A Handful of Croton Seeds!

"Do you like Cui Xiaoxin?"

The abrupt voice startled Li Mu Yang, who had been deep in thought.

Li Mu Yang looked at his sister, who was wearing a pink dress and making faces at him, torn between laughter and tears. "Li Sinian, are you ever going to grow up?"

Li Sinian curled her lips unhappily. "What? You think I'm childish now? After seeing Sister Xiao Xin's elegant, composed manner, you've started looking down on me as some country bumpkin? Why didn't you think I was childish before, when Sister Xiao Xin wouldn't even pay attention to you?"

"That's not what I meant—"

"You did, you absolutely did. You men are all fickle. You think I don't know? They say handsome men are flirtatious. Li Mu Yang, who would've thought someone who looks like you could be such a flirt? When you go out trying to pick up girls, do they even see you?"

"—"

Li Mu Yang knew that his careless remark had wounded Li Sinian's fragile pride again.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have transformed into a fanged, clawing viper in the space of a second.

"Oh, Sinian's dress is so pretty. You just bought it, didn't you?" Li Mu Yang began using the Curved Path to Save the Nation tactic again. Whenever he used this move in the past, Li Sinian would surrender, and he would smoothly steer the topic from criticizing Li Mu Yang to praising Li Sinian.

"Li Mu Yang, I've already worn this dress for several days. I even came to your room wearing it last night and sat there for half the evening. Did your eyes even notice me?" Li Sinian leaped onto the bed, grabbed a pillow, and began pounding Li Mu Yang over the head.

"I surrender, I surrender!" Li Mu Yang hurriedly covered his head and admitted defeat. "I remember now. I really did see you wearing this dress last night. I've always thought you looked good in anything, but you looked especially, especially cute in this one—"

Li Sinian hit him even harder, gritting her teeth. "You idiot! What do you mean by calling me cute? Are you saying I'm flat-chested and have no butt? Are you saying I look immature and childish?"

"—" Li Mu Yang didn't dare say another word.

He discovered that when a woman was angry with you, even your breathing could be considered an act of polluting the air.

After burying his head under the quilt and letting her vent for a while, Li Mu Yang finally lifted his head and looked at her with a grin. "Done hitting me?"

"Done. My hands are tired." Li Sinian tossed the pillow aside and leaned against the headboard beside Li Mu Yang. She casually picked up a osmanthus cake and began crunching away at it.

"Eat fewer pastries at night. You'll gain weight," Li Mu Yang said.

Li Sinian's eyes widened. "Li Mu Yang, what do you mean? You dare complain that I'm fat now?"

"—"

Seeing the speechless look on Li Mu Yang's face, Li Sinian finally burst into giggles. She picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into his mouth. "Bro, sometimes I think you're really ugly-cute."

"I think you've always been cute." Li Mu Yang's mouth was stuffed full of cake, making his words indistinct.

"Of course I am." Li Sinian tossed her freshly washed hair with a smug shake of her head. The fragrance of lemon shampoo wafted through the room, making the air taste sour and sweet. Just like Li Sinian's personality. "Bro, you still haven't answered my question."

"What question?" Li Mu Yang played dumb.

"I asked if you like Sister Xiao Xin—" Li Sinian said unhappily, "Li Mu Yang, I'm warning you, don't try to muddle through this. I've watched you grow up. I know you're going to take a dump before you've even stuck your butt out—"

"I'm your brother—" Li Mu Yang reminded her gloomily.

"Wasn't what I said true?" Li Sinian rolled her eyes and shot back.

"—"

Li Sinian hadn't been wrong. She really had watched Li Mu Yang grow up.

Li Mu Yang's body had been frail since he was young, and his physical functions were extremely weak. He couldn't open his eyes until he was three, and he couldn't wobble around on his feet until he was seven. Although Li Sinian was two years younger than Li Mu Yang, by the time she was walking steadily on her own, Li Mu Yang was still curled up on the bed or crawling across the floor like a baby. Whenever he needed to relieve himself, he would make little "ah-ah" sounds, so Li Sinian had been the first person to know that he needed help with his bodily functions.

Thus, when she said she knew he needed to take a dump before he had even stuck his butt out, it was a humiliating fact Li Mu Yang could never live down.

