“Mei Mei! Xuemei! Tang Xuemei!” Her brother’s constant calls echoed from behind. 

Noticing that the rest of the mall started to stare at them, Xuemei slowed down and allowed him to catch up.

“What?” She asked testily.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to give you a ride back. Were you not going to wait for me if I didn’t chase after you?” He complained.

“Don’t you have work to do? I just did not want to bother you. You should finish whatever responsibilities you have first. I can just grab a taxi. Which reminds me, can you set up a driver’s license test for me? It is really inconvenient to go around places without being able to drive myself.”

“A driver’s license, huh. I guess our Xuemei is now at that age.” He spoke while looking a little emotional. 

“It’s just a license, stop acting so sentimental.” Xuemei rolled her eyes at his antics.

“Anyways, I finished my work. I was just checking out this mall because it has one of our branch stores in it. Just go back with me.”

“Really?” She eyed him suspiciously.

“Don’t you trust me?”

“No.”

“Give me your phone.” She suddenly said.

“My phone? Why? Don’t you have yours?” He questioned as he still obediently pulled it out of his jacket pocket and placed it into her hands.

“Just cause.” She inwardly snickered at this sis con who was obviously way too whipped for his sister. Glancing through the recent messages, she found his Chief Secretary’s contact near the top. Tapping the phone icon, she called the man.

“President, where did you go? We were supposed to go back for a dinner meeting with CEO Wang.” An exhausted voice picked up before the first ring even finished.

“This is Xuemei. So, my brother does have work remaining?”

“Young Miss? Yes! Please tell the President to quickly return.” As if he had heard his savior, Chief Secretary Han pleaded with Xuemei.

“I understand.” She replied concisely before hanging up the phone.

“And this is why I don’t trust you, Brother. You obviously have work and CEO Wang should be an important person. You can’t just go cancelling dinner meetings for no reason. Even if you have time to drop me off, it should not be much, right? You should take that time to prepare what you need to discuss and get there early to show sincerity.” Although she does not understand much about business, it was just common sense if one pondered a bit about usual etiquette in any formal situation.

“Man, to think I would live to see the day that YOU lecture ME about being more responsible. However, I get your point, I know you are just caring for me. It was this big brother who was being careless. CEO Wang’s company is small but they are an important collaborator nonetheless.” Xueliang actually was planning to rush over to his dinner after dropping his sister off. He grinned sheepishly as he backtracked from his earlier white lies.

“Brother, I don’t mean to lecture you as I realize you probably have your own plans and ideas. It’s just I really feel that it is time for me to grow up. That means that you, Mom, and Dad don’t always need to hang around me. You have your own life and important work, while I have to branch out on my own. Little things like going shopping or grabbing a taxi back to the hotel are all normal things. Earlier, you could have just told me to text you when I get back if you are that worried.” 

“No, you’re right. It’s just…” 

“Okay, no matter what I know that it’s because you worry about me. Go back to where you were before and meet with Secretary Han, he seemed to be really stressed out earlier on the phone. I will text you when I get back to the hotel, okay?”

“Alright. Don’t forget!”

“I won’t. See you later!” Xuemei finally waved goodbye and lugged her shopping bags to the front door. 

Watching his sister scurry off like someone was chasing after her, Xueliang was a little disheartened because it felt like Xuemei no longer needed him. Before, she would always beg him to drive her around and stuck to him like glue when they were together. But he knew that this was normal and a sign of growth that he should encourage. Sighing a little, Xueliang could not help but feel that his sister’s changes were so big after waking up.

---

When she got back, she made sure to text her brother to prevent any chances of him freaking out. Xuemei did not spend her time too fruitfully after messaging him and just wasted time half-looking at her phone and half-watching a random T.V. show. Who knew that these dogblood¹means absurd, exaggerated, ridiculous, contrived; Chinese people use the term to joke about the use of the same old, repeated boring scenes or story sequences in a TV drama or film.  dramas were so interesting to watch? Everything was so exaggerated and the acting too robotic, but somehow it still drew her in. This continued until her brother returned and forced her to go to sleep. Since Xueliang only rolled in so late at night, Xuemei could tell that dinner might have stretched into some night activities like a bar. She could smell a hint of alcohol that seeped into her brother’s suit.

A little drunk, her brother quickly washed up before passing out in his bed. Hearing him snoring started to slowly make Xuemei sleepy as well. Back from her days in the military barracks, snoring became somewhat of a lullaby to her. Like turning off the lights, it triggered her body into desiring to sleep. Although she felt rather lazy, Xuemei still put in the effort to get herself up, wash up, and get changed into pajamas. Setting the alarm on her phone, she passed out the moment her head hit the soft, plush pillows. 

