024 Disciplining the Younger Brother

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“You spent thirty yuan in just two weeks. How have you managed to survive?”

“What?” Xu Xinqi failed to understand what his sister meant for a moment.

Qu Zhanyi, however, had already found the answer in Xu Xinyou’s memories.

They brought three days’ worth of meals from home and ate three times a day in the school cafeteria. That was how the siblings had always lived.

No wonder even such tough, unappetizing wild boar meat had made this body feel satisfied.

Qu Zhanyi exhaled and took out all the money she had on her.

It consisted of the compensation and gifts she had received during her hospitalization, with a little over two thousand yuan remaining. Added to Xu Xinqi’s nine hundred and fifty, the total came to more than three thousand.

She placed it all in Xu Xinqi’s hands and said, “No more bringing meals from home. From now on, eat in the cafeteria every day. Have the food delivered to my classroom.”

Xu Xinqi counted the money in his hands twice more before rejecting her proposal.

“We should save it. You’ll be starting high school next year.”

“I can attend a free high school. Besides, the teacher promised me a scholarship of two thousand yuan.”

Xu Xinqi was about to say something else, but his sister cut him off the moment he opened his mouth.

“Listen to me. From now on, the two of us are going to make money to live, not scrimp to survive.”

“Not scrimp? Make money? How?” Three enormous question marks seemed to float above Xu Xinqi’s head, leaving him utterly bewildered.

The next second, he hurriedly clenched the money in his hands, afraid that his sister would take it and squander it all.

Qu Zhanyi’s lips twitched, and the disdain in her eyes was impossible to conceal. She scolded him, “Look at you.”

Xu Xinqi did not care. His mind was filled entirely with the three thousand yuan in his pocket.

The two siblings had been so poor that even the sound of a coin dropping would have seemed deafening. When had they ever seen such a fortune?

“Go get a bank card and put it in the bank.”

Qu Zhanyi casually picked up her textbook and impatiently told him where to put the money.

“Oh, right!”

Xu Xinqi suddenly saw the light. Satisfied, he gathered up the dishes and went to wash them.

As he rose, he remembered to ask his sister, “Um… Are you confident about the gifted-student selection exam?”

He asked with great caution.

He knew his sister’s grades well. She had probably just gotten lucky this time. Surely she would fail the gifted-student selection.

Qu Zhanyi, however, was brimming with confidence. “Don’t worry. If I don’t leave second place far behind, wouldn’t that be an insult to my ancestors?”

Xu Xinqi chuckled. “When did you learn that? I never noticed!”

“While I was in the hospital.”

Qu Zhanyi was not lying. Many of the decisions she had made now had indeed been determined during her hospitalization.

Xu Xinqi was willing to accept that answer.

His interpretation, however, differed from his sister’s. The only explanation he could think of was the case described in a textbook about someone who had learned English after suffering a head injury.

He guessed that his sister was the same: her brain had been injured, and that was why her grades had improved.

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“This really is a blessing in disguise.”

Having obtained the answer he wanted, Xu Xinqi happily waited on his sister, while still indulging in his own little schemes.

“If you get into the gifted class, Lu Qiang will have to treat me to a bowl of lamb rice noodles.”

“The kind with extra lamb,” Xu Xinqi added emphatically, his face glowing with excitement.

Lu Qiang was the boy who had come to report the beating Xu Xinqi had suffered earlier. He was one of Xu Xinqi’s few friends at school.

“That boy is first in your class, right?”

“Yes. He’s even in the top five in the whole school.”

“What rank did you get in the last monthly exam?”

“Thirty-fourth.”

Xu Xinqi lowered his voice.

His sister already knew his grades, but there was nothing impressive about that ranking.

Compared with the sister he had now, he seemed even more mediocre.

Qu Zhanyi nodded, then set him a target. “Get into the top twenty in the final exams. Top five next year.”

“That’s a little difficult, isn’t it?” Xu Xinqi protested unhappily.

He had already decided that once he finished middle school, he would drop out and find work in a major city so that he could change his sister’s fate.

