Chapter 43: Chapter 42: I Miss You Too
The red chili oil pot was still boiling, with a few slices of lamb floating inside.
Charles Jennings couldn’t handle spicy food, but he suddenly felt a strong urge to taste it.
He picked up the chopsticks he hadn’t touched, plucked out a floating slice of lamb, and had just put it in his mouth when the spiciness made him cover his lips, unable to stop a few coughs.
Once he swallowed the slice of lamb, a fiery, uncomfortable sensation quickly spread through his stomach.
The sun set. Joanna Kennedy arrived by train in a neighboring coastal city.
After getting off the train, she wandered the streets, dragging her suitcase. She saw "Help Wanted" signs posted on the doors of many roadside shops: salesperson, customer service, dishwasher.
The wages offered were all standard, nothing special.
’Didn’t you just get a windfall? Why are you looking at these help wanted signs?’ 166 said sarcastically.
Joanna Kennedy stared at the recruitment notice for a supermarket cashier for a while before saying, ’You don’t get it. It’s a bad habit to just sit around and squander your savings.’
166, having been inexplicably lectured: ’......’
’How come that actually makes a lot of sense?’
Her phone rang. Joanna Kennedy’s gaze shifted from the recruitment notice. A name she knew all too well was displayed on the screen.
Joanna Kennedy stared at the name for a long time without moving. Just as the call was about to automatically disconnect, she lightly tapped the green answer button.
She took a deep breath, her voice light and cheerful. "Miss me?~~"
Far from Aethelburg, at the closed-off competition venue, the participating students were all housed in dormitories, two to a room.
Simon Lockwood stood on the dorm balcony, gazing at the moon outside as the girl’s sweet voice reached his ears.
The end of her words trailed off like a little tail, hooking his heart and making it go soft.
Simon Lockwood unconsciously rubbed the tips of his burning ears. Emboldened by the fact that she couldn’t see him, he replied in a low, stuffy voice, "Yeah..."
"I miss you..." Simon Lockwood said.
".........."
Her vision blurred. Joanna Kennedy tilted her head up and widened her eyes, waiting for the stinging sensation to pass before she replied, "...I miss you too."
Pedestrians hurried by on the street, shops were brightly lit, and traffic flowed back and forth. Joanna Kennedy stood in the middle of the bustling city, yet all she could hear was the low, soft chuckle from the other end of the line.
"...Have you met the other competitors?" Joanna Kennedy asked with a laugh. "Anyone who can make it to this competition is a top student. Don’t you get nervous, now."
"I won’t."
"Wow, is our Scholar Lockwood that amazing?"
"Yours."
Your Scholar Lockwood.
"........You’re so cheesy."
Simon Lockwood’s deep, pleasant voice replied, "I learned it from you."
".........Alright, alright, my fault."
A few girls who looked like students walked past her, excitedly discussing something. The sound of their voices carried through the phone to Simon Lockwood.
Simon Lockwood frowned slightly. "You’re outside?"
Joanna Kennedy lied, "Just out buying something."
It was a common enough thing, but for some reason, Simon Lockwood felt a pang of panic. He had always been sharp, and he quickly figured out what was wrong.
Simon Lockwood’s voice grew a little heavy. "You’re out buying something, but the people next to you are speaking neither Mandarin nor the Aethelburg dialect. Why is that?"
".........."
Joanna Kennedy’s heart tightened, but she was no longer the kind of little girl who would spill everything at the slightest scare. Her tone was natural. "They’re probably tourists. You know how bustling our great Aethelburg is."
"...It’s late. Finish your shopping and hurry home."
Hearing that Simon Lockwood believed her, Joanna Kennedy obediently agreed, "Mhm, I’m heading back now."
"Do you still have enough money?" Simon Lockwood paused for a second before saying, "The prize money for this competition is pretty substantial."
Joanna Kennedy let out a laugh, but tears streamed down her cheeks.
’How... can someone like this exist?’
Simon Lockwood had always been this perceptive. She knew that if she kept talking, he might hear something wrong in her voice. She forced her voice to sound normal. "Don’t worry, I have enough. You just focus on your competition. Okay, I have to hurry home now, bye bye bye..."
The moment she hung up, Joanna Kennedy couldn’t help but burst into sobs. She had no regard for her image when she cried; her wails were loud and uninhibited, like a howling ghost, making passersby turn their heads to stare.
’Can’t you... cry a little more prettily?!’ 166 was shocked by her pheasant-like squawking. It couldn’t believe someone with such a beautiful face could produce such an ugly crying sound.
’Does this person have no shame?!’
’SOB SOB SOB... I’m already crying, who cares about image? SOB SOB SOB.’ Joanna Kennedy wiped her face fiercely, indignant. ’In this day and age, do I have to be pretty even when I’m crying?! I refuse! I refuse!!! SOB SOB SOB...’
166: ’...Okay, okay... I was wrong, I was wrong.’
Mentally exhausted, it admitted its mistake and placated Joanna Kennedy, promising never to be sarcastic with her again.
Joanna Kennedy hiccuped between sobs. ’Really?’
’Why do I get the feeling I’m being tricked?’
’...Really.’
Joanna Kennedy pulled a tissue from her pocket and rubbed her red-rimmed eyes, making them even redder, as if she’d been punched. She said, ’I’ll reluctantly believe you this once.’
With that, the last shred of pity 166 had felt for her vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, Simon Lockwood stood on his balcony, staring at the phone after the call had ended, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
Someone in the dorm room called out to him. It was his roommate from the same school. "Hey, genius, can you explain this problem to me?"
After calling out a few times with no response, the roommate walked to the balcony in confusion, only to find Simon Lockwood staring at his phone.
’Whoa, he’s spacing out.’
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked again. ’Whoa, he really is spacing out.’
’What’s he thinking about to be this lost in thought?’
Simon Lockwood’s reputation as a "study machine" was well-known at school.
At this moment, the roommate discovered that there was actually something that could capture this Scholar Lockwood’s attention more than studying.
Simon Lockwood noticed him, put away his phone, and returned to his usual indifferent expression. "What’s up?"
"There’s a problem I don’t get, was hoping you could explain it..."
Simon Lockwood nodded, and the guy went, overjoyed, to get his paper.
Simon Lockwood subconsciously glanced at the moon outside again, suppressing the panic that suddenly welled up inside him.
’Maybe... I really am just a little nervous,’ he thought. ’It is a world-class competition, after all.’
In the end, Joanna Kennedy didn’t take the job as a cashier at that supermarket. The reason was simple: she was too beautiful, and she kept getting harassed by sleazy customers.
This was a coastal city with a thriving tourism industry. The surrounding old town had many cheap guesthouses; you could rent a room for half a month for five hundred yuan.
Joanna Kennedy cheerfully paid the rent, plus a two-hundred-yuan security deposit. She spent the morning arranging all her things, ate some bread, and now had less than a hundred yuan left on her.
Of course, if she included the two money transfers from Charles Jennings, she’d have enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
But Joanna Kennedy had no intention of using it.
She wasn’t particularly noble, but she wasn’t so low as to let someone buy her affection with money.
Since Charles Jennings wanted to be a sucker, she wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass. She would donate the money on his behalf, considering it a way to accumulate good karma for him.
Joanna Kennedy felt she was truly righteous.
