Chapter 124: Come On, Cheat If You Dare

Su Qinghu felt a chill run down her spine under Erdan’s fiery gaze. She quickly stuffed the bankbook into her bag and reached out her hand. “Where’s your homework? Give it here, let me take a look!”

“And Dadan, you too. Bring me your homework.”

Dadan turned to get his homework. Erdan moved as well, but not to fetch his homework—instead, he rushed to finish it. “Mom, give me five minutes! I just need to finish the last Chinese character essay!”

Su Qinghu raised an eyebrow. “If you ever finish your homework as fast as your brother, I’ll take you both on a trip.”

“What’s a trip?” Erdan asked, scribbling away at his homework without even looking up. “Does it mean you’ll take us out to play?”

Su Qinghu took Dadan’s homework, flipping through it quickly as she replied without looking up, “You can break down the word. ‘Lv’ means to travel, to go out. ‘You’ means to go sightseeing.”

“So it does mean taking us out to play!” Erdan’s pen flew across the page as he looked up at Su Qinghu, grinning. “Yay, we can finally ride a train!”

Su Qinghu shot him a look. “Pipe down. Finish your homework before you talk.”

Erdan immediately fell silent and buried his head in his work.

Su Qinghu turned her attention back to checking Dadan’s homework. Knowing he hadn’t made any mistakes, Dadan just waited quietly for her to finish.

His handwriting was neat and clear, making it easy for Su Qinghu to check. When she was done, she closed the notebook and handed it back. “Not bad. Keep it up.”

Dadan quietly took back his homework. After a moment’s thought, he spoke up, “I only spent part of the allowance you gave me last week. I saved sixty cents. That’s only enough to buy you a bowl of vegetable and egg noodles.”

She’d be eating while they just watched…

Su Qinghu didn’t comment on his statement. Instead, she asked a completely unrelated question, “Before I came home, what game were you and Erdan playing?”

Dadan pressed his lips together, unsure what she was getting at, and didn’t answer right away.

“Marbles!” Erdan jumped up, holding out his freshly finished homework for Su Qinghu to see. “Mom, have you ever played marbles? You make a hole in the ground with a big marble, then see who can shoot the other’s marble into the hole first.”

Had Su Qinghu never played marbles?

Of course she had! And she’d played with more tricks than they could imagine!

But the original owner of this body hadn’t.

To be honest, these glass marbles were pretty expensive in this era, especially the patterned ones. They’d only become popular in recent years. When the original owner was a child, she’d never even seen them.

There really was a difference between small towns and the city. In small towns, boys played with spinning tops and slingshots carved by adults, while girls sewed little beanbags to toss or made feathered shuttlecocks…

Su Qinghu pulled herself out of her memories. “Never played.”

“Then I’ll teach you!” Erdan’s eyes lit up. “Once you learn, we’ll have a match! Ten cents a game? Winner gets to make the loser do something?”

Oh ho~~~

Su Qinghu smiled at Erdan. So this little rascal was waiting for her here? Fine, let’s play! Besides, the time from the last bet—where the losers had to wash dishes and clean—was almost up. Time to renew the wager!

“Dadan, you join too!”

As she spoke, Su Qinghu grabbed the birthday gift Erdan had given her—a hair clip—and quickly tied her hair up in a bun.

After all, they were at home. No one would see her.

Once the game was over, she’d just take it off.

Perfect!

Su Qinghu tidied herself up and nodded at Dadan. “If you win, you can keep your sixty cents. I don’t need you to treat me.”

Dadan had been indifferent, even thinking he might as well spend the sixty cents. But when he looked at Su Qinghu, his gaze involuntarily drifted up—finally landing on that blindingly bright pink hair clip!

He: !!!

No way! He refused to go out to eat with Su Qinghu looking like that!

“I don’t want the money. I choose the winner gets to make the loser do something.” Dadan put on a serious face and walked over to the marble hole he and Erdan had made.

—Such confidence!

Su Qinghu smirked and rolled up her sleeves. Just you wait! Don’t cry when you lose!

After explaining the rules, Erdan gave Su Qinghu five minutes to practice. He took her watch and timed her, sneaking glances at the garish pink hair clip on her head.

Honestly, it really didn’t look good~~~

Why had he thought it looked nice when he picked it out?

Erdan tilted his head, completely puzzled.

If Su Qinghu knew, she’d probably tell him: maybe it only seemed special because he’d snatched it from someone else.

“I’m ready!” Su Qinghu stood up, holding a small marble, her eyes crinkling with a smile. “This is pretty fun~~”

Dadan eyed her suspiciously. For some reason, he felt something was off…

Ten minutes later.

Su Qinghu triumphantly collected all the marbles from both boys, grinning wickedly. She pointed at Erdan first. “Washing dishes and cleaning, one month each. Which do you pick?”

“Cleaning…” Erdan pouted, totally deflated.

Didn’t she say she’d never played before? How could she be so good? She’d been lying to kids all along!

Before Su Qinghu could even look at Dadan, he spoke up, “I want a rematch.”

“You sure?” Su Qinghu raised her pretty eyebrows, practically glowing. “You might not win, you know~~~”

Haha, after all these years, she was still as unbeatable as ever!

Not bad!

Su Qinghu was very satisfied.

“I want a rematch.” Dadan finished, then turned to his sulking little brother. “Go stand somewhere cool!”

Erdan’s face was red from the sun. “The only cool spots are by the wall.”

“Then go over there,” Dadan frowned. “If you stay in the sun, you’ll be darker than our coal briquettes!”

Erdan paused, then glanced at Su Qinghu. Seeing her bright, glowing face, he turned and trudged to the wall.

When their new mom taught them to wash their hands with soap, he and his brother’s hands always looked like they’d been dipped in black paint—no matter how much they washed, they never got any lighter.

From that day, he realized: being dark made you look dirty.

When Erdan was almost at the wall, Dadan took two steps toward Su Qinghu. Under her gaze, he whispered, “You don’t like that hair clip, do you?”

Su Qinghu raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

Wasn’t it obvious? Even Erdan had realized how ugly it was. Otherwise, why would he keep glancing at her bun while she was practicing?

“If you lose to me,” Dadan met her starry eyes, “I’ll ask you not to wear that hair clip anymore.”

Su Qinghu paused, marble spinning in her hand, and looked at Dadan. “You want a rematch just so I won’t wear this hair clip?”

Such a little angel?

She didn’t believe it!"