CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 39: PLANTING THE FLAG

The descent was light and swift. Zhou Li’s steps were broad and confident, showing traces of Brother Nan’s deft movements.

Huai Xu stood on a tree up ahead. Since the weather was clear, he scanned the horizon and saw layers of green mountains stretching to the sky, while the small town in the valley below appeared as a patchwork of color.

"As we head down, we’ll pass through that town, right? What’s its name again—the something town?"

"Xiaoping Town."

"No, that’s not right. What did Brother Nan say before she left?"

"Good, eat before returning."

"What are you even talking about~~"

"Should I contact Brother Nan?"

"And me?"

"Just say we met on the mountain."

"Alright, don’t worry, I’m a great actor!" Huai Xu’s face suddenly lit up with a smile. He no longer appeared and disappeared unexpectedly; instead, he hopped from tree to tree, bouncing along.

"Did you eat popping candy?"

"Hehe..."

They walked until they reached the scenic area. The woods were dense and untouched, offering a welcome coolness, and the path turned into stone steps. Zhou Li then sat down on the steps.

He drank some water and took out his phone—

Zhou Li: Is Brother Nan there?

Li Daimao: Here.

Zhou Li: Are you still in your hometown?

Li Daimao: Here /daydreaming

Zhou Li: Mao Cai?

Li Daimao: Are you in town?

Zhou Li: Arriving in an hour.

Li Daimao: Tell me ten minutes in advance.

Zhou Li: I’m also with a friend I met on the mountain.

Li Daimao: Male or female?

Zhou Li: Male.

Li Daimao: Alright, do as you please. It’s not my money; I don’t have any.

Li Daimao: Not a single cent.

Zhou Li: Okay.

He stood up, patted his slightly cold, damp backside, turned around, and slipped the water bottle into his bag. His eyes immediately fell on Huai Xu behind him; the guy was intensely focused on his chat with Brother Nan.

"Did Li Daimao agree?"

"Yeah."

"Great! I’ll wait for you at the ticket booth!"

With a POP, Huai Xu disappeared from in front of him.

Zhou Li was speechless.

He quickened his pace and jogged down the mountain. The stone steps were in disrepair, with some sections broken, forcing him to walk on the muddy ground covered in decaying leaves or step over tree roots. When faced with such spots, Zhou Li simply leaped over them.

Almost like parkour.

Forty minutes later, he had reached Xiaoping Town.

Zhou Li found a cold drink shop, and he and Huai Xu each bought a cup of taro and herb jelly. Less than ten minutes later, an electric tricycle pulled up at the store entrance.

Brother Nan, wearing a sun hat and sunglasses, immediately spotted Zhou Li. She removed the key from the ignition, pressed the lock button for the vehicle, and strode into the cold drink shop.

"Get me one too, lemon juice, easy on the ice." Brother Nan sat across from Zhou Li and Huai Xu. "Wow, looking good!"

"Let me introduce you. This is Huai Xu."

"Is that a last name?"

"This is Li Nan, my deskmate."

"Nice to meet you, Brother Nan."

Huai Xu smiled at Brother Nan.

He and Li Daimao had actually interacted quite a bit already and had even stayed up all night gaming together, so they were both old friends and meeting in person for the first time, which made for a peculiar combination of feelings.

Brother Nan’s lemon water was quickly prepared. After taking it, she took a big sip without a word, a look of satisfaction spreading across her face. "It’s been ages since I had a drink I actually paid for!"

"You don’t live far from town."

"Is it really about the distance?" Brother Nan gave Zhou Li a sidelong glance. If she had money, she’d drink this every day.

"I see."

「About ten minutes later, the three of them arrived at the Mao Cai shop.」

According to Brother Nan, it was the only Mao Cai restaurant in town, a single storefront that survived on the local students.

They sat at foldable tables and chairs on the sidewalk, fortunately shaded by trees. Still, Zhou Li couldn’t shake the suspicion that something might fall from the branches overhead.

