It's good to be young

Their first monthly exams were coming up, and Li Qing had organized several practice tests in class.

Even though Jiang Nian had good grades, all those tests left her head buzzing.

She lay listlessly across her desk, resting. Only when Gao Wen and Nie Xuzhi invited her to go shopping over the weekend did she perk up.

"Sure! Shall we invite Chu He too?"

Gao Wen's eyes curved into a smile. "Of course! It's settled, then."

Jiang Nian chatted idly with them. When she happened to glance behind her, she caught Liu Fan looking at Liu Chaoshu with concern.

Perhaps her warning during military training had helped a little. Liu Fan had been keeping quiet in class and didn't seem to have done anything out of line.

But judging by that worried look, she had still fallen for Liu Chaoshu.

Jiang Nian narrowed her eyes, then turned her gaze to Liu Chaoshu.

Outwardly, nothing seemed wrong with Liu Chaoshu. But at this point in the timeline, his gambling-addicted father seemed to have started gambling again, and sometimes beat him, too.

Was Liu Fan looking at him so anxiously because she had seen the injuries from Liu Chaoshu's father's beatings?

She nudged 88.

[88, check whether Liu Chaoshu has been beaten.]

88 scanned Liu Chaoshu and spotted the problem.

[He has injuries from a beating. His father probably did it.]

Jiang Nian cursed inwardly:

[That damned old gambler. Being addicted to gambling wasn't enough-he had to abuse his son, too. Poor Liu Chaoshu. He's such a good kid.]

[Host, are you going to help him?]

With the Jiang Family's resources, dealing with a gambler and then supporting Liu Chaoshu shouldn't be a problem.

Jiang Nian thought for a while, then shook her head.

[Better not. Getting rid of his father won't resolve Liu Chaoshu's emotional issues.]

[He shuts himself away and doesn't want to burden anyone. So much of his thinking is negative and defeatist. Even if you forcibly pull him out of that situation, you won't change his mental state.]

[In the original novel, he only got back on his feet through Gao Wen's patient encouragement. I don't know how she first helped him, but it's better to leave this to her. I might not do as well as she did, so I won't take over her role.]

[This time around, I'll find a way to deal with Liu Fan. The rest will depend on the two of them.]

In the original novel, Liu Chaoshu had broken down after learning that Gao Wen had been bullied to death simply because he liked her.

He had never imagined that Liu Fan would kill her just because he liked her.

The person who had helped him had died because of him, while his father remained lost in gambling. Li Qing's ridicule and belittling, along with the crushing burden of life, left him unable to breathe, tormenting him constantly in both body and mind.

After that, he never recovered. He dropped out of Pluto and faded from the storyline.

Although the original novel never specified his ending, Jiang Nian could guess that it hadn't been a good one.

This time, she wouldn't stop Gao Wen from getting close to him. She wondered whether Liu Chaoshu might have a happy ending.

Perhaps even Jiang Nian hadn't expected the moment that made Liu Chaoshu fall for Gao Wen, something she had wondered about for so long, to arrive so soon.

"Jiang Nian, isn't that Liu Chaoshu from our class?"

Gao Wen looked uncertainly at the waiter rushing around a little restaurant.

They had gone out to have fun that weekend. While passing through a food street, they spotted a waiter helping out in a noodle shop who looked familiar.

The four of them took a closer look. Sure enough, it was their classmate Liu Chaoshu.

"He works part-time on weekends, too?"

Nie Xuzhi was surprised.

Pluto provided a generous amount of financial aid, certainly enough to cover basic living expenses. That was precisely what it was meant to ensure.

Yet Liu Chaoshu had still chosen to work part-time on weekends. Was his family in debt?

They watched the busy Liu Chaoshu from outside, but he didn't notice them. The restaurant really was rather busy on weekends.

They had planned to leave quietly without disturbing him, but Gao Wen suddenly seemed to notice something. Frowning, she caught Jiang Nian and the others by the arms.

"Wait. Doesn't something seem off about those guys?"

They followed her gaze and saw several swaggering thugs sitting at a table. Their hair was dyed in different colors, and they looked as though they were up to no good.

Earlier, they had been laughing and roughhousing without any regard for the other diners. Liu Chaoshu had politely asked them to stop, and they had quieted down for a while.

