Chapter 158: Scold Him, He Might Enjoy It (Thanks to the Grand Patron AOAoAoAo)

Before entering home, Xu Qianqian returned her coat to Jiang Nian.

Seeing him stare at the coat in his hands, she couldn't help asking.

"What's that look on your face?"

Jiang Nian didn't treat her as an outsider and rubbed his face.

"Should I inhale deeply into this coat right now, or sneak a deep inhale after we get home?"

"Go die!" Xu Qianqian shoved him, sending him stumbling into the opposite door, "Jiang Nian, can you stop being such a creep?"

Jiang Nian half-closed the door and thought seriously for a moment.

"No."

Xu Qianqian: "."

Whatever, forget about him.

With a bang, the door shut.

Jiang Nian chuckled, picked up the coat, and walked inside.

He didn't do the dead宅 move of spinning the coat 360 degrees while inhaling—mainly because he'd already sniffed enough while holding the umbrella.

If it were stockings, that'd be another story.

Notably, high school girls' stockings, college girls' stockings, and TikTok福利姬's stockings are three completely different things—the last one isn't even worth smelling.

High school girls usually don't even wear stockings; rarity equals value.

If a high school girl is artificially pretentious, she automatically counts as a TikTok福利姬. Given age and other factors, she's slightly higher tier than a TikTok福利姬.

Here, "high school girl" refers narrowly to those who are beautiful, academically excellent, carry a natural scent, have normal personalities, and harshly scold perverted behavior.

On this basis, further subdivisions could be made—wait, I need to open my browser.

Since he came home early, his parents were both home.

Li Hongmei saw him enter with the coat and couldn't help asking.

"Did you get wet?"

"Kind of—I got a little wet." Jiang Nian felt touched; only mothers are truly kind.

"Did I ask you?" Li Hongmei was speechless. "I asked if Qianqian got wet. You dare snatch her umbrella? Only Qianqian has such a kind heart."

Jiang Nian: "I'm heartbroken—I'm less worthy than Xu Qianqian."

"Of course not—half of Qianqian is better than you." Li Hongmei wiped her hands; she knew her son's nature all too well. "Stop being a brat. Go call Qianqian to dinner."

"Fine." Jiang Nian put down his backpack.

Thinking he still had several free hours tonight, he instantly cheered up.

The Jiang family always raised him with loose discipline, even though he was their only son. But whenever there was food, they always invited Xu Qianqian, and they always remembered her during wind and rain.

As for the two kids' relationship, Li Hongmei and Old Jiang didn't interfere.

Everyone has their own fate; children must walk their own paths.

If they end up together, that's joyful; if not, don't force it—after all, Xu Qianqian isn't someone else's daughter.

The two families are so close; both are like flesh of the same hand. Better no marriage than enmity—otherwise, they'd never have the face to face Xu Qianqian's mother.

Xu Qianqian went straight to shower upon returning home; she lived alone. She was used to this life and knew Li Yi would call her for dinner.

Sure enough, her phone on the bathroom shelf lit up.

【Jiang Nian requested a video call】.

Xu Qianqian, wearing a hairband, stared at the words "video call" and felt speechless—if Jiang Nian didn't know what he was doing, that'd be impossible.

Reject.

Ding ding ding—the video call request popped up again.

In the bathroom, Xu Qianqian still had bubbles on her body; her family had a bathtub, bought specially for her by Old Xu. But she was in a hurry for dinner, so she chose a shower.

The bubbles hadn't been rinsed off yet; her skin, milky-white and smooth, revealed a delicate, graceful figure—her waist slender, not exaggeratedly thin, yet perfectly refined.

She rejected again, completely avoiding any clichéd drama.

Switch to voice call.

"Hello?"

"Come eat." Jiang Nian's voice came through.

Unsure if only Jiang Nian was on the other end, Xu Qianqian instantly became refined.

"Mm, I know."

To avoid seeming too cold, she added a line after "mm." Though she really wanted to scold Jiang Nian, she held back for the sake of her image.

As for why she didn't scold him, Xu Qianqian figured it might be a reward for that pervert.

Ew, disgusting.

Xu Qianqian spent five minutes carefully rinsing off, then put on clean clothes. She stepped out wearing socks and pink slippers, and knocked on the opposite door.

Jiang Nian opened the door and sized her up.

"Going out tonight?"

"No." Xu Qianqian shook her head, unwilling to let him say more embarrassing things, and shoved past him. "At dinner, say less."

What the hell—this is backwards.

Who the hell's house is this? Am I the outsider here?!

Jiang Nian felt the world had deteriorated—he was chilled.

These days, even home offers no warmth; the crow has taken the magpie's nest. He'd have to sleep on Xu Qianqian's bed—truth be told, it was pretty clean.

At dinner, Li Hongmei and Xu Qianqian chatted happily.

"Qianqian, I heard your school had a big joint exam?"

Li Hongmei's information came partly from the parent group, but Old Liu was somewhat detached from the county high school parent group, so it rarely updated.

These two had never looked at the parent group—they'd just heard it from their eldest son. Deliberately erasing someone's existence was meant to show they paid close attention to school matters.

"Yeah, just finished the afternoon exam," Xu Qianqian appeared unusually well-behaved.

