America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 157 Singing in the Wind
"Aren't you awake yet?"

After closing the door, Li Xiaoen stopped lowering his voice and called out to the room.

After passing through the bathroom, I arrived at the bedside and finally saw Suffer lying on the bed, looking at something on her iPad.

Have you washed up yet?

Li Xiaoen placed the food on the table, sat down in a chair, and yawned. "I bought you brunch."

He stayed up very late yesterday, and although he woke up normally due to his biological clock, he still felt a bit tired.

"Thank you."

Sophie nodded, then propped herself up to sit up, the blankets falling off to reveal the pink pajamas she was wearing underneath.

Noticing a hint of disappointment flash in the young man's wide eyes, Sophie rolled her eyes and kicked him.

"I kindly bought you something to eat, and this is how you treat me?"

Grabbing the girl's ankle and forcefully suppressing her struggles, Li Xiaoen said helplessly, "In addition to the good news I told you last night, you must wear a maid outfit for me from now on."

What are you still fantasizing about?

Gritting her teeth, Sufiel raised her other foot and kicked out as well, but the young man caught it in his hand, and her face darkened.

"Stop playing, your food will get cold."

After explaining, Li Xiaoen's mind raced, and he forcefully pulled the girl towards him.

"what……"

She let out a gasp, and by the time Sophie reacted, she was already in the young man's arms. While she was still in a daze, she was placed on a chair in front of the table.

"You can eat it. I'll take the tail end of that part-time job with Apple."

As he casually spoke, Li Xiaoen woke up his computer, activated his academic aura, and focused intently on his work.

Without her consent, Suffer looked at Li Xiaoen and pursed her lips. She bumped her thigh under the table before opening the package and slowly eating her first meal of the day.

She looked away from the information on the iPad and was drawn to the young man's fingers, which were moving like a dense rain, and the continuous, rapid typing sound coming from the keyboard.

"Sean..."

Taking a bite of the avocado-topped toast, Sophie nudged the young man beside her.

"Since you can get into Professor Sedgewick's lab and have such an important project to develop, why waste your time on a part-time job at Apple?"

For most people, getting a job or even a part-time opportunity at Apple would be a stroke of luck, but she believes that Shawn Lee is one of them and wouldn't take such an opportunity too seriously.

Are you short of money?

"No, it was more like work to get a head start on adapting to the market and software development."

Li Xiaoen couldn't tell the other party about the system check-in task, so he made an excuse to explain. Then, the girl handed him a piece of avocado toast with one bite in it, and his hands, which were on the keyboard, stopped.

"It's too hard, you can share some of the burden."

It was just a makeshift lunch. Without giving it much thought, Li Xiaoen took a big bite, leaving a large bite mark on the toast.

Rolling her eyes, Suffer kicked the boy before lowering her head to bite off the two sharp corners on either side of the teeth marks.

"Since the goal is to adapt to the market and development work, you just need to understand the framework for implementing the requirements."

Sophie answered casually, and watching the young man type code without thinking, she knew that it was just physical labor for him.

"Apple's pay for tasks is much higher than the market rate. When you get a task, you might as well find a contractor online. Then you can check their work to see if it meets Apple's requirements."

"..."

"What the hell, is there such a trick?"

Li Xiaoen stopped what he was doing and looked at the girl next to him who was quietly munching on her toast. "I knew it. The daughter of an American capitalist is indeed black-hearted."

Honestly, although he considered himself quite clever, he had never thought of such a method before; he was indeed too honest.

Upon hearing this, Suffer paused in her chewing of toast, and her expression slowly darkened as she looked at the young man.

"Just a joke."

Li Xiaoen pulled his foot away from under the table, relieved by the girl's pressure, and said helplessly, "But I have to admit, it's a good method. Su Feier, you're really smart."

Rolling her eyes at him, Sophie turned around, looked at the pancakes in the lunchbox in front of her, and pushed them directly in front of the young man, saying, "You can have these."

Looking at the syrup coating the pancakes and the blueberries covered in frosting, Lee Sean raised an eyebrow, thinking about how the combination of carbs and sugar doubled the happiness.

