Chapter 31 Just live, who can outlive you?

Jiang Nian’s eyelids twitched, and he suddenly turned to look at her.

“Why are you looking at me?” Xu Qianqian frowned, “Are you stupid? The light’s green, why aren’t you going? Or are you discouraged? It’s fine, you’ll get used to it next time.”

His expression was strange; he simply drew out a long “Oh,” which made Xu Qianqian’s teeth itch.

Oh, oh, oh, oh your head!

One more “oh,” and I’ll kick you! A size 36 shoe on your size 42 face!

The scooter started up again, and Jiang Nian asked curiously,

“You’re unhappy, yet you still came out to watch a movie with me.”

“I don’t like playing with idiots, but if it’s you, my friend,” Xu Qianqian said, playing on her phone in the back seat, “even if you’re mentally challenged, I’ll still play with you.”

Jiang Nian sneered, what an arrogant little girl.

Beep beep.

The electric scooter stopped downstairs, and the two walked up step by step. With a crisp snap of fingers, the orange sound-activated stairwell light cast their shadows on the wall.

Before parting at the door, Jiang Nian suddenly said to her,

“Your face is quite soft.”

Xu Qianqian’s action of opening the door froze as if in a frame, her pupils shrinking infinitely in that moment. Almost instantly, her whole body felt hot and her heart pounded.

She turned her head, but the opposite door had already closed.

Xu Qianqian lingered by the shoe cabinet at the entrance for a while before returning to normal. The living room was empty, and the lights in her father’s room were already off; she had long been accustomed to it.

Her mother had passed away many years ago, and the house remained cold and desolate.

Most of the time she was home alone, and the demanding high school life made her devote all her energy to studying, gradually making her feel no loneliness.

The last time she dreamt of her mother was about a year ago.

After eating New Year’s Eve dinner at Jiang Nian’s house, she stood alone on the dim balcony. Dressed in thin clothes, she watched the bright lights and happy families in the building next door, standing for an hour.

In the middle of the night, she indeed developed a fever.

In a haze, she felt a pair of hands touch her forehead. Her mother sat by the bed, gently holding her hand with tender eyes, asking her why she didn’t take her medicine.

She wanted to speak but couldn’t, she just kept crying. She just wanted to tell her mother that she had not been well all these years, every year had been bad.

The dream ended, and she still couldn’t speak.

Time had diluted everything; now she rarely thought of her mother. When she did, it was usually happy memories. She felt this was a good omen, that one couldn’t cry forever.

In the bathroom, she took a hot shower.

After washing up, Xu Qianqian opened her test papers and read for a while, doing seven or eight problems before gradually feeling sleepy. She got up to use the restroom, came back, closed her door with a click, and turned off the light.

Lying on the bed, Xu Qianqian closed her eyes, ready to drift off to sleep.

An hour later.

In the dark room, Xu Qianqian suddenly sat up in bed.

“No! He’s insane!”

“Ah ah ah!!!!” Xu Qianqian rolled around on the bed, hugging her quilt, her silver teeth almost shattering, “Jiang Nian!! I’ll kill you tomorrow, go to hell!”

Suddenly, she stopped rolling, freezing on the bed while hugging her quilt, her eyes wide as she recalled the situation.

At that moment, her mind was blank. His face was pressed against hers, a staged kiss on her dimple area.

Although he let go in 0.01 seconds, and the numb staff didn’t notice, still…

Insane!! They’re all insane!!

Before, just holding hands got you a 7.5-discount ticket price. Who told you to upgrade the activity! Who cares about your reduced 1-discount! I’ll mash you all into bean paste!

She was crazy too, to have agreed by some strange impulse.

After a long while, Xu Qianqian lay sprawled on the bed, sleeping on her back. Staring at the pitch-black ceiling, her chest rose and fell rhythmically, still unable to calm down.

Curled on her side, wrapped in the quilt, Xu Qianqian suddenly felt a little numb. Was a boy’s scent like that? A little warm, and a little… strange, she couldn’t quite describe it.

When they were close as children, they had kissed on the cheek before, but their relationship had been hostile for many years.

It was a good thing it was just her face, otherwise she really wouldn’t know how to face Jiang Nian.

“But why Jiang Nian!”

She punched the pink plush toy, punch after punch, “Jiang Nian is too despicable. He’d even split an earthworm in half on the roadside, why!! Is it him!”

With 57,000 in his card, Jiang Nian, whose net worth had surged by 30,000, was in high spirits and woke up early.

If he had a tribulation in his life, he hoped it would be a Porsche.

Humming a song, he went downstairs to buy breakfast, specifically leaving two portions at Xu Qianqian’s doorstep. Thanks to dear Qianqian, he earned 30,000, it was like picking up money.

As for the System, Jiang Nian didn’t think much of it.

Live, who can live longer than himself? Young and rich is the way to be happy. With money, who would risk their life? Rely on the System to reach life’s Peak?

Forget it, for him, the System was just a money-making game. Who knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first? Enjoy every second you can.

He hadn’t experienced the ‘Old Jiang’s’ hardship, but he was already enjoying ‘Old Jiang’s’ blessings.

The 30,000 reward might just barely solve the immediate financial difficulties for 38-year-old Old Jiang Nian. But for 18-year-old Jiang Nian, it was more money than he could possibly spend.

Suffering first doesn’t guarantee sweetness, but sweetness first is real sweetness. Smart people enjoy the world first.

In the morning, he worked out his legs at the gym, Sister Zhao wasn’t there.

In the afternoon, he stayed home.

The next day, he couldn’t get up at all, his legs were incredibly sore.

After a day or two of calming down, Xu Qianqian seemed no different than usual. She stood at the doorway, curiously glancing at him, a look of disdain on her face.

“Ah, is that all? Can you even do it, Jiang Nian?”

“What do you know? Don’t make sarcastic remarks,” Jiang Nian carefully stood up, stating seriously, “This is an investment in my future. If I don’t train my legs, I’ll nourish my stomach.”

Xu Qianqian leaned against his room door, and as if she’d thought of something, she smiled mysteriously after confirming no one else was home.

“You know that if you train your legs too much, you’ll want to…”

Jiang Nian’s face changed drastically, “Are you spying on me?”

“Hmph, who cares,” Xu Qianqian turned her head and went home to do her papers, finally looking back to say, “Just a reminder to a certain someone, there’s evening self-study tonight.”

Evening.

Zhennan Middle School, students trickled back to school for evening self-study.

A small portion of students either took leave or simply skipped the first evening self-study after the three-day holiday; Jiang Nian was not among them.

The brightly lit classroom, Olympiad Class 3, during the first evening self-study break.

He looked up and scanned the room; about ten students were absent from class. Some were stuck on the town bus, some had taken sick leave, and others hadn’t returned from vacation.

About half of the class were boarders, and the two groups mingled. However, generally speaking, day students had more to talk about with other day students.

The break was bustling, everyone was chatting.

Zhang Ningzhi, in the front seat, kept turning her head, looking eagerly at Jiang Nian.

He had seen on QQ Zone that Zhang Ningzhi had traveled to Dali for the National Day, with only a few likes. It seemed she didn’t have many visible friends, and he happened to be within that circle.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Nian decided to humor her for a bit.

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Boss, good waist, good kidneys.

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