Chapter 9

Chuuya set his goal, determined to work hard starting today, and immediately turned back to retrieve his textbooks.

He took two steps, then paused, asking Du Zhengxuan awkwardly, "You... what do you do on your days off?"

Du Zhengxuan replied fluently, "Buy some food, go home, sleep, wake up, and play on my phone. Then I repeat the process until tomorrow afternoon when I go back to class."

Chuuya: "You... don't go out?"

Du Zhengxuan: "Probably not."

Chuuya let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't forgotten his primary mission. However, keeping an eye on Du Zhengxuan while cramming for his studies was clearly unrealistic. If she only stayed at home, the risk factor would be significantly lowered.

Misinterpreting his reaction, Du Zhengxuan added, "If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can knock on my door and ask."

Although many answers could be found online, Chuuya clearly didn't belong to the type of person who could skillfully search for answers on the internet.

"..." Chuuya turned his head away, avoiding direct eye contact. "Thank... you."

Du Zhengxuan said, "Hmm, you're welcome."

The other party realized she was mimicking him, turned his head back immediately, and stared at her with wide eyes, looking somewhat incredulous. Du Zhengxuan couldn't resist teasing him further, then apologized, "I'm sorry."

"..." Chuuya's gaze became unfocused again. This time, he remained silent for a while before simply letting out an "Um."

Du Zhengxuan couldn't help but curve her eyes into a smile. He was so concerned with his pride, so thin-skinned. How cute. She liked him.

The two parted ways. Du Zhengxuan bought food and went home as usual, sleeping until evening after finishing her meal. Around seven o'clock, Chuuya knocked on her door once, wanting to borrow the test papers from the last exam.

Du Zhengxuan hadn't brought them back, so she simply explained the types of questions that might appear and promised to give him the papers when they returned to school tomorrow. She placed the books Chuuya had brought on the table.

"Time is limited. Honestly, I suggest giving up on some subjects. Liberal arts are hard to master quickly; it’s more effective to focus your energy on the subjects you already have a foundation in."

Chuuya shared the same thought. Compared to subjects with heavy reading, focusing on English and Physics was clearly more cost-effective for him. Due to his ability, Chuuya was already quite familiar with some concepts in physics, so it wasn't too difficult to learn. Instead, the systematic nature of the subject made it feel streamlined and refreshing.

Dazai seemed to focus more on biology. He had heard that before the current boss took power, Dazai was always hanging around him. Since the boss’s former profession was a doctor, Chuuya guessed that he probably had some foundation in that area.

Du Zhengxuan’s test preparation advice was efficient and practical. Chuuya had initially knocked on her door with the intention of "checking if she was really at home," but he hadn't expected to spend nearly half an hour discussing exam strategies with her.

Reflecting on this, he felt a bit embarrassed. He rarely engaged in intelligence gathering and had almost no experience in deliberately approaching someone like this. Moreover, deceiving a simple, kind-hearted person felt completely different from deceiving the scum in other organizations.

Chuuya apologized to Du Zhengxuan in his heart. As he packed up his books to leave, he asked as if casually, "Are you... the only one at home?"

...Well, there was no way to pretend it was casual. With his current level of Chinese, even saying "thank you" sounded incredibly forced!

Chuuya felt his face burning as if his lie had been exposed on the spot. Du Zhengxuan paused for two seconds, pursed her lips as if to suppress a smile, and said, "Yes, my parents are still at work and haven't returned yet."

She stumbled over the foreign language just as much, which instantly dissipated the awkward atmosphere. Such kindness made him feel even more ashamed. He didn't know that Du Zhengxuan was thinking, "Guys, I'm learning a second language for free."

Chuuya didn't say anything else, just nodded while looking down. He forced himself to focus back on his books, thinking about finishing up and leaving quickly. Every extra minute he spent in this place, he felt the torment of his conscience.

"By the way, Chuuya, this is your first time here, right?" Du Zhengxuan suddenly suggested, "Why don't I give you a tour? Although there isn't much to see."

Chuuya: "..."

During those dozen seconds of silence, Chuuya's conscience as a normal person fought fiercely with the desire to "finish the mission quickly so I don't have to wake up at six every day." In the end, the latter prevailed. Waking up early one day was fine; two days was fine. But if he had to keep waking up early like this for three years, he didn't know if the person returning to Yokohama would be him or a mummified corpse.

