"Yuan, am I really getting old?"
Sitting in the passenger seat, Shen Yuan gripped his seatbelt tightly upon hearing his Eldest Female Cousin's words.
"Sis, don't do anything crazy."
Yang Yishui rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. I'm just feeling a little sentimental, that's all."
"What's there to be sentimental about? Your 172-centimeter legs? Your classy sense of style? Or your 600,000 TikTok followers? My dear sister, what the hell do you have to be sentimental about!"
Shen Yuan was piling on the flattery.
After hearing this string of compliments, his Eldest Female Cousin felt a lot better.
"Not bad, not bad. I'll treat you to some bubble tea later."
"Make it two. I'll get one for Li Zhi," Shen Yuan said, almost without thinking.
His Eldest Female Cousin raised an eyebrow at that.
"And you say you're not dating? Then what's this?"
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "Do you know what Li Zhi said yesterday?"
Yang Yishui asked as she drove into the underground parking garage, "What'd she say? Hold on, wait until I've parked."
Once Yang Yishui was parked, Shen Yuan spoke up.
"She said if she were going to date someone, she'd at least find a guy who can score a 650, not some random stray off the street."
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Fuck, so this is how you comfort me, huh?"
Yang Yishui slumped over the steering wheel, waving dismissively at Shen Yuan as she laughed.
Not a hint of sincerity to be seen.
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, or we'll be late for evening self-study."
"There's plenty of time, plenty of time."
To repay Shen Yuan for what happened yesterday, his Eldest Female Cousin had decided to take him out for a nice meal.
She was a fashionable English teacher with 600,000 followers on TikTok, all from her outfit videos. A single sponsorship deal earned her more than several of the Stupid System's missions combined.
The system hadn't been giving out money recently, and Shen Yuan was starting to miss it.
But he hadn't spent all the money it gave him before, so it didn't really matter.
As for where they were eating, it was a private kitchen restaurant.
His Eldest Female Cousin had already booked a table. All Shen Yuan had to do was dig in.
"Try this. Their Xishi Tofu is really good."
Every place has a few dishes that frequently appear on the dinner table.
Here in Jiyang, that dish is Xishi Tofu.
For the people of Jiyang, this dish has been with them their whole lives.
You can do without other good dishes, but Xishi Tofu is a must-have.
From high-end hotels in the city to countryside banquets, this dish is indispensable.
To put it bluntly, Xishi Tofu is just a tofu soup. It's just that here in Jiyang, it has this special name.
You can't really say there's a standard recipe for this dish.
Every family has its own way of making it, just as every family has its own way of life.
Taste, generally speaking, is a very personal thing.
But when it comes to Xishi Tofu, the people of Jiyang seem to share a common palate.
Someone like Shen Yuan, who grew up in Jiyang, generally had a simple belief.
If a restaurant's Xishi Tofu wasn't good, then none of their other dishes would be either.
Shen Yuan thought the restaurant was just as his Eldest Female Cousin had said—the food was quite good.
After the meal, his Eldest Female Cousin drove Shen Yuan back to school.
"Here, for you."
Li Zhi glanced at the bubble tea on her desk and said warily, "You're not trying to ask me out, are you?"
'Looking at Li Zhi, Shen Yuan figured his cousin's comment about "dating" must have really gotten to her.'
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "As if you'd say yes anyway."
"Tsk. I'll consider it when you score a 650," Li Zhi said, picking up a straw and starting to drink the bubble tea.
"That's a bit high. Would 620 work?"
"Hey! That's not very sincere of you! Are you really haggling over this?"
"You're drinking my bubble tea," Shen Yuan pointed at the cup in Li Zhi's hand.
"Me accepting your gift doesn't mean I'm accepting you."
Li Zhi snapped her fingers lightly. "Basic inequality. Solved."
Shen Yuan laughed. "Me giving you bubble tea doesn't mean I'm trying to ask you out."
"Then I'm relieved." Li Zhi patted her chest, feigning a sigh of relief.
"Hey, you..." Shen Yuan aimed a Great Wilderness Heaven-Imprisoning Finger at her.
"Still waiting for you to get that 620?"
That did it. Shen Yuan, completely owned, turned and went back to his seat to grind out practice problems.
"The bell!!"
Zhou Shaojie plopped into his seat just as the bell rang.
Looking left and right, Ah Jie's gaze landed on the bubble tea on Shen Yuan's desk. "Yuan, won't you get fat from drinking two bubble teas a day?"
"I'm not giving you any."
Ah Jie was floored. "Damn it, I'm just looking out for you! We're under a lot of stress, but you can't just wreck your body! What if you get diabetes?"
Shen Yuan smiled faintly. "Perfect. Then I can give you a sweet little taste."
"Tsk, if you're not gonna share, just say so."
Zhuo Peipei leaned over and said to Ah Jie, "Look at Li Zhi's desk."
At her words, Ah Jie shot a look at Li Zhi's desk, then whipped his head back, pointing at Shen Yuan with the dumbfounded expression of a husky.
"Speak! Why is there a Mango Pomelo Sago with 30% sugar and less ice on Li Zhi's desk?"
'Dude, do you have x-ray vision or something?'
'You can even see that?'
Seeing Shen Yuan's stunned expression, Ah Jie knew the answer and immediately put on a look of profound grief and indignation.
"Fuck, dude, you've turned traitor!"
Shen Yuan was speechless. He brought out his ultimate weapon.
"Li Zhi said she won't date anyone who scores below 650."
This got Peipei, the resident shipper, all fired up.
"So, Lao Yuan, you've been studying so hard these past two days for Li Zhi, right?"
'It's over. I've provoked the Kissing Association.'
Shen Yuan immediately lowered his head to his book, refusing to engage with the topic any further.
As for the Early Love Prohibition Association that Ah Jie belonged to?
They were just some strays on the street, completely negligible.
During evening self-study, Shen Yuan pushed his mission progress forward by two hours.
With that, only the last hour and a half of the mission remained.
It was just something he could finish with a little effort after getting home.
After watching Li Zhi use her "Anxiety" skill again, Shen Yuan was already numb to it.
After all, over the past two days, he had already entered the initial stage of the "Study Rat" realm.
Shen Yuan now had experience in how to out-grind others; all he lacked were the scores to prove it.
Thinking of this, Shen Yuan couldn't help but reveal a smile.
"You're smiling like a creep stalking a pretty girl."
Li Zhi was standing in front of him, watching Shen Yuan warily. "You've been a little weird lately."
"What's weird about me?" Shen Yuan asked, confused.
She thought for a moment before saying, "You've been suspiciously attentive lately. You're even getting up early to walk to school with me. Usually, if you make it to class right as the bell rings, that counts as you being passionate about your studies."
Hearing this, Shen Yuan rolled his eyes dramatically.
'Should he tell her some things were because of the system?'
"Wait, what do you mean by 'attentive'? You make it sound like I'm your simp."
As soon as Shen Yuan said this, she started to think it over seriously.
"That would be pretty pathetic, yeah."
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes. "Don't be so conceited."
"Oh."
The two fell silent until they walked into the elevator.
"Hey," Li Zhi suddenly called out to Shen Yuan.
"My name's not 'Hey,' it's Chu Yuqun."
"Idiot," Li Zhi rolled her eyes.
"Say the word."
"The word."
The two looked at each other and couldn't hold back their laughter.