Chapter 7 Gratitude of an Ungrateful Female Lead 7 – The Great King Is Mighty

Zhou He’s job of watching the children of the Xie Family’s guests and relatives was progressing in full swing.

The children were willing to listen to her, and the parents were happy to let it happen.

No one else was willing to take on such a troublesome job anyway. So not only did she avoid becoming “unemployed” again, the whole thing was growing bigger and bigger.

Mainly because she felt that taking the children out to patrol the mountain every day was pretty boring. And it didn’t really count as proper work, either. She was also worried that if too many people went out and scattered around, she wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on everyone. If someone tripped or got hurt, it would be hard to explain to their parents.

So every afternoon, she took the children to the tables that had been set up for the Flowing Banquet and had them do their homework there.

At that hour, whether they were in elementary school or kindergarten, they had all gotten out of class, and it was the right time to do homework. She stayed beside them while they worked, though there actually wasn’t much she needed to tutor.

Most of it was copying and writing assignments anyway. As long as someone watched over them, that was enough. Now and then there were questions that needed explaining, but they were never too difficult. As long as she reined in the children’s wildly wandering thoughts and used the proper way to explain things, progress was very fast.

Of course, some children didn’t want to be stuck there doing homework. So she started scoring each child based on how they behaved while doing it. The group that finished quickly and well earned the right to follow her, the Great King, on mountain patrol.

As for those who performed poorly, they could only stay behind and keep doing homework.

And of course, anyone else who wanted to be the detention teacher could do it too, but they had to rank in the top five during homework time.

What child could resist that kind of incentive? Being a student was miserable enough, but getting to play the role of teacher, now that was exciting. Besides, the homework wasn’t hard anyway, and if anyone really found something difficult, Zhou He would go over the key points on the spot. Most of them were able to finish their homework quickly and well.

When the parents saw this, they sent even more children to her.

After all, this was free tutoring from a graduate student. Anyone who didn’t come and listen would be missing out.

Naturally, they felt bad about letting Zhou He teach for nothing, so little by little they brought things over for her and Xu Meijuan. Even when they were helping out at the Xie Family home, they seemed to work a little harder than before.

Whenever people worked around the table area where Zhou He and the children were, they would deliberately avoid it or lower their voices.

Even Zhou He found that result surprising. It also won her extremely high praise among the neighbors.

A few days later came Grandmother’s Zuoye, the day of the official memorial service.

The Xie Family was well liked and had many friends, so the Flowing Banquet ran from morning until night.

That day, Zhou He’s father and stepmother also came to attend the banquet. When they saw Zhou He leading a group of children playing at the Xie Family’s gate, her stepmother smiled and said, “Zhou He, now that you’ve come back, why haven’t you come home to visit? Your little brother misses you. He’s been waiting for you to come back, wondering whether his big sister would bring him a gift after being away for so long.”

That woman’s petty, stingy little scheme was as obvious as daylight. Zhou He couldn’t be bothered with her.

Unable to save face¹, her stepmother immediately put on the airs of an elder. “You may not like hearing this, but I did help raise you. That makes me half your mother. I still have to say a few heartfelt words to you. On such an important day for the Xie Family, you should be diligent. How can you just stand around here playing? Use your eyes and find something to do.”

Even Zhou He’s father said, “Your mother is right. I think all that studying has made you stupid. At your age, you ought to know what you should and shouldn’t do. Don’t embarrass the family.”

Zhou He gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“That’s rich. You sold your underage daughter for over a hundred thousand and didn’t think that was embarrassing, but somehow I’m the one bringing shame? I don’t steal, and I don’t rob anyone.”

Father Zhou said, “You!”

He raised his hand as if to hit her.

There was no way Zhou He was going to stand there and let him. She sprang two big steps back, and when she saw that he still wanted to chase after her and hit her, she mocked him. “Dad, think it through. Are you really going to beat me in front of your in-laws’ house today? The one who’ll be embarrassed won’t be me, right?”

