Chapter 1481 - 1483

Looking at what Zhao Xuran handed him, Gong Ruzhi was completely confused.

"What’s going on?" Gong Ruzhi didn’t get it.

Beside him, Gong Jiaming was just as dumbfounded. Isn’t he always holed up in his room these days reading professional books? How did it turn into him needing to learn this?

"That day I read Guang Ran’s self-criticism letter, and I felt it was necessary to improve your Chinese level again." Zhao Xuran said calmly.

Huh, improve Chinese? Gong Ruzhi was stunned. "Whose idea is that? Seriously, that’s dumb on a whole new level."

Do you even need to ask? Gong Jiaming was shocked by how suddenly stupid his cousin looked. Could it be that staring at the computer playing games all the time, with his brain hardly working, has actually made him this dumb?

Zhao Guangran was over there feeling all guilty; he was actually worried, like whether Big Brother would tell Gong Ruini about it.

He hadn’t expected that after being on edge for several days, he never once heard any hint that Gong Ruini was mocking him.

Zhao Guangran really thought the matter had blown over; he hadn’t expected this was only the beginning.

More importantly, Big Brother’s starting point was good. Even if Zhao Guangran was angry, he couldn’t blow up at his big brother.

"Oh." Gong Ruzhi was helpless. He was already busy enough: schoolwork to handle, company affairs to deal with.

Gong Ruzhi wanted to say he was already so busy he could practically take off and fly, and yet Zhao Guangran still managed not to forget to make trouble for him.

In fact, it was Gong Jiaming who was the most panicked. Even though no one had really noticed how good or bad his Chinese foundation was, every time he wrote letters to his parents, he could tell his Chinese level was slipping.

It wasn’t that he’d never thought about seriously studying Chinese again; he just couldn’t find the time.

He never imagined Brother Xu Ran would arrange something like this. He was really worried—what if when it came time for testing he ended up at the bottom?

"Um, sorry about that." Zhao Guangran was honestly helpless. These guys are all super busy—when would they even have time to write this stuff?

"Stop thinking about who owes who an apology; think about where your roots are."

"No matter whether you settle in the United States in the future or immigrate somewhere else, what I’m saying is you absolutely cannot forget where you come from."

Forget where you come from? My god, that phrase is seriously heavy. Even though Zhao Xuran’s expression was pretty relaxed when he said it.

But is there anything in his words that makes people feel relaxed?

Zhan Jing had also been badly shaken by the self-criticism letter Zhao Xuran brought back. Every one of them could rattle off English speaking and written language like it was nothing, but who would’ve thought their Chinese had regressed so much.

"Think about how you promised Grandma when you first went abroad." Zhan Jing didn’t say any extra nonsense; she simply pointed out whether they’d forgotten their original promise.

Right, back then they had promised Grandma. Even if Zhao Guangran felt pressured and hated all kinds of hassle, he could only agree that he would live up to it.

Even Zhao Guangran had agreed, so there was no way Gong Ruzhi and the others could refuse.

What Gong Ruzhi actually wanted to say was that Grandma usually didn’t meddle much in their affairs, but with Zhan Jing standing right there, they could only nod and agree.

"Alright, go practice your writing. I’ll be checking every day." Zhao Xuran was not about to give them any chance to slack off.

Check every day? Oh man, Gong Ruzhi felt like he was going to faint. "How long do we have to keep writing?"

Hopefully it’s just short-term. If this drags on long-term, people are seriously going to collapse.

They hadn’t even started writing yet, and they were already discussing when it would end.

That really pissed Zhao Xuran off. "You guys, honestly."

Right now, Zhan Jing really wanted to pile on more tasks for Zhao Guangran and the others, but in the end she held back. Still, she’d already decided—later she’d remind Zhao Xuran that he absolutely couldn’t go soft on them.

"We’ll definitely finish our tasks on time." Like a small animal, some instinct told Zhao Guangran that causing trouble at this moment would be a terrible idea.

