Difficult To Raise Chapter 6
byChapter 6 High School
Jiang Jin’s school ended much earlier than Jiang Ran’s. He had told Old Man Chen beforehand that he would be going to a classmate’s house to do homework today, so he didn’t need to pick him up. Old Man Chen didn’t mind and casually agreed.
As soon as the dismissal bell rang, Jiang Jin ran out with his backpack, moving as fast as a gust of wind. Little Fatty shouted his name several times from behind but received no answer. When he looked again, Jiang Jin was long gone.
He scratched his head in confusion, wondering what trick Jiang Jin was up to now.
Jiang Jin didn’t have time to bother with Little Fatty right now; he was busy heading to Jiang Ran’s school to find him.
On the bus, he casually pulled the pink envelope out of his backpack, quickly scanned the contents, and fixed his gaze on the signature at the bottom.
Eighth Grade Class One, Wang Yingying.
Jiang Jin tucked the love letter away just as the bus arrived at the stop.
He had been to Jiang Ran’s school more than once, and the security guards at the gate recognized him. Seeing him, one of them smiled and greeted him, “Coming to find your brother again?”
Jiang Jin gave a sweet smile and said without blinking, “Yes, Uncle.”
“Your brother hasn’t finished school yet. Why don’t you wait for him here for a bit?” the security guard suggested.
“It’s okay,” Jiang Jin replied dismissively. “I just need to drop something off for him.”
The security guard didn’t suspect anything and let him in.
Jiang Jin followed the signs to Eighth Grade Class One. Just as he was thinking about asking someone to call Wang Yingying out, he saw two girls chatting in the corner of the stairwell.
“That Wang Yingying, she always puts on airs in front of the teachers, acting like a good student and following them around like a leech. It’s disgusting.”
“Exactly! Last time during lunch break, I just said a few words to my deskmate, and she wrote down my name and reported me to the teacher. I got punished and had to copy that text three times! That text was over a thousand characters long! My hand nearly broke from copying.”
“We need to figure out a way to deal with her. She’s too arrogant; I can’t stand it anymore.”
…
Jiang Jin paused, stopping abruptly in front of them.
“Two beautiful sisters,” he called out.
The moment they turned around, he flashed a sweet smile.
The two girls turned to see a fair-skinned, bright-eyed child smiling at them. His curved eyes made him look extremely endearing. No one could be harsh toward a good-looking child, especially girls.
One of them leaned down and asked with a smile, “Little brother, can we help you?”
Jiang Jin pulled out the love letter and handed it to them.
“Are you Wang Yingying sister’s classmates? Can you help me give this to her?”
Jiang Jin put on an innocent expression. “She gave this to my brother yesterday, and my brother asked me to return it to her after reading it. But I don’t know Wang sister, so I didn’t know where to find her.”
The two girls exchanged a look, staring at the pink envelope in the child’s hand. A flicker of excitement crossed their eyes. That cover, that color, and it was given to a boy—they knew without a doubt it was a love letter.
The girl who had spoken earlier concealed the dark gleam in her eyes and reached out to take the letter.
“Don’t worry, little brother. We know her, and we’ll definitely give this to her.”
Jiang Jin curved his lips. “Thank you, sister.”
*
When Jiang Ran went to school the next day, he saw He Qian staring at him with a complicated expression, sighing repeatedly.
Jiang Ran endured it as long as he could, but finally couldn’t hold back. He asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
He Qian chuckled. “Why didn’t I realize you were such an old fogey?”
“Huh?” Jiang Ran was confused.
He Qian shrugged. “That love letter the girl gave you yesterday was handed over to her homeroom teacher. Her teacher is famous for being strict about puppy love, so she walked right into a trap. I heard her parents were called in, and now everyone knows about it.”
“You’re famous at school now,” he turned and looked at Jiang Ran with a grin. “Now everyone is saying you did it. I doubt any girl will dare to give a love letter to you, the Discipline Committee member, again.”
Jiang Ran frowned, remembering the love letter Jiang Jin had taken yesterday.
When he got home that evening, he couldn’t help but ask Jiang Jin if he had given the love letter to the teacher.
Jiang Jin looked at him innocently. “How could I? I just gave it to that sister’s classmates and asked them to return the love letter to her.”
He grew more agitated, questioning him fiercely, “You said you wouldn’t date. I helped you reject her—aren’t you happy? Do you like her? Were you just lying to me before?”
Jiang Ran studied him for a long time. Seeing his sincere expression, he believed him.
“Alright, Little Housekeeper.” He ruffled his hair. “I said I wouldn’t date, and I won’t. Don’t worry about these things anymore.”
Jiang Jin smiled sweetly at Jiang Ran and hugged his waist, acting spoiled. The moment he buried his head, his eyes narrowed slightly, like a cunning fox.
Jiang Jin was essentially raised by Jiang Ran, so Jiang Ran could only ever see the good side of his younger brother. In his heart, his brother was cute and sensible, and even if he occasionally threw a small tantrum, it was harmless.
