Thirty minutes after the dramatic ugly crying, i i found herself on her knees, along with her daughter, facing her mother. Crying tears and offering so pumpkin spice bread was not going to work with her.
Her mother took a sip of bitter black tea.
i i gulped.
Mingzhu blinked.
Great great grandpa Jun hissed softly.
Everyone else held their breath, too afraid to speak up.
Even the family pets were too afraid to make a sound. A wrong ow, back or chirp could get one banished to the wild [The cozy green house, not that the overly pampered pets cared.]
"Mo...mom...mother...empress mother." i i blurted out.
Grandma Jun was drinking milk and it spurted out of her mouth with force as she reacted to the the surprise. Empress mother!! Had i i lost her mind?
Chi Lian placed the tea cup on the saucer. She did not use a lot of strength and yet everyone jumped, startled as if they had heard the sound of a gunshot.
"Wife, they have been kneeling for too long." Muyang whispered to his wife.
"You...shush." She warned him with a glare.
Muyang backed off imdiately. His wife was the boss at ho. But, he was feeling pain in his heart from watching his daughter and granddaughter kneeling. Mingzhu was probably feeling wronged. He looked at her eyes that were wide with terror and his heart clenched. i i’s that were filled with tears were tearing him up even more.
Mingzhu anwhile was wondering where the snakes were. Her great grandmother had told her there were snakes here and she wanted to take one ho. But so far, she had seen cats, dogs, a cow, parrots, two chicken that were sunbathing by one of the windows of the living room, spiders and even squirrels. But, no snakes.
She was still looking around for the snakes when she was suddenly pushed over and her forehead touched the soft fluffy white carpet.
"Mom, your unfilial daughter and granddaughter have co back ho."
"Huh!" Mingzhu muttered.
She knew what being filial or unfilial was and she had not been an unfilial granddaughter. Her mother was a bad baby for telling lies. Unable to accept the lie, she raised her head and looked at her grandmother. "Grandma Chi Chi, Mingzhu is not unfilial, mommy is telling a lie. She is also hiding a green alien man in her bed and she lied to Mingzhu about it."
Her innocent words set off a series of laughs among the adults. They had all heard about the green alien toy because Minghzu had made her dissatisfaction about the fact that i i was withholding the toy from her, widely known at the tea party.
"Looks like Mo Liang brought back more aliens than we all thought." Jun Lie cracked a joke.
He chose the wrong audience because there was less laughter and more glaring. So, he pouted and escaped to the kitchen.
In the anti, i i was hissing at her daughter. "Now is not the ti to complain about a toy Mingzhu." she whispered.
"But you lied." Mingzhu said in a small voice that carried all the betrayal she was feeling. She had been wronged and she would not accept it. "You said that it i s bad to lie. My teacher said that babies that lie go to hell. Mingzhu does not want you to go to hell. You are afraid of fire mommy."
"A..." Great grandma Jun covered her mouth with both of he hands, gushing and falling in love with Mingzhu even more. "Baby, co here."
Before i i could do anything about it. Mingzhu was snatched up by her fifth uncle and placed in her great grandmother’s lap. So, she was left to face her mother on her own with no adorable crutch for support.
So, she bit the bullet and decided to be more direct. "Mother, I was wrong. Forgive , I was really wrong. I know that words are not enough to erase the things I said to you and the hurt I gave you. If you are willing to punish , I will accept any punishnt that you decide to give ."
"Since you acknowledge that you were wrong, ntion all the ways in which you were wrong." Chi Lian told her.
i i took a deep breath and said, "I should not have got an tattoo of a at bun on my ankle when I was eighteen years old."
"Scandal! Scandal!" One of the parrots scread.
Without missing a beat, i i moved on to her second cri, and a third, fourth, fifth and in the end marrying a man her parents did not approve of ca last, her thirty first cri.
"Freeze, you are under arrest." The parrot scread.
"I will shoot you Sugar so shut up." Jun Muyang growled at the parrot.
Sugar, in all her glory flew to great great grandpa Jun’s side, seeking protection. "Scandal!" She scread again. "I will shoot you. Shut up Sugar."
Mingzhu grabbed sugar.
anwhile, i i held her breath, waiting for the verdict.
"Have you learned your lesson?" Chi Lian asked her daughter.
i i nodded. Hot tears spilled from her eyes unexpectedly. "Mom, I gave birth. I brought you a granddaughter. I also started a business and I have a dog and he has a cat wife and two children."
"Huh!" So people that were not aware of the marital status between General Big Yellow and Noodles gasped.
Even the dogs and cats in the living room were surprised and scandalized.
"Scandal! Scandal!" Sugar scread even louder than before.
Mingzhu giggled.
Grandpa Jun asked the butler to separate the cats and dogs that were too close to each other.
"The children are kittens." Grandma Jun clarified for all those that were wondering about the children. "They are not cat-dog monstrosities. And the so called husband-wife relationship has not been proven. They could be best friends that survived hardship together so they are unnaturally close."
"Scandal!" More parrots scread in unison.
"Grandma, you did not have to add unnaturally. It does not absolve the cat and dog of the accusations, it just makes us raise our eyebrows even more and question the relationship." The sixth uncle laughed.
"Will you stop interrupting and let these two make up?" Muyang raised his frustrated voice.
Everyone settled down and the maids were asked to take the parrots out. Once again, i i was back to waiting for the verdict. She did not have to wait long because her mother stood up, helped her off the floor and hugged her.
"You stupid girl, if you ever attempt to do sothing stupid again, I will take Mingzhu’s custody and steal all your pets. Then I will lock you away on an island that only I have access to. I have booked an appointnt for you with a specialist. We are getting that at bun tattoo removed as soon as possible."
i i sniffled, crying softly.
A dog barked. Two cats hissed. A chicken fell off the chair and knocked over a vase with shattered.
"Dammit Sponge Bob that’s an original you foolish hen." Grandma Jun yelled.
Mingzhu gasped.
All this did was bring calm and a smile to i i’s face. It felt like a sweet final hocoming.
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