Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: A Heart-to-Heart Before the Exam

After hearing that out of several thousand people, only twenty would get a spot, the siblings became calm. The probability was too low—do your best and that’s enough. There was no need to exhaust themselves for such odds and end up upset for nothing.

Math was a matter of mastering three percent of basics and forging the rest on your own. The problems were weird and varied; it all depended on how you understood them. After eating, the siblings propped their cheeks on their arms and leaned on the dining table to discuss where to stroll.

”Do all of you want to go?” Meng Xuedao asked the seven or eight students at the same table, seeing that most of them shook their heads.

Meng Xuedao glared at Luo Qianqian, ”We have exams, and yet you’re so carefree. I’ll take you all after the exams tomorrow.”

Being strangers in a new place, Luo Qianqian had to give up on going shopping on her own and joined her brother to watch the TV drama ’Journey to the West’ in the room.

”Qianqian, tell your brother the truth,” Luo Shufan looked at his sister, sitting seriously at the edge of his bed. Luo Qianqian, seeing her brother’s serious demeanor, straightened up, ”Are you possessed by a monster? You seem like one, not at all like a six-year-old child. You’re smart, understanding, and can even interact with people you don’t like.”

Luo Qianqian was stunned, paused for a while, and then asked three seconds later, ”Is it bad that I’m smart?”

”It’s not that it’s bad.” Luo Shufan was taken aback, and rubbed his head, ”I just feel like you’ve matured a lot since you started school, not like the child who used to pester me for candy all day.”

Luo Qianqian breathed a sigh of relief, scolding herself for being silly to think an eleven-year-old could see through her twenty-year-old heart. She shook her head and said, ”Brother, you said it yourself, I’ve started school. I can’t still be immature and make you worry, right?”

Luo Shufan was momentarily at a loss for words, pausing for a long while before he continued, ”I just feel like we don’t share the same mind. I had to work incredibly hard to skip grades, but you easily surpass me by several times.”

Hearing this, Luo Qianqian smiled and raised an eyebrow, ”Are you jealous of me? Jealous that I’m so awesome.”

”No matter how awesome you are, you’re still my sister. It’s not like I’d stop wanting you as my sister just because you’re great,” Luo Shufan rolled his eyes at her, ”I’m just worried that if you’re too brilliant now and not so later, people may speak ill of you.” Seeing the girls in his class struggling with math made Luo Shufan worry that his sister might face the same fate and be criticized by others.

”Brother, what do you think we learned at Grandpa Zhang’s house?” Luo Qianqian hugged a pillow and rolled on the bed, quickly wiping away the two tears she had shed while rolling, ”Is your sister worse than you?”

”You’re not worse, but you shouldn’t compare yourself to me. There are plenty of people better than me. You’ve always been smart; you should compare yourself with those who are more awesome,” Luo Shufan said as he got up and grabbed his wildly rolling sister, ”The world is huge, and it’s not just about your brother.”

”The world is huge, but you’re the only brother I have. Who else should I compare myself with if not you?” Luo Qianqian chuckled and threw a pillow at Luo Shufan’s stomach, ”As long as you don’t favor your girlfriend over your sister in the future, as long as you care about Qianqian’s feelings when you’re with another girl, all will be good.”

”Who’s been telling you all this?... We’re still so young. You’re overthinking it,” Luo Shufan said, rubbing his forehead, having only heard of friends being set aside for a romantic interest, but setting aside a sister for one was absurd.

”Zhuzi, Zhuzi said that everyone in middle school is pairing up,” Luo Qianqian covered her mouth and giggled, ”Qianqian won’t tattle, brother, you don’t have to be scared.”

Luo Shufan secretly thought, Bai Yizhu, you’ll pay the price for your loose talk, ”Scared, my foot! How old am I to be worrying about such big things because of you?”

”That’s what I thought too. That’s the perk of skipping grades, most of your classmates are older,” Luo Qianqian mused. However, relationships between older girls and younger boys were common too, but she wouldn’t dare say that to Luo Shufan, fearing a beating.

