Han Hongling put down the dishes she was washing and was about to run over to greet them when her Stepmother called out, “What are you doing? Are the dishes done?”

Hearing that it was her stepmother, Han Hongling quickly turned around and smiled, “My legs feel a bit numb, so I stood up to stretch a little. I’ll finish washing them right away.”

In this cold weather, making her wash dishes in cold water felt like they wanted to freeze her.

But her father always listened to her stepmother.

“Then hurry up and wash. Be diligent in what you do—hardworking girls can find good partners, just like I did.” The Stepmother didn’t think there was anything wrong with marrying an older man.

As long as life was good, it was good; whether it was or wasn’t, only she needed to know, and she didn’t care what others said behind her back.

Han Hongling had no choice but to continue washing dishes, all the while watching Yu Chengci and the others leave.

She thought bitterly to herself that she must find a partner in the compound whose position was higher than her father’s, so her father and stepmother would have to respect her.

However, this was a new compound, and Han Hongling’s father was already a deputy regiment commander; there weren’t many positions higher than his in this new compound—the Lin family was one of them.

Therefore, the three brothers were also Han Hongling’s targets.

The three brothers, of course, had no idea about Han Hongling’s thoughts.

Yibao and Sanbao went to the old compound with Yu Chengci, Zhang Mingcheng, and Zhou Guowei.

The old compound wasn’t far from the new one; it took only about fifteen minutes on foot.

For ordinary people, without someone from inside coming out, the guards at the entrance wouldn’t let them in, but Yu Chengci was a familiar face, so the guards knew him and naturally allowed them to enter.

Once inside the old compound, Yibao and Sanbao looked around curiously.

They found that it wasn’t much different from the new compound; there were also small Western-style houses, though these seemed larger than those in the new compound.

After a quick look around, Yibao and Sanbao lost interest.

Yu Chengci led them straight to the Zhang family’s house.

At the gate of the Zhang family courtyard, he shouted, “Zhang Jingwu, I’m here!”

Upon hearing Yu Chengci’s voice, Zhang Jingwu was so angry he almost wanted to curse out loud.

He had just returned from the new compound, barely had a bite of his hot meal, and Yu Chengci showed up.

Zhang Jingwu had waited for him all morning—how could he not be furious?

Zhang Jingwu stormed out of the hall and rushed to the gate. “Yu Chengci, you’ve gone too far. I waited for you all morning. We agreed I would bring the food today, so why did you make other plans?”

Yu Chengci, however, refused to admit fault. “Yes, we agreed, but we didn’t say whether it would be in the morning or afternoon. Besides, even if I wasn’t there, Zhang Mingcheng was—you could have given it to him. It’s your own fault for being silly and insisting on waiting for me.”

“You… you…” Zhang Jingwu was furious.

This was the first time in his life someone had called him silly. “Fine, let’s see if you dare to make plans with me again!”

Yu Chengci was about to respond when Yibao held him back, saying, “I’m not free next time—I need to study.”

“Huh?” Yu Chengci was stunned. “School hasn’t even started. Why do you need to study?”

Yibao replied, “I need to study anyway; we can go fishing next year.” As the older brother, he couldn’t fall behind Erbao.

If Erbao were to participate in the global middle school student games next year, then he would be in junior high school.

Yibao himself also planned to skip a grade to enter junior high next year.

Although he was already studying junior high school material, and skipping grades would mean only taking elementary school-level exams, Yibao wanted to start junior high right after the New Year.

Therefore, his grade-skipping exams would test first-semester junior high knowledge, and he needed to review and consolidate that material.

Yu Chengci, Zhang Mingcheng, and Zhou Guowei were all dumbfounded.

Scheduling a fishing competition for next year?

If they didn’t know each other, people would probably say, “Are you out of your mind?”

However, while Yu Chengci and the others remained silent, Zhang Jingwu wasn’t going to be polite: “Are you sick or something? Now is now, and next year is next year. You can schedule next year’s competition next year, but today’s competition should be scheduled for now.”

Yi Bao didn’t get angry at Zhang Jingwu’s rudeness.

He responded calmly, “Well, I’m not scheduling anything right now.”

Zhang Jingwu said, “Fine, if you don’t want to schedule, that’s your choice. What about you, Yu Chengci?” Although Yu Chengci had caught the most fish in yesterday’s competition, Zhang Jingwu still saw him as the real opponent.

He didn’t care much about the newcomer.

Yu Chengci thought for a moment and replied, “I won’t schedule anything for now either.”

They had competed twice—he’d won one and lost one.

If Lin Haizhi and his brother weren’t coming to the next match, he wasn’t confident he could win, so Yu Chengci declined.

In future fishing competitions, Yu Chengci decided that he must invite the Lin brothers, as they were skilled at catching fish.

“Pfft…” Zhang Jingwu hadn’t anticipated Yu Chengci’s hesitation.

“Alright, now hand over the food we won. I’m hungry,” Yu Chengci urged.

Today, he had come to Zhang Jingwu to claim the food, finally regaining some pride after the previous embarrassing defeat.

“Do you really think I’d cheat you?” Zhang Jingwu retorted with some annoyance.

He quickly ran inside to grab the items.

A moment later, he emerged with a pile of food and handed it all to Yu Chengci. “Here, take it, you coward.”

After throwing out that last jab, he dashed back inside.

