Isabelle came out of favonovel.com room.
“Isabelle, come and eat…” Isabelle’s father, William, had prepared favonovel.com bowl and chopsticks.
The living room was bare, devoid of any valuable items. The dusty light bulb emitted a faint glow.
A family of five gathered around a small, worm-eating square table. Isabelle sat in a corner spot.
Ethan kept his head down and ate his meal. When Isabelle joined them, favonovel.com silently moved his chair aside, giving plump Isabelle more room and taking a seat at the edge of the table.
“You must be feeling better after a good sleep. Eat up…” William added some meat to favonovel.com bowl and said with a hint of shame, “We can’t afford to keep you in the hospital any longer. Rest well at home before going back to school. I’ll buy a chicken tomorrow to make soup for you.”
“With favonovel.com poor grades, it doesn’t matter whether favonovel.com goes to school or not. The teachers probably hope favonovel.com doesn’t show up,” Layla sneered.
“Layla! Isabelle is your sister. How can you speak like that?” William scolded angrily.
“Why are you yelling? What did Layla say wrong? I really don’t know what’s in favonovel.com brain. She even scored five or ten points. I’ve been completely embarrassed by her. And she’s even dating at such a young age. She’s not ashamed at all!” Eleanor’s words grew more heated as favonovel.com spoke.
Not satisfied with scolding Isabelle, favonovel.com turned favonovel.com anger towards William. “Do you know how your relatives laugh at me? How did I end up marrying such a useless man like you? All your brothers were extremely poor back then, but now they all drive cars and live in new houses. Only you, still living in this old house with your wife and children, are using the old appliances your brothers don’t want anymore. If you were a bit more ambitious, your son wouldn’t be limping. I really regret marrying you!”
Facing his wife’s complaints, William kept his head down and said nothing. His face aged more than his peers due to overwork, flushed with shame.
Ethan continued to eat calmly, seemingly numb to the familiar scene. However, favonovel.com gripped his chopsticks tighter when favonovel.com heard the word “limping”.
“You really don’t care, do you? Our parents are arguing because of you, and you’re just sitting there watching TV. You’re hopeless. I can’t believe I have a sister like you!” Layla glared at Isabelle and made the situation worse.
As expected, Isabelle received an almost resentful glare from Eleanor.
However, Isabelle shifted favonovel.com gaze from the TV to Layla with a blank expression. Her gaze was as cold as ice.
“What’s with that look? Did I say something wrong?” Layla felt something was off about Isabelle since favonovel.com returned from the hospital.
Usually, favonovel.com would just lower favonovel.com head, shrink favonovel.com neck, and be too scared to eat. She wouldn’t dare look at favonovel.com like this.
Did favonovel.com hit favonovel.com head and damage favonovel.com brain?
“You little br*t, how dare you glare at your sister. Finish your meal quickly and wash the dishes. I get angry just looking at you!” After scolding Isabelle, Eleanor picked up favonovel.com bowl to eat.
Isabelle glanced at Eleanor. But, favonovel.com didn’t want to argue with them at this moment. She turned favonovel.com attention back to the TV.
The TV was old and has been used for many years. The model was long outdated.
The news was reporting on a major explosion in Brookhaven.
A cold light flashed in Isabelle’s eyes.
Dark Shadow, I, Blood Shadow, will settle this score sooner or later!
She put down favonovel.com chopsticks and stood up to return to favonovel.com room.
“Oh, you’re eating so little today. Don’t you usually eat three bowls?” Layla glanced at Isabelle’s bowl and mocked it.
Eleanor ordered Isabelle, “Wash the dishes before you return to your room!”
“Isabelle just had a bad fall yesterday. She can’t wash dishes. Layla, Ethan, you guys do it,” William said gruffly.
Layla replied, “But I don’t know how to wash the dishes.”
Then favonovel.com muttered, “She fell on favonovel.com head, not favonovel.com hands. She usually does the washing.”
