Thunderous Rage (Part 1)

Although she was in high spirits because she saw her grandmother, Liu Shiling still sensed that her aunt didn't like her very much.

However, she didn't seem to care too much about that.

When she was little, she loved to join in the fun wherever she went, loved to make friends with everyone, and loved to follow the most popular kids. But most of the time, her enthusiasm was not reciprocated, and she was even bullied sometimes.

Back then, she was always a little insecure, wondering if it was because she wasn't good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, cute enough, that she wasn't good at singing and dancing, or had many other talents, so the other kids didn't like to play with her.

Or perhaps she did something wrong and made other children angry, so they ignored her and bullied her.

But after focusing on practicing magic and preparing to help her bald uncle eliminate monsters and protect the world in the future, she became less concerned about what "unrelated people" thought of her.

Although my aunt isn't strictly speaking an "unrelated person," it was our first meeting, and in terms of our understanding of each other, she was no different from a complete stranger.

The Little Chubby Girl carried her schoolbag and went to her grandmother's room to put her things away. Of course, she didn't have her own room; she shared a room with her grandmother and slept in the same bed.

The room was small, filled with various boxes in addition to a bed.

After placing the bag containing a change of clothes on the bed, Grandma picked up the cat carrier and went outside, saying, "I'm taking the cat to the balcony."

Just as Liu Shiling was about to say something, her aunt, who was holding the child, walked to the doorway and frowned, saying, "We can't put the cat on the balcony. Cat hair and poop will be everywhere, getting the freshly washed clothes dirty. Besides, Xiao Hui often goes to play on the balcony. What if he gets scratched or bitten by the cat?"

Liu Shiling quickly went over, holding the cat carrier, and turned the transparent side towards her aunt so that her aunt could see what Egg Pie looked like. Then, tilting her little face up, she said, "Auntie, Egg Pie is very lazy. It doesn't jump or run around everywhere, and it's also very timid. It won't scratch or bite people."

Then she looked at her grandmother and said, "Grandma, can I keep the Egg Pie with me? We can stay in the room and not go out. I'll take good care of it. The Egg Pie doesn't smell bad. My mom and I bathe it often. When it needs to poop, I'll take it to the toilet. It won't make the room dirty."

As if in agreement with its little owner's words, the Egg Pie in the cat carrier looked at Shiling's grandma and aunt and let out a soft, drawn-out meow, then slowly blinked. It did look incredibly cute and adorable, and even the little cousin being held by the aunt couldn't resist jumping down to see the cat.

Shiling's grandmother hesitated for a moment, then left the cat carrier in the room, saying, "Shiling and the cat can play in the room for a while. I need to talk to your aunt." Then she closed the door and went to the living room.

"What are you doing? Shiling is only staying for a few days, and you don't need to take care of her. Didn't we agree on that before? Don't make things difficult for the child now," Shiling's grandmother said to her daughter-in-law, frowning.

"They only said she was coming to stay, they didn't say she was bringing a cat!" Aunt Shiling said.

"What's wrong with bringing a cat? You've had one before, haven't you?"

"Anyway, I don't want Xiao Hui to play with that stray cat that came from who-knows-where."

"You..." Shiling's grandmother was speechless with anger. She sighed and said, "Then let the cat stay in my room for now."

Before turning to go back inside, Shiling's grandmother stopped and turned back, saying, "I know you're resentful because you asked A Xue for money several times a few years ago but she refused. But don't forget, she contributed a lot of money when you got married and bought this house. She didn't treat you unfairly."

Aunt Shiling retorted, "She only contributed a little over 200,000 yuan to the wedding and the house purchase! What's that to her? I heard she's been a mistress... Anyway, she's made a lot of money, enough to buy a house in Shenhai. I'd say millions, if not tens of millions, probably several million. When her own brother is in trouble, she won't even lend him 100,000 yuan... Now that she's in that situation, all that money might be lost. Isn't she stupid!"

Shiling's grandmother lowered her voice and scolded, "What are you saying! Watch your mouth! Don't talk nonsense in front of the child! A Xue sent the child here because she didn't want her to know about her father's accident. I'm telling you this so you can keep spouting nonsense! And don't forget, A Xue is my daughter. I don't care what you think of her in private, but don't say certain things in front of me!"

Aunt Shiling rarely saw her mother-in-law treat her so sternly. She was stunned for a moment, then realized she had said the wrong thing. Holding her son, she muttered softly, "I'm only doing this for your son and your grandson..." and walked to the side.

Inside the room, Liu Shiling let the Egg Pie out, then took out cat food from her small backpack. Since there was no bowl, she poured a little bit into her palm to feed the Egg Pie.

The Egg Pie was quite cooperative, nestled close to her, and ate much more quietly and politely than usual.

