Chapter 272 269. A Displeased Father
Her younger sister's academic performance was poor.
Now only in the seventh grade, her grades had already deteriorated to the point where simply passing was considered good enough. Her English was slightly better, but only by a slim margin.
Their father was the impatient type, so even when he was home, he never tutored the younger sister, terrified he might accidentally give himself an aneurysm from sheer frustration.
Their mother was out grocery shopping, so now An Han was the only one in charge.
The younger sister sat at the computer desk in the living room while An Han lounged lazily beside her, idly resting her chin on her hand, watching her sister intensely copy homework answers.
The winter vacation workbooks had an answer key at the back. Her sister had simply torn the pages out and was casting paranoid glances at the front door, terrified their mother would suddenly return, all while furiously transcribing the answers.
An Han had no objections to this. After all, back in the day, she didn't even bother doing her winter or summer vacation homework. When school started, she would just hand in empty books; the teachers never checked them anyway.
Back then, their mother hadn't cared much about An Han's studies, leaving everything academic to extracurricular tutoring classes, only hoping she wouldn't cause any more trouble at school that would require calling the parents. However, when it came to the younger sister, their mother was strictly cracking the whip on academics.
"Sis, could you write a little for me?"
"Then you might as well not write it at all."
"Can I really?"
Looking at her expectant gaze, An Han felt her blood pressure ticking upward. She paused, curled her lips, and said, "As long as you aren't afraid of Mom spanking your butt, sure."
"..." The younger sister wordlessly lowered her head and went back to copying her homework.
An Han wondered how Su Peng was getting along with her mother.
He was probably being subjected to her mother's hazing—a kind face hiding daggers behind her smile, right?
An Han let out a yawn, but then heard a noise coming from the stairs.
Her father had finally woken up, though he still looked incredibly drowsy. Rubbing his eyes, with his hair and pajamas exceptionally disheveled, he staggered down the stairs.
He probably hadn't slept well last night. Otherwise, even if he wasn't leaving the house, he would normally groom himself neatly instead of looking this sloppy.
"Dad, breakfast is on the table."
Her father poked his head into the living room, glanced at his two daughters, nodded, and then walked toward the dining table, looking heavily preoccupied.
"An Han, we're going to your grandfather's house this afternoon for New Year's greetings. Get ready in advance."
"Got it."
A few close relatives on her grandfather's side already knew about An Han's situation, so going there for New Year's wouldn't make her too awkward or embarrassed. Besides, there was the blockbuster news of cousins dating to draw their attention away.
An Han debated whether to bring her system item along and take it out for the female relatives to see when it was just them. This would not only provide a reasonable explanation for her becoming a woman but also allow her to miraculously grow out her hair.
If her hair grew long, she could just tell her parents that Su Peng took her to get hair extensions. Otherwise, cutting it off could also fetch a decent sum of money.
An Han still hoped her hair could be a bit longer. After all, Su Peng seemed to prefer long hair, and she increasingly felt that her short hair was a bit too boyish.
In the past, she used to think short hair looked valiant, handsome, and pretty. She didn't know when, but that preference had gradually faded.
Maybe it was after being accepted by her family?
Her original male mindset had buried itself deeper and deeper after gaining approval, and after meeting Lin Yue, it was buried so deep it was hardly noticeable anymore.
Her younger sister had finished copying ten pages of homework. An Han immediately stood up and headed upstairs, truly unwilling to stay by her sister's side for even a second longer.
Even though she didn't have any aversion to copying answers for winter vacation homework—having done far worse things herself—it was one thing to copy, but to take half an hour just to transcribe ten pages of a workbook, with handwriting like illegible chicken scratch... at a glance, An Han literally couldn't recognize a single word.
It was enough to cure low blood pressure... If their mother saw her sister's homework, she'd probably pin her down and spank her for a solid two minutes.
An Han finally understood why their mother's temper was getting worse; she was constantly being provoked by her younger sister.
Slipping off her shoes, she practically fled up the stairs, but suddenly leaned on the handrail and looked down toward her father, her face full of curiosity and a thirst for gossip.
"Dad, how did you manage to woo Mom back then?"
Her father's expression already looked a bit uneasy, and upon hearing An Han's question, his face darkened even more.
He looked up at An Han's delicate and pretty face, unable to bring himself to scold her. He hesitated for a moment before answering, "Mutual affection. How else would I woo her?"
"I heard Mom say that Grandpa didn't seem to like you back then?"
He put on his stern paternal airs. "Stop gossiping about my business. Your matter with that brat isn't over yet!"
"Oh..."
Although she had been getting along quite happily with her father recently, he was, after all, away from home for long periods. When he pulled a long face, An Han couldn't just keep grinning and bantering like she did with her mother. She cowardly shrank her neck and hurriedly trotted upstairs.
What's there to be so fierce about... If you don't want to tell me, then don't.
Her father was clearly in a bad mood today. Even when Su Peng came knocking yesterday, her father hadn't looked as irritable as he did right now.
An Han hadn't taken two steps when she suddenly heard the sound of a car outside. She stopped in her tracks and poked her head over the banister to look at the front door.
A moment later, Su Peng walked into the house carrying a large grocery bag. Her father's face grew even darker, glaring unkindly at Su Peng as he entered.
Su Peng was obviously a bit intimidated, terrified of actually getting his legs broken and being tossed out. He placed the items on the floor and looked up at his future mother-in-law, who stepped into the house right behind him.
"Auntie, I've put the things on the floor for you. I'll be going now?"
"What's the rush? Why not stay for lunch?" Her mother checked the time. It was ten in the morning; starting to cook now meant they would eat right around eleven or twelve.
"You're keeping him for lunch again?" her father couldn't help but interrupt. "Aren't we supposed to go pay New Year's visits after lunch?"
"What does paying New Year's visits have to do with having one extra person for lunch?"
Smiling cheerfully, her mother opened the large plastic bag, revealing individually packaged bags of ingredients inside.
Su Peng hesitated for a moment before stepping forward under the father's murderous gaze. "Auntie, let me help you out."
"Sure."
It seemed her mother and Su Peng were getting along swimmingly~
It was just that her father's eyes looked as if he wanted to swallow Su Peng alive...
Sensing that amused gaze, Su Peng turned his head to look at An Han, who had only her head poking out from the stairs, observing in secret. He gave her a confident smile.
She gave a thumbs-up in response, but upon seeing her father suddenly turn his head to look, she hurriedly quickened her pace and darted upstairs.
She didn't know what Su Peng had done, but he had actually managed to get on good terms with her mother just in the time it took to buy groceries~
Humming a happy little tune, An Han returned to her room and opened her wardrobe, ready to change into somewhat prettier clothes.
But soon, she froze in front of the closet.
That guy Su Peng... offering to help out with the cooking, wasn't he just going to make things worse?
He might be excellent at various other skills, but when it came to household chores, he was absolutely abysmal.
An Han panicked a bit. She quickly ran to the third-floor hallway and peered down the stairs.
Directly below the stairs was the dining table. She could just catch sight of her father sitting there with a gloomy gaze, and she could faintly hear her mother's helpless voice: "Just help out... by sorting the vegetables."
"Just pick off the bad leaves and then wash them."
"Or maybe you should just go watch TV?"
(Author's Note: Thanks to Man Xia for the 15,000 reward tip~ Setting a flag, I'll update at least three chapters tomorrow!)
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