Transmigrating into the Genius Cannon Fodder’s Aunt

Chapter 140 – Qiangqiang!

After the parent-teacher conference, Xiao Feng stayed in a high mood for quite a while. Seeing this, Xia Mian quietly made up her mind to be involved as much as possible in his school events.

By the time she was taking her final exams, Mao Huimei had successfully defended her thesis and graduated. Her postponed wedding was now officially scheduled for mid-July. However, it was also the busiest time at the factory, so it ended up being Xia Wenyue and Mao Zhishan who took charge of the entire preparations.

These days, Xia Wenyue only goes to the factory four or five days a week. The rest of her time was spent preparing the dowry. She seemed to have a new idea every day, as if she would never be done until the very last moment.

Mao Zhishan happened to be filming in town, which gave him plenty of chances to come home. With Mao Huizhu on break, she tagged along whenever possible. The little girl certainly had a natural flair for drama and blended seamlessly into the set. She often played in front of the camera, mostly as an uncredited extra, though occasionally she landed a line or two.

On the final day of the exams, the moment Xia Mian completed her last paper, she hurried home at once, backpack still slung over her shoulders.

Before she even stepped through the door, she could already hear the lively commotion in the Mao family courtyard. Her heart leapt with joy, and she quickened her pace, only to run headfirst into someone at the entrance.

“Ah—!” Xia Mian stumbled back a step. The person she bumped into staggered back several more steps before landing flat on the ground.

Seeing the boy grimacing in pain, Xia Mian burst into a surprised smile. “Qiangqiang!” Then she said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, “What were you running so fast for?”

Qiangqiang had already scrambled back to his feet and was rubbing his backside, grinning. “Auntie Mian!”

“I was checking if you guys were back!”

The now twelve-year-old boy stood up to her chest. His features had matured, and he was clearly becoming a young man, though she couldn’t help but wonder if he was still as mischievous as before.

“I’m waiting for Xiao Feng,” Qiangqiang said with a grin. “Auntie Mian, where’s Xiao Feng?”

Xia Mian ruffled his hair with a smile. “Xiao Feng’s at his painting class. He won’t be back until five or six. Huizhu went out with Uncle. And remember Chenchen? You used to play with him too when you were little—he’s at a competition and will also be back in the evening. Don’t worry, there are plenty of kids around. You won’t be lonely.”

Qiangqiang laughed, scratching his head.

“What about your grandparents and parents? Are they all here?”

Since Mao Huimei was getting married and the Mao family didn’t plan to invite many people, Xia Wenyue and Xia Mian had both agreed to bring over the entire household of Eldest Uncle. Partly to attend the wedding, and partly to reunite with the family and show them around Yan City.

For people who’d never left the county town their whole lives, Yan City was full of excitement. Over the next few days, Xia Mian planned to take them out to explore.

Just as she finished asking, Xia Chuan came out of the living room and said happily, “Well, well, our college student is back!”

“Brother Chuan!” Xia Mian ran over excitedly. His two brothers also came out to greet her. Xia He patted her shoulder and said with a smile, “You’re sure getting prettier!”

“Hehe, and you’re getting cooler, Second Brother.” Xia Mian laughed and followed them into the house, where she saw the two elders sitting on the sofa.

“Uncle, Aunt!”

“Good, good!” The eldest uncle’s face wrinkled with joy. “Another college student in the Xia family!”

His wife took Xia Mian’s hands, eyes misting up. “You’ve really grown up. You’ll have a bright future.”

When the news came last year that she had been accepted to Yanbei Normal University, the eldest aunt-in-law had choked up on the phone. Later, she asked for a copy of the admission notice and went to burn it at Xia Mian’s parents’ graves.

Xia Mian bent down to hug them both. “We’ll have more and more college students in our family. Huilan just finished her exams, too.”

“Yes, yes!” The eldest uncle beamed. “She said she’s sure she’ll get in, right?”

“She will.”

