Chapter Eleven: Sleep Eludes the Weary

On the other side.

After touring the school, it was free time.

Jiang Chen had just left the bank, and as soon as he got into the car, his phone chimed with a notification.

He lowered his gaze, took out his phone, lit up the screen, and opened WeChat. There was a red dot under his friends list.

[Friend Request: Sweet Dreams has sent you a request to add as a friend~]

He looked at the phone, his eyes devoid of any amusement, and casually swiped away the message. One hand lazily rested on his forehead as he leaned back against the car seat, closing his eyes to rest.

It wasn’t long before the phone chimed again.

[Friend Request: Hello, I’m Ye Mian.]

Jiang Chen raised his hand for a look, paused for a moment, then clicked into the new friend notifications. Seeing the name Ye Mian, his finger tapped the screen unhurriedly as he accepted the request.

—

Ye Mian had thought she would have to wait another ten minutes or so for a response, but to her surprise, as soon as she put her phone down, the friend verification was approved.

She looked down at her screen.

The interface displayed:

[I’ve accepted your friend request, now we can start chatting.]

…

Ye Mian’s breath caught slightly. She bit her lip softly and stared at the chat box, wanting to tell him everything that had happened today.

But how should she phrase it? She was at a loss.

Should she just say, your stepmother brought a man home? Or, your stepmother is trying to steal your property deed?

Or should she simply warn him to beware of fire, theft, and stepmothers?

He couldn’t come back anyway.

That would just poke at his sore spot. Who wants their classmates to see their family become a joke from afar?

After a long time, she finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

[Sweet Dreams: When are you coming back?]

After sending it, she found herself speechless at her own roundabout way of asking.

She thought Jiang Chen would probably be even more speechless.

Given his aloof personality, he’d likely only reply with three polite and distant words: “Do you need something?”

The notification came back.

[jc: In five days.]

Ye Mian blinked in disbelief.

[jc: Do you need something?]

Ye Mian: “…”

Yep, just as she thought!

Staring at the screen, she suddenly realized that Dong Yulian must have searched the house thoroughly. Since she hadn’t found the property deed, it meant Jiang Chen had hidden it well.

So she hurried to salvage her dignity with a reply:

[Sweet Dreams: Nothing, I just wanted to ask when you’d be back. Could I borrow your study notes to look at? I want to do well on this month’s exam.]

Ye Mian felt that this excuse was decent. When they met, she could return the photos to Jiang Chen as well.

…

By the time Jiang Chen saw the message again, he had already returned to the hotel.

He sat on the soft sofa, the warm yellow light casting gentle shadows across his profile, highlighting his refined and slightly unruly appearance. With his long fingers propping up his chin, he read the message from the girl asking to borrow his notes.

He raised his eyebrows, about to say he never took notes.

After a few seconds, he walked to the window, but instead replied against his nature with a simple, “Okay.”

He opened the book he’d brought along, contemplated for a moment, then went downstairs to buy a beautiful notebook.

He began summarizing key points from the book.

The questions were so easy that, with just a glance, he could lay out the solutions clearly.

But every subject had numerous key points.

He kept writing until late into the night.

When his brow began to ache, he simply rubbed it, took a sip of coffee as if unbothered, cleared his mind, put away the notebook, and only then opened his laptop to work on his own matters.

He didn’t sleep all night.

Ye Mian had no idea Jiang Chen had lost sleep over making notes for her. She, on the other hand, slept soundly.

Rainy days were perfect for sleeping in.

It was a rare luxury, and she didn’t wake until nearly noon.