Chapter 132: The Toyed-With Goddaughter (7)
Su Mingxiu: “?”
She hadn’t expected the child to be so understanding. Whoever ended up with her would have it easy, they could make Yu Nian angry without worrying, after all… Yu Nian would calm down on her own.
Su Mingxiu’s arm emerged from the bathwater, splashing onto the floor. She rubbed her temples, sighing. “I’m fine, just thinking about something. Go to bed.”
Yu Nian stood outside the bathroom for a moment, then silently left. But soon, she returned with a small stool and sat down outside the bathroom door, her voice soft.
“You can think, I’ll wait here.”
Su Mingxiu: “??”
She wondered if she was eighty years old, needing Yu Nian to watch over her like this. Sighing, she got out of the bathtub, grabbed a towel, and surrendered. “Fine, I’m done. Can you go back to your room now?”
Hearing the bathroom door open, Yu Nian quickly left with her stool, as if afraid of being asked to fetch Su Mingxiu’s bathrobe again.
Seeing that the child even closed the door behind her, Su Mingxiu couldn’t help but chuckle.
That night, Su Mingxiu finally put her plan into action. She created a mental maze for the system, not only without an exit but also filled with random traps.
For example, the system might encounter a sudden fire in a dead end, burning it to ashes and forcing it back to the starting point;
Or it might encounter falling rocks, crushing it in a corner…
The Tempering System was thoroughly tormented in this custom-made maze.
Su Mingxiu had prepared every possible death, both imaginable and unimaginable. Normally, the system shouldn’t be able to feel any of this.
But because this maze functioned like a virus, disrupting its programming, it now experienced these “deaths” like a human, trapped in a cycle of torment.
For a long time, whenever Su Mingxiu was bored, she would enter her dreams and watch the system’s hundred ways to die for amusement.
Spring arrived in the city.
Su Mingxiu, supporting herself with the income from the commercials Sheng Qian found for her, occasionally cooked for Yu Nian, who came home every weekend.
But for a high school senior, time wasn’t measured by seasons, but by exams. A month and a half after the second mock exam came the third, the last one before the college entrance exam.
During this period, art students had their specialized exams, and those seeking extra credit participated in university interviews… every aspiring high school senior was working hard for their future.
Yu Wanru, seeing Yu Nian’s reluctance to come home, guessed that she was still determined to apply to domestic universities. She called Yu Nian one Saturday night, scolding her for wasting the past few years preparing for overseas studies, and criticizing her arrogance. The score requirements for the top two universities in their province were extremely high. Without any Olympiad awards or international competition bonuses, relying on a single exam was too risky.
Especially…
Since she had only studied the regular curriculum for one year.
Yu Nian, receiving the call, was at the supermarket with Su Mingxiu. It was late, and the wet market probably didn’t have many fresh ingredients, so Su Mingxiu had reluctantly agreed to come to this high-end supermarket.
Knowing that Su Mingxiu had become frugal after the divorce, Yu Nian had been teasing her on their way here, intending to choose expensive ingredients to make Su Mingxiu心疼 (feel the pinch).
But after receiving Yu Wanru’s call…
Her good mood was ruined.
“Aren’t you at school? Why is it so noisy there?” Yu Wanru heard the background noise of other customers and asked sharply.
“I’m out with a friend, I’ll hang up if you have nothing else to say.” She saw Su Mingxiu looking at the seafood section, grabbed her sleeve, and hung up before Yu Wanru could say anything else. She put her phone away and raised an eyebrow. “How much are you planning to spend on a fish?”
Su Mingxiu had only wanted to buy a crucian carp for soup, but seeing the fresh sea bass, she was also considering it. She pointed at the price tag. “9.9 yuan.”
Crucian carp for soup didn’t need to be big. Even a small one would be flavorful. Pan-fried, then boiled with water, tofu, and other ingredients, seasoned with salt and pepper, it would be delicious.
Yu Nian: “?”
