Rebirth in 1986: Unforgettable Regrets-Chapter 4 Siblings

"I won't, I want to go out and play! Summer vacation has begun, and I'm not about to stay home all the time." Tang Jun retorted, fuming, as he glared at Tang Yue: "Your handwriting is nothing to brag about either, you have the nerve to criticize me, why don't you talk about yourself!"

"I'll practice writing too, let's do it together." Tang Yue said with a pursed lip, finding it somewhat amusing looking at Tang Jun's huffy demeanor—how had she never noticed how adorable her little brother was?

Tang Jun's looks resembled those of Tang Zhengde, with distinct facial features, and at twelve years old, his face still held youthful innocence.

"I won't practice, my handwriting isn't ugly."

Tang Jun staunchly refused to admit that his handwriting was poor, speaking gleefully, "This afternoon, I've made plans with Weidong to go fishing by the river. Maybe tonight, we could even enjoy some fish for dinner."

"A few small yellow croakers, hardly enough to make a bowl of soup."

Tang Yue unmercifully burst his bubble and then turned to Tang Zhengde, saying, "Dad, mom, Xiao Jun got only sixty points in his Chinese and Math tests. If this keeps going on, why bother with middle school? We might as well save that money for my high school education."

A sly twinkle passed fleetingly in the depths of Tang Yue's eyes.

Tang Jun immediately flared up like an infuriated cat, pointing at Tang Yue, "So that's your scheme, Tang Yue!"

"Tang Yue, I'm telling you, even if you quit school, I'm going to continue." Tang Jun's eyes were wide with indignation, looking as if he were about to pounce and gobble her up.

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Tang Yue cleared her throat and turned to ask, "Since you want to continue, don't you feel ashamed with such poor grades?"

"I'm certain I'll do better than you in my studies!" Tang Jun's rebellious spirit was ignited, he couldn't believe that he, Tang Jun, could possibly be worse than Tang Yue!

"Dad, it's just as well that I'm home for the summer, I can help Xiao Jun with his lessons." Tang Yue, having kindled Tang Jun's desire to study, immediately volunteered.

How could Tang Zhengde not know that Tang Yue had been deliberate earlier, he said with a stern face, "Xiao Jun, your sister is right, your grades are poor, you might as well quit. Of course, if you improve under your sister's tutoring, then you can continue your studies."

"I'll do the tutoring, I'll definitely not be worse off than you!"

And just like that, Tang Jun naively fell right into the trap Tang Yue had laid out.

When Tang Zhengde went off to work at the forestry farm, he walked so briskly he seemed to be cutting through the wind.

Zhang Hualian also went off happily to the vegetable garden to busy herself, and there were weeds in the field that needed pulling out too.

"Tang Jun, let's go play, shall we? The bamboo sword I made today turned out really well." Tang Xian called out from beyond the half-person-tall courtyard wall, and upon seeing Tang Jun doing homework under the shade of a big tree, he was instantly astonished, "Tang Jun, since when did you become such a studious person?"

"Go away, I'm not going to play anymore, I want to surpass Tang Yue, who looks down on me." After saying this, Tang Jun started working on the problems set by Tang Yue.

The problems were based on Tang Jun's end-of-term exam paper created by Tang Yue.

Tang Jun bit his pen cap, set on not letting Tang Yue look down on him, and he tackled the problems with earnest.

"You can't even solve this!" Tang Xian saw that Tang Jun couldn't even do such a simple question and immediately looked down on him.

Tang Jun glared back at him and retorted, "Tang Xian, you're enrolled in the Second Middle School too, you're so capable, why didn't you get into the First Middle School just like Tang Yue?"

Wangjiang County First Middle School was the best high school in the whole Wangjiang County, with the highest cutoff scores. Wangjiang County Second Middle School was where those who couldn't get into the First Middle School ended up.

Nothing annoyed Tang Xian more than this topic, and he became angry right away, saying resentfully, "Forget it then, I'll go play by myself."

Tang Yue, carrying a book, came out from the house and into the living room, and she cleared her throat, saying, "Xiao Jun, I purposely picked out the easier problems for you, you know."

"..." Tang Jun was on the verge of going crazy.

What was the unit price again? What divided by what?

And this distance calculation, how is it done?

And this speed, is it distance divided by time, or time divided by distance?

Tang Jun felt like his brain was going to explode.

Tang Yue shook her head as she watched him, realizing that Tang Jun's basics were even worse than she had imagined.

She purposefully said, "Xiao Jun, how did you get sixty points in math? Don't tell me you cheated!"

"Who cheated!" Tang Jun replied, his face red and his neck thick, but his voice lacked confidence.

"If you didn't cheat, then just solve it." Tang Yue smiled, revealing her white teeth, and started to recite poetry from the language book.

Tang Jun glared at Tang Yue's back, wishing he could kick it to pieces.

"Tang Jun, was your math exam administered by the PE teacher?"

"Unit price equals total price divided by quantity, and you can't even do that?"

"This distance is just speed multiplied by time, such a simple formula, you definitely didn't memorize it."

"And your sentence shortening in Chinese is wrong too."

"You were supposed to change it to a declarative sentence, but you turned it into an interrogative sentence."

"The radical of this character is also wrong."

"Tang Jun, with your grades, going to junior high is just a waste of money."

"..."

Tang Yue deemed Tang Jun's completed test papers worthless.

Tang Jun was even more furious, his fists clenched tight enough to wring out water, but he held back his anger, as what the damned Tang Yue said was undeniable!

Then he heard Tang Yue say, "However, if you are willing to follow my advice this summer, you can definitely take your grades to the next level. Of course, start by practicing your handwriting, it's too ugly. Your test paper looks as if a dog has chewed on it, with parts smeared and mistakes made, like a tangled ball of yarn. Really ugly."

Finally, Tang Yue added, "Let's compete to see who can improve their handwriting first."

"Bring it on, who's afraid of who." Tang Jun was ready to give it his all.

Even when Mo Weidong came to invite him out to catch fish in the afternoon, Tang Jun declined.

Tang Yue didn't dare to push him too hard and even deliberately praised Tang Jun in front of Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian in the evening, saying that he could definitely become promising if he was willing to study hard.

And so, with a mix of scolding and rewarding, Tang Jun changed as if he was a different person, reviewing his lessons with Tang Yue. From initially being too embarrassed to ask questions to becoming persistent about asking Tang Yue.

Tang Yue thought this was a very good sign. Her own handwriting wasn't ugly, but after lots of practice, it had become very beautiful. She deliberately copied some of the ancient poetry she had learned in elementary school, and some that would be covered in middle school, her writing elegant and bold, which became good practice material for Tang Jun.

Consequently, a common scene at the Tang Family was the two of them sitting side by side at a small table, with Tang Yue's handwritten collection of ancient poems in the middle.

The two focused intently, practicing their writing stroke by stroke.

Tang Jun even asked Tang Yue where she got it from, but in the end, she brushed off the question casually.

Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian worked hard, and although they couldn't pay off their debts quickly, they were left with only several dollars after the hospital bills, and school was about to start. They were still short on the school fees for Tang Yue and Tang Jun, and on top of that, there was still the need to eat. Money was needed everywhere.