Qu Tantan had no idea that her Mom had already seen through her act. The moment she realized her Dad had truly woken up and was no longer being fooled, and that he even harbored genuine dislike for Uncle Qu, she immediately dropped the fake crying.
She had always known that this Uncle Qu was cunning, but she hadn’t expected him to come in with such honeyed words and manipulations, bullying her Dad right from the start. No wonder Grandma had been utterly charmed by him back then, to the point of being swindled out of all the compensation money she had been reluctant to touch.
Who wouldn’t know how to put on an act? Back in the day, when she and Dog Meng were obsessed with palace drama series, they had rewatched <Legend of XX>1 at least five times!
Hugging her Dad’s neck, Qu Tantan thought smugly to herself.
For now, they had successfully forced Uncle Qu to retreat. She estimated that his next major move would come when the village’s relocation plans were announced. He would definitely try to find someone to trick her Dad into a shady business deal.
But before that happened, even if Uncle Qu came again to ask for money, her Dad was unlikely to lend it out so easily.
In the meantime, Qu Tantan was secretly contemplating how to coax Grandma to come to their home. If Grandma stubbornly stayed with Uncle Qu, Grandma might end up getting tricked into running off to some faraway place, where Grandma would have nowhere to turn for help.
Unfortunately, at this stage, with Grandma’s stubborn personality, even if she believed Tantan’s claim about dreaming of Grandpa, she would at most visit more often, but she would absolutely refuse to move in.
Qu Tantan sighed in slight disappointment, but as soon as she thought about how their shop and house were now secured, she grinned in delight.
Because of her earlier crying episode, even though she insisted she was fine, her Dad still took her to the hospital for another check-up on her hand. After that, her parents didn’t press her further about the ‘dream visitation’ story, though in private conversations, they expressed strong opinions about Uncle Qu.
A little while later, Qu Tantan, surrounded by her little classmates, finally adjusted to life in kindergarten.
Unexpectedly, what had initially seemed like a joke—Qu Tantan’s ‘sworn sibling’ agreement with Meng Jiajia—was taken quite seriously by Meng Jiajia’s Mom. Meng Jiajia’s Mom even brought a gift for her newly recognized goddaughter: a beautiful princess dress and a pink lace hair clip. Meng Jiajia hated them, but Qu Tantan actually liked them quite a bit.
On the weekend, Qu Tantan was invited over to Meng Jiajia’s house, where she finally met her Godfather. Compared to her own Dad, Meng Jiajia’s Dad was more reserved and serious, exuding an intimidating aura that made people instinctively wary.
Mother Meng had been worried that Tantan might get scared, but Mother Meng hadn’t expected that Tantan had seen her Godfather countless times before. She had even accompanied Meng Jiajia on occasion to visit him at the police station while he was on duty. Now, seeing a younger version of her Godfather, she felt completely at ease.
Father Meng, of course, didn’t know any of this. He simply felt a rare sense of warmth from having a child other than his daughter be so affectionate toward him. Though he didn’t show it on his face, he was secretly delighted.
Being a straightforward man, he took the godparent relationship seriously. While the families were having dinner together, he heard that Father Qu was looking to buy a house. Without hesitation, he reached out to a friend to secure the lowest price possible and even helped speed up the paperwork.
As a result, while Qu Tantan was happily attending kindergarten, counting the days and assuming it would take months before they could move into a new home, her Dad suddenly brought her to a familiar residential complex. With a mysterious smile, he pointed to a building and asked, “Tan Bao’er, do you like this place?”
A guess formed in Qu Tantan’s mind, but she didn’t dare believe it. She quickly grabbed her Dad’s arm and shook it. “Is this our new home? Really?!”
“That’s right! Didn’t my Tan Bao’er always want to live here?”
Her Dad laughed heartily as he ruffled her hair. “Speaking of which, we really have to thank your Godfather for helping us. Once we finish setting everything up, we’ll be able to move in. Are you happy?”
Her Mom also wore a bright smile. Though the apartment wasn’t in a newly built complex, it had never been lived in before. It was close to the new shop, the kindergarten, and the elementary school Tantan would attend in the future. The location was great, the price was low, and the community was pleasant. No matter how they looked at it, it was an excellent deal.
Most importantly, they finally had a home of their own. No more living in an old, run-down rental apartment.
Qu Tantan cheered in excitement, planted a kiss on her Dad’s cheek, then gleefully bounced into her Mom’s embrace. She never expected that a small ripple she caused would lead to them securing both the shop and the house. This was amazing!
In the original timeline, they had lived here eventually, but by then, the area had transformed into a prime location, with the land being redeveloped into the most luxurious villa district in Jincheng.
After they moved in, her Mom had often reminisced about recognizing this place and regretted that, back then, they had lacked the funds to buy more property. If they had held onto a few more units, they would have become wealthy overnight.
Hearing this, Tantan couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement. The people who had invested in real estate here early on had all made fortunes. So their family had once had that opportunity too, huh?
But she was the kind of person who appreciated what she had. Besides, in her previous life, she had neither lacked money nor housing, so she had just shrugged it off.
Now, though… since she had the chance, why not buy more properties while she could?
Once the relocation compensation came through, she could nudge her father into purchasing a few prime-location apartments. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true?
