Chapter 178: Double Cultivation

In the dead of night, the group chat eventually quieted down.

Seeing no new progression, Yangyang said, "I'm going home to sleep, see you two tomorrow."

After she spoke, she walked to the door in her fluffy pajamas, looking like a little dinosaur.

Seeing her leave, Nan Gengchen who was huddled in the leather sofa in the living room asked with some surprise, "Sister Yangyang, where are you going?"

Qing Chen expressionlessly gazed at him. "Of course she's going back to her own house. Otherwise, is she going to live here with me? My dad sold the house for gambling money, so now Yangyang is the tenant of that house. The house I live in now is rented from Hu Xiaoniu."

This made Nan Gengchen even more confused. "What's the relationship between you two?"

Yangyang, who stopped at the door, looked back and thought for a long time before answering, "Double cultivation?"

Nan Gengchen: "???"

Qing Chen: "???"

Yangyang explained, "I use my ability to help Qing Chen train. In the process of helping him, my control over the ability is also increasing, I can use it more precisely now."

Qing Chen angrily scolded, "You shouldn't call it double cultivation!"

For example, if a person said: I really want to open your little head and see what's inside, it had a certain meaning.

But if you replaced this sentence with: I really want to cut open your skull and examine what's inside, then the meaning would totally change!

Yangyang nonchalantly waved her hand. "It's not important, I'm going home."

Saying so, she closed the door and left.

At this time, Nan Gengchen asked him, "Brother Chen, can I stay at your place tonight?"

"I was actually a little surprised when you came. You usually can't go out when it gets late, but today you're even planning on staying out all night?" Qing Chen found it weird.

"My dad's in a bad mood after losing money, and now he's drinking alone at home. I'll definitely get beaten if I go back," Nan Gengchen said.

Qing Chen sighed. He had seen the belt wounds on Nan Gengchen's body before. Those bruises and welts looked sickeningly horrible.

Although his parents weren't divorced, Nan Gengchen's situation wasn't that much better than Qing Chen's.

He asked Nan Gengchen, "Where's your mother?"

"My dad beat my mom until she ran back to her family," Nan Gengchen answered in a low voice, "I guess they're about to divorce soon. Brother Chen, I've been trying to save money recently. Every time I transmigrate, I'll ask Li Yinuo for two gold bars. When I save enough money, I'll buy a house by myself and live alone from then on."

As he said that, Nan Gengchen actually took out three gold bars from his pocket. "I haven't had time to sell these yet. For now, I'd like to leave them with you here, Brother Chen. If I keep them at my place, I'm afraid my dad would find out about it."

"Okay." Qing Chen helped him to put the gold bars between the bed boards. "Li Yinuo is really good to you. Your speed of making money isn't much worse than mine."

"Brother Chen, how about I join your faction," Nan Gengchen enthusiastically said, "You've gained a firm foothold and a powerful master now, if I follow you, I'll be able to get ahead as well."

"Why? Don't you want to be with Li Yinuo?" Qing Chen felt that this was rather strange. "Did you get into any conflict with her?"

Nan Gengchen thought for a moment before saying, "We actually get along pretty well now. I've also grown to like her personality and feel safe around her. But when we first got to know each other, it was quite scary, you know. I kept feeling like she was going to suck me dry..."

Qing Chen: "...You've worked hard, alright. So why do you still want to join me?"

Nan Gengchen shook his head. "I think it's pathetic of me to be protected by her at all times. It makes me feel like I don't deserve her."

Qing Chen glanced at him. He knew that this guy had always had low self-esteem because of his family situation, so when he met such a good girlfriend like Li Yinuo, her kindness made him feel uneasy.

Nan Gengchen continued, "People always say that a man should first establish a career before starting a family. I don't want her to look down on me."

Qing Chen patiently told him, "What you heard is an incomplete saying. The right one should be; if you meet a good person, start a family, if you meet a benefactor, start a business, if you meet a rich woman, start both a family and a business..."

Nan Gengchen: "..."

"Let's not talk about this for now." Qing Chen paused. "What do you plan on doing next? Stay at my house?"

"I don't dare to go back," Nan Gengchen aggrievedly said, "I'll only get a beating if I go back. Brother Chen, how about you help me to report my dad? You're familiar with the procedure."

