When the two left school, the rain had already stopped.
In the end, Song Jiawen listened to Jiang Yan and decided not to return to Jianglin Village, but to visit her uncle's house in the town instead.
Only...
"Jiang Yan, if what you said is true, even if I don't go back, they'll still come looking for me tomorrow." Since it was an arranged blind date set up by the Song Family, who had already agreed to it, it was impossible for them to let it go just because she wasn't home.
Can one really avoid it temporarily and escape it forever?
As she spoke, Song Jiawen's dark eyes looked at him, emitting a cold and gloomy light.
Is this girl doubting me?
But Jiang Yan didn't care in the slightest; as long as she was willing to listen to him, it didn't matter what she thought.
"Tomorrow, when they go to your house, it will lay everything out in the open, so to resolve this we'll need help from your uncle and grandma. Anyway, once they arrive tomorrow, I'll call you."
Having said that, Jiang Yan swung his long legs over his rickety bicycle that made noise everywhere except for the bell, tossed his head towards the back seat and asked, "Getting on?"
Song Jiawen glanced at him and his bicycle with disdain, didn't say a word, and with a very cool demeanor, started walking ahead.
Jiang Yan didn't mind, pedaled his squeaky bicycle past her, and soon turned a corner and disappeared.
Jianghai Town wasn't big, and it took Song Jiawen about ten minutes to walk to the town's only internet café.
She stood at the door, tilted her head to look at the broken bicycle thrown carelessly by the wall, thought for a moment, and then pushed the door open and went in.
The internet café was filled with smoke, where many youngsters were smoking and gaming simultaneously, with occasional swearing and cursing.
The internet café wasn't large, and Song Jiawen surveyed the area in a glance from the entrance, but didn't see the familiar figure.
She wasn't particularly looking for him; it was only on seeing his bicycle outside that she had the impulse to come in and take a look. Now that she didn't spot him, she turned around, intending to leave.
At that moment, a conversation abruptly and clearly reached her ears--
"Bro, following your instructions, I got two old computers from the county today. Guess how much I spent?"
"Two hundred fifty."
"Why are you cursing, bro?"
"Who the hell should I curse if not you? You damn well bought a pile of junk; how am I supposed to assemble it?"
"But, bro, you clearly said before that no matter how broken the computers were, you could still put them together. Is that... not the case anymore?"
"You're the one who's not cutting it..."
"Hehe, bro, you're capable, really capable. I was just thinking we could make a bit more profit if I got them cheap, right? After all, you're about to take the college entrance exams soon, and we need to save up the tuition fees."
"....."
Song Jiawen walked past a row of computers and saw a small partition in the back.
Jiang Yan was sitting sprawled out on a small stool, with a cigarette in his mouth, surrounded by a heap of parts, and it looked like he was... assembling a computer?
Song Jiawen was somewhat surprised inside, but her expression remained cool and indifferent.
"Here to use the internet? Go next door."
Huang Mao, who was squatting opposite Jiang Yan, noticed someone approaching, looked up at Song Jiawen, a flash of admiration crossed his eyes, but then he showed a cool facade and nodded towards the neighboring area.
Jiang Yan turned his head casually, and then he was taken aback. He put down the parts in his hand, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and asked in surprise, "Why did you come over?"
Could it be... she followed him here?
But Jiang Yan immediately dismissed that thought. Following someone wasn't something she would do.
She didn't have that sort of idle interest.
Not following, then just passing by.
"You should head back soon." This place is filled with smoke and fumes; it's not suited for you.
But Song Jiawen didn't leave; instead, she took two steps closer and squatted down beside Jiang Yan, looking at the pile of junk on the ground and asking, "Are you assembling a computer?"
Jiang Yan hummed vaguely in acknowledgment, not giving a direct answer.
He threw the half-smoked cigarette onto the floor and extinguished it under his foot.
Huang Mao looked at Song Jiawen, then turned to Jiang Yan and asked, "Bro, do you know her?"
Isn't that a stupid question?
Jiang Yan ignored Huang Mao and bowed his head to continue the operation in his hands.
After watching for a while, Song Jiawen asked, "Are you assembling computers for them, to make money?"
She had heard what Huang Mao had said earlier—Jiang Yan was earning his college tuition fees.
