My Little Sister Gives Me Money

As soon as Xiao Bing came through the door, she complained under her breath.

"You didn't wait for me after school today! I looked for you everywhere, and when Dad asked where you'd gone, I had no idea!"

Lu Yuan thought, I didn't even know you existed when school let out today. How could I have waited for you?

But his little sister went to No. 1 High School too? Judging by her age, she was probably a freshman.

"So where did you run off to after school?"

"I just wandered around."

"Are you dating someone?"

"How the hell could I start dating someone in an hour or so?"

"Don't tell me you went looking for Jia Xuanxuan after school?"

"Who's Jia Xuanxuan? Why would I go looking for her?"

Xiao Bing flew into a rage at that. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it over Lu Yuan's face.

"Keep pretending! Go on, pretend with me! I'll kill you!"

Lu Yuan laughed and horsed around with her for a while. His little sister was so much fun!

He had suddenly gained a family member, but he didn't feel awkward in the least. Instead, he felt very close to her.

This was probably what it meant to be bound by blood.

"All right, enough messing around." Xiao Bing pushed Lu Yuan away. "Let's talk business!"

With that, she brought over a chair and sat down across from Lu Yuan with an air of great seriousness.

"Your class got the registration forms for Cultivation University today, right? Let me see yours."

Lu Yuan took the form out of his schoolbag and handed it to his sister. "You're well informed."

"Heh heh!"

Xiao Bing picked up the form and looked it over for a while.

"Have you decided which Cultivation University to apply to?"

Lu Yuan hadn't.

Of course he wanted to become a cultivator, but until today, he hadn't even known what Cultivation University was. How could he know which one to apply to?

So Lu Yuan gave her a vague answer:

"You saw it yourself. The form says the registration fee for Cultivation University is twenty thousand yuan. With Mom needing treatment and things so hard at home, I think I'd better forget it."

The registration fee for cultivator university was indeed twenty thousand yuan. It included the costs of many tests, and that was one reason many applicants agonized over it.

After all, the admission rate was so low that there was a good chance the hefty registration fee would go straight down the drain.

If it were free, Lu Yuan would have signed up first and worried about the rest later.

"So that's why you didn't mention it to Dad just now?" Xiao Bing nodded. "I knew you had to be worried about money."

Lu Yuan said nothing, which was as good as admitting it.

Xiao Bing smiled faintly and suddenly pulled a thick wad of cash from her pocket.

"Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-da! Look what this is!"

Puzzled, Lu Yuan took the cash. The bills looked a little different, but he still recognized the numbers. There were about seven or eight thousand yuan.

"No need to count it. It was 8,456 yuan, but I spent one yuan on a hair ribbon, so there's 8,455 left."

"This is the ribbon. Pretty, isn't it?"

As she spoke, she touched the short ponytail in front of her ear. A pale purple ribbon was tied around it.

"Where did you get so much money?"

"I work weekends at Food Flavor Pavilion Fast Food. It's not like you didn't know. That's three months' wages."

Xiao Bing had started working outside the home on weekends after their mother was diagnosed. But Lu Yuan had indeed only just learned about it.

"You can earn that much working weekends?" Lu Yuan knew the ins and outs of the restaurant business very well.

"Of course that includes my share of the profits. The manager said I contribute a lot, and he might even give me a raise next month.

"Take this money for now. The Dragon Boat Festival is in a few days, so I'm sure I'll get a bonus. I'll give it to you when I do.

"Whatever you're still short, borrow a little from your classmates. Whatever happens, you have to sign up, Brother!"

Lu Yuan held the money hesitantly, deeply skeptical of what his sister had said.

How much could a high school student make washing dishes at a restaurant on weekends? Could some fat slob of a manager have taken a fancy to his sister?

But now wasn't the time to talk about that. Lu Yuan handed the money back to her.

"You'd better give this to Dad. Actually, there's no great rush for me to apply to Cultivation University."

The urgent priority was to scrape together the money for their mother's treatment. Becoming a cultivator was important, of course, but it couldn't be more important than saving her life.

Xiao Bing stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly became very agitated.

"No! Absolutely not!" She clutched Lu Yuan's arm tightly. "How are you going to save Mom if you don't apply to Cultivation University? You have to get in!"

