Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: ”Luo Shenyao” and ”Fragrance Comes” (Part 3)

Luo Shufan was silent for a long time, the house was eerily quiet, only the sound of three breathing, slight friction of colored rope and fingers, and the rubbing of nail polish brushes and shells were heard. The rest was just the sound of cicadas coming in from outside the window.

Luo Shufan suddenly looked up, ”How about ’Qianqian Brand’? It’s your idea, your materials from the beach, if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even be fussing about this here.”

”Oh, so big brother is sick of my fuss, why not just call it Luo Qianqian then, and ’Qianqian Brand’, why not call it ’Carved Brand’? Isn’t it better if it’s artistic? We are selling shells and decorations like that, you need some artistic flavor, even if it can’t be like ’Qingping Yue’ or ’Xijiang Yue’, it should still have some artistic taste,” Luo Qianqian said looking disdainfully at her brother, typical straight male naming methods.

”So much drama, and it has to be artistic, might as well just go with ’Nian Nujiao’ then,” Luo Shufan muttered under his breath, turning his face away.

Luo Qianqian heard her brother’s quiet muttering, really wanted to kick him to death for still complaining about her being troublesome, not realizing the name he chose was even more annoying, not to mention that the things he made were still called ’Nian Nujiao’. If it were ancient style accessories, no problem, go with ’Nian Nujiao’. However, it’s just that these were things rarely seen in ancient times; she truly didn’t know where her brother’s mind was, or maybe it had been eaten by a zombie last time.

”Our family name is Luo, the most artistic thing I can think of related to Luo is ’Luo Shenfu’. How about we call it ’Luo Shenyao’?” Luo Shufan looked seriously at his sister, this time she better not come up with any excuses like it doesn’t include Xiao Yu’s name, he thought about this very carefully.

”Wow, not bad. Let’s go with that. Should I write it? After I’m done writing, could you cut it out and paste it onto the cardboard?” Luo Qianqian nodded in satisfaction.

”Finally, no excuses to disagree, that’s rare,” Luo Shufan muttered softly, but sensibly picked up the scissors. These things were so sharp, he couldn’t let the two kids touch them.

Luo Qianqian, hearing her brother’s complaints, felt both annoyed and amused, but still picked up the white paper and after hovering between the brush and the colored markers for a while, she chose to use colored markers. The brush was really hard to manage, but with colored markers and a designed artistic font, it looked good.

’Luo Shenyao’ was painted in a dark blue as the main color, symbolizing the sea — the origin of shells. Mo blue was chosen for the shade and sky blue for the highlights. The end of the ocean and merging of sky and water, that’s what these three characters stood for.

’Fragrance Comes’ was written in vermilion as the main color, fluorescent yellow as a bright color, and a deep red for the shade, just like freshly cooked pig’s trotters and chicken feet, glowing red with an oily sheen. Drawn by scent and coming in droves, that’s the true depiction of ’Fragrance Comes’.

Although the characters lacked charming elegance, the three of them were quite satisfied. He Wenyu put down the Chinese knot he just finished, leaned forward to look, and said, ”Qianqian wrote really well, I only recognize ’wen’, ’lai’, and ’Luo’ of these six characters. Next time I study Chinese characters, I must learn to write a few of these first.”

Luo Shufan carefully picked up the drawing book, afraid he might accidentally tear it due to being too rough. Holding the drawing paper in his left hand and scissors in his right, his hand trembled slightly.

”Big brother, you cut it first, Xiao Yu and I will paste it later. You go downstairs later and ask Grandma for a piece of cardboard about the size of two TV screens, preferably one that folds perfectly in half. The cardboard is still a bit soft,” Luo Qianqian said as she noticed her brother tremble when she suddenly spoke, cutting off the dot in ’Luo’ of ’Luo Shenyao’, and watched her brother’s face slowly turn sour, secretly delighting in her mischief.

He Wenyu watching Luo Shufan’s sour face and Luo Qianqian’s sneaky expression also couldn’t help but take mischievous delight in their misfortune, and laughed.

”Today, we’re going to accomplish something great. To celebrate our triumphant start, I’ve decided to personally cook a delicious meal for you all to look forward to.” Luo Qianqian patted her butt and left, leaving a content Luo Shufan battling with scissors and paper, and a hopeful He Wenyu struggling with colored rope.

