TFRLTOP Chapter 99 Part1

Chapter 99 — The Young Master’s Fake Little Sister (Part Twelve)

◎Just Five Ordinary Roots◎

When she first heard that Xiao Yunmu intended to transfer her to another school, Ming Ming was actually full of hope.

“Brother, brother—you’re kidding, right?”

She offered another possibility: “Actually, it’s because you’re going abroad next semester for graduate school or your PhD, and you don’t feel comfortable leaving me alone in the country. So you’re planning to pack me up and take me with you. Right?”

Xiao Yunmu looked as if he had just heard something amusing. “That’s what you think?”

“…Mm-hm! Yes!”

Ming Ming’s eyes shifted from uncertain to determined, full of restless anticipation.

And impatience.

They pulled into the driveway as they talked. Xiao Yunmu parked the car, rested one hand on the steering wheel, glanced at her lightly, and shattered her dream.

“What kind of daydream are you having? Where did you get the delusion that I’d let you loose on blonde, blue-eyed American pretty boys?”

Ming Ming fell silent for a moment, then said steadily, “Because of your love for me.”

“You’re overthinking. I don’t.”

“You do, you do,” Ming Ming insisted. She unbuckled her seat belt and half draped herself over him. “Brother, you love me the most. Hurry, tell me—are you transferring me to a school full of blond foreign guys?”

“A local international school is fine too! I’m not picky!”

Ming Ming was extremely sincere. Xiao Yunmu was extremely cold.

“I’m transferring you to an all-girls’ school.”

Ming Ming’s smile froze for a full second.

“…Come on.”

“Brother, you’re not serious.”

She stared at him, trying to read his expression.

Nothing.

A man who was sitting at negotiation tables when he was eighteen could control a facial expression or two.

Ming Ming was about to break down. “Are you trying to force me to turn gay?”

Xiao Yunmu genuinely didn’t understand. “Why can’t you just study properly? Why must you be so determined to get into… improper boy-girl-girl-girl relationships? How old do you think you are?”

Ming Ming sank back into her seat, head lowered, looking like she might cry. “You don’t get it. You think I’m still some naïve little kid?”

“No, I’m way more mature than you think. I’ve been through so much…”

Xiao Yunmu was startled by her sad expression. He honestly thought she was recalling her chaotic childhood. He was just about to tell her he wasn’t actually sending her to a girls’ school when she continued:

“I’m barely a teenager, yet I’ve already seen the coldness of the world. I’m barely a teenager, and I already don’t believe in love. I’m barely a teenager, and I’ve cried myself to sleep night after night. I’m barely—”

Xiao Yunmu stared at her expressionlessly. “Miss Xiao Xinx i, I think I should remind you—you started school early. You’re actually only nine and a half.”

Nine… and a half?

Excuse me? I’ve lived through this much drama and I’m only nine and a half?

Seriously?!

Ming Ming took a deep breath and obediently changed her line. “I’m only nine and a half, and I’ve already—”

“Shut your mouth. Believe it or not, I’ll make nine-and-a-half-year-old you experience your very first belt-and-beef stir-fry.”

Ming Ming shut her mouth.

She glanced at the top-grade leather belt at his waist—the visible strength, the durability… If he used it on someone, it could last a long time without breaking.

“You’re a pervert,” she muttered stubbornly.

“When you’re old, I’m pulling your oxygen tube.”

“…”
Xiao Yunmu was speechless. “You might not even get the chance.”

“I don’t care,” Ming Ming pouted. “If you send me to a girls’ school, I’ll absolutely rebel and go gay.”

I am who I am—one-of-a-kind fireworks.

Xiao Yunmu thought for a moment, then suddenly relaxed. “That’s fine. At least it won’t end in a murder case.”

Compared to those suspicious little boys she kept attracting, the idea of her dating girls didn’t sound so bad.

Maybe he should transfer her. If the local area didn’t have a girls’ school, and she’d have to board elsewhere… could she handle it? Or should he buy a place nearby? Move the company too?

Ming Ming: “???”

What exactly are you imagining for a child who isn’t even ten?

A murder case? You want to die?!

Originally, Xiao Yunmu had planned to take her to Europe for summer vacation. But once he saw how excited she got just mentioning blond, blue-eyed foreigners, he scrapped that idea instantly.

No telling who would corrupt whom.

After careful consideration, he took her to the countryside instead.

He wanted her to experience hardship, but he couldn’t bring himself to arrange anything too rough.

Instead, he took her somewhere like a high-end farm-stay resort—popular among the wealthy.

In the mornings, they went for walks, breathed in fresh air, picked half-ripe strawberries and cucumbers in the greenhouse (pure, natural, pesticide-free—or so the sign said), then went to the fish pond to fish for their dinner.

According to the locals, this was called “returning to nature.”

Xiao Yunmu wanted his “pampered” sister to experience a little self-sufficiency and the hardships of rural life.

Instead, Ming Ming acted like a stray dog finally finding home turf—she completely let loose.

If she could drop to all fours, she would’ve probably started panting with her tongue out.

Xiao Yunmu could not understand why she was so happy.

Watching her climb trees, tease cats, torment dogs, and provoke geese with expert precision, he could only chalk it up to early-childhood habits that were never corrected.

They say a child’s habits at three predict their adulthood. Could she still be fixed?

Worrisome.

Ming Ming didn’t care for fruit-picking. She liked the fish pond.

But she didn’t have the patience to actually fish.

While Xiao Yunmu sat there like a serene monk, she ran circles around him.

“Stop wandering around. You’re scaring the fish away.”

“I’m not running in the water.”

Xiao Yunmu snorted. This kid was getting harder to fool.

He picked up a children’s fishing rod and handed it to her. “Sit. Behave.”

Ming Ming pouted. She was used to catching fish by jumping straight into the water—who had the patience to sit and wait?

But Xiao Yunmu’s tone left no room for argument, so she sat beside him with her tiny fishing rod, pretending to fish.

Not quietly, of course.

She occasionally shook the rod, stirred the water, and after he clicked his tongue and glared at her, she’d behave for two minutes—then do it again.

“Hey!”

She got a light smack on the head.

Ming Ming puffed her cheeks and glared sideways at him.

The surface of the water rippled again with a soft “splash, splash…”