.

Outside, Mao Huizhu was already loud. Xia Mian pulled the curtain aside to see a world blanketed in white.

Xiao Feng gasped in awe at the sight.

Even though she had grown up in the north, the sight of the pure-white world after a heavy snowfall still filled Xia Mian with joy every time. Years later, in her time, such scenes would be rare in Yan City. Now, seeing the “goose feather snow” described in old textbooks, she realized those metaphors weren’t exaggerated at all.

Xiao Feng clambered out of bed and rushed off to find Mao Huizhu.

Xia Mian put a hat and gloves on him and layered on another coat. She smiled watching the little bundle try to waddle out the door, clumsily stepping over the threshold.

Soon, the sound of children’s laughter echoed outside. When Xia Mian stepped out, the snow had already piled past her ankles. Snowflakes still fluttered from the sky as Mao Zhishan shoveled pathways from the main house to the other rooms.

Xiao Feng chased after Mao Huizhu, running along the narrow paths between the snowbanks. One little penguin chick had become two waddling ones.

Unaccustomed to his bulky clothes, Xiao Feng tripped and toppled into the snow. He tried to roll over, but the padded jacket was too thick. After flailing his limbs helplessly, he ended up lying on his back like an overturned turtle.

Mao Huizhu turned back, saw him, and burst into laughter, clapping her hands.

Xia Mian laughed too, watching him squirm like a flipped turtle.

Hearing her laughter, Xiao Feng stopped struggling. He glanced at her, then relaxed and lay still, arms and legs spread wide.

Xia Mian walked over and saw him gazing up at the sky, where large snowflakes drifted down onto his face and eyes. He smiled, “So pretty!”

His expression was so peaceful that Mao Huizhu ran over and rolled into the snow beside him. She lay still for a moment, then exclaimed, “Wow! It really is so pretty!”

“Really?” Xia Mian looked at the thick snow on the ground, which almost seemed to tempt her to lie down too…

Before long, four people were lying in a row in the middle of the snowy courtyard: Xiao Feng, Mao Huizhu, Xia Mian, and Mao Huilan.

When Chenchen, also bundled up tightly, was carried in by Ning Shaobai, he screamed in fright, “Ahh! Uncle, they’re dead!”

Ning Shaobai: “…” ‘This family’s really good at enjoying themselves.’

“They’re not dead.” He put his nephew down. “Look, they’re still moving.”

Chenchen wobbled over to check on the ‘corpses.’ Hearing the commotion, Xia Wenyue came out, saw the scene in the snow, got so mad she looked around, picked up a broom head, and threw it at Mao Huilan. “Go shovel the snow! Are you still kids yourselves?”

Mao Huilan and Xia Mian scrambled up and ran off, leaving the two little ones flailing on their backs in the snow.

Chenchen laughed out loud when he saw this.

But by the time Xia Mian and Mao Huilan returned from shoveling the snow at the gate, there were three kids lying in the snow now—and not just lying there, but rolling around. That was the benefit of wearing thick cotton clothes: even though they were bulky, you could play freely without worry.

The snow kept falling for several days. Kindergarten was closed, and Xia Wenyue’s skewer stall also paused—she now only sold baked sesame cakes. Her skill in making them was actually quite good. After pairing the baked goods with skewered hotpots for a while, she’d gained a loyal customer base. She only needed to open the stall for an hour during school drop-off and pick-up times. The rest of the time, regulars would come straight to the house—quite convenient.

When primary and secondary schools also let out for winter break, Xia Wenyue closed the stall entirely, and Xia Mian and Mao Huilan started staying cooped up in the east wing’s study, focusing all day on their schoolwork.

When they learned Mao Zhishan had finished filming in Yan City and would be heading to City C with Xia Wenyue going along, the two girls nearly cheered out loud.

“We leave the day after tomorrow,” Xia Wenyue said, then gave them both a cold smirk. “I signed you up for winter break tutoring at the tutoring center. You’d better go on time every day!”

Xia Mian tried to bargain, “Second Aunt, no need. I can do all the worksheets the teacher gave us.” With how cold it was, staying home was so much better—classrooms couldn’t possibly be as warm as home!

“I said go, so you’ll go.” Xia Wenyue snapped. “If I let you two stay at home every day, I’m afraid you’ll wreck not just our house, but someone else’s too.”

