MNL Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Invitation “Why are you following me?”

Liang Yin asked the girls to distribute the books, and the simple introduction ended. Most people only took a few textbooks back with them. Only Zhou Ji packed his schoolbag full.

Looking at the student behind him who didn’t even spare the essay practice book, Cha Fei’ang couldn’t help but exclaim, “Classmate, aren’t you taking this too seriously?”

The sound attracted the attention of those around him, and Zhou Ji’s face instantly turned red. He said in a low voice, “No, I’m just looking at them casually out of boredom.”

After saying that, he buried his head even lower.

Seeing that Cha Fei’ang still wanted to say something, Xu Jing picked up his empty schoolbag and said directly, “Let’s go.”

Zhou Ji was a little dazed, but after a moment he realized that Xu Jing was speaking to him, so he nodded to Cha Fei’ang and quickly followed him out.

Xu Jing always walked relatively fast, and assumed that Zhou Ji understood his intention to help him out of the situation just now, so he didn’t stop. He was just about to put on his headphones when he heard a panting voice from behind.

“Classmate, classmate, wait for me.”

Xu Jing paused and turned his head.

Zhou Ji was panting heavily, his dark face flushed even redder from the shortness of breath.

“Thank you.”

Xu Jing frowned, “No need.”

“My name is Zhou Ji, Ji as in books.”

“Xu Jing.”

Communication between two people can only continue if it’s reciprocal, but Xu Jing himself didn’t talk much, and Zhou Ji was inexplicably timid. Fortunately, the extremely awkward conversation finally ended due to a fork in the road.

Although the sun in August was bright, it was also very scorching. Xu Jing was so blinded by the sun that he couldn’t open his eyes, so he could only walk towards the shade of the trees. He looked down and saw a long shadow beside him.

There was an umbrella above the shadow’s head.

Xu Jing turned his head and found that it was indeed that person.

“Why are you following me?”

Shen Yan chuckled and replied lazily, “What’s wrong? Did you get a delusion after the fall?”

He dared to bring that up.

Whether it was because of the weather or the person in front of him, Xu Jing’s anger was inexplicably high at the moment. He said coldly, “Do you think everyone is like you?”

“Of course not, I can’t fall on flat ground.”

Shen Yan’s voice could definitely be considered pleasant, low and clear, with a nonchalant tone.

But Xu Jing felt that he couldn’t listen to a single word of it. He immediately walked towards the sunny road with a cold face, as if he wanted to be 180,000 miles away from Shen Yan.

When he got home, braised prawns were already cooked and placed on the table. In addition to that, there were several fragrant dishes. Qin Xin came out of the kitchen with iced plum juice and said with a smile, “You’re back? Go wash your hands and try the new dish I learned.”

Hearing this, Xu Jing froze as he was putting down his bag. “New dish?”

“Don’t worry,” Qin Xin said. “It definitely won’t be as unsuccessful as last time.”

Xu Jing washed his hands and sat down. He looked at the so-called new dish in front of him and pursed his lips slightly.

It was a little black, probably burnt.

It was a bit mushy, but he could vaguely tell from the smell that it was eggplant.

Under Qin Xin’s expectant gaze, Xu Jing braced himself and put a little into his mouth.

“How is it?”

Xu Jing swallowed the tasteless thing in his mouth with difficulty and said, “It’s pretty good, you can add more soy sauce next time.”

Qin Xin showed a satisfied smile, but then put down her chopsticks and said, “The boy living next door to us looks about the same age as you, and I’ve never seen his parents. Go ask him if he wants to come over for dinner.”

Xu Jing didn’t hesitate at all. “No.”

Qin Xin was puzzled. “Why?”

“Too lazy to go.” Xu Jing finished the last of the plum juice in his glass and raised his eyes to find Qin Xin looking at him, so he could only continue to explain randomly, “He’s already eaten.”

Hearing this, Qin Xin could only give up on the idea, but after a few seconds, she realized that something was wrong and asked, “Have you two already greeted each other?”

“We’ve met a few times.”

“Is he in high school too?”

More than that, he’s in the same class.

Xu Jing didn’t want to mention this at all, so he just hummed simply.

Qin Xin’s half-baked cooking skills were like opening a blind box. You never knew what level of food you would get in your mouth with one chopstick. It all depended on luck, and the saltiness depended on her mood.

Xu Jing was exhausted after the meal.

“Mom, I’m done eating.”

“So fast? Don’t you want to eat some more eggplant?”

“…I’m full.” Xu Jing quickly fled the dining table.

After returning to his room, Xu Jing thought of what Qin Xin had just said and was a little surprised. Since he moved here, he had never seen anyone else entering or leaving 602. It was uncommon to live alone at this age.

But why was he concerning himself with these things?

Xu Jing felt that he was just too idle. He sat down and was about to turn on his computer when he saw two English tutoring books on the clean desk.

Without thinking, he knew that Qin Xin had put them there. Xu Jing didn’t even bother to open them and stuffed them into the bookcase.

From a young age, Xu Jing learned everything quickly. He could easily get full marks in all subjects, except for English, which was always at the bottom. Originally, his other grades were more than enough to get him into Linhe No.1 High School, but because English dragged him down too much, he only barely made it in during the high school entrance exam.

