Chapter 368 - 365: The Fastidious Brother Nine

"Fine, you don’t have to recite it."

The language arts teacher’s gaze fell upon Yun Jiao.

"Young lady, can you help your big brother out?"

Yun Jiao thought, ’Actually, I was hoping he’d have to copy it five times.’

But seeing the look in her Fifth Brother’s eyes, Yun Jiao sighed and stood up anyway.

She then recited the entire poem with ease, not stumbling over a single word.

The language arts teacher led the applause. Yun Xiaowu clapped the loudest, his head held high and his chest puffed out, as proud as a peacock.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought *he* was the one who had recited it.

"Excellent. You’re in preschool now, I take it? Do you recognize all the words?"

Yun Jiao shook her head. "I haven’t started school yet."

The language arts teacher was surprised. ’She hasn’t even started school yet?’

"My brothers have been teaching me."

Of course, that didn’t include her Fifth Brother.

"That’s wonderful."

The language arts teacher praised Yun Jiao with a gentle smile, but her expression soured the moment she turned back to Yun Xiaowu.

"See? Your little sister is more capable than you are!"

Yun Xiaowu was unfazed. "My sister has always been amazing."

When it came to memory, no one in their family could compete with her.

The teacher looked at him as if he were a seasoned troublemaker.

"Sit down. After class, copy this poem three times for me."

Yun Xiaowu’s eyes widened. "Didn’t you say I didn’t have to copy it?"

The language arts teacher asked calmly, "Did I? I already knocked off two repetitions for you."

"Say another word, and it’s back to five."

That successfully shut down whatever Yun Xiaowu was about to say next.

Yun Xiaowu was speechless.

The moment class was over and the teacher left, Yun Xiaowu perked right up. He grabbed Yun Jiao, eager to go out and play.

"Don’t you have to copy the poem?"

"Ah, no rush. I can give it to the teacher after school."

"Let’s go, let’s go! I’ll take you to play basketball. The school just installed new hoops. If we’re late, we won’t be able to get a ball."

The school only had two basketballs, which were a huge hit with the boys. They would all dash for the playground the second class was over.

Yun Xiaoqi and Yun Xiao Ba wanted to go too.

"You guys go ahead. I’m going to find Brother Nine."

"Alright, just hurry over, okay?"

Yun Xiaojiu’s classroom wasn’t far from here.

When she got there, she scrambled up to the window and peeked into the classroom.

’Oho!’

Yun Jiao’s eyes lit up. She saw a girl giving something to her Brother Nine.

Some cookies.

Let’s be honest, appearances mattered, no matter how old you were.

Kids might not have figured out romance yet, but in any group of children, most of them will gravitate toward classmates who are good-looking and have nice personalities.

This applied to both boys and girls.

Clearly, in his class, her Brother Nine was the best-looking one.

Yun Xiaojiu’s skin was much fairer than before, making him a handsome little boy with rosy lips and pearly teeth.

The clothes their family dressed them in were now made of better fabric, and the styles were even a little fashionable.

Her Brother Nine was wearing a white, round-collared T-shirt and denim overalls.

"Who are you?"

Yun Jiao was watching her brother when the child at the desk by the window, who had been staring at her for a few moments, couldn’t help but ask.

’What a pretty little girl.’

Yun Jiao turned from the window to look at her. "I’m Yun Chen’an’s sister."

Hearing this, the girl shouted over to Yun Xiaojiu.

"Yun Chen’an, your sister is here to see you."

Yun Xiaojiu had been wanting to go find his sister but had gotten held up. His eyes lit up the instant he saw Yun Jiao.

"I don’t want them. You can have them."

Then he dashed out of the room.

"Jiaojiao~"

Yun Xiaojiu was beaming like a sunflower.

Yun Jiao asked, "Brother, why are they giving you cookies?"

Yun Xiaojiu frowned slightly. "They said they want to play Chinese jump rope with me, but I don’t want to play that."

"I’m really popular, you know. When we play house in gym class, they all fight over who gets to be my bride."

Little Nine puffed up with pride.

Yun Jiao offered him some sweet-sounding praise.

"Let’s go find Fifth Brother and the others. They’re playing basketball."

Yun Xiaojiu said, "You shouldn’t go. They bump into each other when they play basketball, and it smells really sweaty."

"Then what do you like to play, Brother Nine?"

Yun Xiaojiu thought for a moment and said, "I still prefer to play house, or sing."

"Jiaojiao, I also want to learn those instruments you talked about—piano, violin, flute..."

"Okay. I’ll go ask the teacher if she can teach you along with me. We’ll pay the tuition."

"Okay!"

When they reached the school’s playground, they saw a crowd of children running wild.

The town’s school playground wasn’t large, and the ground was just packed dirt. It was fine on sunny days, but it would get incredibly muddy when it rained, caking your shoes with every step.

The weather had been good these past few days, so the playground was dry.

But there was also a lot of dust.

Any grass that managed to sprout from the dirt had been trampled dead by the children.

The girls mostly played games like Chinese jump rope and tossing beanbags.

The two basketballs and the school’s original three soccer balls had already been snatched up by a crowd of boys.

With so many people crammed onto it, the playground, which hadn’t seemed that small at first, now looked much more constricted.

Yun Jiao had sharp eyes and quickly spotted her three brothers.

Yun Xiaojiu pulled her back, a look of disgust on his face. "Jiaojiao, let’s not go over there. Look at them running. There’s dust everywhere."

Yun Jiao nodded. She liked to stay clean, too.

They decided to watch from the side.

Yun Xiaojiu led her to a nearby flower bed to sit down and pulled out a lollipop for her.

"Jiaojiao!"

Yun Xiaowu shouted, "Ball’s coming!"

Yun Jiao glanced up, raised her little arm, and caught the basketball that came flying toward her.

"Quick, throw it to me!"

Yun Jiao said, "Oh," and gently tossed the ball.

But her "gentle" toss sent the ball soaring high into the air.

It was headed right for Yun Xiaowu.

He leaped up to catch it. "Watch me go for a slam dunk!"

"Whoa, Yun Chenqin, is your sister really that strong?"

"I didn’t even see her use any force, and the basketball went flying."

Yun Xiaowu looked smug. "Of course she is! You have to consider whose sister she is."

Yun Xiaoqi rolled his eyes. "As if she’s not our sister too."

Meanwhile, Yun Xiaojiu took a handkerchief from his overall pocket and wiped Yun Jiao’s hands.

"Honestly. Why’d they have to throw the ball over here?"

"Jiaojiao, don’t catch it next time. That ball is filthy. Just look."

Her perfectly clean hands were now covered in a layer of black grime.

Yun Jiao looked and nodded in agreement.

"Mmm, dirty."

She obediently let her Brother Nine wipe her hands clean.