No blushing, no blooming today, victory

Shen Nian ruffled Xia Yanchun's fine, soft hair and then made a quick exit, avoiding pushing things too far and provoking a backlash. If he really annoyed Xia Yanchun, she'd probably blow up at him.

Looking at Xia Yanchun's flushed face, he was already quite satisfied.

Chunbao is so cute, seriously.

His heart itched with the thought of nibbling on the grass right by his nest.

Xia Yanchun stared after him until he closed the bedroom door and the sound of the front door shutting echoed from the entrance. Only then did her agitated heartbeat gradually settle down.

Ugh.

Her mind was a complete mess, all because of that annoying Shen Nian...

Not a shred of her older-sister authority remained!

Xia Yanchun buried her face in a soft teddy bear pillow, humming and mumbling to herself, lost in thought.

...

That afternoon, during a self-study period, Shen Nian specifically pulled Chen Qiuyu over for a math tutoring session.

After following the study plan for two days, Chen Qiuyu's mistake notebook was already several pages long, filled with notes and pencil scribbles—clear signs she was studying seriously.

If she were just going through the motions, there wouldn't even be a mistake notebook, let alone notes inside.

For reference, one could look at Ma Mingfan, who was average at math. He had drawn a series of stick-figure fight sequences in the margins of his math book; flipping through the corners created a little animation.

After all, if Chen Qiuyu didn't get serious now, her math would truly be beyond saving.

Halfway through the tutoring, Su Kexi came to the class to announce the midterm exams scheduled for early November.

Following the midterms, there would be a parent-teacher meeting, and then shortly after, the first mock college entrance exam.

The three-year curriculum had actually been completed by the end of their second year. The entire third year was purely for review and exams—an endless stream of practice tests and a tightly packed schedule.

Shen Nian, however, wasn't bothered. Exams didn't wear him down; they only made his scores better and better.

This kind of fondness for exams was simply unstoppable.

After Su Kexi left, Shen Nian glanced at Chen Qiuyu again. She was just writing something in her mistake notebook, a look of sudden understanding dawning on her face.

"Got it now?"

"Got it!" Chen Qiuyu couldn't hide her delight, clasping her hands together in a gesture of thanks. "You've troubled yourself for so long. This humble girl has no way to repay you..."

"What do you mean 'no way to repay'? Buy me a cola. Pepsi."

"You really don't hold back on the humility, do you?"

"If I were humble, I wouldn't get my cola. People who cling too tightly to their pride often go hungry."

Chen Qiuyu pursed her lips into a faint smile. What Shen Nian said wasn't wrong. Not many guys could casually have lunch with a group of four or five girls; Shen Nian was one of them. Without a certain... thick-skinned attitude, it would be hard for an ordinary person to pull that off.

Girls were supposed to be reserved. She certainly couldn't imagine herself sitting down to eat with four or five boys at one table.

"Here, a little reward for your efforts. Go back and study hard." Shen Nian fished out a few packs of snacks from his bag and tossed them to Chen Qiuyu. This math tutoring was worth studying hard for, after all—it was valued at two thousand bucks.

"Mhm, thanks."

And with that, Chen Qiuyu made her escape.

One could only say, some people are popular and well-liked for a reason.

Having enjoyed that ambiguous moment with Xia Yanchun at noon, Shen Nian was in an unexpectedly good mood. Even Ma Mingfan started to look somewhat pleasing to the eye.

Ma Mingfan shuddered violently and jolted awake. That was terrifying.

He had secretly challenged himself to watch that "Candy Super Sweet" performance ten times with headphones on during lunch, but accidentally fell asleep. He'd been listening to it the whole lunch break. Damn it, the moment he closed his eyes just now, "Candy Super Sweet" started playing in his head again.

♫ Little white rabbit, popping candy... ♫

Seriously, what the hell? Who put that song in my brain?

The fact that humanity could create a group like "Candy Super Sweet" made Ma Mingfan feel like he was the alien. If the Trisolaran civilization showed up, he might just offer to show them the way.

Ah, the path to self-improvement is so rugged.

...

The next day, at noon.

A chilly autumn wind blew; it was a day with a significant temperature drop. Even Shen Nian had put on his school uniform jacket.

Every year, people claimed it was the coldest year ever. Shen Nian felt this year was indeed a bit cold. It was only mid-autumn, and the temperature had already dropped to 18 degrees Celsius. Even accounting for the cold front, that was low enough. It would only get colder from here.

Taking advantage of the lunch break, Shen Nian went to Xia Yanchun's house again to check on her and make sure she applied her medicine.

