"And what makes you our elder?"

Ling Zhiwei immediately rushed forward and shielded Shanshan behind him.

"Why should my sister bother with a stranger like you?"

"Sister?"

Cao Daqiang froze.

His gaze swept back and forth between Ling Zhiwei and Shanshan until something finally clicked.

"...So you’re just relatives. What kind of child doesn’t even know how to speak politely to their elders?"

"You?"

"You have the nerve to talk about good upbringing?"

Ling Zhiwei sneered.

At home, he was usually lazy, always lounging on the sofa watching TV.

But when he got serious, his tongue was sharp enough to choke a man to death.

After just a few exchanges, Cao Daqiang was in a panic.

He had wanted to be firm, but Ling Zhiwei’s questions left him speechless.

With a slip of the tongue, he almost blurted out the whole secret about his relationship with that mother-daughter pair.

Seeing his face flush red then turn pale, Shanshan’s lips curled into a slight smile.

’She had stopped taking him seriously long ago.’

’To her, the Cao Daqiang of today was just a stranger who had abandoned his family.’

"Zhiwei, let’s go. There’s a shop over there. I know what I want to get Dad."

She spoke softly.

With that, she took Ling Zhiwei by the wrist and walked away without a backward glance.

Cao Daqiang was left standing there, stunned.

For the rest of the trip, Shanshan acted as if nothing had happened.

She hummed a tune as they walked, stopping occasionally to take photos, and she was careful to ask for Ling Zhiwei’s opinion while picking out souvenirs.

Several times, Ling Zhiwei looked like he wanted to say something, casting a few tentative glances her way.

But when he saw how naturally she was smiling, he was afraid of touching a raw nerve and held his tongue.

Once she had picked out the gift, wrapped it carefully, and run home in high spirits, she pressed it into Ling Anxun’s hands.

It was a hand-knitted wool scarf.

When Ling Anxun took it, his fingers trembled slightly.

"Shanshan, thank you. This is the first time I’ve ever received such a thoughtful gift."

The rims of Ling Anxun’s eyes grew red.

Shanshan smiled and dove into Ling Anxun’s arms, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.

"I’m happy as long as you like it."

"Look at them, those two are practically glued together."

The family chimed in, teasing them good-naturedly.

The tips of Ling Anxun’s ears burned, but he couldn’t bear to push away the little one in his arms.

’He knew his daughter was growing up, developing her own thoughts and needing her own space.’

’Hugging and cuddling so intimately wasn’t really appropriate anymore.’

He suppressed his smile and, bracing himself, cleared his throat twice.

"Alright, alright. Shanshan, you’re a young lady now. You can’t always be jumping into Dad’s arms, understand?"

"Why not? Weren’t you pretty happy about it?"

Shanshan blinked.

She looked up at her father, the corners of her lips turning up slightly.

The whole family burst into laughter.

Ling Anxun shot his daughter a look.

"I said to be more mindful, so be more mindful. Don’t do this again, you hear?"

He warned with feigned authority, tapping Shanshan’s forehead with his finger.

"Oh, alright. I’ll let you off the hook this time."

Shanshan giggled, took a step back, and made a funny face.

Humming a song, she tilted her body slightly and snuggled back into Ling Anxun’s arms.

Ling Anxun sighed helplessly and ruffled her hair.

’Just this once,’ he thought. ’Really, just this one time. I can’t keep letting her be so willful.’

「The days passed quietly.」

On the day of her sixth-grade graduation, the sun was shining brightly.

As expected, Shanshan once again took first place in the entire grade.

As a matter of course, she was granted automatic admission into the junior high division.

She quickly put a stop to her dad’s idea of throwing a huge banquet to celebrate.

"I just skipped a grade last year, and the family already made a big fuss. Doing it again now is just too much hassle."

She really didn’t want the whole family to be busy running around because of her all the time.

In junior high, she was the youngest, her height hadn’t had a growth spurt yet, so she still looked like a second-grade girl.

But her grades were at the very top.

The teachers gave her special attention.

Whenever there were group activities, no one had the heart to let her do manual labor.

Eventually, they unanimously decided to give her an easy job: hygiene monitor.

Her job was simply to stand to one side and tell everyone else what to do.

Although the junior high and elementary school had different academic buildings, the common areas were still shared.

As a result, Shanshan ran into Cao Jiajia more than once on her way after school.

Cao Jiajia wore the trendiest dresses and was always surrounded by a crowd of people.

At first, Shanshan didn’t pay any mind to this.

’After all, if other people wanted to show off, that was their business.’

But the problem was, these "chance encounters" became an almost daily occurrence.

She saw her every day, and each time, Jiajia was as haughty as ever.

As time went on, the little patience Shanshan had was finally worn away bit by bit.

At noon that day, the two had another fateful encounter at the water fountain next to the boys’ restroom.

Cao Jiajia was on her tiptoes getting water, with two girls next to her.

Shanshan spoke coldly.

"Cao Jiajia, this is junior high. What is a kid from the elementary school division like you always doing running over here?"

"Trying to get a feel for the junior high atmosphere? Why don’t you try skipping a grade? Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be my deskmate."

Cao Jiajia’s grades were perennially at the bottom of her class; how could she possibly skip a grade?

The words were clearly meant to mock her.

Cao Jiajia’s expression stiffened, and she let out a cold snort.

"What good are good grades? Look at what you’re wearing—that shabby old uniform doesn’t even have a brand name! What do you have besides test scores? The Ling family aren’t your real parents. The minute you’re not useful anymore, they’ll kick you to the curb."

After she finished speaking, she even deliberately tugged on the brand-new white jacket she was wearing.

"This one cost over a thousand. It’s a limited edition. You’ve probably never even heard of it, right? Country bumpkin."

Shanshan gave a small laugh.

"Oh?"

"Did Dad buy that for you?"

"Your dad couldn’t even remember your birthday before. Your mom had to remind him every year just so he’d grudgingly get you a cake. And now he’s suddenly this generous? Buying you a jacket that costs thousands?"

She tilted her head slightly.

"I’m guessing he bought it to shut you up, to keep you from running your mouth, right?"

As soon as she spoke, the other girls froze, not daring to make a sound.

The color drained from Cao Jiajia’s face in an instant.

After speaking, Shanshan turned and left.

’In truth, she genuinely couldn’t stand the way Cao Jiajia paraded around all day, which was why she’d spoken up to give her a little warning.’

’She’d thought the other girl might have enough self-awareness to tone it down a little.’

But Jiajia clearly hadn’t taken her words to heart. The very next day, she was decked out in flashy clothes and jewelry again.

Shanshan sighed softly, looked at Cao Jiajia’s retreating back, and shook her head.

’She had said what needed to be said. There was no point in repeating it.’

’Advice was wasted on someone who refused to listen; it would just go in one ear and out the other.’

’Ultimately, people had to walk their own paths. It was out of her hands.’

Shanshan used the excuse of helping her family organize old books to borrow a full set of junior high textbooks for all three years from her teacher.

After returning home, she didn’t delay and went straight to her family to discuss hiring an excellent private tutor.

"What’s wrong, Shanshan? Do you feel the junior high curriculum is too hard and you can’t keep up?"

Ling Zhiwei had just pushed open the door, backpack still in hand.

Before he even steadied himself, he heard his grandmother shouting something in the living room.

He perked up instantly, changing direction and heading straight for the source of the voice.

"Hahaha! Shanshan, I told you! A scrawny little thing like you, how could you handle junior high? That’s the best magnet school in the entire city, not some place a kid fresh out of elementary can just waltz into!"