What's the difference between this and a negotiation

Shen Nian was wide-eyed with disbelief.

Seriously, bro? System, you're way too emotional. Even though I didn't do anything, you just went ahead and marked the task as complete, huh?

Well, if we're brothers like that, no need for formalities. Just hand over the rewards directly then.

His phone vibrated, and a blank bank deposit notification SMS popped up.

Shen Nian was genuinely baffled this time.

What happened to the promised 'Blood Demon's Sorrow, Save the Blood Demon'?

Turning the little loli girl into a blood demon, I can kinda understand that. 'Sorrow' referring to low blood sugar is also somewhat acceptable. But 'save'? Who exactly did I save, I'd like to know?

He thought the system was glitching, until he saw Li Shiyan taking small, delicate spoonfuls of duck blood curd and eating it. After a moment of stunned silence, he smiled understandingly.

I thought maybe blood sugar counted as 'blood'.

But you're telling me it's actually blood? Eating a couple pieces of duck blood curd counts as replenishing blood, right?

Shen Nian rubbed his chin. Damn, duck blood curd really is blood. Seems there's no flaw in that logic, fits right into the 'you are what you eat' concept.

This freaking system, always pulling your abstract stunts.

Checking his phone, Shen Nian's bank card now had over twenty thousand. If you didn't count the small electric car he bought earlier, he was now a top-tier powerhouse with thirty grand in savings.

Come on, a regular high school student having thirty thousand in hand is seriously cool, okay?

Graduate from the college entrance exams and buy a car? Heck, he might not even need to go fishing to sell the catch for money. Relying just on the system's rewards might be enough. There was also a hidden task worth ten thousand that wasn't completed yet.

The hidden task was more mystical. Shen Nian was just one step away from completing it, but the previous steps—'finding the Goddess of Fate' and obtaining two items—were all accomplished through sheer coincidence. If he hadn't gone back to his hometown town during the National Day holiday, he still wouldn't know who the Goddess of Fate was.

The final item, [The Raft of Poetry and Painting], still had him completely clueless. He could only leave it to fate.

Everyone was full, so Xia Yanchun settled the bill on the tablet. This kind of high-end spending could only be an occasional treat. Next time they came, she definitely wouldn't be treating Shen Nian.

He eats way too much, seriously! This guy can really wolf down three big bowls of rice in a state of extreme hunger... or maybe just extreme appetite!

With bellies full and thirst quenched, their enthusiasm for shopping had diminished by more than half. Shen Nian also had to help carry the shopping bags.

Passing by a lottery ticket shop, Shen Nian called out to Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan.

"Ahem, Li Shiyan, come here. Let's discuss something." Shen Nian chuckled with a mischievous "heh heh heh."

Being called by name, Li Shiyan felt a little happy inside. Finally, not 'little loli girl'! She wasn't a loli in the first place!

"What is it?" She raised an eyebrow, looking cute and adorable.

"Ever played the lottery before? I'll treat you guys." Shen Nian pointed his thumb towards the scratch-off tickets.

Both she and Xia Yanchun had played them before, but rarely. Xia Yanchun won two hundred on her very first try, while he couldn't scratch off a single cent—the winning numbers seemed to avoid him like the plague.

Li Shiyan obviously hadn't played. She looked at Xia Yanchun, then at Shen Nian, hesitated for a moment, then clasped her hands and said shyly, "I'll play if Xiao Chun plays. You can just treat Xiao Chun, I have my own money."

"Why play this?" Xia Yanchun crossed her arms. "You lose big if you don't win."

"Just playing twenty or thirty bucks' worth. I wouldn't play more even if you asked. I mooched a meal and milk tea today, it wouldn't be right if I didn't spend a little. I'll treat each of you to two thirty-yuan tickets. If you win, split it with me half-half. If you lose, it doesn't cost you anything."

Since he put it that way, Xia Yanchun wasn't about to stand on ceremony with Shen Nian. Li Shiyan still felt a bit reserved; she wanted to play but didn't intend to let Shen Nian pay for her.

But by the time they reached the scratch-off counter, Shen Nian had already swiftly scanned and paid one hundred and twenty.

"Consider it my treat. Don't be so distant." Shen Nian smiled at Li Shiyan. "If you win a prize, just Venmo me fifty for a Crazy Thursday meal."

"...Then, then I'll still split it with you half-half. After all, it's your money."

She'd seen people force snacks on others, but forcing lottery tickets was a first. However, she didn't mind it and wouldn't mind more.

Seeing it as all gain and no loss, Li Shiyan didn't refuse further.

She watched Xia Yanchun scratch first. Two thirty-yuan tickets. The second one won one hundred yuan—not a loss, but not a huge win either. Small wins and small losses were the norm for scratch-offs.

"Shiyan, your turn. Quick, scratch and see."

"Okay, okay."

Li Shiyan grabbed two tickets and scratched them clumsily. Xia Yanchun leaned over, comparing the numbers one by one, her almond-shaped eyes widening more and more.

"One thousand, and one five hundred...!"

"Really won?" Shen Nian hurriedly leaned in too.

"Really won!"

"Hehe, so lucky today!" Li Shiyan was beaming with joy. Actually, she had even found a twenty-yuan bill on the ground after leaving school. What a lucky day it was!

After hastily cashing in the winnings, she started scratching the second ticket. Unfortunately, the second one only matched one number, exchanging for another five hundred.

"Shiyan, your luck is really..."

"Hehehe, my hand's really hot today."

Li Shiyan got carried away and bought one more ticket with her own money. Unfortunately, hitting the jackpot consecutively was ultimately a bit unrealistic. The third scratch-off was a pure loss.

