Ling Jiawen was a bit embarrassed.

Since his own grades had always been at the bottom, he assumed Erbao’s were too, considering his carefree personality. “Well, your grades are good then. Keep studying hard—good grades will lead to great opportunities.”

Even in their families, where food and clothing were never an issue, everyone still wanted to achieve something significant if they could.

Ling Jiawen, knowing he wasn’t good at academics, was already resigned to the fact that he would likely be sent to the military when he came of age, a path he wasn’t particularly keen on.

It was tiring, but he needed to excel at something.

“Ah…” Erbao sighed, “Studying is so tiring.”

Ling Jiawen’s eyes lit up at that comment. “Exactly, studying is exhausting.”

It was as if this elementary school kid could read his mind—studying was even more exhausting than military training.

“If there was a way to make money without getting tired, that would be great… Running isn’t tiring, and it can make money. I want to try it,” Erbao said again.

“You could give it a try,” Ling Jiawen replied earnestly. “You really are fast at running.” Even as a middle schooler, Ling Jiawen couldn’t outrun this elementary school kid.

“Then I’ll go home and ask my parents,” Erbao said, feeling excited about the idea.

“Sure, go ask them.” Ling Jiawen responded casually.

Suddenly, he remembered something. “Is your dad named Guodong?” He vaguely recalled his uncle mentioning someone named Lin Guodong—he didn’t quite remember the surname, but the name Guodong was easy to remember.

“Yes, how do you know?” Yibao asked curiously.

Ling Jiawen explained, “My uncle, Ling Yuanhua, was your dad’s college classmate.”

An hour and a half passed quickly as Ling Jiawen and Erbao chatted.

“Time’s up.”

“Time’s up.”

Two voices called out at the same time—Zhang Jingwen and Yu Chengyuan.

“Put down the fishing rods; no more fishing,” Yu Chengyuan announced.

Zhang Jingwen said, “We’ll start counting the fish now.”

Yu Chengyuan counted the fish caught by Zhang Jingwu’s team, while Zhang Jingwen counted the fish from Yu Chengci’s team.

The winner would be determined by the number of fish caught, so the weight didn’t matter as long as the quantity was enough.

“One… three… eighteen… twenty-six fish,” Yu Chengyuan finished counting. “Zhang Jingwu’s team of six caught a total of twenty-six fish.”

While Yu Chengyuan had finished counting, Zhang Jingwen was still counting. “…twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight… thirty-two in total.”

“Wow, we won!” Yu Chengci jumped up in excitement.

“We won!” The other teammates hugged each other in excitement.

Yibao and Sanbao also beamed with bright smiles.

Erbao eagerly chimed in, “We get two shares of food, remember?”

Zhang Jingwu was furious.

They should have won this time, but somehow they lost. “Fine, two shares. You guys were just lucky this time, but we’ll win next time.”

Yibao asked, “When are you going to give us the rest of the stuff? You only have one share now.”

Zhang Jingwu replied angrily, “I’ll give it to you tomorrow… Let’s go.” With that, he stomped off with his friends.

Zhang Jingwen shook his head, unfazed by his brother’s loss. “Play with Jingwu again next time. See you!” he said before leaving as well.

As he watched them walk away, Erbao commented, “That guy has such a good temper, but his brother has a really bad one.”

Ling Jiawen scoffed, “He’s just a smiling tiger.”

Simple-minded Lin Erbao didn’t know that a person could be described as a smiling tiger—a seemingly nice person who hides ill intentions.

Yu Chengci asked, “What should we do with all these fish? How are we going to eat them?” As he spoke, his eyes drifted toward Yibao, secretly hoping that with all these fish, they could go to the Lin family’s house and have some of his aunt’s delicious fish congee.

Today’s catch was indeed abundant, much more than what the nine of them had caught yesterday.

Of course, since today was a competition, everyone fished seriously, unlike yesterday when they were chatting and joking around, which scared many fish away.

