This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 163 A New Game Has Begun

I finished the steamed bun in my hand.

Seeing that Chen Shi'an was still fiddling with the wooden box, Lin Mengqiu couldn't help but ask for the third time:
What are you doing?

God knows why I'm so curious about what he does.

She could vaguely make out that it looked like a gift box, and her curiosity became even more irrepressible.

One moment I want to know what the gift is, the next I want to know who he's going to give it to...

They say things shouldn't happen more than three times, but seeing the girl stubbornly refusing to give up, Chen Shi'an finally retorted this time:

"As a gift."

"What gift..."

"These are the paints I made myself before, which I brought down from the mountain this time."

"……pigment?"

"Yes, indigo, carmine, gamboge, ochre, cinnabar, azurite, malachite, orpiment, and soot ink."

As they were talking, Chen Shi'an took out several large porcelain bottles and used a bamboo spoon to scoop out powder of different colors from them, which he then put into several different exquisite small porcelain bottles.

When Chen Shi'an looked back, the curious class monitor had already gotten out of bed and squatted down next to him to look.

"How?"

"Made with plant juices from the mountains or natural minerals."

"...How did you do it?"

“Different pigments are made in different ways. For example, this ink is made by first collecting soot from pine branches, then grinding and sifting the soot… to ensure that the final ink is pure and delicate; and this rouge is another example…”

"..."

The class monitor didn't understand, but pretended to understand and remained silent.

"What does the class monitor think of this color?"

"It looks very special."

Lin Mengqiu likes to draw, and only Chen Shi'an in the class knows that she likes to draw.

People who love to paint always have a special fondness for colors. Seeing such special colors, even if they don't use them, it's still wonderful to keep them in their treasure drawer.

"The traditional Chinese painting that my dad bought from you last time, you painted it with these homemade paints, right?"

"Okay. Just take some powder when you need it, and then mix the colors together later. By the way, I haven't framed Uncle Lin's painting yet. Has Uncle Lin bought the framing materials?"

“I bought it. He said he wants you to come to his house for dinner today, and then he wants you to frame the painting for him.”

As she said this, the girl didn't even blink, but her gaze drifted elsewhere.

"Okay, anyway, I don't have anything to do today."

"~~~"

Chen Shi'an is always particular about giving gifts, and he will try his best to wrap them up if possible.

He had made quite a few paints in his spare time on the mountain, which he had roughly stored in some large porcelain bottles. Now he took some out as gifts and put them in exquisite small porcelain bottles. Then he placed the small porcelain bottles containing different paints into the corresponding grooves carved into the wooden box. Finally, he picked up a carving knife and carved the names of the paints on the bottom of the corresponding positions.

Ink, Prussian blue, carmine, gamboge...

Watching him carve characters was a delightful experience for Lin Mengqiu. Although he was carving characters, his movements were as fluid as if he were writing. The carving knife was like a pen, but the strokes were different from the order of writing characters. From right to left and from bottom to top, the carving knife made no stiffness or hesitation on the wood. Wood chips popped out little by little, and one after another, beautiful traditional Chinese characters were carved out.

When Lin Mengqiu heard him say that it was a gift, and that it was paint, her heart couldn't help but race.

She kept waiting for Chen Shi'an to say that it was a gift for her.

But that stinky Taoist priest wouldn't say anything, he just kept working.

As time went on, even she began to lose some confidence...

Why would anyone assume that Chen Shi'an gave her this box of homemade paints...?

What if it's for that annoying cicada...?

Lin Mengqiu finally couldn't help but ask in a low voice:
"You said it was a gift."

"Ah."

"Then who are you going to give it to..."

"Does the class monitor like it?"

"..."

"Ok?"

Chen Shi'an turned his head and glanced at her.

The girl remained crouched beside him, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her usually aloof face now appeared dazed. She didn't look at Chen Shi'an, nor even dared to look at what he was holding. Instead, she glanced down to the other side and whispered:
"What does it matter whether I like it or not? Are you going to give it to me?"

"Yeah, if the class monitor likes it, he'll give it to you; if he doesn't, he won't."

