Huh? Why is there a young man at Su Qingqing’s place? Lin Tian saw a young man open the door and was surprised; he had thought Su Qingqing lived alone.
This young man appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen, with a crew cut, a black tank top on his upper body, skin tanned dark from the sun, and well-built muscles. He sized up Lin Tian without any fear of the stranger.
"Little brother, why are you blocking the doorway? When we have guests, you should invite them in," Su Qingqing chided, knocking on the young boy’s head.
So he was her brother, no wonder they looked sowhat alike. Lin Tian suddenly realized and thought it made sense—given Su Qingqing’s personality, she wouldn’t date an underage boy.
The boy, unfazed by the knock on his head, moved aside and continued to scrutinize Lin Tian. He suddenly asked, "Sister, is this your boyfriend? He’s even handsor than ."
"Don’t talk nonsense, you little kid. This is Lin Tian, my forr boss. Show so respect," Su Qingqing admonished with a reddened face, stealing a glance at Lin Tian and then sternly scolding her brother.
"Oh, I see." The boy looked at Lin Tian with curiosity and said familiarly, "Brother Lin, my na is Su Wenshan, ’Wen’ as in culture, ’Shan’ as in mountain. Nice to et you; I’ll tell you a secret about my sister—she’s never had a boyfriend."
"Wenshan, if you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll smack your bottom," Su Qingqing warned with a glare, embarrassed as she said it and sneaking another glance at Lin Tian, afraid that he might misunderstand.
But Lin Tian didn’t misunderstand anything. It was just talk, and so what if Su Qingqing didn’t have a boyfriend?
Though young, Su Wenshan spoke with unrestrained confidence, calling Lin Tian ’Brother Lin’ as if they were already familiar with each other.
This kid, with his deeply tanned skin, seed kin to him. Lin Tian laughed and said, "Wenshan, you shouldn’t talk about your sister like that. Every girl dreams of a Prince Charming, and your sister is so beautiful, too. But do you know why she doesn’t date, why she doesn’t have a boyfriend?"
"I don’t know," Su Wenshan said quietly, a bit ashad.
He took a liking to Lin Tian, not minding the lecture as perhaps they were of a similar age, or maybe because they both had a healthy skin tone.
Although Lin Tian had only t Su Qingqing two or three tis, the situation at her ho suggested that she must be the financial pillar of the family; it wasn’t hard to infer as much.
"Your sister is focused on earning money to support the family, she doesn’t take ti for her own affairs, that’s why she has no ti for a boyfriend. You should understand the hardships your sister endures," Lin Tian said softly, glancing at Su Qingqing.
Su Qingqing gazed steadily at Lin Tian, her eyes misting over. She had never pondered over these issues and had never blad anyone before. But at that mont, a thought arose—feeling understood by soone was such a good sensation.
Wenshan also hung his head low, looking at his toes and whispering, "I was wrong..."
The boy was good; he knew to admit his mistake imdiately, like a real man. He wasn’t like so spoiled youngsters who always centered the world around themselves, unable to take a single word of criticism, throwing tantrums at the slightest displeasure, being rude to friends, and throwing fits at their parents.
Wenshan’s head stayed lowered for a while before he lifted it again, his expression turning firm, "Sister, you won’t have to work so hard anymore, because I can help you now. I can earn money, too."
Earning money? At fifteen or sixteen, it should be the ti for studying, and with an older sister to support him, he surely hadn’t dropped out of school, had he? Lin Tian was puzzled. In his own case, he had dropped out at sixteen because he had been utterly destitute.
"Wenshan, are you not going to school anymore?" Lin Tian asked with a frown.
"I am, currently in the first year of high school, but I don’t want to study anymore." Su Wenshan was a bit deflated when asked about school, yet there was also a stubbornness in him.
"Why not?" Lin Tian pressed, staring at him.
"Little brother, what nonsense are you talking about? Everything’s fine, why would you not want to go to school!" Upon hearing this, Su Qingqing’s eyebrows shot up, and her pretty face was filled with displeasure.
Seeing the girl on the brink of exploding, Lin Tian was quite surprised; Su Qingqing might be shy when dealing with outsiders, but she was quite fiery when it ca to her brother’s education.
"I just see how hard Sister works; I don’t want to study anymore. You have to believe , you can still make money without studying nowadays." Su Wenshan remained stubborn, but this ti he expressed the reason for not wanting to study—it was all for his sister.
Fearing they wouldn’t believe him, Su Wenshan also pulled out several red bills from his pocket, all hundred dollar bills, to the sum of about six hundred dollars.
"Look, this is six hundred dollars, I earned it in the past two days, I’m not lying to you." Su Wenshan unfolded the money and said urgently.
"Where did you get so much money? How did you earn it? You’re only sixteen, how can you earn money? Have you been hiding sothing and doing sothing bad?" Su Qingqing was not thrilled to see the money; instead, she was shocked, fearing her brother might be engaging in illegal activities, her face full of anxiety.
"I... I didn’t..." Su Wenshan stamred, apparently harboring a secret he found difficult to reveal.
His behavior made Su Qingqing even more worried. She wanted to continue questioning him, but Lin Tian stopped her and said to Su Wenshan, "Wenshan, there are no outsiders here, what can’t you say? If you can’t even trust your own dear sister, whom can you trust in this world?"
After hesitating for a mont, Su Wenshan seed to make a great resolution before finally saying, "Because I joined an organization called the Sun Shadow Association."
"Sun Shadow Association?" Lin Tian’s eyebrows furrowed as he muttered to himself.
The Sun Shadow Association again; Lin Tian had heard of it twice within half an hour, having encountered six mbers of the association in the dark alley earlier, and now Su Qingqing’s brother too was a part of it.
Su Qingqing clearly could not understand either, all these ssed up things had been far from her world, and now that she was suddenly confronted with them, she felt confused and overwheld, her only option was to look to Lin Tian for help.
Lin Tian thought back to the two tis he had encountered them, noting a commonality: they were reluctant to discuss the details of the Sun Shadow Association, which was not typical for people involved in the underworld.
It wasn’t that they were unwilling to talk; it seed they had been instructed by soone, forbidden from revealing anything about the Sun Shadow Association. This situation was too strange; Lin Tian had originally thought they might be involved in pyramid sches, but now it seed not. Pyramid sche recruiters were usually very talkative, with wealth and motivation slogans always on their lips, but these people were relatively silent.
"Wenshan, tell , what exactly is this Sun Shadow Association? It sounds a bit odd," Lin Tian asked, looking at Su Wenshan.
"The Sun Shadow Association, it is..." Su Wenshan thought for a mont, about to explain, but then he suddenly got stuck, seemingly not knowing what to say next, and then he awkwardly said, "I forgot, I actually can’t rember what it’s really like."
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