Chapter 93
Just as the fire had reached the roof.
The anger of the onlookers, who had been watching from the sidelines, was completely ignited.
In an instant, everyone's expression changed drastically.
Jiang Li stood up and looked into her eyes. No one spoke, yet no one could get a word in edgewise; it felt as if centuries had passed between them.
After a long while, he tilted his head slightly and said slowly, "I'll go get a new pair of chopsticks."
Guan Nan looked down at the battlefield on the table, restarted the clear soup pot, and replaced the chopsticks on the table, but his table was empty.
“Let me tell you,” Yena said, gesturing for her to taste the bowl of soup after she sat down, “this soup is really delicious.”
He Jiafen nodded quickly: "Super Universe Invincible Number One Fresh!"
The eight words "Invincible Number One in the World and Universe" seemed to touch a nerve. Guan Nan was stunned for a second, and a certain phrase suddenly rang in his mind, accompanied by the momentum of waving flags.
Guan Nan was embarrassed and awkwardly reached for the bowl, only to see two bowls in front of her.
One bowl contained blanched vegetables, and the other contained soup that had just been cooked. Guan Nan picked up the bowl, took a sip of the soup, and unconsciously glanced at the empty cup next to her before looking up at the kitchen.
The room was brightly lit from all sides, and all the lights were on, making the whole room very bright.
Jiang Li, dressed in a simple white T-shirt and jeans, stood in front of the sink. His height and build resembled a silent mountain, and even just his back view was enough to give people a sense of security.
He bent down, took out a pair of chopsticks, turned on the handle to let the water run, washed the dishes and chopsticks, and then turned off the water.
Then she skillfully pulled out kitchen paper to wipe the water stains off the counter.
Guan Nan suddenly remembered.
Jiang Li knows how to cook.
There was someone talking at the table. Guan Nan responded absentmindedly. When she heard them mention Jiang Li's name, she silently looked away and listened intently.
Everyone was surprised that Jiang Li could cook.
"Can't believe it, right? Stunned?" He Jiafen put down her chopsticks, patted her chest, and said confidently and boldly, "I'm not bragging, but there's nothing my uncle can't do, only things he doesn't want to do. Even if he can't do something, he can figure it out in a week, oh no, three days. Cooking is nothing difficult, it's child's play."
"Exactly! His grades aren't good, but he always brags to me about how great he was in school, how awesome he was, how the top student was his deskmate, how the top student let him copy his homework and even did his homework for him. He's such a braggart! He even said he was deskmates with the top student in the grade, and that the top student even had a crush on him. He wuwuwuwuwuw..." Qi Qi covered He Jiafen's mouth, and He Jiafen, who was usually so careless with her words, couldn't say a word. She stared at Qi Qi with wide eyes, clearly unconvinced.
The table fell silent instantly.
Guan Nan looked up and saw him casually walking over with a bowl and chopsticks in his hand.
He sat down without changing his expression and said nothing.
After a moment, Guan Nan remained calm and said unexpectedly, "Really? Then he's quite lucky."
"...Quite lucky." Jiang Li glanced sideways, raised an eyebrow, and repeated two words with amusement, his words carrying a profound meaning.
Guan Nan forced herself to remain calm and composed, but accidentally let slip, "Yes, first in the grade, what a great honor!"
Everyone choked, their gazes sweeping over them.
Jiang Li chuckled upon hearing this, leaning back slightly in a nonchalant manner: "That would truly be my honor."
Guan Nan was shy and couldn't continue after only a couple of sentences.
The atmosphere was visibly awkward. Ye Na stepped forward and had someone turn down the heat to ease the tension, saying, "Hurry up and drink the soup, the pot will dry out soon. Nan Nan, try this, Chen Fei brought it."
Guan Nan said "thank you" and awkwardly lowered her head to eat her food.
After it was over, everyone cleaned up and left, leaving Guan Nan alone in the living room.
Jiang Li went downstairs to throw out the trash.
