Elder Su's eyes welled up with tears as he tucked away the letter, ensuring it was safely kept close to him, then stood up from the chair and straightened his clothes.
After making sure his appearance was beyond reproach, Elder Su bowed respectfully to the Little Bun on the table, "Aunt Mianmian, your grandnephew presents his respects to you."
Mianmian, smiling brightly, rummaged through her small bag and pulled out two faintly glowing yellow whiskers to give to Elder Su, "Be a good boy, grandnephew, these are birthday and greeting gifts from Mianmian."
Bending over, Elder Su reached out with both hands to receive the gift respectfully. Upon touching the ginseng, he felt a jolt of energy and asked, "Auntie, what is this?"
"It's Grandfather Ginseng's whiskers. He heard Mianmian was going back to our ancestral home for her 60-year-old grandnephew's birthday and specially cut them off to send to you," she explained.
After answering her grandnephew's question, Mianmian's gaze fell on the bracelet on his wrist. She had noticed earlier that the pearl bracelet he was wearing was exuding Dark Qi.
"Grandnephew, you shouldn't wear this bracelet anymore," she warned.
Elder Su became very anxious and quickly removed the bracelet, "Little Auntie, have you noticed something?"
This bracelet was a gift from his eldest son's girlfriend, Lin Rou. It was said that by kneeling down on every step, she had managed to move the abbot of Fahua Temple to personally bless the bracelet with protective charms.
Trusting his eldest son's judgment of his girlfriend, Elder Su had always worn it.
Mianmian said earnestly, "This bracelet is imbued with resentment; it was made from human bones. Grandnephew, you have panda eyes, don't you struggle to sleep at night? It's because you're wearing this blessed bracelet."
When Elder Su heard "human bones," a chill ran down his spine.
Did his eldest son's girlfriend know about this?
Having already taken off the bracelet, he declared, "Fine, then I won't wear it, and I'll tell your grandniece-in-law not to wear it either."
Mianmian reached out, "Give it to me, grandnephew, it's not good to keep such things at your place."
Elder Su handed the bracelet over to Mianmian.
Mianmian put it into her small bag and secured it inside.
Su Chenfei listened to the back-and-forth between the two, completely baffled.
What resentment? A simple bracelet could reveal resentment, and how could such a small child be so superstitious?
As he was contemplating this, he suddenly felt a kick in the back of his leg, "What are you daydreaming about? I, your father, have already paid my respects to the Little Auntie, and you haven't even knelt down to kowtow to your aunt."
Su Chenfei's face contorted from the kick: %$%^$^%, forget it, he couldn't curse his own father.
A 20-year-old guy kowtowing to a baby, and having to address her as aunt, that was truly something he couldn't bring himself to do.
Elder Su knew what his younger son was thinking. He pressed down on his son's head, forcing him to kowtow loudly, "When I tell you to kowtow, you kowtow. Hurry up and call her properly, or you'll face family discipline."
Pressured by his father, Su Chenfei turned his face away, awkwardly and reluctantly, and called out softly to Mianmian, "Greetings, Little Auntie. Su Chenfei, your younger grandnephew, presents his respects to you."
Mianmian didn't care whether her grandnephew willingly kowtowed or was forced to, she had kowtowed to her mother's elders when she was young, and now she finally had someone to kowtow to her.
"Good, good, little grandnephew, here's a meeting gift for you too."
Her little pudgy hand reached into her small bag and pulled out another ginseng whisker to hand to Su Chenfei.
Su Chenfei raised his hands above his head to catch it, casually pinching the ginseng whisker as if it were a common weed by the roadside.
Elder Su, remembering what he had heard about Grandfather Ginseng's whiskers, knew this was a valuable item.
Seeing Su Chenfei play with it made him ache inside, and he slapped the top of Su Chenfei's head, "You wasteful fool, hand over the item to me, and then call the servants over."
Afterward, he spoke gently to Mianmian, "Little Auntie, you're a bit dirty. I'll have the maids take you for a bath and change your clothes, is that all right?"
Mianmian nodded her head; she indeed needed a bath.
It was then that Su Chenfei asked, "Dad, is my second brother bringing the kids over today?"
Elder Su knew who Su Chenfei was asking about, and his expression immediately soured, "Your second brother said the child has just fallen ill and can't be left alone, so he can't come home."
Su Chenfei touched his nose, wondering what he should do about his Variety Show if his nephews weren't coming back. Where would he find kids?