His sister had always been better at studying than he was, and she could also settle down and focus. Now that her mind had opened up, she would certainly be able to get into a good university in the future.

Qu Zhanyi did not care about any of that.

All she knew was that the children of a noble household had to be capable both intellectually and physically. Poetry, music, literature, swordsmanship, and martial arts—none of them could be neglected.

Since Xu Xinqi was her younger brother, he absolutely could not grow into a useless person with no skills of his own.

With that thought, she repeated her demands. “Remember this: top twenty in the final exams, top five next year. If you can’t do it, don’t blame your sister for being ruthless.”

Xu Xinqi gave a perfunctory reply, clearly not taking her words to heart.

…

The dust in the house and the dampness at school were equally detestable to Qu Zhanyi.

The moment the selection results were announced, she ran to the clothing shop. “I’m here to warm myself by the fire.”

“The champion has arrived. I was just thinking that if you didn’t come, all the food I prepared would go to waste.”

Only then did Qu Zhanyi notice the dishes on the table. She quickly handed the shopkeeper her results sheet.

“No problem. I can eat another meal.”

She sat down at the table without ceremony. “But how did you know I came first?”

“The teachers’ circle is very small. Whenever anything interesting happens, everyone knows about it within half a day.”

He served Qu Zhanyi some rice, then asked with concern, “Is your head all right?”

Qu Zhanyi joked, “You think I’ve had my brain opened too?”

The shopkeeper laughed awkwardly without answering directly.

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Qu Zhanyi ate a few mouthfuls before explaining, “I always knew how to do it. I was just afraid before. A lot has happened recently. I’ve seen through things, so I’m no longer afraid.”

The girl spoke with remarkable clarity, and neither her expression nor her tone resembled someone who had suddenly become brilliant because of a head injury.

The shopkeeper nodded. He did not say whether he believed her, nor did he press her for details.

Qu Zhanyi ate until her stomach was round, took a short nap on the soft sofa, and then returned to the classroom.

After passing the gifted-student selection, she not only received a scholarship but also immediately became one of the school’s specially protected students.

The local thugs would no longer come looking for trouble!

Yet Qu Zhanyi found that troublesome.

The system had ordered her to reform the school’s atmosphere at Qiaoluo Middle School. An opportunity that would allow her to complete the task while also taking revenge was something she could never give up so easily.

“If you won’t come looking for trouble, then I’ll come looking for trouble with you.”

Once she had made up her mind, she immediately found Xu Xinqi.

“Have you been bullied these past few days?”

“No. Teacher Yang Yiqing warned them, and they agreed not to cause any more trouble.”

“Tsk.”

Qu Zhanyi was somewhat disappointed, but she quickly came up with another idea.

During the lunch break, Qu Zhanyi took Xu Xinqi to a mobile-phone shop and picked out a phone. She then gave him her old senior-friendly phone and told him, “From today onward, keep an eye on those few fellows whenever you have nothing else to do. Report any movement to me immediately.”

“Sis, there’s no need to provoke them again, is there?” Xu Xinqi was terrified.

The last time, he had merely exchanged a few words with some classmates and had ended up being viciously beaten. If he deliberately went looking for trouble, he might very well be beaten to death.

He knew his own limits, which was why he had been avoiding them before and after class these past few days.

His cowardly appearance infuriated Qu Zhanyi. She immediately established a rule for him.

“Remember this: from now on, no matter who it is, if someone bullies you, you must bully them back. No matter how long it takes or what methods you use, revenge may be taken even after ten years. A gentleman who fails to avenge a grudge is no gentleman at all.”

Xu Xinqi lowered his head. He truly did not want to risk taking revenge.

But Qu Zhanyi was issuing an order, not discussing the matter with him.

“Listen carefully. If you’re my brother, then obey me and do as I say. If you aren’t, then we’ll separate immediately and live our own lives.”

Seeing that his sister was already angry, Xu Xinqi did not dare say anything more. He gave a hasty promise and returned to the classroom.

Even so, he still lacked the courage to follow and spy on the thugs.

He chose a safer and more convenient method instead: he went to apologize to the “culprit” and used the opportunity to ask him about the thugs’ movements.

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