Chapter 52: Things Don't Happen More Than Three Times

Chen Shu propped the bicycle back up, then picked up the items scattered on the ground one by one.

The six-pack of happy water had slammed into the ground, and two cans were crushed out of shape; it felt like it wouldn't be possible to be happy anymore.

Meng Chunqiu and Jiang Lai also hurriedly came to help him pick them up:

"Two of the apples are bruised."

"It's fine, they're edible."

"Brother Chen, do you know this young lady?" Meng Chunqiu asked.

"Not well."

"Sigh, in the prime of her life, why couldn't she think it through and seek to end her life?" Meng Chunqiu sighed. "Even if the first half of one's life was spent entirely in bitterness, to leave this world before having tasted true sweetness—can one be content with that?"

"Everyone has their own bitterness."

"Perhaps."

Chen Shu glanced in the direction the school hospital ambulance had left, then rode his bike back to the dormitory with the two of them, feeling somewhat silent.

This matter fermented quite quickly, spreading throughout the entire school in two hours.

Yujing Academy hadn't had an incident like this in several years.

Or perhaps it had happened, but it hadn't spread; online media wasn't as developed in the past as it is now.

The reason for the jump was confirmed quickly, and the police intervened to investigate.

By the next day.

Chen Shu sat on the sofa scrolling through the school forum, and based on various messages—some true, some false, some half-true—combined with what he already knew, he roughly pieced together the truth—

Wang Yi's talent in dance was indeed outstanding. Through her own long-term accumulation, plus the strong recommendations of her teachers, and even a letter written by the Dean of the academy to the song and dance troupe, she had successfully passed the interview last week, and her fate was about to change.

By this time, she had already moved, and her parents had both changed their Mobile Phones. Yujing was so big, with over twenty million people, that the debt collection company couldn't find her anymore.

But they had overlooked one point.

That was that the loan company had already pried open their door and installed cameras in the living room and two bedrooms; these cameras had captured a large number of indecent photos.

This was why the loan company knew they were planning to move.

Perhaps the other party had even overheard when they were planning to move and intended to track or interfere, but that day Wang Yi had performed exceptionally well and felt success was within her grasp; in her high spirits, she had made a last-minute decision to move early.

The other party had originally intended to use these photos to coerce them into repaying the debt, but now that the people were nowhere to be found, the other party, in a fit of rage, simply published these things.

Not long after receiving the news that she had passed the interview, these indecent photos were released and went viral among netizens.

How should one put it...

A young girl in her own boudoir, not doing anything illegal or immoral—a twenty-four-year-old young woman, it's human nature, after all. But a small portion of netizens, upon seeing these things, just loved to think in the filthiest way possible, and vile, abusive language poured in one after another.

The song and dance troupe hadn't contacted her yet, but the young girl's heart had already collapsed first.

She had already been tormented enough by the debt collectors, and now she felt her last hope had been shattered, especially feeling sorry for her teachers and the Dean, having failed their expectations.

One leap to end a thousand sorrows.

Chen Shu sighed deeply in his heart.

Meng Chunqiu, a local, seemed to see what he was thinking and said to him, "Brother Chen, don't be frightened. These kinds of messy things can happen anywhere. Even though Yujing is under the feet of the Son of Heaven, it is unavoidable. But generally speaking, public order in Yujing is still very good."

"Yujing is too big, too crowded, and too wealthy," said Jiang Lai, another local. "The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness. The more prosperous and dreamlike Yujing appears on the surface, the more filth it hides in the shadows, almost equal to its prosperity. I have seen a lot."

"Brother Jiang is quite literary," Chen Shu teased weakly.

"Brother Jiang is right. There are too many people in Yujing; the most complex thing in the world is the human heart," Meng Chunqiu also put down the book in his hand and became solemn. "No matter how beautiful poetry is, or how brilliant civilization is, the human heart is just as complex. There are over twenty million people in Yujing; they live in this premier city under heaven, but they are still human. The arrests by the police and the management by politicians are sometimes just a battle of wits between people. The fire of justice will not be extinguished, but the methods of evil are endless. You just block one path, and another appears; you just bring one group to justice, and another group emerges."

"Rare for Brother Meng to be so serious," Chen Shu said.

"Especially since Yujing gathers many wealthy people and High-level Practitioners," Jiang Lai continued along Meng Chunqiu's line of thought. "These people, whether they have money or martial power, are prone to that kind of feeling... that is..."

"Contempt for the rules?" Chen Shu asked.

"Yes."

"Sigh..."

Meng Chunqiu let out a long sigh and lowered his head again; the human world was too filthy, better to stick to the beautiful and romantic verses in books.

