Mm-Hmm

Shao Shuangshuang stared at the empty room in astonishment.

"How did he know I was losing hair?"

Lately, every time she washed her hair, Shao Shuangshuang shed over a hundred strands. The tangled mass of hair filling the basin was terrifying, and she was terrified of going bald.

She knew that relaxing and relieving stress could prevent hair loss, but every time she washed her hair and saw so much falling out, she panicked. Once she panicked, her stress increased; once her stress increased, her hair kept falling out. It was an unsolvable vicious cycle.

Shao Shuangshuang thought of how, every New Year, her whole family gathered around one table. Winter sunlight streamed in, reflecting off the table and converging on a sea of gleaming bald heads.

Her grandfather was bald, her eldest uncle was bald, her second uncle was bald, her father was bald, and even her cousin was bald. Shao Shuangshuang desperately wanted to ask: what were the odds that she would go bald? The thought left her on the verge of tears.

She had even panicked enough to search online for ways to prevent hair loss. She heard that black sesame was useful, so she drank black sesame paste and ate black sesame pills every day, until she was nearly sick of them.

These were private matters that she rarely discussed with outsiders. How had Jiang Ning found out? They had only met twice—how could he have seen through her? Could her hair have become sparse?

Shao Shuangshuang hurriedly took out her compact mirror.

"No!"

Her black hair was thick, without the slightest sign of baldness.

She looked around the table, but there was nothing related to black sesame on it either.

No matter how hard Shao Shuangshuang thought about it, she could not figure it out. Jiang Ning had successfully left a strange impression on her.

After Jiang Ning left, he did not care what Shao Shuangshuang thought.

For now, he was merely testing the waters. When he came again and the time was right, he would show Shao Shuangshuang something extraordinary about himself. Then, using her as a driving force, he would begin his spiritual medicine business.

Businesses involving medicine required complicated approval procedures, and Shao Shuangshuang was the person Jiang Ning had chosen.

He did not know how capable she truly was. If she proved inadequate, he could simply replace her when the time came. After all, there were plenty of talented people in this world who had yet to be recognized.

With the hundred-odd thousand yuan from selling gold, Jiang Ning planned to visit Qiaozhou Herbal Wholesale Market. He intended to first refine a batch of highly effective medicines for difficult and complicated illnesses in the real world.

Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Aunt Gu had invited Jiang Ning to eat at her home yesterday.

However, his uncle had invited him beforehand, and it had been a while since Jiang Ning had visited Uncle's Home.

Jiang Ning went out to buy mooncakes. The mooncakes in supermarkets were expensive, costing several hundred yuan a box.

In truth, the flavor alone did not justify those prices. Most of the cost was in the packaging, which made them look more upscale.

Jiang Ning did not need that sort of mooncake. He went to an old-established mooncake shop on the street, only to find a long line outside. If he queued up, it would take at least half an hour.

Helpless, Jiang Ning paid twenty yuan extra and bought two boxes from a scalper, spending eighty yuan in total.

Without further hesitation, he returned to his rental and carried the mooncakes to Xue Yuantong's door.

"Happy Mid-Autumn Festival." Jiang Ning gave Xue Yuantong a box of mooncakes.

Xue Yuantong was a little happy. Few people usually bought her holiday gifts.

But she did not want Jiang Ning to keep spending money on her, so she said, "Thanks. It's a nice gift, but don't buy one next time."

"Mm-hmm, okay."

"Don't brush me off. You don't need to put on these empty formalities with our family." Xue Yuantong spoke sternly.

Jiang Ning could only say, "Mm-hmm, okay. I got it."

Xue Yuantong saw the expression on Jiang Ning's face that practically said, I'll still do it next time, and said angrily, "What do you mean, 'mm-hmm, okay'? I'm teaching you here. Don't waste money. You keep giving people things at the drop of a hat—I'm talking about you, yet all you do is say 'mm-hmm.' You're not even listening. It's so annoying."

Seeing Xue Yuantong ramble on, Jiang Ning found it amusing. "Mm-hmm, okay!"

That was way too perfunctory! Xue Yuantong was truly about to get angry. She pouted unhappily. "Still 'mm-hmm.' All you know how to say is 'mm-hmm.' If the teacher asks whether you know how to solve a problem, and you can't answer, you say 'mm-hmm.' If the teacher makes you stand as punishment, you still say 'mm-hmm.' If someone asks whether you have money to eat, you say 'mm-hmm,' then starve until you're wiping away tears. After wiping your tears, you say it doesn't matter, and go, 'Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I'm not hungry'... Oh, right. Remember to come to my house for dinner tonight."

Jiang Ning nodded solemnly and did not say "mm-hmm" again. "I'll definitely come tonight."

"Yeah, I'll wait for you to come back." Xue Yuantong crossed her arms and tipped up her little head.

