Zhen Yu had just walked through the door when she heard her mother's nagging voice, but she ignored it and headed straight inside.
Zhen Yan was watching TV; he looked up at the sound of the door opening.
"Little sister, where have you been? Why are you only getting back now?"
"I was at Uncle Han's house! I went to thank him!" Zhen Yu sat down beside her brother, her eyes also turning toward the TV.
"Ah! I owe Uncle Han big time today, or I would have been a goner!"
Zhen Yu gave him a glare, "I told you not to go into the water, but you just wouldn't listen! Serves you right to suffer!"
Zhen Yan wrapped an arm around her shoulder, smiling, "Little sister, you are the best! But how did you call for help so promptly? If it weren't for you, we'd all be finished!"
Zhen Yu curled the corners of her mouth almost imperceptibly and said lightly, "I have a way of predicting things."
Zhen Yan flattered her eagerly, "You're awesome! You're a fortune-teller! You're the best!"
"Just watch your TV!"
After a while, seeing that her brother was now fully engrossed in the TV program, Zhen Yu silently called out to the system.
"Swipe!" Information appeared.
Aside from the values for ability points/knowledge points changing from 0/12 to 0/25, no other data had changed.
Zhen Yu had a hunch that this number probably has to reach a full 100 points to be of use.
So she got up and went back to her small bedroom under her brother's puzzled gaze, burying herself in her summer homework.
"Little sister, it's time to eat!" Zhen Yan's voice called from the living room, and Zhen Yu put down her book, stretched lazily, and went out.
The dining table was already set, and the food was on the table.
Zhen Yu rearranged the stools around the table and went to wash her hands in the kitchen.
Before reaching the living room door, Mr. Zhen suddenly came in through the door.
Seeing her father after many years, Zhen Yu felt no waves of emotion in her heart; she simply greeted him indifferently with a "Dad" and passed by him.
Mr. Zhen answered with a frown, clearly preoccupied.
The four of them started their meal, and though the rule of 'no talk during meals, no talk during bedtime' didn't exist in the Zhen family, for some reason, nobody spoke a word during the meal today.
After the meal, Zhen Yu helped her mother clean up a bit, then turned around and went back to her small bedroom, plunging into her summer homework once again.
Time flies when studying, and when she heard the sound of arguing from the living room, Zhen Yu's first reaction was to look at the clock; the wall clock had already passed eight-thirty.
Standing up and pushing the door open, the sounds of the argument were suddenly amplified. Zhen Yu stood inside the door without moving, listening for a while.
"I've told him countless times! He is not allowed to play in the water! If he had listened to me, would this have happened today?"
"If you weren't out wandering the streets all the time, would my son have almost died out there?"
Zhen Yan's pleading voice intervened, "Dad! Mom! Please stop arguing!"
"Where have I gone? I was just next door at Old Fu's house! How could it be my fault when he snuck off?"
"As his mother, you can't even keep an eye on your own child at home! What use are you? You should know we only have one son in the Zhen family, Zhen Yan is our only grandson!"
"I'm wrong! It's all my fault! I will never go to the river again!"
In her past life, following her brother's drowning, Mr. Zhen and Mrs. Zhen had a huge fight, and that night Mrs. Zhen consumed rat poison, leaving her husband and young daughter behind to join the majority.
Zhen Yu was somewhat at a loss, as to why in this life, with her brother only having been frightened, their parents would still argue.
Shouldn't they rather be relieved and huddling around their son, attending to him with tender care?
It must have been the way she opened the door just now that was wrong!
Zhen Yu closed the door again, counted silently to three, and pushed it open once more.
"Zhen Hailong! If you dislike me, go find someone who you think is better!"
"You think I wouldn't dare? Without you, there are plenty of women who can bear me a son!"
"..." It seems like an argument, no doubt about it.
Stepping out and glancing around, Zhen Yu grabbed a teacup from the small window table and hurled it onto the ground.
With a "snap!", the whole living room fell silent.
"My brother isn't dead! Stop fighting!"
Zhen Yu's voice was incredibly calm, her serious expression seeming somewhat fierce.
However, Mr. Zhen and Mrs. Zhen were taken aback for only a moment before Mrs. Zhen angrily said, "You impudent girl! How dare you speak like that?"
Mr. Zhen aimed his anger at her, "Adults are speaking; children should keep quiet!"
"..." Zhen Yu's mouth twitched. Is that what you call talking?
"Little sister..." Zhen Yan could tell that something was wrong with his sister. Since when had she become so, well, cold?
Usually, when their parents argue, she would cling to him crying, while begging their parents to stop fighting.
Today, however, her face was expressionless, both her action of smashing the cup and the tone of her voice emanated a bandit-like fierceness.
Zhen Yu glanced at the three of them and then turned to leave.
"Bang!" The sound of Zhen Yu closing the door made all three people in the living room shudder. Mr. and Mrs. Zhen looked at each other and both silently turned away.
Once back in her room, Zhen Yu buried herself in her books. It was unclear when Zhen Yan had entered, but by the time she heard him reminding her to go to sleep, it was already ten o'clock.
After washing up and lying in bed, Zhen Yu checked her System Data again; her ability points/knowledge points had become 0/40.
She was somewhat dissatisfied with her progress, falling asleep with the thought of 'must work even harder tomorrow.'
After breakfast at seven thirty and another half an hour with her textbooks, Zhen Yu got up as soon as the eight o'clock alarm rang and walked out.
"Little sister, where are you going?" After what happened yesterday, Zhen Yan wasn't allowed to go out today.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Zhen had gone early to the Hardware Store, assuming that little sister would stay home with him. Seeing Zhen Yu leaving, he quickly asked.
"The Han Family!" Zhen Yu replied without stopping.
To her, every minute and every second was precious; she didn't want her rebirth to be meaningless, repeating the life she had lived last time.
In her previous life, as a single girl, pretty and not ugly, she started working outside since high school. What hadn't she experienced?
If she hadn't made up her mind to save money for a Martial Arts class, practicing Female Self-defense Skills diligently, she would have been bullied by many people long ago.
Later, no matter how many jobs she changed, she would rather nibble on steamed buns every day than share a room with others.
She kept her distance from all males at work and was wary even when interacting with females, never making a true friend, gradually cultivating her current indifferent demeanor.
Zhen Yan followed his sister out of the room.
A bit puzzled, he asked, "Why are you still going to Uncle Han's house? Didn't you Thanked them yesterday?"
"Study!" After saying this, Zhen Yu was already standing outside the courtyard. She turned her head and smiled softly at her brother, "You stay home and behave."
"..." Zhen Yan watched his sister's receding figure speechlessly and complained, "Not cute at all!"
"Good morning, Uncle Han." As Zhen Yu walked into the clinic, she greeted Mr. Han who was behind the counter.
"Good morning! Good morning! Go ahead and play with Ming Yue and Jiaoyang."
Zhen Yu nodded and headed towards Han Mingyue's room.
"Come in." Han Mingyue's Voice rang from inside the door.