Insisting on Being the Elder Sister

The egg was warm, but not enough. Shen Nian took the egg and stretched out his other hand. "Another bottle of milk, please."

"Don't have any."

"Last night you..."

"Oh, you! You're just too greedy!" Xia Yanchun cut him off and pattered back into her room. But there really was no milk left, so she could only grab a 'Peanut Snack' ice cream bar to make do for Shen Nian.

The price was about the same anyway, and Shen Nian didn't look like he'd just gotten out of bed.

"No more milk. Here, have this." She still had to confirm, "Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Yeah, I have."

"Then take this. Nothing happened last night!"

"Okay, Chunbao. I've already completely forgotten everything you said and did yesterday. Chunbao, you're not dirty-minded at all."

"Get lost!"

Xia Yanchun kicked Shen Nian's shin. Not only did it not hurt him, but she stubbed her own toe, a dull pain throbbing. She felt like getting angry first thing in the morning, and talking a few more sentences with Shen Nian would probably mess up her menstrual cycle.

She didn't want to see him anymore and rushed back home, slamming the door shut.

Shen Nian was delighted, in a great mood.

At noon, the sky indeed turned gloomy, and a light rain began to fall not long after.

A cold wind blew against Shen Nian's face, lifting a corner of his test paper. He hurriedly went to close the window.

After parting ways with Xia Yanchun in the corridor earlier, he had stayed in his room doing practice tests. Writing until his hand ached, this system task really had something to it.

But this task offered ten thousand gold coins and the title of 'Senior Adventurer'.

So what was there to say? I'll just write, that's all.

Creak—

Shen Yue's bedroom door only opened now, a pale wrist brazenly reaching inside her clothes to scratch an itch.

Noticing Shen Nian's door was open and he was sitting at his desk studying, Shen Yue curled her lips. "Studying, huh? What'd you get on the exam?"

"Uh, didn't Mom tell you yesterday?"

"No, I was dead tired yesterday, didn't even feel like talking. Nothing was posted in the parents' group chat either."

"Well, it's not great. Only got six hundred and eighty-eight."

"Only six hundred and eighty-eight... wait, how much?" Shen Yue found it hard to believe.

Shen Yue was a 985 university graduate and now worked at a state-owned enterprise, so she naturally knew the weight of a 688 score.

"What was your ranking?"

"Second in the class, eighth in the whole school."

"That impressive?"

Is this still my little brother?

The little brother who didn't even open his backpack all summer and crammed everything on the last day, how did he get eighth in the whole school?

Scores can be inflated, but rankings don't lie. Eighth in the entire Ci'nan No.2 High School absolutely had solid gold value.

Enough to be in the top fifty of the province.

The only high school that could compete with Ci'nan No.2 High was Ci'nan No.1 High. Other schools in the province were a notch below these two. Even if other schools occasionally had individual high-scoring students, it would be hard to shake Shen Nian's potential spot in the provincial top fifty.

Provided, of course, that Shen Nian could maintain this performance. Many students mistake one exceptional performance for their actual level. Hopefully, Shen Nian wasn't like that.

That being said, to have an exceptional performance reaching eighth in the school still required substantial ability.

Shen Nian chuckled lightly, spreading his hands. "It's alright, just alright. The path of learning is long and arduous."

"It's more than enough. With that score, you could even go to universities in the capital. Some towns might not produce a student like that for three or four years, and you're calling it 'just alright'."

"So I'm already this outstanding, am I? My, my."

"..."

Praise him a little and he starts putting on airs.

Shen Yue felt that beating up Shen Nian in the past was justified.

"Is Mom back home?"

"Of course. Just look at what time it is now."

Shen Yue yawned. "I'm going back to sleep for a bit."

Shen Nian's mouth twitched. "You've been sleeping all morning."

"What's wrong with sleeping during a holiday?"

"...Uh, go sleep then."

People's constitutions really can't be compared. There are actually people who can sleep for twelve hours straight and then still take a nap.

In that time, Shen Nian could have finished a whole practice test.

In the afternoon, it was pouring rain.

Good thing Mom and Aunt Wen left quickly.

Shen Nian had already finished the Chinese and English sections of the second practice test. Sitting for so long made his back ache. If this continued, he'd definitely get a herniated disc.

