Chapter 29 - Knives in the Mail (1/2)

“My family is a bit special.”

Meng Fan’s melodramatic expression wasn’t outside of what Wu Tong was used to. As she stretched her chest, she said, “My grandpa had seven siblings, each one having three or four sons. My dad alone has 25 siblings, and not one of them is a girl. When it came to me, it was the same. Because of the one-child policy, my uncles all only had one kid. Some had more, but they were all guys. I’m the only girl.”

Meng Fan’s expression amplified even more. “Are you sure you’re not a stand-up comedian?”

Wu Tong shifted into a lunge and smiled at him. “It sounds like a joke, but it’s true. Let me tell you something even more ridiculous. When I was in elementary school, the boys in my class liked to stick Xanthium in girls’ hair. It’s that spikey plant that is so hard to get out of your hair. A guy grabbed my hair and stuck some on, and I couldn’t get it off for a long time so I cried.”

After switching legs, she continued, “Then, several guys from different grades including ones from middle school rushed out and blocked the boy. That also included numerous uncles that ran out from the teacher’s office. Even the principal couldn’t stop them. It got so bad they had to call the education board.”

Meng Fan thought about it hard. This gag sounded familiar to him. He seemed to have heard it before. Could it be that this speedy girl was a prototype for a comedian?

“Then….” Meng Fan didn’t know how to continue his sentence. After a moment of thought, he finished it, “Then it must be hard for you to find a boyfriend, right?”

Wu Tong paused her actions, then switched to another warm-up position. She nodded. “Yep. Thirty-one brothers basically cover all kinds of guys. They’re all really good to me too. It’s not that I’m comparing my boyfriend to them, but… How do I put it, some qualities that guys think are an advantage seem normal to me, so it’s hard for me to be curious or interested. Don’t people say curiosity and worship is the first step to liking someone? That kind of thing rarely happens to me.”

“The horror of being supported by my brothers.”

Meng Fan wanted to tell her that she should just find a girlfriend instead, but he thought better of it and swallowed his words. He then found a more suitable on-topic subject to chat about, “It’s good you’re a girl with so many brothers, they must love and spoil you like a princess. They wouldn’t ever let you touch anything relating to those playboys and their fake sincerity, right? If you were a guy, and your brothers were sisters, you’d still be spoiled, but the method would be different. If anything, they would definitely try everything to dress you up… Hm, seems like it would be the same. They’d treat you like a princess too.”

After completing her daily stretches, Wu Tong added another set. After hearing Meng Fan’s rambling, she looked towards him, as if her eyes were saying, ‘Please share your story now.’

Meng Fan took off his headband and touched his hair. He sighed and said, “I have four older sisters and three younger ones. The four older ones especially, their favorite thing to do was to dress me up…” He lifted his head and remembered all the times that he had been dominated by his sisters. From a young age, he had just been a big woman.

“Of course, I refused that sort of thing… Finally, when I turned ten, they decided it was no longer fun to make me wear dresses, so they stopped the annual tradition… But they never stopped loving me, so they quickly switched from dressing me to feeding me.”

Meng Fan rubbed his belly, then said with emotion, “Who says love can’t be felt? There’s nothing in this world that is more concrete than love.”

“So, this is the reason why you’ve “grown” so strong?”

This time, it was Wu Tong’s turn to stare in awe.

Meng Fan nodded and finished his last stretch.

Wu Tong held back her laugh and completed her last warm-up exercise. Like the wind, she ran off, and as she ran, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Weird, why did I tell him all that.

…..

“This fast?”

FlatHeadBro received Meng Fan’s drawings around two o’clock in the afternoon. He downloaded them to find 12 illustrations awaiting review.

After rushing to write two chapters, with a cappuccino in hand, FlatHeadBro had watched about 30 minutes of yesterday’s stream. Although he didn’t quite understand art, he had seen his fair share of artwork in the past few days of searching for an artist. He was at least able to distinguish between good and bad, so he was not worried about Meng Fan at all.

Of course, after watching his stream, he was not surprised or intrigued by Meng Fan’s speedy ‘submission’. In fact, he was very pleased with Meng Fan’s brilliant work ethic.

“I will recommend you on my social media as well as the new book chapter that’s coming out today. ”

FlatHeadBro was very pleased with the illustrations, as well as Meng Fan’s professional attitude.

“Thank you.”