There went five-year-old Qu Mei, running around and acting cute in front of his family as he received coos from his father, rare smiles from his mother and smothering hugs from his sister. Of course, his aunts and uncles weren't spared, they all adored him.
Even that classic evil auntie of his who once humiliated him in front of Sang Qian in the past, could not resist his adorable manipulation.
What was he up to?
He was wrapping everyone around his currently tiny pinky so that in the future, he wouldn't have to deal with the possibility of them going against him.
As far as he remembered, the novel had been an angsty slice-of-life story that didn't have too much drama going on aside from that one-sided love story of Qu Mei and the disdain of some of his pompous relatives.
All they did was embarrass and harass him throughout the story, so while he was cautious, he knew there wouldn't be some elaborate scheme to bring him down of any sort.
The aforementioned relatives were mostly his mother's jealous cousins, nephews and nieces.
But who could hate him now?
"Meimei, your Grandpa Qu and Granny Murong is coming to your sixth birthday, aren't you excited?" Qu Ye grinned at his little son.
Qu Mei sat up, "Grandpa Qu isn't alone?"
"What do you mean?" Qu Ye placed a hand on the boy's head.
Granny Murong was Murong Tianmei, Qu Ye's mother…but Qu Mei never met her before, he had thought she passed away before he could turn five, but it's not like he remembers much of his childhood anyway.
He didn't think his grandparents were mentioned a lot in the story, other than the times it had compared Qu Ye to his similarly docile father, the Grandpa Qu whose full name was never said.
It was ridiculous how little he knew about things in his original life because he was too busy chasing after Sang Qian, and that damned novel told him stuff that he already knew. Well to be fair, it was the reason his memories returned to him.
"They're gonna bring a neighbour over, is that fine? He has a kid your age."
Qu Mei frowned.
Qu Mei: Alright who is this? I'm not stupid, I've read other transmigration novels before, it never ends well when stuff deviates from what you know. The loss of control is immense.
"Who is it?"
"You're already excited? Well, you'll have to wait until your birthday. But don't worry, I heard he'll be moving to our city soon, then you'll have a playmate for the first time."
Qu Mei: The bigger concern is what the hell is going to happen when he comes.
"A'Mei, big sister is back! Come play with me~"
Both of them turned to see a little girl standing in front of the gazebo in their backyard while carrying a bunch of books and notebooks. Qu Guo's homework, that was their playtime.
At this, Qu Mei turned to his father and said: "Big sister is my playmate."
The little five-year-old put down his Dr. Seuss book and hopped off the armchair he was sitting on, skipping up to his sister to help her with her assignments.
His family considered him a young genius, it wasn't too big of a difference considering Qu Mei had already been quite the golden child in the past, perfect in almost everything. Thus why it was such a shame he went down that horrible path of pursuing an unwilling man leading to his death. However, his knowledge in the present was far greater than that of his real five-year-old self.
Aside from pretending to be a child, Qu Mei's path to growing up seemed flawless. But he was a little unnerved knowing a fifteen-year-old Sang Qian would finally meet him when he turns ten, so while that boy was yet to show up, Qu Mei was going to prepare himself to not make the same mistakes.
One month passed very slowly, Qu Mei had been tense the moment his father told him his grandparents were gonna arrive. Today was the morning of his birthday, his mother was cooking while his father was answering a call, and Qu Guo and Qu Mei were left drawing idly in the backyard with their nanny.
Their nanny was a young college student named Wang Li'an, but she was also the woman who understood Qu Mei the most, she was the one who knew almost everything that happened between Qu Mei and Sang Qian, or lack thereof. But she was Qu Mei's closest confidant aside from his sister, so it brought him great joy seeing her again.
Wang Li'an went over to tidy Qu Guo's hair before it could touch the watercolour. "Guoguo, what are you painting?"
"I'm painting me and my brother." The thirteen-year-old answered.
Wang Li'an laughed, "How about your parents?"
"They're the butterflies."
Wang Li'an didn't know what to say.
So she turned to the birthday boy. "Ququ, how about you?"
Qu Mei was painting the scene of the backyard, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad either. It was mostly a blue sky, the dark grey wall and the green yard, and a blue-grey blob.
"What's that?" Wang Li'an asked.
"It's Mama's greenhouse."
Wang Li'an didn't know what to say.
"Do you guys wanna use pencils to outline your work? They help make it look tidier." Wang Li'an settled with this.
"I want." The two siblings responded in unison.
Wang Li'an got them their pencils and they began either hazardously drawing over their semi-dry watercolour or quietly lining their art, if anyone can't guess who was doing which, Qu Guo was currently drawing crooked smiley faces on her sloppy painting while Qu Mei was softly switching between a sharp pencil and a blunt one to draw on his.
"Wow, Ququ where did you learn that?"
Qu Guo glanced at them. "He's always been that way."
Wang Li'an: ???
"Papa says he's naturally talented."
Qu Mei: (･×･;)
"Ah, that's so cool." Wang Li'an beamed, "Ququ is so talented, I wish my brother was as good as you."
Qu Mei: Thanks but I'm actually an adult in a kid's body… ´ཀ'
"You have a brother?" Qu Guo perked up. "How old is he? What's his name? Can he play with us?"
"He's four, but he lives far away from here so I can't bring him."
"Oh…"
"His name is Wang Sujing, maybe he can meet you someday." Wang Li'an's smile was somewhat bittersweet.
Qu Mei noticed and sighed inwardly.
Wang Li'an was born out of wedlock and her parents simultaneously abandoned her because they were still in high school when she was born. When her mother left the country, her father married and started a family, not bothering to look for her. But she found them instead.
She found that the family she once craved, was all fine without her with a little son who was healthy and happy.
At this time she loved to pretend she was just an independent daughter who moved out of her family home to attend university and that she had a loving family and a rascal little brother, but she was alone and the Qu siblings were the only reason for her happiness.
However, in the past, Wang Sujing had passed away from an untreated illness before he could even meet his sister, his sister who spent her life dedicated to being a side character in a boy's overdramatic life. It was the biggest reason Qu Mei felt guilty towards her.
"Big sister Wang, where does your brother live?" Qu Mei asked, looking like an innocently curious child.
"Ah? Um, City B."
"Oh."
Qu Mei continued drawing with a smile.
After a while of adding details to his watercolour, Qu Mei proceeded to draw three stickmen on the grass part of the canvas along with two easels, mimicking the three of them in the scene.
It looked a little odd as the painting without the doodle was almost professional, now it looks silly.
Qu Mei signed his name in the corner.
"Wow, you already know how to write your name?" Wang Li'an marvelled.
Qu Mei froze.
"My… my name isn't too difficult to write."
"But your handwriting is so beautiful, I couldn't even write my surname till I was nine."
Qu Mei: I'm talented. I'm just talented. Don't think too much ╮(￣▽￣")╭
"A'Mei, you're already too good! Leave big sister some face!" Qu Guo whined.
"Where did you learn that?" Wang Li'an laughed.
"Sister, why do I need to leave you some face when I already help you with your studies?"
Qu Guo gaped in shock at her little brother.
…
"A'Mei, Guo'er, come greet your grandparents." Zhou Zhiling called out.
The two siblings hurried over, bowing their heads and greeting the three sitting on the sofa.
"Hello, Grandpa, Grandma."
When Qu Mei looked up, he was greeted by a child staring at them.
A man who looked to be in his late thirties called to him. "Cishan, come back here."
Qu Mei: Cishan? Yu Cishan?
He blinked at the child who scurried back to his father, to his unsuspecting sister, and back.
Qu Mei: Brother-in-law??