jsdhdax: ?

Quiz Master: Let's discuss, truce, I need to go to sleep.

The two reached an agreement, Ethan Young planned to log off, but after he finished showering and got into bed, he accidentally noticed that his friend "Quiz Master" still had a line of small text next to his online status.

""

Ethan Young felt he might have been set up.

In the blink of an eye, most of the holiday had passed. As the start of school approached, Mrs. Grace Miller was even more anxious than Ethan Young himself, as if she were the one going to school: "Have you finished all your homework?"

"Yeah."

"Is there going to be class division in the second year of high school?"

"Yeah."

Grace Miller picked up a piece of scrambled egg and put it in Ethan Young's bowl, planning to take a softer approach: "I don't know which class you'll be assigned to. This semester, try to keep a lower profile, don't act impulsively when things happen. I won't hold your past actions against you, just start fresh this semester and behave well."

"Yeah."

No matter what she said, Ethan Young's answer was always "yeah". Grace Miller knew that after he said "yeah", he'd still do whatever he wanted. She put down her chopsticks and bowl, stopped talking, and sat quietly across from Ethan Young, watching him eat.

Ethan Young picked up some fish with his chopsticks, carefully removed all the bones, then put it into Mrs. Miller's bowl. He looked up and said, "Why aren't you eating? Just watching me is enough to fill you up?"

Grace Miller looked at the piece of fish. After several minutes, she wanted to say something but didn't know how, her tone a bit cautious: "In your second year, are you still going to live at school?"

Ethan Young's hand paused.

He knew what Mrs. Miller meant.

Jack Cooper was about to start his first year of college, so they would hardly see each other at home. Whenever Ethan Young and Jack Cooper met, they'd argue, and if left alone together, they'd be fighting in no time—neither could stand the other.

Grace Miller asked again, "You don't plan to live at home?"

Ethan Young quickly finished the last few bites in his bowl: "Probably not, living at school is fine, the conditions aren't bad, and it's convenient for classes—the classroom is just a few steps away. Besides, it's not like I don't come home on weekends."

Grace Miller wanted to say more, but Ethan Young interrupted: "Mom, it's not about you, don't overthink it. I'm not living at school because of Jack Cooper or you, it's my own issue."

"Your own issue? What issue?"

Ethan Young didn't want to say more, nor did he know how: "It's nothing. Just living at school, I'm old enough, you don't need to worry."

Liyang No. 2 High School strongly encouraged students to live on campus, believing it helped cultivate independence.

On the first day of school, the principal gave a motivational speech about "living at school": "School is a place for students to learn, but parents, as your children go through different stages of growth, you also need to keep learning. The most important lesson is learning to let go at the right time. He can already run, maybe even ahead of you—can you still treat him like a baby who can't walk or eat? Of course, this takes courage—you love him, but you have to be tough, let him fall, let him learn to get up on his own."

For some reason, Grace Miller remembered this speech especially well.

She had to admit there was some truth to it, but sometimes, knowing the truth didn't change anything.

"Then I'll help you pack," Grace Miller said. "Let's get everything ready first, and see if anything's missing."

As the suitcase got fuller and fuller, the holiday was coming to an end.

The Quiz Master Championship Summer Tournament was also nearing its end.

Previously, Ethan Young and Quiz Master had competed until they could barely keep their eyes open. Later, after agreeing to a final showdown on a set deadline, they tacitly never logged in again.

At first, Ethan Young thought it was another shameless trick, but after secretly checking for a few days, he found that Quiz Master really hadn't logged in to do practice questions, which surprised him.

It had been almost a month since the last login. Ethan Young opened the Knowledge Orb app—Knowledge Orb spun twice on the screen, then popped up a big message: Due to withdrawal of investment, the game is temporarily offline.

""

Is it really over?

And so completely over?

Ethan Young could almost imagine what that group of study addicts would say: Withdrawal of investment? How could no one play when studying is so much fun? Why are there so few people who love studying?

When he got a call from Ray Jones, Ethan Young was still in a daze: "Boss Young, are you coming tonight or not? Aunt May said she invited you over for dinner to celebrate the start of school, told us to give you some encouragement, so you can tap into your academic potential this semester. Boss Young? Say something if you hear me. What have you been doing all summer? You seem to be living in a daze every day."

