Haki Tsubaki's Youth Is Rather Intense

School is full of memories.

This place was filled with every little detail of his and Xia Yanchun's shared past.

Looking at the tiled bench under the longan tree, Shen Nian reminisced about the past that he could never go back to.

He had slapped Xia Yanchun on the back right here.

He had seemingly used quite a bit of force at the time, slapping her so hard that she grimaced in pain, and then she had chased him down and kicked him.

The school was deserted and empty. The classroom buildings featured an old alleyway style, standing closely packed together and only five or six stories high. Behind them lay a patch of wasteland where some of the older teachers had even used bricks to fence off a section and plant a good amount of cabbage.

Many teachers had lived here for quite a few years, treating it as their home, with their entire families in tow.

It was a pity he didn't see Teacher Huang.

Shen Nian felt a bit regretful. The teaching building that was once full of memories had now been torn down and rebuilt. The concrete ping-pong tables had also been replaced with the common blue ones, and the nets on the basketball court were no longer tattered.

But seriously, why was the pigpen still so stinky?

Shen Nian frowned. He could smell it from far away. Their designated cleaning area used to be right next to the trash cans and the pigpen; sweeping it would leave anyone speechless every time.

"You guys still want to go look even when it stinks this much? You've got some heavy tastes," Shen Nian complained from behind.

"What do you know? This is very nostalgic, you know?" Xia Yanchun pouted.

"Is smelling pig crap nostalgic? That's quite a life."

"Who's talking about that!" Xia Yanchun said in exasperation. "I mean coming back to our alma mater to look at the things we've experienced is very nostalgic!"

"Isn't that still just looking at the pigpen?"

"..."

She wanted to slap him across the face.

Puffing her cheeks, Xia Yanchun pulled Li Shiyan along and quickened her pace, deciding to ignore Shen Nian for the rest of the day.

Pigpen, pigpen, pigpen. Shen Nian could just go live with the pigpen.

She dragged Li Shiyan over to the pigpen to take a look. A few big, clumsy pigs were peering around, their big round eyes making them look incredibly stupid.

Li Shiyan's eyes curved into a smile as she pointed at a filthy pig. "This one looks like you."

"You're the pig. This one is you."

"It really does look like you."

"I'm going to beat you into a pig's head in a minute." Xia Yanchun smiled as well.

Shen Nian stopped dead in his tracks from a distance. Reminiscing about youth was fine, but his youth wasn't in a pigpen.

Haji Chun's youth was a bit hardcore, huh.

After all, she was someone who had eaten cow dung before, so it was understandable.

Once the two girls ran out from the pigpen area, Shen Nian continued following them as they strolled around the school.

The new building even had an information technology classroom, and the computers inside looked brand new. Perhaps the recent batches of students had been really impressive, achieving outstanding academic results compared to other town middle schools, so the higher-ups allocated funds.

Improvements were always a good thing.

Passing by the honor roll, Shen Nian stopped to look for a while. Even the ninth graders looked exceptionally immature in his eyes.

Once in college, looking back at his high school self, he would probably feel that his current self was very immature too...

Shen Nian muttered to himself. This was the most direct aspect of growing up; both body and mind would slowly mature over time.

"It's a pity there's no historical honor roll," Xia Yanchun muttered softly, also looking at the board. "Otherwise, I could show you my grand slam."

"You're amazing, Xiao Chun!"

"She's bragging. In reality, she didn't necessarily score higher than me in middle school," Shen Nian debunked her.

Xia Yanchun sulked. She was mad!

"I clearly did better than you, alright? In elementary school, middle school, and high school, it's always been like that!"

"Bullshit."

"It's the truth!"

"Keep bragging."

"..."

Seeing Shen Nian's nonchalant appearance, Xia Yanchun finally understood.

Haji Nian was relying on the fact that she couldn't produce evidence of her grand slam to constantly tear her down and make fun of her.

The smart Xia Yanchun wouldn't give Shen Nian the satisfaction. She crossed her arms, turned her face away, and ignored him.

Chatting with Shen Nian would shorten her lifespan. Xia Yanchun suspected that her lifespan had already been ground down to almost nothing by him, and she might not even live to see retirement.

Sure enough, after ignoring Shen Nian, the world became much brighter.

After touring the middle school, the next step was to go to the supermarket to buy ingredients for their picnic.

Li Shiyan didn't like buying pre-packaged frozen skewers, so she bought fresh meat and skewers from the supermarket, along with some marinade, planning to skewer them herself when they got back.

