Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 1629 - 889: Countermeasures (Part 2)

Jiang Ning: "Tongtong, ask Dongdong to add some more strawberries."

Mr. Qian complimented again.

Jiang Ningle chuckled.

At this moment, Xue Chuchu came out of the house holding apples. She didn’t use a plate but held the apples with her scallion-white jade-like hands, pinching two in her right hand and placing them in front of Jiang Ning.

"Alright, eat up." Xue Chuchu said softly.

Jiang Ning gazed at the peeled apples. They were just ordinary apples, yet suddenly his heart warmed.

He was a left-behind child. From childhood to adulthood, he had to do everything himself—cleaning the room, washing clothes, cooking. To say it nicely, he was self-reliant, but in truth, he had no other choice because there was no one to care for him.

At that time, it’s impossible to say he didn’t envy peers living under their parents’ wings.

Growing up, Jiang Ning always felt a part missing in his soul, shadowing him for many years.

But ever since he came to the River Dam, all this seemed to be doubly fulfilled, and the only feeling he could experience was gratitude for life. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Xue Yuantong examined the apples, noticing a tiny notch on the surface.

She deliberately asked, "Chuchu, is this notch rotten?"

Jiang Ning said, "Chuchu probably took a bite."

Xue Yuantong immediately retorted, "I bet you’ll misunderstand Chuchu!"

Jiang Ning was surprised: "Oh?"

Xue Yuantong laughed playfully and said, "Guess now!"

Xue Chuchu also said nothing.

But Jiang Ning’s Divine Sense had already perceived everything. The notch on the apple was deliberately cut by Chuchu. After peeling the apples in the kitchen, she cut out a small piece to taste which apple was sweeter, then saved the sweetest one for both of them.

Jiang Ning smiled and exchanged his apple with the apple in Chuchu’s hand.

...

While eating the apple, Jiang Ning reminded Tongtong that he would be leaving the River Dam tomorrow for some matters and asked her to remember to air his quilt.

Jiang Ning and Guo Ran had arranged to meet tomorrow; Guo Ran bought the ticket.

Tongtong said reluctantly, "I won’t air it for you. From now on, you’ll sleep in a stinky little nest every day."

Upon saying this, she paused for a moment, suddenly panicking. "Oh no, my mom asked me to wash her cotton jacket today, and I forgot! What should I do!"

Jiang Ning: "It’s easy, just tell her you’ve already washed it."

Xue Yuantong shook her little head: "My mom is a great chef; she’ll definitely smell it!"

Jiang Ning: "Throw the jacket away, then ask her where the clothes are? You’ve searched the whole house and couldn’t find them."

Xue Yuantong: "No, no, the clothes are expensive!"

Jiang Ning: "Then smash the TV, and she won’t hit you over not washing clothes..."

Xue Chuchu had great respect for Jiang Ning’s talent.

Xue Yuantong puffed out her cheeks, huffing twice, angrily saying: "A bunch of lousy ideas? Chuchu, you come!"

She summoned the most rational and pragmatic Chuchu.

Xue Chuchu did not disappoint; she pondered for a few seconds, softly saying: "Is there oil at home?"

Xue Yuantong furrowed her little brow, puzzled: "Yes, whether it’s rapeseed oil, lard, or sesame oil, we have them all. Could oil make clothes look like they’ve been washed?"

This slightly touched upon her blind spot of knowledge.

Xue Chuchu whispered, "Just apply a little oil on the ears, so when Auntie comes back and grabs them, they’ll be slippery."

Xue Yuantong paused for a moment, utterly helpless: "Chuchu, you’ve changed!"

...

Xue Chuchu might not necessarily change, but it’s highly likely that Tongtong will be chastised by Aunt Gu.

Aunt Gu arrived at the River Dam Bungalow.

Jiang Ning and Xue Chuchu temporarily went back home to avoid the storm, agreeing to reunite after Tongtong was done being scolded.

The bedroom ceiling light emitted a warm glow, making the entire room cozy. Xue Chuchu held a workbook of mistakes, quietly studying, occasionally, brushing back messy strands of hair from her ears.

Jiang Ning sat on the bed playing with the tablet. Nowadays, short videos hadn’t reached national popularity, live streaming had only recently emerged. Jiang Ning preferred online forums, joining a game group from his past life to see how old friends were doing.

After browsing the tablet for a while, his gaze moved to Xue Chuchu, who seemed to notice but remained silent, reading.

