Chen Yuan left with the watermelon and returned to the stall. The girl was still there.
"Young lady, your scale must be inaccurate. Besides, you can’t even prove you bought this watermelon from me."
’He’d be singing a different tune if Liu Huaqiang were here.’
"Oh..."
The girl was a bit intimidated. With so many people watching, she didn’t dare argue with the stall owner.
"It’s off by a pound. Give me a refund."
Chen Yuan placed the watermelon back on the stall.
"Young man, my scale is accurate. Don’t listen to her nonsense. Besides, there’s no guarantee she even bought this watermelon from me."
"I already went and weighed it somewhere else, and you’re still not admitting it?"
"But you have to be reasonable! What if she tampered with it, or swapped my watermelon for another one?"
"At your age, have you no shame at all? Will you only be happy once I call the police to come and get you?"
These days, the soft give way to the hard, and the hard give way to the reckless.
Chen Yuan wasn’t a reckless person; he was just standing up for his rights.
"Fine, fine, fine. My bad luck."
The stall owner was intimidated and didn’t dare say another word, refunding Chen Yuan’s money.
"What about hers?"
’I have to fight for the rights of this 210-month-old baby of mine.’
Begrudgingly, the stall owner also refunded the money for the girl’s watermelon.
The girl looked at Chen Yuan. Her eyes were bright and her features delicate, like an exquisite sculpture. But what stood out most was her aura—it was completely different from any other girl’s.
"Thank you," the girl said timidly.
"Don’t mention it."
[Mission Complete: Reward: 400 yuan cash, 5% memory enhancement]
The reward was credited, but he didn’t feel any substantial change.
After thanking him, the girl left, holding her phone. They were heading in the same direction, but not together, one walking behind the other.
But after walking for a while, Chen Yuan saw two other girls approach the long-haired girl. They flanked her, one on each side, and began whispering to each other, occasionally glancing back at him.
’She didn’t come alone?’
’Why didn’t her roommates help just now?’
’From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like she’s being ostracized.’
"Hey, handsome, thanks for stepping in to help."
One of them, a girl with a ponytail, turned back to look at Chen Yuan. She couldn’t hide the smile on her face, and there was even a hint of flirtatiousness in her expression.
"You’re welcome."
"Which university are you from?"
"Science and Technology."
"What a coincidence, we go to Science and Tech too! What’s your major?"
"Telecommunications."
"We’re in Finance. What year are you? Are you an upperclassman?"
"I’m a freshman this year."
"What a coincidence, so are we."
"It really is a coincidence..."
Chen Yuan wasn’t very talkative and didn’t try to start any other topics of conversation.
The girl with the ponytail, on the other hand, was quite chatty. After learning they were schoolmates, she seemed even more interested in Chen Yuan.
"Let’s add each other as friends. We can get to know each other."
"Okay."
Chen Yuan didn’t refuse. The girl who bought the watermelon was his mission target, and there might be other missions related to her in the future. Establishing a connection would make future missions more convenient.
The ponytail girl walked over to Chen Yuan, and they added each other as friends.
"My name is Wang Chuyue. My roommate is Song Jianye, and the other one is Cao Mengyu."
Song Jianye...
"I’m Chen Yuan."
"Okay, we’re gonna go now."
"Bye."
The three girls didn’t head back to the university; they went somewhere else. Chen Yuan returned to his dorm room by himself.
"From the time I left until now, have you just been lying in bed reading novels?"
"I want to move, but it really hurts."
Sun Pengnan lay in bed, taking the hand-pulled pancake and Coke that Chen Yuan had bought for him, wriggling slowly like a maggot.
"It’d be weird if it didn’t hurt."
"I just wonder if I can reach the 30-minute average everyone on TikTok boasts about."
’He even has time requirements for doing it himself. What a meticulous guy.’
"Are you planning to just lie there for the entire National Day holiday? Not going to get up and move around?"
"Maybe in a few days. It hurts whenever I move right now. It’ll probably be a little better tomorrow."
Sun Pengnan drank his Coke and ate his pancake. "Right now, the *Battle Through the Heavens* you recommended is the only thing keeping me alive."
"It’s such a classic novel. None of your high school classmates read it?"
"I heard them talking about it, but I didn’t pay it any mind. Now that I’m reading it, it’s absolutely mind-blowing."
"Where are you up to?"
"Xiao Yan has entered the Demon Beast Mountain Range."
"He’s about to meet the Sect Leader of the Yunlan Sect. That’s the best part. You should hurry up and get to it."
"Alright."
After finishing the hand-pulled pancake, Chen Yuan lay on his bed. He now had a huge sum of 1,000 yuan on his phone, and there were many things he could do with it, like upgrading to a better mechanical keyboard.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ—
His phone vibrated. It was a message from Wang Chuyue.
Wang Chuyue: "Chen Tongxue, Jianye said you helped her, so she bought you a fruit tea. Would you be free to come down and get it in five minutes?"
Chen Yuan: "I got ripped off too, so I wasn’t only helping her. Tell her not to worry about it."
Wang Chuyue: "But she already bought it. If you don’t drink it, no one will."
Wang Chuyue: "The Xinyuan male dorm is in Dormitory 3, right?"
If she hadn’t bought it yet, Chen Yuan would have refused. But since it was already purchased, refusing now would just be making a fuss.
Chen Yuan: "Yeah."
Chen Yuan went downstairs, and before long, he saw the three girls walking over.
Both Wang Chuyue and Cao Mengyu were quite attractive. Cao Mengyu, in particular, had a sweet, girl-next-door vibe.
But standing next to Song Jianye, they lost their luster.
The three of them were holding milk teas. Besides her own, Song Jianye was also carrying a separate cup.
Wang Chuyue and Cao Yumeng were carrying something together. It didn’t look heavy, just a bit big and awkward for one person to carry.
"Chen Tongxue."
Wang Chuyue called out, and Chen Yuan walked over.
"Here, let me help you with that."
"No, no, we can manage. It’s a mirror inside, it’s not heavy."
They had all just met, so everyone was still being polite.
"It’s fine, I’ll take it."
"Well, thank you then."
Cao Yumeng looked at Song Jianye. "Nian Nian, he not only argued with the vendor to get your money back, but he’s also helping us carry the mirror. Hurry up and give him the fruit tea."
"Oh, oh, this is for you. Thank you."
Song Jianye handed over the fruit tea, looking a little awkward. She didn’t say anything else.
Chen Yuan noticed she had a faint air of detachment about her. She seemed a bit difficult to get along with and not easy to approach.
’This 210-month-old baby of mine seems a little different from others.’
"Thanks."
Holding the mirror with one hand and drinking the fruit tea with the other wasn’t difficult for Chen Yuan.
"You guys went out together. How come you didn’t help her argue with the vendor?"
"Nian Nian has a bit of social anxiety. We wanted to help her build some courage, so we let her go by herself. We didn’t expect her to be so timid, though. The moment the guy put on a stern face, she got scared," Wang Chuyue said, slurping her milk tea. "We’ll have to have her practice more in the future. She can’t be this timid."
Looking at it that way, the two of them did have good intentions.
[System Mission: Your 210-month-old baby is now one year old. She is very timid and cries often. Help her complete an outdoor social activity. Reward: 500 yuan cash, 5% comprehension boost.]