Chen Shu asked Jiang Lai again, "Are there many black-hearted, evil forces in Yujing?"

"Depends on what kind you mean."

Jiang Lai answered weakly, thinking for a moment: "If you mean those big shots who have power and influence, basically don't break the law in their daily lives, and only stop at nothing for major interests, I don't know. But if it's the usual sense of local bullies and gangs, there aren't many."

"Big ones?"

"What do you mean big ones?"

"The gangs."

"Not big. Big ones can't exist. They are all very small, specializing in bullying honest people," Jiang Lai said honestly. "The truly big and established ones, even those who have both money and their own martial protection, like the boss behind our Arena, are very law-abiding in Yujing. If you scratched his car on the road, he could only call the police."

"I see..."

"Brother Chen, are you very close with that girl?"

"Not close, met once."

"Then why are you asking so much?"

"Curiosity, just curiosity."

Chen Shu's voice grew quieter as he answered, because he was mentally exhausted, and his interest had waned.

Jiang Lai was also scrolling through the forum and said to him, "That senior student seems to be out of danger. It's just damage to her heart and kidneys; if she has medical insurance, it's very treatable."

Chen Shu only gave a grunt, his body sinking down and burying itself into the sofa.

Because of the existence of cultivation, it had become very simple for everyone to acquire martial power, so the civilian organizations and forces in this world were complex and difficult to eradicate.

He hadn't expected Yujing to be like this too; in fact, it was even more complex.

But this kind of thing, if you didn't see it, of course you could just pretend you didn't know. Even if you saw it online, you could just treat it as a line of text; even if you ran into it on the spot, if you didn't know the person involved beforehand, you could lie to yourself: I have my own things to do, why bother with that nosy business.

But he had run into it again, and had had contact with her, so his heart felt strange.

After a while, the alarm clock rang again.

It was to remind him to go out.

Chen Shu slid down from the sofa and rubbed his face; tired as he was, life still had to go on.

……

Half an hour later.

Ning Qing followed Chen Shu into Lemon Supermarket; she was still pushing the small cart, like a mute attendant, following behind him, occasionally observing the humans around her, and occasionally looking at Chen Shu.

Chen Shu was still picking out vegetables—chives, green onions, live shrimp—talking to her every now and then, and even asking if she wanted to buy some bird's eye chilies to wrap a few bird's eye chili Dumplings and mix them randomly into the regular Dumplings, letting her experience the Joy of winning a prize.

Just like usual.

Meaning when she was not practicing Jingxin Dao.

In the month or so that she had been practicing Jingxin Dao, Chen Shu had loved to court death, using methods that would have angered her in her normal state but would not affect her practice of Jingxin Dao.

For example, calling her stupid, saying she was a mute, and teasing her while she didn't like to talk or move.

Not today.

Ning Qing silently studied his expression.

They soon arrived at Chen Banxia's home.

"Haha..."

Chen Banxia seemed very happy and said to them: "I finished another project yesterday!"

Chen Shu walked past her into the room: "You're still doing projects? I thought you spent 24 hours a day sleeping, except for eating."

"Hmph! Underestimating me!"

"What did you have for lunch?"

"Finished the self-heating hot pot I hoarded during the Mid-Autumn shopping festival, and cooked a bowl of rice myself."

"You even know how to cook rice yourself?"

Chen Shu rolled his eyes, carried the groceries into the kitchen, took a glance, and then shouted at Chen Banxia at the door: "Did you not wash the pot after cooking the rice, you damn girl?"

A series of "oh my, oh my" came from outside as Chen Banxia ran over to explain to her younger brother: "I got sleepy after eating, I didn't want to move, and my dishwasher can't wash pots, so I planned to leave it there to soak and wash it tonight, oh my, it's not like I wasn't going to wash it..."

"Wash it yourself! Hurry up!"

"Washing it now, washing it now..."

Chen Banxia lowered her head and ducked into the kitchen.

She used one sink to wash dishes, while Chen Shu used the other to clean the vegetables; today he was going to fill Chen Banxia's refrigerator with various Dumplings to serve as her breakfast.

"Did you finish the chili oil?"

"Still have half left."

"Is it good?"

"Not spicy enough."

"Nothing to be done about that; the dried chilies and chili powder sold in this godforsaken place are all fake, I realized it when I bought them."

"Then why did you buy them?"

"I'll buy them online next time."

"Oh..."

Ning Qing leaned against the kitchen doorway, watching quietly; Chen Shu's slowly relaxing expression spoke of his inner thoughts, and there were many details awaiting her interpretation. And although Chen Banxia, who was already twenty-four or twenty-five, seemed to be Chen Shu's older sister—and indeed she often bought things for Chen Shu, sent him red envelopes, and cleared his shopping cart—it was actually hard to say who was taking care of whom.