From childhood to adulthood, he had often relied on this sister two years younger than him to care for him.

"Come on, tell me." Li Sinian stuffed another piece of osmanthus cake into Li Mu Yang's mouth. She always liked cramming pastries in by the handful, never mind whether the other person's mouth could take them.

"I think she's a very good girl."

"And then?"

"And then—there's nothing else. She's been helping me study, and I'm very grateful to her."

"Don't you have any other feelings for her?"

"Li Sinian—we're still students. A student's duty is to study hard. Where has your mind wandered? Your thoughts are awfully impure."

Li Sinian looked at her brother Li Mu Yang with disdain. "Li Mu Yang, are you ever going to grow up? Take a look in the mirror. Never mind that you look over ten years older than your actual age—even five- or six-year-old children know how to find girlfriends and boyfriends, yet you're telling me that a student's duty is to study?"

"—"

"Are you going to say it or not?"

"I do have a favorable impression of her." Li Mu Yang's face flushed as he spoke awkwardly. Li Sinian was the person closest to him, as well as his sister, and he had always told her whatever was on his mind. But this time felt different. It was an emotional realm he had never entered before, one he had never even imagined himself entering.

"So you like her?"

"If you say so, then I suppose I do."

"It's not enough for me to say it. You have to tell me whether you do or not. If you won't admit that you like her, how am I supposed to help you win over Sister Xiao Xin and make her your girlfriend?" Li Sinian asked helplessly.

Li Mu Yang's eyes lit up. "Really? You can help me win over Xiao Xin?"

"No." Li Sinian answered crisply.

"—"

"Bro—" Li Sinian picked up another piece of osmanthus cake and tried to feed it to Li Mu Yang, but he shook his head and refused.

"Eat it." She ignored his protest and forcibly stuffed the cake into his mouth.

"Why—why do you insist on making me eat this?" Li Mu Yang chewed the osmanthus cake with great difficulty. "You were the one who told me that eating pastries at night would make me fat."

"Exactly." Li Mu Yang nodded solemnly. "That's what everyone says."

"That's why I'm kindly eating a little with you." Li Sinian looked as though she was doing all this out of profound sibling affection. "Even if it really does make us gain weight, knowing someone else is in the same boat makes the guilt much lighter."

"—"

"Bro, I just want to talk to you about Sister Xiao Xin." Li Sinian propped the pastry tray against the bedside table, rested her head on Li Mu Yang's shoulder, and asked, "What kind of person do you think Sister Xiao Xin is?"

"Didn't I already say? She's a very good person."

"Yes. She really is a very good person. Unfortunately, she's too good." Li Sinian sighed.

"—" Li Mu Yang understood what Li Sinian meant. Cui Xiaoxin was a very good person. The pity was that she was too good.

"Leaving aside her appearance and bearing, just her speech and conduct, as well as the aristocratic etiquette she displays from time to time, are enough for us to roughly guess what kind of person she is—she and we belong to different worlds. I even deliberately asked around while chatting with her. She isn't from Jiangnan; she's from the Imperial Capital. Once this Literary Examination is over, she'll return to Tiandu, to the place where she truly belongs."

"Bro, I know you like Sister Xiao Xin, because I can tell. These have been the happiest days of your life in over a decade, and you've smiled more than ever. Before this, I exhausted myself trying to tutor you, but you were always drowsy. Sister Xiao Xin, however, was able to make your grades shoot up—"

"Sinian, actually, things aren't what you think—"

"Bro, I know." Li Sinian interrupted Li Mu Yang. "I know you don't want to hurt me, and you don't want to say that I'm not as good as Sister Xiao Xin. I really don't mind that. Sister Xiao Xin can help you, and seeing your grades improve so quickly makes me happy. I'm not jealous of her in the slightest—and I also heard what caused you to leave school. The words you said have become a catchphrase among the students—"

"What?" Li Mu Yang looked utterly bewildered. "What did I say?"

"I refuse to accept it." Li Sinian stared fixedly at her brother. She had never expected this fellow, who was bullied all day long, to possess such a resolute and stubborn side. When she heard what had happened and learned how her brother had handled it, Li Sinian had been moved to tears of excitement. Then, during lunch break, she had slipped into the teachers' office and dropped a handful of croton seeds into Teacher Zhao Mingzhu's teacup.