Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 45: Startling Insects

Tang Xiaonan’s eyes darted about. Glancing at the newspaper, she casually pointed to the two characters in the headline for the solar term *Jingzhe*. She held the paper out to Jim Thorne and asked, "What do these two words say?"

Full of confidence, Jim Thorne looked where his sister’s chubby finger was pointing. He recognized the first character. "Startle..."

He drew out the word "Startle" for a long moment, completely stumped by the second character. He wondered if he should guess based on its top half or its bottom half.

Whenever Jim Thorne encountered a character he didn’t recognize, he had an excellent solution: read one of its components.

This method worked nine times out of ten.

The only exception was when he couldn’t recognize any of the parts, in which case he had to take a wild guess.

"Startle what?" Tang Xiaonan prodded.

"Startle-insect. That’s what it is."

Jim Thorne had decisively chosen the bottom component. ’’Insect’ rolls off the tongue better,’ he thought. ’Besides, Xiaonan can’t even read. She won’t know if I get it wrong.’

The corner of Tang Xiaonan’s mouth twitched. Her understanding of her third brother’s complete lack of scholarly ambition had just reached a new level.

"Startle-insect?"

"That’s right. It’s ’Startle-insect.’ If there’s anything else you can’t read, your big brother will teach you. No need to go find that Hawthorne kid," Jim Thorne said, puffing his chest out with pride.

Tang Xiaonan didn’t call him out on it. She was only six, after all—she couldn’t even count past ten properly. She deliberately asked, "What does ’Startle-insect’ mean?"

Jim Thorne was dumbfounded. How was he supposed to know what it meant? But his little sister had asked, and it would be a huge loss of face if he couldn’t answer.

After racking his brain for a long time, Jim Thorne had an idea. "It means you scare the insects away. ’Startle-insect,’ right? The insects get startled and run off."

Tang Xiaonan...

’Her third brother was a true genius,’ she thought. ’Even his wild guesses are half-right.’

"How do you read this?"

Tang Xiaonan pointed to another phrase, a three-word idiom meaning "full of vitality." It was in an article about agriculture, explaining that with *Jingzhe* approaching, the busy spring planting season was about to begin. A year’s plan starts with the spring, after all.

"Full of... Vittle-ity."

Jim Thorne answered quickly this time, just as confidently as before. He didn’t hesitate for a second.

"You’re so smart, Brother! You know all these words."

Tang Xiaonan laid on the flattery thick. Jim Thorne was so pleased with himself he felt like he was floating. Before they knew it, they had reached the foot of the mountain. In the distance, they could see Adrian Hawthorne swinging a hoe, hard at work. Old Master Tate was there too. They were continuing to clear the land for spring planting.

Jim Thorne’s face fell, and he immediately turned to leave.

"Brother..."

Tang Xiaonan started to wheedle, squirming restlessly on Jim Thorne’s back. Unable to resist her, he had no choice but to head up the mountain.

"We’re only staying for a little while, then we’re going back!"

Jim Thorne really didn’t want to hang out with Adrian Hawthorne. He would rather go chop firewood.

Tang Xiaonan didn’t say anything. She just called out toward the hillside, "Grandpa Tate, Mr. Hawthorne..."

Adrian Hawthorne’s brow twitched. ’Why is she here again?’

’She didn’t cause any trouble yesterday, so she must be itching to start something today.’ He turned his head and saw Jim Thorne, and his expression turned colder. Of the three Thorne brothers, Jim Thorne was the one who had beaten him up the most.

’He knew that chubby Tang girl couldn’t behave for more than a few days. And just as he expected, she’d brought her brother along to stir up trouble.’

’For the sake of yesterday’s newspaper, he’d just humor them and play along.’

Tang Xiaonan slid off Jim Thorne’s back. The newspaper she was clutching made Adrian Hawthorne’s eyes light up. ’Could it be? Did that chubby Tang girl come all this way just to bring him a newspaper?’

’Probably not. She isn’t that kind,’ Adrian Hawthorne quickly decided. He was still pleased, though. If Tang Xiaonan threw the newspaper away, he could pick it up and read it. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

’If he could get a newspaper to read every day, he wouldn’t mind this chubby girl coming to cause trouble at all.’

"Mr. Hawthorne, what does this say?"

Tang Xiaonan was pointing to the word *Jingzhe*. Jim Thorne’s face instantly darkened. ’His sister didn’t trust him! Hmph! How could he possibly have read it wrong?’