Chapter 55: Deep Blue Baby

shuhaige. net Chapter 55: Deep Blue Baby

Zhang Ningzhi turned to stone, her face flushing crimson in an instant; she put down her phone and buried her face in the desk.

"Hahaha! I told you not to ask." Jiang Nian smirked, putting away his phone, thinking Yao Beibei's posts on Xiaohongshu barely skirted community guidelines.

Her life was bland and plain, but that didn't stop her from being a pervert online.

Sister Beibei! The last hope of the Yellow Race!

Night deepened, time crawled slowly across the clock face, the classroom lit brightly. With third-period evening self-study approaching, it meant a day off in forty minutes.

Li Hua put down his pen and turned to ask him.

"Nian, what are you planning to do tomorrow?"

Jiang Nian said, "I'm going to the supermarket to hear some good news."

Li Hua slowly typed a question mark, then asked, "Wanna go to the internet cafe? We can sit together—I'll treat you to online time, how about it?"

"No." Jiang Nian thought for a moment, "I've got something tomorrow. Next time I'll treat you—ramen with iced red tea and an egg."

Li Hua brightened, but given Jiang Nian's abstract nature, he still ventured a cautious question.

"Big Brother Nian, isn't the egg supposed to go in the ramen?"

After evening self-study, the teaching building erupted in chaos.

Xu Qianqian felt nothing about the holiday; she stood on the third-floor corridor, backpack on her back, holding a test paper, utterly focused on reading.

Jiang Nian came down with the crowd and instinctively hefted her backpack.

"Did you move your desk home too?"

"Mind your own business!"

Xu Qianqian never expected him to say anything sensible; she was about to retort when suddenly her back felt lighter—her backpack had been lifted.

Pū—a light backpack landed in her arms.

"You're not bringing any books? Are you planning to sleep all day tomorrow? You've only just been promoted—already slacking off? Don't you fear dropping in the monthly joint exam?"

"I brought the test paper; no need for books—I'll use yours." Jiang Nian said something fitting his persona.

Xu Qianqian's chest rose and fell with anger, "I won't let you use it!"

She instantly felt it was natural for Jiang Nian to carry her backpack—but tomorrow, when he came to borrow books, she'd make things hard for him, just to teach him a lesson!

Jiang Nian found no difficulty in it; he even enjoyed it.

Xu Qianqian was full of thorns, but that didn't stop her from being the Empress of Qianqian!

Her constant nagging was just a way to subtly push herself to get into a better university. In her words, since she had to take the exam anyway, why not aim for the best value?

She understood value-for-money, which was why the "genius girlfriend" trope was always unpopular!!!

But she wasn't really a genius; Xu Qianqian was like most girls—top of her class since elementary school, then grades dropped in seventh grade, sparking her competitive spirit.

She studied relentlessly, but missed the zero class in the high school entrance exam and ended up in the Olympiad class. She maintained excellence ever since—it had become a habit.

The two walked out of school, into the crowd.

The streetlights cast a dull yellow glow, painting broad shadows.

Jiang Nian walked ahead, then suddenly said, "I'm not returning your hundred yuan."

"No way!"

"I mean, I'm treating you to the supermarket—there's a new one opened on Nan Er Street." Jiang Nian explained, "I heard the discounts are huge—I'm putting in three hundred myself."

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian felt a flicker of interest—no girl could resist a supermarket trip. But the thought of going with Jiang Nian instantly drained her enthusiasm.

This guy only knew how to mess things up and ruin the joy of shopping.

"No."

"Really?" Jiang Nian pulled out a flyer from his pocket, "You should check out the discount scale first—regret it for a week if you don't go."

Xu Qianqian glanced at it and fell silent.

"No."

Jiang Nian didn't press further; they chatted aimlessly all the way until they reached her apartment building, where the stairwell was too narrow to walk side by side.

The stairwell was dim, their footsteps clearly audible.

He instinctively sensed something was off and turned to look at the Empress of Qianqian's face. From above, her small face still looked pretty—no wonder someone chased her.

"Hey, are you going tomorrow?"

This time, Xu Qianqian didn't refuse outright—she turned her face away.

"We'll see tomorrow."

"Oh~" Jiang Nian knew she'd agreed. Damn, no wonder tsundere characters aren't popular. "Alright, if you go, dress nicely."

"Why?" Xu Qianqian instinctively crossed her arms.

"In case someone from our class sees you—I can show off." Jiang Nian said bluntly.

A night breeze blew through the stairwell; Xu Qianqian's face instantly warmed.

"I'll stay far away from you!"

"Hey, you don't have to go that far." Jiang Nian stopped, leaning against the wall, "You could dress like a primary schooler—I couldn't show off then."

"Get lost!"

Jiang Nian knew this was likely Xu Qianqian's limit of tolerance. He decided to quit while ahead, stopped teasing her, and waved.

"See you tomorrow."

Thud! Thud!

Two doors shut one after the other; the night gradually settled.

The next day.

The family finally gathered for breakfast—since Jiang Nian got promoted and started earning money, he'd gained some say at home, and wasn't nagged as much.

"Reward money?" Li Hongmei looked up, her face full of surprise.

"Right, a promotion from a gaming company, fifty thousand in total." Jiang Nian made it up off the cuff—after all, the system had set up a gaming-company bug for him, so later claiming he held shares and got dividends wouldn't be a problem either.

What game?

Don't ask—ask and the answer is Genshin Impact, launching.

"Add to cart and clear it out? You can't possibly spend fifty thousand buying stuff online, that's way too much, isn't it?" Jiang's father paused his chopsticks mid-bite. "The stuff online can't be reliable, can it?"

"That's old-fashioned thinking. What can't you buy online these days?" Jiang Nian corrected him. "Our washing machine needs replacing, right? And the air conditioner—how about a microwave oven?"

"An Apple computer whole set alone is ten or twenty thousand. I don't really care for that stuff, but a fifty-thousand budget is nothing to a gaming company."

"Xiao Nian, you decide—your mind's a bit sharper." Li Hongmei set the tone.

"Then let's swap phones first, then buy some winter clothes, Bosideng and the like." Jiang Nian stretched out his fingers, ticking them off one by one. "Appliances, furniture... all of them have online options."

"Buy a phone for Qianqian too." Jiang's father suggested.

"Will she accept it?" Jiang Nian asked curiously.

"Just have your mom give it to her—consider it a New Year's gift in advance." Jiang's father said, "We were originally planning to wait until Qianqian went to college to give it."

Jiang Nian now knew where his own habit of diligence and frugality came from—truly a family.

"Sure."

At noon, Jiang Nian took a notebook, shopping on one side while recording and calculating prices on the other. He planned to spend all fifty-seven thousand in one go, not a cent less, to complete the mission.

Carefully tallied, confirmed correct, clicked pay.

【Ding! Mission: Indulgent Spending (limited to remaining one-time spending of this system's reward currency) (Completed)】

Along with the order-completed notification, the mission panel and bank card notification popped up simultaneously—170,000 deposited. Jiang Nian couldn't help instinctively leaning back in a tactical recline.

Deep Blue Baby is really handy.