The Ruthless Tactics of the Imperial Brother

Time passed as slowly as the lazy clouds hovering before the door, and even heartbeats seemed to soften along with it.

With nothing to do and nothing to worry about, the two days following the submission of their college applications were exceptionally peaceful.

Rarely, the clanking sound of metal and glass could be heard.

Chen Minyue used to love collecting plastic and glass bottles to sell. It wasn't that she lacked money, nor was she scavenging; she just felt it was a waste to throw them away. Or perhaps she had a bit of a hoarding habit. She would save all the empty bottles from their own home and wait specifically for the scrap collector to come by, often making thirty or forty yuan from it.

Even now, there was still a woven sack full of plastic bottles sitting under the stairwell.

The scorching heat of the past two days had given way to today's coolness. The clouds were thick, and a light drizzle seemed to be teasing the air. With a gentle breeze brushing by, Shen Nian stood leisurely on the balcony, enjoying the wind without a trace of irritation in his heart.

Thinking back on the entire summer vacation, there were very few things he could actually recall—traveling, getting his driver's license... that seemed to be about it.

It was the first time he ever felt a vacation was too long.

After this shift in mindset, he really was becoming less and less like his old self.

Slide.

The balcony window next door opened. Xia Yanchun carried a bucket and stepped out onto the balcony in her little white slippers. She glanced at Shen Nian, didn't say a word, and went straight to hanging up her laundry.

Hanging laundry was an art: you had to align the corners and carefully smooth out the wrinkles so the clothes wouldn't look messy when they dried.

She cast a sideways glance at the clothes Shen Nian had hung on his balcony. Hmph, crooked and twisted, just as expected. Shen Nian was exactly the kind of person who ignored the little details in life, completely unlike her.

Shen Nian had no idea that a certain someone was already feeling smug inside. Smiling faintly, he lifted his chin. "Didn't hang your clothes out last night, huh?"

"I forgot. It's all your fault."

"How is that my fault?"

"It is your fault. I was planning to hang them out, but then you came over and I completely forgot."

"Tch." Shen Nian curled his lips, too lazy to argue.

Their daily bickering had already become an indispensable part of their dynamic as sworn enemies.

Over the past year, Shen Nian had gone through many changes, but his daily habit of arguing with Xia Yanchun hadn't changed a bit. It felt like if he didn't verbally spar with her a couple of times, his whole day would just feel off.

Could it be that Chunbao secretly used a hypnosis app on him when they were kids to alter his common sense?

"What are you looking at?" Xia Yanchun felt creeps under his stare. Even with her most familiar childhood friend, being stared at like that would make anyone's hair stand on end.

"What's wrong with looking? It's not like you're exposed. Are you saying I can't even look at you?"

"Your gaze is offending me."

"Damn, why don't you just say I'm breathing your air while you're at it."

"That's too ridiculous."

"..."

So a gaze offending you isn't ridiculous? He wasn't peeping, nor was he checking her out pervertedly. If such a proper look offended her, wouldn't he be thrown in jail for actually giving her a lustful glance?

"Why don't we just say the whole universe revolves around you." Shen Nian gave a fake smile.

"The whole universe definitely doesn't revolve around me, but you definitely do."

"Ugh."

Damn, she was actually right.

Shen Nian didn't dare make a peep.

Xia Yanchun didn't chatter with him for too long. After hanging up her wet clothes, she gathered the dry ones and returned to her room alone.

It was hard to say this wasn't the silent treatment.

Even though just this morning she had been nestled in his arms catching up on sleep.

Approaching noon, Shen Nian had just turned on his computer, ready to happily play a few rounds of games, when his phone started buzzing.

It was a video call from Xia Yanchun.

Shen Nian propped his phone up and hit answer.

"What's up?"

"What are you doing?"

On the other end of the screen, Xia Yanchun was also sitting at her desk, her hair draped loosely over her shoulders.

"Getting ready to play a game. Is something the matter?"

"I want you to come over."

"Come over for what?"

"I just want you to come over."

"...?"

What a familiar excuse, you sneaky Chun.

Xia Yanchun wasn't just feeling lonely and cold. She wasn't saying it now, but once Shen Nian went over, she was definitely going to boss him around.

Making Shen Nian come all the way over just to hand her a tissue was the kind of thing Xia Yanchun did all the time.

This was the little-brother-taming tactic Xia Yanchun had used since childhood. Her methods were as venomous as snakes and scorpions; just one look was enough to scare someone into a faint.

"Come on over," Xia Yanchun narrowed her eyes. Seeing him stay silent, she raised a finger and beckoned him.

"You've got some moves, Xia Yanchun." Shen Nian bared his teeth and flipped her the middle finger.

Xia Yanchun's face instantly darkened, and she flipped him off right back. "Hurry up! I have something to tell you. If you don't come over, I won't say it. The front door on the first floor is unlocked."

"If it's some bullshit, you're dead meat, I'm telling you." Shen Nian pointed at her menacingly.