Wait a second, there was a child right in front of him. And perhaps, given Little Auntie's well-behaved nature just now, bringing the Little Auntie to the children's Variety Show might be better than taking his two nephews, since those two were quite mischievous.
"Dad, actually I have another matter I want to discuss with you." Su Chenfei said with a smile on his face, "I've taken on a live-stream variety show. It's going to start airing soon, and I was wondering if Little Auntie could join me on it?"
Elder Su was taken aback, "Variety show? What variety show?"
Su Chenfei explained, "It's one that films the daily life of me and my kid. It has a large audience, and I'm hoping that this show will help me make a comeback."
It was strange, but although Su Chenfei considered himself to have a talent for performing, aside from his first drama, nothing else he did ever took off, and he frequently ran into all kinds of bad luck.
Perhaps he wasn't cut out for the Entertainment Circle?
This show was specially vouched for him by a good brother. If this didn't work out, Su Chenfei was planning on giving up and looking for other hobbies.
After listening, Elder Su thought that if Little Auntie planned to use Dark Sect methods to accumulate merit, she would certainly need popularity.
He glanced at Little Auntie, who was sitting at the table swinging her legs, and nodded, "Let's wait until after the birthday banquet, then. Your auntie has just come down the mountain, she needs to adjust to things first. And the show isn't starting for a while anyway."
Su Chenfei felt his father had agreed halfway, "Then I'll go and call someone first."
When Su Chenfei reappeared in the Banquet Hall, it wasn't long before someone came over to suck up to him, "Seventh Master, you were busy inside just now and missed the funny incident that happened."
With his hands in his pockets, Su Chenfei casually glanced at the speaker, "What funny incident?"
"Over there, those people who were gathered to discuss your daughter managed to knock out their front teeth and were bleeding profusely. They've all gone to the hospital now."
Another young man eager to please Su Chenfei chimed in, "Exactly, it was terrible. Don't they see who our Seventh Master is? He's not someone they can gossip about casually."
Upon hearing this, Su Chenfei's heart skipped a beat, and he looked toward the ground where indeed a servant was cleaning and disinfecting.
Earlier when he came in carrying Aunt Mianmian, he also heard some people claiming that Aunt Mianmian was his illegitimate daughter and even brought up the rumors about him checking into a hotel with a woman at the age of 18.
At the time, Aunt Mianmian whispered in his ear, "My dear nephew, your auntie has punished those naughty people who were talking nonsense.
Was this the punishment? Making everyone who talked nonsense lose their front teeth?
Su Chenfei shuddered. Just a coincidence, right? Everyone grew up under the flag of the dragon; we don't entertain any feudal superstitions!
...
In the Su Family's Princess Room bathroom, Mianmian was seated in the bathtub, being pampered with a bath by the maid.
She was comfortably soaking when suddenly her nose tickled, and she sneezed loudly.
The maid by her side quickly wiped Mianmian's face with a towel and urgently instructed someone nearby, "Quick, have Doctor Liu wait outside. Little Auntie sneezed. She might have caught a cold."
Elder Su had informed everyone that the little Little Bun before them was of the highest seniority despite her small size, being the Little Auntie of the Su Family, and everyone must show respect.
Even Elder Su, when speaking to Little Auntie, would do so with a bowed back, akin to a junior member of the family, so how could the servants dare to neglect her?
Mianmian rubbed her little nose, with a big blob of white foam on the tip of it, and blinked her eyes, "No need, it's just someone saying bad things about Mianmian. It's not a cold."
Her face was the first thing cleaned, looking like a pretty porcelain doll, with delicate foam flowers on top, comical yet adorable.
The three maids were charmed, praising, "Little Auntie is so pretty and cute, just like a little fairy that came down from heaven."
"If my kids could be as good-looking as Little Auntie in the future, that would be great."
"Alas, I only have a naughty son. When can I have a daughter?"
Mianmian glanced at the face of the maid who had just spoken and said with a smile, "You'll have a daughter soon, don't worry about it."
After that, she hummed an unfamiliar song, enjoying the comfort of the warm bath.
She had arrived directly from the mountain on a Flying Sword. Daddy said she couldn't be seen, so she also put on an invisibility talisman.
Although she and the Sword were invisible, on the way she encountered a large chimney, and out of curiosity, she took a longer look at it, only to have her clothes and face dirtied by the dark soot it spewed out.
Now that her big nephew had arranged for someone to bathe her, she was very happy.
The letter was also delivered. After her bath and giving the gift, she decided to try some food from the base of the mountain for a change, and then she would immediately go home to find Mommy!