Chapter 57: Healing

Xu Qianqian huffed in feigned anger, stomped all the way upstairs, and lowered her head to unlock the door.

Irritated by the moment, even the doorknob seemed to be making things difficult for her.

It was all Jiang Nian's fault!

"You're turning it the wrong way, my intellectually challenged friend." Jiang Nian couldn't bear to watch anymore. He reached out, placed his hand over the back of hers, gave it a firm twist, and with a click, the lock engaged.

An awkward silence filled the air.

"Ha, just kidding." Jiang Nian acted as if nothing had happened and turned to head home. "Get to sleep early, good night."

Xu Qianqian clenched her fists and said through gritted teeth, "Do you want to die, Jiang Nian?!"

"Hey, hey, alright, it's not that big a deal." Jiang Nian promptly ruled out the correct answer. "Where's Uncle Xu? Can't you just have him open the door from the inside?"

"Working overtime, not back yet."

"Then move aside, I'll open it for you." He stepped forward, tinkered with it for a moment, switched directions, failed to open it with force, and with another hard twist, it finally clicked open.

He checked the time—8:30 PM, still early. Deciding to do a good deed, he helped Xu Qianqian carry all her things inside, then sat down on the sofa and familiarly turned on the television.

"Doesn't your house have a TV?" Xu Qianqian bent down to put the drinks in the refrigerator.

"Is that the same thing?" He didn't treat himself as a guest at all, though this empty house was indeed a bit desolate. "Hey, do you play games?"

"Doing worksheets, previewing lessons." Xu Qianqian ignored him.

She went back to her room, brought out her worksheet, and slowly worked on it in the living room. Although she claimed she wasn't paying attention, every half a minute, she would look up at the television.

Her pace of solving problems was exceptionally sluggish, taking nearly twenty minutes to grind through six multiple-choice questions.

Watching TV alone is dull, but having a friend is the ultimate setup. As long as someone is watching with you, even the most boring show gains a bit of interest.

Jiang Nian lay on the sofa, playing on his phone while glancing at the TV.

He had only finished a few multiple-choice questions on his physics worksheet, yet he wasn't panicked in the least. Li Hua hadn't written his either; that guy was still battling away at the internet café, having gamed for a whole day.

Li Hua was thinking the exact same thing.

Beep, beep, beep!

In the message tab, Zhang Ningzhi's avatar displayed a little red number two.

"Did you finish your worksheet? (Cute)"

Heh, asking such a private question.

"Nope, turned on study anti-addiction mode for the weekend," Jiang Nian typed back. "Lend me your physics worksheet to copy tomorrow, and I'll treat you to... fruit-pulp milk."

"What flavor do you like?"

Zhang Ningzhi had no choice at all. After a long pause marked by "typing...", a simple "Okay" popped up.

Seeing this, Jiang Nian instantly felt at ease.

Today he had provoked Xu Qianqian several times; trying to get her physics worksheet from her was pure wishful thinking, and he would probably end up getting stepped on by her.

Although Jiang Nian didn't mind punishment from the warden, right now he just wanted to be a handsome young man quietly watching TV, and had no wish to ruffle Xu Qianqian's feathers.

A QQ message from Li Hua popped up: "Nian, I think I might have superpowers. I spent a whole day online and I'm not tired at all!"

"[Photo] I've already logged off. It's a real pity you didn't come, I pretty much won all day."

"[Match history photo] Am I awesome or what?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and replied, "I finished my worksheet."

A kind word warms three winter months, but harsh words hurt in June.

Li Hua fell silent for a few minutes, then sent back a broken-heart emoji.

"You animal! You absolute animal!! How could you?! Didn't you say you were playing on your phone in the morning, sleeping in the afternoon, and going to the supermarket at night?"

All is fair in war, Huazi. After all, this is a classroom where strength rules!

Read Sun Tzu's Art of War, live a triumphant life.

