I was approached by a cat-eared girl.

"We're going to the outskirts to dig some soil, and we're worried we won't be able to get a taxi on the way back."

"..." Chen Jianwen paused for a moment, unable to understand why someone would go to the suburbs in the middle of the night, especially to dig in the dirt.

I just can't understand it.

What I can't understand is how such a thing came to be, digging in the dirt in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. I really suspect that the wrong baby was brought in back then.

"Here's the key, now get out of here."

Chapter 248 I Feel Like You're Not You Anymore

Yangcheng is an inland city surrounded by mountains on three sides. The outskirts are mostly mountains and fields, and there are many kinds of wildflowers on the hillsides. They just picked the ones that looked pretty and were easy to grow and dug them up.

California poppy, purple coneflower, calendula, dayflower, oxalis, milkvetch, phlox, morning glory, and so on.

Chen Shuo filled a sack with all sorts of wildflowers and soil. On the drive back, his most immediate feeling was that he had broadened his horizons.

Based on his previous understanding of flowers, he had only heard of a few well-known varieties, such as roses, daffodils, lavender, and wild roses.

But hearing about it is one thing, whether you can recognize it when you're in front of it is another matter.

As for these wildflowers, if it weren't for the photos on his phone, he would only recognize the morning glory at most. As for the rest, the small yellow flowers, small red flowers, small purple flowers, and small pink flowers were probably named according to their colors.

Back home, it was late at night and they didn't have the energy to plant flowers, so they put the woven bag on the rooftop, took a shower, and went to bed.

The next morning, the first thing Bai Xiaoqi did after getting up was to call her friend over, and then the two of them divided the loot on the rooftop.

One flower for you, one flower for me; one plant for you, one plant for me.

Unfortunately, this fair division of spoils did not occur because Anya's house only had a balcony, not a rooftop.

If the spoils were divided fairly, her family couldn't support so many people, so she only took a small amount of each kind.

Anya didn't want plants like dandelions, which produce a lot of white fluff. After all, she was growing flowers on her balcony at home. If she put dandelions there, once the flowering season was over and she opened the window, the wind would blow the whole house full of white fluff, and she would have to clean it every day. This was completely contrary to her lazy lifestyle.

So Bai Xiaoqi accepted all the dandelions. Since they were growing on the rooftop, with a lawn and a pond, in an open-air location, the dandelions might just drift out along the wall with a gust of wind and spread freely throughout the neighborhood, greatly reducing the hassle of cleaning up.

And even cleaning is fine, as long as she doesn't have to study, she's happy to do anything.

Hmm, it seems like Chen Shuo hasn't forced himself to study for a while.

Bai Xiaoqi belatedly discovered this. From April until now, more than a month has passed, and she hasn't studied much, but Chen Shuo hasn't said anything to her.

Did that guy change his ways?

After sorting the waste, Bai Xiaoqi saw Anya, who was carrying a bag, out the door. Instead of rushing to the rooftop to start her flower-planting plan, she ran back to the master bedroom. Chen Shuo had just woken up and was washing up in the bathroom with his hair all messy.

Bai Xiaoqi came in with her hands behind her back, glanced at him, then glanced at him again, and then looked at Chen Shuo in the mirror.

Chen Shuo was puzzled by her stare. He patiently finished brushing his teeth, then slurped up some saliva to clear the foam from his mouth before asking, "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen me brush my teeth before?"

“…”

Bai Xiaoqi thought for a moment and felt that she couldn't ask directly, otherwise this guy might remember and urge her to study. So she asked indirectly, "Do you feel like you've forgotten something?"

"No."

"No?"

"Is there?"

Chen Shuo was starting to lose confidence; could it really be true?

People tend to have better memories as they get older...

No, I'm only twenty-four.

"what do you want to say in the end?"

"Well... um..." Bai Xiaoqi organized her thoughts and slowly said, "I'm busy planting flowers today, so I won't have time."

"and then?"

"And because there's no time, it's no use even if you try to urge me to do something."

"And then what?" Chen Shuo frowned.

"It's gone."

"So you came all this way just to tell me all this nonsense?"

“…”

Bai Xiaoqi's eyes flickered a few times, then she turned and walked outside. "I'm going to plant flowers."

“…”

Watching her leave the bathroom, Chen Shuo became increasingly puzzled. He washed his face haphazardly with his hands and then went up to the rooftop as well.

However, as soon as he went up, he saw Bai Xiaoqi carrying a wooden flower box that was even bigger than herself and moving it over there. Chen Shuo didn't ask any more questions and quickly went up to help.

The two of them first picked up the wooden flower boxes one by one and arranged them neatly around the rooftop. Next, they poured the excavated soil into them.

Chen Shuo wanted to use a shovel to shovel the soil into the wooden flower box little by little, but Bai Xiaoqi thought that was too troublesome and simply picked up the woven bag and poured it in.

Last night we dug up a lot of soil and filled all the largest woven bags to the brim. Anya took some of it just now, so there's only about 10% left. It's barely enough to fill all the wooden flower boxes.

Next, she dug holes of varying sizes in the wooden flower boxes, and then planted the wildflowers she had dug up in alternating patterns according to her aesthetic sense. Once one wooden flower box was full, she would move on to the next one.

