Uncles, aunts, grandparents, great grandparents, friends and even friends of her parents had co over, convening as if there was a business convention of so kind
The first question that i i had was when had they arrived? It was just five minutes past seven. Had they co as early as six in the morning?
Had there arrival been tid to sync up so that they could arrive at the sa ti or within minutes of each other?
i i stood at the bottom of the stairs, slack -jawed, head moving from left to right as she watched her relatives walk from the living room, to the dining room and the kitchen. It seed everyone had a place they preferred to be.
"She is here." Chi Zhenzhu, her cousin shouted loudly at the top of her voice.
Zhenzhu, was the eldest daughter of Su Manchu and Chi Wei. She was younger than i i by five years. They had been very close, growing up. Growing up, Zhenzhu had spent most of her ti with her uncles from the Su family on an a military base so she had trained her voice to be firm and authoritative.
It carried a precision that demanded imdiate action as the tone tended to be sharp and packed a force. A stampede of feet echoed all through the house and everyone squeezed in the foyer just below the stairs.
They looked at i i like a clan of erkats looking up at their mother. Status within the family did not matter because even pri minister Chi was being squeezed in with the others. Soone even stepped on his foot in an effort to go ahead of the others.
"Stop pushing."
"You stop pushing."
"Chi Manman, how dare you pinch ?"
"Mother....Chi Jingchen has pinched back."
"Su Manchu, why are you children always fighting?" Great grandpa Jun complained. His voice, though complaining was filled with dotting and love.
The box in i i’s hands dropped to the ground, she covered her mouth and swallowed the sob that was trying to escape. She could not deny it anymore, she had missed the chaos, madness, lack of personal space and nosiness of her family. The Chi’s and Jun’s were one big family, one big slightly ssy family.
Even though she kept the sob in, tears still found a way to flow down from her eyes.
"Make way for the family elders." Chi Zhenzhu barked as if she was ordering soldiers.
There was so shuffling, so grumbling as toes were stepped on but the family elders ca to the front of the group. Elders from both families, people whose faces i i had not seen in so long.
Even though science had found a drug that extended human life to beyond one hundred, aging could not be stopped. Her great grandparents and grandparents from both families had grown older.
"i i." Great grandpa Jun suddenly sniffled as he called her na in a broken voice.
"Great grandpa." i i called out in a torn voice.
She stepped on so of the box of shoes and launched herself at him. "Great grandpa, great grandpa, great grandpa...." She cried coquettishly.
The way she was crying, it sounded like she was nine and not twenty nine.
"Such a big girl but you are still crying." Great grandpa Jun said through sobs.
"Aren’t you crying too?" She questioned.
"Because I have missed you. When you were not around, your great grandmother bullied ." He complained.
Great grandma Jun sneered. The old man was really good at painting her black. Why couldn’t he admit that he was crying because he was a cry baby like i i? Couldn’t he have left it at ’I missed you?’
They had all missed i i, after all, she was the first grandchild they held in their arms. They had pampered and spoiled her to the heavens.
"Alright, let others get the chance to hug as well." Chi Zimo said.
He was i i’s third uncle from the Chi side of the family, the one that had taught her how to play gas and turned her into a master gar. He had a ga developnt company worth six billion. An achievent that he had made on his own with an investnt from Jun investnts of course.
Before he could hug her, he was pulled back by his two elder brothers, Chi Wei and Chi Rui.
"Kiddo, there is a rank in everything. We hug first and you go last."
So, the hugging festivities started, i i was passed around from one embrace to another. More sniffles and sobs ca from different mbers of the family. Soft words, welcod her back and familiar scents comforted her.
She was yanked back into the arms of her great grandfather Jun before Xue Lili and princess Rize could get the opportunity to hug.
"My baby! I thought we had lost you to that trash forever. When he wakes up from a coma, I am going to stuff him into a trash bag and throw him in a garbage recycling plant." He looked at her face and squeezed her cheeks. "I wanted to co and find you so many tis but your great grandmother stopped ."
"Just so you know, your grandfather has been feeding that pet snake you hate so much. It is bigger than before. The size of a large Anaconda now. He even bought it a male partner so that they can have babies. We have an entire enclosure at ho now, the size of an apartnt I think." Great grandma Jun tattled on her husband.
i i gasped and left her grandfather’s embrace.
Great grandpa Jun looked at his wife with disbelief. How could she betray him?
"You got her a husband?" i i squealed and she rubbed her arms as if she was shivering.
Grandpa Jun turned to i i and blurted, "Your great grandmother made little hats for the snake babies."
i i gasped again.
Great grandma Jun pointed to Chi Zimo. "Your uncle included the snakes in his new ga Gods of war. He nad the snake queen ilin."
i i gasped as she turned to her uncle Zimo.
Watching them tattle tale on each other, madam Feng sipped milk tea slowly from the side, leaning against a pillar. She could see where the triplets had learned to tattle tale on each other. It was a family thing.
The tattling just intensified from there, they all forgot what had brought them to i i’s house that morning.
"i i, Jun Yi burned your favorite vintage chair when she was secretly trying to smoke." Chi Zimo turned to accuse soone else.
This ti, everyone gasped and their heads turned in unison to Jun Yi.
Jun Yi squeezed tears out of her eyes quickly. "It was one ti, I was just trying to copy uncle Ringo because he said smoking is for cool people."
Their head turned to Ringo.
Ringo pointed at Chi Lena. "Lena changed the television password and made Chi Qiang twerk for it."
Chi Lena blinked as if she was confused.
Chi Qiang’s face turned red, he was mortified that this had been revealed.
Jun Jie decided to join in on the fun. "Mom broke grandma’s fancy blue royal teapot and blad ow ow."
"Ha! I knew it was her." Mrs. Jun shouted.
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