Chapter 171: guarding the present

After the club event, they went back to their respective homes.

Shuishui went home to cook dinner. When she arrived home, she found that there were a few unfamiliar boys at home. They looked young. She saw Qian Anzhi walking around. "Qian Anzhi."

"Sis, I brought two friends here today. They're my good friends." Qian Anzhi was a little embarrassed. It just so happened that his friends were going to sell things with him that day, and they were also bringing a few things home with them.

Shuishui looked at the boys as her forehead was covered in sweat. She understood and said, "Since your classmates helped you, I'll take you all out for dinner."

The young boys thanked her one by one. "Thank you, Sister."

Actually, they had seen Qian Shuishui before, but they thought that she became completely different. They thought she was very friendly.

Shuishui went to her room to change into casual clothes. She liked to wear casual clothes because she looked much younger when she wore her school uniform. She always felt a little uncomfortable in the uniform. After all, the casual clothes complement her actual age. Of course, she was very happy to pretend that she was young.

She walked out and glanced at the three boys. "It's getting late. There's a small restaurant nearby."

She led them to the nearby restaurant as they were also unfamiliar with the area.

It was peak time at the restaurant. They waited for more than ten minutes before their food was served.

Shuishui ate quietly as the boys chatted away. She even ordered stew. It was a good day. After drinking two servings, the young boys were still not satisfied. They didn't eat much rice.

They were excited and wanted to drink beer, but they didn't dare to because Shuishui was there. However, Qian Anzhi dared and asked, "Sis, can we drink some beer?"

Shuishui refused to indulge them. "You guys are still young. You shouldn't drink. You can have some soup."

'They are still young, so why would they want to drink alcohol? They could just eat,' she thought.

Seeing that they really wanted to drink, Shuishui ordered three bottles of beer. "One for each of you. You can't drink too much."

"Okay."

As the three continued to chat, Shuishui took out her phone and sent a message to Mu Ziyu: "I took my brother and his friends out for dinner."

Mu Ziyu remembered that Shuishui had a sparring session scheduled for the weekend. He replied: "Tomorrow is Friday. Can you tell your teacher that I'll accompany you on Sunday?"

Shuishui replied: "Yes, I already told him. He said it's fine."

"That's great." Mu Ziyu was worried that Shuishui's teacher wouldn't allow him to go, so he had already decided that he would go secretly. He would have choice. He was too concerned. He was afraid that she would be bruised all over again. As he remembered how Shuishui limped, Mu Ziyu's heart ached terribly. If he was allowed to go with her, he could at least send her home and take care of her.

Shuishui didn't understand why he had to accompany her. "Actually, my teacher will send me home. There's no need for you to go too."

Mu Ziyu felt that sometimes, Shuishui was not very sympathetic. Sometimes, she was warm and affectionate. He didn't quite understand. However, it didn't matter much to him. He replied: "It's fine. I'll just accompany you."

Shuishui replied: "Okay. I'll send you the specific address. I'll ask my teacher the exact address when I arrive there." She finally put down her phone and continued eating.

Qian Anzhi said to Shuishui, "Sis, when we were in junior high school, we were asked during the parent-teacher conference what high school we wanted to attend. Anyway, they said that they wanted us to set a goal for ourselves. It's really a bit of a headache."

Shuishui shook her head because she couldn't give her opinion. "I don't really remember because I didn't participate in the parent-teacher conference."

"I think it's not very important for you to just say what you think. After all, you won't be asked to fill out application forms until the next semester." Shuishui thought that maybe Anzhi would eventually forget that piece of information anyway.

"That's right, but when news about how you and Brother Zilin passed and qualified into the third high school, the school became more strict with us. I think they should treat us all well because even the non-performing students may pass that examination. They're being too strict. I heard that at that time, one of your former teachers was fired, but I don't know if it's true. That teacher did not want you to take the middle school examination, but the leader didn't agree. Then you took the exam, got high marks, and brought glory to the school," Qian Anzhi said. He was not sure what happened exactly.

Shuishui quietly thought that it was probably true. She tried to recall how their teacher had behaved. She had said to Shuishui that she had to be responsible for her own behavior. At that time, she wasn't even able to take the examination due to personal reasons.

Nothing happened after that. However, when that teacher realized that they were still very mischievous, her attitude never changed. Later on, when Shuishui was admitted to high school, she slowly forgot about that teacher.

The two boys also said, "Yeah. It's so hard for us too. We hear it repeatedly every day. We're always told that if we work hard, we can get into an ideal key high school."

