After the second semester of their junior year, they had grown up, and their relationship had improved considerably.
Now, in the blink of an eye, they were in their senior year, and they still didn't get along.
"Are you crazy, Jiang Nian!" The girl put her hands on her hips and glared at him angrily. "Why are you knocking on the door in broad daylight? I'm going to tell Aunt Li and have her beat you up!"
Jiang Nian stared at Xu Qianqian, or rather, at the pale blue semi-transparent panel in front of him. Sure enough
, only he could see it.
[Re-establish contact with your estranged childhood sweetheart, Xu Qianqian. Reward: 300 RMB (Completed).]
Huh, has it arrived?
Xu Qianqian scolded Jiang Nian in a fit of anger, then suddenly noticed that he seemed to be staring at her absentmindedly. Her hair stood on end, and she took a step back, clutching her bulging chest.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Then, she saw Jiang Nian nonchalantly take out his phone from his pocket and glance at it. Immediately, he was overjoyed, threw down a "Hee hee!" and ran away.
Watching Jiang Nian's retreating figure as he returned to his apartment across the hall, Xu Qianqian couldn't help but purse her lips.
"Something's wrong with him," she thought
in the living room.
Jiang Nian stared at his phone, then suddenly overjoyed.
Three hundred yuan had indeed appeared out of nowhere in his account, increasing his balance from 305.23 to 605.23. The transfer note read "Game Experience Officer Reward."
The panel then reappeared: [At thirty-eight, you are in dire financial straits, unemployed, divorced, and have lost almost all your assets, relying solely on your parents for support.
Task: Urgent Need.
Having received your first reward, you pay off your outstanding utilities (water, electricity, gas) for your rented apartment. Reward: 500 RMB.]
He thought this must be a beginner's task, so he opened the app and started paying. He didn't rent an apartment, so paying his own utilities should count as completing the task, right?
At the same time, he felt a pang of sadness; would his future self really be this miserable?
Buzz! Five hundred yuan arrived in his account.
So far, the system's tasks had been relatively easy. Jiang Nian checked his bank account balance. The payment cost over 170 yuan, leaving a balance of 935.45 yuan.
Being a pragmatic person, he gradually calmed down after the 500 yuan arrived.
Two 500-yuan sums were a drop in the ocean; as long as it didn't exceed 5,000 yuan a day, no one would care. But if it exceeded that in the future, it would be very troublesome.
Not only would his bank card be frozen, but large transfers could also lead to investigation.
The transferor was listed as Tianguang Games Co., Ltd. Jiang Nian checked and found that this company not only existed but was also a listed company, and that it only had one "game experience officer."
Of course, Jiang Nian wasn't foolish enough to actually believe this "role-playing" position existed, not to mention that current technology couldn't even reach the level of a portable interface.
Besides, he wasn't a chief experience officer; the system had simply filled a real-world bug.
In other words, the source was legitimate.
Awesome! Just
as he finished checking, the system panel reappeared, and the newbie task came again.
[The child wishes to care for their parents, but they are no longer there. At thirty-eight, you realize your parents have grown old. Looking back on half a lifetime, you resolutely embark on a journey home, but you can't help feeling apprehensive about returning.]
Task: Cook a delicious dinner for your parents.
Reward: 800 RMB.
Looking at the task requirements, Jiang Nian stroked his chin.
It was afternoon now, so he had time to prepare dinner; otherwise, he would have to wait until tomorrow. The school anniversary celebration was on holiday for the next two days, and he had to go back for evening self-study tomorrow night.
Cooking wasn't a problem; almost everyone in the Jiang family knew how to cook.
Grandpa had worked as a chef in a restaurant in Guangzhou when he was young, and his father and uncles all knew a few dishes. However, the flavors weren't always satisfactory.
As for his own father, to use his grandfather's words, it was like "pig nose with scallions stuck in it."
Jiang Nian was an exception. His grades were average, but he found a unique path and developed a talent for cooking. He didn't find the dry and hot dishes that others found difficult.
Every summer, without fail, he would stay at his grandfather's house, enjoying good food while intermittently learning several main dishes, and the taste was passable.
Since it was going to be plentiful, the ingredients naturally had to be the freshest.
In the afternoon, Jiang Nian went to the market, only to return disappointed. He'd forgotten that there weren't many fresh vegetables available that afternoon, and a group of middlemen, seeing his youth and the desire to pass off inferior goods, had raised and lowered their prices. Sure enough,
no merchant is without guile, bye-bye. It's no wonder young people prefer supermarkets; these market vendors, judging by their customers, deservedly hadn't sold anything.
After preparing the ingredients, he got home at four o'clock.
On the kitchen quartz countertop sat a deboned, chopped Yangshan chicken. A specialty of Guangdong, this chicken
cost over thirty yuan per jin (approximately 500 grams), while frozen ones were only a couple hundred. Higher-quality live chickens, freshly slaughtered, were scarce and commanded a premium of forty yuan per jin in Zhennan.
Each chicken weighed seven jin.
The meat was crisp and springy, fatty but not greasy—definitely worth the price.
He planned to make lotus leaf steamed chicken; the meat was firm and tender, and expensive, so it could certainly be considered a feast. He
'd be more casual with the rest: a plate of stir-fried vegetables, a plate of stir-fried beef, cucumber salad, peanuts, and a pot of pork rib soup.
Logically, a family of three couldn't possibly finish all this food.
Jiang Nian considered that Xu Qianqian lived next door; in a sense, the two were childhood sweethearts.
Xu Qianqian came from a single-parent family; her mother had passed away a few years ago.
Her father, Director Xu, was a renowned urologist at the county hospital, skilled in treating both erectile dysfunction and other conditions. He always wore frameless glasses and had a gentle smile for everyone.
He hadn't been able to move on since his wife's death, numbing himself with work all day.
The Jiang family had faced difficulties in recent years, and Old Xu had helped them a lot behind the scenes; the two families had a deep relationship.
So even though his parents were busy working to pay off debts, whenever the family ate something good, they would always invite Xu Qianqian, even giving her the sweetest slice of melon.
Jiang Nian was used to it and subconsciously included Old Xu and Xu Qianqian's portions. It was just right for five people—a satisfying meal without any waste.
In the afternoon, Li Hongmei had just finished work and hurriedly tied on her apron and rushed to the kitchen.
"Dinner will be ready soon. Read a book, don't keep playing on your phone. You're almost a senior in high school, let me tell you, the college entrance exam is like a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge."
Jiang Nian was lying on the sofa, eating an ice pop and playing on his phone, not even looking up.
"Oh, okay, Mom."
"You child..." Li Hongmei wiped her hands on her apron, then froze as she entered the kitchen, looking at the warm food and glancing at Jiang Nian.
"Who cooked this?"
"I did. How was it?"
Hearing this, Li Hongmei's expression instantly became quite interesting. It wasn't that she doubted Jiang Nian's cooking skills; the old man was very protective of his grandson and wanted to pass on all his culinary skills.
"Where did you get the money? This meal of Yangshan chicken and beef must have cost at least several hundred yuan, right?"
"Oh, I earned money playing games, didn't I?" Jiang Nian touched his face somewhat guiltily, staring intently at his mother, Li Hongmei, without moving.
Li Hongmei frowned, and the atmosphere in the kitchen instantly froze.