An'an, An'an!

"What? Cheating on tests? Skipping class? And refusing to obey?"

At the private school called Mingde Hall, Jiang Wang was both shocked and furious.

Yesterday, when An'an had told him her teacher wanted to meet her guardian, he had already felt uneasy. It was all too easy to connect that to Fang Zehou's threat.

If the Fang Family pulled a few strings and got An'an expelled from her school, for instance, he really wouldn't have had any good way to deal with it.

He'd even prepared himself to hire An'an a private tutor out of his own pocket.

But no matter how much he racked his brains, he hadn't expected that An'an's teacher had asked to see him simply because An'an had been misbehaving.

Jiang Wang felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity.

Teachers lectured, rapped students' palms, made them stand in punishment, and assigned them lines to copy. That was all perfectly normal. No one had ever heard of a teacher being unable to handle a student. Hadn't even Jiang Wang, a disciple of the Dao Academy's inner court, been made to copy the Dao Canon under Iron-Faced Xiao's watch?

Just how awful and disobedient did a student have to be for their teacher to insist on speaking with their guardian?

"Take a look." The old teacher at Mingde Hall tossed him a stack of notebooks. "I punished her by making her copy the Thousand Character Classic. Look at what she turned in!"

Jiang Wang took them with both hands and looked through them. He was just about to say they seemed fine—the contents were indeed the Thousand Character Classic—when he quickly realized the problem. The words were right, but the handwriting came from seven or eight different people.

In other words, Jiang An'an had even cheated on the copying assignment her teacher had given her.

Jiang Wang wanted to cover his eyes. He couldn't bear to look. When Iron-Faced Xiao had made him copy the Dao Canon a hundred times, he hadn't even thought to ask someone else to do it for him. He'd obediently copied it out himself, one character at a time. How many nights had he stayed up over that?

How had Jiang An'an come up with such a lively approach?

"She cheated on tests, too?" Jiang Wang asked, his voice trembling.

"During a quiz, she was caught doing someone else's work for them." At that, the old teacher's voice rose. "She can't even pass her own tests! What makes her think she can do that?"

Jiang An'an stood nearby with her little head bowed, looking ready to take whatever scolding or beating came her way. But her big eyes kept sneaking glances at Jiang Wang's expression. Whenever he looked her way, she immediately turned her gaze aside.

There was another little girl in the room. She was sprawled carelessly in an armchair, playing with her fingers. She was probably the classmate who'd asked Jiang An'an to help her cheat... And what an arrogant attitude!

She was quite lovely, with skin like fine porcelain and delicate features. Though she hadn't grown into her looks yet, it was already clear she was a beauty in the making. Only her little nose was tipped up so high that she looked far too proud. Everything she wore and carried was expensive; she looked every bit the little devil who ran wild and did as she pleased.

Well... what else could you expect from a girl who'd asked Jiang An'an, who couldn't even pass her own tests, to cheat for her? It wasn't as if she was a diligent, well-behaved student.

Jiang Wang told himself to stay calm. His little sister was shy, quiet, sweet, and adorable. There had to be some misunderstanding... What misunderstanding? The evidence was as solid as a mountain!

Jiang Wang grabbed Jiang An'an and turned to leave. "You're coming home with me!"

As the saying went, an elder brother was a father in a father's absence, and when a child went astray, the father was to blame. He decided it was time to show some parental authority. How had the timid little girl he'd known turned into this in just a few months? He'd have to give her a good beating—at least ten whacks on the palm. Getting punished at school was too embarrassing, so he'd take her home and do it there.

Hmm... Maybe three whacks. Three was still a lot. It'd hurt for ages.

Just then, the little devil hopped up and waved. "Bye, An'an!" she chirped.

Jiang An'an was being led out by one hand. She'd realized something was wrong ages ago and had kept her eyes lowered, acting meek. At her friend's farewell, she timidly raised her other hand to wave back...

Jiang Wang gave her hand a firm tug, cutting short the end of that friendship.

