Chapter 371: Curiosity Stirring

The next morning snow began to fall outside the window in Jizhou, the streets covered in pure white.

Yuan Youqin and Jiang Zhenghong woke up early for work, and their noise also awakened Jiang Qin who ended up going out with them to a breakfast shop across the street, buying steamed buns and spicy soup.

By the time he returned with the breakfast, Feng Nanshu had already woken up, looking groggy in the living room. When he saw him, she whispered, “Your little cutie just woke up.”

At that scene, Jiang Qin’s heart skipped a beat.

Having a beautiful girl at home waiting for him made him feel a bit dazed.

“Go wash your hands, then come have breakfast.”

Feng Nanshu moved towards the bathroom, then suddenly turned, “Jiang Qin, is there really such a thing like glass that you can see out, but can’t see in?”

Jiang Qin paused, then carefully responded, “There should be something like that. Different refraction might create a one-way effect, but I’m not sure since I don’t make glass. You could check on Baidu if you really want to know.”

“Oh.”

Feng Nanshu, wearing slippers, ran off to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face, then joined Jiang Qin for breakfast quickly finishing the buns and soup.

Jiang Qin wiped her mouth, “Did you eat enough?”

The little rich girl nodded, “I did.”

“I need to work on some stuff. You sit by me and watch TV, and I’ll play with you when I’m done.”

“Okay.”

Winter vacation was beautiful for Jiang Qin because his home had heating, there was snow outside the window, his feet were warm and the little rich girl was in his arms – like heaven.

Who needs New Year? Isn’t this it?

Seated on the sofa, Jiang Qin alternated between handling his mouse and resting his feet.

Yet, Feng Nanshu kept asking strange questions daily that sounded utterly bizarre.

“Jiang Qin, is there a machine that can stop time in the world?”

“No, we exist in a three-dimensional world and can’t touch that realm unless humanity enters a higher dimension someday. But I doubt it’s possible since dimensions are a human conception, and it’s pretty tough to imagine something we’ve never seen.”

Feng Nanshu already knew what Jiang Qin was sharing. She was the real academic but just wanted to verify to ensure the precision of the answer.

That’s called being meticulous and studious!

Jiang Qin wasn’t sure where her odd questions stemmed from, assuming she read another fantasy novel, and didn’t pay much attention, focusing instead on his work.

Through a laptop and chat tools, he remotely controlled operations at Zhihu, Pintuan, Linchuan Business Group, and the Golden Silkwood Fund, quietly advancing market-share in the offline consumer sector, while remaining static online.

Outlets like Xitian, Burger King, River Hotpot, and Qing Flower Pepper Grilled Fish had already expanded to twelve cities.

Convenience stores, fresh supermarkets, hotels, and various entertainment venues followed suit, all right on track.

As Jiang Qin stated, 2010 was a year the internet flipped everything nationwide with internet companies ready to cause a stir.

They held their ground online, but others were chaotic online.

On January 15th, the Pintuan’s headquarters moved to Shanghai. According to a Zhihu local promoter in Shanghai, advertisements for the “Pintuan New Year’s Festival” started appearing on local TV and radio.

Starting with TV ads and radio news was indeed a bold move. How else do you explain the wealthy being rich, unlike him who had to split every dollar in two?

But it seems Senior Sister Ye Ziqing was really pent up. She had just learned to walk and couldn’t wait to run.

It wasn’t a mistake, at least not yet.

Within the internet industry, it’s commonly understood that time is money, and spending accelerates progress.

But Pintuan kicking things off to such an extent did skew the atmosphere of internet business wars.

Jiang Qin could understand their rationale. After all, it was the festive season, and if this opportunity was utilized well, Pintuan might indeed dominate half of Shanghai’s market this holiday.

“Hope Ye Ziqing doesn’t encounter competitors too early.”

Jiang Qin released the mouse only to see that the TV had started showing commercials.

What’s this? A 2-carat diamond pendant with exclusive top eight hearts and arrows cut, all for an explosive price of $998.

There was also a Juyou energy-saving stove, which featured fire concentration, oxygen-aided combustion, money-saving, and fire-proofing. If Liu Cixin had such imagination, there wouldn’t have been a Wandering Earth at all!

Jiang Qin sarcastically remarked to himself, wondering if the little rich girl even enjoyed such ads.