Jiang Nian sat beside them, 低头 eating, like a foreign son-in-law living in. He listened as they analyzed Xu Qianqian's grades and which universities she'd get into.

Fuck, look at me!

Finally, Li Hongmei casually asked one more question.

"Nian, how did you do on your exam?"

"Pretty good. Should be over five hundred and seventy or eighty points." Jiang Nian ate with his bowl cupped, not looking up, voice muffled. "Mom, Dad, are you going to beat me tonight?"

"If you're not beating me, I'm going to sleep. I'll wash the dishes after I wake up."

The couple froze for a moment, then fell silent.

"What are you acting out now?"

"Hongmei, sometimes I really want a second child."

Xu Qianqian smiled with pursed lips, eating slowly. It was nice to have noise and commotion—even if she never felt lonely normally, she just felt it was nice.

After dinner, Xu Qianqian volunteered to wash the dishes.

Li Hongmei naturally refused, lifting Jiang Nian up from where he'd been slumped on the sofa.

"You wash them."

"Mom, I have a cast on my hand. Don't you remember?"

"When?"

"Yesterday. I broke my hand and went to the hospital alone. I got the cast, bought a single band-aid, and checked out." Jiang Nian squirmed. "To save money."

"Stop talking nonsense. Breaking your hand? That's bad luck."

In the end, Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian washed them together, side by side in the kitchen.

"Did you renovate your kitchen?" she asked.

"Yeah. Like it? If you like it, this bowl's yours to wash." Jiang Nian washed the dishes slowly with both hands, wondering how it had come to this.

He suddenly turned his head—his mom instantly looked away. He knew his mom too well; this middle-aged woman was daydreaming again. He was speechless.

"Dream on. Don't slack off. Split it evenly," Xu Qianqian whispered.

"Annoying. Why didn't you just say 'I'll wash the dishes'?"

"No way. That'd make me look like a Bai Yanlang who eats and leaves." Xu Qianqian spoke with righteous indignation. "I can't be the villain—you won't wash them yourself."

"Fine. I'll come over to your place later."

"Do what?"

"Watch TV. Your sofa's perfect for gaming." Jiang Nian said. "I told them to replace it, but they got attached to it and refused."

"Alright," Xu Qianqian didn't refuse.

Since starting Gao San, moments like this—nights without self-study—were rare. She didn't want to be alone in her empty house at night. It was boring.

After washing the dishes, Jiang Nian shook the water off his hands and went to his room to get his phone.

The bedroom door was open. Nothing to hide.

In Japanese manga, the male lead's bed always had porn magazines or DVDs underneath. Different cultures, that's all. What century is this? Who still reads magazines?

Jiang Nian lived with complete integrity. As long as no one checked his browser history, he was a saint.

"Mom, I'm going to Xu Qianqian's to watch TV."

"Go. Bring your own key."

Don't worry—I brought my ID card too.

Xu Qianqian walked ahead and opened the door. Jiang Nian stepped in, changed his shoes, walked to the sofa, expertly turned on the air conditioner and TV, and flopped down comfortably.

He played his game while replying to Zhang Ningzhi's messages in a small window. The aloof class monitor was doing something, but hadn't sent anything.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe were eating late-night snacks in the cafeteria and had just posted pictures in Group Two.

"Not many people in the dorm cafeteria."

Someone replied below: "Yang Qiming and Huang Cailang are eating wontons over there."

No one spoke in the big group because teachers were there, but Group Two was unusually lively.

Jiang Nian had been lurking in the class Group Two. Seeing the word "wontons" made him nearly crack.

Cailang still loved wontons.

Sun Zhicheng: "@Chen Yunyun, what's good in the cafeteria?"

Chen Yunyun: "Nothing special. The fish cakes are okay."

Lin Dong: "Fish cakes are awesome."

Huang Cailang: "(Grinning) How'd you guys know Brother Yang treated me to fish cakes?"

Lin Dong: "(Thumbs up) Nice."

Wu Jungu: "Can you use the cafeteria card at the other cafeteria?"

Luo Zhongping: "Yes, it's universal."

Xu Qianqian brought her homework into the living room, phone in hand. She chatted with Song Xiyun while scrolling through entertainment marketing videos.

"Can't stop laughing, fam."

The short video's sound drowned out the TV slightly, but Jiang Nian didn't care. His game audio was also on speaker—he didn't own a computer, just made do with Honor of Kings.

In the group, Li Hua posted a set of photos.

"The internet cafe computers are pretty fast."

Next to him sat the fat guy Ma Guojun, his eyes glued to the screen. His round face was flushed—whether he was cursing Li Hua, his trash teammates, or Li Hua the trash teammate, no one could tell.

After the exam, everyone was relaxed.

North district boys' dormitory, fifth floor.

Lin Dong had just finished showering and was scrolling through messages in the group chat. He looked up and saw Ceng You sprawled on the blanket in a pair of floral shorts, wiggling his butt, and asked curiously.

"Brother You, what are you watching?"

Ceng You turned his head and smiled, "Shrine of the God."

"That's so old, I've never heard of it." Lin Dong scratched his head, then glanced at the bed frame beside him and was suddenly struck by inspiration.

"Brother You, let me show you something interesting."

One more chapter