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It was not much of a surprise as to what happened for his exams: he flunked them all, well, most of them at least. His previous grades were barely average and with his present grades, one could easily see the clear decline in his academic performance.

Xing Peng felt heavy and burdened when he got to know his grades, he knew they were going to be bad but he didn't think they would be THAT bad.

His father never cared about him, let alone his grades. Likewise, Xing Peng never cared for his drunk old man. The only one he cared about was his mother. While his grades before were barely average, now they were abysmal. He didn't want to see the disappointment in his mother's eyes when she knew of his academic performance.

But Xing Peng knew this matter couldn't be avoided. He went home and let his mother know about his grades.

Xing Peng's mother didn't say much, other than telling him to work harder next time and to focus on his studies, but Xing Peng knew that she would still be a bit disappointed in him. After all, Ai Yu was struggling to provide him better education so his later life would go smoothly, and here he was flunking his exams and not being worthy of the efforts she put into him.

Although Xing Peng's mother knew that her son was bullied by his brother at home, she ensured that the latter didn't seek any trouble with Xing Peng under her presence.

But this help was only temporary. Since she had to go and manage the small restaurant, she wasn't always at home. Ai Yu knew that without her presence, Xing Shan would definitely trouble his little brother. She could only hope that Xing Peng studied properly in school.

She was not aware that Xing Peng's troubles didn't end at home, he was bullied at his school,too.

Xing Peng kept quiet about this matter to avoid any unnecessary worry for his mother.

Since the exams were over and his scores were already announced, for the next few days he was in a gloomy mood. He knew, if he wanted to blame anyone for his failure it would be he himself and his *sshole of a brother, Xing Shan. If he had studied and didn't indulge in those Chinese novels then perhaps, he could have gotten average grades and if Xing Shan had stopped beating and torturing him for no reason, getting grades a bit above average was likely possible for him.

But those were just "ifs", the truth was, that he had miserable grades at the moment.

Feeling down for his own stupidity over abandoning himself to those novels, Xing Peng once again turned to read the very same as he consoled himself: "Exams are already over, so reading a bit more won't really affect me for now and when the next round of exams comes, I would have already stopped reading novels and begun studying hard to get good grades."

The next day when Xing Peng went to school his friend, Li Chong, brought him to a remote corner to show him something.

"What's up? What do you want to show me, brother Chong?" Xing Peng asked curiously.

"Hmm... just wait a bit" Li Chong said as he took out his phone and showed Xing Peng some web novels.

"See, here are the translated versions of the Chinese novels in English, meant for the international audiences. I know you are struggling a bit with the English language and since you also like reading these novels, you should try reading some web novels as it will improve your English as well. It's like killing two birds with one stone" Li Chong explained.

"Really? That's amazing! But sadly, I only have an ordinary phone, nothing like yours, which happens to be the latest smartphone" Xing Peng said.

But he didn't feel too grieved over it. His family's finances were limited, given how his father wasted most of the money by gambling it away or by getting himself drunk, the family was always in a tight situation when it came to their finances.

His mother wasn't able to change this situation either, she had tried but was slapped and lashed at.

"Brother Xing Peng, why make me feel more miserable than before? I figured that, because I introduced you to some Chinese novels, your grades have dropped. Don't try to deny it, I know it.

But your eyes aren't as gloomy as they used to be before. So now I don't know whether I did a good or a bad thing by introducing you to novels" Li Chong laughed as he put his new phone into Xing Peng's hands.

"Brother Chong... this? Why did you hand me your smartphone?" At this point Xing Peng was confused, but when he saw Li Chong taking out a similar phone from his pocket and grinning, he seemed to have realized something and immediately asked: "Is this for me?"

Xing Peng immediately regretted asking such stupid question. This was one of the latest smartphones in the market, so how could Li Chong give it to him so easily?

But to his surprise, Li Chong nodded and said: "Actually, there was an offer of: "Buy one get one free", so when I bought that phone I got another one for free. Since you are my only friend in school, I decided to gift it to you" Li Chong smoothly lied.

Xing Peng found something was off, but to give his only friend some face, he accepted his gift.

Later that day, Xing Peng's web novel reading adventures began.

His exams had just finished recently and the next round was still a good 2 or 3 months away.

Xing Peng soon noticed that reading these web novels somehow made him feel more at ease with the English language and he was rapidly improving and grasping it.

When he was back at home, his mother was obviously the first one to notice that Xing Peng was using one of those expensive smartphones that had just recently arrived on the market. She felt shocked and asked: "Peng'er, where did you get that phone from?"

Seeing his mother's concerned expression, Xing Peng laughed and said: "Mom, don't worry. My friend, Li Chong, gave it to me as a present today"

Xing Peng's mother had already heard of this "Li Chong" as Xing Peng sometimes mentioned him to her, she also knew he was her son's best friend, so she calmed down a bit, but was still shocked.

[Peng'er's friend must be from a rich family, no wonder he can afford to gift away smartphones to his friends.] As she thought of this, she couldn't help but sigh.

As a mother, she always wished the best for her children but given the limited finances they had, she couldn't afford it.

Nevertheless, she felt happy. [If Peng'er holds firmly onto this friend of his, perhaps he wouldn't have any troubles in the society,in future.] Ai Yu thought.

Her assumption about Li Chong wasn't that far off the mark; He was indeed from a rich family, but an illegitimate child, so his finances were strictly limited.

Xing Peng got easily hooked up with the web novels; often sleeping late at times. The ones he was mostly interested in were also his favourites: reincarnation-type novels.

One novel he came across was "Divine Ice God". It seemed to have come into publication on the web novel platform only recently. There were already a few chapters released, and out of pure curiosity Xing Peng checked it out and found it quite an impressive piece of work.

Although it was only in the beginning phase, it would surely become a great novel as it developed, Xing Peng thought as he proceeded to read more interesting web novels.