”You don’t need to worry about me; just make sure to tell me if you have any problems, like if someone bullies you. I still remember that time when that little girl knocked over your milk,” Luo Shufan said with a grim expression, holding Luo Qianqian’s pillow and sitting on his own bed.

Seeing her brother’s expression, Luo Qianqian secretly stuck out her tongue and made a cute face, smiling at him, ”We’re not in the same class now, so there’s nothing to worry about. Look, I even make money at school. I managed to sell the Patchwork Bear, and I still have a bunch of orders.” She awkwardly changed the subject, not wanting her brother to keep worrying about her classmates.

”Are you even proud of that? Because of that, godmother rushes to work right after her job, and mom has to help out. We’ve been eating the noodles dad prepared for several days, haven’t we? Boiled today, fried tomorrow, and with soybean paste the day after tomorrow. It was only yesterday that we had something decent,” Luo Shufan said, his face showing displeasure but hiding the envy in his heart. He wondered how on earth to sell Patchwork Bears and pig trotters at school, although it seemed his sister hadn’t sold pig trotters: ”Ever heard of ’proceeding step by step’?”

”I already said there’s no rush; Xiayu and I can only handle so much in a day,” Luo Qianqian complained, pouting. ”Godmother is torturing us. I’m going back to complain. At first, I thought godfather was trying to sharpen his cooking skills for godmother’s birthday, so he went through all the trouble to cook noodles in various ways.”

”Godmother’s birthday?” Luo Shufan was surprised. How did he not know about it?

”What else? You’ve been eating Xiayu’s cream cakes for two weeks without realizing it?” Luo Qianqian looked at her brother with disdain: ”Did you forget? Last year you even had two bowls of the longevity noodles that godmother made. I didn’t eat it because I had too much cake.”

”...” Luo Shufan thought, even if he really had forgotten, he couldn’t admit it or his sister would laugh at him. He firmly shook his head: ”How could I forget? What are you preparing for godmother?” he asked while calculating how much spending money he had.

”I’m not telling you. Figure it out yourself; don’t try to pump me for information,” Luo Qianqian turned her head away, not looking at him, knowing full well he had forgotten and was now agonizing over what to give.

”...How about carnations?” Luo Shufan guessed, scratching his head in frustration, causing a few strands of black hair to fall between his fingers, just as his sister had anticipated.

”You already gave carnations on Mother’s Day. By the way, you bought ten kilograms of corn for mom’s birthday last time because she said she wanted to eat corn, and it took us three days to finish it,” Luo Qianqian said while lying on the bed, watching her brother pace around in desperation.

”Stop teasing,” Luo Shufan said, his lips twitching as he remembered last year’s corn—he must have been out of his mind to buy so much: ”Xiaoyu has already given food, so I can’t give that too. Can you at least tell me what type of gift you’re giving?”

”Don’t worry; yours won’t be anything like mine. Feel free to give anything,” Luo Qianqian waved her hand nonchalantly and then turned her attention back to the TV.

Luo Shufan couldn’t focus on his Monkey Brother anymore, his mind was preoccupied with what to give.

A wallet? It seemed unnecessary, as godmother usually just stuffed money in her pocket.

An apron? There were plenty of clothes at home, not to mention all the other cloth items. Even when his sister wanted the outfit from a cartoon, godmother could simply make it. There was no need for that, either.

A keyring? Then Luo Shufan looked down, pulling out his keys and observing the mini Patchwork Bear on them, realizing that buying something he could make himself would be frowned upon by godmother, his mother, and his sister.

What on earth should he give???

Luo Qianqian looked at her brother’s distressed face and couldn’t bear it any longer. She touched her chin and suggested, ”How about a cup? A cup represents a lifetime. It’s a pun and it has a nice meaning—it shows we’ll always be a family.”

”A cup? Good idea.” It would be perfect for next year when their newborn cousin had a birthday, and they could buy it together. Having a sister who could give advice was great. Thinking this, Luo Shufan walked over to Luo Qianqian, knelt down, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek: ”You’re such a good sister~~~”