Chapter 56 In the Supermarket!!

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

Small money, skills, slightly larger money, skills.

If he were the 38-year-old Jiang Nian from another timeline, these things would be like carrots.

Not enough to fill him, but not enough to starve him, requiring constant proactive effort.

It wasn’t exactly simple, but compared to working, the System offered better value, and the System had indeed been motivating the 38-year-old Jiang Nian to make a comeback.

However, when the System landed on Jiang Nian, the carrots turned into a state banquet.

He took advantage of every task, and the money was simply inexhaustible.

He could only say, praise the Deep Blue Baby.

After his nap.

Jiang Nian, waking up groggily, quickly did two sets of practice papers, one for math and one for physics. Both subjects were his weak points and couldn’t be neglected.

Being in his final year of high school, with his foundation shored up, it would be inexcusable not to work hard.

Even if he couldn’t reach the top, he should at least aim for a decent score.

Life, isn’t the meaning of living to strive?

These prime years of youth are for passionate struggle.

Sleep? There’ll be plenty of time to sleep after he’s dead!

Buzz buzz buzz!!!

By the dimly lit desk, the ‘corpse’—Jiang Nian—slept peacefully, face down on the table. He was woken by the urgent ringing of his phone and groggily sat up.

“Damn, I just finished one paper, how is it already dark?”

Buzz buzz buzz, the phone on the desk vibrated incessantly, its screen light glaring.

The call was from Xu Qianqian. Jiang Nian paused for a moment. Remembering he had agreed to go grocery shopping with Xu Qianqian at six, he suddenly checked the time: 5:40.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Are you coming?” Xu Qianqian asked plaintively.

“Coming, coming, I lost track of time doing papers.” Jiang Nian immediately got up from his chair, rubbed his forehead, and rushed out of the room.

“My bad, my bad, I got too absorbed in solving problems.”

Xu Qianqian’s slightly relieved voice came through the phone, “Okay, knock on my door when you’re ready.”

Hurrying out, the moment he grasped the doorknob, he suddenly paused. He quickly glanced back at the room, confirmed everything was in order, and then slammed the door shut.

In the living room, lit only by a single yellow lamp, Jiang Nian strode past.

“Mom, I’m going out for a bike ride!”

“Ride slowly.”

“Got it.”

Jiang Nian grabbed his keys and went out, preparing to knock on the opposite door. Before he could, Xu Qianqian emerged, fully dressed, unusually wearing a dark brown plaid long skirt with white sneakers.

She had on a snow-white inner shirt with a green cardigan, making her look both well-behaved and gentle.

Of course, Jiang Nian was only lost in thought for a second.

“You look pretty good in that, not that you don’t usually look good. It’s just that each has its own charm, and this outfit is three percentage points better than usual.”

Xu Qianqian opened her mouth but couldn’t say a word. She wondered if Jiang Nian often got beaten for his sharp tongue, why he liked to add so many modifiers when he spoke.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Jiang Nian jingled the keys in his hand, “Get on.”

On South Second Street, the electric bike weaved through traffic.

Jiang Nian rode and chattered the whole way. He hated drivers the most when riding, cursing all the way, and Xu Qianqian told him not to curse.

He argued, “Drivers must be cursing me too, so it’s not a loss if I curse back.”

“Can you be normal for once, always swearing?” Xu Qianqian hadn’t even finished speaking when a car veered directly towards them, startling her into a scream.

Jiang Nian remained silent, and Xu Qianqian also fell silent.

After a long while, she couldn’t help but ask, “No, you’re not going to curse even now?”

“Didn’t you say my language was dirty?” Jiang Nian said indifferently, “Hey, what’s wrong with dirty words? When I say them, at least my heart feels clean.”

The night wind blew, and Xu Qianqian felt a bit awkward.

“Where do you get all those twisted reasons? But I do think that driver just now was really…”

Jiang Nian casually interjected, “An idiot.”

Xu Qianqian’s face flushed, “A little bit.”

The entrance of the new supermarket was packed with electric bikes. Jiang Nian found a spot, parked, and pulled out the key in one smooth motion. He turned to join Xu Qianqian at the crowded supermarket entrance.

It was opening day, too many people; it took him a long time to push through.

To save resources, they shared one shopping cart.

With a budget of four hundred yuan, they split it equally. Each needed to keep track of their spending to avoid using the other’s quota.

“Do you have enough money?” Xu Qianqian asked worriedly, “Don’t be overly generous, I still have some.”

“Enough, I can buy dozens of trucks of snacks.”

“You’re bragging.”

Xu Qianqian was calculating how much to spend on potato chips when she turned around and found Jiang Nian was gone. She walked around and found him playing with rice in the grains section using a scoop.

Seriously, are all boys this childish?!

“What are you doing?” Xu Qianqian stood behind him.

“These mung beans, oh, so smooth.” Jiang Nian, like a pervert, poked the mung beans with the scoop, then poked the Northeast rice next door.

“This rice, so smooth, too.”

Xu Qianqian was speechless, “You still remember post-modifiers, very good. But your tone, it’s quite perverted!”

Wandering through the snack aisle.

“Spend over 150 yuan and you get one chance to draw a prize, so we’ll pay separately.” Xu Qianqian squeezed a potato chip bag, confirmed it wasn’t leaking, and tossed it into the cart.

Supermarket snacks weren’t usually a good deal, but with various opening promotions, some items were even cheaper than at snack shops.

However, only a portion of the snacks were relatively cheap, requiring prior research.

“Potato chips are 8 yuan off for every 30 yuan spent, too bad I don’t eat them.” Jiang Nian looked towards the fruit section. Buying watermelon was pure suicide; an October watermelon was more expensive than his life.

After picking and choosing, he bought small breads, plus a box of the campus’scumbag’ item: fruit-flavored milk. He grabbed a pack of Coke and Sprite, then went to the deli section for spicy and sour duck feet.

Returning to pick fruits and milk, he found Xu Qianqian had already marked them, so he simply copied her. Finally, they reached the four hundred yuan total, found an abandoned shopping cart, and checked out separately.

“Jiang Nian, what did you win?”

“Ehh, Red Bull.” Jiang Nian carried one end of the heavy two shopping bags, and Xu Qianqian carried the other. They just needed to get to the electric bike.

“What about you, what did you win?”

“A cutting board, but my family doesn’t use it, so your family can have it.” Xu Qianqian handed him a bamboo cutting board, “You—”

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

“Jiang Nian, are you even a man?!”

“Huh? Will I hurt you this way?” Jiang Nian silently pulled the lowered shopping bag up again, “I thought you said you wanted to lose weight.”

The snack bags were heavy, and they were carrying them up the stairs.

Xu Qianqian couldn’t carry them anymore and rested by the last flight of stairs. The sound-activated light flickered on and off. Fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead, like a layer of warm honey.

Jiang Nian’s breathing wasn’t even disturbed. He leaned against the wall, smiling as he watched her.

She knew Jiang Nian was doing it on purpose, rather waiting than helping her!

But she didn’t need it. Xu Qianqian’s life’s actions, why would she need help from others!