As Xin Jiuwei stepped into her brother's courtyard, she heard a sharp "crash"—another teacup had been ruined. She gestured for the maid guarding the door to step back, and then tiptoed inside.

Xin Yunzhou stood with his back to the door, his shoulders slumped, shards of porcelain and water stains scattered on the floor. Hearing footsteps, he roared without turning around, "I told you not to bother me!"

"Brother, are you even going to kick me out?" Xin Jiuwei said softly.

Xin Yunzhou turned around abruptly, her face still showing lingering anger. Upon seeing her sister, her expression immediately fell: "It's you..."

Xin Jiuwei crouched down and picked up the broken pieces of porcelain one by one: "Did Mr. Ye scold you again?"

"A scolding?" Xin Yunzhou laughed self-deprecatingly. "Today he bluntly said I'm 'hopeless'!" He grabbed a stack of articles on the table, riddled with red annotations, and slammed them to the ground. "I'm simply not cut out for studying!"

Xin Jiuwei's finger was cut by a shard of porcelain, but she didn't notice. Looking at her brother's red-rimmed eyes, a pang of pain shot through her heart. In her past life, her brother had been the same, repeatedly failing the imperial examinations, ultimately being framed by Qi Huaiyu and earning a reputation as a纨绔 (a spoiled, dissolute young man)...

"Why should you belittle yourself, brother?" She took out a handkerchief and pressed it to her bleeding finger. "You're so good at math, even Minister Zhao praised you..."

"Enough!" Xin Yunzhou suddenly interrupted her. "Jiuwei, what's wrong with you lately? One minute you're trying to get me into the Ministry of War, the next you're forcing me to curry favor with Mr. Ye... I'm like a puppet on a string, completely at your mercy!"

Xin Jiuwei's breath hitched. She hadn't expected her brother to think that way.

"I just...want to help you find the right path." Her voice softened.

"The right path?" Xin Yunzhou smiled bitterly, "Or the right path for you?" He pointed to the article on the ground, "Do you know how late I stayed up last night? Just to write a solution that would satisfy Mr. Ye! And what was the result?"

Xin Jiuwei clenched the handkerchief in her hand. She had indeed been too hasty. Having been reborn, she was always thinking about helping her brother avoid the tragedy of his previous life, but she forgot to ask him what he really wanted.

"What does my brother want to do?" she asked softly.

Xin Yunzhou froze, opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word. After a long while, he slumped into a chair: "I...I don't know."

This answer hurt Xin Jiuwei more than the argument. Her brother couldn't even clearly state what he wanted.

"You can leave now." Xin Yunzhou turned her face away. "I want to be alone."

Xin Jiuwei wanted to say something more, but saw that her brother had already turned away, his back full of resistance. She could only silently leave, gently closing the door behind her as she went.

The corridor twisted and turned, and Xin Jiuwei walked absentmindedly. Her brother's question still echoed in her ears—"The right path? Or the path that suits you?" She couldn't help but ask herself: Was she really forcing her brother to follow the path she thought was right?

"Miss Xin the Second."

A powerful voice came from behind. Xin Jiuwei turned around and saw Ye Qing standing with his hands behind his back under the corridor, his white hair as white as snow and his eyes as sharp as torches.

"Mr. Ye." She quickly bowed.

"Is your brother hiding away crying again?" Ye Qing asked directly.

Xin Jiuwei was momentarily at a loss for words. Mr. Ye, however, had already walked to her side, gazing at an old plum tree in the courtyard, half-withered and half-blooming: "Do you know why this tree blooms at one moment and withers at the other?"

Xin Jiuwei shook her head.

"Because gardeners always prune according to their own preferences," Ye Qingzheng said meaningfully, "but forget to ask which way the tree wants to grow."

Xin Jiuwei's heart skipped a beat. These words were clearly meant to enlighten her.

"Sir...is my brother truly devoid of any talent?"

Ye Qingzheng stroked his beard and smiled: "Talent? He's faster at using the abacus than my page, and even the old officials in the Ministry of Revenue praise his mental arithmetic skills. It's a pity..." He glanced at Xin Jiuwei, "that someone is insisting on pushing him onto the path of the imperial examinations."

Xin Jiuwei's face burned. Yes, in her past life, although her brother wasn't good at literature, he could sort out their father's complicated accounts clearly. It was because she was terrified by the tragedy of her past life that she desperately wanted her brother to take the "orthodox" path of the imperial examinations...

"Sir, you mean..."

"Teach according to aptitude, prescribe the right medicine for the illness." Ye Qing interrupted her, "Your brother is an abacus bead, so don't force him to be a calligraphy brush." ​​After saying that, he turned to leave.

Xin Jiuwei watched the scholar's departing figure, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She suddenly realized where she had gone wrong—her rebirth had given her the advantage of foresight, but it had also made her autocratic. In this life, she should learn to listen to the voices of others.

In a dilapidated pawnshop in the south of the city, Qi Huaiyu slammed a gold hairpin on the counter: "Fifty taels!"

The shopkeeper picked up the gold hairpin, examined it closely against the light, then scratched it with his fingernail, and scoffed, "Gold-plated, worth at most two taels."

"Bullshit!" Qi Huaiyu's forehead veins bulged. "This is... but..."

"But what?" the shopkeeper sneered. "Stolen? Robbed? Young Master Qi, don't you know your own reputation?"

Qi Huaiyu's face was ashen. Ever since being kicked out of the Xin family, he had become a pariah, avoided even by his former drinking buddies. The meager savings left by Madam Feng had long been exhausted, and now even pawning his belongings was met with difficulties...

"Three taels, take it or leave it!" The shopkeeper threw the hairpin back.

Qi Huaiyu grabbed the other person's wrist: "Are you looking for death?"

"What are you doing!" the shopkeeper shouted. "Help! Qi Huaiyu is robbing us!"

Two burly waiters rushed out from the back room. Seeing the situation was dire, Qi Huaiyu grabbed his hairpin and dashed out the door, a burst of laughter erupting behind him.

"Even a stray dog ​​dares to bark!"

"Does he really think he's still the young master of the Xin family?"

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