CSDLIUD CH 04

Chapter 4: Hope in Hand, Yet a Conflicted Heart

Chen Nanxing thought that Chen An was angry with her.

She hadn’t talked to a stranger like this in a long time, and it had also been a long time since she had felt this comfortable in her own body.

It made her want to keep talking.

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Chen An, how old are you?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Then… have you ever had a girlfriend?” Chen Nanxing continued asking.

Chen An held back his laughter and pointed at Chen Nanxing’s head.

“Is there something wrong with your brain?”

“Uh… what?” Chen Nanxing asked, confused.

“Do I look like someone who’s ever had a girlfriend?”

Chen An gestured at himself from head to toe.

Only then did Chen Nanxing carefully examine his appearance.

The more she looked at his face, the more handsome she found him.

But his clothes…

He was wearing a tracksuit, a pair of sneakers, and an oversized suit jacket.

The combination looked completely ridiculous.

“Why are you dressed like this?”

Chen An answered naturally, “Oh, when I went to the bathroom earlier, someone left this jacket on the windowsill. I thought it looked pretty good and would keep me warm tonight, so I picked it up and put it on.”

The corner of Chen Nanxing’s mouth twitched.

No matter how she looked at it, the jacket had to be worth at least eight or nine hundred yuan, and it was still fairly new.

Would someone really throw it away?

Could this guy have stolen it?

Chen An had deliberately said it that way.

Seeing Chen Nanxing’s expression, he put on an embarrassed look and asked,

“Um… since I helped you just now, could you maybe treat me to… to a meal?”

“You haven’t eaten dinner?” Chen Nanxing asked curiously.

Chen An proudly replied,

“I did! There was a guy in a yellow delivery uniform who casually left a bunch of food behind. I picked up two boxes. He even cursed at me, but I ran fast, so after cursing once, he never got another chance…”

Chen Nanxing’s expression became extremely complicated.

A guy in a yellow uniform?

He casually left a bunch of food behind?

And Chen An picked up two boxes?

Was he sure he hadn’t stolen them?

But when she saw Chen An’s clear, innocent eyes, she wondered if perhaps he really didn’t understand these things because he had grown up in a Taoist temple.

“Well, that’s fine. There’s a 24-hour convenience store nearby. I’ll treat you to some oden.”

“Okay, let’s go…”

Chen An immediately stood up and walked several steps.

Then he awkwardly turned around, scratched his head, and looked at Chen Nanxing.

“Which way?”

Seeing Chen An’s dumbfounded expression, Chen Nanxing couldn’t help covering her mouth and laughing.

This guy was really too funny.

Chen An thought to himself,

Go ahead and laugh, little sister.

In my previous life, I spent more than a year studying all kinds of techniques for picking up girls. Dealing with you will be a piece of cake.

Chen Nanxing hadn’t been this happy in a long time.

She laughed so hard that her stomach started hurting.

Then she suddenly felt a warm sensation enveloping her.

She looked up and saw Chen An draping the suit jacket over her shoulders.

“Your body has only just gotten a little better. Don’t catch a cold.”

Hearing those words, Chen Nanxing suddenly felt an impulse.

“What are you standing there for? Didn’t you say you were hungry?”

“Oh, right. Let’s go this way.”

Chen Nanxing hurriedly suppressed the crazy thought that had just popped into her head.

Feeling the warmth of the jacket around her, she couldn’t help thinking that this feeling was really nice.

Then her hand suddenly touched a small box.

Her expression froze.

Thinking about Chen An’s behavior earlier, she immediately guessed what was inside.

Chen An continued walking ahead without noticing.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Chen Nanxing took out the box and carefully opened it just a crack.

Inside was a crystal-clear pill about the size of her thumbnail.

There was clearly a small portion missing from it.

And the moment she opened the box, an intoxicating fragrance rushed toward her.

Just smelling it made her body feel comfortable.

“Hurry up! I’m starving to death over here…”

Chen An’s voice came from ahead.

Chen Nanxing quickly put the box back into his pocket.

She glanced at Chen An.

