After praising Su Xiaotian, Grandma Su glared at her grandsons.
"You bunch of money-losers, do you really think I only dote on Xiaotian? I've wasted all the food I've given you over the years!"
Grandma Su's words left her grandsons exchanging bewildered glances, unsure of how to respond.
Su Xiaotian, watching her brothers being called money-losers by their grandmother, could barely suppress her laughter.
Other families called their daughters money-losers, but in her family, the sons were the money-losers.
Su Xiaotian wasn't the only one with this thought; the other male children in the Su family were collectively depressed.
Why were they money-losers?
Weren't they supposed to uphold the honor of the Su family and bring glory to their ancestors?
However, they soon came to a realization: with Xiaotian around, the task of bringing glory to the family was no longer their responsibility.
As for upholding the family name, any one of them would suffice, and they didn't need so many.
Su Xiaotian looked around and suddenly felt she understood.
Grandma's words about the boys being money-losers seemed to have some truth to them.
It was simply that her brothers were too expensive!
Buying houses and getting married were significant expenses, and if not for their family's current good financial situation, they wouldn't be able to afford it.
As for Grandpa Su, the head of the household, he consistently adhered to the principle of feigning deafness and muteness on such matters.
After all, with so many grandsons, they weren't particularly precious.
Since the decision was made, action would be taken soon.
Grandma Su, with her decisive nature, made arrangements: after school started, they could look at houses on weekends.
She would also find people to help inquire about properties.
With Grandma Su's strong support, brothers Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine, who hadn't originally planned to buy houses, also decided to do so.
While they hadn't earned as much as their older brothers recently, their earnings were not insignificant.
Buying a house sooner would mean they too would have assets.
Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine were quite happy at the thought of owning their own homes.
If they were still in Hongxin Brigade, they wouldn't be living the life they had now.
Su Xiaotian, seeing her brothers owning their own properties at such a young age, was filled with emotion.
Grandma was truly remarkable, ensuring her grandsons weren't left behind at the starting line.
Otherwise, in a decade or so, it might take her brothers many years of earnings to afford a house in Beijing.
However, Su Xiaotian was also curious why her grandmother lacked such foresight in her previous life.
If Grandma had possessed such courage in her past life, would the Su family's life have been much easier?
Su Xiaotian had no idea that in her previous life, Grandma Su had remained a simple village elder until the very end.
Living in a small place like Hongxin Brigade, she had never seen the wider world, so where would her courage have come from?
Furthermore, when the spring of reform swept across the country, the impact on the loess of the Northwest was somewhat limited.
It wasn't until years later that some people dared to venture into business.
By then, Grandma Su's health had deteriorated significantly, making it difficult even to survive, let alone embark on a venture.
This life was different. Grandma Su lived in Beijing, saw more, and naturally gained more experience, leading to these ideas.
Moreover, Grandma Su had been consistently successful since she began venturing out, earning a good amount of money, which naturally boosted her confidence.
The older generation always thought about their children and grandchildren, and Grandma Su was no exception.
She always worried tirelessly for her children and grandchildren.
As elders, they always felt that having a roof over one's head was considered settling down, so their initial thought was always about housing.
However, buying a house was something that couldn't be rushed and depended on opportunity, so they could only inquire slowly.
As the various schools reopened, the children in the family returned to their primary pursuits.
After the start of the school year, Su Xiaotian found the entire Seventh Middle School filled with a festive atmosphere. From the school gate to the campus, red slogans and banners were everywhere.
Su Xiaotian read them one by one, and they all spoke of congratulating students from the school for achieving excellent results.
The name mentioned most frequently was Chi Yiyuan, who was the top-scoring student at Seventh Middle School in recent years.
At this time, this pride of Seventh Middle School, Chi Yiyuan, was already studying civil engineering at Beijing University.
According to his long-held ambition, he wanted to build houses, many, many houses, in the future.
The next most frequently mentioned were brothers Su Xiao Liu and Su Xiao Qi.
These three were considered the pride of Seventh Middle School by its teachers.
They said they had broken the historical academic records of Seventh Middle School.
Naturally, Su Xiaotian's teacher, Huang Wenbai, also spoke highly of these individuals.
He used them to encourage the students in his own class.
And each time Su Xiao Liu and Su Xiao Qi were mentioned, he would add that Su Xiao Ba and Su Xiao Jiu should strive to emulate their brothers.
Su Xiaotian remained indifferent to this.
She had every reason to believe that she could surpass her sixth and seventh brothers.
However, Su Xiaotian was surprised to find that under this atmosphere, Su Xiao Ba was exceptionally nervous.
He seemed distracted both in and out of class.
This was not a good state to be in.
"Brother, why are you so nervous!"
Su Xiaotian couldn't understand what Su Xiao Ba had to be nervous about.
Although the school was full of praise for these individuals, they were all familiar to them, so why would there be pressure?
"Xiaotian, if my sixth and seventh brothers did so well, what if I don't do as well?"
Su Xiao Ba spoke in a low voice, and Su Xiaotian could hear his lack of confidence.
Su Xiaotian stared blankly at Su Xiao Ba, never expecting that a child in their family would have such a problem.
With a year left until the college entrance examination, Eighth Brother was already like this. What would happen on the day of the exam?
Could it be that Teacher Huang had spoken too much, putting pressure on Eighth Brother?
Su Xiaotian was troubled. She suddenly wondered if she should acquire more knowledge of psychology to advise her brothers at the right time and help them maintain their best state.
Especially for Eighth Brother, if this anxiety continued, it might lead to problems in his exams due to his psychological state.
Moreover, if such a problem arose, even repeating the year wouldn't guarantee good results.
Su Xiaotian had no idea that Su Xiao Ba's state was not only due to Su Xiao Liu and Su Xiao Qi but also because of Su Xiaotian herself.
It was precisely her excellence and outstanding performance that made the young boy feel immense pressure.
Xiao Ba was not very old and was about to take the college entrance examination, so his psychological resilience could not compare to that of students who were seventeen or eighteen.
Especially since Xiao Ba's academic performance was similar to Su Xiao Jiu, who was widely considered the academic underachiever of the Su family; they were pretty much on par.
And as Su Xiaotian's own brother, he felt even more pressure than Su Xiao Jiu.
If these outstanding individuals were strangers, Su Xiao Ba might not have paid them much mind. However, the fact that they were all family members made a world of difference!
"Brother, you don't need to be so nervous about this. There's still a year left."
Su Xiaotian said dryly, but she felt her words lacked conviction.
Indeed, if she couldn't even convince herself, it would be even harder to convince others.