The Villain Quits - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After the first mock exams ended, my brother actually took first place for the first time in history!

I was terrified.

While my brother’s grades were decent, in the original novel, Xie Yu’an had never dropped from the top spot since transferring to this high school.

At this moment, Xie Yu’an stood before the rankings, his brow furrowed, his expression becoming increasingly inscrutable.

I gingerly edged over to him, trying to strike up a conversation to break the tension.

“Wow, the weather is pretty nice today.”

Xie Yu’an gave a brief hum of acknowledgment and said in a low voice, “The weather has been a bit chilly lately. Your brother-”

My heart skipped a beat. I immediately performed a ninety-degree bow, apologizing with practiced, fluid grace.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Actually, my brother cheated on everything. I’ll give him a good talking-to as soon as I get home.”

Xie Yu’an was stunned.

“I was going to say, tell your brother to wear more clothes. What if he catches a cold and passes it on to you?”

Huh?

I stood there, frozen.

So it wasn’t a case of ‘the weather is getting cold, time to make my brother’s company go bankrupt’ after all?

As soon as I got home, I grabbed my brother by the collar.

“Spill it! How did you get first place? Whoever you are, get out of my brother’s body!”

“I cheated,” my brother answered quite candidly.

My vision went dark.

Great. He really did cheat.

“Why on earth would you cheat your way into first place?!”

My brother replied with righteous indignation, “Sis, don’t you think that even though Xie Yu’an escaped his adoptive mother, he’s still mentally wound up like a tight spring? I’m doing this to show him through my own actions that it’s no big deal if you aren’t number one once in a while.”

I blinked.

I hadn’t expected my brother to be so thoughtful.

I had misjudged him.

My brother smiled slightly and pulled a delivery box from behind his back.

“Besides, Dad said if I got first place, he’d buy me the latest gaming console.”

“Hey! That was your real goal all along, wasn’t it!”

Life in the third year of high school continued without much novelty.

That is, until the eve of the college entrance exams, when a sudden piece of bombshell news exploded across the school.

Jiang Ning was on the playground giving someone a love letter to confess her feelings!

Jiang Ning? A confession? To whom?!

Could it be Xie Yu’an?

Suppressing a strange hint of bitterness in my heart, I poked my head out to look at the playground.

Not far away, a girl tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and handed a pink envelope to the boy standing opposite her.

It was so youthful, so dreamlike.

But why did that guy look more and more like my brother the longer I looked?

Holy crap, it really was my brother!

Don’t let Xie Yu’an see this!

I turned my head, searching everywhere for Xie Yu’an, only to find him already standing by the window, looking down.

Crap!

He already saw it!

Xie Yu’an’s gaze only lingered on those two figures for a split second before he nonchalantly shifted his eyes toward the distance.

Crap!

He’s already thinking about where to bury my brother!

I paced in circles, frantic with worry.

Brother, I worked so hard just to barely maintain the precarious friendship between you and the male lead.

And then you turn around and steal the female lead!

Are you insane?!

Whatever. I’ve got to do something.

I closed my eyes, steeled my heart, and sidled up to Xie Yu’an.

Seeing me approach, Xie Yu’an couldn’t help but let a small smile show. “Suisui, I just saw on the playground-”

I hurriedly interrupted him.

“It’s a misunderstanding! A massive misunderstanding! My brother is illiterate; he probably thought that was a formal challenge to a fight! Oh man, look at this mess!”

“…Illiterate?” Xie Yu’an raised an eyebrow.

“Mhm, yeah, exactly,” I nodded repeatedly.

Xie Yu’an looked at me with a strange expression and pondered for a moment.

“That’s a bit serious. It might be best to take him to a hospital for a check-up.”

When I finally saw my brother, I was fuming.

“Did you say yes to her?”

“N-n-no, of course not. After all, we’re s-s-still high school students. We have to f-f-focus on our studies first.”

My brother was flushed red, his words coming out in fragments.

Wow. He’s stuttering so hard, yet he’s actually sticking to his principles.

“Besides, I’m the older brother. I have to set a good example for you by not engaging in puppy love.”

I let out a cold snort, about to mock him back.

But suddenly, Xie Yu’an’s face flashed through my mind.

Puppy love? Me?

That was a question worth pondering.

I rubbed my chin, falling into an eerie silence. Ignoring my brother, I silently retreated to my room to contemplate my life.

However, in a place where I couldn’t see, my brother’s expression turned incredibly grim, his teeth practically gnashing.

“I knew it… I knew it was that kid! That bastard!”