She spaced out for a while, then habitually picked up her phone and browsed through the hot topics.
All the comments came crashing down on her like a tidal wave.
Even though she had seen it once before and was fully prepared, she still couldn't help but tremble when she saw those words.
Various insults, with keywords replaced, are unbearable to look at and hear.
Someone threatened to provide her with a full-service funeral, including desecrating her corpse.
She should be splattered with blood and never be reincarnated.
Guan Nan's hands trembled, and the phone she was holding slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. She buried her head in her arms, her mind a blur and blank. Suddenly, she had become a "capitalist" whom everyone hated.
It has become the "capitalism" most hated by socialist countries where the people are the masters of their own country.
She felt lost, confused, and uneasy.
Time passed slowly, and before he returned, Guan Nan mustered her last bit of strength to get up and go back to her room.
The house was bigger than ever before, and my heart was emptier than ever before.
The emptiness was so vast that she couldn't grasp anything, as if everything was reminding her that even the best dreams will eventually come to nothing.
She had drunk quite a bit, and her mind was extremely foggy; she felt dizzy and disoriented. She had initially wanted to just climb into bed and fall asleep, but her remaining rationality pulled at the string in her mind, reminding her that she couldn't.
Guan Nan struggled to her feet, took out her clothes and toiletries one by one, and slowly made her way to the bathroom.
The door opened, and inside, a shower was spraying water, with Jiang Li standing inside.
He seemed to be about to take a shower, still holding the T-shirt he had just taken off in his hand. Hearing the door open, he naturally turned his head to look over.
There was no mist or haze; the scene before me was perfectly clear.
Guan Nan was stunned. He saw the taut and powerful lines of his body, which were slender but not thin, and were the real substance hidden under his clothes.
In the vast space, she could hear every heartbeat emanating from her skin, like thunder.
Just then, their eyes met.
Guan Nan blushed furiously, her nerves tense, and she couldn't speak. Her eyes darted around, and she stammered, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you..."
"Don't know what?" Jiang Li raised an eyebrow, his voice low, husky, and magnetic.
Guan Nan stood there, clutching her clothes in bewilderment, and stammered, "I didn't know you wanted to take a shower too?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Li chuckled and said slowly, "That's quite a coincidence."
For a moment, Guan Nan didn't know what had gotten into her. Instead of taking the opportunity to back out, she had unwittingly dug herself another trap: "What's so coincidental about it?"
“Perhaps it’s just a coincidence,” Jiang Li emphasized lazily, “that everyone needs to take a shower.”
Guan Nan: "..."
Across from him, Jiang Li stood there lazily, one hand in his pocket, just standing there.
For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if Guan Nan had passed right through his figure.
I saw another version of him from his teenage years.
When she came to her senses, Guan Nan saw him throw his clothes into the laundry basket, seemingly preparing to take a shower. She immediately lowered her head and said hesitantly, "Isn't taking a shower a normal thing?"
Jiang Li pretended to think for half a second, then asked sincerely, "Oh, then, wouldn't it be against common sense for me to take a shower?"
“Fu.” Guan Nan nodded with a blank face.
"Then why do you still look like you've never seen anyone take a bath before?" Jiang Li's lips curled into a smile.
Guan Nan muttered, "I've never seen anyone else take a bath before."
Jiang Li was skeptical: "I've never seen it before."
"Who watches other people shower? It's not like I'm a pervert." Guan Nan frowned, finding the words unpleasant to hear, and decided to speak frankly, disregarding her image.
Jiang Li drew out the "oh" sound, then changed the subject, "So what are you doing now?"
In an instant, Guan Nan was at a disadvantage.
She was speechless again.
Jiang Li raised his eyebrows and asked again, "Have you finished reading?"
Before she could speak.
He said, "If I look again, I'll have to pay."
Upon hearing this, Guan Nan blushed, pulled the doorknob, and silently withdrew.
