Chapter 50 Living Off a Woman

Before returning to the classroom from the cafeteria at noon, Jiang Nian had developed the habit of buying a beverage. Feeling a bit awkward about drinking alone, he decided to buy a carton of pulpy milk for Li Qingrong.

That’s right—the almighty pulpy milk; giving this to a girl is practically a foolproof move.

Well, if it fails, just pretend I never said anything.

Li Qingrong looked at the universal campus-fuckboy item handed to her, her eyelashes lowering slightly.

"Thank you."

"Ah, no problem." Jiang Nian didn't give it much thought, walking unhurriedly toward the teaching building. He casually pulled up his task interface, having been too busy to check it properly during class.

After entering the classroom and taking his seat, he had already sorted out the system task details.

Not gonna lie, this system was genuinely wicked.

Doing tasks required spending money, but since he was a high school student, the amounts were relatively small. In fact, some tasks didn't even require any capital of his own, which allowed Jiang Nian to stockpile a decent amount of cash.

Someone in another parallel universe... probably wasn't this lucky. Their remaining capital was probably down to just twenty or thirty thousand, and if they only had ten or twenty thousand left, they'd probably be crying.

Jiang Nian did a rough calculation. He had fifty-seven thousand left, all provided by the system. According to the task requirements, whatever amount he spent would be directly rebated threefold.

This also meant that if he spent fifty-seven thousand, he would receive one hundred and seventy-one thousand RMB in return.

What kind of money could a high school student possibly spend? Buying the largest bottle of ice-cold black tea for eight yuan. Recharging one hundred yuan at an internet cafe, playing on a crappy terminal in the lobby for five yuan until his heart was content.

The cafeteria's prized chicken leg rice cost six yuan, and the buffet outside the school's west gate cost five yuan. The most expensive mineral water at the canteen was seven yuan, and the hand-beaten beef meatballs at the school gate were ten yuan.

Spending all fifty-seven thousand down to the last penny—tsk, just thinking about it felt blissful.

He suddenly realized that things like a tycoon system were completely unreasonable. The impact on a high school student was just too immense; once he completed this task, he could practically buy a car.

This put his self-control to a severe test. He couldn't just avoid spending money, but he couldn't spend it recklessly either, otherwise he might lose the capital for the next task and end up losing more than he gained.

In a sense, figuring out what money should be spent and what shouldn't was also a way of tempering his state of mind.

After pondering for a moment, he wrote two lines on a piece of paper and began drafting a wish list. Last time he bought shoes for the whole family, this time he'd buy clothes, and then factor in fixed household expenses.

If there were any major fixed expenses, he would pay for them himself. After that, he would consider upgrading home appliances and set aside three thousand for his own personal budget—like the time Xu Qianqian treated him to a movie...

Even though he quite enjoyed being a kept man, you still had to bait the hook if you wanted to go fishing.

After roughly listing things out, he pulled out the paper and casually slipped it into his schoolbag. He would figure out the specifics during the holiday in a few days; for now, he'd just make do by mooching meals for the next couple of days.

All hail Qianqian!!

That's right, Jiang Nian had no intention of spending any more of his own money. For every single yuan he spent, he lost three—who could possibly endure that? He would just rely on Xu Qianqian to get by for a few days; it wasn't like he hadn't done this sort of thing before.

He would just pay her back later. Keeping wealth within the system's family, so to speak.

The afternoon classes were physics, chemistry, and biology, covering review materials, and the lessons were as dry and tedious as ever. A row of people took turns standing at the back of the room, while the ceiling fan creaked back and forth like a lullaby.

During the evening self-study session, a bunch of people stealthily slipped out of the classroom to stand in the corridor and watch the sunset.

Li Hua had finally recovered from the trauma of morning P.E. class and asked eagerly, "What’s your relationship with the class monitor?"

"Classmate relationship."

Hearing this, Li Hua let out a long sigh of relief.

"Don't lie to your bro, huh."

Jiang Nian was still trying to figure out how to solve his meal situation that evening; once afternoon dismissal hit, he definitely wouldn't be able to find a trace of Xu Qianqian. Snatch-eating in the cafeteria during the afternoon rush was especially competitive.

