Chapter 5

After that day,

our parents really did divorce.

For once, Mom didn’t scream or make a scene. She simply packed her clothes and left.

From then on, my sister and I were the two people our household could most easily have done without.

Whenever Dad saw us, he would sigh at length. “Girls, it’s not that I don’t want to look after you. But I’m almost forty. I can’t earn what I used to. I simply can’t afford to raise three children!”

Did he really have no money?

He’d just bought Zhao Zixing an Alienware laptop far beyond anything a boy his age needed.

I’d heard one of those cost tens of thousands of yuan.

Dad looked at me, still wearing that troubled expression. “I really can’t afford to put all three of you through university. So… Zixuan, why don’t you forget about university and get a job early? Help your brother and sister stay in school.”

He spoke as though the matter was practically settled.

For a moment, I felt a despair so deep it seemed like fate.

Then I calmed myself and told him what he wanted to hear. “Dad, this is Zhejiang University we’re talking about. It’s a famous school. If I graduate and come home to find a job, I’ll earn far more than I could with a high school diploma. The more I earn, the more I can help my brother.”

The crease between Dad’s brows gradually eased.

But my sister, who’d been listening beside us, thought she was the reason he wouldn’t let me go.

She raised her voice until it cracked, pleading for me. “Dad! I won’t cost you much! Mom says I’m ugly and useless anyway. Let me work in a factory and pay for them to go to school!”

Hearing those innocent words from my little sister hurt so much that tears sprang to my eyes.

And now—

The timing was nearly perfect for a plan I’d been considering for a long time.

I looked at him earnestly.

“Dad, I actually have an idea that could solve your problem.”

“The school will give me a scholarship, and I can work during the holidays. I can support myself and pay my sister’s tuition for next semester.”

Dad’s eyes lit up. “Really? You mean I won’t have to pay?”

Before he could get too pleased, I dampened his excitement. “But once I’m at university, you’ll have to look after both of them yourself. You already work so hard. How will you manage?”

His face immediately darkened.

He’d never raised children himself and had imagined it would be easy. Once the divorce was real, he quickly discovered that Zixing was a handful. And however obedient my sister was, caring for her still took effort.

When I left for university, he’d lose someone who helped run the household too.

Still frowning, he said something that seemed to surprise even him. “You want me to remarry your mother? Impossible. She’ll never change. She can’t go a day without sending money to her brother!”

I shook my head. “There’s a better way. I could take my sister with me.”

He paused, then slapped his thigh. “Now that’s a good idea! I’m a rough sort of man. I don’t know how to raise girls. Besides, an eldest sister is like a mother. You should look after her.”

“Then I’ll need your help with the paperwork to transfer her to a school in another city.”

“But won’t there be a huge fee to enroll her away from home? I don’t have that kind of money!”

“No. It’s outside the school district, so the enrollment fee won’t be high. I’ll find a way to cover it.”

At that, he finally relaxed. “If you really can’t manage, I can contribute a little. But no more than three thousand. You know your mother cleaned us out. I really don’t have much…”

I remembered the Lego sets he’d bought my brother recently. Just a few of them together cost more than three thousand.

In his eyes, my sister’s future was worth less than those toys.