When Li Yan got home, his roommates still weren't back. He figured Zhang Qiqi had probably dragged Liang Yuan and Lulu along.
For night owls, working until three or four AM and then continuing to party was totally normal.
Just meant Li Yan's beloved soup dumplings would have to wait.
Not that he could eat anything right now anyway. Still feeling nauseous, Li Yan threw his sweat-soaked clothes in the washing machine and headed for the shower.
Sitting in his room with just a towel wrapped around him, Li Yan started digging through the books on his desk.
His goal: find the shortest book possible...
Fewer words meant completing the task faster.
Li Yan had his whole day planned out.
After finishing the reading task, he'd go out for breakfast, then around eight or nine hit up a nearby massage place for a full-body massage and spa treatment.
He knew perfectly well that intense exercise after a long break would definitely lead to full-body soreness tomorrow.
Plus, Li Yan had been earning decent money through these tasks recently.
But he hadn't really had anywhere to spend it.
Not that he didn't want to spend or was unwilling to.
The amount was just awkward...
Couldn't buy a car, couldn't buy a house, couldn't even bring himself to buy decent luxury goods.
Even a basic LV t-shirt cost at least two or three thousand, maybe more.
With the money Li Yan had now, nothing really seemed appropriate to buy.
Better to keep saving. After three or four more tasks, he'd have several million.
Then he could afford sports cars and luxury goods.
For today, some expensive food and maybe a 998 yuan package would be a nice way to reward himself for all his recent hard work.
The good days were still ahead!
Li Yan stretched and picked up the Keigo Higashino novel "The Devotion of Suspect X" that he'd only read the beginning of.
He'd bought this book on a whim—boredom, impulse, following trends, who knew.
As for actually reading it? Nope, just the opening.
He chose this book because the other two were complete series.
The complete "Three-Body" trilogy.
The complete "Those Things About the Ming Dynasty" series.
Those couldn't be finished quickly, so Li Yan went with "The Devotion of Suspect X" at roughly 130,000 characters.
A hundred thousand characters or so—at his web novel reading speed, he'd be done within an hour.
As someone who constantly urged his favorite authors to update and always wished they'd write more, Li Yan had to admit that sometimes fewer words was actually pretty nice...
Opening to the first page, Li Yan began his 160,000 yuan reading task.
"The Devotion of Suspect X" needs no introduction regarding its success and fame.
Online reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with all sorts of praise about how it's like a mirror reflecting the light and darkness of human nature, the beauty and helplessness of love—Li Yan had seen plenty of those comments.
It was a good book.
But Li Yan still wasn't much of a reader.
Or rather, in this fast-paced, entertainment-focused modern society, people who could quietly sit down and read a book were always in the minority.
Li Yan didn't love reading, but that didn't stop him from thinking that reading and literature were genuinely meaningful pursuits.
What really got his heart racing was the thought of finding a bookish girlfriend from a prestigious university.
That kind of pale skin, that slightly thin and delicate figure, wearing glasses with her hair in a ponytail or flowing black hair, clean and ethereal with that scholarly air.
Li Yan's absolute favorite type.
Of course, explosive figures, legal lolis, mature women, ice queens—those were also his absolute favorites.
No helping it, being open-minded was a virtue, and Li Yan happened to possess this virtue.
Actually, most men possessed this fine virtue.
Li Yan was now fully absorbed in his reading, not hearing the slight sounds coming from outside his room.
When Liang Yuan, Zhang Qiqi, and Lulu stumbled home drunk around 6 AM, it was already past sunrise.
They'd originally planned to grab breakfast together, but exhausted Lulu vetoed the idea.
So the three of them picked up some soup dumplings and snacks before heading home.
They deliberately kept quiet to avoid waking Li Yan, who was probably sleeping. After eating, they all went to their respective rooms to crash.
Leaving two baskets of soup dumplings, some pickled vegetables, and a bowl of sour soup wontons on the table.
As for the dumplings getting cold or the wontons getting mushy—that wasn't Zhang Qiqi's problem to worry about.
She'd brought breakfast home; she wasn't about to provide premium service too.
This was how Li Yan and his three roommates had been living for over a year.
It was part of why they all got along so well.
Right now, Li Yan was genuinely absorbed in this truly excellent novel. When he reached the final page, the system completion notification was the first time he didn't immediately check it.
Sometimes a good book, a great song, or a meaningful sentence could make you truly feel its power.
Sounds abstract, but good works really are worth careful appreciation and reflection.
Li Yan maintained his contemplative state for exactly three seconds before his hand inevitably reached for his phone on the desk, proving he'd definitely gained some insight.
Just not much...
Opening his phone and making the withdrawal in one smooth motion.
Practiced to the point of heartbreak.
Li Yan set down the book and looked at his account balance: 328,000 yuan. For the first time, he genuinely felt like he had real money.
If the previous amounts—tens of thousands, over a hundred thousand—had made some impression but not a deep one, this 320,000+ showing on his screen made the reality of having serious cash truly sink in.
Li Yan saw a fundamental difference between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.
Tens of thousands, over a hundred thousand—with effort and job-hopping, Li Yan could definitely save that much in a year or two.
But over three hundred thousand? That wasn't something Li Yan could get his hands on anytime soon.