Going to School?

Jiangbin City, Garden Community, home.

The first thing Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue did after returning home was divide the spoils. Han Jiangxue took a large handful of Star Pearls out of the Space Coffin, carefully setting some aside for Xia Yan before selecting through them and handing two White Ghost Witch Star Beads to Jiang Xiao.

Looking at the "400,000" yuan in his hands, Jiang Xiao was filled with endless emotion.

Damn it, I have to grow stronger quickly. If I kill more rare, high-quality Star Pearls in the Other Dimension Space and bring them back to sell, just a few will be enough to feed me for the rest of my life.

No wonder so many people wanted to become Awakened. This money really was too easy to earn.

Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue had a natural advantage: entering some of the Other Dimension Spaces in the North River Land was free for them.

The Snowfield's admission fee alone was 50,000 yuan.

Without any fig leaf to cover it up, the officially developed and controlled Snowfield was a playground for the rich. It had nothing to do with ordinary civilians or ordinary families.

Under Han Jiangxue's expectant gaze, Jiang Xiao absorbed the White Ghost Witch Star Beads completely.

However, in his Inner Star Map, Blessing and Decoy had only just reached Bronze Quality Lv.7. He was still three Star Pearls short of upgrading their quality.

Han Jiangxue was somewhat disappointed. On one hand, Silver Quality Blessing was even rarer and more precious, and thus more convincing. It could not only increase Jiang Xiao's combat power, but also allow the school to see his potential.

On the other hand, Han Jiangxue was genuinely afraid that Jiang Xiao's Star Skills would suddenly level up.

As Awakened, their classes differed from those of ordinary children. They had a large number of practical lessons.

If Jiang Xiao's well-known Bronze Star Skill suddenly became a Silver Star Skill during one of those practical lessons, how would they explain it?

Jiang Xiao was also somewhat hesitant. He still had four Skill Points, enough to upgrade Blessing and Decoy to Silver Quality.

But he wanted to save the Skill Points to upgrade Star Power. He had learned that each level of Star Power had several bottlenecks, and Jiang Xiao had already reached the Star Dust Stage Lv.4.

In the future, using Skill Points to level up at Levels 5, 8, and 9 would yield twice the results with half the effort.

Jiang Xiao really could not bear to use them, and fell into deep thought.

While the siblings were dividing the spoils at home, Xia Yan, who had only just parted from them, came over and pounded on the door.

Han Jiangxue opened the door with great displeasure. Xia Yan planted a kiss on Han Jiangxue's cheek, then charged angrily at Jiang Xiao.

Jiang Xiao was startled and hurriedly jumped aside, but he had not expected Xia Yan to remain relentless.

Under Han Jiangxue's gaze, Xia Yan quickly subdued Jiang Xiao. After a few exchanges, she used a simple yet practical grappling move to wrench his arm behind his back, then kicked him into his bedroom.

"Xia Yan?" Han Jiangxue could not help speaking up.

"Wait a moment." Xia Yan entered Jiang Xiao's room and slammed the door shut with a vicious expression.

Jiang Xiao rubbed his butt and looked at Xia Yan in confusion.

Xia Yan's voice was extremely soft, as if each word had been squeezed through her clenched teeth. "I only found out today who 'The one I love is separated by mountains and seas, and neither the mountains nor seas can be leveled' was meant for."

Jiang Xiao froze for a moment before remembering everything he had done before entering the Snowfield.

Case closed? The pacing is wrong, isn't it? You should be feeling ashamed! Where did you get the nerve to be angry? Jiang Xiao said, "If you keep laying hands on me, I'll tell Han Jiangxue about all your little tricks and let her know how you put on that act."

"You little bastard." Xia Yan looked furious as she paced back and forth around Jiang Xiao's tiny room, her voice extremely soft, every word squeezed through her teeth. "My dad actually thinks there's something wrong with me mentally."

"Huh?" Jiang Xiao blinked.

