Chapter 29: Internet Café
The school day had finally ended.
"Class just finished, I'm heading back soon."
"Had bread and milk for lunch, then fried noodles at a restaurant outside school for dinner."
"Yeah, I know! The cafeteria is even worse, someone found a metal wire in their food last time, and I heard another person found half a worm!"
"Mm-hmm, I don't drink soda."
Chen Cheng hung up the call with her mom, followed An Yuan into the internet café, and took a sip of ice-cold Coke. Instantly, she felt all her stress melt away.
Her mom wouldn't be back until Wednesday!
So, the moment school was over, she came here with An Yuan, along with a few of their old friends.
"Chen Cheng actually came to an internet café?"
"She probably just came to accompany An Yuan, right?"
"Does she even play games?"
The group whispered among themselves, sneaking glances at Chen Cheng with curious looks.
Internet cafés were often seen as places for "bad kids," while Chen Cheng had always seemed like the quiet, studious type. The kind of girl who would rush home after school to do homework and read books.
But in reality, she'd been hanging out in internet cafés since kindergarten. Her aunt owned one, so she spent a lot of time there as a kid.
She thought about chatting with them to close the distance, but now that she was a girl, she just couldn't seem to fit in with their group.
"Two temporary access cards."
An Yuan had already gotten them and handed one to her. "Come on, let's find a spot."
Most of them weren't old enough to be here, but the internet café didn't exactly have strict rules. The staff kept a whole stack of IDs in a drawer to use for registering temporary cards, and if an inspection happened, they'd get a heads-up and clear out the underage customers beforehand.
"Oh, what about them?" Chen Cheng glanced at their classmates still at the counter.
"Forget about them. Let's find a private booth."
"Alright."
The café wasn't divided into smoking and non-smoking areas, and the air was thick with smoke. The smell was so strong it made Chen Cheng's eyes water.
She found a booth near a window, opened it to let some fresh air in, and finally felt a little better.
"Seriously~ Ah Qiang and I used to be super close," Chen Cheng muttered while turning on the computer. "Now he doesn't even bother looking at me. I'm pretty sure he still owes me a few hundred yuan!"
"Well, you're a girl now."
"That's your fault!"
An Yuan chuckled awkwardly, then leaned out of the booth and called to the others. "You guys find your own spots, I'm sitting with Chen Cheng."
The so-called "booth" in this café was basically just a small two-person sofa setup. It offered some privacy, but not much, there wasn't even a door.
"What was Ah Qiang's real name again?" Chen Cheng asked, resting her chin on one hand as she chatted with An Yuan. "I've called him Ah Qiang for so long I forgot."
"I forgot too."
The computers in this café weren't anything special. By modern standards, they were practically junk, worth only a few hundred yuan. But here and now, they were worth several thousand.
Chen Cheng sighed, still resting her chin on her hand. She had originally thought about teaming up with her classmates for some games, but since she felt so out of place, she decided to browse for something else to do instead of making things awkward.
"Wanna play LoL?"
"Nah, I got bored of it ages ago."
She pulled up a movie, crossed her legs, and leaned back comfortably in the sofa chair.
Meanwhile, An Yuan opened his game client and got ready to team up with the others. He yawned, stretched his shoulders a bit, and rubbed his arms. Playing games was supposed to be fun, but his furrowed brows made it seem more like a chore.
"What's up?" Chen Cheng immediately noticed his unusual mood.
"Nothing, just some back and shoulder pain. It's an old problem."
"And yet you still played basketball at lunch?"
"Well, there wasn't anything else to do during the break."
An Yuan kept playing his game but kept getting distracted, rubbing his shoulder every now and then.
It was like he was born to be busy. In his past life, he worked overtime all the time, barely getting a moment to relax. Now that he was back in his senior year of high school, the pressure from studying was still there, but at least he had some free time at night to play games whenever he wanted.
But after just a week of enjoying this new life, he started feeling anxious. He had this constant urge to fill up his schedule, to exhaust all his energy. Every time he played games for fun, he couldn't shake off the guilt, like he was wasting time when he should be doing something more productive.
Technically, for a student, "being productive" meant studying. But An Yuan was a transmigrator. Studying wasn't that important to him. What he really wanted was to make money, build his own business, improve his family's life, and secure a good future for his wife and kids… but he had no way to start. He was stuck in school, forced to prepare for the college entrance exam.
"Want to grab a drink with me later?" An Yuan asked.
"Again? You just drank yesterday." Chen Cheng leaned over to peek at his screen. "Whoa, you suck! Why is your screen always gray every time I look?"
"Is there something on your mind? Spill it, maybe it'll cheer me up."
An Yuan: "..."
Chen Cheng finally revealed her real intention. "Don't tell me you're fighting with your new girlfriend?"
"New girlfriend?" An Yuan was confused. "You mean that girl from lunch break? Didn't Gao Dong already explain it to you? She's just a friend from the class next door, I play basketball with her."
"Wait, Gao Dong told you about that?" Chen Cheng frowned, annoyed by Gao Dong's betrayal. "That rat! I asked him to keep it a secret! Who is she, anyway? I've never seen her before."
"Well, that's normal, you don't really play basketball, do you?"
"Is she pretty? Gao Dong said she's a sports student, so she must have a great body, right?"
An Yuan rolled his eyes and pushed Chen Cheng's head away. "If it makes you happy, your figure is better than hers."
"Wow, what a thing to say! Why are you even comparing me to a girl?"
"She's not as good-looking as you either."
"Ew~" Chen Cheng made a disgusted face. "Stop feeding me this nonsense. I'm not some little girl who falls for sweet talk."
Even though she never really accepted her new body as a girl, getting complimented still made her secretly happy. She pretended to be annoyed, but her smile gave her away.
"Wait, you're only seventeen. Why does your back hurt?"
An Yuan paused, looking just as confused. "Did I ever complain about this in high school?"
"No, you only started having back pain after you bought a house. I always thought it's from working overtime and sitting for too long."
"Huh… really?"
An Yuan didn't think much of it and just frowned while massaging his shoulder. "Hey, give me a massage?"
"Got it! No whining about the pain!"
Chen Cheng grinned mischievously, rolled up her sleeves to reveal her slender, pale arms, then kicked off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the sofa. "Alright, turn your back to me."
An Yuan tilted his keyboard and leaned forward a bit, still controlling his game with one hand.
Chen Cheng straightened her back, but sitting cross-legged wasn't very convenient, so she ended up kneeling on the chair instead, bracing herself against the table. Then, with full force, she grabbed An Yuan's neck muscle and squeezed hard.
"Hurts?" she asked smugly.
"Can't feel a thing."
"Time for my ultimate move!"
Chen Cheng bent her arm and dug her elbow into his back, using all her strength to press down. "How about now?"
"Hiss~ Not bad, go a little lower."
"Oh, you're enjoying this now, huh?"
She hit his shoulder and back a few more times with her elbow, but since she was a girl now, her strength was pretty weak.
Plus, she didn't actually know how to give a proper massage. She tried every method she could think of, but even after working up a sweat, An Yuan never once said it hurt.
"Alright, alright. Not bad. I'll buy you a Coke later as a reward."
"Not bad, my ass!"
Meanwhile, in the main hall, Ah Qiang kept glancing back at their booth.
"Man, having your wife give you a massage while playing a game. No wonder he keeps losing the games."
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