Xiaoxi couldn’t really remember how old Xiao Keke had been back then; she only recalled that at the time, Xiao Keke was just a wobbly little brat, always toddling after her with a “pat-pat-pat,” calling her “gege.”
It was obvious that such a young child needed an adult to watch over her at night, but…
A rather awkward expression appeared on Xiaoxi’s face.
“Back then, Old Mom and her had just remarried, you know. Every night they’d claim they had things to do and asked me to coax Keke to sleep. Then the two of them would head back to their room and lock the door together. Yup.”
Ye Xinglan: “?”
Just then, Su Yuening knocked and entered the room, her gentle and refined demeanor making Ye Xinglan doubt whether she was really the same person Xiaoxi had just described.
“What would you all like for lunch? I’m about to start cooking.”
“Tomato and scrambled eggs!”
“Sugar-glazed pork ribs!”
Su Yuening nodded and turned to Ye Xinglan, “And Xinglan? Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
“Ah, anything is fine for me…”
It seemed in Xiaoxi’s household, even when kids made requests, their wishes weren’t ignored.
But as soon as Su Yuening left, Ye Xinglan suddenly felt a little nervous.
“Um, Mom’s gone to cook… isn’t it kind of rude for us just to sit here and chat?”
“Besides, this is my first time visiting. Shouldn’t I offer to help in the kitchen or something, you know, to leave a good impression on Mom…”
Just like most people, Ye Xinglan found it awkward to watch the host working while she sat there doing nothing.
What’s more, she was worried she wouldn’t make a good impression on Su Yuening, so she hesitated, wondering how to naturally offer to help without being turned down.
The other two immediately stopped Ye Xinglan, telling her not to overthink it.
Xiao Keke, who hadn’t wanted to share such embarrassing stories, could only allow Xiaoxi to keep talking for Ye Xinglan’s sake.
“And then… Well, you see, I was just a kid back then too. Besides telling this brat bedtime stories, I really couldn’t think of any other way to coax her to sleep.”
Xiaoxi spread her hands helplessly.
……
“In the end, the Big Grey Wolf went ‘splash!’ and fell into the well, and both Xiaohongmao and Grandma were saved. The end!”
Little Xiaoxi snapped the Fairy Tale Story Anthology shut with a “pa,” but Xiao Keke, lying in bed, still stared wide-eyed, not looking the least bit sleepy.
“Gege, these stories are all so boring. I’ve heard them a bunch of times.”
Helpless, Xiaoxi put the book down, opened the door, and glanced toward the other end of the living room— Old Mom’s room door was tightly shut, not a sliver of light peeking through.
She had no idea what the moms did every night in there, but she’d nearly worn out that fairy tale book by now!
“I want to hear something new—something more interesting!”
Xiao Keke let out a big yawn. Kids couldn’t really stay up late, so the later it got, the sleepier she should be.
But Xiao Keke stubbornly insisted on hearing a new story before going to sleep.
Xiaoxi scratched her head. She was still a kid herself back then. Where was she supposed to find so many stories to tell?
“Um… how about this! I’ll tell you another story about Xiaohongmao, but this time it’s a version you haven’t heard before. How’s that?”
A flash of inspiration struck Xiaoxi. If she couldn’t think of something new, she’d just make up her own spin on the old stories!
“Okay~”
“Then here I go. Ahem, one day Xiaohongmao’s mom sent her through the forest to bring Grandma… yes, bring medicine! They say Grandma had just been very sick and was acting all strange lately…”
After a while, Ye Xinglan stared in shock, her eyes wide: “You told that to a little kid?”
So the truth was, Grandma’s real identity was actually the Red Hood Ghost, who had lived for hundreds of years.
The Big Grey Wolf knew Grandma actually wanted to eat Xiaohongmao, so he tried every way to stop Xiaohongmao from visiting.
In the end, at the critical moment, the Hunter sniped Grandma from 800 li away with a rifle and saved Xiaohongmao?
And after that, Xiaohongmao discovered her own Family Curse that had been hidden for a hundred years… Meow, was this a soap opera?
Clearly she’d had quite an imagination for making up stories as a kid, so how come she could only write cliché palace romances as an adult?
“Kids just have wild imaginations,” Xiaoxi rubbed her nose awkwardly. “I didn’t think much about it back then—just made it up as I went along.”
“Keke was already sleepy, but after the story her eyes were as round as saucers…”
Xiao Keke crossed her arms, dissatisfied: “See, Xinglan-jie! You can’t blame me for being a scaredy-cat! Who tells these kinds of stories to kids?”
So, that night, Xiao Keke didn’t dare sleep alone and cried for her mom to stay with her.
Xiaoxi still remembered the annoyed look on her own mom’s face at having her ‘good time’ interrupted.
But what Xiaoxi hadn’t expected was that maybe because the story was actually interesting, the next night Xiao Keke asked to hear more, even though it made her too scared to fall asleep.
What a mix of being both timid and greedy for fun.
And then, since Xiao Keke refused to sleep alone, she’d pester Xiaoxi to stay with her, so Old Mom just bought a folding bed for Xiaoxi to sleep in Xiao Keke’s room…
After all, the two moms still had more important things to do at night, so they couldn’t always stay with the kids.
“Afterwards… sometimes I’d wait for Keke to fall asleep and then go back to my own room. Other times, I’d just doze off right on the folding bed.”
It was a bit embarrassing to talk about, but as she recounted it, Xiaoxi couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.
Sadly, her little sister hadn’t stayed so cute forever.
After growing up, perhaps because she’d developed an immunity, Xiao Keke wasn’t scared of ghosts at all anymore.
On the contrary, she often turned around to scare Xiaoxi—who, due to Magic Syndrome, had become a softer, prettier ‘gege’…
She still remembered that one time—probably at the finale of “Forest Adventurers vs. Red Hood Ghost.”
That night, Xiaoxi half-awake, crawled up from the folding bed, planning to go back to her own room, only to find Xiao Keke, sleepy as she was, still staring wide-eyed.
“Hey, you’re still awake?”
“I’m scared that… what if the Red Hood Ghost comes to take me away tonight?”
“That kind of thing won’t happen. The Red Hood Ghost can’t get into our house, don’t be so timid, honestly.”
“But—but, Gege, didn’t you say the Red Hood Ghost loves to eat kids who are scared of her? And doesn’t she know how to teleport, so she can get into our house? Isn’t that how she found the Hunter Sniper?”
“Gege, I’m scared…”
Xiao Keke buried most of her head under the covers, leaving only her bright eyes peeking out, glittering in the darkness of the room.
At the time, Xiaoxi couldn’t understand. She didn’t realize that kids Xiao Keke’s age couldn’t really tell stories from reality.
It sounded far-fetched, but if her gege said it, she’d believe that Red Hood Ghosts really existed in the world.