"He thinks I really like you, so I put on a one-woman show to satisfy my own fantasies, constantly posting confessions on your Weibo." Xia Yan looked frantic. "He even told me that if I really wanted to, he could let me date you and have you marry into our family. He said that although you're a little mischievous, he'd help me discipline you properly."

Jiang Xiao's expression became extremely colorful. This father was far too qualified for the role.

Thanks for the assist, Father-in-law! Jiang Xiao sat on the floor with his back against the bed, tilting his head to look at Xia Yan, who was on the verge of collapse. "Miss, want to date?"

Xia Yan froze. Her beautiful eyes suddenly widened as she stared at Jiang Xiao in disbelief. The next moment, she kicked him.

"Hey, hey, don't kick me! I'm a big shot now. If you kick me into bad shape, whose leg will you cling to in the future?" Jiang Xiao changed from his lazy, sprawled-out position into a crouched defensive posture, shielding his head as he begged for mercy.

"Such a brat!"

"I'll teach you to be a brat!"

Han Jiangxue stood outside the door for over ten minutes. She heard the banging and crashing inside, along with Xia Yan's repeated cries of "brat," which had a particularly rhythmic cadence. As the sounds gradually stopped, Han Jiangxue perked up.

Click.

Jiang Xiao's bedroom door opened. Xia Yan walked out, adjusted her breathing, and forced a smile at Han Jiangxue.

Han Jiangxue asked, "What happened?"

Xia Yan's chest heaved violently. She smoothed her disheveled chestnut short hair, her face flushed and incredibly alluring. "I asked around at home. They didn't receive the White Ghost Witch Star Beads. Sorry."

"That's good. It saves me from struggling over whether I should accept Star Pearls of such value," Han Jiangxue said.

"You've got it wrong. I was doing it for myself too." Xia Yan shook her head helplessly. "Let's think of another way."

"Mm." Han Jiangxue nodded.

"I-I'll be going first. I still have something to do." With that, Xia Yan quickly left the siblings' home.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Han Jiangxue pushed open Jiang Xiao's bedroom door.

She saw Jiang Xiao lying on the floor on his back, looking utterly bereft of the will to live, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

Han Jiangxue said softly, "Little Brat, what happened?"

"Uh." Jiang Xiao sensed her deep concern. He became more serious as well. After thinking it over and mulling his words, he decided it would be better not to let Han Jiangxue know about Xia Yan's prank, to avoid creating unnecessary conflict between them.

Jiang Xiao said, "Nothing happened. Xia Yan and I were joking around. Girls are sensitive about their pride, so she got revenge on me. Look, I'm not hurt. It was just horseplay."

"Mm." Han Jiangxue nodded. She also felt that nothing serious had happened. "Change your clothes. We're going out to get your hair cut."

Jiang Xiao was deeply resentful about this.

Taking me to school is one thing, but you're even coming with me to get a haircut?

What am I? Do you really not trust me that much?

Can't I even get through ten minutes at a barbershop without causing trouble? The old barber was extremely warm and talkative, which actually improved Jiang Xiao's mood considerably.

Jiang Xiao chatted with the old man for quite a while about his experiences repairing cars back in the day. Thanks to the old man's many years of skill as a mechanic, Jiang Xiao ended up with a clean, refreshing crew cut.

With Jiang Xiao's hairstyle, there was no need for any design, and he had no requirements for the barber either. The barber simply picked up the clippers, and Jiang Xiao gave one instruction: "Shave it all off."

Jiang Xiao: "..."

"Ah." Jiang Xiao looked in the mirror and touched the widow's peak that had already disappeared.

The old man's skill with a razor was indeed excellent. The crew cut looked pretty decent.

"You look much more spirited." Han Jiangxue put down the magazine in her hands and looked at Jiang Xiao in the mirror. "Let's go."

As she spoke, Han Jiangxue tossed down ten yuan.

Then let's go.

Off to school?

At the thought of going to school, Jiang Xiao's head began to ache.

Do I have to get up at six and stay until nine every day again? I've really had enough.