Chapter 7 (2/2)

“Nothing. Nothing.” Chen Yifei changed the topic.

By the time Chen Mu had exited his room, his father was already walking toward the dining table. He sat in the seat reserved for the head of the family.

Chen Xuebing had celebrated his forty-first birthday that year. He was a man who possessed the aura of a scholar. While he used to be a strong spirited man in the prime of his life, he looked very feeble at the moment. Since he was unable to carry out work, he could only submit articles to different magazines with the hope of earning some form of remuneration from them.

However, it was like attempting to extinguish a cartload of burning firewood with water as his pay never exceeded three or five thousand each month. It has to be said that four thousand yuan was needed each month to cover his medical bills alone.

Most of the medicine he had been prescribed was not covered under his health insurance. Therefore, their family was dealing with a lot of stress.

Moreover, Chen Xuebing had to pay close attention to his food intake. He could only have watered down porridge for his meals. Nevertheless, Chen Mu and Chen Yifei could still have porridge with some salted vegetables or dried radish.

“Chen Mu, where’s your most recent exam slip?” asked Chen Xuebing.

“Oh, it’s here.” Chen Mu retrieved it and handed it over to his father.

“Hmm, your progress is steady. You just have to improve your Mandarin and English. Fight to enter the Royal Capital University. It used to be my dream school in the past,” Chen Mu’s father said solemnly.

“Alright, I’ll work hard.” Chen Mu promised.

“Yifei, what about you?” asked their father again.

“Uh, here.” Chen Yifei was ready to receive the question. It had always been a norm in their family.

“Your results deteriorated again. Oh, Yifei, where have you been putting all your effort in recently? Your results are getting worse each year. With your current grades, you might not even cut it for Tier 2 institutions,” their father started telling her off.

“I… I know I’m wrong. I’ll be sure to improve next time.” Chen Yifei looked down at her wrists, not daring to raise her head.

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, you should ask your elder brother. You can ask me too. You better improve in your next exam, or else,” said their father.

“Okay, I’ve finished eating. I’m going to head to school now.” Chen Yifei felt depressed and wanted to run away as soon as possible.

“I’m done eating too. Let’s go,” said Chen Mu.

With some distance between both of them, they left the house with Chen Yifei leading the way. Chen Mu had to chase after her for a while before managing to catch up.

“Wait for me. Won’t you listen to my explanation? I was just joking yesterday,” said Chen Mu after he had caught up with her.

“Hmph, I don’t believe you,” replied Chen Yifei.

“I have something important to tell you, please stop,” Chen Mu continued.

Chen Yifei halted on the spot and stared at Chen Mu as she waited for him to start talking.

Chen Mu took out a bill of fifty bucks and solemnly placed it in Chen Yifei’s hand.

“Don’t let others pay for you at the cybercafe. We shouldn’t owe anyone favors. So, if you have to play games, use our own money,” said Chen Mu in a sad tone.

“Big Brother, where did you get so much money? Don’t you only get five bucks each week?” said Chen Yifei in shock, knowing very well that their parents allocated five bucks for each of them weekly to buy the things they needed.

“I’ve been saving up for three months. Now, I’ve given all of my savings to you. Remember what I said, alright?” Chen Mu asked in the same severity.

“Alright, thank you, Big Brother. But this is too much, why don’t you keep thirty for yourself? the concerned look within Chen Yifei’s eyes on her face was eminent as she asked.

“No, it’s fine as long as it makes you happy. I don’t mind working hard for you.” Chen Yifei was so touched by Chen Mu’s words that redness started to blossom around her eyes. They only ever received five bucks each week. How thrifty had her elder brother have to be this whole time?

‘Phew, it has finally been dealt with, I almost burned down this bridge,’ said Chen Mu internally. He was thankful that he was able to think it through. The emphasis was never on the money—it was the hardship and diligence behind the sum of money. Was there a girl who would not have felt touched by that?

“I understand, Big Brother. After all, you haven’t been in any romantic relationship in the past eighteen years. Your perspectives are distorted.” The few lines that came from Chen Yifei was all it took to jab straight at Chen Mu’s heart.

Despite feeling that he had gotten trashed, Chen Mu knew that the storm had passed. Chen Yifei had recovered her poison-tongued self.

At the same time, Chen Yifei was pretending to be difficult too. They were siblings after all, was there anything that they had not told each other? They had even pretended to be king and queen when they were young. After seeing how her elder brother had saved up three months’ worth of pocket money for her, how could she remain angry at him?

After ten minutes, both of them arrived at Chuzhou City’s No.10 High School. It was a key high school in Chuzhou City even though it was ranked last among the key high schools. If the school had not offered more money and because of its short distance to their home, Chen Mu’s parents would have wanted Chen Mu to study at the No.1 High School.

However, the school turned out to be great. Due to the lack of competition from other extreme high-flyers, Chen Mu was able to retain his position as the top student each year. All in all, the school was better than average.