Mouse Loves Rice

Shen Nian had been to Xia Yanchun's house countless times. Given that the interior layouts of their two houses were almost identical, he could walk up to the third floor with his eyes closed.

It made perfect sense; it was just like going home.

Their grandfathers had been farmers together, working hard and raising two sons—who were their fathers. One of the sons couldn't continue his education and entered the workforce early, spending several prime years of his life setting up his own breeding farm. The other son was more outstanding and became a government official in the town. The two men then had kids one after the other.

Your house is my house, and my house is your house—this was the gold standard of a friendship spanning three generations.

Crazy, right?

Going up to the familiar third floor, which belonged exclusively to Xia Yanchun, the first thing Shen Nian saw was Xia Yanchun sitting on her bed, leaning against the wall.

To be more precise, he saw Xia Yanchun's feet; her body was obscured by the wall.

Walking further in, he saw that Xia Yanchun was reading some study materials. Her bare feet were crossed, seemingly unafraid of the cold. Her quilt was folded and draped over her thighs, acting like a soft little desk so her arms wouldn't get sore from holding the papers up for too long.

Hearing the slight noise of someone coming upstairs, Xia Yanchun just gave a faint glance. Seeing it was Shen Nian, she didn't say a word and completely ignored him.

"So hardworking," Shen Nian said, plopping down on the bed and leaning back on his hands with a light chuckle.

"Of course. Studying hard is the way to go. I just asked my dad, and he said if anyone in our town becomes the top scorer in the college entrance exam, the government will give them half a million yuan. This is the closest I've ever been to striking it rich."

"They're really giving half a million?" Shen Nian's eyes went wide. Wow, the town government isn't messing around. How generous! I might just have to gift them my trash bags later as a token of appreciation.

"It's always been a thing. It's just that our area never produces a top scorer, so a lot of people don't know about it."

"What about the top five in the province?"

"I think there's a reward for that too, but it's not as much."

"Oh, that's pretty good. Well, keep working hard then. Try your best to snatch the top scorer title away from me."

Xia Yanchun couldn't help but twitch her lips.

A guy who had never once ranked first in the school dared to say such a thing. What a braggart.

"Your primary goal right now is to come out on top of me."

"I really should." Shen Nian grinned.

"?"

Stunned for a moment, Xia Yanchun realized what he meant a beat too late. Looking at Shen Nian's expression, she knew they were definitely not talking about the same thing.

Making a dirty joke right to her face—how creepy!

Xia Yanchun couldn't even imagine anyone else daring to be with Shen Nian. If he opened his mouth like that, any other girl would probably be scared off by his creepiness.

No wonder this guy suddenly liked her. He must have known he'd never find a girlfriend, so he decided to settle for the girl next door!

Xia 'Ah Q' Yanchun sneered. "Just keep goofing off. When I get that half a million, you'll just have to stand on the sidelines and drool."

"Yes, yes, yes, Chunbao is number one in the province. Chunbao is the most amazing."

"So gross," Xia Yanchun said. Then, she patted the empty spot next to her with her small hand. "Come sit over here."

As soon as Shen Nian moved over, Xia Yanchun leaned against him. Leaning on Shen Nian was much more comfortable than leaning against the headboard.

The headboard was rock hard and had weird, protruding carvings. It probably hadn't been wiped down in a while, so it might even be a bit dirty. Shen Nian, on the other hand, was warm. The cost-performance ratio was obvious at a glance.

"I'm planning to start a live-streaming account recently to run a virtual study room. If people have questions, they can send a small virtual gift, and I'll explain it to them. Do you think that could work? Like this kind of thing."

Shen Nian showed his phone to Xia Yanchun. For once, he didn't immediately start messing around with her, but instead talked about his plans.

This kind of live stream didn't require much technical skill. It was basically a screen divided into several smaller screens, with people connecting via voice chat to broadcast their own studying process.

Xia Yanchun took a look. "I've scrolled past these kinds of streams a few times. They seem pretty useless. Some people even go on mic to stream themselves playing games, like that Naruto game you used to play."

"Uh, Naruto gamers are like that, but I don't play it anymore. I'm now a distinguished Sha-gamer."

"You certainly are a sha-b."

"Damn it, I meant Sanguosha."

"And I meant you."

"..."

Such intense aggression. Shen Nian felt a wave of fear.

Shen Nian cleared his throat and continued, "Anyway, I don't have much else to do, so I might as well start a stream for fun."

"Up to you."