If this were her previous life, He Wenyu would definitely jump up to stop her from entering the kitchen, not wanting to eat the unidentifiable food, nor wanting to witness the destruction of the kitchen.

Take, for example, the dish that made her famous among her circle of friends: Tomato Beef Brisket with Silver Ear Mushroom, Lotus Seeds, Lily Bulbs, Sago Pearls, Honey, and Milk Yam Soup. While each ingredient was fine on its own, when mixed together, they caused everyone to have diarrhea and end up at the hospital for IV drips. Since then, all acquaintances kept their distance from any dish Luo Qianqian prepared. Only rice was safe to eat; even noodles were questioned for their ingredients, spices, and cooking method.

But now, the household no longer had those assorted, chaotic ingredients, so making something ordinary shouldn’t be a problem. Luo Qianqian’s lips curled into a smile as she rummaged through the kitchen supplies.

Potatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and corn—corn with potatoes? Cucumbers with potatoes? Eggplant with potatoes? Cucumbers with eggplant? Cucumbers with corn? Eggplant with corn?...

Consequently, Luo Qianqian washed three cucumbers and placed them on a plate, bringing them to the table.

However, Luo Shufan, flustered, ran into the kitchen and grabbed Luo Qianqian, looking her over from left to right, top to bottom. Only when he saw his sister unharmed and the kitchen knife untouched did he sigh in relief, ”I’ve finished cutting, you guys go and glue. You’re too young to cook, having an older brother is enough, just tell me what you want to eat.”

Luo Qianqian lowered her eyes to hide her touched feelings, nodded, and pointed at the untouched cucumbers on the table, ”My cooking’s right there. I’m not a fool, brother, don’t worry about me.”

”Pfft—” Luo Shufan couldn’t help but laugh seeing the cucumbers, truly worthy of his quirky little sister. He waved his hand, motioning for her to go ahead with her tasks while leaving the cooking to him. As soon as he finished speaking, the originally very concerned brother hung his head like a wilted eggplant. He was very reluctant to cook but was afraid his sister might get hurt. Watching his sisters busily engaged on the floor and pretending to forget their pickiness about food, he gritted his teeth, made noodles that his sister disliked, and served her a bowl of zhajiangmian, the only difference being her portion was noticeably more cucumber than noodles.

He had no idea that because of this bowl of noodles, he wouldn’t escape his sister managing his finances for the next few years, not seeing a single penny of the money he earned, having to submit reports and written requests even just to make a purchase.

At the dinner table, Luo Qianqian decided to assign the grueling tasks to her loving brother Luo Shufan: fetching pork trotters and chicken feet? Of course, Luo Shufan, we’re just kids. Taking a bunch of sea shells made from them to the train station? Of course Luo Shufan, we don’t have the strength. Calling out to sell things? Of course Luo Shufan, children are easily trafficked, we’ll just stick to collecting money and bagging behind the scenes. Looking for customers? Of course Luo Shufan, we’re so young, how could we accurately find needy customers? Cleaning up? Of course Luo Shufan, we’ve been busy so long, we’re still children, our bodies can’t take it; we’ve even skipped our nap to come out and hawk with you, what else do you want?

When Luo Shufan went to the He family to bring back the plastic bag filled with pork trotters and chicken feet, he saw his sister holding the small cloth bag used for collecting money and laughing foolishly, he couldn’t help but say, ”Luo Qianqian, you should work at a bank in the future; you’d surely be in a great mood every day, counting money all the time.”

”Are you silly?” Luo Qianqian snapped back as soon as she heard her brother say this, ”The money in banks belongs to other people, what’s there to be happy about? Isn’t it even more upsetting looking at all that money that isn’t yours?”

”It smells so good, should we have a little bite first?” He Wenyu appeared just in time in front of the bag Luo Shufan was holding, his face glowing as if a bachelor had seen a supremely beautiful woman.

”It really smells good, Auntie is amazing. Hey hey... Luo Shufan! Xiao Yu!... You guys better not start eating!!! That’s for sale!!! Hey hey hey!!! Save some for me!!! Don’t eat too much, that’s all money!!!”