This year, Mao Huilan was taking the college entrance exam. Because the family had already been through the process with Xia Mian once, they handled it much more easily this time.

Huilan’s grades were above average. Although she couldn’t make it into Yan or Hua University, she had no problem getting into a top-tier university. She chose to major in economics and management.

The cousins all looked on with envy. Xia Hai gave Qiangqiang a light slap on the butt and said, “Look at your aunts—both college students. Xiao Feng and Huizhu will be college students too in the future. Only you spend all day playing around. At this rate, you’ll end up stuck at home doing carpentry work with me!”

Qiangqiang didn’t take it to heart. “What’s wrong with being a carpenter?”

“If I go to college, who’s going to do the carpentry at home? You can’t still be working at your age, right? I can’t be so unfilial.”

He had a whole logic of his own. “And what about our land? Perfect—I’ll take over Dad’s work as a carpenter, and Pangpang can take over Second Uncle’s work and farm our land.”

Xia He snapped, “If you don’t want to study, then be a carpenter all you want, but don’t drag Pangpang into it! My Pangpang isn’t farming any land!”

Pangpang was Xia He’s son. He was a year and a half old, curled up in his mother Hong Juan’s arms, half-asleep.

Hearing his name called, the boy suddenly perked up, turned his head toward his father and cousin, gave a wide grin, and let out a cheerful “Ah~!”

Hong Juan gave his chubby little butt a gentle pat. “Ah, what? Don’t listen to your brother, Pangpang. You’ll grow up and go to college too, become a college student.”

Whether Pangpang understood or not was anyone’s guess, but he grinned anyway, showing off a row of tiny milk teeth that weren’t even fully in yet. He kicked his pudgy legs, absolutely adorable.

Xia Mian ran over and poked his chubby cheek with her finger. “You’ve grown so big already, huh? Hello, Pangpang, I’m your auntie.”

Pangpang immediately grabbed her finger and laughed with squinty eyes.

Xia Mian was melting from the cuteness. She gently tugged on his little hand. “Such strong little hands. What a good boy.”

Hong Juan stroked his little head with a smile. “Good? He’s just quiet now because he can’t talk or run properly yet. Once he’s older, he’ll be a little rascal.”

Xia Mian laughed. “Can he possibly be more mischievous than Qiangqiang?”

The eldest uncle instantly lamented. “We absolutely can’t have another Qiangqiang! The whole house will be torn down in their hands!”

Everyone burst into laughter. Pangpang saw everyone laughing and flapped his little arms, giggling along with his family.

As they were chatting and laughing, Mao Huilan came in carrying a tray. “Sis, come help me!”

Xia Mian quickly lifted the sheer curtain and rushed out to take the tray from her sister-in-law Li Fang. “Go sit down, I’ve got this.”

One by one, the dishes were brought to the table. Finally, Xia Wenyue came in with the meat sauce. “Come on, try Yan City-style sauced noodles. I learned it from someone especially.”

“Where’s Xiang’er? Is the baby asleep? Call her to come eat.”

Xia Chuan peeked into the inner room, and shortly after came out with a pretty young woman—his wife, Li Xiang’er.

The year Xia Mian came back from her hometown, Xia Chuan was still reeling from the trauma of Ma Lili. After that, he decided to listen to his parents’ advice, went on two blind dates, and ended up liking Li Xiang’er. They were married by the end of the year, and early the following year, their daughter was born, a girl they named Dudu.

Just now, Li Xiang’er had been in the room nursing the baby and putting her to sleep.

Looking at her face, Xia Mian thought, Xia Chuan didn’t have high standards—he just liked pretty girls.

Li Xiang’er was a bit shy and followed Xia Chuan’s lead in everything. She looked very gentle and obedient.

Xia Wenyue chuckled. “Sure enough! Once a man gets married and becomes a father, he becomes more mature. He used to be such a handful!”

The eldest uncle and his wife both looked at their youngest with pleased smiles.

The aunt-in-law said, “At least we’ve done our part in raising them. How they turn out from now on is up to them.”