Out like a log, she completely blacked out until her alarm ring echoed in the room. Shooting straight up and onto her feet, Xuemei swayed a little feeling dizzy. Half opening her eyes to try to look around, she fumbled around her bed for the ringing phone. The alert tone was getting on her nerves, yet she just could not dig it out. By the time she finally grabbed the phone, Xuemei was wide awake. Looking at the time, she almost laughed in spite of herself. Usually she would get herself up at 5 am every day before the alarm rang, but today she slept soundly until 7 am. The effects of a new life of pampering seemed to be slowly affecting her daily routine. Thankfully, she never forgets to set an alarm otherwise she might have been late! In her entire life, both past and present, she had never been late to anything. Tardiness was something she loathed in others.

Pulling out the new clothes she folded and put away yesterday, Xuemei picked one of her new outfits: a pair of black athletic shorts and a white tank top. She also bought a sports bra this time after seeing the other girls wearing one. It definitely looked more comfortable, so she made sure to pay attention in the store to buy one. Everything she wore matched as she also wore black socks with a white highlight and white shoes with a black highlight. Xuemei knew her color coordinating sense was not great, so buying simple colors that matched was the easiest. She could never go wrong. Checking the clock once again, she saw that she still had some extra time. Thinking of this, she decided to back out to the living room and turn on the drama that she started yesterday. Maybe this episode the main character will find out she is really adopted and that the real daughter and her got switched at birth! 

To her disappointment, the enemy called dramatic coincidence prevented the MC from finding out anything while the family and male lead refused to tell the truth. Starting to get annoyed, she finished two episodes before it was around time for Brother Huang to pick her up. Putting her phone in her pocket, she checked to make sure she was not forgetting something. She bought herself a card holder case for her phone so she wouldn’t have to carry around a wallet as well. Keeping things together like this was more convenient and meant she did not have to carry around a purse.

She walked out to the front and was soon greeted by a familiar Jeep pulling up. Without a word, she climbed in when she heard the door unlock. 

“Good morning.” She greeted him.

“Morning.” Huang Jun replied concisely.

As usual, the car fell into silence as the two did not have much to say to each other. Neither felt the atmosphere was particularly stifling or uncomfortable, so they continued that way until they arrived at the village from yesterday. Today, they would not have to hike up the mountain since filming would take place here.

“Xiao Mei!” She heard a familiar voice shout out to her.

“Meng Jie, nice to see you again.” Xuemei turned and smiled at the girl approaching.

“Ah, I have been attacked! It’s too early in the morning for my goddess to smile.” Lin Mengmeng playfully gripped her chest as if she were shot.

“Don’t exaggerate.” 

“Little sis, don’t you know that your beauty is already shocking enough.Your big sis is the actress, but you fling me so far back that I have nowhere to put my face.” She complained playfully.

“Meng Jie is very beautiful, as well! We just have different strong points.” Xuemei praised her back.

“Aw, this sweet mouth tells such pretty lies~.” Hooking her arm around Xuemei’s shoulders, Mengmeng pulled her along.

“Wait, Meng Jie, I have to meet with the rest of the stunt doubles to practice for the scenes later.”

“Ehhh, it’s fine just for a moment, right?”

Upon hearing her question, both of them finally turned their eyes to Huang Jun who had never left. 

“Brother Huang?”

“You have 30 minutes. The scenes today are easier so they will not take too much time to practice. The rest aren’t here yet either. I just had to arrive early today.”

Although a little surprised to have arrived so early, Xuemei did not mind. She much preferred getting to places ahead of time anyways.

“Okay, that settles that! Come along now, Xiao Mei!” Yanking Xuemei’s arm, Mengmeng quickly pulled her along further into the village. A very humble and modest area filled mostly with farmers, the village did not have much to offer. But the main road that runs through had a bunch of small shops that sold fresh goods and handmade crafts. Pretty interested in the little things being sold, Xuemei stopped to look around and barely listened to Mengmeng incessantly chatting at the side.

She stopped herself at a small stand run by a young girl that looked around 12. She was selling exquisitely made dolls, but that was not what caught Xuemei’s interest. Instead, it was the math problem that the girl was mumbling to herself over. Scratching her head in frustration, there seemed to be only that one problem on the piece of paper. It seemed to absorb all her attention as she did not even notice Xuemei walked over. Xuemei could tell that someone wrote it down then ripped this paper out of a notebook.

“Why is it so hard… But my prince said that he would date me if I could solve this problem for him! No, I can do it! Ke Jing, you can’t give up so easily.” 

Able to overhear some of the later mumbling, Xuemei really felt speechless. Were kids so fast these days? But what was with this unique way of rejecting? As someone who recently studied for the college entrance examination, Xuemei could recognize this equation almost right away. It was one of the legendary problems on a past exam. A lot of people were not able to solve it and left the exam in tears. Obviously, now the solution was available for the schools and teachers that bought the past exams and answer keys. A little girl like the one in front of her, however, would never be able to get her hands on the solution. And with her current level of education, this girl would also not be able to even attempt to solve this question.

“Your prince gave you this problem?” She suddenly spoke up.