When Brother Nan called out, "Auntie, three bowls of Mao Cai!" Zhou Li realized this place sold it by the bowl, five yuan each. In Yan City, it was usually sold by weight, with different prices for meat and vegetables.

Brother Nan explained to Zhou Li, "When I was in middle school, a bowl only cost three and a half yuan."

"That’s really cheap."

"Students couldn’t afford it if it were more expensive," Brother Nan said, her gaze sweeping over him and Huai Xu. "So, how did you two meet?"

"Our good looks attracted each other," Huai Xu said.

"PFFT!"

If Zhou Li had said that, Brother Nan would have surely given him a disdainful look. But since she wasn’t familiar with Huai Xu, she remarked, "You two are indeed good-looking. Let me tell you, before today, I always thought Zhou Li was the most handsome guy I’d ever seen."

Zhou Li grimaced. Before meeting Huai Xu, he too had thought Brother Nan was the epitome of attractiveness.

Business was slow in the afternoon, so the Mao Cai arrived quickly. Each serving came in a stainless steel basin lined with a plastic bag. It wasn’t clear how sanitary this was, but it smelled quite fragrant and looked appetizing with its glossy, red, oily sheen.

It contained three slices of ham sausage, two quail eggs, two pieces of crispy fried pork, and the rest were vegetables.

A pretty good deal.

Once they began eating, Brother Nan hardly spoke. Zhou Li tried to chat with her a few times, but she mostly just hummed in acknowledgment. The only full sentence she uttered midway was, "Auntie, another bowl, please!"

「An hour later, Brother Nan was satisfied.」

She glanced at Zhou Li. "How come you stayed on the mountain so long? Got trapped by a flood?"

"No."

"Met a beauty who captivated your soul?"

"..."

"You guessed it," Huai Xu nodded.

"Haha!" Brother Nan laughed. "Are you two heading back to Yan City today? It’s getting quite late."

"We are."

"Let me think," Brother Nan said. "Xiaoping is a rather isolated town, with only one lousy scenic area. Not many vehicles come this way. I’ll take you to the next town; it’s less than ten kilometers, about a twenty-minute drive. That town is on... what’s it called... a national highway. There are more cars there, so you can catch a ride. When I couldn’t get a bus back to my grandma’s, I used to go to that town to get one."

"That would be a great help. Thanks."

"What’s there to thank me for? Go pay the bill!" Brother Nan said, then paused. "But let me make this clear: Mao Cai is one thing, but we still need to have that yu’er chicken. I’ve been so broke lately, I can barely afford to eat."

"Okay."

Zhou Li pulled out his phone.

After he paid, Brother Nan was already sitting on the tricycle waiting for them, jiggling her leg and eyeing Zhou Li.

The back seat could fit two people, and both Zhou Li and Huai Xu were thin.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Let’s go!"

Brother Nan released the handbrake and twisted the throttle; the little tricycle started off with some effort.

But as it picked up speed, the sound of its motor soon became clearer and more resonant.

The scenery along the way was pretty nice, with high mountains on the left and a canyon on the right; the road was also smooth. Brother Nan drove at top speed the entire way. Though the sun was fierce, the wind was refreshing. She often turned back to chat with the two of them.

「By the time Zhou Li reached Yan City, it was already dark.」

Back home, Aunt Jiang asked him a few questions about his trip: how it was, whether the mountain was hot or cold, and how much money he had spent. Zhou Li answered casually and showed her some photos he had taken. Then, under Zhu Shuang’s envious gaze, he went into his room, grabbed clothes for a shower, and then went back to his room to sleep.

「The next day, he continued job hunting. He didn’t find one.」

「At night, he went to Luo Yuhang’s place; he was supposed to have gone the day before.」

「Another day passed, and he finally found another tutoring job.」

The student was a girl in her second year of middle school, and the subject was still math. Her family was wealthy, and the girl herself was cute and always trying to act endearing. She had initially been very resistant to having a tutor, but after seeing Zhou Li, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.