He turned to see what was holding her gaze, only to find Feng Nanshu staring blankly in his direction.

“?”

Following her gaze, Jiang Qin curiously asked, “Little rich girl, what are you looking at?”

She snapped back, her lips pursed in a small pout, “I wasn’t looking at anything good, just the TV.”

“You even enjoy ads? Thinking of buying an energy-saving stove?”

“I…I wanted to buy it for Auntie.”

Jiang Qin smiled slightly, “You know how to make my mom happy. No wonder she likes you so much. Too bad the stuff on TV shopping is all fake, look at that flame, it’s just digitally added.”

Feng Nanshu sighed lightly and glanced again, “Jiang Qin, I don’t want to watch TV anymore. I want to play with your backup phone.”

“Hmm? Why are you bringing this up again? I already told you that phone contains business secrets and shouldn’t be seen by others, and you want to play with it?”

“I’m not others; I am your little rich girl,” Feng Nanshu said with a ditzy expression.

Jiang Qin pinched her tender cheek, “My phone is really temperamental, gets angry easily, very frightening especially to beautiful girls, the prettier they are, the angrier it gets, especially with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re really pretty.”

After he finished, Jiang Qin closed his laptop with a snap and picked up the remote to find a nice program for the little rich girl to watch.

He noticed she seemed lonelier lately, probably because he hadn’t spent much time with her these days. Little girls always want to play with their best friends, adorable as ever.

Indeed, Feng Nanshu’s attention soon shifted to a drama on TV: “What was that just now?”

“Friends Apartment, not very good. Just a bunch of funny people looking for fun.”

“And this one?”

“Rural Friendship Story, also not much. There’s a girl named Xiangxiu who can become friends with anyone.”

Jiang Qin flicked through the channels, feeling none were particularly interesting, just some noisy talent show reruns.

Feng Nanshu couldn’t help but yawn, seemingly sleepy, so she scooted over and rested her head on Jiang Qin’s legs, cute as a tangerine cat.

On a snowy winter day, the cozy living room with a sofa and meaningless dramas on TV formed quite a warm scene, at least to Jiang Qin; it felt like it could last forever.

However, the little rich girl didn’t seem to think the same. She rested on Jiang Qin’s legs initially facing the TV, but soon she sneakily turned around, intending to face inward.

Resting on the legs, face turned inward? What next?

Shocked, Jiang Qin quickly pinched her face and twisted her head back around.

What’s with the little rich girl? Fixated on my backup phone now? She wasn’t like this before. Before, she was curious too, but she’d give up as soon as I said no. Why this insistence today?

Damn, what went wrong?

Could it be I’ve become more handsome these past few days, unsettling this high-class beauty?

“Jiang Qin.”

“Yes?”

“Something’s knocking on my not-so-smart head.”

Jiang Qin coughed, feigning ignorance while grabbing a pillow, continuing to ponder what went wrong.

Meanwhile, Feng Nanshu sat with sparkling eyes, her cheeks slightly puffed as if pretending to watch TV, but her expression resembled a cat that didn’t get its food.

Anyone with experience knows that sometimes touching the soul with art is both tedious and drippy. At first glance, it’s love, on closer inspection, it’s still love. You have to watch for twenty minutes before suddenly realizing there’s action too.

But for some pay-per-view sites, showing you the front-end of love is all well and good; the action parts are reserved for members.

And since switching to a new site, Jiang Qin’s computer remained logged off, able to view only for a few minutes and lacking substantial content.

Even more so, Feng Nanshu was watching with her eyes covered.

This left her drifting between the known and unknown, puzzled all day with insatiable curiosity.

Simply put, the door to a new world had opened, but not fully, just a crack wide enough to offer a glimpse, but without focus. Yet, with or without focus, the door was now open.

Once opened, it’s tough to close, even if no one can enter.

Unbeknownst to Jiang Qin, Sun Na, damn, was on vacation but not behaving, sending him a surprise with a might akin to a nuclear bomb. However, he vaguely felt the situation was serious, so he tried everything to divert Feng Nanshu’s attention.

“Let’s head to Chengnan High School in a few days, alright? Old Guo messaged me on QQ yesterday. His cousin received a notice; they’re starting at the new campus in East City soon. Only a senior year remains at the old one. We should visit before it’s too late.”

“Okay, but Jiang Qin, why didn’t our high school have a health room?”

“??????”