After picking and choosing, they ended up spending just over a hundred yuan.

Acting on the principle that coming over to hang out was already troubling her bestie enough and she couldn't let her bestie spend money too, Li Shiyan rushed to pay the bill. The cashier had barely lifted the scanner when Li Shiyan already had her QR code pulled up.

Beep.

Li Shiyan glanced at her phone.

"Huh, it only cost over sixty yuan. Alipay gave me a forty-yuan discount for my first order."

"Ah? That's so nice?"

"I'm quite surprised too..."

Shen Nian: ?

Seriously, sis, are you kidding me?

System, look at her!

Shen Nian, who possessed Luck +5 but had never received a discount of more than five yuan, felt his soul shatter and wanted to off himself upon hearing this.

Shen Nian had no part in buying things, but carrying them was his job. Walking all the way home really took quite a bit of effort.

Xia Yanchun was in charge of cutting the meat into chunks, and Li Shiyan was responsible for skewering them. Then they placed them on a plate to marinate, storing them in the fridge to be taken out the next morning. Marinating overnight would definitely make them very flavorful.

Vegetables and the like would naturally be bought early tomorrow morning.

Xia Yanchun knew that Shen Nian got up early every day to exercise, so she handed this arduous task over to him.

"Can you do it?" Xia Yanchun looked serious.

"Sir, it's a piece of cake."

"Very good, full of energy." Xia Yanchun patted Shen Nian's arm in satisfaction.

In the kitchen, Li Shiyan quietly looked up at the little interaction between the two, feeling a bit envious.

Childhood sweethearts and all that were truly something to yearn for; it felt like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Li Shiyan thought of her former classmates.

They were already eighteen, yet they were still posting weird, edgy quotes on their social media.

This was her precious treasure boy (yeah, right), a digital pet she had raised for so long. She couldn't bear to delete him.

She liked every single one of his posts, terrified that her digital pet might just drop dead one day.

Sigh, what bad intentions could she possibly have?

As evening approached, Shen Nian didn't stay any longer at Xia Yanchun's house; he had to go home to cook dinner for his parents.

After Shen Nian left, Li Shiyan wasn't as well-behaved anymore. She leaned back in her chair, dangling her feet, thinking about how she should start her greeting to her bestie's parents later.

Uncle and Auntie should be pretty easy to get along with; she had met them before at the parent-teacher meeting and the coming-of-age ceremony.

"Xiao Chun, is the scale of Shen Nian's family's breeding farm very big?"

"Hmm... If you're just going there to play, it's quite large. It's divided into several numbered ponds."

"Wow, is Shen Nian's family quite wealthy too?"

Xia Yanchun was left speechless; she couldn't really say for sure.

As far as she knew, if the breeding farm went smoothly, it could make big money, bringing in a hundred or two hundred thousand yuan every half a year.

However, there were many factors that affected aquaculture. Apart from the quality of the fish, crab, and shrimp fry, there were also water quality and disease prevention... The most critical factor was the weather. A privately-owned farm couldn't possibly have the capability to guard against natural disasters. The moment they encountered a typhoon or a rainstorm, they could only watch helplessly as their money washed away.

Xia Yanchun had once overheard her parents discussing the farm. Shen Nian's family had gone a whole year without making a single penny, suffering a total loss for the entire year.

"I wouldn't call them rich, but they can definitely make money."

"That answers absolutely nothing," Li Shiyan babbled. "Hehe, so do you often go hang out with Shen Nian at the farm?"

"No way. The farm is a total mess, all muddy paths and weeds. They even raise sea ducks outside Pond Three. It reeks of duck poop so badly that the smell alone makes me want to throw up."

"Ew!"

"Hmph, we don't go play in that area anyway. Pond One is much cleaner, and if you stand on higher ground, you can even see the ocean."

"Wow!"

At the thought of being able to see the ocean without having to smell duck poop, Li Shiyan's mood instantly brightened.

After her moment of excitement, Li Shiyan suddenly paused and covered her mouth. "You seem to know the place a little too well, Xiao Chun. You must have played there a lot with Shen Nian when you were kids."

Xia Yanchun felt a bit embarrassed. After cleaning her hands, she pressed her still-wet hands against Li Shiyan's face and said indignantly, "You were fishing for information, weren't you!"

"Mmph..."

·

Chapter Two is currently stuck in the review process. It is a rather casual, slice-of-life transitional chapter, so everyone should just go to bed early.