“Two o’clock already…”
Lin Hua glanced up at the clock and shook his aching right wrist. The dim little desk lamp glowed lonely on the writing table, casting shadows over his weary face.
“What a misfortune!”
Lin Hua curled up painfully, clutching his head with both hands, his forehead pressed against the cold surface of the desk, barely calming the irritation roiling in his mind.
He had just finished copying the ‘Masterpiece Memorial’ for the thirteenth time. Two more times and he could finally complete the punishment assigned by the Yuwen Teacher.
But…
Tomorrow wasn’t a weekend, and he still had to get up early at six to prepare for school. If he couldn’t guarantee at least four hours of sleep, he feared the entire day ahead would be filled with splitting headaches caused by sleep deprivation.
Though his head was already throbbing faintly now.
Lin Hua hammered his forehead frantically. “What kind of curse have I brought upon myself?!”
That morning during Yuwen class, after finishing the composition lesson, the Yuwen Teacher suddenly tested the class on their recitation of the Masterpiece Memorial.
Of course, Lin Hua wasn’t punished for failing to memorize the Masterpiece Memorial.
On the contrary, while most students in the class stumbled through the recitation, Lin Hua—well-read and having memorized the Masterpiece Memorial since he was very young—once again demonstrated his fluent and expressive oratory skills to everyone.
The Yuwen Teacher had only asked for one paragraph to be recited, but Lin Hua, hands behind his back, flawlessly recited the entire piece word for word from beginning to end, unstoppable.
And the expression, the tone, the pauses—it was as if Lin Hua was personally presenting the Masterpiece Memorial to Emperor Liu Houzhu himself. The recitation was truly an art.
Hey, hey, hey…
The students of Class 3-6 all exchanged dark glances.
The Yuwen Teacher was very pleased, applauding and saying, “Lin Hua recited very well; everyone should learn from him.”
Then suddenly the teacher frowned, displeased. “Look at how poorly the rest of you recited. Today’s homework is to copy the Masterpiece Memorial three times. Lin Hua only needs to copy it once.”
Lin Hua: “…Huh?”
“Wait, Teacher.” Lin Hua, just returning to his seat, suddenly stood up. “If I’ve already memorized it, why do I have to copy it?”
“Oh?”
The Yuwen Teacher narrowed his eyes, a dangerous smile creeping onto his lips.
“Lin Hua, you think you’ve memorized it, so you don’t have to copy?”
Lin Hua, reckless: “Yeah?”
“Alright then—” The teacher laughed, “Since you’ve memorized it, why don’t you write it out from memory now? Every single punctuation mark or character you get wrong means you have to copy it again, how’s that?”
“…Ah?” Lin Hua stood dumbfounded.
“Pfft.”
Someone in the classroom couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
Hahaha, pretending to be smart only to get struck by lightning, don’t you know, classmate~?
“Pffahahaha.”
The whole class erupted in laughter.
“Sigh…”
Lin Hua silently stared at the densely written page in front of him and sighed quietly. After a long while, he threw down his pen in frustration, ready to sleep.
Tomorrow—no, after school, he’d try to reason with the Yuwen Teacher. He really didn’t want to stay up late again.
——————The dividing line of forced typing; my head hurts so much tonight——————
“Yo, dummy big brother, you’re up?”
“Mm…”
At six in the morning, Lin Hua dragged himself out of his bedroom with dark circles under his eyes after barely three hours of rest.
“Mm… huh?”
Still dazed, Lin Hua suddenly snapped to attention and pointed in horror at the girl in the kitchen boiling water and cooking noodles. “Why are you making breakfast? Where’s Mom?”
“Hey.” The girl shot Lin Hua a glare. “Mom left early for a city meeting and didn’t have time to cook for us. But you, you sleep like a dead pig; Mom called you three times and you didn’t wake up, so I had to make breakfast.”
“Oh…”
Only a moment later, Lin Hua shuffled to the dining table like a zombie and collapsed.
It didn’t matter who made breakfast. He just wanted to keep sleeping… Didn’t he have physics for the first period today? Maybe he could sneak in a little nap…
“Noodles are ready, get up and eat.”
“Ah!”
A medium-sized porcelain bowl of steaming hot Master Kong braised beef noodles slammed down next to Lin Hua with a bang, spilling soup onto his hand, burning him and making him yelp.
“Lin Ruo! Are you trying to murder your own brother?!”
The girl said casually, “Oh, sorry it burned you.”
Then she sat down with her own small bowl opposite Lin Hua.
Lin Hua: “…”
Speaking of twins, even if they were a boy and a girl, shouldn’t they look somewhat similar?
But this girl named Lin Ruo, who was indeed Lin Hua’s twin sister, had fair skin, a petite figure, and outstanding looks.
Compared to Lin Hua’s plain appearance, it was like night and day.
However, if there had to be a similarity between these twin siblings… it was probably that they were both just a little over one meter fifty tall.
Lin Hua propped himself up, stirred the noodles with his chopsticks, slurped, and muttered quietly, “Why can’t my little sister be a bit cuter…”
Lin Ruo didn’t hear clearly and asked, “What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Lin Hua denied firmly and focused on eating.
Lin Ruo’s voice had that soft, tender quality. If only her speaking style was gentler, and she occasionally acted cute like some girls in anime, Lin Hua felt that his life as a big brother would be complete.
But alas, alas.
Lin Hua shook his head. When was this girl ever gentle with him?
In front of their parents and others, she acted perfectly well-behaved and respectful, a good sister who respected her brother.
But when it was just the two of them… hmph, that little lady’s temper!
Lin Ruo didn’t cook many noodles, and the two quickly finished eating. Lin Hua automatically took her bowl and headed to the kitchen.
The sound of clattering dishes filled the room. Lin Hua was washing the dishes while Lin Ruo had already packed her school bag, ready to leave.
Lin Ruo also attended Haizhou No. 3 Middle School in Grade Three, but not in the same class as Lin Hua.
“Oh, by the way.” Lin Ruo’s voice drifted softly. “Big brother, you have to share half your pocket money with me today.”
“Huh?”
Finishing washing the dishes and picking up his own school bag, Lin Hua reached into the cabinet where their parents kept their pocket money. Only a few scattered coins remained.
This was no sharing, this was robbery!
Lin Hua shouted, “Lin Ruo, you’re robbing me! No way, give me back my pocket money.”
Lin Hua’s pocket money had already been cut in half by Mom due to his previous dating incident. If his sister robbed him too, he wouldn’t even be able to buy a bottle of iced cola after school.
“Oh?” Lin Ruo narrowed her eyes, a dangerous smile identical to the one their Yuwen Teacher wore creeping across her lips. “My foolish big brother, do you think you have any right to bargain with me?”
“…!” Lin Hua shivered under her gaze.
Wait, didn’t he leave some evidence in her hands again? Could it be she’d found out about the phone he secretly bought again?
Lin Ruo smiled and pulled out Lin Hua’s latest Yuwen exam paper from her pocket. The paper was folded into a thin strip, and the composition section revealed one vertical line of characters—
【Zheng Ziyan I love you】.
During the exam, to get the character Zheng, Lin Hua had even deliberately used the example of that ancient hero who reclaimed Taiwan hundreds of years ago.
“If I show this to Mom, what do you think will happen to you~?”
Lin Hua: “…”
“Ah ah ah, what a misfortune!!!”
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