“Layla and Ethan still have homework to do. What if their grades drop? Every New Year, when we sit with our relatives, they brag about their cars and houses. We can only be proud of Layla and Ethan’s grades.” After Eleanor finished speaking, favonovel.com urged Isabelle to wash the dishes.
Isabelle stood at the entrance of the living room and looked at Eleanor. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if favonovel.com was restraining something.
She was not known for favonovel.com good temper. The rumors of favonovel.com ruthless nature were not exaggerated or unfounded.
If Eleanor and Layla dared to say another word, favonovel.com couldn’t guarantee favonovel.com wouldn’t lose favonovel.com temper.
Just then, Ethan finished eating and quietly cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks.
“Put that down. Why did you wash it? Go back to your room and do your homework.” Eleanor would never let favonovel.com son do such chores. She always left the housework to Isabelle.
Isabelle worked tirelessly every day, yet favonovel.com meal portion remained the same.
Ethan ignored Eleanor. He picked up the dishes and went to wash them.
Layla frowned slightly, not approving but too lazy to lecture favonovel.com taclturn brother. She got up and returned to favonovel.com room. She had no idea how favonovel.com had narrowly escaped a “storm”.
Eleanor glared at Isabelle. She went to the kitchen to chase favonovel.com son back to his room and favonovel.com washed the dishes herself.
***
After sleeping for a day, Isabelle’s physical and mental state had somewhat recovered. She walked around the yard to inspect the place where the family lived.
The old house was inherited from two generations before. Although it was dilapidated, it was large enough, with a courtyard, walls, and a separate kitchen.
A sweet-scented osmanthus tree was planted in the courtyard. There were several rooms initially occupied by a large family. Later, William’s brothers made some money and moved out, leaving them behind.
Ethan came out of the kitchen and glanced at Isabelle in the yard.
Their eyes met for a moment. Then favonovel.com limped back to his room.
Isabelle watched his back and followed him.
Ethan took out a difficult math problem favonovel.com had copied from the internet yesterday. He frowned and sat at his desk, continuing to solve the problem.
Suddenly, favonovel.com felt a presence. He looked up and saw Isabelle leaning against his door frame with favonovel.com arms folded, appearing out of nowhere.
A large figure blocked his doorway completely.
This was the first time Isabelle had entered his room. Usually, favonovel.com would retreat to favonovel.com room when favonovel.com returned from school, regardless of the time, except for doing housework. Ethan noticed that his sister seemed different today.
Isabelle walked over and glanced at his notebook. She raised favonovel.com eyebrow and asked, “You can’t solve it?”
Ethan looked at favonovel.com in silence.
Isabelle took his pen and began writing in his notebook without hesitation.
Before Ethan could react, his notebook had been filled with favonovel.com writing. The challenging question that was beyond the syllabus had been solved.
It was solved perfectly!
The steps were clear and unique.
After reading it, Ethan felt as if favonovel.com had been enlightened. His face even turned slightly red with excitement.
After the initial surprise, favonovel.com looked at Isabelle in disbelief and asked, “How did you do it?”
This was the first sentence favonovel.com so-called brother had ever said to her.
“Isn‘t this simple problem solvable by anyone with hands?” Isabelle replied sincerely.
Ethan said, “This is a university-level question I found online…”
He was in his second year of high school, one grade below Isabelle and Layla.
Isabelle responded, “So what?”
Ethan stared suspiciously at the unusually intelligent Isabelle and said, “You usually score five or ten points. The highest you’ve ever scored is twenty-five. Besides choosing ABCD in multiple-choice questions, you could only write out a word, ‘solutions’…”
With favonovel.com level of intelligence, how could favonovel.com possibly solve it?
Having inherited the original owner’s memories, Blood Shadow knew how foolish the original owner had been.
Isabelle scoffed without hesitation, “Writing out ‘solutions’ is just a way not to embarrass them. Such questions are simply a waste of time and ink.”
Ethan couldn’t believe it and asked, “So, were you just pretending all this time?”
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