"Your attendance has been too low these past few days."
"I received the book you sent me last time. I really liked it. Thank you."
Gu Xiuyuan, who had grown noticeably taller in just a few days, came to find Ji Nian and Shen Qingtang, handing them two ice creams he had bought in advance from the school store.
Shen Qingtang got the strawberry flavor.
Ji Nian's was—
"Hmm, nothing beats the authentic limited-edition shrimp-flavored ice cream from the school store."
Taking a bite of her ice cream, Ji Nian squinted her eyes in satisfaction.
This was the real reason she came to school.
Standing beside her, Gu Xiuyuan leisurely scooped his Haagen-Dazs with a small spoon and told her, "The store owner is really happy to know you're back."
Without Ji Nian, the only customer who would buy such an eccentric flavor, the owner had been quite upset these past few days.
Ji Nian casually pulled out the utensil box clipped to her backpack, took out a clean spoon, and without hesitation, scooped a large portion from the untouched part of Gu Xiuyuan's Haagen-Dazs.
"Yours is just average," she commented, smacking her lips.
Then she encouraged Shen Qingtang to try it too.
Shen Qingtang, imitating Ji Nian, took out her own utensil box and scooped a spoonful from the spot Ji Nian had just dug into.
"...It really is just average. Maybe I don't like the vanilla flavor."
Gu Xiuyuan, whose ice cream was now nearly gone: "……"
Although Gu Xiuyuan had grown taller, his baby fat was still obvious. Seeing his cheeks puff out, Ji Nian laughed heartily, "Alright, don't be mad. Come on, I'll buy you another one."
Gu Xiuyuan silently turned to look at her, "I'm older than you."
Ji Nian waved her hand dismissively, "No need to worry about such trivial matters."
Gu Xiuyuan, who had always seen himself as the older brother, frowned delicately, "How can I not care about this?"
Ji Nian patted his shoulder and pretended to sigh.
"Alright then, let's settle it this way. If you're better than me, then you're older. If not, then don't worry about it."
Gu Xiuyuan, though young, had good logic.
He thought, *But even without competing, I'm still older than Ji Nian.*
But seeing how serious Ji Nian was, and feeling curious about what they would compete on, he eventually gave in.
"What are we competing on?"
Having already learned that the "magic" Ji Nian used before was actually chemistry, Gu Xiuyuan remained calm.
Two years had passed, and he was no longer the little kid who used to be led around by Ji Nian and made to cry.
It was time to show Ji Nian what maturity really meant.
Then he heard Ji Nian say—
"I never wash my hands after using the restroom because I don't need to hold anything. I can even aim without any external help and hit my own mouth."
"Can you do that?"
Gu Xiuyuan slowly let out a: "……Huh?"
Shen Qingtang: "Wow, Ji Nian, you're amazing! That way, when you go to public restrooms, you don't even need to wipe beforehand. You can just stand and go!"
Gu Xiuyuan: "……"
*Is that the point, Shen Qingtang!?*
Ji Nian proudly puffed out her chest and looked at Gu Xiuyuan.
"So, can you do it?"
Gu Xiuyuan: "……"
He couldn't.
"Can't we compete on something normal?"
Gu Xiuyuan muttered softly.
Ji Nian calmly threw her finished ice cream stick into the trash can, "What's the definition of normal?"
Shen Qingtang: "Anything that isn't Ji Nian."
Gu Xiuyuan gave her a look of agreement.
Ji Nian: "……"
After buying Gu Xiuyuan another Haagen-Dazs and catching up with the school store owner they hadn't seen in a while, the three kids walked out side by side.
Gu Xiuyan glanced up and saw a thin, dark-skinned boy bending over to pick something out of the trash can.
Seeing what he was picking up, Gu Xiuyuan asked in confusion, "Why is the new transfer student in your class digging through the trash?"
Ji Nian followed his gaze and saw He Xiang.
"That's He Xiang. He's looking for bottles."
"What's he looking for bottles for?"
Gu Xiuyuan and Shen Qingtang asked in unison.
Ji Nian paused for a moment.
The two children were genuinely puzzled. The world they grew up in and the education they received had never exposed them to the idea that plastic bottles could be sold for money.
"He sells them to the recycling center to make money."
Hearing this for the first time, Gu Xiuyuan became interested, "How is the price calculated? Since individual labor is cheap, it shouldn't be much. Is it based on quantity or hourly wage?"
Ji Nian: "At the current market rate, it's five cents per pound."
The two children, who had only ever learned about but never actually dealt with the concept of "cents," widened their eyes in shock.
*How could it be so cheap!?*
"If it's that cheap, why does he still bother? Time is precious. He could do so many other things in the time he spends picking up bottles."
Shen Qingtang asked, puzzled.
"Because he needs to exchange time for money," Ji Nian explained.
"The money we use for food and clothes is given to us by our families, but he's earning his own money."
Gu Xiuyuan was about to say that the amount he earned was so little, it couldn't even buy the Haagen-Dazs in his hand.
But Ji Nian, as if reading his mind, turned to him and said, "Have you ever earned money by yourself, even just one dollar?"
The boy replied matter-of-factly, "I made five hundred thousand dollars from stocks last week."
From his tone, it sounded like he wasn't even satisfied with that.
Ji Nian: "……"
She had forgotten that this kid had been groomed to be a CEO since childhood.
"And where did the initial capital come from?"
Gu Xiuyuan said it was from his allowance.
But then he thought about it—his allowance still came from his father.
"So it's still different. He Xiang is starting from zero," Ji Nian said leisurely.
Gu Xiuyuan's face showed a moment of realization.
He began to wonder how he could earn money without relying on his family and with zero initial capital.
Gu Xiuyuan couldn't think of a way.
Shen Qingtang, however, said, "I could go work."
"The law prohibits any company from hiring child labor," Ji Nian reminded her.
Hearing this, Shen Qingtang's eyes dimmed with disappointment.
"Earning money is so hard…"
She couldn't think of any other way.
"What would you do if you were in his place?"
Shen Qingtang asked Ji Nian curiously, and Gu Xiuyuan also looked up at her.
Ji Nian didn't answer. Instead, she walked out from between the two of them and accurately spotted her spicy-strip-loving deskmate in the crowd.
"Give me twenty, and I'll do your math homework for tonight."
The deskmate, who had been chatting with a friend about movies, was so surprised he didn't know where to put his hands and feet.
His voice cracked with excitement, "There's such a good deal!?"
Ji Nian nodded, "If you need me to mimic your handwriting, that'll be an extra thirty."
The deskmate quickly pulled out a fifty and handed it to her, then started flipping through his math problems.
Having successfully earned fifty, Ji Nian walked back.
She was met with Shen Qingtang's glowing eyes, the shock of the student council president who had just witnessed someone brazenly offering to do homework for money, and...
He Xiang, who had been standing not far away, quietly watching Ji Nian's every move: !
