Chapter 79 Stomach Aches

After her eighteenth birthday, Jiang Wan's life remained unchanged.

Although legally she has since become an adult with full civil capacity.

But only Jiang Wan herself knew that she was already an adult.

But in the eyes of her parents and teachers, she is still a child.

So, she still gets up at six o'clock every morning, carries her schoolbag to school for a day of classes, and goes home after evening self-study, then repeats the same routine as the previous day.

Day after day, I was immersed in books and exercises.

Since the implementation of the "alternating weeks" system, students have adapted to the new schedule much faster than they imagined.

They even learned to find joy in hardship.

Every time Xiao Zhou has free time, she would make plans with her friends in advance to go to a restaurant outside the school for dinner. On the way back, she would buy a cup of milk tea to take home and enjoy slowly. She would even think about what flavor of milk tea to buy in advance.

As soon as the school bell rang, groups of three or five poured out of the school gate, as if they were going on a spring outing together, even though it would only last two hours.

Saturday afternoon.

"Ring ring—"

As the bell rang for the end of the last class, Sun Qianyu skipped over, "Wanwan, let's go out to eat."

Jiang Wan lay lazily on her desk, not wanting to move at all.

She struggled to sit up and shook her head at Sun Qianyu, "I'm not going. My stomach hurts, and I'm too lazy to move. Could you bring me some food back?"

When Sun Qianyu saw that her face was slightly pale, her hands were still tucked into a hand warmer under the desk, and she was tightly clutching her lower abdomen, she immediately understood.

"Okay, then you can rest well in the classroom. I'll bring you a bowl of porridge."

"Okay, sure." Jiang Wan waved to her, then leaned back onto the table and said in a muffled voice, "Thank you."

Sun Qianyu could tell that Jiang Wan was very uncomfortable, so she didn't say anything more and ran straight out of the classroom.

Zhou Chong sat next to him and heard the entire conversation between the two.

From the very first class in the afternoon, he could tell that Jiang Wan wasn't feeling well. She was listless during class, often frowning, with her back slightly hunched and her entire upper body curled up.

When doing the problems, only my right hand, which was holding the pen, was still resting on the table, while my left hand was always tucked into a hand warmer.

He knew Jiang Wan was afraid of the cold. There was no heating in the classroom, and she almost never let go of this pink plush rabbit hand warmer throughout the winter.

But this afternoon was different from before.

Previously, when Jiang Wan felt cold, she wouldn't have hunched over her desk like this, nor would she have looked so pale.

He closed the book, pressed the refill of the ballpoint pen, put the pen back in the pencil case, and then slowly zipped it up. After most of the people around had left, he leaned closer to Jiang Wan and asked softly, "What's wrong? Does your stomach hurt?"

Jiang Wan was slightly taken aback, looked up, and gave an awkward laugh. "It's nothing, it's just... my stomach is a little uncomfortable, I'll be fine after a rest."

Zhou Chong pursed his lips and looked down at the hand warmer she was holding tightly against her lower abdomen.

Jiang Wan noticed his gaze, shrank back, discreetly covering her stomach, and abruptly changed the subject, "Aren't you going to eat?"

"There's no rush to go."

"Hurry up and go, everyone's almost gone, if you go too late there will be long lines at the restaurant."

Sensing the implication in Jiang Wan's words, Zhou Chong didn't insist further. He simply said, "I'll be back soon," and stood up.

Jiang Wan smiled slightly at him, then leaned back onto the table and pressed the hand warmer even closer to her stomach.

Zhou Chong took a few steps outside, glanced back at Jiang Wan's slender figure lying on the table, took out his phone from his pocket, opened the calendar, and added a note to today's date.

After leaving the classroom, he sent another message to Jiang Shengming, saying that he wasn't going to eat and asked him to bring back some food for him.

Jiang Shengming, who had just stepped outside the school gate, took out his phone. After seeing the message from Zhou Chong, he paused and turned into the first porridge shop at the intersection.

Other things would get cold easily if packed up and taken home, but porridge keeps warm better. However, the porridge at this shop is all freshly cooked, so it would take quite a while. He thought he would order first and pick it up on his way back to school after he finished eating.

As soon as I stepped into the store, I saw a familiar figure.

Sun Qianyu stood in front of the cashier, pointing to the menu posted on the wall, "Boss, one century egg and lean pork congee, one yam and pork rib congee, to go."

Jiang Shengming walked over and asked, "Why did you order two bowls of porridge by yourself?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Sun Qianyu immediately turned around, "I'll bring one for Wanwan..."

She was only halfway through her sentence when she noticed that Jiang Shengming was alone. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You're alone too?"

"Okay." Jiang Shengming nodded. "Zhou Chong asked me to bring him some food, so I thought I'd order him some porridge so it wouldn't get cold. He can pick it up when he goes back to school later."

"Then..." Sun Qianyu tugged at her fingers, "what do you want to eat?"

Jiang Shengming shrugged. "Anything is fine, I haven't decided yet."

"How about we go eat at that pizza place on the street behind?"

Sun Qianyu had just asked the question when she suddenly realized something and quickly explained, "I had originally planned to go out for pizza with Wanwan, but she wasn't feeling well this afternoon, so she didn't come out. We happened to run into you, and you hadn't eaten yet either, so I thought, why don't we go together..."

After a hesitant explanation, Jiang Shengming simply smiled faintly and said, "Okay."

Sun Qianyu paused, "Okay...okay?"

Jiang Shengming smiled and nodded, "Okay, let's go get some pizza together."

"Alright, let's go. We'll come back for the porridge later." Sun Qianyu was about to turn around and leave when she suddenly remembered something and quickly shouted to the shopkeeper, "Boss, I don't want the yam and pork rib porridge!"

The owner lifted the kitchen curtain and came out, looking troubled. "I just boiled it."

Sun Qianyu opened her mouth, "Ah, then..."

“It’s okay, let it cook. We’ll take it.” Jiang Shengming took out his wallet. “We’ll pack both servings of porridge and come back to pick them up in an hour.”

After paying, he turned to Sun Qianyu and explained, "I'll give the other one to Zhou Chong to take back, so it won't go to waste."

“Hmm, that’s true.” Sun Qianyu nodded, her gaze suddenly falling on Jiang Shengming’s open wallet. “Why did you pay for everything? One of the items was for Wanwan, so I should have paid for it.”

After saying that, she quickly looked up at the menu, wanting to pay Jiang Shengming for the preserved egg and lean pork congee.

Jiang Shengming chuckled, put his wallet away, and returned it to his pocket. "Anyway, it's all for the two of them, so it doesn't matter who pays."

Sun Qianyu paused in taking out her money. "Oh, right."

"Let's go get some pizza." Jiang Shengming smiled, patted her head, and turned to walk out of the store. "If we go too late, we might not make it."

Sun Qianyu was suddenly startled. She quietly raised her hand to touch her hair, then smiled and followed him out of the porridge shop.