"It's basically fine now. I feel like I could go to school this afternoon. Do I still need to apply the medicine?"

Xia Yanchun sat on the sofa, her fair feet propped up. Both feet were back to their normal size. The swelling from yesterday had completely subsided today. All told, it hadn't even been forty-eight hours.

Besides, it hadn't hurt that much even right after she twisted it, which didn't match the online advice saying the pain gets worse at night. It seemed her sprain was indeed very mild.

She'd heard that basketball players could mess up their Achilles tendon from a sprained ankle. Too scary.

"Apply it one last time. There's P.E. class this afternoon, so don't go. You already took the day off. What's the harm in resting at home one more day? It's not like your grades will drop from lying around for two days." Shen Nian sat down beside her, squeezing closer and closer, sticking to her.

"That makes sense. I'll just rest one more day then." Xia Yanchun endured his proximity.

"Want me to help you apply it?"

"No. Get lost."

Xia Yanchun's tone was unfriendly. She had no intention of giving Shen Nian a pleasant face. After saying those things yesterday and pinching her face so hard, he could just show up today acting like nothing happened? He really wasn't treating her like a person.

Treating your Chun-jie like a toy, to play with whenever you want? If she didn't throw a fit, she'd really become the grass by his nest for nibbling.

Shen Nian just smiled, not annoyed, and obediently watched Xia Yanchun apply medicine to her foot. The air was filled with the smell of medicine, almost overpowering Xia Yanchun's usual scent.

He stole a glance at Xia Yanchun and saw she was focused on applying the medicine. That meant he could focus on looking at Xia Yanchun's feet.

After applying the medicine, Xia Yanchun bounced off to wash her hands, washing away the laziness that had clung to her all day. Having been home all day, she only perked up when Shen Nian arrived.

Coming out of the bathroom, she saw Shen Nian had taken over the entire sofa, lying on his side like a lord of the manor.

"Really treating my place like your own home, huh?"

"I'm just lying down for a bit. Can't a guy be tired?"

"I thought you never got tired. Finally admitting it now?"

Shen Nian broke into a mental sweat. Buddy just wanted to lie down for a bit, he was joking. Did you really believe that?

Xia Yanchun simply took him at his word. "Then you should go back and rest. I'm certainly not letting you sleep here."

"Pfft, I've already slept at your place before."

"Sleeping here once doesn't mean you can sleep here whenever you want. I've hit you before too. If you'd let me keep hitting you without fighting back, then maybe I'd consider it..."

"Did you sprain your brain along with your ankle, you silly Chun?"

"You're not much better. A dung beetle spent ten years searching for the perfect dung, only to find the best quality was stuck between your ears."

"Nice one, 666. Even dung beetles would shake their heads at someone like you."

They bickered back and forth for a good while, the usual routine. Shen Nian eventually fell silent. In their daily verbal sparring, he and Xia Yanchun were evenly matched. No real advantage to be gained.

"Not arguing with you anymore. It shortens my lifespan." The clever Shen Nian decisively changed the subject.

Having been on the losing end so often lately, Xia Yanchun was immensely pleased with herself for finally gaining the upper hand in a squabble. Her tone became a bit airy.

"It's not that you don't want to argue; it's that you can't win. But it does feel good. Ah-Q spirit might be shameful, but it's useful. I'll forgive you, you bratty little brother."

"..."

She was already completely immersed in her own triumphant narrative, unable to extricate herself.

Fuming, shivering, feeling cold. He'd run into a female version of an overconfident narcissist.

"Whatever the wicked woman says is right. I have class this afternoon, so I'm heading back to school first."

Xia Yanchun tilted her head. Shen Nian actually didn't retort.

Unbelievable.

It seemed she had won today!

"Then you should head back early. I'm going to read a bit later, otherwise I won't know what to do at home."

Shen Nian stood up, but instead of heading for the entrance, he stopped right in front of Xia Yanchun.

Xia Yanchun looked at him, puzzled, for a moment before suddenly understanding, because Shen Nian had already taken a deep breath, then, in a flash, he tousled her hair and pinched her cheek. In the split second she was stunned, the front door was already slammed shut by Shen Nian as he scrambled away.

Being a jerk again!

I achieved a personal best of 0.01 seconds in the game of guessing what kind of jerk move Shen Nian was about to pull. You should try it too!

But today, playing around with Shen Nian didn't make me blush or get all flustered, so it's still a win!

The balcony door was open, and a cool breeze blew in. Xia Yanchun shrank her neck and hurried to close the balcony window.

Turning back, the room felt strangely empty, even colder than before.

She still preferred that warm feeling from a moment ago.

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