"Not bad. She eats when she wakes up, plays after she eats, and sleeps when she gets tired of playing."
Chen Jingle sat on a small stool. He held the baby in one arm and leisurely pruned a potted plant with his free hand. Since the system had stated the practical class lasted an hour, he naturally had to follow the rules. He would just prune slowly; there was no quota on how much he had to get done anyway.
Little Mingyue lay on his arm, her curious eyes observing her surroundings without making a fuss.
"Huh?" Hearing this, Liang City suddenly felt the watermelon wasn’t as sweet. He said enviously, "That’s nice! Unlike me, I’m exhausted every day. I’ve been working on that civilization campaign recently, putting in overtime day after day. It’s so annoying!"
He worked in a township government office, and the workload was incredibly intense. Calculating the time, it had been almost five years. He was recently trying to find a way to transfer back to the urban area; otherwise, the fifty-kilometer round-trip daily commute cost a fortune in gas alone. If he could transfer back and have more time with his family, he would be perfectly happy even if he was just a low-level grunt. After all, a thirty-year-old who couldn’t even reach a Level Four Principal Staff Member position shouldn’t harbor any grand ambitions. A harmonious family life was enough.
Chen Jingle chuckled. "Actually, it’s pretty tiring for us losers to slack off at home every day too."
"Get lost!" Liang City looked disgusted. He paused and added, "It’s fine as long as your family understands. Look at you, living in such a big house all by yourself, doing whatever you want. So carefree. Sigh, it really is better not to be married."
"Oh, already feeling trapped in the marriage fortress, are we?"
"Just telling the truth."
"The struggles of a middle-aged married man?"
"Yeah, you know how it is. Once you have a family, you have to consider so many different angles for everything. Look at my phone. The Apple 16 is already out, but I’m still using an 11. I have to agonize just to switch to a flagship Android. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated at all. But now I can’t. There’s the mortgage, baby formula, diapers, and frequent trips to the women and children’s hospital because the kid’s health is poor. Teacher Zhong even said we should consider upgrading our car next year. Just thinking about it gives me a headache."
"Tsk, if a dual-income family like yours is under this much pressure, ordinary people don’t stand a chance. It really is the right choice not to marry or have kids," Chen Jingle said.
"You can’t exactly say that. Complaining aside, it’s not good to stay single forever." Liang City changed the subject. "Even though Teacher Zhong and I met on a blind date, we still dated for a while before getting married. I can say for sure that a sweet romance really does add a lot of color to an otherwise mundane life."
Speaking of this, his face immediately lit up with joy.
"Ew." Chen Jingle shot him a sideways glance, utterly disdainful of how quickly he changed his tune. At the same time, he gave a soft snort, feeling a bit sour on the inside.
Was it that he didn’t want a sweet romance? Anyone would be traumatized if, during their very first relationship, right after holding hands for the first time, they were told they were the other man—and not just the third wheel, but the fucking fourth! Chen Jingle had felt absolutely sick to his stomach back then.
Disgusting! How could a person be so disgusting?!
It truly was a case of once bitten, twice shy. He decided to simply keep his distance from all unmarried women around him.
"Who would have thought that out of everyone in our dorm, you’d be the first to get married and have a kid," Chen Jingle said, feeling a bit sentimental.
"Yeah, I didn’t expect it either. I didn’t expect the rest of you to be such letdowns."
"Get lost! Like you’re so great!"
Liang City laughed heartily, then suddenly sighed. "I told you before that I wanted to introduce you to Teacher Zhong’s younger sister, but you refused."
Under normal circumstances, he was reluctant to play matchmaker, as it was too easy to end up offending both sides. But he and Chen Jingle had known each other for over a decade. Even if he didn’t know every single detail about him, he understood his character, personality, and temper. It was definitely far more reliable than setting him up with someone based on hearsay from outsiders.
"There’s an eight-year age gap, bro!" Chen Jingle was a bit speechless. "The generation gap is too big." The thought that she was still an elementary schooler when he was in college made him feel incredibly awkward.
Liang City scoffed. "How do you know if you haven’t even spent time together? Eight years isn’t even that much of a difference."
Chen Jingle chuckled and changed the subject. "The principal contradiction in my household right now is between the ever-growing material and cultural needs of the family and my backward productive forces."
"Oh? I thought you weren’t short on money. Looking at this little villa, even I get jealous. If my circumstances allowed it, I’d want to follow your example and build one back in my hometown too." Liang City rocked in the recliner, genuinely envious.
"I’m not short on small change, but who isn’t short on big money? There are plenty of people who fall back into poverty because of marriage."
"You can never finish earning money. Are you really just going to stay single forever like this?"
"I’m waiting for a sugar mama to see through my tough facade and let me into her heart."
"In your dreams!"
"As long as a man is handsome, he doesn’t have to worry about lacking love from a sugar mama," Chen Jingle retorted.
"You?" Liang City snorted with laughter like a pig. "Maybe ten years ago, but you’re an old relic now. Sugar mamas like tanned, athletic college guys, or sweet young puppies. Who would like an old man? Are they after your old-man smell?"
"Get lost, you’re the one with an old-man smell. Don’t look down on a poor middle-aged man, get it?"
Chen Jingle was completely dismissive of the idea. With the system in hand, why would he worry about not making a comeback? He had originally just been lying flat, not accepting his fate. Now that he had the system and could see infinite possibilities for the future, it was even more impossible for him to give up pursuing higher-level life goals for some bullshit romance.
He felt an overwhelming sense of readiness to conquer any obstacle in his path. From now on, his greatest opponent would no longer be anyone else, but himself.
"Don’t look down on a poor middle-aged man, don’t look down on a poor old man, and respect the dead?" Liang City cackled with glee.
"Heh, don’t regret it later. I will absolutely secure a sugar mama and make you die of jealousy!"
"Alright, alright, I’ll be waiting."
Both of them knew this was just a joke, purely for the sake of banter. How could someone whose material desires were lower than average, and who had transcended vulgar interests, ever beg a sugar mama to keep him? Unless that sugar mama shared his exact level of intellectual depth. And the chances of that happening were lower than the men’s national soccer team making it to the World Cup finals.
As they chatted about this and that, an hour passed by unnoticed.
[Great job, baby! You have successfully completed the learning task. Reward: Removal of one scar on the palm.]
"Scar removal?" Hearing the system’s gentle prompt, Chen Jingle paused slightly. Feeling a subtle sensation, he shifted his gaze to the base of his left thumb. There used to be a stubborn scar over a centimeter long right there, but now it had completely vanished.
This was a scar left behind when he was seven years old. He had tried to copy someone sharpening a knife, only to jam his hand right into the blade. It had never faded over all these years. Yet now, it had been erased simply by completing a single practical assignment given by the system. Moreover, after snapping out of that "possessed" state, he could feel that he had retained some understanding of the planting skills.
Chen Jingle let out a long breath, a look of joy washing over his face. Even though this system had felt a bit unreliable at first, judging by the rewards, it was actually pretty fantastic! That was more than enough! As long as he continued to complete these learning, practical, and exercise tasks, day by day, he believed he would soon see a brand-new version of himself!
Just thinking about it brought him a sense of delight.
"What’s wrong?" Liang City asked curiously.
Chen Jingle shook his head. "Nothing, just thought of something unrelated."
"By the way, Lin Qiuyu is getting married over the National Day holiday. Are you going?" Liang City asked suddenly.
Chen Jingle blanked for a second, then shook his head. "We haven’t been in touch for years, and she didn’t invite me. I don’t feel like joining the crowd."
(Signed! Please support me, dear readers!)