Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance novel Chapter 1676

The Byrne Family

Wayne had spent the whole day with his great-grandparents, listening to old operas. By the time night rolled around, he could barely keep his eyes open, and to top it off, he had to sit cross-legged and listen to his mom recite some ancient-sounding essay like it was the most important speech in the world.

Since Wayne kept swaying like he might topple over at any second, Officer Chad got roped in. Molly made him sit behind Wayne and hold him upright, both hands steady on his son’s tiny shoulders.

“In the fourth year of the Qingli era, Lord Teng was demoted to Baling County. By the next spring, the people were happy, everything was thriving, and so, the Yueyang Tower was rebuilt…” Molly read aloud, glancing down when she noticed Wayne’s eyelids drooping shut again. “Hey, sweetie! Open those big eyes! Your mom never read ‘Notes on Yueyang Tower’ this seriously, not even for college entrance exams. Listen up. You’ve got to win from the starting line.”

Officer Chad wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. He shot a look at Molly, then at their sleepy son. “Molly, maybe we can train our future scholar tomorrow? Tonight’s ‘scholar’ looks ready to pass out.”

Chad barely loosened his grip before Wayne tipped right back and flopped asleep.

Molly scooped up her boy, who was already dozing off even sitting up. “Chad, you don’t get it. Blake’s a month older and can already recite poems! Mia’s probably cramming all three hundred Tang poems with her son right now. We’ve got to step it up. Let’s just jump to the hardest essay. If Wayne memorizes ‘Yueyang Tower,’ he can sleep through that lesson in class later.”

Officer Chad gave her a look. “…Did you ever memorize this essay yourself?”

Molly nodded, matter-of-fact. “Nope, never could. But my son will! Look at me, such a great mom.”

She was about to read on, but when she looked down, she realized, “Wayne? Sweetie, wake up.”

Wayne was already dreaming, snuggled into his mom’s arms.

Officer Chad shook his head. “Don’t bother, he’s out for the night. Tomorrow’s another day to raise our little genius.”

“No way. Mia’s kid is a night owl, probably still grinding right now. We can’t fall behind,” Molly protested.

A moment later, the bedroom lights clicked off. Molly never finished the book—she started nodding off mid-sentence, and just as her phone was about to smack her in the face, Chad caught it with ninja reflexes.

Molly was fast asleep.

Really, nothing had changed. Back in her own school days, she’d always doze off before finishing, never quite managing to memorize a thing.

“…The sun! Sets behind the mountains—not ‘Henry,’ not ‘say it.’ You’re Henry! And there’s no ‘say it’ in the poem.” Mia was about to lose it.

Henry’s face scrunched up, wounded. “But there’s no ‘say it’ in the poem.”

Mia was practically ready to pull her hair out. “Henry, that’s not what I meant. Repeat after me: ‘The sun sets behind the mountains.’”

“The sun…” Henry started, then paused, confused. “Mommy, where are the mountains?”

“Babe!” Mia called, on the verge of collapse.

Andre stood up. “Give me two minutes.”

He slipped out, made himself a calming herbal tea, and braced himself to jump back into the poetry battle.