Standing outside the shower door, her mind was still a little sluggish, and she couldn't quite come to her senses for a while. She stared at the door, then turned to look around the bedroom, seemingly unable to accept it.
She wasn't in a hurry to take a shower now. She carefully looked around the room and then went out for a stroll.
During this time, Guan Nan moved quietly, went into the room to get her clothes, quickly took a shower in the bathroom outside, and finally ran back to her room as if escaping.
Over the next few days, Guan Nan subconsciously observed the movements outside the door.
As long as Jiang Li was outside, she resolutely refused to go out. After hearing the lock click once and remaining quiet for a moment, she would cautiously go out, pick up her takeout at the door, eat it, and then escape back to her room.
She was timid and flustered, unsure how to face Jiang Li or what to say when they met.
Fortunately, she had brought her laptop with her. She was already used to living alone in her room and didn't feel lonely. However, as she scrolled through the documents on her computer, her eyes scanned line by line, reading the annotations and bookmarks.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered something.
When the studio first started, most people didn't think it was a long-term business and didn't believe it was going to last. Just when everyone thought they couldn't make a living from this for long...
Seeking sponsorship, finding investment, negotiating cooperation, putting on airs and showing off, making sarcastic remarks and rolling one's eyes.
They pulled through.
Not only did they survive, but they also learned from experience, using their meager strength to fight against the head, and established a completely new system under high pressure.
They used the new system to train new people.
This is one of the reasons why it is now being criticized for "using the future as a guinea pig experiment".
They overcame countless pressures, working tirelessly day and night, writing and filming, eating, drinking, and even using the restroom entirely in the studio, doing everything they could to protect the studio from being swallowed up by a single dominant company.
On one occasion, when they were desperate and had nowhere else to turn, they tried anything and everything.
That same time, a single misstep led to eternal regret. While trying to build connections, she inadvertently signed a contract selling herself into servitude. Forty-five percent of the small studio's shares fell into the other party's hands.
As a result, the other party openly interfered in all the work and acted with utter impunity towards male and female bloggers.
Guan Nan only learned of the situation a week after the incident. If it weren't for the change in shareholding, she might never have had the chance to find out.
There's no turning back now.
The relationship between dormitory 610 was thus strained.
Thinking of this, Guan Nan opened her phone and found "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" in the group chat of No. 1 Middle School.
No one has spoken in this group for a long time.
She could hardly remember when their last conversation was.
It seems that after the incident, the 610 group had a big argument, with everyone complaining and leaving the group one by one, only to be persuaded to come back by Chen Fei.
Two of them got married and even have children.
Guan Nan forced a smile, put down her phone, and stared blankly into space.
Those nights when we made promises in the dormitory about becoming "bridesmaids," "godmothers," or "neighbors" have long since vanished.
Guan Nan couldn't quite put her finger on it; she just felt a little sad.
The sadness isn't about working for nothing for years, nor is it about losing money; it's about the sadness that the people I laughed and cried with will never come back.
The banner included a text message notification indicating that the food delivery had been completed.
Guan Nan habitually bent down to pick it up, but couldn't find the delivery. She then looked at the photo on the app.
—"Hello, your takeout has been placed in the takeout locker downstairs, with a pickup code."
The delivery lockers are on the first floor.
Before going to retrieve it, she changed her clothes and, for safety, wore a hat. Although Yuyuan Garden is very safe and most people can't get in, she still couldn't overcome her psychological barrier.
After going downstairs, she walked around the first floor for a long time before finally finding the location of the delivery locker.
She was so focused on getting her takeout that she completely forgot that going downstairs to the first floor didn't require swiping a card, but going back upstairs required swiping a card to return.
But Jiang Li isn't home right now.
Worried about disturbing him, Guan Nan carried the takeout downstairs and looked for a suitable place to eat.
After exiting the first floor, the automatic door opened, and I turned a corner.
Her eyes widened in surprise:
What are you doing here?
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