After finishing the ginger soup, I washed the bowl in the kitchen and put it away before returning to my computer.

The pitch-black DOS-style screen flickered with three new messages:

"Hello, I’m Long Teng, Chairman of Skyfire Network Technology Co., Ltd."

"Are you certain you can resolve our company’s crisis?"

"Hello? Are you there?"

Less than three minutes had passed since I’d sent the account details and returned from washing dishes—minus the time they needed to verify the password. The triple messages revealed just how desperately this "Long Teng" valued his company.

No surprise there. After all, he’d become one of China’s top three tech giants a decade later.

"Hello, I’m here."

I deliberately avoided the formal "you" (*nin*). Right now, I couldn’t afford to seem eager. They needed to remember *they* were the ones begging for help.

"Thank you! The password is correct," came the swift reply. "But our files remain locked..."

"So I propose a trade."

I took a deep breath and brushed aside the hair falling over my eyes.

"What kind of trade?"

Hesitation bled through their next message: "As a legitimate company, we cannot agree to anything illegal or against our ethical principles."

"Simple. I’ll share the method to unlock your files. In return, you send your son to a school outside this city within a week."

Silence swallowed the screen after I hit send.

Clearly, my demand made "Long Teng" the father hesitate.

He was likely guessing my connection to Long Fei—or wondering if Long Fei himself was watching this chat.

I waited patiently, scrolling through my QQ contacts: familiar strangers frozen in time.

*VoidWorm*—the gaming prodigy who’d become a top streamer in six months. *Save him for later.*

*AzureMist*... a childhood friend. He’d deleted me after climbing into high society in 2020. I died without ever hearing from him again. Strange to see his name here.

*BigIronPillar*... Yi Yao met him in-game. He’d call me "big bro" nonstop despite his terrible skills. Always apologized sincerely when flamed, and dragged me into matches every time I logged on.

*I should come clean with him someday.*

"What grudge do you hold against my son?"

Five minutes later, Long Teng finally replied.

"You could see it that way," my fingers danced lightly over the keys. "A friend’s relative skips school daily for internet cafes because of your son. He asked me to handle it."

A lie I’d prepared long ago.

I wasn’t stupid enough to blurt, *"I’m Long Fei’s girlfriend. Make him disappear."*

"Truly not Xiao Fei’s enemy?"

"No. I’m not dictating *where* he goes—just out of this city. Reply ‘1’ if you agree. The unlock method arrives in your email within a minute."

Truth was, they’d solve this crisis themselves tomorrow. I was merely exploiting their panic.

Ordinary chats risked IP leaks, but I wasn’t worried. To me, this era’s computers were as full of holes as a knockoff learning console. Hiding my IP? Child’s play. I could even build an OS from scratch given time.

Another long silence.

Finally, they cracked. A single digit appeared:

**1**

I sent the decryption method and preventive code to Long Teng’s private email as promised.

"Honor our agreement."

"Of course. May I ask your name?"

"Call me Bee."

"The mysterious figure who threw our forum into chaos yesterday?"

"Believe what you will."

"Heh. My mistake—I didn’t know the rules. Pleasure doing business."

"Pleasure."

I ended the chat and stretched in my chair, standing up just as the front door swung open.

My father stomped in, a bag of fruit slung over his shoulder. His face darkened the moment he saw me. With a furious *thud*, he hurled the entire bag onto the floor. "Gaming again?! Monthly exams next week—don’t you care? Or are you so numb to scolding it’s like boiling water can’t touch you?"

"I—"

"Your mother’s barely holding on! Trying to finish off your old man too so you can inherit this dump alone?"

His eyes held pure hatred.

Fury. Despair. Resentment.

To many parents, children were like this:

Bad grades meant a bad child.

A child who shamed them before relatives was worthless.

"Sorry."

Knowing explanations were useless, I shut down the computer, walked over, and quietly gathered the scattered fruit.

Only then did I notice someone else at the door.

My cousin—my uncle’s son—Yi Qiansheng.

Whether in this life or my last, I’d never gotten along with this boy who was just one month younger. I barely glanced at his thick glasses before looking away, not bothering to greet him.

"What, treating your brother like air?"

Father shoved me hard. "He ranked third in last month’s exams! Look at you—when will you be half as good? I shouldn’t have to beg our ancestors for miracles!"

*This "excellent" boy* will team up with Uncle in five years. They’ll steal your house, your savings. Your son will lose everything, sleeping on streets after graduation, starving while repaying *their* debts.

I lifted my head, meeting Father’s blazing glare. Silently, I placed the fruit on the sofa.

"How’s Mom?"

I no longer knew how to speak to him.

No one wakes a person pretending to sleep.

No one believes the future. No one accepts it.

All I could do was become the child they dreamed of.

"Thanks to you? Still breathing."

