In just five days, Henry Lincoln's happiness increased by five points. In other words, after that night when Henry Lincoln almost broke down in tears and fainted, he managed to struggle through a total of 8+16=24 sessions of hard work. Twenty-four times in five days doesn’t sound like much, but actually doing it is almost unimaginable. So, up to now, Henry Lincoln realized he had really overestimated himself. Five days ago, he was planning to do it 127 times in half a month, but now, if he really did it ten times a day, he’d probably be dead by now.

If Henry Lincoln could be given another viable option, he truly wouldn’t want to keep doing this anymore. It’s just that the other options Aili gave him weren’t what he wanted.

“Henry Lincoln, you’ve been getting sleepier and sleepier lately, and you don’t look well. You even seem a bit unsteady when you walk. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

After finishing his companion reading job, Henry Lincoln had been staying at home all the time. Hannah Lincoln, who had always doted on her younger brother, didn’t think there was anything wrong with that and didn’t insist that Henry Lincoln had to go out and work. Although Hannah Lincoln looked delicate and frail, she was actually a very strong woman at heart. In her mind, she didn’t think she needed her brother’s help to support the family.

So, it was fine for Henry Lincoln to rest at home for a while, but what she never expected was that her brother, who had been resting at home recently, actually looked even more exhausted than when he was working outside.

She really couldn’t figure it out. Take today for example—today is March 13th, Saturday. She didn’t have to work at McDonald’s today. From her observations throughout the day, Henry Lincoln didn’t get up until noon, had a quick lunch, yawned while watching TV for a bit, then went back to his room to sleep, and only stumbled out of his room, still groggy, at dinnertime.

With Henry Lincoln in this state, she couldn’t help but worry.

“Big sis, I know why brother hasn’t been looking well lately!”

After Henry Lincoln sat down, before he could answer, his little sister Julia Lincoln, who was sitting next to him, jumped in with a grin and said, “Brother has been staying up late a lot recently. At night, when second sis and I are sleeping, we can always hear brother doing something in his room, making rubbing noises. And yesterday, brother even sneaked out of his room with three big bags of tissues. I…”

But before Julia Lincoln could finish, second sister Olivia Lincoln, blushing shyly, quickly covered the young girl’s mouth. She really did know what Henry Lincoln was doing every night, and she had actually seen it. That made her think of that stick that could spray liquid every time she heard those strange noises from Henry Lincoln’s room at night, and then she couldn’t sleep.

“Little sis, don’t talk nonsense. Sis, Henry Lincoln is fine, don’t worry!”

After glaring at the aggrieved-looking Julia Lincoln, Olivia Lincoln also shot Henry Lincoln a red-faced, annoyed look as she spoke.

Of course, even though she didn’t know exactly what had happened between Henry Lincoln, Olivia Lincoln, and Julia Lincoln, Hannah Lincoln could still guess that there was a big secret among the three that she wasn’t supposed to know. It was just too suspicious.

However, although it was suspicious, Hannah Lincoln didn’t press the issue. She just occasionally glanced at Henry Lincoln with a puzzled look during dinner, which made Henry Lincoln feel very uncomfortable.

It was already embarrassing enough for Henry Lincoln to be found out by his second and little sisters. If his most respected eldest sister found out too, he’d really have nowhere to hide.

“I’m done eating!”

So after a few quick bites, Henry Lincoln quickly escaped from his eldest sister’s questioning gaze and went to the living room to turn on the TV.

At that moment, the TV was broadcasting an NBA regular season game: the defending champions, the Bulls, with a current record of 41 wins and 19 losses, were playing away against the Charlotte Hornets, who had a record of 32 wins and 27 losses. Before this game, in the Eastern Conference standings, the defending champion Chicago Bulls were ranked second in the East, not far behind the first-place New York Knicks—just one game behind. The Knicks, led by Pat Riley, were in great form this season. Besides their star player Ewing, who was still putting up superstar numbers with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game, young players like John Starks had also broken out this year, averaging over 17 points. Plus, with former NBA All-Star veterans like Charles Smith, Doug Rivers, Anthony Mason, and Tony Campbell, this year’s New York Knicks were mounting a very strong challenge to Chicago in the regular season.

Of course, as last year’s defending champions, the Chicago Bulls, who were aiming for a three-peat this season, were not about to give up the top spot in the regular season so easily. Although the Bulls’ regular season performance this year wasn’t as good, and both Jordan and Pippen’s stats had dropped compared to last year—especially Pippen, who averaged 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists per game last season, but so far this year hadn’t even reached 20 points per game, and was averaging almost one assist less per game than last year. As for his shooting percentage, it had dropped by nearly four percentage points.