Jim was devouring the rice. When he saw his sister was flipping through her schoolbag, he got
flustered.
There weren't many books in his bloated schoolbag, which contained his dirty clothes and a pair of
worn sneakers that he had taken off in the construction site.
"Sister, what are you doing?"
Thrown the bowl away, Jim rushed to grab his schoolbag, but he was one step behind, the broken
sneakers rolling out and pinched in Nicole's hands.
"What's this?" Nicole asked with a sullen face.
"They got dirty when I was playing basketball. I ... I'll wash it later. " Jim avoided eye contact with her,
daring not look straight into her eyes.
Nicole also took out the dirty clothes and pushed it towards Jim's chest. "What about these? Were they
also dirtied by playing basketball?"
Jim scratched his head and stammered, "this... I I accidentally stained it. Is there anything wrong... "
Nicole was so angry that the blue veins stood out on her forehead.
"Don't you tell me the truth? How long do you want to deceive me that you haven't gone to school? The
head teacher has come to our house. "
Jim glanced at Nicole quickly and then lowered his head when he saw there was disappointment in
Nicole's eyes.
"Tell me, where have you been since you didn't go to school these days?"
Actually, looking at the dirty clothes and shoes in her brother's schoolbag, Nicole had a guess. But she
couldn't guess it alone. She had to hear it from Jim.
Jim lowered his head, without saying a word.
"Say something!" Nicole gave him a hard push.
"Sis, I'm not a child anymore. I know what I'm doing. Just leave me alone!" Grabbing his schoolbag
from Nicole's hand, Jim got into his room and closed the door.
Nicole rushed over and stopped when her hand was about to touch the door.
If she and Jim quarreled at this time, their mother in the next room would be awakened. If their mother
woke up, they couldn't sleep well tonight.
"Jim, come out. I want to talk to you!" Nicole growled through the crack of the door. After a while, there
was no movement in the room.
Nicole walked back and forth in the living room, just like a crazy lion.
When she went to the kitchen door, she saw a bowl of rice on the chopping board. Her brother had only
a little.
According to the bloke's appetite these days, he must be still hungry now.
Nicole sighed. She put the rice and dishes on a plate, took them to his bedroom and knocked gently.
"Jim, I won't say anything right now. Eat something first."
There was still no movement.
Nicole wanted to break in and grab her brother's collar and asked him what he was thinking about, but
now she couldn't even see him.
"I put the food outside the door. I will go to bed first. You take it yourself."
Finally, her care for her younger brother prevailed. Nicole put the plate on the ground, went back to the
living room and turned off the light.
Instead of going to sleep, she sat on the sofa in the living room and stared at the door of her brother's
bedroom in the darkness.
About half an hour later, the door slightly opened.
As the crack became wider, his younger brother appeared behind the door. He hesitated for a while as
if he was lost in thought for a while before he took the food into the room and closed the door.
Nicole sighed with relief. She wanted to educate her brother, but she didn't want him to starve.
Especially when she realized that he didn't have a good meal outside. It would be bad for his stomach
if he was starving.
Nicole didn't come back to her room that night.
She sat down on the sofa with her arms around her knees and soon fell asleep.
After a while, she heard a slight sound. Nicole didn't sleep well and woke up suddenly.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw his brother sneaking out of the room, carrying his
schoolbag in his hand.
"Where are you going?" Nicole suddenly spoke.
Startled, Jim stood still. After a long while, he turned his head slowly and looked at Nicole who was
sitting on the sofa.
"It's so early. Where are you going?" Nicole stood up and walked to him.
Jim stared at his feet without saying a word.
Nicole looked towards her mother's bedroom, opened the door and went out with her brother.
When they entered the corridor, the teleportation light was on.
"Jim, tell me the truth. Where have you been these days since you didn't go to school?" Nicole raised
her voice outside the door, which sounded very dignified.
Jim didn't say a word, and Nicole waited.
After ten minutes of stalemate, Jim spoke.
"Sis, I don't want to go back to school anymore."
His words made Nicole almost black out.
"Why don't you want to go to school? Someone at your school bullied you? Or is there something bad
happened? "
Nicole's first reaction was thinking of being bullied in the campus.
Jim shook his head and said, "no, no one is bullying me. I just don't want to quit. I don't think it's useful
for me to study."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm now in junior middle school, and need to go to high school after junior middle school. It's too time-
consuming, and I can't wait for so long."
Nicole vaguely knew what her brother was thinking, but she still asked, "why can't you wait? What do
you want to do if you don't have to study?"
This time, Jim did not avoid the eye contact with Nicole, but calmly looked into her eyes, with the
unique stubbornness of the young boy shining in his eyes.
"I want to make money."
"What?"
"Sis, I want to make money. I want to raise you and your mom. I want to protect you and your mom."
Jim was serious. Hearing that, Nicole burst into tears.
This was the first person who had said that to her in the world.
However
Nicole wiped her tears, took the schoolbag from his hand and said stubbornly, "no, you need to study
hard since you are at the age of studying now."
"Sister, I don't want to go!"
"You must go!" Nicole roared, "you are still young. No company dares to hire you. Hiring you is illegal.
Those companies which would hire you are either irresponsible or just want to hire cheap employees.
Don't you know that? "
Jim could not find any word to retort. Every time he went out to look for a job, all the workers would say
the same words. Hearing that he was still a child, they would not give him any chance at all. He looked
for a long time to find a construction site for him to work on, but he could only do the dirty and hard
work.
But Jim didn't want to give up.
He was the only man in the family, and he couldn't let his mother and sister both support the family.
"Sister, you can't force me to go to school. I can escape if I go there."
"Snap -"
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