"Yeah, it's been pretty surreal," Ethan Young said. "Really fucking surreal."

Ray Jones had gotten up late, was yawning, wearing only shorts, and carrying a chipped white basin with red flowers in one hand as he walked outside. He put the washbasin under the faucet, turned on the tap, and listened to the sound of running water as he said, "What time are you coming? I'll pick you up at the station."

Ethan Young said, "It's just a few steps, what are you picking me up for?"

Ray Jones: "Brothers gotta stick together, I don't care, I'm coming. If I stay home, the women will nag me again. By the way, is Aunt Lily coming?"

"She's not coming," Ethan Young said. "She said she's busy."

"I didn't feel it before, but now that you mention it, it really has been a long time since I saw her." Ray Jones added, "Alright, I'll hang up now, I'm going to wash my face."

When Ethan Young got off the bus, Ray Jones was squatting by the signpost, smoking a cigarette, wearing flip-flops, and everyone passing by gave him a wide berth, thinking he was some gangster.

Ethan Young walked over and kicked him: "Had enough of acting cool? Let's go."

Ray Jones stubbed out his cigarette on the ground, stood up, and patted his pants: "I'm not acting cool, someone took apart the bench here. I was supposed to be sitting there waiting for you all elegant and stuff."

Ethan Young looked over and saw that, sure enough, where there used to be a bench by the stop, there were only four lonely iron poles left.

"Impressive, right?" Ray Jones said. "People will do anything, I really admire it."

Recently, business at Guangmao had been slow, so Yvonne Shaw had some free time. She remembered that Ethan Young and the others were about to start school, so she suggested everyone get together for a meal.

Ethan Young hadn't been to this residential area in a long time.

The walls were mottled, the narrow alley between the two buildings so small that you could hear anyone shouting from across the way. Back then, Ray Jones was always getting spanked by Ray's Mom with his pants down, his butt cheeks turning red. Whenever Ray's Mom "got to work", Aunt May would open her window across the way, lean on the balcony with interest, and shout, "—Little Ray, what did you do this time? Tell your Aunt May, let me judge for you."

By comparison, Mrs. Miller cared more about saving face. She'd scold in a low voice and never hit, preferring the cold shoulder.

Walking along, there were wires overhead everywhere, and the whole living environment looked dirty and messy.

Ethan Young and Ray Jones hadn't even reached the door when Aunt May opened the window, and the smell of stir-fried oil mixed with the aroma of home-cooked food drifted out: "Don't come up yet, go to the convenience store and buy a bag of salt, we're out!"

Ray Jones looked up: "Got it, got it."

"Did the Molly bloom?"

Ray Jones was about to say let's go to the store, but when he heard Ethan Young ask, his mind turned a few times, then he followed Ethan Young's gaze to the shy Molly Blossom on the balcony: "Ah—yeah, the one Belle gave me before he left. There were only a few buds, I thought it would just be a foliage plant for life, but it actually bloomed."

"Belle is so unreliable, he's been abroad for almost half a year and hasn't contacted us at all. All he did was leave me a stupid plant, saying it was his treasure and I had to take care of it. Take care of it, my ass." Ray Jones added, "When he comes back, I'm going to beat him up."

------------

11. Chapter Eleven

The name Belle might sound girly, but he was definitely a boy.

He was the youngest of the three, always being protected. Even the nickname Belle was a joke from Ray Jones: "Since you're my little bro, here, big bro gives you a name—how about Belle? From now on, we'll be a matching pair of brothers."

Because Belle was small, he was always bullied and didn't know how to fight back.

Ray Jones protected him like a cub. Sometimes, when there were too many bullies to handle, he'd call Ethan Young to help.

Later, Belle suddenly shot up in height, almost reaching 1.85 meters. The kid felt he was all grown up now. After years of watching them fight, even if he hadn't eaten pork, he'd seen pigs run. One time, feeling cocky, he stood in front of Ray Jones: "Let me teach these idiots a lesson."