TFRLTOP Chapter 99 Part 2

“Tsk. Still not sitting still.”

“No—no, it wasn’t me!” Ming Ming stared at the water in shock. “It’s moving on its own!”

Realizing what was happening, Xiao Yunmu quickly lifted her fishing rod.

A tiny fish dangled from the hook.

Well, look at that.

Ming Ming excitedly cupped the ten-centimeter fish in her hands and dropped it into Xiao Yunmu’s big bucket.

The little fish was immediately chased around by the bigger ones inside.

“It’s running, they’re chasing, and there’s nowhere for it to escape,” Ming Ming muttered, dusting her hands off. Then she pointed at the fish and announced, “See? The fish you caught is just like you—always bullying, and the fish I catch.”

Xiao Yunmu: “…”

Just then, the small rod Ming Ming had tossed onto the ground began to shake again.

The two exchanged a glance before Ming Ming rushed over and yanked the rod.

Another one.

Xiao Yunmu stared at her, stunned.

Ming Ming’s mouth had formed a perfect O.

“Again. Keep going,” Xiao Yunmu instructed.

After that, it was as if every small fish in the pond had fallen in love with her hook—one after another racing to bite it.

A small crowd even gathered to watch.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yunmu didn’t catch a single additional fish.

The pile of little fish Ming Ming reeled in swam around, bullying the big fish instead.

A complete reversal of power, truly.

Among the haul was even a small pufferfish.

Ming Ming couldn’t remember what it was called, so she pointed at it and said, “The angry fish! Angry fish!”

The crowd burst into laughter.

“Not bad,” Xiao Yunmu said, ruffling her hair.

Ming Ming beamed, not even pretending to be humble. “Beginner’s luck! Beginner’s protection period, hehe…”

“Good. Tonight we’ll fry up this pile of little yellow fish.”

The grin snapped right off her face.

“Why? Can’t we keep them for two more days? I want to admire my success—not watch my success end up in my stomach.”

“If your ‘success’ doesn’t go in the pot soon, it’s going to float belly-up,” he said coolly.

Ming Ming: “…”

Reluctantly, she muttered, “Fine then… at least add extra cumin and chili.”

But she saved the angry fish.

Holding the little pufferfish, she intentionally coaxed it into puffing up like a round ball, bouncing it gently from hand to hand.

“Gege, sit down,” she said, suddenly struck by what she considered a brilliant idea for flattery. “Hurry, sit—lift your foot.”

Xiao Yunmu didn’t understand, but he humored her.

Then he watched Ming Ming squat down and begin polishing his shoes using the round, puffed-up pufferfish.

“Look, your fancy shoes had so much mud on them. Now they’re clean.”

Xiao Yunmu: “…”

Was she clever, or just unbelievably imaginative?

Well… the shoes were cleaner.

After a summer of sun and wind, Ming Ming had noticeably tanned.

A good thing, in Xiao Yunmu’s eyes. His delicate, porcelain-skinned radish had turned into a little wild boar. Now she wouldn’t be able to charm any boys—surely she could finally focus on her studies.

A student’s priority is academics.

He handed the little “wild boar” (a stuffed toy) to Ming Ming, snapped several photos with his phone—

Click, click.

—and concluded with satisfaction, “They look identical.”

Then he made it his profile picture.

—

When the new semester started, Ming Ming entered fifth grade. She had been transferred to the city’s strictest, most academically demanding private school—one that the Xiao family happened to partially own.

Xiao Yunmu fully believed this would finally keep her under control.

And for a while, she really did behave herself.

At first, she found the place boring. After all, no matter how heavy the workload, elementary school assignments were just copied passages, dictations, or a few extra Olympiad problems.

Those “cows eating grass” rate problems and “water filling and draining simultaneously” questions were nothing to her. Which meant, once again… boredom.

Until a boy called her “Black Pearl.”

???

Black Pearl, your mom is a black pearl. You’re black! Your whole family is black!

Then, entirely by accident, she befriended the captain of the basketball team, the young master from the class next door, the school heartthrob from downstairs, and a sweet-faced boy one grade younger—who, frankly, gave off slightly unhinged vibes.

The one who called her Black Pearl? Nothing special. Just a classmate.

Ming Ming had trouble telling them apart, but she didn’t dislike them.

After all, they had one thing in common:

They were all good-looking.

That alone earned them her respect.

Even if she couldn’t always remember who was who, she secretly assigned them code names—A, B, C, D, and E—based purely on the order she met them.

But even that system wasn’t foolproof. Occasionally, she’d call A “B,” or call E “G.”

There wasn’t even a G.

Who was G?

Her ex-boyfriend, Duan Miao.

Ah… she kind of missed him.

Whenever the slightly unhinged boy heard that name, his expression grew even darker than when she mentioned A, B, C, or D—tainted with disbelief, like: There’s another one?

Anyone wanting to stab someone through sheer jealousy couldn’t hide it.

Ming Ming felt the pressure mounting.

Her long-silent system finally appeared just to mock her:
“Who was it that, back when she first noticed this, boldly declared—‘Just five? That’s nothing?”

Ming Ming wanted to crawl into her own head and slap a hand over his mouth.

Are you trying to get me killed?!

I’m just a kid! I don’t know anything about ‘just five’ or ‘not enough,’ okay?!

Stop imagining things!

They’re just competing to be my friends!

Just… friends…