On today's internet, absolutely anyone and everyone could stream. There were gaming streamers, outdoor streamers, entertainment streamers, group streamers, novel writers, and all sorts of other random things. Study room streams were actually quite common.

Besides, streaming didn't cost anything. He just needed to buy a phone stand for a dozen yuan or so, and set his phone aside to record while he studied. He wouldn't even need to show his face. Who knows, maybe some eager students really would send him virtual gifts and ask for explanations.

"Then I'll set one up for fun. When the time comes, send me a Carnival gift to support me," Shen Nian said seriously.

"?"

We've got a psycho on our hands, besties.

Not reporting his stream would already be an act of immense mercy from Sister Chun.

Although he said he wanted to stream, his phone stand hadn't arrived yet, so the streaming plan had to be put on the back burner.

Yesterday had been a complete pause in their flirting; he hadn't even held Xia Yanchun's hand. The most important thing right now was to get affectionate with her and get back the feeling of intimacy.

Xia Yanchun focused on her studies, and Shen Nian focused on his own amusements. They both had bright futures ahead.

Shen Nian pulled his legs onto the bed, wrapped his arms around Xia Yanchun who was leaning on him, and shifted his position. Feeling her shrink back slightly, he positioned her between his legs, sitting behind her cross-legged. He also placed a large, soft pillow between the two of them.

To be honest, it was quite comfortable. Because of the pillow between them, Xia Yanchun didn't feel too embarrassed. She simply treated Shen Nian as the most comfortable backrest and leaned back snugly against him.

His hot breath fanned against her hair. Feeling a tickle on the top of her head, Xia Yanchun leaned her head back a bit. "Your breathing is so heavy."

"It's your fault," Shen Nian said, resting his chin on her head. His two large hands wandered up to her shoulders and gently pinched her soft, fair cheeks.

Shen Nian had zero resistance against Xia Yanchun's face; it was just too fun to squish.

"You... you aren't getting hard, are you..."

"...No, don't spread rumors."

"Then why did you put a pillow between us..."

"Just as a precaution. Though, I don't think it would be a problem even without it."

"Let's keep the pillow!"

Knowing that Shen Nian was still behaving himself, Xia Yanchun felt relieved and let her entire body weight rest against him.

She definitely didn't mind having her face touched. Come to think of it, she used to touch Shen Nian's face all the time when they were kids.

When Shen Nian was little, he had a lot of baby fat; a poke with a finger would sink right in.

Now, the tables had turned, and it was Shen Nian's turn to touch her face.

Xia Yanchun was reading English study materials that she had printed out previously. They compiled the exam points from recent years and were covered densely in her own handwritten notes. Looking over her shoulder from behind, Shen Nian felt a bit dizzy just looking at it all.

"So hardworking."

Not detecting any sarcasm in Shen Nian's words, Xia Yanchun curiously raised her eyes. But since she was sitting in his arms, she couldn't see his eyes.

"Did you think I could get such good grades just by casually studying?"

"That's not true, Chunbao is genuinely amazing." Shen Nian had always known how hardworking Xia Yanchun was.

Xia Yanchun was a diligent top student who would study alone at home every weekend. When others were studying, she was studying; when others were resting, she was still studying. It was exactly this relentless drive that allowed her to trample 99.99 percent of her peers under her feet.

Being showered with praise by Shen Nian made a tiny pink bubble of joy pop up in Xia Yanchun's heart. There wasn't a girl in the world who wouldn't be happy to hear sweet words.

Realizing how easily Shen Nian had coaxed her into a good mood, Xia Yanchun quickly tried to tuck away her little flutter of excitement.

She wanted to say something to make Shen Nian happy, too.

But Shen Nian was already very happy. His smile hadn't faded for a moment since just now, even though she hadn't praised him at all yet.

Xia Yanchun pouted. "You seem really happy."

"Do I?" Shen Nian paused.

"You do." Xia Yanchun gently poked the back of Shen Nian's hand with her small fingers.

Shen Nian thought about it for a second, then whispered softly, "The weather is so nice today, the sun is warm, and we have nothing to do right now. Spending time with the person I like, what reason do I have not to be happy?"

"Do you really like me that much?"

"I do. Like a cat catching a mouse."

"Who... who's a mouse? It should be like a mouse loves rice. You're the mouse." Xia Yanchun wanted to sulk, but she just couldn't bring herself to be mad. She didn't want to be a mouse at all!

Shen Nian lowered his head, burying his face in the crook of the girl's neck. Breathing in her faint fragrance, he felt a little intoxicated.