Father Zhou was furious. “Your wings have hardened now. You’ve really become lawless… Ah…”

Along with Father Zhou’s cry of pain, he clutched his stomach and staggered back several steps.

It turned out that several of the children who had been playing with Zhou He saw Father Zhou acting fierce and threatening to hit someone, so they immediately rushed out to help.

The first to act was Zhou He’s Second Great King. The Second Great King was an eight-year-old Little Fatty, fair and plump, solid as a little dumpling. In his panic just now, he had unleashed an iron headbutt and slammed his head straight into Father Zhou’s stomach.

Father Zhou said, “Whose crazy brat is this? So rude.”

The Second Great King wasn’t scared in the slightest. Standing tall and proud, he shouted in a booming voice, “I am your grandpa, the Second Great King of the Zhou Family Mountain stronghold! As long as I’m here, you’re not allowed to bully our Great King!”

The other children planted their hands on their hips and stepped forward, all chiming in at once. “That’s right, you’re not allowed to bully our Great King!”

Father Zhou: “…”

What the hell was this?

Everyone else: “…”

Had these kids watched too many cartoons?

Zhou He: “…”

This is bad. She had spent the past few days making things up and playing roles to amuse the children. These kids had gotten way too deep into character, hadn’t they?

Complaining inwardly was one thing, but she was afraid Father Zhou might lash out in anger and hurt the children, so she quickly pulled Little Fatty behind her and told the other children to back away too.

But Little Fatty still wouldn’t settle down. Poking his head out from behind Zhou He, he said, “Don’t be scared, Great King. If he dares bully you, I’ll headbutt him again.”

Zhou He shoved him back with one hand. Settle down already.

Then she looked at Father Zhou. He seemed to have been stunned speechless by this gang of children. The people around them also began trying to break things up, and after giving a heavy snort, he turned and left.

He wasn’t even staying for the banquet anymore? He didn’t care about saving face at all?

Her stepmother called after him a few times, but couldn’t stop him. Then, facing the probing looks from the people around her, she put on an expression of utter grief and began changing the subject. “When Zhou He was with the Zhou Family under my care, she was obedient and sensible, so hardworking too. But look at what she’s learned after coming to the Xie Family and following Xu Meijuan around. Her father has such a hard fate, giving birth to such an unfilial daughter…”

Zhou He was still standing there, and the people around them were so awkward that no one responded to the stepmother at all.

Zhou He was truly left speechless by this husband and wife. When she was little and didn’t understand any better, she had endured every grievance in silence and let them exploit her, just so she could have a place in the Zhou Family. That didn’t mean she was still that easy to push around now. They could forget about using all this baseless nonsense to control her again. The blood ties between Zhou He and the Zhou Family had already been severed the moment they accepted that Bride Price of over a hundred thousand.

Now, hearing her stepmother still spouting nonsense there, Zhou He was furious. She reached out and grabbed a chopping blade that had been leaning against the wall.

It was probably a blade someone had used that morning to shave bamboo strips while making funeral wreaths. Now it conveniently became something she could use to scare people.

The moment the blade landed in her hand, Zhou He realized she had picked the wrong prop. It had been a long time since she had done heavy labor, and this blade, about a foot long, actually felt weighty in her grip.

But there was no way she could lose momentum at a time like this. She swung the blade with a fierce whooshing sound and strode toward her stepmother.

Her stepmother screamed in fright and tried to hide behind the people around her. But no one dared shelter her, and they all ran even faster than she did. Forced into a panic, she fled like a rat with its head covered.

Zhou He chased right after her. Whichever way her stepmother ran, Zhou He moved to block her.

“Go on then. Why’d you stop talking? I’d like to hear what else you can say.”

“I won’t say it anymore, I won’t…”

Zhou He pointed the blade at her stepmother. “Today’s Grandmother’s big day, so this blade won’t draw blood. But if I hear you say one more bad word about anyone in the Xie Family, I’ll really chop you down. Do you believe me or not? My mother-in-law treats me well, more than a hundred times better than you ever did. What right does someone like you have to talk about her?”

