Chapter 30

She got a message from one of her friends. It turned out to be Manchu. He and his husband had decided to move to the city where she was for no reason. They wanted her to come to their home for a housewarming next week.

Scarlett agreed and told Anastasia and Avery about it. She went along with it and asked if scarlet wants her to drop her there. Scarlett didn't want to trouble her more and told her she will go there herself.

Their place turned out to be thirty minutes away, far in the suburbs. Manchu liked a quiet, pollution-less, scenic place and Michael, being a devoted husband, bought an apartment there. Meh. let's just roll with it.

When she arrived there, she saw hundreds of shoes on the doorstep. Did the entire fucking population decide to come here at the door uninvited? Oh, wait, Manchu's Asian. Too many cousins, aunts, and uncles then.

She rang the doorbell and a seven-year-old opened the door. Then, like bunnies, more children appeared behind her. Laughter was heard behind them.

"Uh hi?" they stared at her with their huge eyes and yelled.

"Manchu da-ge!"

"What!?" a frustrated voice yelled.

"Someone's at the door!"

"Oh, why didn't you tell me that before?!" footsteps were heard and Manchu appeared. "Hi!"

"Hi."

"Come inside. My husband's coming, he's bringing food."

"Eh? He's bringing food?"

"What? Do you expect me to cook for like 25 people?"

"Good point."

"It looks like you've met my younger cousins."

"No, I'm blind."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, come inside."

It turned out there was another door that led to the apartment. Even if it was closed, you could hear the family inside. Wow, they must be loud as heck.

When he opened it, they were greeted by talking, laughs, and probably what she can't say as crying or demonic screaming. Michael's family had been squished in between them. Manchu's mother's family had come, which meant both sides of his family had come.

(his parents are lesbians if you forgot)

"Oh, look!" and everyone turned their head towards Scarlett. She awkwardly smiled.

"Everyone, this is my classmate Scarlett. She knows Chinese as well so you don't have to talk in English."

He was shook when his husband said she knew a lot of languages. Including his mother tongue. When she was younger, she had a lot of free time and was bored. So she decided to learn a few languages. Every day she would take the orphanage's computer and spent a few hours on it. How much IQ does she have? 150?!

"Hello! Nice to meet you all!" she wondered if that seemed fake and too annoying or over-enthusiastic and annoying at the same time.

"Hello!"

"Hello."

"When's the food going to arrive?"

Manchu glared at a girl who Scarlett guessed was one of his younger cousins. Then he spoke in Chinese. "When I reach Saturn, it will arrive."

"Oh, good then. You'll be dead. It'll be an excellent miracle for the entire existence of humanity."

"Cao Xin! Behave!" the woman beside her scolded her daughter, who she guessed was her mother.

"Okay." Cao Xin mumbled.

Two kids who had popped behind the door pulled one of Scarlett's sleeves. She peered at them and bent down to their level. "Hello."

"Hello." they shyly mumbled.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Lai Fengying and this-"

"I'm Lai Jian!"

Scarlett smiled at them. "That's a cute name."

"Big sister, why do you look like that?"

"Ehh?"

"Why do you wear dark-coloured clothes?"

"Why? I can wear dark colours if I want to." do they have something against dark coloured colours? That's a weird question.

"Mommy says that if we wear dark-coloured clothes in summer, we'll burn. That's why we should light coloured clothes." eh?! What kind of lies have their parents been feeding them?!

They probably like to wear dark-coloured clothes so their mother had to say something like that. Dark-coloured clothes do absorb heat a lot.

"Oh, I had no light coloured clothes today, so I wore this one."

"But what if you burn?!"

"Then she's burnt. Stop troubling her now." Their big sister said. The sibling stared at Scarlett with fear. What the heck?

"Scarlett!" Michael's sister patted an empty seat next to her. She had to squeeze between them.

"Manchu dage! Can we play in your room!?"

"What? No! You can't go in my room!"

"Then can we go play in the balcony?"

"... okay. But don't bend down the balcony railings too much."

"Yay!"

Time passed, and the doorbell rang once again. "Yay! Food!"

One of them stood up and opened the doors. A huge stack of boxes appeared. "Move! Move! My fingers are burning!"

Scarlett stood up and asked. "Should I help?"

Manchu's mothers stood up and pushed her shoulder. "No, you… stay here. We'll help."

One of the grandmas sighed. "Once again, their lovey-dovey atmosphere would start. Our daughters are so petty."

Another grandma joined in. "I know right."

"Eh?" also when did they learn the word 'petty'?

One of the cousins patted Scarlett's shoulder. "Oh my aunts are still in love like teenagers and act like they're still newlyweds even if they have been together for nearly twenty-five years."

Michael's mom sighed. "I know right. They do that every time they come to my house during reunions or when I go to their place."

Scarlett muttered. "That's a nice and healthy relationship."

"I know but can they just not rub it in our faces that they are still strong, unlike some people's marriages."

"Oh, how did they meet though?"

"That's a question you have to ask them."

A few minutes later, chaos occurred. The kids and their parents were having an argument because they weren't eating. Cousins were fighting over food. The rest (the newlywed couple, their in-laws, Scarlett) were about to go insane.

How the heck did they survive and get along well while fighting this much?

One of the grandma's tapped Scarlett's shoulder. "Don't worry, it gets worse during new years and on weddings."

"Oh."

"I've given up on them."

"I can see that."

"Also, how do you know Chinese so well?"

"Uhhh in my free time before, like when I was a kid; I learnt languages out of boredom."

"That's good. Also, what do you do for a living?"

"I'm a neurosurgeon?"

"Oh. Your parents might be proud of you."

"Uhhh, I don't know who my parents are."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, ma'am."

"But they might be proud of you if they knew about what you did."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Call me grandma Ye instead."

"Okay, grandma Ye."

The noise attracted the neighbours, and they came up to their door to complain. The newlywed couple had to apologise and Manchu gave his family a glare. And that's how World War 3 was resolved.