Are you on a diet? You're doing great now, aren't you?

Before he could finish speaking, he received a sidelong glance from the other person, so Li Xiaoen had no choice but to pick up a piece with a fork and take a bite.

"Humph……"

Sophie couldn't help but laugh in anger. She was so annoyed by the young man's every word that she gave him that she shoved him hard in the leg.

"As for outsourcing these tasks, I suggest you go online and find Chinese programmers to take them on. They are cheaper and the quality of their work is guaranteed."

"You know all this?"

Li Xiaoen was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. Although it was a stark reality, Su Feier was telling the truth, albeit helplessly.

He had heard a news story in high school about an American programmer who outsourced his entire job to a Chinese programmer for a small fee.

They do their jobs very well and still have plenty of free time. Some even receive a salary that is almost free, which is more than what they would earn from outsourcing.

"Although it sounds heartless, it's still acceptable to them."

Sophie turned to look at Li Xiaoen, "After all, if the price they charge for your outsourced work is lower than the market price, they won't accept it, right?"

"I know that, I'll think about it."

Li Xiaoen nodded seriously, glancing at the girl beside him who was giving him advice.

He firmly believed that once the other person entered the workforce, their achievements would not be low.

The two chatted idly, slowly finishing all their food. Li Xiaoen also successfully completed the last part of his work before standing up and stretching.

Do you want to take a nap?

After tidying up the lunchboxes and cutlery and placing them by the door, Su Feier rinsed her mouth and looked up at Li Xiaoen.

During their psychology class that morning, the young man mentioned his habit of taking a nap.

"Let me take a nap."

Li Xiaoen yawned and saw the girl, looking relaxed and languid at home, standing prettily in front of him. He hugged her and slammed her onto the soft bed, kissing her red lips.

"Um……"

She quickly pushed the young man away, frowning. "Can't you be a little more hygienic? You just finished lunch, aren't you going to rinse your mouth?"

"Oh, I forgot about that."

Nodding seriously, Li Xiaoen got up and went to the restroom. "Don't move around, I have class this afternoon..."

Holding her as she lay on the bed, Suffer quickly removed the hand that had been placed in her arms.

"No, I just left it there, I didn't move it..."

As Li Xiaoen spoke, he put his hand back down, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath. "Go to sleep, go to sleep for a while. I have to go to the lab this afternoon too..."

"For your maid outfit..."

It wasn't until quite a while later that Suffer heard another whisper. Her brows furrowed, and when she looked up, she saw that the young man had closed his eyes and was fast asleep.

"..."

She pursed her lips, rolled her eyes, and rested her head against the young man's chest again.

……

When Li Xiaoen slowly woke up, Su Feier was no longer in his arms. He frowned and picked up his phone to check the time.

2:43 PM.

"..."

After a moment of hesitation, Li Xiaoen suddenly opened her eyes wide, got up, and quickly put on her clothes.

This gentle embrace forcibly disrupted his biological clock; Suffer didn't even wake him up when he got up to go to class.

Feeling helpless, Li Xiaoen picked up his backpack and went out, walking quickly towards the laboratory.

It was during class time when Li Xiaoen suddenly appeared at the lab door with a backpack, attracting the attention of everyone inside. He nodded apologetically to Professor Sedgewick before returning to his seat.

[Halo Effect in the Beginner Learning Field: Unlocked]

Li Xiaoen glanced at the other students in the lab, and also cast a blessing on some of them who were frowning and deep in thought, before focusing on perfecting the reasoning model...

Friday was spent in class and focused on optimizing the model, and Saturday morning arrived.

Li Xiaoen got up early, washed up and went out. In the parking lot, he saw Amelia looking at him with a blank expression.

The autumn mornings are refreshing and pleasant, with blue skies, white clouds, and soft morning light; the air you breathe carries a slight coolness.

"Beautiful lady, are you waiting for a prince on a white horse to fall from the sky?"

As the other person approached, Li Xiaoen teased and laughed.

There was a reason for this. Whether it was because it was the weekend or because she was going to another school to meet more people, Amelia had clearly dressed up today. She had changed out of the more casual and loose T-shirt and jeans she wore on weekdays a few days ago and put on a knitted long-sleeved top, paired with a beige silk long skirt, making her look much brighter.