Only after saying that did Zhou He lower the blade.

The stepmother turned and ran, and the area fell utterly silent.

Zhou He rolled her shoulders… this cleaver was just too heavy for her. If something like this happened again, she was definitely going to pick a handier prop in advance. Sigh, if the blade hadn’t been so long and she hadn’t been afraid her arms would give out and ruin the effect, she could’ve kept cursing for a while longer.

Rubbing her shoulder as she turned around, she finally realized there was a whole row of Xie Family members standing beneath the eaves: Father Xie, Mother Xie, Uncle Xie, Aunt Xie, her younger male cousin Xie Chonghu, her older female cousin Meng Qiu, Xie Qingjia’s biological younger sister Xie Lingge… and Xie Qingjia himself.

So it turned out one of the children with spirits had sensed that something was wrong and, while Zhou He was confronting the Zhou Family couple, had run back to call for backup.

The Xie Family all looked at Zhou He with extremely complicated expressions. Suspicion, shock, confusion… as if they were getting to know her all over again. Xie Chonghu’s reaction was especially exaggerated, his eyes wide as saucers, his jaw practically on the floor.

Who knew how long they’d been standing there watching.

Uh… what kind of reversed scene was this?

Hiss… Zhou He froze on the spot and started thinking back. Had she just acted especially like a shrew? Had she? Probably just a tiny bit…

Xie Qingjia walked over and took hold of the knife in Zhou He’s hand, using a deft twist to relieve her of it.

Not entirely approving, he reproached her softly, “If something happened, why didn’t you call me? Is your phone just for show? What kind of girl goes around brandishing a knife?”

“Uh… well… don’t get the wrong idea. You know me, right? I’m usually pretty gentle. I was just trying to scare her so she wouldn’t keep spouting nonsense.”

“Mm.”

“Mm?” What kind of response was that? Did he believe her or not?

Oh, God, this was mortifying.

The children finally snapped out of their shock, completely unable to understand Zhou He’s urge to dig a hole and crawl into it.

No one knew who shouted first, but suddenly someone yelled, “Wow, Great King is amazing! Great King is mighty!”

The other children immediately joined in, each one shouting louder than the last, as if they were competing to see who had the strongest voice. At the same time, they circled around her and clapped.

Zhou He: “…”

Forget it. The world should just end.

She lowered her head and hurried off, only wanting to find a corner to be by herself for a while.

As she passed Xie Lingge, she noticed the expression on her face was quite strange.

But Zhou He couldn’t be bothered with that right now. In any case, Xie Lingge had never liked her. Ever since childhood, Xie Lingge had felt that Zhou He wasn’t good enough for Xie Qingjia. The girl had never known how to hide what she felt, and had taken plenty of open and subtle jabs at her over the years.

To be fair, Xie Lingge was better than her brother at judging people, and she had been pretty accurate too. Sigh…

The two of them usually avoided each other whenever possible. Xie Lingge didn’t even want to walk the same road with Zhou He, so during the past few days after coming back, the two had basically been invisible in each other’s line of sight.

It was rare enough that this time Xie Lingge hadn’t mocked Zhou He…

The corner Zhou He found to huddle up in and bury her head wasn’t actually secluded. She could still vaguely hear that group of children constantly singing the praises of the Great King’s bravery, while also taking pride in their own heroic feat. Especially the Second Great King, Little Fatty. Thanks to his iron headbutt and his meritorious protection of the king, his position as Second Great King had become even more secure.

She even heard another little brat flatter him, saying, “Fatty Bro really deserves the title of Second Great King personally bestowed by the Great King. Truly valiant.”

Little Fatty’s tone sounded deliberately modest. “You’re too kind, you’re too kind.”

Zhou He: “…”

She was a twenty-five-year-old graduate student in a key major at a top 211 university. After today, these little brats were probably going to drag her IQ down until she was on the same level as their pack of elementary school scrubs.

Translator’s Notes