Big brain move be big braining.
But alright. I'll do that on the weekend.
To summarize current events...
Keeping Auntie Yue from potentially suffering unspeakable horrors due to the rotten entertainment industry by serving as her emotional support anchor, success.
Taking my body to superhuman levels by steadily raising baseline abilities through persistent and sustained training... that plan was working splendidly.
Being April's friend and keeping an eye on her so she doesn't unalive herself in the future... work-in-progress. Gotta lean into the childhood friend arc for that.
Playing the long game to get money by starting blogs to show off web novels and future trending plots. All while resisting the urge to plagiarize... even though I could. Plan pending. Gotta register a domain, set up the html, and ftp servers. Probably going to run a few hundred, but considering how much I knew about future GUI and my coding abilities, shouldn't be hard to make the money back via stylish ads.
Other objectives... Well, I should learn other languages. School is a non-issue. My parents... Mm, I should deal with them at some point too. I'll probably have to spend time with them again after their trip. Maybe.
Either way, life on the up and up.
I finished my training and pulled myself out of my thoughts. As always, my body was drenched in sweat. And as always, Auntie Yue was giving me an exasperated look while holding out a towel.
"You're always so ridiculous, Little Fatty." Auntie Yue started toweling me dry and said, "Do you want to be in the Olympics that bad?"
I laughed and took the towel from her. "I just like kung fu, Big Sis."
It wasn't a lie.
Honestly, training martial arts in general and attempting to rederive things from first principles was my way of having fun.
And now that I was given a chance to do that with a young and malleable body too...
The prestige bonuses of puberty were going to be INSANE.
Auntie Yue teased and said, "Maybe I should send you to Big Brother's academy in Hong Kong then."
"Hm?" I blinked. "You have a big brother?"
...Did I have an uncle on my mom's side?
...Ah, come to think of it, I vaguely remember him being mentioned. But he was pretty distant from the rest of the family. I think I only saw him once at my maternal grandparents' funeral...
"Yeah." Auntie Yue nodded. "Big Brother Tian. He took care of me and Big Sis like I'm taking care of you. But, uh... He... Well." She cleared her throat and said, "...I'm better than him."
Maybe she didn't want to say it outright. But I got the gist of it.
Seems like Uncle Tian was a pseudoguardian for my mom and aunt in the stead of my neglectful maternal grandparents. But he also dipped instead of sticking around.
Auntie Yue looked like she still had a chip on her shoulder because of that too.
I put on a bright smile to distract her and said, "Of course you are. Auntie Yue is the best."
Auntie Yue blinked. Then she smiled back at me and said, "Damned straight I'm the best." She reached out to ruffle my hair and said, "Now go shower, Little Fatty. I'll make you proper food. Gotta eat properly with how much you train, right?"
"Obviously!" I laughed and then went to go shower like she asked.
===
November 8th. Another week, another Monday.
And Yue still hadn't heard anything from her sister or brother-in-law.
Alex didn't seem bothered by it. Her adorable (not that she would ever admit it) nephew was too preoccupied with his new friend and his hobbies.
Yue WAS bothered by it though.
Mei and Wang were grown adults. Older than her. But both of them had completely left Alex behind for Yue to take care of.
Yue couldn't be pissed about taking care of Alex since she cherished him being around (even if he was snarky... though that was probably her fault). But she COULD be pissed about the principle of the manner.
Brookhaven Elementary had changed the emergency contact and permission slips to Yue. And everyone apart from that Miss Blumgren thought that Alex was HER kid.
It was that ridiculous at this point.
...Well.
Yue couldn't blame them THAT much.
Alex DID dote on her. And she doted on him. Not to mention Yue was very much independent and capable of raising Alex. Plus, they got along super well and Alex naturally drifted towards her whenever she was around, just like a son would for his mother.
...Though people seemed to miss the fact that it implied Yue got pregnant with him at 14.
...Then again, Yue ALSO did seem more mature than most young women her age...
Argh, forget it.
What was IMPORTANT was that, somehow, Alex had completely become her responsibility.
That crazy brother-in-law had even somehow filed a temporary guardianship with the county to give her all the legal permissions too.
...Though that was probably Big Sis's involvement.
Yue flopped onto her water bed and stared at the ceiling. "Honestly... She's dropping everything onto me again. Stupid Big Sis."
It had always been like that. Although Mei was 'perfect,' somehow, Yue had always been the one who had to clean up after her big sister.
Even the rushed wedding. Yue had been the one to talk her parents down and get the approval for Wang to marry her big sister.
"Ugh... and now those two are probably all loveydovey on vacation somewhere. Better not be making another baby..."
Yue still remembered Alex's comment about wanting a baby sister.
If those two idiots ACTUALLY made another kid without settling their finances, Yue might ACTUALLY flip.
Yue sat up and glanced at the wall of polaroid photos she had of her and Alex. When she saw his chubby smiling face, she calmed down a bit. But then she frowned and said, "...Is he even really their kid though?"
It was a strange thing to consider. Hell, Yue had been IN the room when Mei delivered Alex. And she made damned sure he didn't get switched out by hounding the nurses the entire time to keep watch.
But Alex definitely didn't act like his parents.
He definitely had the TALENTS of his parents. After all, Alex was clearly smart like Big Sis and composed like Brother-in-law.
But he was also... more?
Yue hadn't met many kids. But she knew that Alex was different.
She wasn't sure if he was a child prodigy... that little fatty was too goofy to be a genius.
But he ALSO wasn't normal.
Alex didn't seem to notice it, but Yue had seen it firsthand.
Wherever Alex went, people followed. Adults seemed to gravitate towards him, charmed by his way of talking. And any kids naturally deferred to him.
He just had a certain... 'something' to him that made people realize he was different.
Yue should be worried. Anyone taking care of a child like that would be.
But she ALSO knew that Alex was dangerous.
The little fatty probably thought he hid it well.
But she had seen the marks on the wooden dummy. And she was skilled enough to see through the seemingly random moves he had been using in his training.
There was a reason why Yue joked about Alex being like a little shaolin monk.