Chapter 518

"Haha... something like that."

"Eh——?!"

Xia Mururi’s eyes widened instantly upon hearing this.

Immediately, her fair cheeks puffed up at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a little squirrel stuffed with pine nuts.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with "I knew it" and a hint of shame and anger at being "deceived."

"Then... doesn't that mean!"

"Big Brother, you were also always going easy on Ruri when you played guidance games with me before?!"

"I had a vague feeling about this before!"

"Now that I hear you say that, Big Brother, it must be like that, right?!"

Seeing his sister’s puffed-up and slightly aggrieved appearance, Xia Xia Xia Mujun couldn't help but laugh.

He reached out and pinched his sister’s puffed-up, soft cheek gently, his tone gentle and soothing:

"Not at all."

"The shogi Ruri plays is really amazing."

"In many places, Big Brother truly felt it was very difficult to deal with, and I didn't deliberately go easy on you."

Xia Mururi was so earnestly praised and comforted by her brother that the little awkwardness in her heart vanished instantly, replaced by sweet joy.

"Really?"

"Mm, really."

She narrowed her eyes happily.

But in fact, deep in her heart, those details of playing against her brother, and the unfathomable chess strength he had shown while watching his competition recently, all made her vaguely feel...

Her brother’s words just now were perhaps more to comfort her.

She knew very well that it was a fact that her shogi level was much stronger than ordinary peers, but it was still far from being truly "amazing."

She couldn't even beat Aunt Kondo Miyuki.

And her brother, however, could defeat a semi-professional chess player who was countless times stronger than Aunt Miyuki...

The gap between the two was like a chasm.

When her brother played chess with her before, he was absolutely, absolutely being considerate of her.

Thinking of this, instead of feeling lost, a deeper warmth of being cherished surged in her heart.

Kaga Reisa listened quietly to the siblings' conversation, her gaze landing on Xia Xia Xia Mujun’s gentle, smiling profile.

Her heartbeat skipped a beat inadvertently.

Immediately, it was a clearer, more undeniable flutter.

She only felt that the Big Brother Xia before her seemed even more amazing, even more... mysterious than she had ever imagined.

She had clearly heard from Ruri-chan before that her brother spent most of his time at home, and it seemed that apart from playing games, he didn't pay much attention to other things.

But the Big Brother Xia now...

Could draw sketches that were not at all inferior to theirs.

Could defeat a semi-professional chess player in the public eye at a shogi tournament.

The first novel he wrote was also very good.

These rays of light, any one of which would be amazing if placed on a peer, he possessed all at once.

But such an amazing Big Brother Xia had only liked playing games before and didn't study these at all...

It seems... Big Brother Xia truly, truly likes playing games very much.

Kaga Reisa secretly remembered this hobby of Xia Xia Xia Mujun’s.

At this moment, Xia Mururi seemed to have suddenly remembered something important.

She leaned forward, her hands supporting the edge of the small table, looking at her brother with bright eyes, her tone carrying a hint of confusion:

"By the way, Big Brother!"

"This afternoon, Reisa-chan and I ran to the nearby Shimizu Bookstore, wanting to buy your 'The Devotion of Suspect X'."

"But... we searched the mystery novel section several times, and couldn't find a single copy!"

She wrinkled her small, delicate nose.

"What’s going on?"

"Wasn't it supposed to be on the shelves for sale today? Or... did some other problem occur?"

Kaga Reisa, to the side, also had a worried look on her face upon hearing this, and she echoed softly:

"Yeah... we asked the clerk, and the clerk also said they didn't know the specific situation very well."

"Could it be... that something went wrong at the publishing house?"

Her voice carried a hint of nervousness.

Xia Xia Xia Mujun looked at the worried expressions of the two girls and couldn't help but smile slightly.

He shook his head, denying it with a relaxed tone:

"Nothing went wrong."

Xia Mururi was even more confused:

"If nothing went wrong, why wouldn't it be in the bookstore?"

"It wouldn't be that not even a single copy was put out, right?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun explained:

"Because it sold out completely as soon as it hit the shelves in the morning."

"So, when you went in the afternoon, naturally you couldn't find a single copy."

"..." Xia Mururi was stunned.

She blinked, as if she needed time to digest this information.

The next second.

"Sold... sold out?!"

"It sold out in the, in the morning?!"

She stood up straight from the cushion abruptly, her voice filled with unbelievable surprise.

"Really?!"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded with a smile, confirming:

"Really. I went to the publishing house in the afternoon, and the editor confirmed it personally."

"Yay——!!"

Xia Mururi couldn't help but let out a short cheer, so excited that she bounced a little on the cushion.

"Doesn't that mean, Big Brother, your novel is in the state of a super bestseller?!"

"Then... what about next?"

She asked eagerly, her eyes shining brightly.

"Is the publishing house going to print more immediately? Just like how big-selling movies add extra screenings?"

Xia Xia Xia Mujun nodded, his smile deepening:

"Mm, that’s what the editor said."

"When I went to the publishing house just now, I heard the editor say, it seems like there will be at least five times the initial print run."

Xia Mururi immediately lowered her head, stretched out her fair fingers, and began to calculate seriously.

"The initial print run is... 5,000 copies."

She muttered to herself.

"Five times that is... 25,000 copies!"

She raised her head, her face filled with irrepressible excitement.

"If you add the 5,000 copies that have already been sold, the total is... 30,000 copies!"

"The price of one copy is 1,200 yen, and if your share is 40%... that means we can earn 480 yen per copy!"

She took a deep breath, as if to use all her strength to announce the number:

"30,000 copies... doesn't that mean 14.4 million yen?!"

"Big Brother!"

She grabbed Xia Xia Xia Mujun’s arm excitedly, her voice even trembling.

"Our family is really rich now!!"