“You actually know what a wingman is?” Tong Yi looked at his little cousin in disbelief.
“Of course I do. I know a lot of things. I’ll give you a useful piece of information for free: Sister’s class has a reunion next Monday evening,” Tong Youyou said confidently.
Tong Yi was surprised, “How do you know that?” He knew about Jiang Xiao Li’s class reunion because she told him last night. How on earth does this little rascal know already?
“I have my ways.” Tong Youyou replied smugly, “Don’t worry, Second Brother. If you hire me as your wingman, you will definitely get your money’s worth.”
Tong Yi got up from the sofa and tapped her forehead, “Alright, but first tell me, did you get this information legally?”
Tong Youyou huffed, “Of course! My brother was the one digging for information about Sister, that’s how I found out.”
Tong Yi was taken aback, “Tong Xu?”
Tong Youyou nodded, “Yes, ever since he returned to China, Brother has been asking about Sister. He clearly likes her, but doesn’t have the guts to pursue!”
“…” Tong Yi cursed inside—how dare that old man Tong Xu covet his Jiang Xiao Li?
Tong Youyou, oblivious to Tong Yi’s changing mood, continued seriously, “But I think my brother is too old and boring. Sister definitely won’t like him.”
Tong Yi gave her a thumbs up, “I think you’re right.”
Tong Youyou looked at Tong Yi disdainfully, “I used to think Sister wouldn’t like you either.”
Tong Yi: “…”
“But now I’ve changed my mind. Yang Guo loves his aunt, so Second Brother can also like his aunt!” Tong Youyou looked at him expectantly.
Tong Yi was curious, “Have you been watching the ‘Return of the Condor Heroes’ recently?”
Tong Youyou shook her head, “No, I read the novel. I found it in my brother’s study. Yang Guo loves his aunt so much that he waited for her for sixteen years.”
Tong Yi: “…”
Kids these days are really precocious!
At that moment, Tong Yi suddenly felt that Tong Xu’s study was a treasure trove—at least the books there were somewhat useful. Ruffling Tong Youyou’s hair, he said seriously, “I can like your sister because she and I are not related by blood. Of course, Yang Guo and his aunt are not blood-related either. People related by blood are not allowed to get married or even dating. Understand?”
Tong Youyou asked in confusion, “Why cannot you get married if you are blood-related?”
Tong Yi didn’t want to explain the ethical issues and resorted to the classic adult line for dodging kids’ questions: “You’ll understand when you grow up.”
Tong Youyou didn’t dwell on the question any longer and extended her hand toward Tong Yi. “What’s my reward?”
“What do you want as a reward?” Tong Yi asked back.
Tong Youyou thought for a moment, then said pitifully, “Second Brother, can you lend me your iPad to play games? My parents don’t let me play, and my brother won’t lend it to me either.”
Tong Yi considered this and nodded, “You can play games, but you have to finish your homework first. Go get your ‘Happy Summer Vacation’ workbook and do two pages.”
“Yay!” Tong Youyou jumped up excitedly. “I knew you were the best, Second Brother! Much better than my brother!”
Tong Yi: “…”
Children find happiness in the simplest things. His uncle had always been shrewd, yet somehow raised such an innocent and naïve child like Youyou. What a mystery.
…
When Jiang Zhou checked Jiang Ruo’s college entrance exam results, he found that her score was only 5 points above the cutoff for a first-tier university. He couldn’t help but frown, “There must have been a mistake in the grading process. Let’s request a re-evaluation; it won’t take much effort.”
With Ruoruo’s abilities, she should have been able to get into a top university with a normal performance. Even if she didn’t do well, she should still have been able to get into a slightly lower-ranked university without any problems.
But with a score only 5 points above the cutoff, even getting into a low-ranked first-tier university would require a very careful selection of schools, or she’d end up at a second-tier university.
When Jiang Ruo first saw her score, she was momentarily stunned, but she quickly recovered and shook her head, “No need to recheck. I was in very poor condition during the exam. This is probably my true level.”
Jiang Zhou immediately comforted her, “You didn’t perform well because of your health. Otherwise… how about repeating a year? We can aim for a better university next year.”
Jiang Ruo shook her head again, “With my current health, I can’t attend school like a normal person. It will just be a waste of time even if I repeat a year.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhou was extremely distressed. He placed his hands on Jiang Ruo’s shoulders, trying his best to comfort her, “If you don’t want to repeat, then we won’t. We’ll just be very careful when selecting your schools, and you’ll still be able to get into a first-tier university.”
Jiang Ruo’s eyes were almost devoid of focus. While her poor performance in the entrance exams made her sad, what hurt her more was that her livestreaming career was likely to suffer because of it.
Jiang Zhou could see that Jiang Ruo was very upset, but besides silently supporting her, he didn’t know what else to do.
Two days later, Jiang Ruo approached Jiang Zhou and asked softly, “Brother, can we start livestream today?”
Jiang Zhou was taken aback and uncertainly asked, “Today… are you going to livestream as usual?”
Jiang Ruo nodded, “Yes, I need to make money. If I can’t earn money from livestreaming, what difference is there between me and a useless person?”
Jiang Zhou didn’t have the heart to argue, so he let her go live, though he was still worried. He always helped behind the scenes during her livestreams, so he knew that the fans wanted to see a positive and uplifting Jiang Ruo. If they found out that she barely passed the first-tier cutoff, would they still support her?
After Jiang Ruo started her livestream, her regular fans showed up on time. The main concern on everyone’s mind was how many points she had scored in this year’s college entrance examination and which university she planned to apply to.
Jiang Ruo took a deep breath, ignoring the comments from her viewers, and began to speak on her own.
“Two days ago, the college entrance exam results were released, and many uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters left messages in my comment section asking about my scores. I didn’t reply because I knew I had let down many people who care about me.”
“I got seriously ill during the exam this year.”
“I know some people will think I’m making excuses, but I also hope it’s just an excuse. If it were, I would still be the healthy Jiang Ruo, not the one suffering from chronic kidney failure, needing regular dialysis at the hospital.”
“I understand it might be hard to believe my statement. Later, I will upload my medical records. If anyone still has doubts, you can check with the hospitals where I was diagnosed.”
“Or… if you visit the hospital, you might even see me there for dialysis.”
“Furthermore, I am truly grateful to the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters who frequently support me in my livestream. In the future… I might not be able to bring joy to you anymore.”
“I’m sorry, everyone. Goodbye.”
When Jiang Ruo ended her broadcast, the viewers in the livestream were still in shock—the news of her chronic kidney failure had come so suddenly.
The moment they returned to their senses, everyone rushed to the comment section of her previous videos to ask about the situation.
Jiang Ruo soon posted a short video showing her medical records and screenshots of her college entrance exam results, then exited the app, ignoring the flood of reactions in the comments.
Jiang Zhou looked at her and asked softly, “Are you saying goodbye to them?”
Jiang Ruo shook her head, “No, I will still livestream in the future. I’m just telling my fans the truth.”
“But…” Jiang Zhou hesitated. Could her fans really understand? What if they thought Ruoruo was using her condition to gain sympathy and started posting hurtful comments?
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