He wanted to see just what kind of trick this sneaky Chun was trying to pull.

Shen Nian walked openly through the first-floor door of Xia Yanchun's house and jogged all the way up to the third floor, where he finally saw her sitting at her desk.

As soon as Shen Nian arrived, Xia Yanchun quickly shifted her position, patting the empty space beside her—just big enough for half a butt cheek—to signal him to sit down.

"I downloaded that live-streaming software too, but what do all these parameters mean? Help me adjust them. Also, my webcam doesn't seem to be working."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah."

"..."

It turned out Shen Nian had misunderstood her. He thought she had tricked him into coming over to sweep the floor or wipe the desk, but she actually had a real issue.

Shen Nian felt he couldn't be blamed for this. If anyone was to blame, it was Xia Yanchun. After all, Xia Yanchun had learned from Shen Yue and was a terrifying entity capable of calling him from miles away just to hand her a tissue.

She wouldn't directly ask Shen Nian to get the tissue; instead, she would trick him into standing near the tissue and then ask him to hand it to her.

"Let me see."

Shen Nian sat down on half a butt cheek, squeezing into Xia Yanchun's space. Xia Yanchun, who had also been sitting on half a cheek, could only stand up in frustration and give him the entire seat.

Shen Nian was still useful, so she just had to endure it.

Xia Yanchun's computer had arrived on the evening they submitted their college applications. She brought it home that very night, and it was Shen Nian who helped her unbox it and install the essential startup software.

Shen Nian thought Xia Yanchun would just use it to listen to music or watch TV. As it turned out, the first thing she wanted to do after getting a computer was start a live-streaming account.

"I knew you were jealous of my traffic and couldn't wait to piggyback off my popularity," Shen Nian bared his teeth in a grin.

Xia Yanchun choked on her words, grunted, and elbowed him. "Hurry up and fix it."

Earning several thousand yuan from just an hour of live-streaming—how could Xia Yanchun not be envious? If it weren't for maintaining her image as an older sister figure, she would have hugged Shen Nian's leg and begged him to carry her long ago.

It was one thing to talk about it online, but in reality, who wouldn't want to easily make money just by live-streaming?

She didn't expect to make thousands; even two or three hundred a day would be enough to satisfy her. Treating live-streaming as a side hustle and part-time job, she could make six thousand a month. Just thinking about it made her grin from ear to ear.

"I'm on it, I'm on it... Alright, give it a try."

The live-streaming room had a preview function, and Shen Nian also checked the webcam. Finally, an image of the two of them squeezed together appeared on the computer screen.

"It worked! But the picture is so blurry."

"The built-in webcam is just too trash," Shen Nian laughed. "Just order one for two hundred bucks or so and it'll be fine."

"Then I'll buy it now. Send me the link."

"Here, I sent it to you."

Xia Yanchun immediately placed an order for the exact same item.

"So, what's the other piece of news? If you're just messing with me, you're going to pay for it."

"Of course I'm not messing with you." Xia Yanchun put her hands behind her back, a faint, incredibly smug look washing over her face. "My dad called me at noon and said people from the government are coming over to our house tomorrow."

She didn't elaborate, but she didn't need to. Shen Nian knew exactly why the government officials were coming.

His prize money for being the top scorer in the province hadn't been issued yet. You couldn't have two supreme talents in one family without a decent bonus to show for it.

"That's great news. Why wasn't I notified?"

"They probably haven't started notifying people yet. I'm guessing they'll call your parents this afternoon. My dad just gave me a heads-up."

"Alright, alright."

"Now that you've set it up, move over. I'm going to start streaming."

Shen Nian clicked his tongue. Use and discard, huh? Talk about burning the bridge after crossing it.

However, he was actually quite curious to see how Xia Yanchun's livestream would turn out, so he gave up his seat for her.

After adjusting her hair and collar, Xia Yanchun started the stream.

She was already fantasizing about a massive wave of viewers flooding in the second she went live, showering her with donations while praising her beauty!

Xia Yanchun waited happily for five minutes.

"..."

Wait, where was everyone?

Why was it so different from Shen Nian's stream? Shouldn't there be a ton of highlighted messages popping up and the chat going crazy? This wasn't how streaming worked!

Refusing to accept reality, Xia Yanchun pulled Shen Nian into the frame, using him as clickbait to draw in traffic.

Two minutes passed, and there was still zero traffic. The few people who did click in left after a single second...

"At least change the name of your stream. What the hell is just a period..." Shen Nian facepalmed, unable to watch this trainwreck any longer.

"Oh, I just typed that randomly when I was testing it earlier." Realizing her mistake, Xia Yanchun immediately changed the stream title. "Let's call it this... Provincial Top Scorer Teaching Online..."

"...You have absolutely no shame. You're just doing a one-to-one copy of my stream, aren't you? Well played, Haji-Chun, I had you figured out. You really are a sneaky and deceitful person."

"It's called strategy."