And what was even stranger was that Qin Xin was an English teacher. Among all the students she had taught, even those who couldn’t even read the words properly at the beginning could eventually get a three-digit score, but only with her own son, she couldn’t teach him to get even sixty points despite all her efforts.

Because he was really bored, Xu Jing temporarily gave up the idea of blacklisting that unlucky guy. He was just about to ask Yan Zhe if he wanted to play games when the other party conveniently called.

“Log on.”

“Later, I just got out of the internet cafe less than half an hour ago. I’m at the mall now. Did you finish registering? How did it feel?”

“Just so-so.”

Yan Zhe’s confident voice came over, “Without me in high school, you’ll definitely be bored.”

That’s true, after all, he wouldn’t have to fight with people every other day.

Xu Jing snorted and said after opening LOL, “I met that person.”

“Damn, this is robbery! You’re selling this little pink music box for two hundred and fifty?” Yan Zhe’s voice suddenly increased. Xu Jing had expected this and moved his phone away in advance.

“Handsome, the quality of our store is guaranteed, especially this music box. It has an exquisite appearance and ethereal sound, making it perfect for giving to girls.”

“That may be so, but this is freaking…”

The argument on the other side suddenly disappeared. Xu Jing looked at his phone and found that he was still on the call. Yan Zhe must have deliberately muted it.

There weren’t many people online at this time. Xu Jing failed to match twice and was about to quit when an invitation message popped up in the lower right corner. He agreed without looking carefully.

Not long after the game started, the phone made a sound.

“I was just at the mall. These physical stores are really black-hearted. They sell a broken music box for over two hundred. Isn’t that robbery?” Yan Zhe said angrily.

“You bought it?”

“Yeah, I bought it.”

After a moment of silence, Xu Jing said, “That’s good, the number suits you.”

“There’s no way, my cousin’s birthday is coming up, and she likes this kind of thing.” Yan Zhe’s voice was full of helplessness. Then he remembered that Xu Jing seemed to have something to say just now, so he asked, “Right, what were you going to say just now?”

Xu Jing replied while playing the game, “I met that person at school.”

After hearing this, Yan Zhe said in shock, “Really? That guy is actually at Linhe No.1 High School too?”

“Who knows, maybe he barely made it.”

Xu Jing, who still couldn’t accept the fact that he would have to see this person every day, could only comfort himself in this way.

“It’s definitely awkward for you two like this, but it’s okay. Being in the same class doesn’t mean you’ll have too much interaction. Look at when we were in middle school, how many words did you say to anyone else in our class besides me?”

“You know you talk too much?”

“Screw you.” Yan Zhe laughed and scolded, “Alright, I’m not going to talk anymore, I have something to do.”

When he said the last sentence, Yan Zhe deliberately lowered his voice, making it seem mysterious.

What could this person have to do? Xu Jing knew even without thinking. Either he was going to the internet cafe or going out with girls. There was no escaping these two options, so he didn’t pay attention to the other party’s desire for him to continue asking and hung up the phone first.

The phone immediately vibrated several times, and Yan Zhe spammed him with emoticons to express his strong dissatisfaction.

At the moment, he didn’t have time to care about Yan Zhe. In this game, other than the person who invited him, the other three were terrible. He and that person were carrying three others, and the game was very intense.

[All Under My Command (Child of the Stars)]: I said, aren’t the people on the other side going to surrender? Dragging it out isn’t how you do it, right?

Xu Jing never paid attention to these provocative words in the game. Unlike Yan Zhe, who would get angry and curse at them every time, he simply played the game to pass the time.

[SY (King of the Barbarians)]: Too much talk.

This ID called SY was the person who had invited him just now. It had to be said that their level was really good. If it had been someone else, they would have lost this game long ago.

But even the best couldn’t withstand the other three feeding like this. This game lasted for more than an hour, and Xu Jing was sleepy from playing. He was about to hang up when the game suddenly ended.

Xu Jing blinked in surprise and found that this SY had actually stolen the base successfully by taking on five people.

[All Under My Command (Child of the Stars)]: ???

[The Five Dogs on the Other Side (Card Master)]:?

[Online Dating Choose Me I’m Super Sweet (Desert Rose)]: *

Not bad, pretty amazing.

Xu Jing was in a good mood, but the next second, he couldn’t laugh at all.

Because it showed that this SY had invited him through “Nearby People.”

The space in 602 was actually a bit smaller than 601, but the interior was simply furnished. There were no sundries other than the necessary things, so the overall look was very spacious.

Shen Yan gently rotated his wrists twice. He turned off the computer and was about to get up when the phone next to him rang.

“Coach Zhou.”

“Xiao Yan, how are you feeling these days?”

“I’m fine,” Shen Yan said. “I’m sorry, I affected your business that day.”

Zhou Yuan said politely, “It’s nothing. It was that man who had the problem in the first place. You were just being kind.”

The incident happened a few nights ago. Zhou Yuan was originally training Shen Yan in boxing when he heard a commotion in the hall. He took a closer look and realized that a middle-aged man was beating a pregnant woman. Before he could even react, Shen Yan had already rushed out and knocked the man down on the spot, hitting the most painful parts of his body with his fists. If he hadn’t pulled him away, the man would have almost been beaten to death by Shen Yan.

“You’re going to school soon, right?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Zhou Yuan’s voice was a bit regretful. “Then I can only find someone else to participate in the quarterly competition in three months.”

Shen Yan’s expression was calm and he replied, “Okay.”