After the second semester of sophomore year, maybe because we grew up, the relationship between us eased a lot.
Now, in the blink of an eye, we're already in our senior year, but there's still some tension.
"Are you crazy, Jiang Nian!" The girl stands with her hands on her hips, angrily glaring at him, "Knocking on the door in broad daylight, I'll tell Aunt Li and have her beat you up!"
Jiang Nian stares at Xu Qianqian, or to be precise, at the light blue, semi-transparent panel in front of him.
Sure enough, he was the only one who could see it.
[Re-establish contact with estranged childhood friend Xu Qianqian, reward: 300 RMB (completed).]
Eh, has it been credited?
Xu Qianqian scolded Jiang Nian for a while, suddenly realizing he seemed to be staring at her dazedly. She got goosebumps, stepped back, and covered her chest protectively.
"Why... why are you looking at me like that?"
Then, she saw Jiang Nian, as if deaf, take out his phone from his pocket and check it. Instantly overjoyed, he threw out a "Yay!" and ran off.
Watching Jiang Nian's retreating back returning to the opposite door, Xu Qianqian couldn't help but pout.
"Weirdo..."
In the living room.
Jiang Nian hugged his phone, checking and re-checking, overjoyed.
Three hundred yuan had indeed appeared out of thin air in his account, increasing the balance from 305.23 to 605.23, with the transfer note saying "Game Experience Officer payment".
At this moment, the panel appeared again, [At the age of thirty-eight, you are financially desperate, unemployed, divorced, and almost losing all your assets, you rely on your parents for support to survive.
Task: Urgent Expenses.
With your first reward received, clear the owed utility bills for your rental room, reward: 500 RMB.]
He thought this should be a beginner's task, so he opened the app and started paying. He hadn't rented a room, but paying his home's utility bills should count as completing the task, right?
At the same time, he felt a sense of lament, thinking if his future self ended up in such dire straits?
Buzz! Five hundred yuan had been credited.
So far, the system tasks were relatively easy, Jiang Nian checked his bank account balance. After paying the bills, he spent over a hundred yuan, accumulating a balance of 935.45.
He was a pragmatic person, calmed down once five hundred was credited.
Two five-hundred amounts were trivial; as long as it doesn't exceed five thousand in one day, no one would care. But if it ever exceeds that, it could get very troublesome.
Not only could the bank account get frozen, but if large transfers went unmonitored, there might even be an investigation.
The transferor was Tian Guang Game Co., Ltd. Jiang Nian checked and found that this company indeed existed, and it was a listed company, with only one "Game Experience Officer".
Jiang Nian certainly wasn't stupid enough to genuinely believe this "pit" was real, not to mention today's technology couldn't possibly reach a portable panel of this level.
Besides, he wasn't a chief experience officer or anything; the system merely covered up a real-world bug.
In other words, the source was legitimate and legal.
Awesome.
He had just finished checking when the system panel reappeared, and another beginner's task arrived.
[Realizing too late about filial piety, the thirty-eight-year-old you realizes your parents are getting old. Reflecting back half of your life, you resolutely embark on a journey home, feeling both anxious and nostalgic as you near home.
Task: Prepare a sumptuous dinner for your parents.
Reward: 800 RMB.]
Looking at the task requirements, Jiang Nian couldn't help but stroke his chin.
It's now afternoon; he had time to prepare dinner. Otherwise, he'd have to wait until tomorrow. These two days were off for the school anniversary, and he'd have to return for evening self-study tomorrow night.
Cooking wasn't a problem; almost every Jiang Family member could cook.
His grandfather had even worked as a chef at Yangcheng Restaurant in his youth, and his father and uncles could make a few dishes, albeit not particularly tasty, according to his own father...
As his grandfather would say, trying to put up a front like that.
Jiang Nian was an exception, with mediocre grades but a small talent in culinary arts. He didn't find the intricate banquet dishes that others considered difficult to be hard.
Every summer he would consistently stay at his grandfather's house, eating well, while intermittently learning several grand dishes, with the taste being quite decent.
Since it was to be sumptuous, the ingredients naturally had to be the freshest.
In the afternoon, Jiang Nian went to the vegetable market but returned disappointed. He forgot that in the afternoon there wouldn't be much fresh produce, and people tried to rip him off, raising and lowering prices seeing his youth.
Indeed, business is tricky and young people prefer supermarkets for a reason; these people... tailor prices according to customers, no wonder they don't sell.
After preparing the ingredients, he returned home at four.
On the kitchen's quartz countertop lay boneless cuts of Yangshan Chicken. A famous chicken product from Guangdong, costing over thirty yuan per catty, frozen, a couple hundred would suffice.
Higher-quality, freshly slaughtered birds were rare and sold at a premium of forty yuan per catty when brought to Zhen Nan.
A chicken weighs seven catties.
The meat was tender, chewy, rich but not greasy, truly worth its price.
He planned to make lotus leaf steamed chicken, which features tight, tender, and expensive meat, surely qualifying as sumptuous, right?
For the rest, he'd make it more casual, planning to prepare a simple sautéed seasonal vegetable dish, a stir-fried beef, smashed cucumbers, peanuts, along with a pot of pork rib soup.
To be honest, three people certainly couldn't finish all this food.
Taking consideration for the neighbor Xu Qianqian, in a sense, they were indeed childhood friends.
Xu Qianqian was from a single-parent family; her mom had passed away a few years back.
Her dad, Director Xu, was a renowned reproductive and male specialist at the county hospital, having performed orchiectomies and cured impotence. He usually wore rimless glasses, smiling gently at everyone.
After his wife passed away, he hadn't fully recovered, immersing himself in work all day long.
The Jiang Family faced difficulties over these years, and Old Xu helped a lot privately, making the relationship between the two families very deep.
So even in recent years, despite being busy with work and debt repayment, whenever there was good food at home, Xu Qianqian would definitely be invited, even for cutting a melon, she'd get the sweetest part.
Jiang Nian was used to it, instinctively including portions for Old Xu and Xu Qianqian. Five people dining together was just enough, sumptuous yet not wasteful.
In the afternoon, Li Hongmei just got off work, hurriedly tied on an apron, and rushed to the kitchen.
"The meal will be ready soon, read a book while you wait, stop playing with your phone. You're almost a senior now, you know, the college entrance exam is like thousands of troops crossing a single-log bridge."
Jiang Nian was lying on the sofa, holding a popsicle, playing on his phone, not even lifting an eyebrow.
"Oh, got it, Mom."
"You child..." Li Hongmei wiped her hands on her apron, just stepped into the kitchen when she stopped in surprise, looking at the kept food, she turned to glance at Jiang Nian.
"Who made the dishes?"
"I did, how is it?"
Hearing this, Li Hongmei's expression instantly became marvelous. It's not that she doubted Jiang Nian's cooking skills, grandpa doted on his grandchild so much he wished to teach him all his lifetime's culinary skills.
"Where did you get the money? This meal... Yangshan Chicken, beef, would cost at least a few hundred, right?"
"Well, isn't it... earning money playing games?" Jiang Nian sheepishly touched his face, holding his breath, staring at his mom Li Hongmei.
Li Hongmei frowned, and the kitchen's atmosphere instantly became awkward.