Chapter 59

The first visit between neighbors didn't last long. Both sides exchanged friendly and warm greetings, and everything seemed to be going smoothly, except for the little incident with the whisky.

However, after Hu Xiaoniu and the others returned to their home, the four of them sat quietly on the sofa, silent.

Because each of them was very clear that behind this warmth and friendliness, there was still an unbridgeable formality.

In Jiang Xue's eyes, they were guests, not friends.

But if they were just guests, they wouldn't be able to get any help from the people in City 18.

Among them, Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen were relatively calm and rational. Both the transfer and the move from City 7 to City 18 were plans proposed by these two.

Hu Xiaoniu looked at everyone seriously and said, "Maybe we were wrong, wrong from the very beginning."

Everyone looked at him.

Hu Xiaoniu pointed to their sofa and said, "We came all the way from Hai City to Luo City, and we even had leather sofas air-freighted here. Look at theirs, old fabric sofas. I'm not talking about the wealth gap, but we need to get rid of our pride."

Zhang Tianzhen took off his black-rimmed glasses and said, "I'll follow Xiaoniu."

"And we don't really have anything to be proud of," Hu Xiaoniu continued, "Did you notice Jiang Xue's mechanical hand? The details are incredibly intricate, something only a corporation could afford. So, while we have wealth in the surface world, in the hidden world, Jiang Xue is the one with the wealth."

Hu Xiaoniu went on, "Because we carry that pride, we can't become friends with people like Qing Chen, Jiang Xue, Li Tongyun, and Liu Dezhu."

"But we are indeed a bit stronger than them," Bai Wan'er noticed Hu Xiaoniu's serious expression and changed her tone, "… Okay, then what should we do?"

"The first thing tomorrow is to get our school uniforms. No one is allowed to wear watches anymore; we'll switch to ordinary Casio digital watches," Hu Xiaoniu said, "Then, lower your standards and interact with classmates normally. No, my words aren't accurate enough. It's not about lowering standards, but truly realizing that we came to Luo City to find hope, and we have no reason to be proud."

Wang Yun muttered, "But the school uniform of Luo City Foreign Language School is so ugly. Can't we wear our own clothes? I packed so many clothes."

"No," Hu Xiaoniu said firmly.

He looked at the two silent girls and sighed inwardly.

...

Countdown: 4 days.

Qing Chen woke up from a dream. When he got up and washed his face, he suddenly noticed in the mirror that the lines on his abdomen were gradually becoming more defined.

Not like the chiseled abs of a fitness enthusiast, but the initial signs of abs were starting to appear.

After all, he had only been exercising for 5 days.

He finally experienced the magic of the breathing technique.

The young man stood in front of the mirror.

With the strange breathing rhythm, the Qing Chen in the mirror had flames appearing on both sides of his cheeks.

The thirteen pounds of beef he bought the day before cost him over 500 yuan, and it was all gone in just two days.

He was now like a food black hole, the breathing technique rapidly consuming the energy in his body and quickly breaking down the new nutrients, reshaping his body.

The flame patterns faded, and Qing Chen marveled at why Uncle Li said that with the breathing technique, an untrained person could reach a level in three months that others would take five years to achieve.

This thing was truly magical.

When he arrived at the classroom in the morning, Qing Chen was taken aback.

Wang Yun and Bai Wan'er had both changed into their school uniforms, looking fresh and clean. This made them seem less like top students from Hai City and more like the white moonlight in the dreams of the male students.

Nan Gengchen, sitting at his desk, would occasionally steal glances at them.

After Qing Chen sat down, Wang Yun suddenly smiled and said, "Classmate, the teacher said you're the best student in the grade. I have a math problem I don't understand. Can you explain it to me?"

Qing Chen glanced at it; it was a hyperbola equation problem, but the problem had many traps and was quite difficult for ordinary students.

But the issue was, he knew these two girls were also top students, even solving physics competition problems. Could they really not solve a hyperbola equation?

He thought for a moment and said, "I need to preview today's lesson. Why don't you ask Nan Gengchen?"

It wasn't that he was previewing; he just didn't want to waste time on superficial interactions.

Wang Yun pursed her lips at his attitude, but then she thought, since Nan Gengchen and Qing Chen were such good friends, it might be a good idea to improve her relationship with Nan Gengchen first.

Hu Xiaoniu had said they must interact with these people normally and not carry any pride.

With that in mind, Wang Yun moved her chair next to Nan Gengchen and smiled, "Classmate, can you explain this problem to me?"

"Sure," Nan Gengchen immediately became enthusiastic.

Wang Yun looked at him expectantly, but after staring at the problem for a while, Nan Gengchen turned to her and said, "I don't know how to do it…"

Wang Yun: "…"

Qing Chen almost burst out laughing. While Nan Gengchen wasn't a bad student, he wasn't great either.

Wang Yun's first effort was in vain, and she returned to her seat, dejected, to think of a new strategy. Bai Wan'er whispered, "Our goal is to be friends with them. Since he can't solve difficult problems, why don't you ask him an easy one? You'll get to know each other better that way."

Wang Yun's eyes lit up; that was a good idea.

She chose the easiest problem from the exercise book and moved her chair back to Nan Gengchen, "Classmate, can you explain this problem to me?"

This time, Nan Gengchen was excited; he could do it!

But Qing Chen watched as Nan Gengchen took ten minutes to explain a very simple geometric sequence problem, until the bell rang for class.

Wang Yun returned to her seat, mentally and physically exhausted. She knew how to solve the problem but had to pretend to listen attentively for ten minutes, which was really tiring.

However, she felt that the effort was worth it to become friends with these two.

During the first break, Wang Yun shared her progress in the hallway with her companions: while Qing Chen was hard to crack, Nan Gengchen seemed simple and should be easier to deal with.

When she returned, she suddenly heard Qing Chen ask Nan Gengchen, "How is the new student? Is he easy to get along with?"

"He's pretty easy to get along with," Nan Gengchen hesitated for a moment and then said to Qing Chen, "But these two new students don't seem to be very good at studying. They can't even solve such simple problems."

Wang Yun: "???"

She almost spat blood when she heard that!

...

There will be an extra update tonight.

...

Thank you to Qingcong Baage and Shamo Li de Yueguang for becoming new allies of this book. Boss, you're so generous! Boss, get rich!