What if My Brother is Too Good?

Family and friends gathered together the night before Chinese New Year in anticipation to receive the joyous occasion.

Mo Ze looked out of his windows to see the brightly lit windows of every building and house; he felt that there was no place he belonged to.

As an illegitimate son, his mother only treated him as a tool to fight for his father’s favor, to gain a large sum of alimony. In addition, ever since she knew she had no hopes of becoming Mrs. Mo, she started to mingle around with all types of men, hunting for her next marriage target. As for his father, he had his own family and children. It wasn’t as if his father was lacking a son. Mo Ze was only brought back to the Huo family under Grandpa Mo’s insistence.

Henceforth, on a day such as Chinese New Year’s Eve, either side wouldn’t welcome Mo Ze, the illegitimate son.

Mo Ze slumped onto his bed. Just like previous years, he turned down all invitations and chose to spend this Chinese New Year’s Eve alone.

Seeing the preview of the New Year’s greeting that Huo Wu just sent, he felt his heart skip a beat and he clicked on it to open up the chat window.

When Huo Wu received Mo Ze’s message, the television was playing a sing and dance performance by a certain popular young actor and actress.

Though their singing skills were average, the actor was dashing and the actress was pretty. Undeniably speaking, their appearance on the same stage was enough of a meal to one’s eyes.

Thinking that there might be a chance for them to be co-workers in the future, Huo Wu was exceptionally sincere when watching the performance. Every up and rising star had their own unique star power. Other than developing her own skillset, Huo Wu felt that she had to learn from others. Only then, would she be able to further progress down the road of stardom.

Huo Wu ignored the WeChat message she had received. She picked up her phone and took a quick glance only when the sing and dance performance was over.

It was only then did she realize that the message was from Mo Ze. To be exact, it wasn’t a message, but rather, a voice message red packet. In order to open the red packet, she had to read the three words he sent: ‘Happy New Year,’ and upon the system’s successful verification of her pronunciation, she would then be able to get the money within.

Huo Wu pondered for a while before moving her fingers across the screen. “Happy New Year, but you don’t have to give me a red packet.”

Big Grey Wolf: “It’s just a small amount fitting for the occasion.”

Though Mo Ze might say it’s a small amount but to her thinking, it would surely be a substantial amount.

For fear of being in his debts, Huo Wu didn’t open the red packet after all.

After some time, Mo Ze sent another red packet, perhaps seeing that Huo Wu didn’t open the previous red packet even after quite some time. The red packet was sent with the words, “Anathema, Anemone, Antidisestablishmentarianism, Defibrillator, Floccinaucinihilipilification, Ignominious, Isthmus, Onomatopoeia, Otorhinolaryngological.”

Big Bad Wolf: High school senior, let me test you.

Peppa Pig: These won’t even be tested in gaokao. :rolleyes:

Mo Ze, himself, felt that he really had nothing better to do as well to actually send such a nonsensical voice message red packet. But the thought of Huo Wu rolling her eyes on the other end as she stared at these uncommon words with those pretty eyes of hers, Mo Ze felt slightly strange feelings of bliss rising in his heart.

Based on his character, if it was another woman at the other end of the conversation, he wouldn’t send words with propriety. He would probably send stuff like “Ah…. Mhmmm….” or other more sexually suggestive words. After all, he was the master of such languages.

Yet when it came to Huo Wu, for some reason, he didn’t want to send such stuff. Perhaps because he clearly knew that she wouldn’t read it as per his wishes even if he were to send them. Perhaps, there could be some other reasons as well. At the end of the day, he just didn’t do it.

Big Bad Wolf: I knew you wouldn’t know how to read them. :grins: I will send you a simpler one.

“Bright stars sparkling — it was mirrors laid open. Green clouds floating about — it was hair-dressing in the morning. The Wei River swelling with grease — it was made by the waste of ointment. Smoke curling up and vapor spreading — it was the burning of perfume. Thunder rolling suddenly — it was the passing of palace carriages, which one heard rumbling far off, but none could tell where it went to.”

Huo Wu was a little surprised to receive this red packet. She hadn’t expected that Mo Ze could recite On the Ah Fang Palace. But thinking deeper, she felt that Mo Ze probably copy-pasted it off Baidu and didn’t type it as he recalled from memory.

Big Bad Wolf: This will probably be tested in gaokao, no?

The sounds coming from the television in the living room were slightly loud. Huo Wu found a relatively silent corner and swiftly read out the words.

Out of her expectations, the verification failed on her first attempt. She couldn’t believe it and read the passage the second time. Just like the first, she failed once again.

For a moment, Huo Wu started to doubt if she had pronounced the words correctly. Yet when she scanned through the passage a few times, she couldn’t pinpoint where she had read wrongly.

She had a solid foundation in her languages. By right, she wouldn’t have read the words incorrectly. People said that three was the magic number. When Huo Wu commenced on her third attempt, she read excessively slowly, word by word. She aimed to pronounce every word clearly and accurately such that the system could pick up every single syllable.

Perhaps due to her serious attitude and clear distinction, she succeeded this time around. Upon successful system verification, the loading circle spun twice before the amount in the red packet popped up.

6666.

Most Chinese were superstitious and favored the digit ‘6’ as ‘6’ was a symbol of prosperity.

Huo Wu hadn’t expected that Mo Ze would be one of the superstitious ones.

After Huo Wu opened and received the contents of the red packet, Mo Ze played her voice recording. Huo Wu’s soft and sweet voice filled up the empty and cold room. The warmth embedded in the voice seemed to have added a few degrees of warmth to the otherwise cold room.

Word after word sounded. She sounded like an elementary school student diligently reading off a page in the textbook. However, her voice was naturally much more soothing to the ear as compared to the young voice of an elementary school kid.

Her voice was soft and sweet, and she sounded like a good child. For some unknown reason, Mo Ze felt an itch in his throat when he heard such a voice in the middle of the night.

After hearing the entire recitation once, he wanted to hear it once more but to his alarm, Huo Wu had already recalled the voice message.

This heartless lass, recalling her message the moment she took my red packet.

Mo Ze couldn’t help but smile.

Meanwhile, Huo Wu felt that she didn’t deserve Mo Ze’s red packet that contained 6666 yuan upon opening it. She returned that amount through a normal red packet. It wasn’t her problem as to whether he would open it or not.

It was already close to midnight and it would soon be the next day. If it was in the previous years, every family would have surely lit firecrackers to celebrate the occasion.

Yet, in the past two years, the government had passed a ban on firecrackers and fireworks in an attempt to protect the environment. Ever since the policy was passed, almost no household had lit firecrackers.

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