?Chapter 1293:


    “Jasper, are you good at school?” Nina asked,unching her signature tactic like a practiced diplomat.


    Jasper hesitated before replying coolly, “I do okay.”


    “Can you help me with my homework, then?” Nina asked with a straight face, throwing her own brother under the proverbial bus. “Jesse gave me some assignments, but there are parts I just can’t figure out. And I don’t dare ask him. He’s a little scary.”


    Jasper thought for a second before responding. “He looks nice.”


    “That’s because he’s nice in front of others. When it’s just the two of us, he’s frightening,” Nina replied without the faintest worry of being caught. “Every time I ask a question, he calls me silly.”


    Jasper instinctively nced toward Jerome.


    Jerome remained silent. Ever since Jasper arrived, Nina had been paying less and less attention to him.


    “Can you help me with my homework?” Nina asked again, determined to build a bridge to Jasper as quickly as possible.


    His expression didn’t thaw, but he nodded. “Let’s go.”


    “Yay!” Nina cheered, nearly bursting with energy.


    She led both Jasper and Jerome to the study on the second floor.


    When they stepped inside, Jesse was already seated with a book in hisp—every inch the little gentleman.


    Nina felt a twinge of guilt but pushed through. She pulled a worksheet from her drawer and held it out. “I don’t get these.”


    Jasper looked at the paper and frowned slightly.


    Jerome also leaned in, confused.<fn53db> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n find?novel</fn53db>


    “These aren’t for our level,” Jasper said, quickly recognizing the third-grade content.


    “I know,” Nina admitted, ncing anxiously at Jesse, her little heart skipping a beat. “But Jesse said I should study ahead. He gave me this homework.”


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    Jasper took one more look at the page, then went to Jesse for help.


    When it came to lies, Jesse didn’t tolerate them easily.


    But since this particr one only brushed against him, he let it slide—for now. Deep down, he was already nning how to settle the scoreter that evening.


    “You’re the one who said you wanted to get your master’s degree by twenty-one, just like Mom,” Jesse said calmly, his tone unbothered andposed. To actually graduate with a master’s degree at twenty-one, she’d have to skip grades left and right. Otherwise, it was just a pipe dream.


    “I know,” Nina said, her voice suddenly serious. “That’s why I’m asking Jasper to help tutor me.”


    Jasper hesitated for a beat, but in the end, he gave in and agreed to help her with the mountain of homework she’d taken on.


    With Jasper caught up tutoring Nina, that left Jerome with nothing to do. Jesse, ever the thoughtful host, plucked a few storybooks off the shelf and handed them to him. “These are Nina’s. If you’re bored, you can flip through them.”


    “Can I go find your mom?” Jerome asked, his mind still buzzing with thoughts of those hacking lessons.


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