Now, however, they were staring at Liu Chaoshu again. The yellow-haired and blue-haired thugs in the corner were rummaging through their pockets.

Jiang Nian instinctively sensed something was wrong and suspected they were about to cause trouble. Gao Wen immediately took out her phone and began recording them.

Sure enough.

The yellow-haired thug actually pulled two dead cockroaches from his pocket and dropped one into each of two soup bowls.

They exchanged malicious looks, then slammed a hand down hard on the table.

"Boss! What kind of business are you running? How could you leave two huge cockroaches in our food?"

The diners stopped eating when they heard him, and someone even made retching noises.

"What? There are cockroaches in it?"

"Oh my God, this place looks so clean! Is the hygiene really that bad?"

The dining area erupted into an uproar. Hearing the commotion from the back room, Liu Chaoshu immediately came out.

A middle-aged man from the kitchen hurried out with Liu Chaoshu and patiently explained to the diners:

"Everyone, our restaurant absolutely meets hygiene standards. Please don't worry."

The yellow-haired thug shouted, "We've found cockroaches in our food, and you're telling us not to worry? Your hygiene clearly isn't up to standard!"

The other thugs chimed in. "Exactly! What if we get sick? Pay us compensation, or we'll report you!"

Stirred up by the thugs, the customers began questioning the restaurant's hygiene, too.

Just then, the owner and the other kitchen assistants came out, and the customers immediately directed all their anger at them.

Liu Chaoshu watched for a moment with a frown. The instant the thugs demanded money, he knew they were trying to extort the restaurant.

Furious, he spoke up:

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with our hygiene. But I saw you whispering among yourselves just now. You put those cockroaches in there, didn't you?"

Emboldened by their numbers, the thugs stood up and snapped back without a shred of reason:

"Did you actually see us put them in? Your restaurant is filthy! If you don't compensate us, don't blame us for reporting you!"

"We'll see if you can keep this place open then!"

The owner tried to reason with them calmly, only for the blue-haired thug to shove him to the floor. Liu Chaoshu grew even angrier and wanted to step forward to confront them, but the man from the kitchen held him back. The restaurant descended into chaos.

Watching Liu Chaoshu and the staff being bullied, Gao Wen stopped the recording, strode into the restaurant, and shouted:

"Stop!"

The yellow-haired thug gave Gao Wen a contemptuous look. "What, do you work here, too?"

Gao Wen ignored the thug and immediately called the police.

"Hello, is this the police station? There's a group causing trouble in a restaurant on Fengya Food Street. Could you please come over?"

Seeing Gao Wen call the police, the thugs grew a little nervous. They were frequent visitors to the station, after all.

But their red-haired leader had so many offenses to his name that one more hardly bothered him. Besides, they were merely "defending their rights," so even if the police came, there was nothing to fear.

Putting on a troubled expression, he tried to reason with Gao Wen. "Miss, we're not the ones causing trouble. This is clearly the owner's fault. How can you blame us?"

Jiang Nian and the other two followed Gao Wen inside. Nie Xuzhi looked at the glib liar with a faint, knowing smile.

"Oh? So you're saying these cockroaches have nothing to do with you?"

The yellow-haired thug sounded entirely self-righteous. "Of course! We only came here for a meal, and then this happened to us out of nowhere. It's not unreasonable to ask for a little compensation, is it?"

Gao Wen looked at him in disgust. "Bullshit! You put those cockroaches in there yourselves, and now you're trying to extort them. Have you no shame?"

The red-haired thug stared coldly at Gao Wen. "Watch what you say, miss! We haven't done anything. You can't falsely accuse us."

Gao Wen took out her phone, found the video she had just recorded, and showed everyone.

"Look, everyone! These people were trying to extort the owner all along. They've been using you to do their dirty work!"

Only then did the customers who had spoken up for the thugs realize they had been tricked. They turned furious looks on them.

Seeing that their scheme had been exposed, the yellow-haired thug lunged forward to snatch Gao Wen's phone. Liu Chaoshu caught sight of his movement, and his pupils contracted.

"Look out!"

He was just about to rush forward to help when Tong Chuhe swept the yellow-haired thug's legs out from under him with one clean kick, leaving him lying peacefully on the floor.

Jiang Nian quietly applauded from the sidelines. At the sight, she couldn't help remarking:

"It's good to be young. Out like a light the moment your head hits the ground."