At the wedding earlier, when Jiang Li said Tong Yi should call her aunt, Tong Xu thought Jiang Li was simply joking to ease the awkward mood. But now, it was obvious that Jiang Li was defending Tong Yi. In this situation, Tong Xu felt it inappropriate to approach, but Tong Youyou didn’t think so. She tried to wriggle free from Tong Xu’s grip, insisting, “Brother doesn’t have to go, I’ll go by myself. I really like Sister, and I want to go play with her.”
Tong Xu didn’t let her go. He said softly, “You like her, but she might not like you back. Wouldn’t it be better not to go?”
Tong Youyou frowned deeply and tried to slap Tong Xu’s hand away, “I like Sister, so I want to go to her. She never said she didn’t like me, and I’ll make an effort to get her to like me.”
Tong Xu’s grip on Tong Youyou subconsciously loosened, and before he could react, the girl had already run off. Hesitating for a few seconds, Tong Xu also stepped out from the flower bushes and walked towards Jiang Li and Tong Yi.
Although Youyou’s young, what she said makes sense.
“Sister, Sister, can I swing with you? I won’t be naughty,” Tong Youyou called out before she even arrived, running up to Jiang Li and blinking cutely.
Seeing Tong Youyou, Tong Yi couldn’t resist teasing her, “You call her Sister like that, but does she even know you? Quite a bold girl we have here, huh?”
Tong Youyou lifted her chin proudly, “Of course Sister knows me! She stayed at our house last night, and I even gave her candy.”
Tong Yi clicked his tongue, “Are you running off on your own? Wait until your dad spanks you.”
“My dad wouldn’t spank me, he loves me the most!” Tong Youyou retorted confidently, “And it was my brother who brought me here just now, I didn’t run off by myself.” Then she frowned at Tong Yi, “Second Brother, you’re the one who runs off. You haven’t come home in a long time, and when you finally do, you run all over the place.”
As Tong Youyou bickered with Tong Yi, Tong Xu also arrived. He approached Jiang Li and said in a gentle voice, “My little sister likes you a lot, Miss Jiang. This kid saw you leave the venue and insisted I bring her over to see you. She made such a fuss, so I had no choice but to come disturb Miss Jiang.”
Tong Youyou made a face, “It was clearly Brother who said he’d bring me to find Sister, and now he’s lying. Bad guy!”
“…” Tong Xu had momentarily forgotten his sister’s quirky and spirited nature. Right, trying to make Youyou take the blame was never easy!
Tong Yi gave Tong Xu a sideway glance, then lowered his head and asked Tong Youyou, “Why did your brother want to bring you to see Sister Jiang Li?”
Tong Youyou frowned and thought a second, “Maybe Brother also likes Sister. I like her too, so I followed.” Then she looked at Tong Yi, “Second Brother, you must like Sister too. Those pretty sisters who talked to you before, you always…”
Tong Yi flicked her forehead lightly, “What pretty sisters? Kids shouldn’t lie.”
Tong Youyou covered her head with her hands, “There were, really! Those pretty sisters came to talk to you, but you ignored them. I even saw one pretty sister you made so upset, she ran away crying.”
At this point, Tong Youyou suddenly sighed, “The pretty sister cried because she was heartbroken, I can understand that.”
Tong Yi lifted Tong Youyou by her arms, then looked down into her eyes, “Kid, how old are you this year? Why do you understand so much already?”
Tong Youyou shifted around, straightening the clothes Tong Yi had wrinkled, “I’m eight years old, of course I know a lot. There are boys in my class who like me, but I don’t like them because they’re all childish.”
Hearing her childlike chatter, Jiang Li chuckled, “So, Youyou, what kind of person do you like?”
Without hesitation, Tong Youyou answered, “I like people like you, Sister. Second Brother used to be nice too. When I was in kindergarten, he would play games with me and tell me stories, but then he stopped playing with me.” Towards the end, Tong Youyou’s mood became a little down.
Tong Yi flicked her forehead, “You used to like me, and now you like Sister Jiang Li. What about your elder brother? Don’t you like him?”
Tong Youyou stole a glance at Tong Xu and whispered in explanation, “Brother has always been busy. He hardly pays attention to me, but… I still like him, because he just brought me to Sister.”
When children lie, they always look especially guilty. In Tong Youyou’s heart, both Tong Xu and Tong Yi were her brothers, but she felt closer to Tong Yi, who had taken care of her when she was younger.
Jiang Li pulled Tong Youyou over from Tong Yi and put the little girl next to her on the same swing, “Make sure you sit tight. If you fall and scrape your knee, you’ll end up crying.”
Tong Youyou looked up, arguing, “I’m already a Young Pioneer1, I won’t cry.”
“No Young Pioneer scarf, yet claiming to be one? Are you lying?” Tong Yi deliberately teased her.
Tong Youyou retorted, “I’m not lying. My scarf is at home. We only wear it to school, not during holidays.”
Tong Yi shrugged, “Well, I didn’t see it.”
Tong Youyou snorted, “You are a meanie, I won’t talk to you anymore.”
Tong Yi nodded, “Yeah, meanie people often accuse others of the same. We all know you’re a meanie too.”
Tong Youyou: “…”
Being young and not having a vast vocabulary, Tong Youyou couldn’t out-talk Tong Yi. She just scrunched up her nose and brows, then looked at Jiang Li pitifully, obviously seeking help.
Jiang Li comforted the girl with a smile, “Your Second Brother is drunk. Let’s not stoop to arguing with a drunkard, okay?”
Tong Youyou tried hard to sniffle and then nodded solemnly, “Yeah, we won’t stoop to that.”
Tong Yi looked at Jiang Li with a half-smile, “Jiang Xiao Li, which family are you from? Why aren’t you taking my side?”
Jiang Li replied without hesitation: “Not in the same family as you anyway, but if you want to change your name to Jiang Yi, then we can barely be considered the same family.”
Tong Yi: “…”
Jiang Xiao Li’s tongue was truly getting sharper and sharper!
Suddenly, Tong Xu regretted following Youyou just now, as he now felt invisible while standing here.
Yet Youyou didn’t seem to realize this at all. Sitting with Jiang Li, she was clearly overjoyed, her laughter never stopped.
Jiang Li had originally stepped out because she found the wedding venue too noisy and wanted to fetch some fresh air. It didn’t bother her that Tong Yi followed her, and having the cute Tong Youyou around was also fine by her. But when Tong Xu also came along, she no longer felt relaxed.
After swinging with Tong Youyou for a couple of minutes, Jiang Li put her down and handed her back to the care of the Tong family’s nanny. Tong Youyou cheerfully said goodbye to Jiang Li, saying she wanted to swing with her again sometime.
After Tong Youyou left, Tong Xu had no reason to stay, so he left as well.
Jiang Li looked at Tong Yi, “Seeing you were so keen to be my big brother, I thought you didn’t have a sister!”
“You mean that brat?” Tong Yi looked disdainful, “She’s just a walking chatterbox. She is always very quick to catch me off guard.”
Tong Yi’s tone may have sounded disdainful, but Jiang Li could see no trace of dislike in his eyes when he talked about Tong Youyou. Clearly, this guy was just saying the opposite of what he felt. Plus, kids were very sensitive and Youyou, in particular, was a clever girl. She wouldn’t have clung to Tong Yi if he disliked her.
Jiang Li found Tong Yi’s pretense of disdain surprisingly very cute.
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That’s right, Youyou!! Don’t let him lie on your name! 😭