The abacus hit me in the face.

Late May, Sunday, fifteen days before the college entrance examination.

"Yeah, okay, I definitely won't let the AC blow right at my head, I'm not an idiot... Okay, hanging up now..."

Shen Nian hung up the phone. Looking up at the cloudless blue sky, his gaze was a little dazed.

He had just called Chen Minyue and asked her to wish him luck on the exam. He got the blessing, but the system task wasn't completed.

[Obtain the Blessing of the Goddess of Fate (0/1)]

It seemed that a blessing over the phone wouldn't work; this thing had to be done face-to-face...

Shen Nian flipped through his phone's calendar. There wouldn't be any more holidays at this point. He either had to find time to ask for leave to go back to town, or he could only go back during the three-day break right before the exam.

There was no time like the present. Taking leave early to finish the task wasn't a bad idea, saving him from rushing at the last minute. Who knew if this hidden task would still be there after the exam? If he was too late, he would lose out big time.

Shen Nian went back inside and peeked at the tiny Chunbao, who was still fast asleep in bed. After thinking about it, he decided it was best to just take the leave himself.

A round trip would take at least two days. It would be terrible to delay Chunbao's studies.

Taking advantage of the early hour, Shen Nian went home, brushed his teeth, washed up, and headed to the wet market.

The flower beds and grass along the neighborhood road were filled with the chirping of crickets, which was a bit noisy.

After buying groceries, Shen Nian made breakfast for his older sister and Xia Yanchun for the first time in a while. It was a very simple dish of stir-fried pork with greens, paired with a small bowl of sour long beans, enough to go with two large bowls of porridge.

At least, Shen Nian ate two large bowls.

At ten in the morning, Shen Nian sneaked back into Xia Yanchun's room and tiptoed into bed.

The curtains weren't fully closed. Sunlight slipped through the gap, like a tear in the room, dispelling some of the drowsiness.

Xia Yanchun's eyelashes fluttered. Shen Nian watched her slowly open her eyes, stare blankly, and then fall back asleep. He called her a lazy pig in his heart.

Xia Yanchun was quiet, completely still except for her breathing. Shen Nian thought she was going to sleep in, and just as he was about to sleep with her for a while longer, Xia Yanchun suddenly nuzzled over.

"Mmm... you're up so early..." Xia Yanchun's voice was groggy and sticky.

"Made you breakfast."

"Awesome."

"Still want to sleep?"

"Let's just lay here for a bit longer." Xia Yanchun wasn't quite ready to get up yet, but she didn't plan on sleeping anymore either, going through her daily routine of cuddling with Shen Nian.

Shen Nian twirled her hair and smiled faintly. "You're used to sleeping with me. If I don't sleep with you, would you even be able to fall asleep?"

Hearing this, Xia Yanchun immediately frowned and poked his chest with her index finger. "All I know is that a certain someone comes to my house every night and insists on holding me to sleep, not the other way around."

"Yes, yes, yes, it's all me clinging to Chunbao. My Chunbao is pure and flawless."

"Stop being sarcastic, or I'll shove my foot in your mouth, believe it or not."

"Ugly, so I refuse."

Shen Nian composed himself. One hand naturally caressed Xia Yanchun's flat stomach, slowly creeping upward while keeping a straight face.

It wasn't me, it was the hand.

Xia Yanchun's small face flushed pink. She had just woken up! Didn't he know people got grumpy when they just woke up?!

Shen Nian really had seen every inch of her.

Xia Yanchun originally wanted to throw a proper morning tantrum, but Shen Nian brought something up.

"I want to take a day off tomorrow and go back to town."

Xia Yanchun was taken aback. "What's wrong?"

"My family is opening the fish pond, I'm going back to help out."

"Did Uncle ask you to?" Xia Yanchun grumbled, a little dissatisfied.

At this point in time, everyone was spending all their time studying. Even if opening the pond was busy, they shouldn't call Shen Nian back right before the college entrance exam!

How much time would a round trip take? It would be better to just spend some money to hire help. Uncle Shen was a super big idiot!

"No, I want to go back and help myself."

"Ah?"

"Hey, just treat it as giving myself a break. I've been tired of studying lately. Aren't you tired of reading books all day long?"

"It's alright..." Xia Yanchun silently grabbed Shen Nian's hand, which was still acting out of line, tossed it back to his side, and asked softly, "Is the study pressure getting to you?"

Some students were like this. As the exam approached, various problems would pop up. Even top students could suffer from nervous breakdowns due to excessive tension and worry, leading to insomnia at night and sluggishness all day.

Shen Nian might not know, but several girls had already taken leave to go buy medicine. Melatonin was being eaten like candy; these were all signs of erupting stress.

"A little." Shen Nian scratched his head, looking quite embarrassed.

He liked to tell little lies.

Classes were all self-study now. When he had nothing to do, he would munch on a couple of beef jerky sticks. He had zero pressure.

His biggest pressure was when he slept with Husky-Chun pressing her leg on him. That pressure was quite heavy, easily making his legs numb the next day.

Seeing his embarrassed expression, Xia Yanchun felt inexplicably guilty, thinking of her own actions.

Studying certainly brought pressure, but when the two of them were alone, she also often teased Shen Nian for fun... Shen Nian wasn't very proactive about going to the bathroom, so after a time or two, the pressure slowly built up.

Although she had long decided not to tease Shen Nian too often, and she indeed didn't do it as frequently anymore, occasionally she still got the itch to do so.

Now she felt a little bit of regret. If it really was because of her that Shen Nian had reached the point where he needed to take leave to digest his pressure, she would feel terribly guilty.

"Is... is it because of me?" Xia Yanchun pointed at herself.

"Huh?" Shen Nian was clueless. "What are you talking about?"

"Did I give you a lot of pressure? I mean that... that kind of pressure..."

"?"

Shen Nian pinched his chin and processed it for a good while. Looking at her pinkish ears, he slowly figured out what she was hinting at.

"Chunbao bears a little responsibility too." Shen Nian rubbed her cheek. He liked to tell big lies.

"Then I'll pay attention to it in the future!"

"...Wait, no. Shouldn't you say you'll help me relieve the pressure?"

"What are you thinking? You pervert, having all these wild thoughts before we've even graduated."

Shen Nian wasn't annoyed, since he was just spouting nonsense anyway. "Then why did you ask? Pretending to care about me, huh?"

"I was seriously caring about you, but your acting wasn't good enough. Your scheming was so obvious it practically slapped me in the face."

Xia Yanchun rolled her pretty eyes. If she couldn't see through his clumsy acting, she would have failed as his lifelong rival.

So the pressure could only be coming from studying.

Even Shen Nian would get especially anxious as the college entrance exam approached?

"So you're taking leave tomorrow?"

"Probably. Or maybe I'll just go back this afternoon. The sooner I finish, the sooner I come back, right?"

"Mhm... it's up to you. Coming back early is fine too. If the pressure is really huge, take a couple more days off. Just lying around resting won't help, you know. You need to find something to do to relieve the stress."

"Will you miss me?"

"Not at all."

"I'm heartbroken, Chunbao."

Xia Yanchun grinned and tickled the soft spot on his waist. "Tickle, tickle—"

"Hiss—"

"You're clearly laughing."

"Tickling someone and then saying they laughed, Chunbao, you rascal..."

She actually pulled out a little bad girl combo. How could anyone not fall for that?