At that moment, he glanced at Li Hua and suddenly realized he could save the trouble of spending three times the meal money here.

"Do you like her?"

"How... how could that be!" Li Hua's face instantly flushed red, even redder than the sunset. "I was just curious about your relationship! That's the class monitor we're talking about!"

"If you don't want me to die, don't... fucking go around talking nonsense!"

Jiang Nian nodded thoughtfully, looking at Li Hua and seeing him more and more like a six-yuan chicken leg rice. He reached out and patted Li Hua on the shoulder, his voice drifting and ethereal.

"Hua, you wouldn't want your secret crush on the class monitor to get out, would you?"

"Damn you!"

After evening dismissal, on the crowded stairs, Old Toad Yu Tongjie walked down following the crowd with a dejected expression. The dignity of an old senior in his third year of high school was completely gone.

If you're handsome and gentle, you're a warm guy, but if you're ugly and gentle, you're an ardent goblin?

Melancholic, gloomy goblin. Cold-faced, frost goblin. Good physique, muscular goblin. If you try to dress stylishly, people call you a pervert who's creepiness personified.

Yu Tongjie's favorite anime character was Jiraiya from Naruto—an underdog who made a comeback, became the heir of Mount Myoboku, and could summon countless toads.

In the past, he used to project himself onto Jiraiya, but now he projected himself onto an old toad.

Glancing up accidentally, Yu Tongjie saw a familiar figure near the only Olympiad class doorway on the third floor: Jiang Nian was talking to a pretty girl.

Zhang Ningzhi? No, that didn't look like her. Then who was that?

Why was Jiang Nian so promiscuous?

Damn it, bro, are you really managing my private life now? In a past life, you must have been some kind of high-ranking chief eunuch, right?

Jiang Nian also spotted Yu Tongjie; assholes were always remarkably conspicuous. But it wouldn't go so far as to call it hatred; among classmates, it was at most just friction, nothing deep-seated.

Turning back, he asked, "Xu Qianqian, lend me a hundred yuan."

"Call me mom." Xu Qianqian snorted, saying irritably, "If you don't call me that, I won't—"

"Mom."

"You... you..." Xu Qianqian developed a brand-new understanding of Jiang Nian's utter lack of shame, and said fiercely, "Didn't you make a lot of money? Did you spend it all already?"

"Don't you go messing with gambling or anything like that! If Aunt Li finds out, she'll break your legs!"

"Nothing like that, I'm planning to buy some clothes for my parents," Jiang Nian said without blinking an eye. "Come to think of it, all the money I made last month is going to go into this."

"Oh, oh." Only then did Xu Qianqian feel reassured.

The two of them walked along the tree-lined path toward the school gate, the dim yellow lights falling on the shoulders of the day-students heading home. In the crowd, two figures—one tall, one short—walked with a bit of distance between them.

"Hey, won't a hundred be a bit tight?" Xu Qianqian counted on her fingers while carrying her schoolbag. "There are still ten, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three... twenty-five days left until the end of the month."

"Yeah. Care to bail me out a bit more?"

"Then I'll have to see how much money I have left. As long as you don't starve to death, it's fine." Xu Qianqian eagerly fished her phone out of her schoolbag. "My little stash is off-limits; I've got eight hundred and twenty-six yuan and thirty cents left for this month."

Jiang Nian's eyelids twitched, knowing that this didn't even include her meal card balance.

"A rich loli! How much is hidden in your little stash?"

"Who's a loli?!" Xu Qianqian protested indignantly. "Pervert."

"Do you want me to read out your height?" Jiang Nian had already stepped out of the school gates. "Your allowance lasts longer than my life; if you're not a rich loli, who is?"

"Hmph, you're much richer than I am, don't think I don't know!" Xu Qianqian whipped her ponytail around. "I'm not lending it to you anymore, go find someone else. Go starve to death."

"If I starve to death, I'll come watch over your room before my seventh-day soul-return ceremony." Jiang Nian felt not a shred of guilt. "Once you fall asleep, I'll hang from the ceiling and stare at you."

Xu Qianqian was instantly creeped out. "Get lost!"