"That's so exaggerated," Shuishui said as she rubbed her nose in surprise. Because she and Mu Zilin were admitted into a key high school, the school also believed that everyone was talented and couldn't give up.

It was very good that the school motivated the students. There were other students who were not very studious but had great potential. Their study habits simply needed to be fixed. If they were given the right attention, they would probably improve academically.

The previous Shuishui did not find the love she craved for in her own home, but if she had met good people who had influenced her and warmly cared about her, she probably wouldn't have gone astray too.

She sighed deeply. She drank her cup of hot tea and glanced at Qian Anzhi. She realized that he seemed different. Although she did not know why he had changed, he had changed for the better overall.

"It's late now. I'll hail a cab for you and send you home," Shuishui said as she looked at the boys. They were all young children. She somehow envied them because she wasn't as young as them. She promised herself that while she was young, she should leave more beautiful memories.

"Qian Anzhi, accompany your friends to the taxi. I'll pay the bill first." Shuishui looked at Qian Anzhi. He had become quite mature. She felt much more relaxed that his temperament had changed.

Qian Anzhi nodded. "Okay."

Shuishui went to pay the bill while Qian Anzhi's two friends whispered, "Your sister is different from before. She is much friendlier and good-natured now."

"En, I don't know why. She is indeed different from before. Now she is a straight-A student. She is the highest in their batch too. Amazing, right? My sister didn't like studying in the past. I don't know what made her change so much. Could she have been possessed?" Qian Anzhi said as he laughed quietly.

The boys laughed. One of them said, "Don't talk about your sister like that. Actually, we haven't seen her in a long time. We only heard from other people that she is a very unruly person. As expected, it's better to see it with your own eyes."

"Eh, it's all right. If you had spent time with her before, you wouldn't say that. My sister said that the car is already here. I'll send you to the car. We're leaving too." Qian Anzhi stood up and stretched out his arms. He wanted to rest early that night.

As Shuishui and Anzhi walked home together that night, they felt a bit awkward. They were just siblings. Shuishui reached out and held onto Qian Anzhi's arm. "It feels good to have a younger brother. It feels like I'm being protected," Shuishui said affectionately.

"Sis, this is the first time I felt happy about having a sibling. I'll protect you in the future!" Qian Anzhi said firmly.

Shuishui couldn't help but laugh. "I hope so. But when the time comes, I might still be the one protecting you."

Qian Anzhi would not accept it. He felt that he could definitely protect his sister. "How can that be? I'm already 1.7 meters tall now. I'm a head taller than you, Sis."

Shuishui narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I'll wait and see."

Qian Anzhi also had plans for himself. "Of course. Also, when I reach high school, I'm going to enroll in tae kwon do classes with my two friends."

Shuishui gave him a thumbs-up. "Setting goals for yourself is a good thing. Come on, I will support you. You have to assess your goals and determine whether they will serve you well in the years to come. If you think that they will, you might as well stick to them and relentlessly try to achieve them."

She hoped that Anzhi would set goals for himself so that he can pave his own path to success. Anzhi didn't want to be dictated on what to do. Just because his parents had ordered him to do something doesn't mean they're right.

They had to evaluate their decisions at all times and determine whether they would be right or wrong.

In the eyes of others, she was wrong to have treated Li Xue that way. Others could say she shouldn't have treated Li Xue coldly or refuted her. Filial piety was the most important thing. To her, however, morality would not be a hindrance. She had already understood how many things worked. She absolutely couldn't treat people like Li Xue well. It was a troublesome dilemma. She wasn't related by blood to Li Xue, so she no longer cared about her. She did what she had to do. She felt that she could give Li Xue a little respect despite how she treated her in the past.

Shuishui was an honest person, and she did not like to talk about things from the past.

Qian Anzhi listened to Shuishui and asked, "Sis, why were you so wild before? Did you just want to be mischievous at that time?"

"At that time, it was because I craved for love," Shuishui casually said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"No way, Sis. You lacked love?" Qian Anzhi didn't quite believe it because he knew how his father doted on Shuishui. He and Momo both thought so.

He didn't understand why his father doted on Shuishui so much. When Shuishui became troublesome, their father simply ignored her and didn't do anything about it. Their father would occasionally say a few words to Shuishui, but she never listened, so their father would just sigh deeply.

"Yeah. It should have been that. I'm not too sure either. In any case, I think I'm better now. We should cherish the present. I have to work for my future and prepare for it. I'll either fail or succeed and become famous." She had clear goals, and she had to depend on herself. She herself had to work hard to achieve her goals.

Qian An was a good father who deserved respect. She hoped that she could protect him as well.