To say that Xin Jiao's granddaughter is difficult would be an understatement. She is terror on wheels if she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it. The only real problem for me is that Xin Jiao loves her very much and I could see a collision coming between the ganddaughter and me.
That collision happened two days after the wedding photo shoot. Xin Jiao wanted us to spend the entire day with our granddaughter, Ming Si. I knew we were in for trouble but me being the dutiful husband I agreed to go along with the plan.
I told Xin Jiao that if she chose to rebell like she had on a couple of other occassions that I would send her back home to her father.
She would not go into the restaurant. She chose to throw a temper tantrum on the sidewalk. I said lets go inside and have dinner. We went in but Xin Jiao stood there at the window watching. I tried to get Xin Jiao to come and sit down but she didn't want to lose sight of Ming SI. Finally Yan, the mother went out and got Ming Si and brought her in. Then Yan ordered a banana split for Ming Si. But Ming Si wasn't quite finished with her temper tantrum yet but I did notice that she was watching everyone to see what their response was to her.
When the bill came I also noticed that the banana split was on my bill. I objected but Xin Jiao asked me to overlook it and pay it anyway. Then we went to the amusement park to make Ming Si happy. I said to myself, leave it alone but don't forget.
The plan was to go to McDonald's for breakfast. It didn't happen because her parents let her stay up too late the night before. I wonder if it was because she pitched a fit to stay up?
We went to McDonalds for lunch and the place was packing up with people so Xin Jiao asked me to take our ganddaughter to a table and wait. Well I tried but she was having none of that. I also understand that I am just this guy that pops in once a year for a few weeks and have no relationship of authority over her but I do even with that understanding, have my limits.
I told Xin Jiao she wasn't doing what I needed her to do and the little monster got a tail chewing and she promised to act right but that only lasted until she was out of her grandmothers field of vision. She wouldn't budge 10 ft away from where we were going to sit so I did the next best thing. I picked the little monster up and put her, kicking and screaming, in a seat and told her to shut up. Then I told her if she didn't stop pitching a fit, that I would take her home back to her father who just lived 2 blocks away.
When Xin Jiao arrived with the food the little darling was crying uncontrollably. After Xin Jiao was able do calm Ming Si down a little she decided she wanted my much larger soft drink rather than the one that came with her happy (spoiled brat) meal. When I took my drink it she began crying again. I told Xin Jiao "take her back to her father, I don't need this." Well, grandmother ruled in granddaughters favor and the little monster got my coke.
Xin Jiao and I discussed where we would eat and that we would take Ming Si back home after supper. We were going to eat in a nice restaurant on the fouth floor of a clothing store. The food was very good, the prices were inexpensive and the young waitresses were not only cute but all of them wanted to speak English with me.
Ming Si decided she wanted to eat somewhere else much more expensive. Here comes the temper tantrum again. However this time I dug my heals in on this issue. I wasn't about to buy a meal for a 5 year old girl and then allow her to tell me where she was going to eat. I didn't get angry or yell I simply told Xin Jiao that we were eating upstairs where we had decided to eat. Ming Si wasn't having any of it so I told Xin Jiao to take her home. Well that made Xin Jiao angry and then she said the only reason I wanted to eat there was because I wanted to flirt with the girls in the restaurant. (Note to self. If you are friendly with young women in a restaurant it may bite you in the butt even your wife appears to be OK with it. Tread lightly with cute young Chinese girls.) For the rest of my stay in Shaoguan I never suggested that restaurant gain.
Finally I told Xin Jiao to take Ming Si home and I would wait for her at our hotel and then we would go to dinner. Xin Jiao didn't say a word but turned and left with Ming Si.
As I was walking back to the hotel I began wondering if I hadn't made a big mistake. I waited and waited. I even thought this might be the end of our marriage. I wondered how I would get back to Hong Kong. Honestly I thought she would not return.
Finally after 3 hours I went down stairs and bought a small package of noodles. Kind of like Raman noodles only in a bowl. About half way through eating them Xin Jiao showed up angry with me. She chewed on my butt for quite while mostly in Chinese. I wanted to laugh at her but I dared not do it.
The next morning she was talking to me and was being a wife but you could tell she wasn't happy with me. The next day we went to Guangzhou about 2 hours away to take care of some business. While we were there we had dinner with our 22 year old son and his new fiance. She told him what had happened. I am not sure what all she said but I do know that our son got angry with her and told her that I was right and that I did the right thing and that if she would let me he thought I knew how to put an end to Ming Si's reign of terror.
Later that evening Xin Jiao apologized to me for everything and said that she would trust my judgement from now on concerning our granddaughter. All I could think of was WOW. I sent a thank you to our son Jun via email in Chinese.
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