But whatever gratitude he had felt vanished completely once Kōshū became a demon of Promoting Learning. In September, to catch up on the coursework he had fallen behind on, he and Lang Zhi packed every day full with a schedule.
"You don't even need to take exams!! Why do you still have to study??" Lang Zhi didn't understand.
"Whether someone's an idiot is like bad breath—you can tell the moment they open their mouth. So, do you want to be a baseball idiot?"
"Ahhh, you really are a demon!!"
With an older brother like Kōshū keeping watch over him, the adults at home gradually came to rely on him as well. Especially after Grandma Sasaki developed a herniated disc from carrying the babies and needed surgery, Shen Qing and her husband, caught between two elderly people and two small children, between the household and the clinic, became even more overwhelmed.
Without Grandma Sasaki to look after him, Grandpa Sasaki had to take responsibility for himself, such as cooking his own meals. In mid-October, the youngest boy got a little sick again. Ms. Huizi took him to the hospital, and in the rush, no food had been made at home. When he picked up the two older children and saw Kōshū naturally rolling up his sleeves and cooking, he felt deeply ashamed.
He had hardly cooked a few times in his entire life, but now he had no choice but to learn. His wife was in the hospital; he couldn't take care of her and was clumsily chased out by his daughter, nor could he take care of the children. Instead, the family had to take care of him.
Grandpa Sasaki had always held the highest position in the family. Now that everyone was too busy to indulge him, everything came