Qing Chen pondered for a long time. "How does your father usually gamble?"

"Mahjong."

"Do you know where his gambling den is?"

"I don't," Nan Gengchen sighed, "If I knew, I would've already reported him myself."

"It's okay," Qing Chen calmly said, "You stay at my house first. I'll help you deal with this matter."

......

After returning home, Yangyang didn't immediately go to sleep. Recalling the past few days she had spent with Qing Chen, she felt that this boy was hiding far more things than it looked on the surface.

He didn't feel like a high school student at all. The level of composure, calmness, and wit that he showed in times of trouble wasn't something a high school student from a small city could possibly have.

She suddenly became very curious—just what kind of past did Qing Chen have?

The next day at school, she used the lull time in between classes to call out Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen.

Yangyang asked, "The house Qing Chen lives in now, you're the one who rented it to him?"

"Yes," Hu Xiaoniu nodded. "We rented it to him at 1,400 yuan per month. The market price is 1,200, we increased the price by 200."

"That's reasonable. The house has been furnished really well, 200 is cheap for all that," Yang Yang nodded.

"By the way, the place you're staying in now is his former house," Hu Xiaoniu said, "When his father sold the house, Qing Chen was kicked out before he even had the time to pack his things."

Yangyang was stunned for a moment—didn't this mean that Qing Chen used to live in the house she was currently living in?

When she moved there, she only changed the bed and installed a TV and a computer. Everything else was left as it was.

Then she could try to look around the house to see if she could find some clues about Qing Chen.

Yangyang asked, "I'm curious, what's the situation with his family? Why did his father sell his own house? And just what kind of person is Qing Chen?"

"I've also asked other students about Qing Chen," Zhang Tianzhen said, "What's surprising is that the whole school actually knows about him. They said that he has never been ranked below top three in all the exams."

"That alone won't make him famous in the whole school," Yangyang thought and said, "Do you know the names of the top three students in our previous school? Most people won't remember about this."

"True," Hu Xiaoniu explained, "They told me that the main point isn't that he studies well, but that he has been working part-time since the first year started. In the first year of high school, some students saw him working the night shift as a server in a karaoke box, some saw him working as a waiter at a roadside barbecue stall, and others also saw him working in KFC, McDonald's, and convenience stores. In short, Qing Chen has been doing all kinds of odd jobs to earn tuition and living expenses for himself."

"He also won't behave awkwardly if a classmate bumps into him," Zhang Tianzhen supplied, "If they were in his shoes, I think most people would've been embarrassed and ashamed of this situation, but the students said that Qing Chen wasn't like that. He would greet everyone very naturally without being overly enthusiastic or overly timid. Once, someone had also asked him if he would feel embarrassed because of this, but Qing Chen answered that there's nothing to be ashamed of about earning money with his own hands to support himself."

At this moment, Yangyang suddenly remembered what Qing Chen had said to her.

It wasn't that he wanted to work his body to the bone, but that the world had finally given him a chance to turn his life around, so he had to put in all his blood, sweat and tears in order to grasp the opportunity.

Qing Chen had no other choice.

Yangyang had never personally seen this kind of situation before. The lives of people like her, Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen had always been shrouded in light, so it was hard to imagine how difficult life in the dark was.

Qing Chen was different from any other classmates she had ever met.

Zhang Tianzhen added, "Oh yeah, the teachers also know about his situation, so they never punish him for skipping classes. They say that in the first year, he made a promise to the teachers never to fall out of the top three ranks. If he did, he would stop skipping classes and attend school properly."

"So that's how it is," Yangyang hummed. "Does his parents not care about him?"

"His parents divorced a long time ago and his father is a chronic gambler, it's for his gambling money that he sold Qing Chen's house not too long ago," Hu Xiaoniu answered. "When his father sold the house, I happened to hear it because we were neighbours. Since he encountered this kind of thing, I thought he would be down and show his vulnerable side, but when I went to check up on him, he was actually still as calm as usual, as if whatever happened just now had nothing to do with him."

"Where's his father now?" asked Yangyang.

