Chapter 196: The subtle art of hating.
It was of no surprise to Alix, that Lin Billi chose to do the same task as her, searching for puzzle pieces of their different groups in the ceiling.
It was not enough that she came onto the same show as Alix, she had to try and outshine her. Alix didn't even care about Lin Billi's presence because she was busy trying not to look like she knew where all the puzzle pieces for her group were.
The director had certainly gone out of his way to make it difficult for them by gluing them onto papers and sticking them to the wooden boards. It was dim up there, and they had been given helmets with small torches to provide light.
Additionally, there were creepy crawlies deliberately put up there. A spider had crawled up her arm and she screamed, before slapping it away. She was sure that she could hear someone hyperventilating.
It was Alix's belief that half of the teams would not be able to complete this task.
She ripped a paper roughly off the wooden board and looked behind it. It had the number five written on it and she smiled. As she dashed to the handover point where Pang Jin De was hanging on to a rope with all of his strength, she bumped into Lin Billi, also heading to her handover point.
"Oh, older sister, we both got one." she smiled and tried to hold Alix's arm.
To the small cameras in there, it looked like she was trying to hold her. In reality, she was attempting to shove her and secretly stomp on her foot.
Alix however flung Billi's hands away and shoved her. "Move."
"Older sister." Lin Billi winced and rubbed her left hand.
To everyone, it looked like Alix had hurt Lin Billi.
Not that Alix cared because she just kept going. Along the way, she got a second and a third puzzle piece. She was so disgusted by Lin Billi and she decided that she wanted to finish her task in five minutes.
Faithful as always, grandpa Tai was watching Alix and nobody else but Alix. In fact, when asked for the names of other participants, he was absolutely clueless. All he knew was Alix. Everybody else was referred to as 'that one with pink hair or the one with a big head.
Just as he had done the day before, he had carried himself and his work to Fuwen academy, where he was now sharing an office with elder Ren.
Both elders and Tai Ho Sun that had been dragged to the school because he wanted his grandfather to sign a few documents were watching the show on tv.
Disgust was written all over grandpa Tai's face. Mixed in with the disgust was anger. He had been that way since Tai Ho Sun pointed out Lin Billi. He had endured his ill feelings right until the moment when Billi's eyes welled up as she winced. Even the puzzle piece in her hands had conveniently fallen down.
Online, her fans were already condemning Alix for being too excessive.
"Bah! I can't believe they brought that woman as a guest. Ho Sun, find out who is sponsoring this show because it needs to be re-written."
"Didn't Alix tell you not to do anything unnecessary concerning that show?" Elder Ren asked him.
"How is protecting my granddaughter unnecessary? Let me tell you old Ren, do you see that Biki...
"Billi, grandfather." Ho Sun reminded him.
"Ooh, that Biki..." he repeated.
Ho Sun's right hand palm met his forehead. It was useless to attempt to correct his grandfather. There was no subtlety in grandpa Tai's art of hating. If he didn't like you, he would be sure to show it in different ways. Mispronunciation of your name was just one of the ways. It was safe to say that Lin Billi had just gained herself a hater for life.
Grandpa Tai in the meantime was telling elder Ren, "She is a thief. My XiXi's friend, Jin Jin told me that Biki stole a lot of XiXi's music compositions and passed them off as her own over the years. She even won awards from four of those works, one an international award. What kind of sister does that to another sister? Old Ren, from now on, I am a professional hater of the Lin family."
He thumped his chest passionately. "I mean, if they couldn't have two classical pianists in the same family then they could have promoted XiXi as a composer. Instead, they siphoned her hard work to promote the untalented Biki."
It was on the tip of Ho Sun's tongue again to correct his grandfather. But he closed his mouth the moment he opened it.
"Why am I bothering?" he asked himself.
He pushed the paperwork which he needed his grandfather to sign in front of the elder. "Grandfather, I really need to get back to the office. I just need two signatures."
Grandpa Tai swept the paperwork aside as if it was undesirable homework. "Don't rush me, your sister has found sixteen puzzle pieces. Shouldn't you be posting something on the internet to support her?"
"I am sure that my mother and aunts are doing enough of that for the whole family." he answered.
Tai Ho Sun was sure because he had made one post with his alternate account and he had seen about one hundred comments in which Alix was referred to as pretty baby. Who else called her that except for his mother and grandmother?
He couldn't help wondering if almost every member of their family had stopped working and they were watching Alix. Not that Tai Ho Sun didn't want to watch her as well. He was planning to do so later. He had already paid a subscription to watch everything including the VIP special scenes. Right now, he just wanted to work because the winter jewelry fashion show for TFK was planned for the following week.
They had to split what they would be exhibiting at the fashion show and the expo. His grandfather always made the final decision for these two events.
The bell rung, signaling that it was time for the students to have their break and eat breakfast. It's ringing took Tai Ho Sun out of his thoughts and prompted him to look at his watch.
Then, he sighed and pushed the paperwork towards his grandfather, making it his fifth attempt.
Grandpa Tai barely looked at it because he was smiling and yelling, "She has got the last one, Ho Sun, your sister has got the last one."
"I can see that grandpa." he answered.
"We should buy her some toys for doing a great job. Ho Sun, tell your father to buy some things which girls like for your sister...no, tell your mother. Or maybe I should buy them myself." Grandpa Tai was speaking to himself at this point.
"She has finished her part but her team is not yet finished." Elder Ran reminded him.
The hyper grandpa Tai settled down and nodded. Alix's team had to win first. But either way, she would be getting a reward for coming in first on her task.