Fortunately, he hadn’t noticed.

Otherwise, he might misunderstand…

“Wait for me…”

At this point, Chen Nanxing already believed him eighty to ninety percent.

That sensation couldn’t have been fake.

What Chen An had said was very likely true.

If she took this medicine, perhaps her illness could be completely cured.

Then she wouldn’t have to worry about her parents having to endure the pain of losing their daughter.

She wouldn’t have to watch Hongdou cry so bitterly.

She wouldn’t have to leave behind so many regrets…

As she thought about it, her hand unconsciously tightened around the box.

Suddenly, a clear sensation passed through her mind.

She immediately realized that she couldn’t think this way.

Even more importantly, she couldn’t actually do it.

This medicine was incredibly precious.

Chen An had already been willing to give her a portion of it.

She should be grateful.

She couldn’t do something that would repay kindness with betrayal.

Even if she survived, she would feel guilty whenever she faced Chen An.

Chen An had deliberately arranged all of this.

He had been watching the woman’s reaction the entire time.

If she tried to secretly take the medicine, he could stop her immediately.

If she didn’t…

That would mean his plan could work.

As things stood, the medicine seemed to be useful only to himself and this woman.

As for selling it for money?

What a joke.

Where had the medicine come from?

Was it actually real?

Did it really work?

If he told someone about it, wouldn’t they think he was mentally ill?

Or would they first make him find a lab rat or a puppy and conduct an experiment?

Besides, Chen An now had a system.

Since he had already obtained one pill, there would definitely be a way to get another.

The most important thing right now was to win over the woman in front of him.

That way, he wouldn’t have to go hungry all the time.

And he genuinely liked her personality.

One of them was preoccupied with the pill.

The other was preoccupied with the system.

Neither said anything.

In the quiet garden, the only sounds were their footsteps, their breathing, and the faint rustling of the wind.

After some careful thought, Chen An also roughly understood the system’s functions.

It was basically a points-based lottery system.

At present, only the beginner lottery was available.

One draw cost one hundred points, and the prizes were all kinds of things.

As for the intermediate lottery, it would only become available after the system was upgraded.

As expected, the source of the points was connected to this woman.

One intimate interaction with a female protagonist from a television series would earn him one hundred points.

With an ordinary woman, he would only get one point.

The corner of Chen An’s mouth twitched.

Good grief.

Isn’t this basically encouraging me to become a womanizer?

And judging by this, he and Chen Nanxing really were destined to become entangled with each other.

A match made by Heaven?

The two arrived at the convenience store.

For the time being, they both pushed their complicated thoughts aside.

Chen An quickly slipped into the role he had created for himself.

He acted as though he had never seen the outside world before, his appetite stirred by all the delicious smells around him.

Meanwhile, Chen Nanxing unexpectedly felt as though she had returned to her school days.

Two meals of oden a day.

Spending the evenings with Hongdou.

And spending the nights with Chen An?

“This one is delicious! I love this radish the most. You have to try it.”

Chen Nanxing ordered a large amount of food for Chen An, seemingly afraid that he wouldn’t get enough to eat.

She even bought two bottles of drinks and handed one to him.

The convenience store clerk looked at Chen An with undisguised contempt.

Good grief.

This man is blessed with such a handsome face, yet his girlfriend is hospitalized and he still has to rely on her to take care of him.

And judging from the looks of it, she must be seriously ill. After all, nobody around here gets hospitalized for some minor illness.

“It’s actually pretty good. What’s this called?” Chen An asked curiously.

“Oden. When I was in school, I especially loved this and malatang.”

Chen Nanxing had completely opened up by now and began talking about her school days.

Chen An casually responded from time to time.

His main focus was on eating.

It wasn’t that he was truly starving.

More importantly, he needed to maintain the persona he had created.

He had to act as though he was extremely interested in food.

As for the stories about school, he had to show the appropriate amount of curiosity and confusion.

Chen Nanxing wasn’t surprised by Chen An’s reactions at all.

By now, she already believed his story and identity.

So all of his strange behavior made perfect sense to her.