"Oh, Qing Chen reported him to the police for illegal gambling." Hu Xiaoniu couldn't help hissing a little as he said this. "After you reminded me not to mess with him, I asked someone to check his family background and unexpectedly found out that his father had been detained. Now, the judiciary has filed a case against his father. According to our family lawyer, he will be sentenced to at least one year of prison term."

Yangyang was stunned. She didn't expect that Qing Chen would do it so decisively...

Suddenly, Hu Xiaoniu looked at Yangyang. "He's also a time traveler, right? Why did you tell us not to mess with him? What's his identity in the Inner World?"

"I don't think his identity is very important," Yangyang shook her head. "No matter where you put him, this kind of person will succeed sooner or later. Rather than focusing on Liu Dezhu, I think it's better for you guys to invest in him instead."

Zhang Tianzhen said, "Yangyang, you can at least tell us a little something."

"No," Yangyang refused. "I'll never rat on someone like him who's been working so hard to survive. I suggest you guys should also not try this in the future."

After skipping the evening class and returning home, Yangyang immediately began to search the house, wanting to see what Qing Chen might have left behind in this place.

She first rummaged through the bookcase and even flipped through every book, but found nothing.

She then went on to check all the drawers, but everything was practically empty.

This made her feel very disappointed. She laid back on the bed and sank deep into thoughts. Nobody knew what was on her mind.

But just as she turned over to the side, she suddenly saw a line of tiny letters carved on the white wall beside the bed.

Cattle and sheep flock into herds, but the tiger walks alone.

Yangyang stroked the indented marks with her fingers. She could even imagine the boy's unyielding expression at the loneliest time of the night.

She was thinking—wouldn't it be interesting to form a team with such a person?

But wait a moment. For a while now, she had been feeling like there was something missing in the house...

She pondered over and over again, and suddenly raised her head in shock. What about her meal ticket?

According to the usual practice, there should be a daily letter of meal ticket lying next to her pillow by now, so why was there nothing today?!

How was she going to justifiably earn her meal now!

Yangyang ran upstairs and knocked on the door. When Hu Xiaoniu opened the door, she looked at him and asked, "Have you ever received a letter from the owner of the Devil Stamp Post?"

After the Laojun Mountain incident, Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen had also become involved in this web. According to the personality of the owner, he should have tried sending them a letter.

"I have," Hu Xiaoniu solemnly replied, "What's the matter? Did you receive it too?"

Yangyang didn't answer his question, but continued to ask, "Then do you know how to reply to him?"

"Yeah, he mentioned it in the second letter, but I've never replied to him until now," Hu Xiaoniu said.

"That's good," Yangyang said with a sigh of relief. "Please help me send a letter to him, I have something to say to him."

Hu Xiaoniu froze for a moment. "What is it?"

Yangyang said, "You write back to him and tell him to send another letter to Qing Chen asap! Quickly, I'll be waiting for it, it's urgent!"

Hu Xiaoniu: "???"

What kind of ploy was this?

Ten minutes later, a thin figure standing by a floor-to-ceiling window looked at the reply letter in his hand. He firmly clutched his hand, crumpling the letter in his grip as he grumbled. "Damn it, why does it feel like I'm being treated as a tool..."

In the end, Yangyang waited at home for more than an hour, but the letter for Qing Chen still didn't arrive.

She suddenly felt that this guy might never write to Qing Chen again...

"I was too hasty," Yang Yang lamented. "Why did it somehow turn into reverse psychology?"

Right at this time, she heard a knock on the door. Qing Chen's voice came from outside. "Dinner's ready."

Yangyang immediately jumped down from the bed with a wide smile on her face.

......

As the days passed, Luo City regained a brief period of tranquillity.

Everything was peaceful and quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.

He Xiaoxiao's group chat had also gradually calmed down. All the time travelers were preparing themselves for the next transmigration.

Countdown 00:15:00.

As Qing Chen stood up with sweat drenching his whole body, the invisible pressure of gravity simultaneously disappeared.

In the past few days, his cooperation with Yangyang had become more and more tacit. No matter how much he improved, she was always able to increase the gravity accordingly.

He took a quick shower, then calmly lay down on the bed and waited silently.

Qing Chen knew that at this moment, there must be a lot of time travelers who were waiting for the countdown just like him.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Transmigrate.

There was someone waiting for him in the Inner World.

Translator: Zee