Haha, just kidding. This guy self-massaged for some HP recovery.

With his back no longer aching and his legs no longer numb, Shen Nian went to the living room for a drink of water. Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from the door.

Shen Nian froze for a moment before watching the door gently open and a furry head poke in.

"I thought you were a burglar, almost kicked you. Why didn't you knock?"

Xia Yanchun puffed out her cheeks. "So what? I messaged you and you didn't reply. Thought you'd gone out."

"Huh? I was focused on the problems and didn't check my phone. Why would I go out in such heavy rain?"

"Who knows about you? You're not normal anyway."

"Watch your words. How am I not normal?"

Is a god not a person?

Shen Nian pursed his lips. "So, what do you want?"

"Here to play with your sister." Xia Yanchun closed the door, walked in with her hands behind her back, swaggering confidently. She brought in a waft of pleasant, light fragrance as she breezed into the living room. Not seeing Shen Yue, she pointed at Shen Yue's room. "She's not still in bed, is she?"

"You know and still ask." Shen Nian stifled a laugh. "She got up earlier, ate something, and went back in. Might not be sleeping, just on her phone. You can knock..."

Before he finished, the door opened. It seemed she was already awake, just staying in her room.

"Hey, little Chun, what's up? Come in, come in." Shen Yue beckoned.

Xia Yanchun ran inside with a giggle and closed the door. Shen Nian was utterly speechless. Anyone would think they were discussing some major secret.

They used to huddle together like this to plot how to mess with Shen Nian.

Shen Nian never understood what Xia Yanchun was thinking back then.

Shen Yue messing with him was understandable—she was his biological sister. But Xia Yanchun never acted like an outsider. You're just a neighbor, what are you joining in for? Is he your little brother that you mess with him?

Always insisting on being the older sister.

Just thinking about those annoying things from the past filled Shen Nian with ten, even nine, parts frustration.

Not long after Shen Nian returned to his room and lay on his bed, Xia Yanchun came out of Shen Yue's room and symbolically knocked on Shen Nian's door.

"Shen Nian, I'm coming in."

With that, she opened the door.

Xia Yanchun was wearing an outer shirt, more of an autumn style, because she had a base layer underneath. Even though the collar was loose and sloppy, she didn't mind.

"What do you want?" Shen Nian pulled the blanket over himself.

Xia Yanchun tilted her head. "I was just checking out clothes with your sister, looking at trench coats online. Now I'm just here to see you by the way."

"Just 'by the way'? You, Hachikun." Shen Nian patted the edge of the bed. "Come sit. By the way, didn't you buy some yesterday?"

"No, didn't find any I liked yesterday."

Xia Yanchun didn't go over. Instead, she sat on Shen Nian's desk, idly flipping through his practice tests. Only then did she realize he had written so much, each sheet densely filled. The neatness of his handwriting was almost on par with hers now.

Half of the row of M&G pen refills on the desk were already empty, along with one Xiaomi 'Super Writer' pen that had run out who knows when.

He's working so hard.

Xia Yanchun kept her legs together. "What university do you want to go to?"

"What do you think?" Shen Nian propped his head on his hands, holding a pillow, and glanced out the window. "Actually, I haven't decided yet. Are you still planning to take the exam for Cinan University?"

"Yeah, I don't want to go too far away."

"Not even the capital?"

"No, I don't want to."

Cinan was somewhat unique. Its high school education resources were a bit top-heavy. There were five exemplary high schools, but among these five, only No.1 High and No.2 High were truly strong; the other three were quite mediocre, not to mention the non-exemplary high schools.

It was the same with universities. Apart from Cinan University, which was a top-tier "985" institution, the rest were second-tier colleges. Although there had been rumors that a few second-tier schools would soon be upgraded to first-tier, nothing had come of it yet.

This also meant that if your scores were stuck right at the first-tier cutoff—not good enough for the best, but better than the rest—you'd likely have to go to another province for university.

If Shen Nian hadn't become this dark horse, his scores would have definitely meant leaving the province for college.

Studying at the local Cinan University wasn't necessarily inferior to universities in the capital. A gap existed, but it was still a top-tier "985" school, let alone for someone like Xia Yanchun, whose scores allowed her to pick any top major she wanted.

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