In their village, many knew that Jiang Yan's previously illustrious father was imprisoned last year for corruption, and his mother had divorced his father even before the incident.
Originally, he had been studying in Yunzhou, but after his father's trouble, he got into a fight and was expelled from school, leaving him no choice but to return to his grandmother's home in the countryside.
Jiang Yan's grandmother's house was right next to the Song Family home, and Jiang Yan grew up there until he started elementary school before moving back to Yunzhou. However, he would still spend every winter and summer vacation at his grandmother's house.
As such, the two of them could be considered childhood friends who grew up together—begrudgingly described as childhood sweethearts.
Only, their relationship hadn't been all that great in the past, and they had only gotten closer when he suddenly changed classes seven months ago and even got seated behind her.
With the excuse that he wanted the top student of the grade, Song Jiawen, to tutor him in physics, chemistry, and biology.
The one who originally sat behind Song Jiawen was the class president of their class, but no one knew how Jiang Yan had talked to the guy. Anyway, he managed to make the president willingly give up his seat and move to the back.
In her studies, Song Jiawen never hid her knowledge. If any classmate came to her with questions, she would do her best to explain things clearly.
In these seven months since he moved, with Song Jiawen's help, Jiang Yan's grades had rapidly improved, and he was now within the top twenty of his grade.
This pace of progress should already be considered quite good, but Jiang Yan wasn't satisfied. After all, the difference between second and first place in every exam was several tens of points, but from him to the top, it was a full hundred points.
A hundred points—on a college entrance exam, that would mean mountains and seas of people standing between them.
Thus, Jiang Yan worked hard in his studies, almost tirelessly solving practice problems day and night.
Song Jiawen, seeing his efforts, even took special care to make notes for the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology, which provided immense help to Jiang Yan's studies.
So she thought... well, perhaps it was appropriate to charge a little labor fee?
"If I don't make money, who will give it to me?"
Jiang Yan's voice, flat and filled with self-mockery and sarcasm, rose up.
His grandmother and his second and third uncles' families had all been dependent on his father's support before, but now that his father was locked up, they immediately cried poor and said they didn't have money to pay for his tuition fees.
When he had just returned from the city, before he was reborn, under his grandmother's instigation, he went to ask his mother for high school tuition fees.
After paying the tuition fees, the remaining money was taken by his grandmother, who said she would keep it for him, fearing he'd squander it, and then gave him twenty yuan a month for food allowance.
Twenty yuan, not even enough for a fart!
Now that Jiang Yan was reborn, he naturally wouldn't let them control him anymore, nor would he shamelessly go to his mother for money again.
So earning his own tuition and living expenses by himself, nothing wrong with that!
Song Jiawen looked at him, blinked earnestly and said, "You have a lot of spirit. I want to learn from you, to earn what I want with my own labor. You're amazing!"
Being called amazing by a freakish academic god made Jiang Yan feel a little elated.
But the very next sentence from Song Jiawen confused him again.
"But I've been tutoring you for seven months…"
Huh? And then?
Jiang Yan turned his head to look, and there was Song Jiawen squatting not far away, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes blinking at him, and her long black eyelashes fluttered like two tiny brushes, leaving him in a daze.
By the time he came to his senses, Song Jiawen had already left, and in his hand, he was holding an IOU with his handwriting on it, stating that he owed Song Jiawen five thousand yuan, with both his and Song Jiawen's signatures at the bottom.
Jiang Yan: ....
Damn! He had been bamboozled by a little girl.
Huang Mao, who was following him, was still earnestly helping him do the math, "Bro, I didn't realize you weren't so good at studying and needed a girl to tutor you. She only counted one hour per day for you, and the market rate is fifty yuan per hour. She charged you thirty, which adds up to nine hundred per month, and six thousand three hundred for seven months. In the end, she only asked you to pay five thousand. This girl is righteous, giving you such a big discount…"
Jiang Yan clenched his fists; he felt like punching Huang Mao.
On the other side, with the IOU in her pocket, Song Jiawen felt her frustration dissipate quite a bit, and her steps towards her uncle's house were no longer as heavy as before.
And regarding the unknowns of tomorrow, her worries had lessened considerably.