The soil and flowers were readily available, so it wasn't difficult. The only problem was that when dumping the soil, she had to lift a large woven bag, which required a lot of effort, but Bai Xiaoqi had no shortage of strength.

The two worked for more than an hour. Bai Xiaoqi patted the dust off her clothes, then clapped her hands, making a gesture as if she had accomplished a great task.

Looking around, the two of them admired their masterpiece. Bai Xiaoqi was very satisfied. All these beautiful flowers were wildflowers, and they hadn't spent a single penny; they had gotten them all for free.

Getting something for free makes her happy.

Chen Shuo helped out for a while, wiped the fine sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and then went to wash his hands in the fish pond.

During the previous renovation, a water filtration system was installed in front of the fish pond. It was connected to water pipes and had a faucet. It was hidden in the decorative resin rockery and was hard to spot unless you looked closely.

After washing her hands and face, Bai Xiaoqi ran over and washed her hands too. Then, she looked at Chen Shuo and suddenly said, "I doubt you are yourself."

"?"

Chen Shuo didn't understand what she meant at all. "What do you mean I'm not me anymore?"

"Um..."

Bai Xiaoqi dragged out the sound through her nose, unsure whether she should say it or not. She suspected that this guy might have amnesia, but if she said it, he would remember and would definitely start urging her to study every day again.

After hesitating for a long time, she finally stammered, "I haven't studied for a long time... Oh, it's not that I haven't studied, I've just studied less these days, but you haven't said anything to me."

"You're only just realizing this?"

“…”

This time, Bai Xiaoqi was stunned. After a while, she asked, "Then why didn't you urge me to study?"

"Because I thought about it before and felt that you didn't need to learn it. Chinese is nothing more than the ability to express yourself and other skills, which can be cultivated through other means, such as watching movies or watching TV shows. As for math, you only need to know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, which you already have."

As for higher-level subjects like physics and chemistry, I think it would be very difficult for someone with your intelligence to learn them, and besides, they wouldn't be very useful, so you understand?

"......"

Chapter 249 A Traitor Appears Within the Organization

Not having to study anymore seems like a very happy thing at first glance, but Bai Xiaoqi also feels very frustrated.

If I don't have to study, I don't have to study. What's infuriating is that this guy doesn't tell me. Every time I skip two days of school, I feel guilty and then I go back to study. When I feel guilty again, I go back to study.

Skipping school may feel great, but it's actually a very complicated thing. It creates a psychological burden, and she experiences inner struggle and torment within that burden.

He must have done it on purpose.

That guy is bad!

"You don't need to study, but you still need to read books. Later on, we'll spend money to buy you a correspondence college diploma or vocational school diploma."

Hearing this, Bai Xiaoqi was instantly tempted. She knew a little about junior colleges and vocational schools. Vocational schools were similar to high schools, while high schools were something that elementary school students like her could only look up to.

As for those with a junior college degree, that's even more impressive.

The unfamiliar term "correspondence course" was what she didn't quite understand.

What is a correspondence course?

"This is a very general term. Not all full-time programs can be called correspondence courses, such as open universities, night schools, and online education."

Anyway, it doesn't have much value, and many companies don't recognize it. But you don't need to work for a company anyway; as long as the government recognizes it, it's fine. You can use it to change your education level on your household registration, so you don't have to worry about being illiterate later... oh, you wouldn't feel comfortable looking at yourself as illiterate, right?

"How much would it cost to buy a college diploma?" If possible, Bai Xiaoqi still wanted more.

"It's a bit difficult to buy a college diploma. The safest way is to first buy a vocational high school diploma and then take the self-study exams."

If you really want to buy a college diploma, you'll have to pull strings and use connections, and even then, it's uncertain whether it will be approved. But even if it is, it'll probably cost at least ten or twenty thousand yuan.

"So expensive?!" Bai Xiaoqi was shocked and conflicted. Should she go to a vocational school instead?

It seems to be OK.

Anyway, vocational school graduates are much better than elementary school graduates.

"What about vocational high school?"

"This is easier. You can get the certificate after signing up for six months to a year. It costs around five or six thousand."

"Why is it so expensive?"

"Why don't you take the test? With your elementary school level, what chance do you have? They even have to take an English test. Do you even know how many letters there are in the English alphabet?"

"..."

"Don't look down on me. I'm going to learn English right now. I'm going to take the exam myself, instead of paying for it."

Bai Xiaoqi was unhappy. This guy actually looked down on her. She turned around and went downstairs to start her hard study mode.

"Okay, that's commendable. It's a pity we don't have any English books at home, so you can't learn now even if you want to. Wait, I'll buy you a set of study guides specifically for self-study exams."

"Buy it, buy it! I'll definitely study hard after I get it, and then I'll pass the exam and show you!" Bai Xiaoqi was very confident. She was going to study hard, get into high school, no, get into junior college, and then amaze this bastard.

"Then I'll wait and see. Oh, and congratulations in advance to Ah Miao for successfully passing the exam and shedding the label of illiterate."

As he spoke, Chen Shuo cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to her. Having been together for almost two years, he knew this little girl very well. She was only interested in things for three minutes. If she could pass the exam, he would livestream himself running a five-speed electric fan every day.