The Mystic Lucky Baby is Five and a Half Years Old - Chapter 2

After Yu Niannian finished speaking, she started rummaging through her now-faded, grayish-white Taoist robe. 

At last, she pulled out a yellow talisman. Mysterious symbols were drawn across its surface, ancient and strange, unlike anything Yu Shanhe had ever seen before.

With practiced hands, Yu Niannian folded the talisman into a small triangle. Then she toddled over to her father, stood on her tiptoes, and offered it up like a precious treasure.

“This is my gift in return,” she said earnestly.

“Gift in return?” Yu Shanhe was briefly taken aback, but then smiled warmly and accepted it.

He knew that his daughter had spent the past five years living in some shabby mountain temple, raised by a Daoist priest. So it was normal that she might have picked up a few superstitious habits.

Though it didn’t quite align with his materialist beliefs, he figured it was fine. Once she received a proper education, she’d grow out of it eventually. “Thank you. Daddy really likes your gift.”

Since it was the first present his daughter had ever given him, Yu Shanhe didn’t dismiss it. Instead, he carefully tucked it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, right over his heart.

“Daddy still has some work to finish at the office. I’ll come home early tonight to spend time with you. For now, get familiar with the house. If you need anything, or if you get hungry, just go find your brother.” He patted his daughter’s soft, fluffy little head affectionately.

Lately, the company had been a mess, keeping him endlessly busy. He’d just returned from a business trip today, but had delayed everything just to personally welcome his daughter home.

Now, he really did have to go.

Yu Niannian nodded obediently and waved goodbye. When she was finally alone in the room, she lay down on the soft, luxurious bed.

Mmm… she had never slept on something this soft or this comfortable before. She really wanted to nap, she was so sleepy.

Her eyelids drooped, and she was just about to drift off when footsteps outside the door startled her awake. She opened her eyes to see a little girl about her own age standing there.

The girl wore a frilly, high-end princess dress, clearly someone who had been pampered and carefully raised. Everything about her radiated refinement and delicateness. Compared to plain, simple Yu Niannian, she looked much more like the kind of girl who belonged in this fancy pink-and-blue princess room.

What unsettled Yu Niannian, though, were the emotions flickering in the girl’s eyes, jealousy, resentment, rejection… and something faintly vicious.

Niannian wanted to ask who she was. But before she could speak, the girl marched right into the room without a word, walked straight to the desk, grabbed a beautiful music box from it and smashed it hard against the floor.

The loud crack made Yu Niannian jump in fright. Before she could even react, the girl who had thrown the box burst into tears.

“Tangtang, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Yu Sheng appeared at the doorway barely two minutes later, practically flying in, then rushed over to scoop the girl into his arms, eyes full of concern.

Through sobs, the girl, Zhao Tang, hiccuped, “I just wanted to touch the music box one last time, but little sister didn’t want me to. Then I dropped it… Waaaah, I’m sorry, Brother, I didn’t mean to!”

It was the first time in Yu Niannian’s life that she had experienced something like this, pure malice from the world itself. Twisting the truth, turning black into white. She had never seen such behavior before and had no idea how to handle it.

She just sat there on the bed, dumbfounded and lost.

But in Yu Sheng’s eyes, her stunned expression looked exactly like guilt. It only seemed to confirm Zhao Tang’s story.

Without hesitation, he stood up, pointed at Niannian, and shouted angrily, “I knew it! I knew a bumpkin from the countryside would have no manners, but I didn’t think you’d be this arrogant and cruel!”

“Do you even know what that music box means? Mom made it with her own hands! Tangtang loved it so much that she’s always been careful with it! She only brought it out today to show you, and you destroyed it?! How can you be so selfish and nasty?!”

Yu Niannian sat frozen, her tiny hands gripping the bedsheet. It took her a long while before she managed to stammer out three weak words, “I didn’t…” But her voice was small and trembling, too pale and powerless to convince anyone.

Yu Sheng didn’t even bother listening. To him, her denial sounded like a guilty excuse.

“Hah! From now on, stay away from Tangtang! Even if she’s just our adopted sister, she’s still Mom’s niece, she’s family. The only sister I recognize is her. If I ever catch you bullying Tangtang again, I’ll tell Mom and Dad everything.”

With a cold sneer, he turned and carried Zhao Tang out of the room.

Yu Niannian sat there in silence, staring at the mess on the floor. When she looked up, she met Zhao Tang’s eyes, eyes filled with smug satisfaction, a triumphant little smirk playing on her lips. For such a young child to wear an expression like that… it was chilling.

It was then that Yu Niannian finally understood what her master had always said, ‘Sometimes, people are scarier than ghosts.’ She shivered slightly and made up her mind, she would stay far away from that “big sister” from now on.

The music box lay shattered on the floor, broken pieces of glass and wood scattered everywhere, a clear sign of how much force Zhao Tang had used.

Yu Niannian was a neat, tidy little girl. In fact, she was almost obsessively clean. The messy floor made her uncomfortable, so she climbed off the bed on her short legs, crouched down, and carefully picked up every shard one by one, placing them neatly on the desk.

Meanwhile, outside, Zhao Tang was still adding fuel to the fire, her voice trembling pitifully between sniffles as she clung to Yu Sheng’s sleeve. “Brother… I don’t think little sister likes me. Maybe… maybe I should leave.”

“This is your home. Where would you even go? Besides, your mom and dad have already emigrated abroad, there’s nowhere for you to return to.” Yu Sheng’s heart ached for this cousin he had watched grow up.

When their mother learned that her newborn daughter, Yu Niannian, had been kidnapped, she had fallen into deep postpartum depression, nearly collapsing mentally. He had thought she might not survive. 

Later, his aunt, unable to watch his mother suffer like that, had sent over her own newborn daughter, Zhao Tang, to keep her company. That tiny, soft baby had drawn his mother’s attention away from her grief and slowly helped her recover.

To their family, his aunt and Zhao Tang were benefactors. Even if Yu Niannian had been found, they could never forget that kindness.

“But… I took little sister’s place,” Zhao Tang whispered tearfully. “I stole her position… of course she’d hate me…”

“Nonsense,” Yu Sheng interrupted sharply. “It wasn’t our fault she got taken, and it wasn’t yours, it was the fault of those damn human traffickers! She has no right to take it out on you!”

In his eyes, Zhao Tang was his beloved little sister, certainly not some outsider who didn’t belong with them.