Two thousand was already a lot.

Even after giving Shen Nian half, she'd still made a clean thousand. She felt uneasy keeping this thousand, though, since the initial capital was Shen Nian's. Logically, the entire two thousand should belong to Shen Nian. If she didn't return it, she'd feel like she owed him a favor.

"Maybe I should give you back another five hundred..."

"No need, keep it. We agreed on half. I turned one-twenty into a thousand, I'm already making a killing. If you feel uneasy keeping the money, then next time we hang out, it's your turn to treat us to a meal."

"Mhm, mhm! Next time I'll treat you guys to a big feast!"

"Let's go, let's go."

Shen Nian was chuckling happily.

Bringing Li Shiyan for a blitz attack on the welfare lottery was the right move.

Without any evil cultivation techniques to plunder the little loli girl's luck, the only option was to bring the little loli girl along.

Solemnly promise: Our side pledges not to be the first to deploy the little loli girl.

Unless we're short on cash.

Full, satisfied, and with a profit to boot, his mood was even better now. Shen Nian walked as if wearing those comfortable elderly sneakers.

The two girls were chattering away. They were about to head home, but upon spotting a photo booth, Xia Yanchun eagerly dragged Li Shiyan over to take pictures.

The photo booth was a private little space with a curtain blocking the view from outside. The whole machine was pink and cute. With such decor, most of the players were girls, with a small portion being young couples and regular guys.

Shen Nian waited outside for a while before Xia Yanchun came out with the photos.

"What did you take? Let me see."

"These are girls' photos. What's a guy doing butting in?"

"Don't you say you don't see me as a guy?"

"I don't even see you as human."

Xia Yanchun snorted but still let Shen Nian take a look.

The photos were just of the two girls being close, quite intimate. Li Shiyan made a motion as if to kiss a cheek, but didn't actually make contact. Conversely, Xia Yanchun also made a cheek-kissing gesture.

The rest were some peace signs, making heart shapes together, some even with cat-ear filters.

So weird, it's like that. If it were bros taking these, they'd probably be considering when to sneak in a middle finger for their good buddy.

Xia Yanchun tucked the photo into her bag and poked Shen Nian's arm with her index finger. "You come take one too, a picture of us together. Hurry up."

"Why would I take this thing?"

"Just take it."

In that photo album, the pictures of her and Shen Nian together stopped at middle school. She wanted to add one from high school.

So far, she and Shen Nian didn't have a single photo together from high school.

Even if they were archenemies, there was still a bond from knowing each other since they could remember. You'd give a classmate's yearbook page even to people you disliked. During the time she hated Shen Nian the most, she still hoped he would get into the same university as her.

Archenemies can't share a bed, but they can share a frame in the same photo album.

Puffing out her cheeks, Xia Yanchun asked Li Shiyan to wait outside for a moment, then pushed Shen Nian into the private little cubicle of the photo sticker booth.

"You little rascal, Ha-ji Chun."

It was Shen Nian's first time using one of these. It was essentially just a large photo booth with special effects, and the pixel quality wasn't even that great.

Still had to check the settings.

"Not bad, the guy's pretty photogenic." Shen Nian was self-aware. Handsome was handsome; pretending not to know you're handsome was just too contrived.

"We'll just take one or two, it'll be quick."

Xia Yanchun chattered away, fiddling with some settings on the machine. Suddenly, a moving pig snout graphic appeared stuck to Shen Nian's nose.

It was actually... kind of cute...

"Heh heh, honk honk honk—" Xia Yanchun's mouth twisted, and her laughter came out like a string of firecrackers.

"What the hell, you poet."

"Don't you think this is the real you?"

"Change it, or I'll punch you."

"Nyeh nyeh."

Xia Yanchun fiddled a couple more times. The pig snout disappeared, but a pair of perky white bunny ears popped up on Shen Nian's head.

Soon the bunny ears turned into pig ears. Xia Yanchun was already having too much fun, lost in her own artistic vision.

Who could understand the redemptive feeling of a dead-serious Shen Nian paired with all sorts of cute filters?

Especially that baby filter—it made Xia Yanchun crack up.

Shen Nian was utterly speechless, his face a perfect "sweating emoji" expression. "Are you going to take the picture or not? I swear I'm going to have to restrain you."

"Alright, alright, we'll take it now."

Xia Yanchun took two steps back to stand next to Shen Nian. Just as she raised her fingers in a peace sign, a large hand suddenly wrapped around her waist from the side and pulled her close to Shen Nian, making her press against him entirely.

Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Xia Yanchun's eyes widened slightly. She slapped Shen Nian's hand and, afraid Li Shiyan outside might hear, could only complain in a whisper, "Why are you holding me? Doing this out in public, aren't you ashamed?!"

"Did you consider shame when you pulled my pants down and laughed at me as a kid? This is all trained into me by your past self. If you're ashamed, you won't get to nibble the grass by your own nest."

"You— stop talking!"

Shen Nian lowered his head, brushed aside the strands of hair on her forehead, and lightly traced a finger across her crimson cheek.

"You and Li Shiyan were so close. I feel like I should take a picture like you two did."

"!"

"We were just posing!"

"I know. I'll just pose too." Shen Nian gave her a nudge with his elbow.

Shen Nian had a pleasant scent. Xia Yanchun unconsciously bit her lip slightly. Her pupils were completely filled with his image, but only for a moment before she immediately, guiltily, glanced away.

This kind of... this kind of intimate gesture, that kind of... that kind of closeness—Xia Yanchun panicked all at once.

How is this any different from dating?!

·

5,000 words today, orz.

Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato's request for over 3 million daily visits causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended you use sources from other big authors.