The elders at home did not restrict Rowan. His mother, well, really had never monitored him, because he had eight older brothers and cousins looking after him, and he bore a lot of academic pressure on himself. Many of his teachers had also taught the eight of them, so whenever he scored a little lower, his teachers would compare him to them. He was under tremendous pressure.

Among his classmates, he ranked at the top. Even in the city rankings, he was among the top ten. Compared to his brothers and cousins, however, he still fell short. They had skipped grades in both elementary and middle schools, but by the time Rowan reached middle school, he could only take things one step at a time. Having one outstanding older brother was already a lot of pressure for a younger sibling, let alone having eight particularly excellent older brothers.

“Nana said you would be back today, so she arranged for the driver to pick you up. I came home yesterday for the holidays, so I tagged along.”

Rowa