Amelia rolled her eyes, ignored him, and looked around.

"Where's your beat-up car? We need to leave early and get there as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble."

"What do you mean by a broken-down car?"

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow, both amused and exasperated, and pressed the key button. A dull thud came from the door of the brand-new Maserati parked next to him.

"..."

Amelia glanced at him with a puzzled look, then looked at the young man in shock after realizing what he meant: "This luxury car, is it yours?"

Although parking spaces are not fixed, it is customary for almost every car to park in the same area, or even the same space.

When she arrived at the parking lot in the morning, she saw a luxury car parked in Li Xiaoen's spot and assumed it was some rich kid looking for trouble. She never imagined the car would belong to the young man.

"What you see is the truth."

Li Xiaoen walked to the driver's side door and rested his arm on the car. "Amelia, do you know what? It's because you said my car was a piece of junk last time that I worked hard and bought this car especially for you!"

"Did you rent it somewhere to show off?"

Amelia frowned slightly, bent down and pressed her face close to the glass to look at the scene inside the car. "I heard that rental cars are usually quite clean and tidy inside, with no unnecessary personal items or signs of use."

"Can't it just be that I personally like to be clean?"

Li Xiaoen retorted, opened the car door and got in, looking at Amelia sitting in the passenger seat, "I'm very unhappy right now. Just tell me a joke to cheer me up, and that will be my condition for sending you to Seton Hall University."

"..."

Amelia opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word, so she glared at him.

Are these conditions really that difficult?

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow helplessly, started the car, and drove towards Seton Hall University, scoffing, "Amelia, I haven't even taught you how to do a somersault yet."

Imagine how challenging it would be to get a serious person to tell jokes and make others laugh.

"I really can't do that. You should change your terms."

With a slight pursing of her lips, Amelia turned her head to look at the scenery outside the car window. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the roof. As she was surprised, the roof slowly retracted towards the back of the car, and the wind that rushed into the car made her hair disheveled.

The cool morning breeze brushed her face. She struggled to catch her breath, brushed the hair that was blowing in front of her back, and couldn't help but turn her head to look at Li Xiaoen, her eyes wide open.

The wind tousled the young man's hair. Facing the morning sun, he rested one hand on the car window and the other on the steering wheel, a free and easy smile on his face—this wasn't because of the car. She knew, and had seen it before, even when driving that beat-up car, the young man had the same smile.

With one hand, Li Xiaoen put on a pair of sunglasses and turned to Amelia: "Amelia, if you can't tell jokes, you can at least sing, right?"

"In this kind of scene, don't you want to burst into song?"

"..."

Not wanting to spoil the young man's mood, Amelia pursed her lips, looked at the vast scenery in front of the car, and finally spoke haltingly.

"Deep magical trees murmuring breeze, carry me home..."

(A gentle breeze rustles through the whispering, mysterious bushes, taking me home.)
"Tell stories of hope, hope there's a light..."

(As if telling a story of hope, longing for a ray of light)

Her singing voice was very soft and gentle, but Li Xiaoen listened carefully and was surprised to hear the light and cheerful singing from her lips.

This seemingly serious, somewhat nerdy American girl with glasses actually has a pretty good singing voice.

The song is Battles and Wastelands. He had heard it before; it was the song he used to listen to when he went for a run after evening self-study in high school.

"Amelia, is your singing really that bad? Why don't you sing louder?"

Facing the wind, Li Xiaoen called out to the girl beside him.

Amelia glanced sideways, then sang softly while trying to increase the volume, but unfortunately, she couldn't succeed after several attempts.

"Amelia, I'm telling you in advance."

Seeing this, Li Xiaoen said again, "Your voice is so soft, I can't hear you, so this condition doesn't count."

Amelia glared at the young man with dissatisfaction, then took a deep breath and shouted, only to have her voice drowned out by his loud shout.

"Battles and wastelands, battles and wastelands in me..."

(War and Wasteland: My View of War and Wasteland)
(End of this chapter)