Punishment

Jing Tian was also dressed in sportswear. From the sweat on his face, I believed he had already finished his exercise. In his hand were the papers Jing Ni and I had done for the past 2 days. 

"Your warm up will be a 800 metres run." He announced simply when he saw us. Then he walked to a small pavilion attached to the side of the house to rest.

800 metres? To warm up? Jing Ni and I exchanged a look. The hell mode must be starting today.

Jing Ni and I shared almost similar physical constitution. Running 800 metres so early in the morning was torture for both of us. Around half way through our warm-up, the running slowed down to walking.

Jing Tian glanced at us and said lightly, "How do you dare to burn the midnight oil with your current stamina? Aren't you two afraid of dying early?"

The hell? I thought to myself. It was because your heavy homework that we needed to work through the night! How is it our fault?!

Jing Tian waved the paper in his hand. "Jing Ni, I've circled out the important points in the thesis. Go over to the swing set over there and memorize them. No breakfast for you until you've finished memorizing everything!"

Jing Ni quickly took the paper and rushed to the swing set to start her memory exercise.

"Nan Xing."

"Yes," I hurried forward.

He looked at me and then my paper, "From now on, if you get a single question wrong in the test paper due to miscalculation or carelessness, you'll have to do 10 frog jumps. For today, you'll have to do 50 frog jumps. You better start now."

I looked at him in a daze. 50 frog jumps?

I looked at me. "Sir, can we change another punishment method?"

Jing Tian didn't even look at me. "My house, my rules."

I bit my lips and glared at him. But he ignored me. Jing Tian, just you wait! I'll remember this!

Under Jing Ni's sympathetic gaze, I squatted down and started the frog jump. When I was on my 5th jump, I heard the sound of car engine coming from outside the gate. I turned to the sound and saw a group of young men and women walking in.

"Nan Xing, who told you to stop?!" Jing Tian raised his voice warningly. I quickly put my hands behind my head, and continued to jump up and down. 

"Yo, someone's being punished it seems." A barely concealed gloating voice drifted over. This person was Jing Yan, Jing Ning's younger sister. She was the daughter of Old Master Jing's eldest son. She was ranked among the top 10 people that I didn't want to see again in my life.

"Nan Xing." This was Jing Ning, the man was trailing me everywhere. I continued my frog jumps without acknowledging them. 

"Brother Jing Ning, let's not disturb Nan Xing. I'm sure 7th uncle has his reasons to do this." Nan Yang stopped Jing Ning from coming over to help me.

I couldn't help but wonder if Jing Tian knew that this group of people was coming and he deliberately wanted to punish me before them. I didn't mind losing my face, after all, I couldn't care less about how these people think about me. What I needed to do was to wait patiently and bide my time.

Jing Yan planted herself in front of me and her eyes watched me jump up and down. She couldn't stop laughing. "Oh my God, Nan Xing, you look so stupid!"

I gritted my teeth and continued to finish my punishment.

"Nan Xing, how many times did 7th Uncle punish you to do this?" Jing Ning followed beside me. I ignored him.

"Have you people forgotten who the master of this house is?" Jing Tian's voice was even but the displeasure was clear.

Jing Ning and Jing Yan hurried over. "7th uncle, we're here today to visit you."

Jing Yan was the favored daughter. When she walked past the swing set, and Jing Ni greeted her, Jing Yan did not even acknowledge her with a glance. After all, in Jing Yan's eyes, Jing Ni was even more worthless than the maid.

"Nan Xing, how many more?" Jing Tian called from his perch.

"3, 2, 1, done." I replied loudly. Jing Ni hurried over to help me up from the ground.

Jing Tian uttered evenly, "Remember, more mistakes in your papers and there's more where that came from."

I lowered my head and whispered, "Yes."

Nan Yang held onto my arm and she said fawningly, "7th uncle is a real genius. This little sister of mine is incredibly stubborn. Without a little suffering, she definitely wouldn't even try to work hard. My parents have tried to make her to study with so many different methods but none of them have worked. 7th uncle, you're amazing! This is the first time I've seen my little sister act so obedient and hardworking!

"Nan Xing, you'll have to abide by your teacher's words. Don't disappoint him, okay?" She swung my arm lightly, like she was the most caring big sister in the world.

Disgusting! I stealthily removed my arm from her grasp and moved to the side. 

Nan Yang said with passion, "7th uncle, my parents have tasked me to bring some fresh fruits and snacks for you. It is to thank you for helping us discipline this hopeless little sister of mine."

Nan Yang had truly mastered the art of conversational artistry. In a single sentence, she had relayed my parents' well wishes, thanked Jing Tian and made me feel entirely worthless.