Humanity Cannot Afford to Lose Curiosity

Shen Nian held his rights firmly in his hands, refusing to let the bad woman take them away.

"Then what do you want to do with them?" Xia Yanchun asked huffily. It wasn't like he could fill them with water and play with them like balloons, right?

"Well... maybe study them a bit?"

"What's there to study? How do you plan to study them? What are you studying them for?"

"..." Shen Nian was left speechless.

"Hmph, just hand them over like a good boy," Xia Yanchun said, opening and closing her hand expectantly.

Shen Nian sweatdropped, but eventually chose to take out the small box hidden at the bottom of his drawer and shoved it into Xia Yanchun's hands. "Here, this is it."

Xia Yanchun held it in her hand and examined it, feeling her palms grow hot as she pursed her lips.

"Your mom gave you a box too, right? You already have one, yet you still want to take mine. I'm speechless," Shen Nian grumbled.

"I'm not taking yours, I'm just looking after it for you."

"Alright, alright, whatever you say."

Xia Yanchun felt a little smug inside. See? Handling Shen Nian was a piece of cake.

She felt like she could write a book called The Manual on Taming Little Brothers.

"You, sit over here." Xia Yanchun thought for a moment before sitting on the bed and beckoning Shen Nian with her pinky finger.

"What?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to... study this? Let's open one and take a look..."

"Coming, coming!" Shen Nian rushed over at the speed of light.

"You're always the most eager when it comes to this kind of stuff!"

"Is it a crime to pursue high efficiency?" Shen Nian felt wronged. "You're the one who called me over, Haji-chun, you rascal... Next time you message me, I'm going to leave you on read for half an hour and see if you behave."

Xia Yanchun felt guilty and didn't want to reply. She took out the box of little toys again. When she tore off the plastic wrap, she felt like she was losing her mind.

"I'm just looking, don't get any funny ideas."

"Got it. Look at you, your mind is so in the gutter."

"Say one more word and I'll hit you."

Xia Yanchun punched him lightly, keeping her head down as she opened the small box.

It was exactly like what she had seen online. Blushing, Xia Yanchun pinched the little thing between her fingertips, tested the texture, and then shoved it to Shen Nian so he could feel it too.

This was a serious study session, mind you.

Shen Nian held it in his hand and examined it, hearing Xia Yanchun muttering softly in his ear.

"You open it..."

"Alright..."

So Shen Nian tore open the individual packaging. Xia Yanchun remained silent, just staring at it intently. She was a bit shy, but more than that, she was curious about something she had only ever heard of.

Humanity cannot lose its curiosity; curiosity is the primary driving force behind human progress.

After boldly studying it hands-on with Shen Nian for a while, Xia Yanchun finally had him throw the thing into the trash can, and they went to wash their hands together.

"We've studied it, so now you can let me hold onto it, right?" Xia Yanchun nagged as she watched him wash his hands thoroughly.

"Hold onto it then. Are you treating this thing like some kind of terrifying monster?"

"If I thought it was a monster, I wouldn't have studied it with you. I would have just snatched it away and thrown it in the trash."

Shen Nian smiled at her. Come to think of it, it was true. Haji-chun wasn't as pure as a blank sheet of paper anyway.

It was probably just because it was her first time actually touching these things, so she was flustered. After a few days, once she got used to it, she wouldn't react so strongly.

It was only human nature, after all.

After drying his hands, Shen Nian took the opportunity to hug Xia Yanchun, merging together like little penguins as usual, and led her all the way into his room.

Brazenly taking a deep breath at the top of the girl's head, Shen Nian smiled faintly. "We're going to have to use these sooner or later."

"I know..." Xia Yanchun nuzzled into Shen Nian's embrace and whispered, "Are you looking forward to it?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Then you don't have to say it..."

How could Xia Yanchun not know?

Even she occasionally had some blush-inducing and explicit thoughts.

It wasn't that she was a pervert; it was just human nature. She only had these thoughts occasionally! If anyone was to blame, it was Shen Nian. It was all Shen Nian's fault anyway. Shen Nian was a big idiot.

Xia Yanchun hummed softly, not really wanting to continue the topic. She turned around to hug Shen Nian back, stood on her tiptoes to touch his lips, and whispered, "I want to eat a pretty meal."

"Say no more. I'll summon my scooter to take you there."

"Let's wait a bit before going out. I'm going back to my room to take a shower first. I'll call you when I'm heading out."

"Sure."

Xia Yanchun couldn't help but kiss him again, leaving Shen Nian feeling flustered inside and out, before she skipped happily back to her room.

After taking a nice shower and changing into a white dress with a little strawberry pattern, Xia Yanchun transformed back into the number one sweet and lovely girl in the world.

Self-proclaimed, of course.

While tying her hair, Xia Yanchun saw the small box on the desk again. After hesitating for a moment, she hid Shen Nian's box along with her own in the wardrobe.

She planned to invite Shi Yan over to hang out later. Private things like this absolutely could not be seen by others, not even a little bit.

The speaker had no particular intention, but the listener took it to heart. Having just tied her hair into a small ponytail, her mother's words from that morning flashed through Xia Yanchun's mind.

"..." Xia Yanchun grabbed her phone, sprinted over to her bed, hid herself under the covers, and opened a search engine.

5:00 PM.

"Ready to head out? It's almost evening and the sun is starting to set. If we leave now, we'll be back by eight or nine, which is the perfect time to start streaming." Shen Nian strolled over to Xia Yanchun's house to remind her.

"Coming, coming."

Xia Yanchun put on her shoes and socks. When she saw Shen Nian, she excitedly walked around him to check out his outfit, speaking with an extra flair.

"Not bad, looking handsome. Do the clothes I picked out fit well?"

"They fit perfectly."

Shen Nian tugged at his clothes. This shirt set was a birthday present from Xia Yanchun. Truth be told, it looked great and was very comfortable to wear.

Shen Nian, in turn, looked Xia Yanchun up and down. Her fair skin looked absolutely stunning in the white dress. The puff sleeves wrapped around her arms, and the hem of the skirt fell to her calves. Her socks perfectly matched her small black leather shoes, with a faint layer of lace at the cuffs.

"A sweet and soft little cake," Shen Nian answered immediately.

"I always am."

"Wow, look at you getting all smug over a compliment."

"If I didn't get smug, your compliment would have gone to waste. Hurry up, let's go."

"Let's go, I'm treating you to a pretty meal."

Shen Nian wrapped his arm around Xia Yanchun's shoulders as they walked out of the elevator. If it weren't for Xia Yanchun's beaming smile, it would probably look more like a bad student bullying a good student.

Being a full head taller and walking with his arm over her shoulders, Shen Nian's arm was quite a heavy burden for Xia Yanchun.

They rode his scooter to a nearby mall, ordered a few dishes that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious, and took several nice photos before finally picking up their chopsticks.

That was the essence of a pretty meal. It looked beautiful, so taking pictures came first. As for the taste, that was actually secondary.

Shen Nian didn't quite understand this, but he had seen plenty of people spend a huge budget on improving the aesthetics of their PC builds, so he figured it was basically the same thing.

As long as Xia Yanchun was happy, that was all that mattered.

"Chunbao is so cute," Shen Nian chuckled as he watched the girl pick up a piece of piping hot beef and place it in her mouth.

"Even if you praise me, I'm not paying the bill. We agreed you were treating."

"I just think you're cute."

"..."

Xia Yanchun quietly lowered her head and lightly stepped on Shen Nian's foot.