073. Daily Life
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To be honest, Lin Nan always felt that his parents weren’t exactly the model of responsible parenting.
Since he could remember, the total time he spent with his parents was probably just a few years. Before elementary school, he pretty much lived at his grandpa’s house in the countryside, which basically made him a left-behind child.
After junior high, his parents decided the countryside school was too chaotic and the teachers were utterly useless, so they moved Lin Nan to the county city and rented a place. But after taking care of him for just a week, they were off to work again.
They returned about every three days, and when they did, it was either to crash into bed or squeeze in some time for themselves to unwind. Meanwhile, Lin Nan, who was just a confused middle schooler, suddenly found himself needing to live independently.
While other kids had their parents shaping them, Lin Nan was in a melodramatic phase, with a worldview somewhat bizarre by today’s standards, unable to fit in.
Luckily, he met Chen Yao, who helped stabilize his personality and outlook. But the experiences of his childhood left him a bit introverted and sensitive, and the lack of parental guidance made his sense of familial affection pretty weak.
Other parents would say they could tell exactly what their kids were thinking, like having a worm in their bellies. But Lin Nan’s parents might not even be able to accurately describe what he looked like. For Lin Nan, his closest connections were with his maternal grandparents since his paternal grandparents had passed away years ago.
Besides, the car accident involving his father was beyond his control. After a brief moment of moping, he quickly snapped back.
“Let’s go eat at a buffet!”
“Weren’t we just saying we wouldn’t go?” Chen Yao, who had gotten up from bed, originally intended to comfort Lin Nan when he saw him sulking again. But surprise! Lin Nan was back to normal in less than half an hour.
Chen Yao had vaguely heard terms like “car accident” somewhere in his phone and asked with concern, “Is everything okay at home?”
“I’ll head home next Friday,” Lin Nan replied while stretching. Then he yawned and added, “It should be fine. Probably just… expensive.”
Otherwise, his mother wouldn’t have mentioned that their living expenses might get cut off soon, telling him to find a part-time job.
Fortunately, he already had a part-time gig. Tomorrow, he could go hand out flyers—nobody would be fighting him for that in this sweltering heat!
“Why the sudden craving for a buffet then…?”
“Things might get a bit tighter financially, so I want to eat well while I can.” Lin Nan sighed heavily.
Thanks to the fact that there were a bunch of students around, the buffet price wasn’t too steep—about forty bucks for an all-you-can-eat barbecue. Just don’t ask whether the meat is beef, lamb, or pork; who really knows?
But for Lin Nan, as long as it’s meat, he was good.
Chen Yao understood a bit about Lin Nan’s family situation. While his parents might not care much, they still had some evening bonding time, whether it was playing singles matches or mixed games. In contrast, Lin Nan was so alone that when they first met, Chen Yao thought he was an orphan.
So even after hearing about the car accident, Chen Yao didn’t press further, yawning as he jumped down from the bed.
Suddenly, Lin Nan had a lightbulb moment.
He had magic, after all!
If he could just find a healing spell, his father wouldn’t need to be in the hospital, and they wouldn’t have to drain their savings on treatment. Then his living expenses would be safe and sound!
He quickly rummaged through Lilith’s memories for a healing spell, but after searching all over, he realized that Lilith had never bothered to learn any healing magic.
Not exactly a shocker. After all, he had thought about this the last time his stomach hurt from being conned by Li Na—he found nothing. Later, he learned from her that it was just magic effects. Even if there were healing spells, they wouldn’t work.
“Seriously, Lilith… you’ve lived for hundreds of years and can’t you learn a few more things?” Lin Nan muttered softly.
He wasn’t sure if Li Na would help out. She’s a Saintess, so it wouldn’t make sense if she didn’t have the ability to heal. But if she did, you could bet it would come at a steep price.
Lin Nan’s father’s accident hadn’t really affected him too much. From his mother’s tone, there didn’t seem to be any life-threatening issues.
After lying in bed long enough, Lin Nan finally crawled out, stretching lazily as he climbed out of his blanket.
“Xiong Da, are you going to the buffet later?”
“I need to catch up on sleep,” Xiong Da replied from his computer.
He had been up all night playing a horror game. The last time Lin Nan woke up at 3 AM, he found the three of them huddled together gaming, but by noon, only Xiong Da was left still playing.
Lin Nan had no love for horror games; when he was younger, he could watch horror movies, but now even going to the bathroom at night made him jumpy, especially since now that he had magic, the ghosts and monsters he thought couldn’t possibly exist felt less like empty tales.
Fortunately, his roommates were night owls, so he often saw one or two of them still gaming in the wee hours.
“I’m in, I’m in!” Tu Junhui waved from his bed.
“I didn’t even invite you!”
“I’m fat, I can eat your share back!”
Lin Nan rolled his eyes, wondering what that had to do with him even if Tu Junhui could eat as much as he claimed.
The atmosphere in the dorm was super lazy; Lin Nan couldn’t even be bothered to wash up after getting out of bed. He sat at the computer daydreaming while Chen Yao was already getting ready to head out for the buffet, doing push-ups on the floor to work up an appetite, while Xiong Da and Tu Junhui lounged in bed, one sleeping and the other shaking his legs.
“Stop shaking…” After lying down for a few minutes, Xiong Da couldn’t fall asleep thanks to the constant jiggling, so he had to sit up and slap Tu Junhui’s foot, then wiped his hands on the other guy’s blanket with a face full of disdain.
Lin Nan usually slept head to head with Chen Yao, while Xiong Da and Tu Junhui slept foot to foot.
“I’m trying to sleep here!” Even Xiong Da, typically stoic, looked a bit annoyed.
Tu Junhui sat up, puzzled, and looked at him. “I didn’t do anything!”
“Nothing but be annoying!”
Lin Nan turned around, confused, not even sure how they started arguing. But Tu Junhui was full of quirks, and deep in his suffering, he quickly jumped to Tu Junhui’s defense: “Hey, why are you bullying Xiong Da? Let him sleep!”
“I didn’t!” Tu Junhui protested, looking utterly bewildered.
He had that innocent look that even Lin Nan was almost convinced.
Chen Yao, in the middle of his push-ups, stood up, wiped his hands with a tissue, and criticized, “You, seriously, just admit to shaking your leg. Stop denying it—just don’t do it!”
“I suspect you all are ganging up on me.” Tu Junhui, ever the care-free one, wouldn’t admit a thing. “You’re just looking for excuses to frame me.”
“Get up and get ready for the buffet; don’t bother Xiong Da while he’s trying to sleep.”
As soon as Tu Junhui heard this, he immediately jumped off the bed. Chen Yao’s insistence was fine, but the problem was that this guy weighed at least two hundred pounds, crashing to the floor like a tank and making the entire dorm shake like it was an earthquake.
