Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 359 - 359 354 Taking You Back to School

Chapter 359: Chapter 354: Taking You Back to School Chapter 359: Chapter 354: Taking You Back to School “You’re taking me back to school?” Hong Jing’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the second eldest.

The second eldest seemed a bit uneasy and tried to explain, “Your ankle is so swollen; it won’t go down right away. It’s definitely not safe for you to take a train back to North City alone in this condition, and your parents aren’t around either. As a friend, it’s only right for me to take some time to help you out.”

He thought his explanation was perfectly rational; after all, he felt partly responsible for Hong Jing’s sprained ankle. It was just a favor, no big deal.

Hong Jing didn’t care about his reasons; as long as he would take her, she was happy. She turned her head and started talking on her own about their university, saying that once they arrived, she’d show him around.

The second eldest felt a mixture of emotions.

He wasn’t stupid. Though he might be just experiencing his first stirrings of love, wasn’t it easy to tell whether someone disliked you or had feelings for you?

They quickly arrived at her residential complex, which wasn’t far from Xinyu, just separated by a street; a turn of the corner and they were there.

The second eldest drove straight to the entrance of her apartment building, parked the car, and helped her out, walking toward the building entrance.

Her apartment was on the third floor of a multi-story building.

They stopped at the staircase, and the second eldest wrestled with his thoughts for a moment, but it was only for two seconds. He then squatted down and carried Hong Jing on his back up to the third floor.

“Ah, Jingjing, what happened to you?”

As they reached the second floor, they ran into a man and a woman going downstairs. The woman, seeing Hong Jing being carried, immediately turned her gossip-hungry eyes towards the second eldest, thinking that the young man was quite handsome and tall, but he looked familiar somehow. Where had she seen him before?

“I twisted my ankle, Aunt Liu.”

“Oh, is it serious? Is this your classmate, Jingjing?”

Hong Jing mumbled an affirmative, and the couple called Aunt Liu stepped aside to let them pass, whispering as they reached the ground floor, “Do you think this could be Jingjing’s boyfriend?”

The second eldest brought Hong Jing home, and by then it was already six in the evening; neither had eaten dinner, and with Hong Jing’s condition, going out was obviously not an option.

“Xiaotie, could you make me a bowl of noodles before you leave?”

To avoid the second eldest suggesting they buy food from outside, Hong Jing quickly said, “My mom bought groceries this morning before she left; the kitchen has everything.”

She knew the second eldest wouldn’t just leave her be, but she was afraid he’d find another excuse not to cook… How should she put it? She had a vague feeling that the second eldest was deliberately avoiding cooking for her.

Although he’s under no obligation to cook for her, she wanted to taste it.

People are strange like that, always wanting what they can’t have.

“There’s dried noodles. Can you cook two bowls? We can eat before you go, okay?”

The second eldest glanced at her, rolled up his sleeves, and as he walked towards the kitchen, he asked, “Any dietary restrictions?”

“None, just make whatever.”

He rummaged through the fridge and surprisingly found a big fish head. Apparently, her parents had rushed off that morning after hearing that her uncle was ill, leaving the fish and meat they’d bought piled up in the fridge.

The fish head was fresh and couldn’t be left for long.

The second eldest turned to ask Hong Jing, who was sitting on the couch, “Do you eat fish head with chopped chili peppers?”

Hong Jing’s eyes lit up, “You know how to make it? My dad and I both love it, but my mom’s cooking is so-so, and despite that, she keeps practicing.”

She really wanted to ask the second eldest how well he could cook it, but the question swirled in her mouth and was swallowed back down; she just looked at him expectantly with her eyes.

Compared to studying, cooking was a piece of cake for the second eldest.

In less than an hour, he had made fish head with chopped chili peppers, double-cooked pork, garlic lettuce, and a hot and sour soup.

The dishes were served on the table, and Hong Jing’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t tasted the food yet, but the aroma alone told her it would be delicious.

As she picked up her chopsticks, she looked toward the second eldest with a faint glint in her eyes, “It’s so well made, and yet you always make excuses. I think you were doing it on purpose before.”

The second eldest glanced at her and sighed, “It’s true I had no time… Try it and see, if you think it’s good…”

“Mmm, it’s delicious, so you can make it for me again next time, right?”

The second eldest opened his mouth, he meant it as just a casual polite remark. How could she take it seriously?

…

Jiang Yan and Mu Jiawen didn’t stay long at the repair shop before they left.

Although Dai Lei seemed quite busy, all of it was trivial stuff like repairing the main machines. Just following the list one by one was fine, and there was no need for Jiang Yan to help.

So he simply went to the specialty store to take a look.

Jing Junyang was very dedicated to the game development, so the place was a bit neglected, and in the end, he handed everything over to Jiang Yan, only coming over when he had classes at school. But since he was a senior, his classes weren’t very many, and he would have an internship next semester, so Jing Junyang rarely came to the school anymore.

Part of the reason was also Lin Miao, the girl was just too confident, stubbornly believing that Jing Junyang still liked her and that breaking up was merely because of jealousy. But now that she had broken up with someone else, why couldn’t they get back together?

It’s a thought so refreshingly unconventional that it’s hard to dispute.

It forced Jing Junyang to run away upon seeing her as though she were a flood or a wild beast.

Lin Miao would loiter around the specialty store for no reason, showing up every day. When there were many customers, she even helped the sales staff by introducing products and handing out brochures with great enthusiasm.

Jiang Yan found her quite annoying at first, but seeing this, he figured that he might as well make use of free labor.

The key was he didn’t have any good way to persuade her. The girl had thick skin, and they, being grown men, couldn’t quite bring themselves to say harsh words, while saying anything soft was the same as saying nothing at all—it was completely useless.

Today was the fourth, and school would start in two days. When Jiang Yan and Mu Jiawen walked into the specialty store, Lin Miao was standing in the corner behind the cash register, wiping away tears.

As soon as Xiaozhang, the salesperson, saw Jiang Yan come in, he immediately stepped forward and whispered, “Brother Yan, Jing has just left. He couldn’t take it any longer, and he let slip a few harsh words, so…”

So she couldn’t take it and started crying.

To be honest, they had all become quite accustomed to it, as Lin Miao’s tears came easily and quickly.

It also helped that Qi Lihong didn’t like to meddle in others’ affairs. No matter what Lin Miao did in the store, she never asked about it.

She was just there to collect money and manage the accounts—nothing else concerned her. So even as Lin Miao cried behind her, she went about her business as usual without turning her head once.

But Mu Jiawen, with sharp eyes, noticed the bruising on Qi Lihong’s arm beneath her rolled-up sleeve.

It was obviously pinch marks.

“What happened?”

She walked over, took hold of Qi Lihong’s arm, and pulled up the sleeve to reveal a shocking expanse of purple. She frowned at the sight.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Qi Lihong quickly pulled her sleeve down and looked up at Mu Jiawen with an apologetic smile, “Jiawen, it’s really nothing.”

Mu Jiawen looked at her silently for a few seconds and said, “If you don’t cherish yourself, don’t expect others to cherish you.”

Qi Lihong started to say something, but in the end, she just looked down despondently and muttered “I’m sorry.”

Mu Jiawen didn’t know what to say to that—why apologize to her for being hurt?