Chuuya said, "Okay."

After saying it, he felt the degree of his own despicableness had reached a new high, and his gaze drifted away again.

Du Zhengxuan took him on a simple tour of the apartment. Both units had the exact same layout, just mirrored. There really wasn't much in the apartment. The master bedroom belonged to Du Zhengxuan's parents; apart from the wardrobe and the bed, the vanity was completely empty, and the bed was even covered with a dust cloth.

"It's a lot like where I live in Yokohama," Chuuya evaluated in his heart.

Du Zhengxuan's room had a lot more items. Besides the same bed and wardrobe, the most abundant things in her room were books. Books, test papers, books, and more books. Just walking in, one felt like being submerged in paper. This scene reminded Chuuya of the school, where every student's desk was piled with books, their drawers were filled with books, and he could only guess what was in the cabinets behind them.

Yes, more books.

Students here stored books the way people in Yokohama found creative ways to maintain their sidearms. Some used books as desk dividers, some bought cloth storage bags to hang on the sides of their desks, and some even bought crates to store books under their desks.

Chuuya hadn't been here for many days, but he felt he had picked up quite a few document-organizing tips. He even had some ideas on how to renovate his office back home.

Du Zhengxuan’s school books were on the floor, but she also had a small bookshelf. The books lined up there were significantly more vibrant, and she had placed several small figurines on the side. The music box he had given her was also there, covered in a plastic bag.

Noticing his gaze, Du Zhengxuan went over and pulled the plastic bag off, explaining, "I was worried about dust. No other reason, really."

Other than that, there was nothing else in Du Zhengxuan's room. After the tour, Chuuya hadn't discovered anything suspicious. Before they parted, he hesitated but didn't invite Du Zhengxuan to sit in his room. It wasn't very messy, but because he was limited by the location, his living and working spaces were mixed together, and he was worried she might notice something wrong.

Would she notice?

Chuuya was still hesitating about this as Du Zhengxuan saw him out. He decided to explain himself. Unexpectedly, just as he turned around, he saw Du Zhengxuan pick up a one-yuan coin from the floor.

Chuuya: "...?"

Du Zhengxuan: "This is... uh, no, this is the one I just picked up."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Du Zhengxuan felt it was wrong. What was she saying? Was she repeating herself? But the four yuan that appeared weekly were randomly refreshed; she didn't know when or where she would find them. Otherwise, would it even be called "finding" them?

She hesitated, thinking that telling Chuuya "let's split it fifty-fifty" sounded too illegal and would damage her personal image. So she changed her tune: "I just dropped this."

Chuuya: "But... just now... it wasn't there."

Du Zhengxuan: "..."

Dammit, did you make a habit of checking the floor at people's doors when you visit? What kind of foreign custom is this?

The two stared at each other in silence. Finally, Chuuya understandingly changed the subject: "...You, often, find money."

Du Zhengxuan: "...Yeah, I'm just lucky."

She couldn't help it! What was she supposed to do when the total was only four yuan, and it was being paid out in installments? If it was so capable, why didn't it change it into one-mao coins and give them to her?

Chuuya nodded and said somewhat dryly, "Oh, that's great."

Du Zhengxuan: "It's not... no, I mean, goodbye."

The two parted ways. Du Zhengxuan was so embarrassed that she went home, shut the door, and punched the air. Then, she closed her eyes and summoned "The Book."

She wrote on it: [Chuuya Nakahara finds 4 yuan next week], deciding to create a fictional setting for City H where gold was everywhere.

"The Book" popped up a prompt: [Weekly quota exhausted.]

Du Zhengxuan calculated that today was Saturday, so she changed the settings: [Set Sunday as the first day of the week.]

"The Book" went silent, looking as if it had crashed. After a while, "The Book" replied: [Detected that this setting is inconsistent with the actual time zone; cannot be modified.]

Du Zhengxuan thought for a moment and wrote with a flourish:

[I can speak English.]

"The Book": [...Setting modification successful.]

The next afternoon, Chuuya was late for class. The reason was that he had found a one-yuan coin on the road and had been delayed while turning it in.

Du Zhengxuan: "..."

She had ruined Chuuya.