In the previous life, Class 8, the quiet Tongtong, under daily interaction with Jiang Ning, became much more lively, returning to her original nature.

And Chuchu, from beginning to end, hasn’t changed; she’s still the slender girl in a light blue down jacket from when we first met, as if she has a gentle estrangement with the world.

"Xue Chuchu," Jiang Ning said.

Xue Chuchu gently lifted her face, a pair of clear eyes rippling with waves of confusion: "What’s up?"

Jiang Ning put down the tablet and solemnly said: "Now that Tongtong is not here, only you can help me!"

His gaze landed on Xue Chuchu’s white slender fingers, as if the first tender shoots in the cold winter, delicate and supple.

Xue Chuchu felt Jiang Ning’s gaze was too aggressive; her hands coyly retreated into her sleeves, hiding away.

Her subconscious reaction was: ’He wants to use my hands...’

Because usually, she would have physical contact with Jiang Ning; just now when swapping apples with him, she had touched his fingers.

’Could it be...’ Xue Chuchu’s heart raced, hastily thinking: ’Tongtong, Tongtong, where is Tongtong? Oh, Tongtong is getting lectured...’

She suppressed the messy thoughts in her mind, her normally cool voice surprisingly quivering a bit: "You want me to help with what?"

Jiang Ning solemnly requested: "Help me write essays, I still have three left unfinished."

Xue Chuchu: "..."

...

New Year’s eighth day.

Jiang Ning got up early and went to Chuchu’s house to eat, as he would take the high-speed train later.

Tongtong also got up very early, always staring at him with a resentful look as if to say ’You secretly enjoy yourself without me again,’ Jiang Ning pretended not to see.

During the meal, Jiang Ning opened WeChat and saw Dan Kaiquan sharing his WeChat Sports step count, over twenty thousand steps, ranking first.

WeChat Sports was just released this month and is currently very popular.

Jiang Ning scanned the leaderboard, found his own step count, over 8,000 steps, then found Tongtong’s step count.

He started questioning: "Tongtong, we were together all day yesterday, right? You even took a nap in the afternoon, right?"

"Yes."

Jiang Ning pursued: "Weird, Chuchu."

He showed Chuchu the step count leaderboard; Tongtong’s step count was an astonishing 10,000!

Xue Chuchu seeing this, was also slightly puzzled: "Hmm, you two were together, why is Tongtong’s step count higher than yours? Is the step count inaccurate?"

Jiang Ning assured: "Definitely ran out secretly to play."

Tongtong was anxious, stopped eating, and hurriedly argued: "Humph, I didn’t, it’s because, because..."

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

Jiang Ning smiled teasingly: "Oh? Because of what?"

Xue Yuantong kept silent.

Xue Chuchu thought to herself: ’How wicked, the reason is Tongtong has short legs.’

...

Temporarily subdued Tongtong, Jiang Ning finished eating, went back to the room, picked up the backpack Tongtong had organized for him, and then pushed the cool titanium gray electric scooter to the door.

Next door, Zhang Ruyun was wiping his dad’s Dayun motorcycle, seeing this, he greeted: "Going out, Jiang Ning?"

Jiang Ning rode the electric scooter, drove all the way to Chuchu’s house at the eastern side.

Zhang Ruyun was still wiping the bike with hot water. Yesterday, he had a quarrel with his girlfriend because she rode in the car of a blind date.

The more he wiped the bike, the more powerless he felt; no matter how clean he wiped, it was still a motorcycle.

"Can’t even reverse!" Zhang Ruyun sighed.

Thinking of this, his gaze towards Jiang Ning became inevitably pitiful.

Now Jiang Ning riding the scooter seems cool, but that’s because he’s still young and has a small understanding of the world.

When he reaches my age, he’ll understand, girls like Xue Chuchu, when they go to college, will have the freedom to choose luxury cars!

Jiang Ning countered: "Reversing is not important."

Zhang Ruyun lamented fate: "Without reversing, you’ll crash head-on."

Jiang Ning chuckled, he gripped the handlebars with both hands, tapped the ground with his right foot, and the scooter tilted to the right.

Jiang Ning twisted the throttle, accompanied by the screeching of tires against the ground, the whole scooter did a dragon tail maneuver, elegantly spinning 180 degrees, turning the tide.

Zhang Ruyun was stunned: "Holy crap, spinning in place!"