“Anyway, you girls cannot be trusted. Go to class on time. I’ll be asking the teacher when I get back. If I find out you skipped or pulled anything…”

The two girls were so guilty they didn’t even dare respond. Xia Wenyue clearly still hadn’t forgotten about the incident of Ning Shaobai’s electric fan…

Back then, Xia Mian had confidently taken the fan apart, thinking she could easily put them back again. Just a few little screws, right? Easy peasy! But when she finally tried to assemble it, the fan blades just wouldn’t go on correctly!

An electronic appliance had clearly been out of reach for the previous Mao couple, so even Mao Zhishan had no idea how to fix it. Left with no other option, Xia Mian tried to sneak out with the disassembled fan, planning to find a repair shop to put it back together. But just as she stepped out, she ran into Uncle Li. When he found out she was about to spend money on getting it reassembled, he firmly told her no—and fixed it himself on the spot.

Later, someone accidentally let it slip, and Xia Wenyue found out. Both Xia Mian and Mao Huilan got smacked and had to swear they’d never mess around again.

This incident taught Xia Wenyue a lesson: Xia Mian was clearly a mischievous one, even more than her middle daughter, and couldn’t be trusted to stay put without causing an accident.

Seeing the two were temporarily behaving, Xia Wenyue still didn’t let her guard down. She warned them again, “You’ve got a transfer exam after the New Year. You’d better shape up. This is your one chance—if you don’t pass, you can come sell sesame cakes with me.”

The tutoring was a foregone conclusion. After being labeled a delinquent at first glance by Li Lizhen and Sun Yuexin, Xia Mian realized that if she was going to start over here, appearances mattered, so before classes started, she went ahead and bought a good-quality wig. With the cold weather, wearing it wasn’t as stuffy.

Winter break classes were different from the usual ones. With finals just wrapped up, student numbers were two or three times higher than normal, and over half would be her future schoolmates—maybe even classmates—so she had to take her first appearance seriously.

She chose a student-style wig: short, easy to manage, and by the time her real hair grew out in the warmer months, it would naturally match the wig’s length.

Beige knit hat, gray turtleneck sweater, and a down jacket—Xia Mian had splurged on her makeover outfits. The jacket, in particular, was thinner than a cotton-padded one and didn’t look as puffy. She added a wide belt at the waist as a fashion statement. Paired with jeans and cashmere-lined boots, she looked like her ideal image of a little angel: slim, tall, and trendy.

Xiao Feng looked at her transformation and clapped. “Auntie’s so pretty!”

Xia Mian pinched his cheek. “In your eyes, even if Auntie were a monster, she’d still be pretty. Come on, let’s go find Auntie Ning.”

After the winter break started, Xiao Feng would go to Zhu Yuanhai’s every couple of days to paint. Xia Mian had gone with him twice at first. Zhu Yuanhai really liked Xiao Feng, and being the youngest of his students, Xiao Feng was loved by all his senior peers. He was especially talented, and everyone enjoyed painting with him.

He fit in like a fish in water. Xia Mian eventually stopped going—Ning Shaoyun would take him over and bring him back, and even without asking, she could tell Xiao Feng always enjoyed himself.

When Ning Shaoyun saw the two approaching, she smiled. “Who’s this beauty? So pretty!”

Xia Mian twirled proudly. “Haha, off to tutoring center—gotta make a good impression.”

“You sure it’s not a false impression?” Ning Shaobai’s voice came from behind. “Don’t scare your classmates when the truth comes out.”

Xia Mian took a deep breath and reminded herself: ‘Starting today, I’m an angel. Calm. No temper. No snapping.’

She turned back with a bright smile. “That’s none of your concern, Dr. Ning.”

“Is that so?” Ning Shaobai raised an eyebrow.

Seeing him staring at her wig, Xia Mian remembered his past pranks. She immediately covered her head in alarm and quickly told Xiao Feng, “Auntie’s going to class—you stay with Auntie Ning, okay?”

She decided it was best to avoid this man, the greatest obstacle on her path to becoming a little angel, before he made a waste of her efforts!

Watching Xia Mian flee, Ning Shaoyun glared at her brother and muttered, “Why do you always tease her?”

Ning Shaobai let out a chukle.