They'd barely gone a few steps from Mingde Hall, heading south along Black Tortoise Street, when they passed Cai's Mutton Shop.

When Jiang An'an caught the scent of mutton, she gave a deliberate little cough. Usually, all it took was a look—or even a sniff—and Jiang Wang would stop and take her inside.

But today, he kept hold of her and walked right past without looking.

Jiang An'an understood then that her brother was truly angry.

They turned left and went onto Greenwood Avenue. Follow it east to the end, and you'd reach Flying Horse Lane. Their home was there.

"Big brother..." Jiang An'an called.

But Jiang Wang didn't answer.

"Big brother..." Jiang An'an gently tugged his hand.

Jiang Wang gave a cold snort through his nose to show how unmoved he was.

They reached their front door just then, and Jiang An'an pleaded, "Big brother, let me open it. I brought the key!"

Jiang Wang unlocked it himself, pushed open the courtyard gate, and let go of the hand he'd been holding. He made his voice deliberately cold. "Get inside."

He couldn't let Jiang An'an think she could get away with this so easily. Children around four or five were at the age when their personalities gradually took shape. She had to be taught a lesson.

Jiang An'an's little hand brushed against his. When she saw that he really wasn't going to hold it again, it drooped limply.

But then she seemed to remember something and perked up, darting ahead.

Jiang Wang followed her into the bedroom and saw her head straight for her little bed.

He was just about to stop her.

Whenever Jiang An'an didn't want to do something, she'd flop onto the bed and cry, "Oh, I'm so sleepy. I'm asleep!" Then she'd get away with it in no time.

But Jiang An'an suddenly ducked, and her little body slipped right under the bed.

Did she think he couldn't reach her under there? Jiang Wang nearly laughed in exasperation. He grabbed the broom by the door and blocked the front of her little bed.

But An'an soon crawled back out. She was holding a little wooden box, and after crawling around under the bed, her face was now smudged with dust.

She held the old little box high in both hands and said excitedly, "This is for you!"

Jiang Wang leaned the broom against the cabinet, then took the box with suspicion. "What's this?"

He opened the little wooden box and saw a pile of silver, Red Gold, pearls, and other treasures. Their radiance dazzled his eyes.

Jiang Wang's heart clenched tight. Holding the box in one hand, he spoke with unprecedented sternness. "Where did you get this?"

An'an had never seen her brother wear an expression like that. She panicked at once, her lips trembling as she mumbled, "I... I earned it!"

"Earned it?" Jiang Wang's hand began to tremble. "Where did you get it? How did you earn it?"

He flung the box to the ground. It hit with a loud crash. "Tell me!"

Gold light, silver light, and pearly light scattered across the floor.

Jiang An'an was terrified and burst into tears. "I helped a classmate with her tests..."

"How could helping a classmate with tests earn you this much money?"

Jiang An'an sniffled. "Qingzhi... Qingzhi has a lot of money. I help her with her tests, and she pays me."

Jiang Wang felt the heart he'd held in his throat slowly settle back down.

He began to regret how frightening he'd been just now.

He crouched down and held Jiang An'an by her little shoulders. She was like an exquisitely delicate porcelain doll, as though the slightest lapse in care would make her shatter.

"When did our family ever need you to earn money?" Jiang Wang looked at her and reached out to wipe away her tears. "Your big brother has money. Lots of money. Do you understand?"

Jiang An'an sobbed, "But you borrowed money from that pretty boy to buy the house. Borrowed money has to be paid back..."

Jiang Wang suddenly remembered that he'd taken An'an with him when he'd gone to ask Zhao Rucheng for the silver and the courtyard.

Poor little An'an. Her little box, the heart she'd carefully held out to him—how sad must she have been when he threw it to the ground?

Jiang Wang looked at her. Tears streamed down her dusty little face, washing it clean and revealing a snowy-white complexion beneath.

Jiang Wang's nose stung.

His heart suddenly turned impossibly tender, and shattered into a thousand pieces.