"Isaac and I thought about the idea for a long time before we decided!"

Anne was very proud and was still immersed in the grand fireworks show just now. She jumped around William like a leaping little sparrow.

William gave her a thunderous sniff on her forehead: "You have been thinking about it with Isaac for a long time!"

Isaac didn't say anything, but expected to think that he was in a good mood. He was busy cleaning up the mess and had no time to participate in their competition.

"William kissed the wool girl from Spencer's house!" Anne said loudly, "He has red lips marks on his face, I saw it with my own eyes!"

"It's all said it's my cousin." William rolled his eyes and moaned in despair, "Next, you'll promote Mr. Harris to marry his seven-year-old daughter to me."

"Ah--pervert!" Annie showed an exaggerated disgust, "My aunt said their family owed a lot of foreign debts, and they were going bankrupt several times!" She rolled her eyes cleverly, "He didn't want to marry his daughter to you, he wanted to marry his daughter to your family's money bag!"

William had no choice but to say: "You can just call me Master Baozi."

This made Anne laugh. She jumped to William and shook her eyes mysteriously at him: "What birthday gift did your dad prepare for you this year?"

"A basket of erotic gossip." He pointed at his cheeks that had not been completely wiped clean and yawned boredly.

"Then-" she squeezed closer, "Where is your uncle?"

In fact, this is what they expect most every year. Arthur's gifts are always unexpected and challenging.

On the last birthday, William received a treasure map full of password symbols. It took them a lot of effort to crack the clues, and finally found a deep-buried treasure chest in the flower fields ten miles away from Grantham - it was filled with gadgets from foreign lands - compared to the result, the treasure hunting process is a truly wonderful experience that people can devote themselves to and enjoy.

When William mentioned this, he was full of expectations: "I haven't received the letter yet."

"It would be great if you could take us to the castle to explore the mystery," Anne was full of longing. "Maybe I could find the lost magic ruins!" She turned around happily. "I hope to receive a British plant encyclopedia! If there were still plant illustrations in the New World, I would definitely faint from happiness!"

"Tell your uncle. He has to sort out the plant illustrations in his hand before he is old and may have time to give them to you as a family heirloom." William took the opportunity to tease, and he turned his head and pulled Isaac, who was sitting quietly beside him, into the discussion, "Where are you? It's not... a stone, a lizard tail or something?"

Isaac smiled and said nothing. William did not intend to let him go, and approached intimately: "What kind of birthday gift do you want? I want a way to get it for you!" He quickly added, "Except for the Sage Stone-"

"I know, I know!" Annie shouted and took it. Before I could stop it, Isaac shouted loudly: "Admission notice!"

"Ha?" William was confused for a moment, "What notice?"

"You're from college!" Anne stared at him with a blame, "You don't think Isaac will go to middle school all his life, do you?"

William suddenly realized: "What's the difficulty? His grades have always been very good. Oxford or Cambridge? My dad mentioned this a while ago, but I haven't made a decision yet." He quickly encouraged his friend, "You choose one, let's go together!"

This time it was Anne's turn to pat him on the forehead: "You think they are all the same as you!" She angrily said, "Young Master Thomas will send a random letter of recommendation, of course you can go wherever you want. Isaac does not have a wealthy rich dad!"

"Anne..."

Isaac wanted to speak but stopped. He shook his head at William and showed a bitter smile: "I can try applying for public-paid students. The quota is limited, but it is always a way."

"Publicly paid students? That's not to take plates to serve the rich young masters-"

William realized that he had inadvertently stabbed his friend's self-esteem. He suddenly stopped talking, and the light in Isaac's eyes still dimmed a little.

"It doesn't matter, just help with some work." After a while of silence, the black-haired boy suddenly said, "Anyway, they are all studying, so what they learn."

William couldn't tell whether he was trying to cheer up or not. But he knew that neither Cambridge nor Oxford notices were what Isaac really wanted.

——Invisible Academy, it is the ultimate goal that the genius boy pursues. Unfortunately, he always missed the expected fate. He was once extremely close to this dream, but the broken reality was also scattered like a dream.

Over the years, William has tried several times to write letters to ask his uncle to recommend Isaac to enter the Invisible Academy, but his stubborn friend refused. He was reluctant to bother others, nor did he want Arthur to know that William was involved in this matter.

"Those stupid young masters can get into college just by stuttering. I'm not saying you-" Annie glanced at her friend and continued to be indignant. "Isaac is so smart, but he will be picked by those guys!"

Although Annette added a sentence to show relief, William still felt ashamed.

To be fair, he doesn't think he is a piece of material for studying. Compared to drilling into libraries, observing celestial bodies, and tinkering with experiments, he prefers to live an unrestrained life. Perhaps the environment of growing up is too relaxed and comfortable, and he has long been used to not working hard to do anything. Isaac is naturally smart, hardworking, and by comparison, he is simply a person who can't stand it.

"Anne, stop talking." Isaac noticed William's emotional changes, and he has always been sensitive to it. "The money for public-funded students is also sponsored by others, and not everyone is that bad."

"Hehe, the man takes away all the money he earns, and then divides it into a little bit for you to study," she acted like a gentleman, imitating them to walk with a cane, "What's this called? Charity-" She deliberately dragged her voice, "Which you have to praise them while studying!"

"'Oh! Great Master Harris!'" Anne instantly possessed Shakespeare, "'To save the destructive fate of the family, I will give my seven-year-old daughter!'"

"Don't add fuel to the fire here!"

William was also a little angry. He was already ashamed, and Anne kept holding on to this matter, which made him feel upset.

"Your dad is doing business with people from the East India Company. They are not good people!" Annie refused to give in and pushed him back with her waist. "If you get old in the future, you will definitely become like him!"

"Have my family recruited you or provoked you?" William didn't be polite to her, "Just say I'm fine, why should I bring my dad with me? I don't listen to my explanation to you, I just believe your lingering aunt talking nonsense!"

Anne was suddenly a little stunned. William rarely looked anxious with her.

She held it in for a long time, and tears of grievance rolled around in her eyes: "Uncle George could have gone to Oxford, but it was all Pig Nose Brian's father wanted to get a professor title and spent money to pay off his uncle's place!"

All the reluctance and anger turned into pain at this moment, and the little girl could no longer hold back and ran away to the river crying.

"You made her cry again."

William turned around and looked at the helpless expression on Isaac's face. Both of them shrugged at the same time, and both sighed.

A scream piercing the eardrum came from the riverside, which was where Anne ran.

The teenagers looked at each other and realized that something had happened. They did not dare to delay and chased after him.

The river bank is dark and dark, and a bunch of objects rushing from upstream are stranded on the mudflats not far away.

Annie was not in danger. She stood in a daze in the soft mud and stopped crying.

They caught up with her, stood by the girl on the left and right, gasping.

"Anne..."

William wanted to say something to apologize, but found that the girl didn't seem to hear it at all. There were still tears on her face and her eyes staring at her feet.

A pale dead face.

The stars were slight and leaping with the waves of water, shining for them the pile of alluvial objects that stretched into the river near and far away - the cold and stiff human body.
Chapter completed!