"Why don't you just go back and do it? You can finish it by five in the morning," Jiang Nian tapped out the cold words with breezy detachment. "Just wash your face and you can head out for class."

"Damn your mother!" Li Hua suffered a mental breakdown.

In the living room, Xu Qianqian heard the laughter, glanced at him, and asked with mild curiosity, "Hey, what ever happened between you and Zhou Yuting?"

"What do you mean, what happened?" Jiang Nian sat up from the sofa and said speechlessly, "I have zero relationship with her. Didn't you see it that day?"

"Why are you feeling guilty?" The corners of her lips curved upward.

Damn it, does this person have telepathy? Did you attend Hogwarts in kindergarten or something?

"Guilty my foot, we haven't had anything to do with each other for ages." Jiang Nian recalled the incident on the day of his birthday party. "Those idiots didn't treat me as a friend at all."

"What about Zhou Yuting?" Xu Qianqian put down her pen, looking genuinely interested. "She's quite pretty, and tall too."

Jiang Nian slumped back onto the sofa, curled his lips, and said, "Not interested."

Xu Qianqian smiled faintly, though who knows what she was smiling about.

Who cares anyway.

Dragging things out until ten o'clock, Jiang Nian finally retreated from Xu Qianqian's place. Carrying the shopping bag out the door, he suddenly dropped a line: "You actually looked pretty good today."

Thud, the door closed.

The girl stood inside the doorway, dazed for a moment as she processed it, before gradually coming back to her senses.

Her whole body felt weightless, her heart drifting like a ship sailing through the night sea.

Jiang Nian had just finished taking a shower, dried his hair, and lay in bed when he suddenly received a message from Li Hua.

"Got any healing romance novels to recommend? I've been hoarding Dragon Three lately and haven't had the heart to read it."

Curious, he typed back, "How far have you gotten?"

Li Hua: "The grand escape against the sunlight. I plan to read it bit by bit during the next Chinese class."

"Oh oh, no problem, guaranteed sweet," Jiang Nian replied. "So fast? Done with your worksheet already?"

Li Hua took five minutes to reply: "Finished a third of it, super simple, no difficulty at all. Surely nobody takes a whole day to do it, right?"

Jiang Nian wasn't annoyed in the least; he calmly replied, "Bro, take a break. Even reading a book for half an hour is enough. Let me recommend a few titles for you."

Li Hua sent over a sunglasses emoji and said smugly, "Bring it on."

Jiang Nian didn't usually read depressing literature, but he casually searched for a list of angst-heavy books and forwarded them one by one to Li Hua before going to sleep.

The next day.

Jiang Nian waited for Xu Qianqian to go to school together. Their relationship was fickle, usually depending on whether Jiang Nian had behaved like a decent human being.

The main reason was that Song Xiyun lived in the northern part of the county, completely opposite to Xu Qianqian's neighborhood, making it impossible for the two best friends to commute together.

Entering the classroom, Zhang Ningzhi had already arrived early and was reciting biology knowledge points.

The classroom lights were on in the morning. Jiang Nian handed her a box of fruit-pulp milk, and her physics worksheet was already placed on top of her bookshelf, held down by a red pen.

True to his word, a dependable person, a beneficial friend.

"Thanks, I'll return it after I copy it." Jiang Nian took the worksheet back to his seat and began fast-copying and pasting.

As morning self-study approached, the saboteur Li Hua stumbled in through the back of the classroom right at the bell, looking like he had pinkeye.

"God-forsaken Jiang Nian! Damn you! What kind of stuff did you recommend to me?! Ah!!"

Jiang Nian had just finished copying the physics worksheet, smoothly covered Zhang Ningzhi's paper without leaving a trace, and looked up with a blank expression.

"What?"

"You really are a scumbag!" Li Hua sat down, trembling all over. "Siba, what kind of romance novel did you recommend? It had me emo all night, and everything looked red when I woke up this morning!"