Zhang Jingwu originally didn’t plan to bring any snacks because his family couldn’t afford sugarcane and grapes.

He thought about just bringing money to the competition.

But then he realized that if others brought things like sugarcane and grapes and he didn’t, it would look like he couldn’t match up.

So, even though he didn’t have sugarcane and grapes, he decided to bring something just as good.

“I brought chocolate and milk…” he said, looking at the others.

“I brought apples.”

“I brought White Rabbit candies.”

“I brought cookies.”

Following Zhang Jingwu’s lead, they all brought the best snacks they could find at home.

Although these snacks weren’t as fancy as grapes, together, they were still quite impressive.

Erbao looked at these snacks with a puzzled expression.

He thought they would have something special, but these were all things they already had at home.

Erbao didn’t like chocolate much.

He wasn’t too excited about milk either since his mom bought milk powder every year to keep them healthy.

And White Rabbit candies and cookies? Not very special to him.

Erbao thought Zhang Jingwu should have just given them money—they could’ve used it to buy roast duck and shared it with everyone.

Seeing Erbao staring at the snacks, Zhang Jingwu proudly asked, “What do you think?”

“Not much,” Erbao replied. “These snacks aren’t as good as grapes.”

Zhang Jingwu was speechless.

He secretly agreed, but chocolate was supposed to be a rare treat, and milk was considered valuable!

The others didn’t know what to say either.

Some of them swallowed hard, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Yu Chengci and the others thought, “Good thing it’s Erbao who’s saying this. If it were us, we’d probably just say they’re good even if we didn’t think so.” Suddenly, Erbao seemed very impressive to them, like someone with high standards.

“Why aren’t they good?” someone on Zhang Jingwu’s side asked, feeling upset. “This is chocolate! You can hardly find it at the department store—you have to go to the Friendship Store to get it. And milk is really good for you. Do you know how valuable these things are? Most people don’t have them.”

Erbao pouted. “Chocolate is too bitter and doesn’t taste good. I used to drink milk every morning when I was little, so I don’t really care about it anymore.”

“You…” The person wanted to say that it was impossible for him to drink milk every day, but seeing that Erbao was well-dressed and not knowing much about his background, they decided not to argue.

Zhang Jingwen, who had been quietly observing, was intrigued.

He had been reading and got a bit bored, so when his younger brother mentioned this, he decided to come out and watch, not expecting to find someone who could put his brother in his place.

His younger brother had always been a bit of a troublemaker, spoiled because the family didn’t set strict rules for him.

But now, this new kid seemed to have outdone the “little tyrant” of their community, and that piqued his curiosity.

He remembered his brother mentioning that three new people had joined the Yu family, three new faces.

Usually, he didn’t pay attention to elementary school matters, but now, it seemed that this kid in front of him must be one of those new faces.

“So, what kind of food do you think is good?” Zhang Jingwu asked, unwilling to accept that the snacks he brought weren’t good enough.

“Umm…” Erbao looked at Yibao, unsure of what to say.

Yibao thought that what Zhang Jingwu had brought was actually fine, but since Erbao had already spoken, he felt he should back up his younger brother.

However, since this was a team competition, Yibao didn’t want to make decisions on his own.

He looked at the other kids and asked, “What kind of food do you all want?”

The others didn’t know what to ask for, but one thing was clear: the three new kids were not easy to deal with.

Zhang Jingwu couldn’t seem to handle them.

Of course, the kids didn’t have a precise grasp of such adjectives; they just knew Zhang Jingwu was no match for them.

Zhang Jingwen raised an eyebrow.

He noticed that his younger brother was following the other side’s lead, but he had no intention of intervening and continued to watch quietly.

Yibao thought for a moment and asked, “So, do you have anything you want to eat?”

Erbao answered first, “Roast duck.”

Sanbao said, “I’m okay with anything.”

Yu Chengci’s eyes lit up. “I want to eat popsicles.”

Zhang Mingcheng laughed. “I want some tangerines.”

The others chimed in, with some saying popsicles and others saying tangerines.

Yibao turned to Zhang Jingwu and said, “When we brought sugarcane and grapes for the competition, it was because you said you wanted them. So, what you bring should be something we want. How about popsicles and tangerines?”

Yibao was clever, using this reasoning to make it hard for Zhang Jingwu to refuse, especially since the sugarcane and grapes were indeed things he had wanted to eat.

However, the problem was: “Are you guys crazy? It’s winter! Where are you going to get popsicles?”