“Huh? Oh, yes. Sorry, I was too distracted. Pretty sister, would you like a doll?” The little girl’s head suddenly shot up in surprise. Her big eyes held a clever glint as she quickly switched to her seasoned “seller” tone and expression.

“Pretty sister, most of these dolls only barely match up to your beauty, but I have a couple of our best right here. They are more expensive, but the materials used are higher quality. They would match better with you.” The little girl quickly brought out a sealed glass container that contained three pretty dolls. One glance at Xuemei, and the girl determined that this customer had some money. 

“Oh? Really?” Amused by the girl’s antics, Xuemei just smiled along. “But Big Sister is not really interested in dolls.”

“Yes, someone dignified like you would probably not want dolls anymore. However, we also have really pretty glass jewelry that might interest you! See, this amber one looks so pretty with your eyes. It makes the light brown color stand out even more. Actually, big sister’s eyes are so pretty now that I am looking at them!” Flattery flowed from the little girl’s mouth with trained ease and enthusiasm. She quickly brought up an open jewelry box and held up a pretty amber colored glass teardrop that was hanging off a thin silver chain. It was rather simple and unadorned, but still charming. The little girl held up the necklace near Xuemei’s neck with one hand and held up a mirror with the other. Before she realized what was going on, Xuemei was already looking straight at her reflection. 

“So young, yet already such a pushy saleswoman.” Xuemei humorously thought to herself. She was not too interested in jewelry, but she decided that she would buy the necklace. It was not that expensive anyway.

“Alright, I’ll buy it then.” She glanced at the price before handing over the right amount of cash. Normally, everything was paid by phone, but this village was still rather poor, so Xuemei carried physical money with her. 

“I know you won’t regret it! Thank you for your patronage!” Bowing happily, the little girl giggled over her first sale of the day. She accepted the cash before handing back change. Although she offered to package the necklace, Xuemei decided to put it on right away to save the hassle.

After the necklace sale finished, Xuemei did not leave but instead brought up the question.

“Do you want big sister to help you solve the problem?” She threw out an offer. Normally, she would not bother with this stuff, but she felt that this little girl was rather cute and funny.

“The problem?” The girl was confused at first, before she remembered the paper from earlier. 

“Can big sister solve the problem?” She asked in excitement.

“Yes, I’ve seen it before. I remember how I solved it.”

“Okay!” She shoved the paper over, but almost immediately pulled it back after thinking about it. “No, actually, you shouldn’t. That would not be right. This is a challenge my prince gave me. It would be wrong to cheat…” Although she knew she would not be able to solve it, the little girl did not feel comfortable cheating and lying to get her prince’s approval. Plus, someone could easily find out if she solved it or not later. Getting caught would be even more embarrassing. 

“You sure?” Xuemei asked, but one could see the sides of her mouth curving up. 

“Yeah, even if you help me this time, if my prince asks me to explain it or do other hard problems, he would see right away that I’m not smart enough.” She answered honestly.

“From what I can see, this problem would be tough even for people my age to solve, let alone someone your age. Do you understand what that means, then?”

“My prince… he is rejecting me this way, isn’t he?” Head drooping sadly, it seemed that she realized such a thing early on.

“Oh? You already knew? Then, why are you trying so hard?”

“It’s frustrating! I want to solve it just so I can make him eat his words. I could also grab his attention if I do something unexpected, right? He would see me in a new light. But, I can’t figure it out.” She pouted. 

“Don’t pay so much attention to him, then. There are plenty of guys out there. Plus, you are so young! You should be focusing on school.” Feeling that this girl was too young to be boy-crazy, Xuemei gently flicked her on the head before lecturing her a little.

“Big sister, you only say this because you have not seen my prince. He is so good-looking!” She protested.

“Well, to big sister, they would all be kids anyways.” Xuemei shrugged in response.

“You just don’t understand a young girl’s heart.” Ke Jing pouted.

Her choice of words made Xuemei unable to respond, because she truly did not understand a young girl’s heart... 

Xuemei still wanted to retort but was interrupted by Mengmeng.

“Xiaomei! What are you doing? Filming is going to start soon, we have to go back.” She reminded her as she tugged on Xuemei’s arm.

“It’s already been 30 minutes?” Xuemei looked surprised before checking her phone. Looking at the time, she realized she was almost running late.

“Oh no! Let’s go!” She turned to jog off. “Little girl, thank you for the necklace recommendation! I’m sure you will find a cooler guy than that!” Turning back, Xuemei shouted back some encouragement as she found that little sister entertaining. 

“Xiaomei, you knew her?” Mengmeng asked after they made it back to the filming location.

“Huh? No, but she was a rather funny kid. Apparently, her crush gave her a super hard college entrance exam math question and told her that he would date her if she could solve it.” Xuemei still laughed a little, thinking the whole situation was ridiculous.

“What? Is that what kids do these days?” Mengmeng also felt that it was so weird.

“Who knows?” Xuemei just shrugged.

She had no way of knowing that this casual meeting would cause her so many issues later.