Self-discipline?
She had been fairly self-disciplined lately, sleeping during class, eating after class, loafing around at home, sleeping at night, without a single moment wasted.
She continued to argue her case, "What is self-discipline? Persisting in a lack of self-discipline is also a form of self-discipline!"
Right!
This kid is doomed.
Ji Lingyun dropped a harsh line, "You must study hard."
Ji Weinan saw Ji Tian was about to cry and thought, considering Ji Tian had just called him her hero that day, he should, no matter what, stand up and speak for Ji Tian.
He cleared his throat, "Mom, Dad, brothers, I think Tiantian must have her own reasons for not wanting to study. Let's not force her, look at me. When I was young, you all forced me to study too, and now I'm still at the bottom of my class, aren't I?"
Ji Tian immediately chimed in, "Yeah, why can my brother not study!"
Mrs. Ji couldn't take it anymore, her normally gentle voice becoming much sharper, "Because your third brother is a waste, and you are not!"
Everyone present: "..."
Realizing the awkwardness of the atmosphere, Mrs. Ji hastily covered her mouth with her hand, "What should I do? I've spoken the truth, Weinan, Mommy didn't mean that."
Ji Weinan: "..." Critical hit x1.
So what exactly do you mean?
Ji Lingyun glanced at him lightly, "With that dumb brain of yours, unless you can grow a new one, there's no hope for you."
Ji Weinan: "..." Critical hit x2.
Ji Qilin pondered seriously and finally said with a gentle apology, "Pity I haven't developed a medicine that can grow a new brain."
Ji Weinan: "..." Critical hit x3.
A world where only he was hurt had been achieved.
Feeling guilty, Mrs. Ji ended the call hastily, leaving one last comment, "Da Bao, take good care of teaching your little sister, if she doesn't score well when we get back, it will be your fault."
In the end...
Ji Tian was still forced to study.
And Ji Lingyun was the one who taught her himself.
Ji Tian placed a stack of textbooks in front of him. Piled on the desk, they were level with his chin.
His expression cleared a bit, "You know all of these? Not bad, you understand a little."
Ji Tian sheepishly said, "No, these are all the things I don't know."
Ji Lingyun: "..."
He flipped through them one by one, the vein on his temple throbbing more fiercely.
Finally taking a deep breath to lower his skyrocketing blood pressure, he said, "Let's start with physics."
Physics it was, exactly what she needed to teach Jian Chuyi.
Thankful for the little Wisdom value she had added that day, which hadn't made it too hard for her to understand. Ji Lingyun had graduated with his doctorate at twenty-five and had a genius brain, so his lessons were always filled with professional terminology.
Ji Tian didn't quite understand, forgive her, but her brain was pretty much as useless as a waste.
And when Ji Lingyun explained problems, he would only solve them in the way he thought was simplest, unwittingly including knowledge beyond the master's level for her to digest.
Seeing his little sister's puzzled eyes, Ji Lingyun felt his headache grow even worse. What to do?
This was even more draining on the brain than negotiating a multi-billion-dollar contract.
In the end, to avoid a situation of "speaking different languages," Ji Lingyun called it a day, "Let's stop here for today."
Ji Tian's eyes lit up, great, she could finally lie on her bed and read comics.
Ji Lingyun stood up, expressionless, and said, "Come to my company tomorrow to continue tutoring."
Ji Tian: "…"
While everyone else was trying to outdo each other with their fathers and mothers, she went straight for outdoing with a brother.
While others were still grappling with dynamics, she leaped to a master's position and started learning advanced quantum mechanics.
Lacking energy, she sprawled on the desk, feeling it was time for her second brother to research some brain-enhancing drugs.
Before going to sleep, Ji Tian decided to unwind by watching a Garden Baby show, which indeed alleviated her fatigue. Yep, it was the likes of these educational cartoons that suited her.
As she watched, she fell asleep, and then experienced a night full of nightmares. In her dream, her physics book transformed into Makabaka, circling around her clapping hands and singing.
"Makabaka, Akawaka, Mikamaka, hmm.
Makabaka, Abayaka, Ika Aka, oh.
Hamdam, Akabam, yiyayo."
After finishing the song, Makabaka's creepy voice rose from under the covers: "You must read, oh. If you don't, you'll be punished to sing with me."
Ji Tian woke up abruptly from her sleep, grabbed her phone, and without a pause, removed Garden Baby from her watchlist before wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.
She had never had such a ridiculous dream in her life.
So much so that after arriving at school, Ji Tian felt somewhat out of it. Jian Chuyi was already waiting with a notebook, eager for Ji Tian to teach her this difficult concept.
She asked impatiently, "Tiantian, how do you solve this electromagnetic induction problem?"
"Do it with Makabaka."
Jian Chuyi: "???"
Ji Tian suddenly came to her senses with an awkward laugh, "Ah, I misspoke. Let me see. I watched Garden Baby all night long, and now all I can hear in my head is Makabaka singing."
Jian Chuyi: "...I thought you would watch pure love and magic anime."
Ji Tian shook her head: "No way, that will give you a love-struck brain."
Jian Chuyi pouted: "You don't get it, Ba Wei is my one and only husband right now! Drop-dead gorgeous."
Ji Tian had no idea who Ba Wei was, but as long as it wasn't Makabaka, it was fine. She explained the knowledge the teacher had taught the day before to Jian Chuyi.
Ji Tian, finding it too much trouble, simplified the explanation abruptly. Jian Chuyi's eyes lit up. Yes, this was exactly the kind of easy-to-understand approach she needed. Excitedly, she started to work on the problems: "Tiantian, you're my god! Love you, love you. With you here, I'll definitely pass physics."
Ji Tian supported her chin and glanced at her, snorted conceitedly: "You should see who I am. I have a nickname called the 'Master of All.'"
"How about you help me with my chemistry, too?"
"Scram."
After the teacher arrived for class, Ji Tian glared at him with a grudge. If looks could kill, this teacher would've died a thousand times over.
So, Ji Tian barely slept that morning, naturally, listening even less.
Due to the lack of sleep, she was really tired.
At noon, she went looking for Qin Jiangsheng again, this time directly opting for an extra-large lunchbox, filling it with enough food for two.
She hurried off to the back garden.
Qin Jiangsheng's meals were consistently poor, Ji Tian realized—the Bai Family's servants were deliberately torturing him.
After all, the Bai Family Patriarch didn't bother with household affairs, everything big or small was ultimately up to Bai Tingyu.
The servants were proficient at playing to the wind, so they supplied Qin Jiangsheng with only the bad stuff, all to curry favor with Bai Tingyu.
Ji Tian was furious: "Qin Jiangsheng, as long as I am here, I will make sure you're well-fed every noon."
Worried he wouldn't have enough to eat, she even poured more of her own portion into his.
With a smile, she said: "Go ahead and eat."
Qin Jiangsheng looked up at her smile, growing more and more curious to see what she'd look like at death's door, and whether she could still smile then.
Noticing him picking up his chopsticks, Ji Tian inwardly sighed, terrific, score for today's goodwill acquired, she was getting closer to success.