After New Year's Day, Grandma Tang threw herself into planning the 100-day banquet for her two precious grandsons. She would corner anyone she saw to ask for their opinion. When Xiao Man got home at night, she became her grandma's most loyal audience—as long as she wasn't studying—and was expected to help brainstorm new ideas and offer suggestions. Xiao Man was great at planning menus and could even lend a hand in the kitchen for these kinds of celebrations, but she was useless for anything else. As a result, she took to carrying a book and pretending to study, just so her grandma wouldn't bother her.
'It wasn't really my place to be making decisions, anyway,' she thought. 'There are plenty of other people at home.'