Yibao didn’t disappoint Yu Chengci’s expectations. “Why don’t we go home and have a barbecue?”

“Barbecue?” Yu Chengci had never heard of it. “What’s that?”

Yibao explained, “You light a fire and place a metal rack over it, then grill all kinds of food on it—fish, meat slices, vegetables, eggplants, cabbages… basically anything you can eat. You can even grill corn and potatoes. It’s really tasty. We used to barbecue back at the family quarters of the military base, and we have the equipment at home.”

The children were excited about the idea of having a barbecue.

Normally, when their family grilled food, they would close the doors to avoid any gossip from the neighbors.

But now, with so many people around, they could use the backyard of the small villa, where no one could see them.

After all, a barbecue is more fun with more people involved.

“Barbecuing sounds delicious,” Yu Chengci said, eager to try it out.

“But we only have fish, no vegetables,” Yibao pointed out.

“That’s no problem,” Ling Jiawen responded. “You guys provide the fish, and I’ll get the vegetables. The market is still open at this time; we can go and buy some.” He was eager to join in on the barbecue.

“That’s great! I know what vegetables to buy; I’ll go with you,” Erbao said, his excitement growing.

It had been a while since he had a barbecue, and he was thrilled at the idea.

Seeing Erbao’s enthusiasm, Yibao was also interested.

Winter barbecues with a large group were indeed lively.

However, he thought for a moment and said, “We should go home and ask Mom first. If she’s already started making dinner, we won’t be able to barbecue today.”

Even though their mother had said before that they were the little masters of the house and had the right to entertain guests, today there were many people involved, and Yibao felt it was important to get her opinion.

“That’s right! I forgot about that. Let’s go ask her first,” Erbao agreed.

“I’ll go ask,” Yibao said, and immediately dashed toward home.

“Bro, let me go—I’m faster,” Erbao said, a beat behind, and quickly followed.

But as soon as Yibao chased after him, Erbao ran even faster.

Watching the two brothers race, it was clear that even though they were twins, their running speeds were noticeably different—Erbao was faster than Yibao.

As they ran out of sight, Yibao called Erbao to stop. “Erbao, we should always ask Mom before inviting guests over. What if something else is going on at home and we can’t entertain them?”

Erbao had been caught up in the excitement and hadn’t thought about it, but he listened to Yibao. “Got it, bro. By the way, I just remembered—we haven’t split the money we saved yet. You said on the train that we should split it.”

Yibao, who had been busy adjusting to being back home, had completely forgotten. “We’ll do it tonight.”

When the two of them arrived home, it was still before 4:00 PM, so Ning Shu hadn’t started making dinner yet.

Their father, Lin Guodong, usually came home later than most, so Ning Shu timed her cooking to start when he was close to arriving, ensuring the food wouldn’t get cold.

“Mom, can we have a barbecue at home today?” Yibao asked as soon as he saw Ning Shu.

Ning Shu smiled, “You want to have a barbecue today?” It was certainly doable—they could set up some lights outside.

“No, it’s because we caught 32 fish today…” Yibao quickly explained the whole situation.

“Of course, you can,” Ning Shu agreed readily.

She never opposed the idea of her children inviting friends over to play, just as adults wouldn’t ask their children for permission to invite friends.

However, she added, “Since you invited your friends, you’ll be in charge of the barbecue today. That means washing the vegetables and everything—I won’t be helping with that.”

She was happy to prepare the ingredients, but the washing and other tasks would be up to them.

After all, they were the hosts, so they needed to act like it.

“Sure, we can wash the vegetables. There are 11 of us, so we’ll have plenty of help,” Erbao said confidently.

He hadn’t even considered doing it all by himself—he was counting on everyone pitching in.

After all, they were all going to eat together, so they should all help out.

“Alright then, I’ll get the things you need. You go ahead and get ready,” Ning Shu said, thinking that since she didn’t need to prepare dinner for the three boys, she and Lin Guodong could have something simple.

On a cold winter day, noodles would be the easiest option!