After all, in her past life, her biggest ambition had been to become a carefree landlady, living off rental income.
Just as she was fantasizing about her future life of leisure, a sudden thought jolted her.
Wait a minute.
She had already been such a slacker in her previous life. Now that she had been given a second chance, she couldn’t just waste it again!
No, she needed a solid plan.
She needed to study hard and rise from being an academic underdog to becoming the pride of her parents.
In her past life, she had grown up so carefree and thoughtless. Her parents had borne so much without ever revealing it, gritting their teeth to support her education. Yet, she had been so lazy and aimless, never making them proud, even becoming the subject of criticism from relatives and family friends.
Qu Tantan clearly remembered that after her Dad became a successful businessman, many relatives, thinking they were being helpful, secretly advised him to have another child. Otherwise, there would be no one to inherit the family business.
But her Dad had sworn long ago, back when the old lady had pressured him, that he would never have another child. Even then, he remained firm in that decision. He solemnly told those people that both he and his wife thought their daughter was just fine as she was. They had no expectations for her, only that she would be happy.
Perhaps it was the shadow cast by years of renting homes, but in her past life, her Dad developed a habit of frequently buying houses for Qu Tantan. He said that way, even if he lost his ability to provide in the future, Tan Bao’er would always have a place to rely on.
Thinking about the ridicule of those relatives in her past life, Qu Tantan, now reborn, was determined to change things. This time, she would make her parents the envy of everyone around them.
When she got home, she pulled out a beautiful notebook and started drafting a plan. In her previous life, she had been playful and uninterested in studying, with no real hobbies. She had barely managed to get into the local university at the last minute, while Meng Jiajia had been admitted through a special sports program.
She and Meng Jiajia had been friends since middle school, never once arguing, and had even been lucky enough to attend the same university. So this time, not only would she study hard, but she would also pull Meng Jiajia along with her, striving to make their parents proud.
Oh, and she should cultivate a refined hobby. Piano or dance sounded like good options.
Completely unaware that she would later encounter a true genius who would shatter her self-confidence, Qu Tantan was still happily fantasizing about her future as a legendary academic prodigy, even smiling in her sleep.
Moving day arrived quickly.
Because of the commotion of the move, the friendly elderly neighbors in the area had already taken notice of them. Knowing they were moving in, their attitudes were quite welcoming.
Father Qu, who had become quite sociable since starting his business, used the opportunity to chat with the neighbors and learned quite a bit of local gossip.
As they were heading to check out the newly opened mall nearby—where Father Qu’s new store was located—he started telling them about their future neighbors.
There weren’t many residents in the nearby buildings, and most of them knew each other well, making for a friendly community. However, the building where the Qu family was moving in had a few rather unusual tenants, all of whom had moved in later and seemed rather reclusive, not fond of socializing.
Their next-door neighbor was a single mother with a son. No one knew exactly what she did for a living, and she rarely appeared in public, though she seemed to have many admirers, as people often inquired about her. The son, on the other hand, was known to be difficult. People said he had a terrible temper, came home covered in bruises everyday, and was constantly getting into fights at school. A textbook delinquent.
Many had witnessed the boy aggressively throwing out his Mom’s suitors, and local children were too scared to talk to him.
Upstairs, there was a young man who never left his home, seemingly unemployed. Whenever he was seen, he had an aloof expression and never spoke to anyone. Occasionally, when he did appear, he had visible injuries, leading to speculation that he was either a gangster or involved in something shady.
The downstairs tenant was even more mysterious. Rarely seen and seldom home. No one had ever actually met the person who lived there.
So when people found out that the Qu family was moving in, and their apartment was surrounded by these peculiar neighbors, they couldn’t help but look at them with sympathy.
Hearing this, Mother Qu grew concerned. “Could this really be true? We really haven’t seen any of our neighbors all this time… If they’re not easy to get along with, why didn’t you mention this sooner?”
Qu Tantan’s father shrugged indifferently. “It’s just gossip. No one actually knows much about them. We haven’t met them ourselves, so how can we be sure? You only really understand people after you’ve interacted with them.”
He reached out and affectionately ruffled Qu Tantan’s hair as she happily munched on a sugar-coated hawthorn snack. “Besides, our Tan Bao’er has been looking forward to living in this new home. We can’t just back out because of a few rumors, right?”
Qu Tantan wasn’t the least bit concerned about the neighbors. She had already decided, she was living in this house, no matter what.
Besides, she mused to herself, if she ever brought the old lady over, who knew who the real ‘scary neighbor’ would be?
Neither father nor daughter took the matter seriously. Only Mother Qu remained worried, still mumbling as they returned to their new home. “I was planning to use the new cookie recipe I learned from Xinlan to visit our neighbors…”
Recently, Mother Qu had grown very close to Meng Jiajia’s mother, bonding over discussions on raising daughters.
Seeing her so anxious, Qu TanTan was just about to comfort her when, suddenly, a sharp, arrogant female voice rang out in front of their building—
“Lou Xiangwen, you’re a complete loser!”
- Chinese dramas with the prefix ‘Legend of …’ in the title are mostly costume dramas. Here, I think she means that she has watched several palace dramas with that title prefix. ↩︎