Chapter 1390: New Year's 1

Preparations were made the same way in previous years, only in past years Sheng Zichen's figure was never missing from the kitchen, but this year he didn't step inside.

Zichen was in his room grinding through problems, writing furiously, buried in the tactics of the sea of questions and unable to get out.

Directly in front of his desk, the computer had a video call open; on the other side of the video was the scene of the entire Class Twelve studying together!

Although today was the Lunar New Year, not a single student in Class Twelve relaxed their studies; everyone was racing against time, giving it their all, and even on New Year's, they didn't slack off.

If one were grinding through problems alone, it would inevitably be dull, and it would be easy to slack off after a long time.

But if everyone was together, with mutual competition, the motivation to study would be easier to sustain.

Therefore, the narrow-minded atmosphere of studying in secret, telling classmates one wasn't working hard, and then secretly putting in effort, did not exist in Class Twelve.

Everyone worked hard openly and honestly, encouraging each other and progressing together.

Sheng Zichen was only focused on grinding through problems and didn't notice the door being pushed open a crack again; Zihan peeked for a while, found it boring, and simply walked in.

"Big Brother, today is New Year's Eve, can you stop writing? You and Second Brother acting like this makes me look like I'm not working hard at all..."

The thing that gave Zihan the biggest headache now was that his mother always liked to say to him: "Look at your Big Brother and Second Brother, then look at yourself!"

Previously, there were five children in the family, and three didn't like to study—Big Brother, Second Brother, and him.

Relying on his intelligence, even though he didn't like to study, his grades had always been very good.

But it wasn't like that anymore; Big Brother and Second Brother suddenly seemed like different people, burying themselves in the tactics of the sea of questions every day and not coming out.

Big Brother didn't go to the kitchen anymore, and Second Brother didn't play basketball anymore; they just ground through problems all day—what was so good about grinding through them?

Zihan truly couldn't understand the distress of a poor student.

In his view, things like homework were things you understood as soon as you looked at them; he really didn't understand why they had to be done over and over again without end.

"Get out, get out, don't disturb me, I'm timing myself."

Big Brother pushed him out of the room; hateful, he even locked the door!

So he went to Second Brother's room again.

Second Brother was similar to Big Brother; the computer on the desk was on, and he was writing furiously at his desk!

But what was different was that the window in Second Brother's room was wide open, the northwest wind was howling in, and Zihan shivered as soon as he entered.

It was so cold; he closed the window.

Second Brother felt it immediately and hurriedly shouted: "Open it, open it, don't close the window."

"Hehe, Second Brother, you're afraid that if you close the window, you'll fall asleep in a while, right?"

Litian:...

That's right, he guessed correctly.

He was born with dull aptitude; for a problem that others could understand in one go, he had to spend two or three times as long.

Since his talent wasn't enough, he had to make up for it with hard work.

Therefore, he went to sleep the latest every night and got up the earliest in the morning; Litian had to put in more effort than others to be the same as everyone else and reap the same grades!

However, sleeping little made one sleepy.

So he opened the room window to chase away the sleepiness with the cold.

"Right, hurry up and open it for me!" Litian glared, but he couldn't do anything about this younger brother.

"Not opening it, it's New Year's, don't catch a cold; I'll teach you the problems you don't know..."

"I thank you, get out, get out, I don't need you to teach me!"

Zihan was kicked out again.

His luck wasn't very good this time; he was kicked out of Second Brother's room and happened to be bumped into by his mother.

"Sheng Zihan, are you causing trouble in your brothers' rooms again?"

Zihan was lectured by his mother while she twisted his ear: "How many times have I told you? Don't go and disturb them while they're studying; can you not remember that?"

"Stop twisting, it hurts, it hurts!"

Zihan begged for mercy: "Mom, I was wrong, I won't do it again."

Shi Youxuan didn't believe his words at all.

Among the children, only Zihan admitted his mistakes the fastest; he would change when he was wrong, but then commit the mistake again—he was tempered through and through.

"Go to the kitchen and help, there aren't enough hands..."

"Mom, I don't want to go." Zihan pulled a long face.

Besides Big Brother, what family's boy would be willing to go to the kitchen to help?

Anyway, he wasn't willing.

"If you don't go, that's fine—"

Before Zihan could be happy, Shi Youxuan changed the subject: "If you don't go to the kitchen, then go look after Yueyue; you choose one!"

Zihan:...

Choose?

He didn't want to choose either one.

He rolled his eyes, and an idea came to him: "Mom, I'm going back to my room to do homework!"

"Come back!"

Shi Youxuan had been prepared; she grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him back.

"You study? You don't even study in class; it's not like you're short of this little bit of time. Do the homework I left for you first, then it won't be too late to think about extra studying."

Zihan had no choice but to go upstairs to play with his little sister.

According to the customs of Jiangzhou, once noon passed, it was considered New Year's.

Everyone just had a quick bite for lunch; the evening meal was the main event of the New Year's Eve dinner.

However, this year the Sheng Family reunion dinner was a bit cold and quiet.

Although little Yueyue had been added, several people were missing all at once.

The parents-in-law were not there, Shi Ran and her husband were spending the New Year at her husband's family home, and Zichen and Litian both had to hold their vocabulary books and memorize while eating at the dinner table, so the amount of conversation was immediately cut by more than half.

Sheng Hanyu could not bear to watch it anymore.

"You two stop memorizing; your studies won't suffer for this little while, just eat your meal in peace."

"Exactly, study effectively, brothers. You two should say something, even just saying auspicious words would be fine!" The chatterbox Zihan was about to burst; he missed the old days more.

When the whole family was at the dinner table, it was lively, with everyone bickering and teasing each other—how interesting that used to be.

Zichen raised his glass filled with orange juice and clinked it with Litian's: "I wish you success in next year's College Entrance Examination and that you get into the Physical Education University."

Litian said: "I wish you success in next year's College Entrance Examination and that you get into Jiangzhou University!"

The two brothers looked at each other and smiled, then downed their drinks!

Zihan was dumbfounded: "Wait a second, what did you two just say? Jiangzhou University? You aren't joking, are you?"

Zirui kicked him under the table to warn him not to talk nonsense; saying the wrong thing at a time like this... wouldn't result in punishment, but Mother would remember it, and after the New Year was over, she would settle the score!

Settling scores might be late, but it would never be absent.

Zihan reacted quickly and immediately used a tone of certainty to smooth things over himself: "No problem, Big Brother getting into Jiangzhou University is definitely no problem, and by then, you and Sister will be alumni."

"Second Brother will also definitely be able to get into the Physical Education University, it's close to home and convenient for looking after me; let's see who dares to bully me?"

He was very popular with girls at school; he wasn't very old, but he was always surrounded by a group of little girls.

A boy who was too popular with girls was easily looked down upon by other boys.

Fortunately, he was tactful and knew how to maintain relationships in all aspects, so even if people looked down on him, no one went out of their way to give him a hard time.

Right now, he was putting on a pitiful act just to make Litian feel comfortable; it wasn't that anyone was actually bullying him.

Shi Youxuan felt helpless.

These children had all been raised by her since they were small, and except for Litian, they were all born to her; children born to the same father and mother, why were the differences between people so great?

However, although their personalities were vastly different, they each had their own merits, and they were all good children.

She picked up a piece of sweet and sour fish with her chopsticks and placed it into Zihan's bowl: "Eat, you're the one who talks the most."

"Mom, you picked fish for me? How could you take the initiative to pick food for me? Is it real? I really can't believe my eyes, heavens! I'm so happy, I'm so happy I don't even know which way is north..."