Zhao Xuran was actually a bit disappointed. He’d been thinking about how to give them even more tasks, but unexpectedly they all suddenly turned obedient.

"I’ll be looking forward to it."

Gong Ruzhi glanced over at Zhao Guangran. This whole mess was completely stirred up by that older brother; there was no way he was going to let him off easily.

As for the so-called apology, trying to use that to muddle through this situation—Gong Ruzhi felt that was absolutely impossible.

Because of someone’s dumb behavior, they’d all been dragged into it.

"Brother-in-law, if we do a really good job, will there be a reward?" If you complete the goal, of course you can’t miss the chance to get Brother-in-law to treat them.

A reward? Do you even need to ask? Zhao Xuran was already used to these kids acting all cute and begging for benefits.

"There’ll be a reward. We’ll go out for a big meal." Zhao Xuran waved his hand grandly. They could choose where to eat, as long as it was near home.

Wow, that’s a great reward. Right now, there wasn’t a trace left of Gong Ruzhi’s earlier gloom.

Gong Ruzhi really wanted to drag Zhao Xuran into a hot dance right there and have a proper celebratory party.

He whipped around and bolted straight for the bedroom. What’s the point of spending time apologizing? Better to buckle down and earn that meal, then eat Brother-in-law into bankruptcy.

In the past, Gong Ruzhi would ask Zhao Guangran which places were the best value for eating out. But now, he knew a thing or two about the famous restaurants in New York.

Whoa, Zhao Guangran was startled by how suddenly and fiercely Gong Ruzhi moved. That stance—"Isn’t that a bit too intense?"

He really didn’t get why they were so excited. "They’ve only just gotten here not long ago; Chinese is honestly way too easy for them."

Zhao Guangran complained, "I’m older than they are, and I’ve been in the United States for so many years."

"What I want to see is your attitude." Zhao Xuran wasn’t about to listen to his explanations.

"Think about Grandma."

Grandma? As soon as she was mentioned, Zhao Guangran lowered his head so much it practically hit the floor. "Okay."

He couldn’t let Grandma down. Clenching his fist, Zhao Guangran said he would work hard to deliver.

Watching them all getting worked up, Gong Ruini couldn’t help shaking her head. "They’re really easy to coax."

"It’s not that they’re easy to coax, it’s that their time is precious."

"The more they argue with me about this, the later they’ll finish today’s tasks." Don’t be fooled by how few tasks there were; doing them at a high standard was no easy feat.

Huh, are there a lot of tasks? Even though Gong Ruini had listened to everything from start to finish, she’d zoned out a few times. She’d thought what she missed wasn’t important.

Only now did she realize she’d missed the most important part. She looked at Zhao Xuran curiously.

"One hundred big characters every day."

"Just follow the copybook I bought for them. Write each character twenty times." Zhao Xuran said easily.

This was a deep routine. "You’re not going to increase the number later, are you?" Gong Ruini asked curiously.

Well, that part—would Zhao Xuran admit it? "Don’t be nosy. Once you have kids, you’ll have to practice too."

Zhao Xuran produced an identical set of materials from beside him and shoved it into Gong Ruini’s hands, leaving her completely dumbstruck.

Wait, no way. How did she get dragged into this too? Gong Ruini was genuinely stunned.

"My brush writing is good." She wasn’t like that kid Zhao Guangran, who went abroad for a few years and somehow managed to forget half of what he’d learned since childhood.

"You’re good now, but that won’t last forever."

Zhao Xuran gave the most crucial reason. "Everyone’s writing; you can’t be too out of sync with the rest of the group."

Ahhh, why do they have to be such a united family? Gong Ruini really wanted to shout that their relationships weren’t all that great.

"Ugh, Zhao Guangran, I hate you to death." Once wasn’t enough—he actually managed to drag her into it a second time.

Gong Ruini practically wanted to smack Zhao Guangran flat; this kind of little brother-in-law was really impossible to like.