Xia Wenyue handed over bowls of noodles. “They’re all good kids. Things will only keep getting better.”

The eldest uncle looked at his family, his eyes filled with contentment—clearly, he felt the same way.

After a long train ride, everyone was starving. Even little Pangpang was holding a small bowl of his own, grabbing noodles and slurping them down.

Qiangqiang, having finished his own, sneakily yanked the noodles from Pangpang’s bowl. The little one didn’t even notice, still puckering his lips and trying to eat, shoving his tiny fist toward his mouth when he couldn’t get the noodles.

Li Fang smacked Qiangqiang lightly. “Can you behave for a moment? Why do you keep teasing him? Are you going to be the one to calm him down if he starts crying?”

Seeing Pangpang frown, Hong Juan quickly stuffed another noodle into his bowl and warned Qiangqiang, “You mess with him again, and he’s sleeping with you tonight.”

Qiangqiang replied, “No way, I’m sleeping with Xiao Feng tonight.”

Xia Hai chimed in, “Xiao Feng’s going to college! He’s not sleeping with some future carpenter like you.”

As he spoke, Xia Hai sighed. “What are we going to do with this kid? Doing nothing but cause trouble every day!”

“He’s got a smart brain, just doesn’t use it on anything decent.”

“The teacher called me in the other day,” Xia Hai’s frustration grew as he spoke, “All the other kids had dreams of becoming astronauts, scientists, pilots… and what about him? His dream is to be a carpenter!”

Qiangqiang didn’t care, “They’re just making stuff up. Goudan wants to be a scientist?” He scoffed, “What’s he going to study? How to take a dump in Great Uncle Chengzu’s pumpkins?”

Li Fang smacked her son on the back. “We’re eating! What are you talking about?”

Qiangqiang hunched his shoulders and fell silent, but Mao Huilan’s curiosity was already piqued. “Now I have to know what that’s about.”

Goudan was a distant relative of the Xia family, living in the same neighborhood.

Hearing it involved Second Uncle, Xia Mian got interested too. “Second Uncle’s place again? What did you all do this time?”

Qiangqiang glanced at his parents. Seeing that they didn’t stop him, he got excited and began retelling the story with great flair.

“Great Uncle likes to steal stuff, right?”

“Well, Goudan’s family had this pumpkin. The inside was rotten, but the outside still looked perfect—you couldn’t tell.”

“So then I—uh, I mean, Goudan—used a little knife to cut a hole in it. Then we all took turns pooping in it. Afterward, we sealed the hole back up and left it outside Goudan’s door.”

As he spoke, he broke into a wide grin. “Sure enough, Great Uncle Chengzu sneaked over and stole it.”

Remembering the scene, Qiangqiang started laughing uncontrollably.

“We were hiding near his door, and not long after, we heard him yelling inside: ‘Ah, my knife! My cutting board!’ ‘My pumpkin…ʼ”

He waved his arms around and bobbed his head, perfectly mimicking Second Uncle’s tone and mannerisms, making the whole table burst into laughter.

Xia Mian and Mao Huilan were laughing so hard they had tears streaming down their faces. These kids were just too naughty!

Qiangqiang was doubled over with laughter himself and kept going. “Can you believe he sliced through a whole cutting board of poop and still didn’t throw away the knife or the board…”

“He kept using them every day to cook! When they sat down to eat—”

“Enough!” Li Fang gave him another smack. “Let us eat in peace!”

Xia Hai exploded. “And you say it was Goudan’s idea? Goudan just provided the pumpkin! The whole thing was your plan, wasn’t it?”

“It wasn’t!” Qiangqiang straightened up immediately, clearly on alert, ready to bolt at any second. “It was Goudan! I just… helped with the pooping…”

But Xia Hai had already jumped to his feet, and Qiangqiang turned and ran.

The whole table roared with laughter as father and son dashed around in a chase.

The dinner was lively, but after that, no one really felt like eating their noodles anymore…

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