Chapter 617: His Scheming Sister

Fan Meilin also felt a bit troubled with everyone looking at him. He cleared his throat and then said to the children, “Alright. Come here; I will teach you how to pluck the berries since you are so dumb.”

“Don’t call the children dumb,” Liao Liqin quickly typed in his phone, and the automated voice relayed his message to Fan Meilin, who rolled his eyes, but he still turned to look at the children with a smile on his face. “Is this better, master?”

Liao Liqin simply stared at him before giving him a slow nod.

Fan Meilin scoffed inwardly, but when he turned to look at the two kids, he seriously told them how to pick the ripe strawberries. This strawberry farm was well cultivated, and only organic fertilisers were used in growing these crops. This was something that Qi Yongrui had made sure of.

According to him, the consumers of their berries were young kids and pregnant mers; they couldn’t betray their trust by putting artificial fertilisers that would make things difficult for their consumers.

Thus, every strawberry was carefully grown and was perfectly ripe.

But there were some which were still green at the base. Fan Meilin knew that the children were attracted to the small green strawberries, as they were different and prettier in their eyes compared to the red ones. Thus, he immediately plucked a half-ripe strawberry and handed it to Nian Wu.

“Go ahead, take a bite of this one.”

Nian Wu’s eyes had been locked on the dual-coloured strawberry from the start; thus, he picked it up and put it in his mouth without thinking twice. However, the second he took a bite, his face scrunched up, and he spat out the bitter remnants of the fruit that was supposed to bring him a sweet delight.

“Aye haye, it’s bitter,” Nian Wu sobbed as he held the strawberry in his hands. He was not used to wasting food, but at the same time, the thought of eating this strawberry brought quite a bit of pressure on his little shoulders. Should he throw it away? But that would be a waste of food, but then was he supposed to eat it? It was too bitter!

In the end, Liao Liqin sighed and snatched the strawberry before finishing it in small bites. Compared to children, adults could eat this bitter strawberry without a fuss; however, he did turn and glare at Fan Meilin for making the child cry.

Fan Meilin shrugged helplessly. “What? If I had told him then, he wouldn’t have listened to me, and I bet you a hundred yuan that this kid would have rushed out and plucked this half-ripe one. At least now that he has learnt the lesson, he will make sure to pick the bright red ones. Right, Ah Wu?”

Nian Wu nodded at once. He would steer clear of the green ones now because they tasted awful!

“See that?” Fan Meilin pointed at the kid as he spoke to Liao Liqin.

Liao Liqin rolled his eyes. He didn’t say anything because, firstly, he couldn’t say anything to begin with, and secondly, even if he did say something, with the kind of person Fan Meilin was, was he even going to listen to a thing that he told him?

It was better not to say anything and save his energy.

“Don’t let it get to you; he is like that,” a voice spoke from behind, and Fan Meilin turned around on his feet and glared at the woman who spoke to them. He said to the woman, “What are you doing here, Elder Sister?”

Fan Xinli smiled at the mer in front of her and pulled her son forward. She said to Fan Meilin, “What do you think? Isn’t it because Xiajin wanted to come and pluck strawberries? Do you think that I came here to take part in a meeting?”

Fan Meilin rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms before saying to Fan Xinlin, “There is no need for you to make excuses. I know that you are here for a reason because you never do anything just for fun.”

“You wound me, Meilin.”

“Haha, you want to tell me that you came here just because you wanted to pick strawberries? What happened? All the strawberry farms in the city have burned down?” Fan Meilin questioned with a tilt of his head; with his arms crossed in front, he stared at his elder sister, who had popped up here out of nowhere.

Fan Xinli chuckled. She tilted her head to one side just like Fan Meilin and said to him, “I can never hide anything from you, can I? Very well. You are right; I came to look for you.”

“What? Why?” Fan Meilin was simply stunned. He thought that his sister would tell him that she was here on a business meeting or something of the sort. But he never thought that she would tell him that she had come to look for him, and that too, so directly!

He blinked his eyes and tried to stifle the frustration that was slowly rising in his heart, and questioned his sister, “Why did you come looking for me? I think I told you that I will be going on vacation. Right? There is no need for you to come looking for me.”

“I came here because I knew that you would be coming here,” replied Fan Xinli.

Fan Meilin frowned. However, a second later, he noticed the teasing glint in the eyes of his sister. She had often looked at him with that look when she was about to pull the rug from under his feet; he narrowed his eyes and questioned, “What? What are you scheming now?”

“Once again, your words have the brutality and sharpness of a knife,” remarked Fan Xinli. She then pushed her son, who had once again become shy due to Fan Meilin’s lack of visits to the Fan family. In the past, when Fan Meilin was not living a good life at the Luo house, he would come to Fan Mansion every now and then. But ever since he started getting used to his life with Luo Huian turning into a new leaf, he stopped coming to the Fan Mansion, and Fan Xiajin forgot all about this uncle of his.

It was not Fan Xiajin’s fault; after all, children have a really small and forgetful memory. If they don’t see someone for a long time, they will forget about them very soon. So, how could Fan Xiajin not forget Fan Meilin, who hadn’t come to the Fan mansion for more than two months?

“Just tell me what you want,” said Fan Meilin. He had a sleek suspicion that there was something that his sister wanted very much because, if not, she wouldn’t have come looking for him. This countryside was beautiful, but it was also quite far away from the city where they lived. Why would Fan Xinli come here for no reason? There had to be a reason.

With that thought in his head, he narrowed his eyes and glared at Fan Xinli, who sighed. She raised her hands in surrender before saying, “Alright, you caught me. There is indeed something that I want from you.”

“Heh,” said Fan Meilin with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He curled his lips on one side and stated, “Did you think that I would not be able to see through your ugly intentions? Now, out with what you want to do?”

Fan Xinli smiled. “Nothing too difficult. I just want you to do some babysitting.”

“Babysitting—?” Fan Meilin questioned, and before he could say anything else, Fan Xinli doubled down and picked her son up from the ground. She handed Fan Xiajin to Fan Meilin and said to her brother, “There is no need to look so surprised. Did you think I was here just to see you? Well, I was, but that’s just part of the reason. Your brother-in-law and I have hardly spent any time with one another in the past few months.”

“Your brother-in-law has been getting quite upset with me because we cannot spend time with one another. Since that is the case, I brought him here. After all, you are already taking care of two kids. One more wouldn’t matter, right? Just take care of your precious nephew for the next five or six hours. I will come back to get him very soon.”

Then, before Fan Meilin could say anything to Fan Xinli, she turned around and headed to the car that was not parked far from where Fan Meilin was standing.

Fan Meilin: “…”

Fan Xiajin: “…”

The two of them turned to look at one another, but then Fan Meilin whipped his head to the front and shouted after his sister, “Hey! What do you mean by that, it’s not much different!? Come back here, Fan Xinli!”

However, his roar only got one response and that was—

The exhaust fumes of the car that was driving away.