Chen Banxia finished washing the pot and stood to the side, glancing at Chen Shu, at a loss.

It wasn't hard to see that she felt that, as the older sister, it wasn't great to stand there watching her younger brother work, as it easily led to the feeling of "I am a loser." But to help? Firstly, she was truly unwilling due to laziness, and secondly, she was indeed a loser who couldn't help.

Her inner conflict trapped her on the spot.

At this moment, Chen Shu turned his head and said to her:

"Get out."

Chen Banxia was released!

She was seen suppressing her inner delight, putting on a reluctant expression: "Fine, I'll go, I'm just in your way anyway..."

Chen Banxia walked past Ning Qing, unhappy.

Ning Qing glanced at her faintly.

Immediately after, she saw Chen Shu looking at her:

"Come wash the vegetables."

Ning Qing walked over silently.

Four types of fillings were prepared today—

Pork and chives;

Beef and green onion;

Three-delicacy shrimp;

Pickled cabbage and black fish;

The latter two were Chen Banxia's favorites, especially the pickled cabbage and black fish, which was rarely seen outside; the pickled cabbage was minced and added to boneless black fish fillets; Ning Qing had eaten it a few times, and it tasted delicious, tender, and was both appetizing and refreshing; not only did Chen Banxia love it, she did too.

She loved anything sour.

Oh right, there was a fifth filling, bird's eye chili filling; she didn't know if Chen Banxia would like it, but the implication was quite good—red and prosperous.

They started wrapping Dumplings.

Chen Banxia fidgeted and sat down at the table: "I'm not good at wrapping them, they're very ugly, and they fall apart while boiling..."

"It's fine, no matter how badly you wrap them, I won't blame you."

"Of course you won't blame me..."

"Then don't wrap them."

"But I want to wrap them..."

"Are you always this troublesome?"

"I am the older sister!!"

"Fine, fine, fine..."

Chen Shu picked up a dumpling wrapper and said to them, "You two are responsible for wrapping these three types of fillings; leave the shrimp to me, I'm afraid you won't wrap them well."

"What is that dish of bird's eye chilies for?"

"Oh, I'll just wrap a few into the mix later and see when you manage to eat one."

"!? Can't you keep something like that a secret from me?"

"It's to wake you up."

"So infuriating!"

"Less talk, hurry up and wrap."

"You're so fierce to your older sister today!!"

"Hurry and wrap."

"I'm wrapping!"

"..."

Time slowly slipped away.

Chen Banxia kept wanting to slack off while wrapping, playing with her Mobile Phone from time to time, pretending there was very important news when it was actually just idle chatter from ordinary classmates.

Ning Qing observed Chen Shu while she wrapped.

He worked diligently the whole time, his speed was fast, and he wrapped them very beautifully.

Every dumpling contained a whole shrimp.

From the side came the sound of Chen Banxia's snickering.

Ning Qing finished wrapping the chive filling; she placed the last chive dumpling to the side, laid her hands flat on the table, tapped her fingers on the tabletop, and looked at Chen Shu calmly.

When Chen Shu also looked at her, she tilted her head slightly and returned his gaze with an inquiring look.

"What?"

Chen Shu was stunned for a moment.

Ning Qing tilted her head a little further downward.

Chen Shu was somewhat baffled; after a moment of thought, he was even more baffled: "What exactly are you trying to say... and does doing this really not count as exchanging information?"

Ning Qing was silent for a moment, then had no choice but to speak: "I already said that things shouldn't happen more than three times."

"Acting cute is shameful."

"You shouldn't have exposed me."

"You've failed too many times; you're almost running out of single Chinese characters to use," Chen Shu said helplessly, then paused, "So what do you want to say?"

"You are no longer composed."

"What?"

"Your heart, it is no longer composed."

Chen Banxia on the side put down her Mobile Phone, originally intending to continue working, but after glancing at Chen Shu and then at Ning Qing, she finally found a good excuse and stood up, twisting her body: "Tsk tsk tsk, I think it's better if I don't disturb you two here..."

Leaving the chair, she didn't forget to pick up her Mobile Phone.

She quickly fled the scene, lay down on the sofa, and curled up, pretending to sleep while actually pricking up her ears.

Ning Qing didn't pay much attention to that woman; she only reached out and pressed the back of her clean hand against Chen Shu's forehead, her eyes clear as she scrutinized him carefully.

A meaningless gesture of intimacy.

Chen Shu was slightly startled, then quickly broke into a smile.

Qingqing's hand is indeed very smooth.