Chapter 56

After playing with the Deep Blue Baby for two weeks, Jiang Nian had roughly figured out some patterns.

Small money, skills, slightly larger money, skills.

If you transpose the thirty-eight-year-old Jiang Nian from another timeline, this stuff is like a carrot.

Not enough to eat, not enough to starve—you must constantly exert your subjective initiative.

It's not exactly simple, but compared to a regular job, the system offers higher value-for-effort, and it genuinely kept motivating the thirty-eight-year-old Jiang Nian to turn things around.

But when the system landed on Jiang Nian, the carrot became a state banquet.

Tasks always give him advantages; he can't possibly spend all the money.

He could only say: praise the Deep Blue Baby.

Afternoon nap over.

Half-awake, Jiang Nian seized the time to finish two sets of practice papers—one math, one physics. Both were his weak subjects; he couldn't afford to neglect them.

In Gao San, once your foundation is patched up, not trying hard would be indefensible.

You might not go to bars or dance clubs, but at least aim for a 911.

Life—what's the point of living if not to struggle?

Youth is the prime time for passionate effort.

Sleep? You'll have plenty of time to sleep after you're dead!

Vrrrrm!!!

Beside the dimly lit desk, the corpse—Jiang Nian lay slumped over, sleeping peacefully—was jolted awake by the urgent ring of his phone.

"Fuck, I just finished one paper, how the hell is it already dark?"

Vrrrrm, the phone on the desk kept vibrating, its screen blindingly bright.

The call was from Xu Qianqian. Jiang Nian froze for a moment. He remembered he'd agreed to meet her at six to visit the supermarket—he glanced at the time: 5:40.

He exhaled in relief and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"You coming or not?" Xu Qianqian said, sounding aggrieved.

"Coming, coming, I got lost in the papers and lost track of time." Jiang Nian leapt up from his chair, rubbed his forehead, and bolted out of the room.

"My bad, my bad—I got too absorbed in solving problems."

A slightly relieved voice came through the phone: "Mm, okay, knock on my door."

Hurrying out, he paused for an instant as his hand gripped the doorknob. He spun back, scanned the room swiftly, confirmed everything was fine, then slammed the door shut.

The living room, lit by only one yellow bulb, flashed past him.

"Mom, I'm riding out!"

"Ride slowly."

"Got it."

Jiang Nian grabbed his keys and headed out to knock on the opposite door. Before he could knock, Xu Qianqian stepped out, fully dressed—unprecedentedly wearing a deep brown plaid long skirt with white sneakers.

Her top was a snow-white undershirt paired with a green sweater jacket, making her look sweet and gentle.

Of course, the man Jiang Nian only lost his composure for a second.

"You look pretty good in this outfit—though I'm not saying you don't look good normally. Just that each look has its own charm, and this one's three percent better than your usual."

Xu Qianqian opened her mouth but couldn't say a word. She thought: Does Jiang Nian get hit often for being mouthy? Why does he always pile on so many layers of flattery?

"Thank you for the compliment."

Jiang Nian shook his keys. "Get on."

Nan Er Street, the electric scooter weaving through traffic.

Jiang Nian rode the whole way, chattering the whole way. He hated drivers, cursed them the entire trip; Xu Qianqian told him to stop swearing.

He argued, "Drivers are definitely cursing me too, so I'm just cursing back—no loss."

"Can you be normal? You swear every damn day." Before she finished speaking, a car swerved close—she shrieked in fright.

Jiang Nian said nothing. Xu Qianqian fell silent too.

After a long pause, she couldn't hold back: "Wait, you're not even cursing now?"

"Aren't you tired of my dirty language?" Jiang Nian replied flatly. "Hey, what's wrong with cursing? I let it out—I at least clean my mind."

The night breeze blew; Xu Qianqian felt awkward.

"Where do you even get these twisted ideas? But I think that driver just now really..."

Jiang Nian casually added, "Asshole."

Xu Qianqian blushed. "Yeah, kinda."

The new supermarket's entrance was packed with electric scooters. Jiang Nian squeezed in, parked, and pulled his key out in one smooth motion, then turned to join Xu Qianqian at the crowded entrance.

On opening day, there were too many people—it took ages to push through.

To save resources, they shared one shopping cart. Their budget was four hundred yuan—split evenly. Each had to track their own spending to avoid using the other's allowance.

Xu Qianqian was calculating how much to spend on chips when she turned and realized Jiang Nian was gone. She walked around and found him in the grain section, using a shovel to play with rice.

Wait, are all guys this childish?!

"What are you doing?" Xu Qianqian stood behind him.

"This mung bean, oh, so smooth," Jiang Nian, like a pervert, poked the mung beans with the shovel, then poked the Northeastern rice beside them.

"This rice, so smooth, too."

Xu Qianqian was speechless. "You remember postpositive modifiers—good. But your tone? Absolutely twisted."

Wandering through the snack aisle.

"Spend one hundred fifty and get one free draw—so we pay separately." Xu Qianqian pinched the chip bag, confirmed it wasn't leaking, then dropped it into the cart.

The snacks at the supermarket weren't a great deal, but there were various opening promotions. By comparison, the same items were actually a bit cheaper than at the snack shop.

However, only some of the snacks were relatively cheap, so you had to plan ahead.

"Chips are thirty off when you spend thirty, too bad I don't eat them." Jiang Nian turned his gaze to the fruit section. Buying watermelon would be suicide—watermelon in October was more expensive than his life.

He picked out some small bread, plus a case of the campus scumbag's signature fruit milk. He grabbed a dozen Cokes and Sprites, then headed to the deli section for sour-and-spicy duck claws.

When he came back to pick out fruit milk, he found Xu Qianqian had already marked everything, so he just copied her homework. In the end, the two of them pooled four hundred yuan, found an abandoned shopping cart, and paid separately.

"Jiang Nian, what did you win?"

"Ugh, Red Bull." Jiang Nian carried the heavy shopping bag on one end, Xu Qianqian on the other—all they had to do was walk to the electric scooter.

"What about you, what did you win?"

"A cutting board, but my family doesn't use one, so give it to yours." Xu Qianqian stuffed a bamboo-wood cutting board into his hands. "You—"

Before she could finish, Xu Qianqian suddenly felt the weight on her side inexplicably start to increase, and her face immediately changed.

"Jiang Nian, are you even a man!"

"Huh? Would I hurt you like this?" Jiang Nian silently pulled the sagging shopping bag back up a bit. "I thought you said you wanted to lose weight."

The snack bags were heavy, and the two of them hauled them up from below the building.

Xu Qianqian couldn't carry it anymore and was resting at the last flight of stairs. The sound-activated light flickered on and off, and fine beads of thin sweat seeped from her forehead, like a layer of warm honey had been spread on.

Jiang Nian wasn't even breathing hard, leaning against the wall, watching her with a smile.

She knew Jiang Nian was doing it on purpose—he'd rather wait than help her!

But she didn't need it either. In all my life, when has Xu Qianqian ever needed help from a scumbag!