Jiang Ning returned to his room, removed his SIM card, put it into an adapter, and installed it in his three-hundred-yuan smartphone.

He normally used an iPhone 5, but when visiting his uncle's home, he needed to hide it. At the very least, he could not explain where he had gotten the money to buy an iPhone 5. His uncle could call his parents at any time, and that would become another troublesome matter.

So he simply switched to this three-hundred-yuan smartphone.

Jiang Ning stroked the phone and swiped it a few times. After using an iPhone 5, using this phone again was unbearably laggy.

This phone was a Tianyu Little Bumblebee, a somewhat famous model for its time.

Jiang Ning had always thought his phone was a Tianyu Little Bumblebee. It was not until later, when he saw a classmate using one in class and compared them, that he discovered his was actually a knockoff Little Bumblebee.

This knockoff Little Bumblebee did not even have Bluetooth. It had certainly broadened Jiang Ning's horizons.

Carrying a box of mooncakes, Jiang Ning rode all the way to Uncle's Home.

He knocked on the door. Aunt opened it, saw Jiang Ning, then saw the mooncakes in his hands, and complained, "Why did you bring something when you came over?"

"Eh?" Aunt sounded surprised. "How did you shoot up so much?"

Then she called out, "Qitian, come take a look!"

His uncle, Jiang Qitian, walked to the door in slippers. Seeing Jiang Ning's height, he was equally startled.

"My goodness, you shot up ten centimeters in half a month. You're as tall as Longlong now!"

Just before school started, Jiang Ning had stood half a head shorter than Jiang Junlong. Now, they were practically the same height.

"I was worried you weren't eating well out there, but now I can rest easy." His uncle was sincerely delighted. His younger brother had entrusted Jiang Ning to him, yet he had not taken proper care of him, and he had felt somewhat guilty.

Now that he saw Jiang Ning shooting up in height, he immediately felt he had something to account for.

Jiang Ning changed his shoes and entered. Jiang Junlong smiled at him, while his cousin and cousin's wife greeted him. Shen Qing'e sat on the sofa and merely glanced at him.

"Uncle, aren't you doing business today?" Jiang Ning asked. Normally, on Mid-Autumn Festival, quite a few people chose to celebrate at restaurants to save themselves the trouble.

His uncle's restaurant was doing well. If it opened today, it could make at least several thousand yuan from the lunchtime crowd and another wave in the evening.

His uncle patted his potbelly. "You can't make all the money in the world. Celebrating the holiday is more important. I've been busy all year long—can't I rest for a few days? Today, we're going to enjoy the festival properly."

"Haha, look at Uncle's breadth of mind. Not just anyone can compare." Jiang Ning praised him.

Jiang Qitian was pleased to hear Jiang Ning say that. This was also why he liked this little nephew of his. "That's right. They've got money on the brain. As for me, as long as I have enough to spend, that's fine!"

Jiang Ning gave him a thumbs-up. "Vision. See that? That's vision."

Seeing how well Jiang Ning played along, Jiang Qitian thought to himself that his little nephew had grown taller, so the clothes he had bought before definitely no longer fit. He would take him out to buy a few new outfits in the afternoon.

The family gathered together in lively fashion. Although Aunt looked down on the poor and favored the rich, Jiang Ning did not live at Uncle's Home and only came by occasionally, so naturally she did not dislike him. She prepared a whole table of delicious dishes.

At noon, his uncle pulled Jiang Ning into having a couple of drinks with him, and Jiang Ning did not spoil the mood.

He was an immortal cultivator. A little alcohol was nothing to him.

Shen Qing'e did not speak to Jiang Ning the entire time, but she secretly kept watching him.

Jiang Ning, who had once obeyed her every command, had suddenly left. Even now, she had not gotten used to it and felt as though something was missing.

Recently, she kept wanting Jiang Ning to see her in a new light. Shen Qing'e herself could not understand this mindset. Clearly, she had never cared about Jiang Ning before.

Yet since school began, Jiang Ning's strengths had gradually revealed themselves. He was physically fit, exceptionally good at ping pong, and had grown taller—things she had never known about him before.

To be honest, Shen Qing'e did not want Jiang Ning to be doing well. The worse his life became after leaving her, the happier she would be.

In the end, she would stand before Jiang Ning and tell him that his choice back then had been wrong.

During some downtime, Jiang Ning took out his phone. Shen Qing'e immediately saw that it was not an iPhone 5.

The last time, Jiang Ning had logged in to QQ on an iPhone. Shen Qing'e had cared about it and deliberately paid attention in class. Jiang Ning had indeed been using an iPhone 5, and she had been puzzled then.

Yet now, he had switched back to his old phone.

What was he hiding? There was another chapter after this.