"You promised me!"

Lu Yuan froze. What did cultivator university have to do with their mother's illness?

"Mom's illness, the hospital will..."

"The hospital can't do it. I've told you so many times." Xiao Bing tugged at his arm in frustration. "The hospital's treatment can only delay the onset of Twilight Syndrome by a few years. Only cultivators have a way to cure it."

Twilight Syndrome!

Another term he had never heard before.

Lu Yuan fell silent.

In his previous life, his mother had suffered from lymphoma, but in this life, it had become Twilight Syndrome, which he had never heard of. From what Xiao Bing said, only by becoming a cultivator could he save his mother.

This was trouble!

Even if Lu Yuan got into Cultivation University, it would be too late. In his previous life, his mother had passed away before he took the college entrance exam. He didn't dare gamble on how long she could hold out in this life.

Seeing that Lu Yuan said nothing, Xiao Bing pleaded, "Brother, we can only count on you. I'm only a freshman; there isn't enough time for me. You have to get in."

"I know."

In these circumstances, Lu Yuan could only take his sister's money for now. As for his own plans, he would probably have to change them again.

They talked for a little longer, then Xiao Bing went back to her room to do her homework. She had a hard time of it, really. Since their mother fell ill, she had had to work and do housework too.

Only a thin wooden partition separated her room from Lu Yuan's, but its door opened onto the living room, so she had to go through there to reach it.

After she left, Lu Yuan took out his phone and searched for "Twilight Syndrome."

Just from the name, the disease sounded like no simple matter.

After searching for a while, Lu Yuan put down his phone and let out a long sigh.

Twilight Syndrome was a terminal illness. Its symptoms were somewhat like cancer: patients grew steadily thinner and suffered intense pain inside their bodies, eventually dying of organ failure.

The difference was that cancer was caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells, so there was still some possibility of curing it through chemotherapy and radiation.

But the cause of Twilight Syndrome was unknown. No one knew where it came from. Modern medicine couldn't even determine whether it was an infectious disease or a disorder originating within the body.

Twilight Syndrome had first appeared in human society over a hundred years ago, and the number of cases was now growing. What had begun as a rare disease had become a common, fatal one.

According to the available information, the incidence of Twilight Syndrome had now reached two in ten thousand.

Out of every ten thousand people, two would contract the disease and die swiftly, within a year.

Most frightening of all, the disease made no distinction between men and women, young and old. Young people were no less likely to contract it than the elderly.

Only a drug called Xikangnuo could slow the progression of the disease.

Mind you, it only slowed it; it didn't cure it. And the drug became less and less effective over time.

The first injection of Xikangnuo could delay the disease's progression by approximately two years. The second could only hold it off for sixteen months.

For most patients, by the fourth injection at the latest, it would stop working.

That was probably what Xiao Bing meant when she said the hospital could only ease the condition.

Lu Yuan checked the price of Xikangnuo. It varied from place to place, but one injection cost somewhere between 1.4 and 1.7 million yuan.

If nothing unexpected was involved, the treatment costs Dad had mentioned referred to Xikangnuo.

Lu Yuan also found a small amount of information about the claim that cultivators could treat Twilight Syndrome.

Some cultivators' relatives had also contracted Twilight Syndrome. It was said that some cultivators had cured their relatives "at great cost."

As for how they had cured them and what that "great cost" was, the public information didn't mention a word. Ask, and all you got was the Cultivator Confidentiality Principle.

Xiao Bing might have insisted that he get into Cultivation University because she had seen the same claims.

But how could it be so easy?

Lu Yuan's grades had indeed been good, but that was before.

After graduating from high school in his previous life, he had spent many years struggling through society. He had long since returned his high school knowledge to his beloved teachers.

For the vast majority of people, the final year of high school was the peak of their lifetime's knowledge.

Now there were only thirty-five days until the college entrance exam. There wasn't even enough time to read through all the books once.

He had better think carefully about how to make money tomorrow.

No matter what, he first had to get 1.5 million yuan so his mother could receive an injection of Xikangnuo. As long as they could buy another two years, he could always think of some other way.

For now, though, he had to let the dough rest.