novelraw Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Liu Wenjie plopped down on the sofa and turned on the color TV.
He found a children's channel showing a story about Sponge, Starfish, and Octopus as neighbors.
The lines were all: "Are you ready? I'm ready!"—the kind of toddler art.
Little Xia Ying slowly walked over.
Liu Wenjie set down the remote: "Watch this."
"Mm, okay." She sat cautiously on the stranger's sofa, as if her bottom were resting on a block of soft tofu that would fall apart at the slightest pressure.
Extra careful, she sat two or three body-lengths away from Liu Wenjie.
Though little Xia Ying was well-behaved, she was, after all, still a child and was soon captivated by the cartoon; some funny scenes even made her happy.
Suddenly she couldn't hold back a giggle at a certain scene, but the mosquito-like laugh startled even herself, and her tiny hand quickly covered her mouth.
She snuck a glance at Liu Wenjie's reaction.
Fortunately, Liu Wenjie didn't seem focused on the TV; he sat cross-legged on the sofa flipping through a history book.
To find out how different this world was from the previous one, the simplest way was to study history.
After transmigrating, Liu Wenjie discovered that the major events of the two worlds were roughly the same, but the duration and outcomes of these events didn't quite match the history he'd studied.
For instance, the death toll and impact of some wars were clearly more severe than in the previous world, and there was even an entertainment history he'd never heard of before. These subtle differences had led to a very different valuation of industries in the current world.
For example, the book stated that, due to historical influences, every country placed great emphasis on nurturing talent.
Thus, the policy of assigning jobs to university graduates and awarding huge bonuses was being vigorously implemented. Children with junior high education or above and top grades even received government grants to ease the financial burden on families—everyone qualified, repeat students excluded.
Liu Wenjie checked the amount and was shocked.
For example, the top ten junior high students received at least 1,000 yuan per person every month, and this grant was transparent and publicly available for anyone to check on the official website.
High school was even more extreme: the top ten students got 5,000 yuan each month, distributed based on midterm and final exams, given out for half a year at a time.
Regular university students received 10,000 yuan a month! And beyond that...!!!
Keep in mind that wage levels in this world weren't much different from the previous one—Mom's part-time job earned her at most a little over 1,000 yuan a month—yet the grants were this high and distributed so generously.
My God, if things were like this, how cut-throat would education become in this world...
Reading really does make one elite.
Thinking this, the corner of his mouth curled up, because if that were the case, then maxing out Intelligence in the system would mean—
"Liu... Liu Wenjie... I want to use your bathroom."
Startled out of his thoughts, Liu Wenjie looked at little Xia Ying: "Oh, go ahead. Don't you know where our bathroom is?"
"Mm!" She nodded softly and pointed to the bathroom door in the distance: "That one, right?"
"Smart girl."
Praised for no reason, little Xia Ying froze for a second, then hopped off the sofa and scampered to the bathroom.
Liu Wenjie went back to reading, already thinking about how to make a big splash in this world!
As she ran to the bathroom, little Xia Ying glanced back at Liu Wenjie and noticed his expression had turned somewhat excited.
Curious about what in the book could make him so happy.
And he could actually read so many words—he was amazing.
Little Xia Ying entered the bathroom, closed the door, lifted the toilet lid, and sat down.
After finishing, she stood on tiptoe to press the flush button.
Since she was a guest, she had to tidy up after herself; Grandpa said it would be impolite otherwise.
She pulled two pieces of toilet paper and carefully wiped the seat she'd used, then tossed the used paper into the trash before happily washing her hands.
Just as the water was running, a small object suddenly fell to the floor with a shattering sound.
Little Xia Ying looked down and froze, her clear almond eyes widening as her trembling pupils stared at the hair clip broken in two.
Several minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom with her head half lowered.
She walked up to Liu Wenjie, who was still reading.
Her small hand tentatively tugged at his sleeve.
Liu Wenjie didn't think much of it at first: "What?"
But the moment the words left his mouth, a teardrop plopped onto the back of Xia Ying's hand, followed by another and another.
He turned in surprise and saw Xia Ying's tear-blurred eyes. She pressed her lips together, trying not to cry out loud, and stammered hoarsely:
"Liu... Liu Wenjie, my hair clip broke. It suddenly fell and shattered on the floor. I don't know what to do..."
Liu Wenjie blinked: "Your hair clip broke?"
Xia Ying nodded pitifully, tears still sliding from the corners of her eyes: "Mm."
Xia Ying didn't know what to do in this situation; she just felt that Liu Wenjie was the most capable boy she knew, so she came to him.
At that moment, Mom's voice coincidentally came from the kitchen: "Little Jie! Play nicely with Younger Sister Xia Ying, don't make her cry! Younger Sister Xia Ying is a rare good child—you need to be good friends."
Hearing Mom's voice and seeing Xia Ying's aggrieved expression, Liu Wenjie sighed, pulled a few tissues from the coffee table, and handed them to her.
"Here, wipe your tears and stop crying. Let me take a look."