"Egg Pie, tell me when you need to poop, and I'll take you to the toilet. Don't poop in the room, or we'll be kicked out, okay?" Liu Shiling whispered to Egg Pie while feeding it cat food.

Egg Pie raised its head, blinked twice, and then continued to eat its cat food. Liu Shiling knew that this response meant it understood.

After feeding her the Egg Pie, Liu Shiling took out her iPad from the large bag containing her clothes and continued studying. Even without her textbooks, Alice could find electronic versions of the lessons online for her.

She usually prefers to study with physical textbooks while Alice tutors her on the iPad, giving her the feeling of actually attending a class and playing the role of a real elementary school student. But now that they're out and about with limited resources, she won't stop studying just because she doesn't have physical books.

If it were a regular tablet, to connect to the internet, it would naturally need to connect to Wi-Fi and ask for the Wi-Fi password. But with Alice around, Liu Shiling didn't need to worry about such things.

However, after a short while, Grandma opened the door and came in to let her have lunch, and promised that Egg Pie could stay in the room.

The Egg Pie cleverly tilted its cat face upwards and meowed softly, practically screaming "well-behaved, cute, and obedient" on its face.

Even my grandmother, who usually doesn't care much for cats, couldn't help but laugh and went over to pet the cat's head.

I don't know if my aunt or my grandmother made lunch, but it tasted far worse than my mother's, let alone compared to Uncle Baldy's. But Liu Shiling still ate very seriously and carefully, making sure not to drop any rice grains on the table. She only picked up the dishes closest to her to avoid dropping them if she didn't pick them up properly. She knew the principles that "food is the source of magic," "you need to eat your fill to have the strength to learn magic," and "don't be a picky eater when you can't be."

Of course, Shiling's grandmother would proactively serve her food, and each time she did so, she would receive a sweet "Thank you, Grandma."

Perhaps because Shiling's grandmother had previously scolded and warned her, or perhaps because the Little Chubby Girl was simply too well-behaved, impeccable, and genuinely adorable, Shiling's aunt didn't say anything more to make things difficult for her.

After lunch, Liu Shiling wanted to go back to her room to study, but her grandmother asked if she could play the "game console" with her cousin—in her grandmother's opinion, the tablet was specifically for playing games.

Liu Shiling naturally couldn't refuse, so she took the tablet and taught her cousin how to play games, while her grandmother washed the dishes and did housework.

Her cousin is a year younger than her. Although he is a bit spoiled, he quickly becomes obedient to her through a combination of four methods: iPad games, various origami skills, storytelling ability, and the adorable cat Egg Pie.

But when her aunt woke up from her afternoon nap and saw her son playing with the cat, she still got angry. So Liu Shiling had no choice but to carefully retreat to her grandmother's room with Egg Pie.

My cousin is still playing with the iPad. The books my mom used to pack for her were storybooks, not textbooks, so she can't continue studying.

But Liu Shiling didn't find it boring. She took the Egg Pie and leaned against the windowsill of her grandmother's room, looking at the words on the billboards of various buildings outside through the railing. She would silently read the words she recognized, and guess the meaning of the words she didn't recognize based on the radicals. Then she would look at the license plates on the cars parked on the roadside, adding or multiplying the numbers to practice her math skills. Or she would secretly practice magic with Coin, trying to control five Coin to write five different numbers at the same time.

The two, a person and a cat, were having a great time in the cramped room, and didn't find it boring at all.

My aunt and cousin, who took the Little Chubby Girl's iPad, got it frozen after playing for a short while and couldn't move. After pressing the power button to force a restart, the screen went completely black.

Shiling's aunt couldn't help but curse inwardly that the tablet Shiling's Mother had bought for her daughter was a fake, but she didn't return the tablet to the Little Chubby Girl in the room; she just tossed it aside.

Liu Shiling originally thought she would be spending the next few days with her grandmother, but unexpectedly, around 4 p. m., her grandmother and aunt had another argument, and it was even more heated than at noon.

Finally, Grandma stormed into the room, grabbed Liu Shiling's hand, and said, "Shiling, let's go back to our hometown." Then she took the bag of clothes and Liu Shiling's little red schoolbag.

Liu Shiling obediently followed her grandmother out the door. She had just vaguely heard someone say, "Shiling is my own granddaughter," so she guessed that her grandmother might have argued with her aunt because of her. Although she didn't know what her grandmother had done to make her aunt angry, she felt a little inexplicably happy knowing that her grandmother had lost her temper to protect her.

However, once downstairs, seeing the Egg Pie that had followed her downstairs and was standing at her feet, Liu Shiling reminded her grandmother, "Grandma, you forgot the Egg Pie's cat carrier and my iPad."

