Chapter Eighty-Three: The Reward

To live another life, these arguments and quarrels, this clamor over holding firm to one’s beliefs, instead filled his heart with a sense of intimacy. He didn’t mind his cousin’s dismissive attitude toward him, and replied with a faint smile, “It’s not a big deal to be doing a bit poorly right now. As long as I set aside some time for proper revision, I should be able to catch up. Next time, I’ll make sure you all see me in a new light.”

As for his academic results, Zhang Ye genuinely couldn’t remember exactly how well he’d done. After being reborn, he’d landed right in the midst of summer vacation, and with everything keeping him busy, the lack of pressure had long since pushed those memories into a forgotten corner of his mind.

Still, he hadn’t heard his ever-nagging mother complain about his grades lately, so they probably weren’t too bad.

Right on cue, his mother stepped in to smooth things over. After three or four years, she was still anxious that the two cousins would start bickering the moment they met. “Oh, Zhang Ye’s not doing so badly these days. He scored over five hundred this time, and he’s in the top twenty of his class.” Compared to before, this was quite a good result.

To her surprise, her younger cousin had truly improved. Liu Qianqian was momentarily stunned, and seeing his calm demeanor made her feel a bit indignant. She pursed her lips and said, “That’s just so-so, really. Barely enough for a second-tier university.” At least she didn’t say anything harsher.

Hearing this, their uncle looked at Zhang Ye with new eyes. Usually, he’d ask about his grades over the phone, but with the distance between them, it was hard to be sure. Observing Zhang Ye’s attitude now, he really seemed to have changed, no longer the student languishing at the bottom of his class when they’d first moved to Xijiang. It seemed he’d truly grown up.

“Well, that’s much better than before. Here’s the deal: you’re at No. 1 High now, right? If you can make it into the top ten of your class, I’ll let you pick any present you like, up to a thousand yuan. How about it?” Liu Boqing spoke with confidence as he made this promise.

A thousand yuan meant little to Zhang Ye, who was already a small-time entrepreneur, but for any ordinary student at that time, it was a considerable sum—enough to match two or three months’ wages for an average adult.

“What about me?” Liu Xiaoyi, who had been busy eating and drinking, couldn’t sit still when he heard there was a reward. He quickly leaned over, wiping the grease from his face.

“As for you, if you can score over ninety in both math and language, I’ll buy you the game console you’ve been wanting,” Liu Boqing agreed cheerfully.

“Really?!” Liu Xiaoyi shouted with delight.

For a boy his age, nothing was more enticing than a game console. Back then, owning a cartridge-based console and playing all sorts of new games was enough to make you the envy of everyone around. Once, a well-off kid had looked down on Liu Xiaoyi for not having one. Now, the thought of finally getting one thrilled him beyond words.

But his excitement soon faded. His sister’s excellent grades had never rubbed off on him. His playful nature meant that, from kindergarten through fourth grade, his best score had only ever reached eighty.

“If you two study hard and get good grades, there will always be rewards.” As these words were spoken, the banquet gradually came to an end. Their uncle went out to settle the bill, and everyone began to gather their things and leave.

Following the others out, Zhang Ye didn’t show any particular joy at the prospect of a thousand-yuan prize. Instead, he frowned slightly.

His uncle’s earlier refusal to discuss the new business venture might have been because he didn’t want to deal with his brother-in-law, Shen Kaixing, but perhaps he simply hadn’t settled on a project yet. That meant Zhang Ye still had time and opportunity to stop his uncle’s family from being deceived and prevent them from repeating past mistakes.

In his memory, the investment his uncle agreed on with Zheng Fan was for a potato chip manufacturing business. Back then, this was a highly promising industry. With limited capital, they could never hope to compete with foreign investors, but making money should have been easy enough.

Yet their wealth was swept away, and his uncle’s path to prosperity was cut off entirely. Now, Zhang Ye’s thoughts were calm. For now, the best approach was to keep an eye on Zheng Fan. If he could uncover his plan—or catch him in the act—he could resolve the crisis once and for all.

His usually quiet cousin, Wang Lianxia, grinned at Zhang Ye and patted him on the shoulder. “You were really different today, cousin. Not like yourself at all—almost cool, actually. Yes, that’s the feeling.” She tilted her head, looking thoughtful.

Zhang Ye smiled helplessly. This cousin was a little mischief-maker in private. In front of adults, she was the perfect, obedient daughter, but with her peers, her true nature came out—playful, mischievous, always ready to tease.

They were close in age and got along very well. Zhang Ye flicked her forehead. “‘Cool’? I call it composure.”

As they joked, Liu Xiaoyi sidled up, tugging at Zhang Ye’s sleeve mysteriously, urging him to bend down. Zhang Ye laughed. “What is it?”

“Um, cousin, if you make it into the top ten, could you use your reward to buy a game console? Don’t worry, I’d only borrow it sometimes—just for a bit. I promise I’d give it back.” Obviously, he realized that getting over ninety in two subjects was a tall order, so he set his sights on Zhang Ye’s potential prize.

As a child, he’d been Zhang Ye’s little shadow. After three or four years apart, perhaps he’d forgotten many things, but now he was as familiar as ever.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “All right…”

“No way!” Liu Qianqian, who had been listening in, quickly stopped him and grabbed Liu Xiaoyi by the ear, showing off her big-sister authority.

“Hey, sis! Cousin already agreed—whether you like it or not doesn’t matter. Ow, let go! I said let go, my ear’s going to come off…” He started out grinning, but as his ear was twisted, he squealed and grimaced, his exaggerated expressions making him all the more endearing.

“I wasn’t finished,” Zhang Ye said with a laugh, making no move to intervene. “Unlike uncle, I won’t set the bar so high. If you can score eighty or above in both subjects, I’ll agree to your request. How about it?”

“Aw, I still have to get good grades?” Liu Xiaoyi’s face fell instantly, making everyone laugh.

Liu Qianqian, however, glanced at Zhang Ye with an odd look. With all this confidence, did he really believe he could break into the top ten next time?

What she didn’t know was that if Zhang Ye had to take an exam right now, he probably wouldn’t be able to answer a thing. After more than ten years, all those formulas and equations were long forgotten. Yet he was confident: given a bit of time, he could regain it all.