Su Tang looked at Luo Xingchen with an innocent expression, as if she weren’t the one who had just encouraged the Second Young Master of the Luo family to sell out her family for personal benefits and was actually very pure and kind.
When Luo Xingchen heard Su Tang’s words, she gave her a slightly disbelieving look before laughing, “Hehehe.”
Su Tang felt this laughter sounded a little dangerous, so she quickly glared over and said, “What? You want to calculate against me on this?”
“Tang, ah, look at how hard things are for me already. What kind of relationship do we have? We’re all friends here, right? So…” Luo Xingchen started speaking in a wheedling tone.
Su Tang quickly said sternly, “No!”
“I haven’t even said it yet. Why would you refuse so quickly Tang? You don’t love me anymore. You really don’t love anymore, I’m so pitiful…”
Second Young Master Luo, who unexpectedly had no bottom line at all, began to act pitiful and morose.
Su Tang snorted, “That’s right, I don’t!”
“Tang, ah, you are so ruthless. You can’t do this to me. I’ve always treated you so well…” A certain drama queen put on a wonderful one-woman performance.
Su Nuo, who had been following his sister ever since the first time she met this Second Young Master Luo, was dumbfounded. He couldn’t even recognize this strange version of Brother Luo in front of him.
“Sister, this person is not a good man!” Su Nuo quickly stood up in front of Su Tang and glared at Luo Xingchen.
His mind was full of thoughts. Recently, his teacher had taught him that men and women were different and should stay in separate places after seven years old. His sister was already nine years old, which meant that Brother Luo should keep his distance from his sister, otherwise it would be disrespectful to her. Thinking to this point, he stood up to protect his big sister from Brother Luo.
Luo Xingchen was still in the middle of her performance when she suddenly heard Su Nuo’s voice and looked up to find the little guy glaring at her. Her performance came to an abrupt end and she opened her mouth confusedly, “Ah?”
When Su Tang saw Luo Xingchen’s stricken expression, she tried to hold back a wide grin. Who told this guy to act so naughty? She deserved it!
Luo Xingchen looked at the little guy’s stern expression and was suddenly at a loss about how to explain her extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime friendship with his sister to this little guy who wasn’t even seven years old yet.
Fortunately, Su Suang still had some conscience in her. Plus, Su Nuo was her brother, while Luo Xingchen was her friend and also a business partner she would be working with often in the future. There were still many places they still needed to cooperate, so she couldn’t let the little guy misunderstand.
“Xiao Nuo!” Su Tang finally opened her mouth.
Su Nuo turned around to look back at his sister and said in a very serious tone, “My teacher has taught me that men should not be too frivolous towards women because it’s impolite and disrespectful. This guy isn’t respecting you, sister, he’s even talking about whether you love him or not. He is a bad person.”
Hearing his determined tone, Su Tang stepped forward and held his hand before saying, “Some people say that men should respect women because women are less powerful than men, which means that many men will feel that they are strong enough to bully women. However, this isn’t really right. Of course, men should try to protect and care for women when they can, but what is more important is to follow proper morality. The so-called ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, do no evil’* lifestyle has nothing to do with gender.”
Su Tang had sent Su Nuo to school so he could learn, but at the same time she didn’t want the little guy to be stuffed full of a bunch of strange feudal values that would cause him to look down on women and whatnot, so she decided to educate him a bit right on the spot.
And, sure enough, when he heard Su Tang’s words, the little guy’s face turned doubtful and he said, “Sister, that isn’t what my teacher taught me.”
“Well, what your teacher says may not be right, but what your sister says is always right.” Su Tang replied in a firm tone.
The little guy didn’t doubt this logic at all and immediately nodded along, “En, what sister says is always right.”
When Luo Xingchen saw that this little guy, Su Nuo, had so much trust in that certain sweet that he didn’t question her at all, she smiled wryly. Although it was a bit exaggerated, and could even be said that Su Tang was brainwashing her little brother a bit, Luo Xingchen, who had two sisters herself, actually really felt envious when she saw the way these two siblings could believe in each other so wholeheartedly.
“That’s right. Therefore, whether someone respects another person or not, you have to watch them attentively to be able to tell. Some people may be act polite to you on the surface, but actually despise you in their hearts, while other people are just the opposite.”
“Your big sister and your Brother Luo are very good friends and business partners with mutual trust between us. He trusts me and believes that I can accept his behavior, which is why he acts closer to me and jokes around like this.”
“Similarly, your sister here also trusts in him, which is why I am also willing to joke around with him the same way. Or else do you think that your Brother Luo and I should still be acting like strangers when we see each other?”
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tl begging corner:
* tl note: I’m sure that everyone is familiar with the three monkeys, right? The ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ guys. I’ve always associated them with “turning a blind eye to evil” but, as it turns out, there is an alternate interpretation from Buddism. According to this interpretation, by avoiding any contact with evil (seeing/hearing/speaking), the person will naturally not be evil as well, which is the meaning Su Tang is going with in the chapter.