Grandma stopped, looked up at the upstairs, hesitated for a moment, and said to the Little Chubby Girl, "Leave it here for now, we'll come back for it later."

Liu Shiling naturally had no objection to this, but a problem arose when she was trying to get a ride. Her grandmother found a car to go to her hometown, but when the driver saw Liu Shiling holding a large orange cat, he refused, saying that pets were not allowed on the bus. No matter how much her grandmother pleaded, it was no use, and even offering more money wouldn't work.

Just as Grandma was considering whether to change cars or find a place to buy a cat carrier, Liu Shiling, holding Egg Pie, approached the car and stood outside the driver's side door, saying to the driver, "Uncle, I'll hold Egg Pie. It's a well-behaved cat and promises not to move around or get the car dirty. Can we get in?"

Following her words, Egg Pie, held in her arms and with half its body resting on her shoulder, turned its head and meowed softly at the driver, then slowly blinked, as if pleading along with its little owner.

The driver hesitated for a moment, looked at the Little Chubby Girl, then at the Egg Pie, and finally nodded to Shiling's grandmother, saying, "Get in, get in, you can sit in the back seat, and keep an eye on the cat, don't let it run around!"

"Thank you, Uncle!" Liu Shiling said happily, and the Egg Pie also gave a crisp meow, as if they were thanking each other together.

The driver couldn't help but chuckle, "This cat is quite intelligent."

The "old home" that my grandmother mentioned was not in the town, but in a small mountain village more than 20 kilometers away.

On the way, her grandmother told Liu Shiling that this was their hometown Green Mountain Village, where her mother, uncle, and aunt had grown up.

As they ascended the mountain, the sun was setting. Gazing at the forest bathed in the red glow of the sunset, Little Chubby Girl and the big Egg Pie stared intently at the scenery outside the car window, their eyes brimming with curiosity.

She remembered how her friends, Little Apple, Pretty Sister, and Old Fairy Sister, had told her about the beautiful scenery of Chongyun Village and Chongyun Mountain a couple of days ago, showing her many photos and videos. They had also mentioned that they would take her there to play and stay for a while when she had her summer vacation.

She had always dreamed of playing in a mountain village, and now she was able to experience it ahead of time, especially in her "hometown".

Perhaps we can invite Uncle Baldy and his friends to come here to play sometime?

The car quickly entered Green Mountain Village and stopped outside the courtyard of a self-built house.

While her grandmother was still paying the fare, Liu Shiling got off the bus first, carrying Egg Pie. As she curiously peeked into the open courtyard, a large yellow dog tied up in the yard suddenly rushed over and barked wildly at her.

Although the dog was quite a distance away and was leashed, Liu Shiling, who had always been afraid of dogs, was still so frightened that she trembled a few times and instinctively tried to back away.

The Egg Pie in her arms suddenly broke free and jumped down, nimbly leaping into the yard, baring its teeth and hissing at the big yellow dog with a fierce look on its face.

The big yellow dog was startled and pressed itself against the wall, its tail tucked between its hind legs, whimpering.

It wasn't until Egg Pie returned to Liu Shiling's side and followed her grandmother into the yard that the big yellow dog stood by the wall, panting and wagging its tail vigorously.

Looking at the Egg Pie at her feet, Liu Shiling breathed a sigh of relief, yet also felt a sense of pride:

Egg Pie isn't just all about eating and sleeping. Although it's not as imposing as "Barbie Warrior" and can't compete with the five "Little Sprite Guardians" like "Chocolate" in games, it still has a lot of presence when facing other small animals.

Grandma led her to greet the family in the house, and she learned that it was her mother's younger sister's family living there, whom she should call her aunt. Besides her aunt, there was also her aunt's husband and a cousin.

After saying hello, Grandma let her play in the yard first, and then went inside to talk to her aunt.

She was initially a little scared because of the big yellow dog in the yard, but Egg Pie's behavior just now gave her courage. Moreover, the big yellow dog was now squatting in the corner, panting and wagging its tail, looking not fierce at all, but rather kind of cute and silly.

After a while, Grandma came out. Liu Shiling noticed that her face didn't look good. She thought she had just heard Grandma scolding loudly inside. Remembering what happened at her aunt's house, she couldn't help but take her hand and whisper, "Grandma, if Auntie won't let us stay... why don't we go back to my and Mom's house? I'll make you some milk oatmeal. We also have Chocolate and milk biscuits at home, they're all delicious."

Grandma paused for a moment, looking at her adorable and well-behaved granddaughter, and felt a pang of sadness. She patted Liu Shiling's head and said, "Don't worry, this house belongs to Grandma. Your aunt and the others are just staying here temporarily. We don't need anyone's permission to live here."