SNL 2020

Sibling Spat

For all of you wanting an update on Auntie Yan's condition...

She will need nerve surgery on her hand.

Okay, don't panic...I know the word "surgery" could strike terror in anyone's mind but its a natural solution to whats ailing her. The specialist explained it to us in details and he assured us that it is a safe procedure and it will help Auntie Yan a great deal.

So...there is that. Or as Auntie Yan phrased it...

Auntie Yan: We already know what we should do with my hand so if everyone could relax now, that will be great.

Xiao: I am relax. I am cool.

Auntie Yan and I sighed at his lie. He is her son, if Xiao is not worried for his mother's welfare, we will have words.

Anyways, we will not elaborate on that because Xiao has another problem on his mind. And we discussed it over bottles of beer and crunchy snacks on their second night in the condo. Auntie Yan was already resting because after our appointment to the nerve specialist, Xiao and I took Auntie on some sightseeing in the capital. It tired her up a little but she was happy to live a life of a tourist in Beijing in one day.

Anyhow, back to Xiao and our discussion over beers.

Me: Dude, don't you think you are being plagued with problems nowadays?

Xiao: (snorting) Tell me about it. Am I cursed or something? This year is giving me headaches. From your secret engagement to my job to my mother and now...DaLin and Meng. Ugh!

Me: (sighing) I wouldn't want to be in your position. To be between that sibling war. I got into that before with Qing and his sister...you know what happened to that.

Xiao: Well, DaLin doesn't have a car Meng could pour cement on and Meng doesn't have a condo where DaLin could lock him out.

Me: (wincing) Does that mean their sibling war is simpler to solve?

Xiao laughed. And laughed some more. Then his shoulders slumped and he looked like a defeated man. It was an answer made in three motions. I got it instantly.

This is not a simple thing to solve.

Xiao: Was there ever a simple sibling spat? I don't think so.

Me: (sighing) True. They say blood is thicker than water...that also means its stickier to muddle through it when bloods are battling with each other.

Xiao: (sighing as well) Its not like I don't get both their points. Of course Meng will worry about DaLin's choices in life. He is her big brother after all. But I think Meng should have remembered that he knows his own sister before he started going off on her.

Me: Meng has always been a charged dynamite when it comes to his sisters. He jumps on conclusion and he is quick to say his opinion on matters about them.

Xiao: Which is not bad...before. But now his sisters are growing up and they are moving away from the guiding light of their Meng Gege to light their own ways.

Me: Meng's sisters growing up. Imagine that.

Xiao: I could. I am in a relationship with one of them. I love her so much, but sometimes I want to throw her in a frozen lake to cool down. Her impulsiveness, really.

Me: Maybe she deliberately provoked you and Meng to react.

Xiao: (nodding after taking a swig of beer) Maybe. I thought about that. DaLin is impulsive but she is not stupid. Maybe she is getting frustrated on her studies but she will never change course on her last year on dentistry. She dreams of being a licensed dentist almost half of her life.