He cherished him, indulged him, and let him grow freely. Even though people constantly warned him to watch out for his brother going astray, he never took it to heart.
No one knew whether the flower he meticulously nurtured would ultimately bear sweet or bitter fruit.
After that incident, no one gave Jiang Ran a love letter anymore. For students of that era, causing trouble privately was fine, but involving the teacher was absolutely unacceptable.
Such a person was seen as a “traitor” in their eyes, and no matter how outstanding they looked, no one would like them. Some even whispered behind his back that he was pretentious, acting like a bookworm when his grades were only average.
He Qian was somewhat indignant when he told Jiang Ran, insisting he should help explain that Jiang Ran hadn’t done it. But Jiang Ran didn’t care about the gossip. His grades had always been mediocre, and a few words from others wouldn’t hurt him.
Jiang Ran said, “It’s fine. No one bothers me, and I enjoy the peace.”
He Qian laughed, teasing him, “But then no girls will like you. Don’t you think that’s a shame?”
Jiang Ran smiled and countered, “Girls like you, but I haven’t seen you agree to date anyone.”
He Qian’s face flushed slightly. He stammered, “…My dad said he’d break my legs if he caught me dating. I have the desire, but not the guts!”
Jiang Ran smiled, pursing his lips. He thought for a moment and said, “Well, I have neither the desire nor the guts. I have a Little Housekeeper at home who strictly forbids me from dating.”
He Qian asked, “Little Housekeeper?”
He didn’t know much about Jiang Ran’s family background. Jiang Ran rarely talked about himself; He Qian only knew that his parents were gone. Hearing this, he grew curious.
“Yeah,” Jiang Ran replied casually. “My brother.”
“Your brother controls whether you can date?” He Qian was puzzled.
His relationship with Jiang Jin was much deeper than that of typical brothers. To be precise, Jiang Jin was too dependent on him and lacked too much security.
But Jiang Ran didn’t want to explain all that. He glossed over the details, saying, “He’s just a kid; children have strange ideas. Besides, I genuinely don’t want to date early. I’m focused on graduating quickly and getting into a good High School.”
He Qian nodded in understanding. “True. What’s the point of dating? We’re in ninth grade now. Even if we started dating, we’d still break up after graduation.”
At this age, most people were experiencing a vague attraction to the opposite sex, and their reasons for liking someone were varied.
It might be because the person looked good, or had good grades, or even because of an unintentional gesture.
They didn’t understand what true affection was. Even if they did date early, it would likely end without resolution.
Jiang Ran had absolutely no interest in that area. In fact, he held a small secret in his heart: he had realized, sometime ago, that he had no interest in girls at all.
When other boys passionately discussed which female classmate was pretty or which girl had a good figure, his heart remained unmoved.
However, when he saw the boys’ faces slightly redden from excitement during these discussions, a strange feeling flashed through him.
In that moment, he understood his abnormality, though he didn’t yet know what it meant. He simply sensed keenly that this was something he couldn’t let anyone else know.
After the high school entrance exam, Jiang Ran quickly moved up to High School. His grades were average; the High School he attended wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. He was just an ordinary member of the masses, possessing nothing except the superior appearance his mother had left him.
But when he returned home in the evening and saw Jiang Jin, he couldn’t help but feel a little happy, thinking that at least he had his brother.
Jiang Jin’s excellence was evident from a young age. He was good-looking, smart, and sweet-talking. Outside, he would call everyone “Uncle,” “Auntie,” “Grandpa,” and “Grandma,” charming people into smiles and often getting treats slipped to him.
Once he started school, his grades consistently topped the class, and teachers and classmates adored him.
Unlike Jiang Ran, who only had He Qian as a friend growing up, Jiang Jin had many friends, both boys and girls.
As he got older, he stopped letting Old Man Chen pick him up and started walking to and from school with his classmates. Every morning, when Jiang Ran opened the window, he would see people waiting for him downstairs.
Sometimes, he would stand quietly by the window for a while, watching Jiang Jin come down with his backpack, linking arms with the boys waiting below, walking together. They would chat, laugh, and roughhouse, clearly having a close relationship.
He felt a sense of relief that Jiang Jin wasn’t as reserved as he was, but he couldn’t help feeling a pang of loss. Jiang Jin’s brilliance only highlighted his own dullness. He felt like the star closest to the moon, forever unable to show his own light.
Yet, strangely, as he was thinking this, Jiang Jin, who had been laughing and talking with his friends downstairs, seemed to sense something.
He turned his head, his gaze falling directly on Jiang Ran’s location. Jiang Ran didn’t have time to pull his eyes back, and the two met eyes unexpectedly.
Jiang Jin paused, then flashed an even bigger smile. The smile was bright and sunny, instantly dispelling the gloom in Jiang Ran’s heart. He, too, involuntarily curved his lips into a smile.
He saw Jiang Jin’s lips move, seemingly saying something, but it was too far away to distinguish. He simply waved and closed the window.