Sun Li said, "I know that place. The houses there are really expensive. It looks like they’ve found a benefactor. But it must be exhausting. Working from dawn to dusk is one thing, but they also have to wait on people."

"Tell me about it. Wasn’t it fine when they were working migrant jobs before and letting my parents watch the kids? Sigh, my second brother is just making things difficult for no reason."

Sun Li gave her husband a wry smile. "I don’t think his family is making things difficult for no reason. Your parents are just biased. The few times I visited, the second brother’s kids looked so pitiful. And with the division of the family assets this time, just look. If they weren’t worried about how it would look, your father and mother would have definitely wanted to leave everything to the third brother and his wife."

Qin Bogang said helplessly, "Don’t all families dote on the youngest child?"

Sun Li scoffed, unwilling to argue with him on the matter.

’In any case, our family doesn’t rely on the parents. But the parents can forget about taking our money to subsidize the third brother’s family!’

As for the second brother’s family, Sun Li now saw them in a new light and was willing to interact with them more.

She said, "Let’s go visit the second brother’s family this Sunday. We can have a meal. You two are brothers, after all."

"Okay, I’ll tell him later."

Sun Li had always looked down on Qin Bogang’s side of the family, but if the second brother’s family proved to be sensible from now on, she’d be willing to stay in touch with them.

**

When Qin Jiao arrived at the classroom, she glanced at Lin Nian’s seat. She saw Lin Nian sitting there as usual, with Chen Feng not far away.

Apparently, the scene Mrs. Chen Feng had caused hadn’t given them any real trouble.

’I have to admit, this Lin Nian is quite cunning. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to scheme against me like that in my last life.’

Qin Jiao subtly averted her gaze, returned to her seat, and began looking over her last pop quiz.

Then she sensed Lin Nian looking in their direction.

’But it seems she isn’t looking at me, but at Shen Yi.’

’So that’s it,’ Qin Jiao realized. ’Lin Nian is a little wary of Shen Yi.’

’At this time in my last life, even though I had already dropped out, I knew that Shen Yi hated school. He was only interested in math and P.E. and would even fall asleep during the monthly exams.’

’But now, he hardly ever sleeps in class, finishes every test properly, and his monthly exam scores have improved by a huge margin.’

’Lin Nian hadn’t minded at first, though. She even challenged us to a competition.’

’So what’s changed? It’s probably related to Mrs. Chen Feng’s visit.’

Just then, there was a tap on Qin Jiao’s desk. The boy beside her said coolly, "Qin Jiao, you still haven’t answered me. Do you have time to tutor me this weekend?"

Qin Jiao froze, looking up at Shen Yi. He was frowning slightly, clearly in a bad mood.

’If this were my previous life, he would have blown up by now—spitting cold, sarcastic words, maybe even throwing things.’

After a moment’s thought, she said, "I have to help my parents on the weekend."

Shen Yi frowned. "I can pay you."

"My grades aren’t even that good. You could ask another student who does well in school."

"I don’t know them well."

"..."

Qin Jiao paused. Watching him frown in irritation, she saw a flicker of loneliness in his eyes. She remembered then that Shen Yi had always been a solitary figure. He might occasionally play basketball with some of the other boys, but he didn’t really have any friends.

His personality was just like that of a lone wolf.

She realized that, at school, she was probably the person he knew best.

Qin Jiao had already been planning on helping him improve his grades anyway. Finally, she said, "Two hours. Two hours on Sunday afternoon. How does that sound?"