"like."

Aside from her childhood, Lin Mengqiu hadn't expressed herself so clearly about liking or wanting something in a very, very long time.

When she said the word "like," her fair cheeks flushed slightly as if she couldn't catch her breath, and her usually relaxed, delicate fingers curled up.

"Alright, then I'll give it to the class monitor."

Chen Shi'an closed the wooden box and handed it to Lin Mengqiu.

This was the first time in my life that I had watched someone prepare a gift and then handed it to her on the spot.

She squatted on the ground, her heart pounding with a powerful rhythm, pushing warm blood to every part of her body. She loosened her arms from hugging her knees and took the wooden box he handed her.

It has a heavy, substantial feel when you hold it.

Even though she had already looked at them, she couldn't help but open the box again to look at the exquisite little porcelain bottles inside.

Her eyelashes trembled, and the corners of her mouth curved up before her voice could even rise.

"Thanks……"

"You're welcome."

Lin Mengqiu's legs were so numb that she couldn't squat anymore and finally sat cross-legged on the floor like Chen Shi'an.

After receiving the gift, she didn't say much. She simply held the wooden box in her arms, took out the small porcelain bottles one by one, opened them to look at them, and then smelled them. Then she carefully and preciously put them back into the grooves of the wooden box.

"Why did you give me a gift for no reason...?"

"Just give it to me if you want. Consider it a gift I brought back from my trip back to the mountains."

Sending a gift when there's no particular reason shows sincerity. Lin Mengqiu never expected that Chen Shi'an would bring her a gift when he returned to the mountain.

"I also brought back some local specialties from the South China Sea. I'll give them to you later."

"Really? Thank you so much, class monitor."

"~~~"

"Let's go play ball."

Chen Shi'an got up, cleaned up the sawdust, and looked at the time; it was almost nine o'clock, which was exactly the time he had planned.

Lin Mengqiu's early arrival at his house was unexpected, even by the girl herself, and she happened to witness him preparing a gift. His three older sisters, who had stayed up all night, were still asleep. Chen Shi'an sent Li Wanyin a WeChat message, saying he was going to Uncle Lin's house for lunch, and since his two older sisters were still at home, he wanted to give them some space to get together.

Chen Shi'an took the key and went downstairs with Lin Mengqiu.

Just like last time when they went to play ball, Chen Shi'an didn't bring anything. Lin Mengqiu carried a bag and took a racket, so Chen Shi'an took her racket.

After freeing her hands, Lin Mengqiu put her small hands back into her pockets.

"You bought a bicycle?" Lin Mengqiu asked.

"correct."

"You rode back from the mountains?"

"Ah."

Aren't you tired?

"Fortunately."

As Chen Shi'an spoke, he led Lin Mengqiu over to the bicycle shed in the community.

"Let's ride our bikes there."

"...I don't have a bicycle."

"I'll give you a ride."

"..."

Lin Mengqiu's little hand in her pocket twitched, her eyes already searching for Chen Shi'an's car in the shed in front of her.

"The class monitor even added Xiaozhi on WeChat that day just to find me?"

"..."

Upon hearing Chen Shi'an's words, the girl immediately felt uncomfortable.

That's certainly the reason, but... saying it out loud just to find me... makes me feel so embarrassed!

"Something happened in class."

"Oh."

"×!"

"The last time you replied to my message you said you were at her house, and then you disappeared. If I don't look for her, who else can I look for?"

Lin Mengqiu muttered, "Who knows if she locked you in the basement or not."

"Forehead……"

Chen Shi'an dared not deny that although Xiao Zhi had not locked him in the basement, it was true that she had tried every means to prevent him from leaving.

Lin Mengqiu and Wen Zhixia have known each other for so long, but they only added each other on WeChat now.

The thought that she was the one who had added her on her own initiative felt like a dream to Lin Mengqiu. It was all that stinky Taoist priest's fault!

That night, preoccupied with Chen Shi'an's whereabouts, Lin Mengqiu didn't bother to look at Wen Zhixia's WeChat Moments after adding her on WeChat.