Father’s tone shifted completely as he turned to Yi Qiansheng. "Sit anywhere you like, Xiao Sheng. If your sister bullies you, tell me immediately, alright?"

"Mhm."

My cousin kicked off his shoes without hesitation. Facing away from Father, he shot me a mocking smirk—but his voice dripped with sweetness: "Afternoon, Sister Yi Yao!"

"Yi Yao! Your brother greeted you!"

"Oh." I nodded flatly. "Afternoon, brother."

"Disgraceful."

Father snorted and turned toward the door. "I’m heading to the hospital. Xiao Sheng will tutor you this afternoon. I’ll test you tonight."

*What?*

Before I could refuse, the door slammed shut with a *bang*.

"Wow. Not bad."

My cousin plopped onto the sofa, biting into an apple I’d just placed there. His obedient act vanished. "You and Dad really hate each other, huh? Failed another exam?"

"None of your business."

"How’s it *not*?"

He pulled two crisp red bills from his pocket, swaggering over. Leaning close, his hot breath tickled my ear as he drawled, "*Two hundred dollars*. Dad paid me for two hours this afternoon. Two hun-dred—dollars."

*This family’s rot runs deeper than I remembered. Without Yi Yao’s memories, I’d have thought he was joking.*

"What’s your point?"

"Nothing~ Just telling my dear sister I earn my own money now. One hundred dollars an hour." He tossed the half-eaten apple into the trash and headed for my room. "Let’s see what grades my precious sister scored this month."

"Stop."

I blocked his path. "No one taught you it’s rude to barge into someone’s room?"

"Dad told me to tutor you. Your test papers are in there."

He strode in anyway. I followed reluctantly.

"Whoa! Thirty-nine?! You scored *thirty-nine* out of 150 in math? Not bad—not as bad as the polio kid in our class. He got forty last time."

His cackle filled the room.

"Wow! Fifty-one in physics out of 100! Round that up—it’s practically sixty! Passing! Only forty points behind my ninety-eight. Promising!"

His voice dripped with fake encouragement.

"Oh, Chinese isn’t terrible. Ninety-one? Passed! Let me see your essay... *‘If I Had an Older Brother’*? What kind of title is that? And it got forty-eight points? Was the teacher blind—?"

I lay silently on my bed until his performance ended. "Done?"

"Done."

He turned from my ransacked desk, oily face twisted in a sneer. "Conclusion? Sister Yi Yao, your grades are hopeless."

"Do you truly believe—" I gave this stranger wearing my cousin’s face a calm smile, "—that grades define a person’s worth?"

"Not for everyone. But for *our* family? Absolutely."

His mocking grin vanished. He dropped the exam papers. "Let me be blunt, Yi Qiansheng despises one kind of person: kids from dirt-poor families who can’t even study properly. Yi Yao, you’re shaming the Yi name."

*Oh? If bad grades shame the family... what will you call yourselves in five years?*

"Huh? You’re not even angry?"

I frowned. "Angry?"

"Yeah! Anyone would react to those words!"

"Why would I? Over rehearsed insults your dad made you memorize?"

I rolled onto my stomach, chin propped on my hands, studying him with mild curiosity.

No sixteen-year-old naturally spits such venom at their sister. Only one explanation remained: Uncle’s coaching.

"Haha. True—Dad taught me the lines. But I meant every word."

Cousin walked over, patted my shoulder, and grinned. "Let me share a secret: my new house is finished. In half a month, we’ll invite all the relatives for the celebration. I’m really looking forward to seeing you and your dad’s faces then!"

Heh.

"Is that so?" I sat up abruptly. "I’ll tell you a secret too. That day, you won’t be laughing."

"Hahaha! Best joke I’ve ever heard!"

"Believe it or not is your choice. But since my dad paid you, shouldn’t you tutor me? My dear top student cousin, Yi?"

If you love playing games, I’ll play along.

Even if someone egged you on, your attitude still pissed me off.

I’m no saint. I’ll remember kindness forever—but if we’re not friends, why be nice?

"Uh… fine. Since you’re so eager to learn, I’ll reluctantly teach you."

My confident demeanor probably unsettled him. For the next two hours, cousin stayed quiet, honestly explaining test questions without provoking me.

Time slipped away in dull monotony.

…

After cousin left, I visited Liang Zhenyi’s ward at Fifth Hospital while time allowed.

"Yao."

Liang Zhenyi, recovered after a day, seemed much better, looking energetic.

"Sorry for what I said this morning."

I sat by his bed.

I admit my earlier emotions were swayed by Dad and Mom.

But if given another chance, I wouldn’t regret avenging this friend of mine.

"It’s fine—I was weak." Liang Zhenyi struggled to sit up. "Yao, Floral Snake told me about your mom…"

I waved him off—

"I’ll repay it."