“What do you mean, where?” Yu Chengci, seizing the rare opportunity to be on top, said smugly, “We had some yesterday. Lin Haizhi’s house has lots of popsicles—watermelon flavor, tangerine flavor, you name it.”

“Who’s Lin Haizhi? Tell me, and I’ll go find him.” Zhang Jingwu, wanting to save face, planned to buy them when he heard they were available.

Yibao smirked. “Lin Haizhi is….”

Erbao interrupted, “Lin Haizhi is my brother! Our house has popsicles and tangerines, hahaha…”

Hearing them speak in unison and seeing that the two looked alike, Zhang Jingwu was visibly frustrated. “I don’t believe you. If you mentioned someone else, I might believe you, but saying it’s from your own home? No way.”

Erbao asked, “So how can we prove it to make you believe?”

Zhang Jingwu replied, “Show me the popsicles.”

Erbao grinned, showing his pearly white teeth—teeth so white that they could be in a commercial. “Why should we prove anything? You asked us what we wanted to eat, and we told you. What’s in it for us if we prove it?”

“You definitely have to prove it,” Zhang Jingwu retorted. “If you say you want something from the moon or the sun, where am I supposed to get that? So, whatever you want has to be something real that I can actually prepare. And didn’t you all already have the sugarcane and grapes that I wanted?”

Erbao blinked, surprised by the logic.

He turned his head. “Brother, should I go home and get the popsicles and tangerines?”

Yibao didn’t answer immediately.

Zhang Jingwu seized the moment. “Go ahead, bring them. Only if you bring them will I believe you. Otherwise, I won’t.” He smiled at his group, clearly expecting the other side to fail.

Erbao put down the food in his hands and happily ran back home.

With Erbao gone, everyone else had no choice but to wait.

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the old courtyard, a young boy made his way inside after answering questions from the gatekeeper.

He was the one Yu Chengci had sent to find Ling Jiawen.

This wasn’t the boy’s first time in the area; he had come here before with Yu Chengci, so he knew his way around well.

He quickly reached the front of the Ling family’s large house.

The old courtyard’s small villa was much larger than the ones in their area.

It was built after the founding of the country when land wasn’t as scarce in the capital, and the population wasn’t as large.

As the population grew and more people moved to the capital, newly expanded courtyards and villas were no longer as spacious.

“Brother Jiawen… Brother Chengyuan, are you there? Brother Jiawen… Brother Chengyuan, are you there?”

---

A young boy called out loudly, and the nanny at the Ling household heard him first.

She came out and saw a boy around twelve or thirteen years old and asked, “Who are you looking for, child?”

The boy quickly replied, “I’m looking for Brother Jiawen and Brother Chengyuan. I’m from the new compound, and Chengci told me to come here.”

The nanny knew who Yu Chengci was, so she responded, “Wait here. I’ll go call them.”

Ling Jiawen wasn’t doing well in school.

Despite his parents being intellectuals, he didn’t inherit their intelligence.

His parents had tried to tutor him themselves, and they even hired private tutors, but his grades remained poor.

The family eventually accepted that he simply wasn’t cut out for academics.

In a prestigious family like the Lings, lacking academic talent was seen as a disgrace, but there was little they could do.

Fortunately, the Ling family had many children, and they could focus on those with academic talent.

Since Ling Jiawen wasn’t good at studying, they decided to guide him down a different path.

However, students still had to do homework during holidays. Yu Chengyuan, who had been Ling Jiawen’s friend since kindergarten, often found his homework being copied by Ling Jiawen.

“Who is it? Chengci sent someone to find us? Not Chengyuan?” Ling Jiawen was curious.

Usually, elementary school kids handled their own matters, even fights, so why were they being involved this time?

“Probably about the fishing competition this afternoon,” Yu Chengyuan guessed, knowing that his younger brother had a competition with the Zhang family.

Since it was almost time, he figured the message was related to that.

“Afternoon competition?” Ling Jiawen was intrigued.

Yu Chengyuan explained the situation, including the fact that a new family had moved in next door.

“Oh, I know the Lin family you’re talking about. They’re friends with my second uncle,” Ling Jiawen said.

He had heard about them from adults during meals.

As they were talking, they reached the gate.

“Brother Jiawen, Brother Chengyuan, Chengci sent me to get you. We’re having a fishing competition, and Zhang Jingwen is also there,” the young boy said quickly, worried that if he was too late, his friends might get bullied.

Zhang Jingwen is also there?