“You’re going to feed your future top scorer with a 9.9 yuan fish?”
Su Mingxiu chuckled and looked her up and down, thinking she was being ridiculous. But since the little one was boasting, she played along. “Oh, then what kind of fish does our future top scorer deserve?”
Although Yu Nian hadn’t been to the wet market often, she had seen plenty of expensive ingredients at high-end restaurants with Yu Wanru. Her gaze shifted from the abalone to the small lobsters in the tank, then landed on a familiar-looking red grouper.
“I don’t know how much it costs, but it looks auspicious, eating it will bring good luck.”
Su Mingxiu: “?”
She looked at the size of the grouper, knowing it would cost a few hundred yuan. She smiled sweetly. “Want good luck? That’s easy. I’ll buy you a boat ticket, you jump into the sea, and chase after a wild yellow croaker. Golden and shiny, a bite of that will guarantee you a place at the top of the exam rankings.”
“Pfft.”
A passerby, waiting for their seafood to be prepared, overheard their conversation and chuckled.
Yu Nian, embarrassed by Su Mingxiu’s retort and the passerby’s laughter, glared at the person, then, maintaining her composure, turned back to Su Mingxiu. “I want to eat the grouper, are you buying it or not?”
“No,” Su Mingxiu refused coldly.
“Little Mom…” Yu Nian drawled, her face expressionless, her voice almost coquettish.
“Even if you call me ‘Grandma,’ it’s still a no.”
Seeing her unwavering resolve, Yu Nian was about to give up and have the crucian carp prepared, when, on a sudden impulse, she leaned closer to Su Mingxiu’s ear and whispered: “Susu…”
“Ah!” Caught off guard by the familiar nickname and tone, Su Mingxiu instinctively pulled away, ignoring the fishmonger waiting with his net, and turned to look at the mischievous girl. “What did you call me?”
Yu Nian stared at her ear, a sly smile curving her lips. “Your ears are red, Susu.”
Su Mingxiu took a deep breath. “Call me that again, and I’ll spank you.”
“Hmm?” Yu Nian, about to continue teasing her, remembering her goal, looked at the grouper in the tank and sighed dramatically. “I really want to eat that grouper. Perhaps a bite of its flesh will cure me of this bad habit of calling people names.”
Su Mingxiu: “…”
She couldn’t stand being addressed with such an intimate nickname, especially with the fishmonger’s impatient stare. She pointed at the tank. “Get me a one-pound grouper.”
As they waited, Yu Nian straightened up, nudged Su Mingxiu with her shoulder, and asked with a triumphant smile: “Who said calling you ‘Grandma’ wouldn’t work?”
Su Mingxiu glanced at her smug expression and replied calmly: “Of course it wouldn’t work, because you’re my ancestor, happy now?”
Yu Nian, having won this round, hummed cheerfully, feeling satisfied with her victory. She obediently accompanied Su Mingxiu through the vegetable section, even offering to carry the groceries.
Until they reached the parking lot.
Yu Nian suddenly turned around and asked: “My mom never called you that, whose face were you picturing when your ears turned red after I called you ‘Susu’?”
Su Mingxiu, placing the groceries in the trunk, glanced at her and chuckled lazily. “Why are you asking so many questions, little one? Give me the fish.”
Yu Nian, hearing her response, thinking about Su Mingxiu’s complicated romantic history, suddenly felt her mood plummet. She silently placed the rest of the groceries in the trunk and got into the car.
“Hey… the fruit will get crushed back there, come back—”
Su Mingxiu, holding the bag of fruit, wanted Yu Nian to put it in the back seat, but Yu Nian had already put on her headphones, ignoring her.
“Uh…” she sighed and muttered: “Such a bad temper.”
At Pearl Manor…
After being hung up on by her daughter, Yu Wanru reviewed the documents and, remembering the noisy background during the call, felt uneasy. She called her assistant.
“Go to Niannian’s school and ask her homeroom teacher about her recent performance.”
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