“You’re the coward,” Yu Chengci shot back, feeling rather clever.

Knowing he couldn’t win against the others, and without the Lin brothers’ help, he wisely chose not to take any risks.

He considered it a smart move.

“Let’s go. Don’t mind him,” Zhang Mingcheng said.

He was thinking about how Lin Haizhi was going home to study, and he needed to study too.

Even though he was in fifth grade, one year ahead of Lin Haizhi, seeing how serious younger kids were about their studies made him feel he couldn’t slack off.

Unbeknownst to Yi Bao, he had unintentionally inspired Zhang Mingcheng’s motivation to study harder.

The group took the food Zhang Jingwu had given them but didn’t divide it up immediately.

They returned to the new courtyard, where they split the food into nine portions, making sure everyone who participated in yesterday’s event got their share.

After the division, Yi Bao and San Bao went home.

When they arrived, they saw Er Bao fast asleep, with their mother nowhere in sight.

Er Bao’s neatly folded clothes were placed on the table, which caused Yi Bao and San Bao to feel a little lost.

Er Bao was leaving for the sports school tomorrow.

Everything had happened so quickly that it felt natural, yet somehow surreal to them.

“Big brother, Er Bao will be a middle schooler soon,” San Bao suddenly said.

They had always waited for their second brother, but starting tomorrow, it seemed like he would be ahead of them.

This shift felt strange to San Bao.

“Yeah,” Yi Bao responded. “I’m thinking of taking the middle school advancement exam when school starts next year.”

San Bao’s eyes lit up. “That way, when school starts, we’ll both be middle schoolers too.” He spoke as if it was a given that they would pass the exam.

“Right, so let’s take out the seventh-grade books and start reviewing. Although Dad has already taught us, we don’t know what the advancement exam here will require. We should aim for a high score,” Yi Bao reasoned.

“Good idea,” San Bao agreed. “Let’s start studying.”

So, the two brothers took out their middle school textbooks and quietly began to study.

For a while, the only sound in the room was the flipping of pages.

Ning Shu returned from the department store, carrying large bags that were hard to miss.

She had bought a lot of things today, most of them for Er Bao.

She had bought Er Bao two pairs of Warrior brand sneakers.

Although each of the three brothers had two pairs of Warrior sneakers to switch between, they were old, and Ning Shu would only buy new ones when the old ones were worn out.

In addition to the sneakers, she had also bought cloth shoes and winter shoes.

But since Er Bao was going to the sports school, and he was fast and had good stamina, he would be running a lot from now on, which meant his shoes would wear out quickly.

So, she bought him two new pairs.

Additionally, she bought two sets of sportswear for Erbao.

One set had a white base with some red accents, and the other had a blue base with some yellow accents.

Sportswear from that era tended to be bright in color.

Although Erbao wasn’t fair-skinned, he wasn’t dark either.

He was tall, and these outfits looked good on him.

Ning Shu didn’t buy sneakers for Yibao and Sanbao, but she did buy them each a set of sportswear.

Today’s shopping mainly focused on Erbao, but she believed Yibao and Sanbao wouldn’t mind.

When she got home, the house was quiet.

She had no idea how Erbao had tidied up, and she went upstairs with the shopping bags.

As she reached the doorway of the three brothers’ room, she saw Yibao and Sanbao reading books while Erbao was sleeping.

Ning Shu thought to herself, “The poor student is sleeping while the top students are studying. No wonder the top students keep getting better, and the poor student keeps falling behind.”

Yibao and Sanbao’s self-discipline was unmatched, even by Ning Shu herself.

If it was about genetics, Erbao had inherited her laziness; she would slack off whenever possible.

On the other hand, Yibao and Sanbao’s diligence must have come from Lin Guodong, their father, who was also a top student.

“Mom…” Yibao noticed Ning Shu, stretched, and saw her carrying many things.

Curious, he walked over and asked, “Mom, what did you buy? So much stuff.”

Sanbao also came over, intrigued.

Ning Shu showed them the items. “I bought two pairs of sneakers and two sets of sportswear for Erbao. I also got you each a set of sportswear. Erbao trains at the sports academy, and he exercises a lot, so he sweats a lot. He needs extra sets of clothes and shoes.”

Yibao said, “Erbao and I are about the same size. You can give my set to Erbao. I still have enough to wear.” He completely understood his mom’s intention.

When it came to clothes, the three brothers got new ones every year.

Back in the family housing complex, they were the happiest kids.

Their clothes never had patches, and if any got torn, Mom would sew on cute little animals to cover the holes, making them look even better in the eyes of others.

Sanbao didn’t say anything because his size was different from Erbao’s, so he could only wear Erbao’s hand-me-downs.

“No need to give yours to Erbao. If it’s not enough, I’ll just buy more next time. Besides, look—these three sets are the same. If Yibao and Sanbao each have one, and you don’t, how would you look like brothers?” Ning Shu playfully ruffled Yibao’s hair, turning his neatly combed hair into a messy bird’s nest.

Yibao quickly dodged.

He was no longer the little boy who would lean in when his mom ruffled his hair.

He was all grown up now. “Mom, I’m not a little kid anymore.”

Ning Shu playfully retorted, “You may not be a little kid, but you’re still my child. Listen closely… child… so you’re still a kid.”

Yibao was speechless. “…”

When it came to playing with words, he couldn’t beat his mom!