Middle school tutoring paid twenty yuan more per hour than elementary school, and Zhou Li was very pleased, especially since the girl’s parents said they would need tutoring four days a week after the summer break started.

Huai Xu said he was selling his looks.

「Another day later, Liu Cheng called him.」

Liu Cheng said a business partner of his was likely afflicted by something unclean. The man had woken up feeling as if he were being choked and was struggling to breathe. Upon hearing this, Liu Cheng had immediately called Zhou Li.

Zhou Li went over, helped Liu Cheng take his friend to the hospital to get a course of medication, and received a red envelope containing 1,200 yuan.

His little emergency fund kept growing.

「The days quickly passed, and soon it was the 21st.」

Brother Nan returned to Yan City from her grandmother’s place and immediately messaged Zhou Li, asking him out for yu’er chicken. With the exam results about to be released, she was exceptionally excited. There were certain things she couldn’t comfortably share with just anyone, and after much thought, she felt that only someone as peculiar as Zhou Li could believe and understand her.

The yu’er chicken they ordered was extra spicy and came in a large pot.

It was garnished with a few whole, uncut cilantro stalks, which could easily be pushed aside by those who didn’t like cilantro without affecting the dish.

It was accompanied by a pitcher of chilled sour plum drink, perfect for relieving the summer heat and the spiciness of the chicken.

The restaurant also provided two complimentary side dishes: a sour and spicy wood ear mushroom salad, and a plate of crispy pumpkin pastries.

Zhou Li casually asked, "Is your grandma doing better?"

"All better," Brother Nan replied as she stuffed a big chunk of meat into her mouth. "Let me tell you, you have no idea how broke I’ve been recently. I can’t even pull a single coin from my pocket. Good thing I have a monthly pass for the shared bikes; otherwise, I’d have to walk just to eat with you."

"Is it really that extreme?"

"Extreme? It’s worse than extreme! My luck has been abysmal lately. Not a single winning lottery ticket—that’s bad enough, right? But there’s more! I played games for half a day without a single critical hit. I used to build for crits in every game, but I’ve actually had to kick that habit these past few days!" Brother Nan said, almost gleefully. "In ’Chicken Dinner,’ I’d get a Landing Box every time, and to top it off, my phone screen shattered!"

"Oh, congrats then."

"Haha! You’re the one who gets me!" The yu’er chicken’s spice hit Brother Nan, and she quickly gulped down some water. "If only I could get into Tsinghua or Peking University, then my only dilemma would be choosing between Tsinghua and Peking University."

"And if you don’t get into either?"

"Then I wouldn’t want to agonize over it either," Brother Nan said, sucking in a breath against the spiciness. "Anyway, no matter what school I go to or what major I study, I’m not going to work for anyone else after I graduate."

"So what will you do?"

"I’m going to start my own business, open a little shop."

"What kind of shop?"

"I haven’t thought about what kind yet. But whatever it is, it has to be the kind where I can just sit around and play all day and still make money—play on my phone, and ideally, play on the computer too." After saying this, Brother Nan seemed to realize it wasn’t very realistic, so she relaxed her conditions. "It’s okay if it doesn’t make money, as long as it’s fun. I can just buy a few lottery tickets each month to make ends meet."

"..." Zhou Li kept his composure. "So?"

"So, I’ll just find someone with scores similar to mine, someone I’m on somewhat good terms with—or even if we’re not, that’s fine—as long as they generally seem clever. They’ll be in charge of picking the school, and I’ll just follow their lead and pick a fun major."

"..."

"Hey, what’s with that expression?"

"I’m a little uneasy."

"Uneasy about what?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Zhou Li shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic thoughts. Knowing Brother Nan as he did, with things being as they were, she was almost certain to get into Tsinghua or Peking University.

He could almost imagine Brother Nan’s expression tomorrow—Yay! I got in!