The children dispersed.
The tall and short children were the An Family Brothers, An Youxuan and An Jincheng.
Not long ago, one child was bullied, and An Jincheng stood up for him. So, the group of children shifted their focus and started bullying An Jincheng.
The initially bullied child did not help An Jincheng, but ran away in fear. It was An Youxuan’s arrival, with his wild beast-like actions, that saved An Jincheng.
This was one of the unforgettable memories for An Jincheng.
All along, the aloof older brother was actually willing to go all out to protect him.
But the two brothers were later punished because biting off someone’s ear was too egregious.
When they were young, An Youxuan and An Jincheng were not allowed to talk about their family situation. They would only say they were children of employees under the Sanqiu Group.
An Jincheng still remembers, because of that fight, he and his brother were punished together, forced to kneel and start copying the family rules.
At that time, his brother was quietly copying the family rules.
An Jincheng said:
"Brother, did I do something wrong? Should I not have saved that person? I obviously saved him, yet he didn’t thank me... We were even bullied by others, and even... even grandpa blamed us."
An Youxuan said:
"Ah Cheng, you didn’t do anything wrong, righteousness is never wrong."
An Jincheng still did not understand what righteousness meant:
"Then why were we punished?"
An Jincheng will always remember what An Youxuan said at that time:
"Because we are not strong enough. The world is wrong, don’t doubt yourself. You need to become strong to change the world and correct this wrong."
This was An Jincheng’s elder brother, a person with ambition and exceptional nature since childhood.
The memory continues.
After that ear-biting incident, no one dared to bully An Jincheng again, because An Youxuan only had to give them a cold look, and those children would feel scared.
The two brothers were constantly compared, though An Jincheng was unaware of this at the time.
An Jincheng’s talent also began to show, it seemed he could learn anything easily. During middle school, he and An Youxuan were always the top two students in the school.
Compared to An Youxuan, An Jincheng even seemed more at ease.
An Rongzai also started to often check on the two’s studies, not just academic but also in terms of business management.
At that time, An Rongzai could see that An Jincheng had a very high talent.
The family-assigned economics and management teachers often only needed to give a slight prompt, and An Jincheng could infer a lot from that.
An Youxuan was also excellent, his excellence was more in his character: he was resilient and unyielding.
But in terms of learning ability, he actually needed to work twice as hard to keep up with his younger brother.
However, An Youxuan never envied his younger brother; on the contrary, he was always willing to share any good things with him.
Likewise, An Jincheng assumed that all his things were half his brother’s.
However, as they grew older, the brothers seemed to have gradually drifted apart due to their different ambitions.
For An Jincheng, studying did not require deliberate effort, just a bit of casual work to keep pace with his brother.
This gave An Jincheng more free time. In his youth, he did not understand that what he could do easily might require others to go all out.
An Jincheng began to develop a liking for music, comics, cars, and even started dating girls.
His talent fully supported him to do all these things, but he felt... his brother was rather dull in comparison.
His brother was always buried in learning, gaining knowledge, and learning family management skills.
Once, An Jincheng was quite disappointed. He had read a comic from Island Country about a brother who deeply loved his younger brother and would protect him even if it meant betraying the whole clan.
But fate ultimately turned the brothers into enemies, at least in the younger brother’s eyes, the older brother was an enemy.
In the end, the younger brother killed the older brother, who poked the younger brother’s forehead with his finger, saying it was the last time, eyes filled with endless love.
An Jincheng shared this comic with his brother, hoping that they would never have any misunderstandings.
He wished that the two brothers could always communicate openly, not ending up in a tragic situation like the brothers in the comic.
But his brother just frowned and said:
"Don’t read these pointless things, Ah Cheng. Do you know you are wasting your talent? Why would you squander such talent that others can’t match?"
An Youxuan’s eyes and tone were filled with disappointment, which greatly pained An Jincheng.
Fate had more trials in store for the brothers.
In their second year of high school, An Jincheng heard these words from his father:
"Ah Cheng, your grades are excellent, you need to keep it up. Grandfather plans to give you both some money to start your first investment! Both you and An Youxuan will get it, but you cannot use any other family resources. Whoever can make the most profit from this money will receive Grandfather’s favor. This is a competition between you two."
"In the future, Grandfather plans to choose one of you to be his successor."
An Jincheng asked:
"Brother and I are still students, shouldn’t it be Dad and the uncles who are Grandfather’s successors?"
An Jincheng’s father shook his head:
"Grandfather is too capable and still very healthy, he can wait until you grow up, and you also have far more resources than our generation enjoyed. Grandfather always says our thinking is outdated... You are the future masters of this era."