It wasn't until Chen Shi'an replied that she remembered she had added Fanrenchan on WeChat, so she immediately went to her Moments to search for her.

She should have kept quiet until she saw it; it almost made her furious.

On the 1st alone, Wen Zhixia posted three updates on her WeChat Moments.

One of them is a video of her and Chen Shi'an riding on a country road (Chen Shi'an's back is visible in his martial arts uniform).
One is a big fish that she and Chen Shi'an caught (two big fish are placed on the ground as a background, one of her small hands is giving a thumbs up, and the other hand with the sleeve of a Taoist uniform is also giving a thumbs up).
One is a group of people eating and clinking their glasses (one is her small hand holding a drink cup, and the other is a hand with the cuff of a martial arts uniform also holding a drink cup).
In all three of the WeChat Moments posts, Chen Shi'an's face was not shown, but Lin Mengqiu could see a part of Chen Shi'an in every photo.

It was precisely this hazy, ambiguous feeling that made Lin Mengqiu unable to resist imagining how much fun they had that day.

She was so frustrated that she hesitated countless times over the button to delete the annoying WeChat account.

But ironically, even though he was furious, he couldn't help but look at it, and even went through all of Wen Zhixia's Moments, eventually finding himself at the very bottom of the 'visible for one month' setting.

It's as if she knew someone would go through her WeChat Moments.

Chen Shi'an posted on the morning of the 4th, and shortly after Chen Shi'an posted, Lin Mengqiu refreshed Wen Zhixia's newly posted Moments.

It's a photo of us watching the sunrise together on the rooftop.

It's a photo of her and Chen Shian; she's still wearing her pajamas.

Unlike the three posts on WeChat Moments on the 1st, Chen Shi'an made an appearance in this post.

Wearing her pajamas, the annoying cicada held up her phone and snuggled up close to Chen Shi'an, taking a photo with the cat on his shoulder.

How dare you?!

How dare you?!

How could you dare post such an incredibly ambiguous group photo, complete with showing faces, directly on your WeChat Moments?!

Lin Mengqiu was so angry that she jumped right out of bed.

It doesn't stop there.

Not long after, Wen Zhixia posted another photo on her WeChat Moments. The photo showed her sitting on the back of a bicycle, her small hand resting on Chen Shi'an's waist. The photo was a close-up of her hand on his waist...

Then, not long after, she posted another update on her WeChat Moments, this time featuring a small wooden figurine that resembled her...

Chen Shi'an only stayed at her house for a day, but she only posted these photos a few days later.

Lin Mengqiu finally understood.

This was shown to her on purpose!!

When that annoying cicada posted these things on WeChat Moments, it must have set it to 'visible only to her'!
One hundred thousand percent!
Looking at their chat window again, it's still stuck on that conversation from that day:

Zhizhi: [If he replies to you, let me know. If he replies to me, I'll let you know too, okay?]
Ling: [Okay]
October 4th, 08:17 - Zhizhi - [He replied to me]
Lin Mengqiu did not reply to her.

This is so annoying!!
This annoying cicada is clearly doing it on purpose, and Lin Mengqiu won't fall for its trap so easily.

The girl had calmed down by now, and casually asked Chen Shi'an a question:
Do you usually browse your WeChat Moments?

"I swipe around, checking occasionally to see what everyone's doing."

Chen Shi'an quite enjoys browsing his WeChat Moments. After adding many classmates as friends on WeChat, he would browse Moments in his spare time to see what everyone's lives were like.

Did you see Wen Zhixia's post on WeChat Moments?

"Which one?"

"It was posted yesterday..."

"Huh? Yesterday? Little Zhi didn't post it, did she?"

Ah.

really……

"Oh, I might be mistaken. It must have been a few days ago. You guys went fishing? She seems to enjoy posting on social media."

"Yeah, sharing your life is great. Class monitor, why don't you ever post on WeChat Moments?"

"...Not sending it."

Lin Mengqiu skipped over that topic and followed Chen Shi'an to his bicycle.

(End of this chapter)