Chapter 1 After the Haircut

Coming out of the barbershop, Jiang Xiao felt like he had a new lease on life.

Han Jiangxue seemed to be in a good mood, or perhaps she wanted to celebrate their escape from death, and took Jiang Xiao shopping.

From this, Jiang Xiao could see that she was simply frugal on weekdays, not actually poor.

The siblings casually walked through a few stores, and Jiang Xiao had already put together an outfit.

"I don't really understand your taste." Han Jiangxue frowned at Jiang Xiao's hoodie, but in the end, she couldn't win against Jiang Xiao or the sweet-talking staff, and still bought it for him.

A red and white checkered hooded sweatshirt on top, paired with jeans, this generic brand wasn't expensive, only a hundred or two, which was considered cheap and comfortable.

Of course, he couldn't afford Aj sneakers, but generic sneakers could still be paired with it.

Han Jiangxue looked at the red and white checkered hooded sweatshirt and only had four words in her mind: gaudy and flashy.

Jiang Xiao, however, felt that a 16-year-old should look like a 16-year-old.

Being wild shouldn't just be from the inside out, but also be obvious at a glance.

Jiang Xiao felt that it was necessary for him to sell some Star Beads. Next time he went to the Snow Plains, if he was lucky enough to encounter a White Ghoul Witch again, he would have to keep a White Ghoul Witch Star Bead and sell it to a commercial bank.

With money in his pocket, he would feel more confident.

Jiang Xiao wasn't an ordinary Awakened; he didn't need to pay the 50,000 Ocean entrance fee to enter the Snow Plains, and his team was strong enough. Although the chances of encountering a White Ghoul Witch were slim, they could always run into one.

Jiang Xiao could use his shamelessness to avoid dividing the White Ghoul Witch Star Bead into four equal shares for the team and instead pocket it for himself.

Tsk tsk, perfect.

Two hundred thousand Ocean seemed to be beckoning him.

"It's autumn, time for a new look," Jiang Xiao said casually. It was already early October, and even if the global climate was getting warmer and more abnormal, summer had disappeared.

"By the way, did the school give us a week off?" Jiang Xiao accompanied Han Jiangxue as she continued shopping. The girl was naturally beautiful, and with her tall figure, she was indeed a clothes hanger, looking good in anything she wore.

But Han Jiangxue seemed to be very frugal and didn't go on a crazy shopping spree. In the end, she added a beige trench coat.

Jiang Xiao sighed inwardly, "What a good child. When I sell a White Ghoul Witch Star Bead in a while, I'll buy you a more expensive coat."

"Yeah, Xia Shanhai invited us to his house for dinner tonight. Remember to call him Uncle Xia," Han Jiangxue said casually as she took the clothing bag. "Starting tomorrow, I'll tutor you at home."

Jiang Xiao subconsciously wanted to help her take the clothing bag, but when he heard those words, his hand retracted...

Han Jiangxue glanced at Jiang Xiao with a smile that wasn't quite a smile and threw the clothing bag to him.

The two walked aimlessly along Central Avenue, stepping on the special stone-paved street, feeling the beauty of life.

This bustling and lively street could indeed dispel the cold, biting taste of the Snow Plains.

Summer was finally over, and the young ladies on the street were wearing more and more clothes.

What a pity.

Hmm...

Jiang Xiao rarely spent a relaxed afternoon with Han Jiangxue. In the evening, they took a taxi to Xia Shanhai's house.

Unlike Xia Yan, that spendthrift, Xia Shanhai's home wasn't an independent villa, but a proper residential building.

But this residential area was located in the center of Jiangbin City, so it probably wasn't cheap either.

At 6:00 PM, under Han Jiangxue's guidance, the two arrived on time and knocked on Xia Shanhai's door.

The door was opened by a middle-aged beautiful woman, with a kind smile and outstanding temperament.

Jiang Xiao knew that this was Xia Yan's mother, He Zeyun.

She was extremely friendly to Han Jiangxue, and her smile seemed to carry a hint of gratitude, in addition to the love of an elder for an outstanding younger generation, it also seemed to carry a hint of thanks to a benefactor.

Xia Yan must have said something after returning home.

"Come in quickly, Xue'er." The beautiful woman greeted Xiao Xue and then saw the flashy child behind her.

The beautiful woman paused slightly, but didn't show any abnormality. She didn't have the "I don't agree with this marriage" aura that the old couple had privately. She smiled and greeted, "Little Pi has grown taller."

Grown taller?

Could this be considered a polite remark?

Like when you see a female classmate, no matter what the facts are, you say "You've lost weight," and they should be very happy, right?

"He has indeed grown a bit taller." Xia Yan also popped out, walked to Jiang Xiao's side, placed one hand on Jiang Xiao's head, and slid it sideways to her own forehead.

Xia Yan was startled and a little confused. She took a step back and sized Jiang Xiao up and down. After a long while, Xia Yan pointed at Jiang Xiao and said, "Take off your shoes!"

Jiang Xiao: "..."

"You child, blocking the door, how are they going to come in and change their shoes?" The beautiful woman glared at Xia Yan and hurriedly invited the two in.

"But you have indeed grown a bit taller." As everyone entered the house, Xia Yan approached Jiang Xiao. This time, they were wearing the exact same slippers, so no one could cheat.

"Oh? Let's measure it later." Jiang Xiao became interested. At 16, he was at the age where he should be growing taller. If he couldn't grow now, it would be difficult in the future.

Xia Shanhai was still calmly drinking tea on the balcony, playing the role of the head of the family, while the crazy Xia Yan took Jiang Xiao into the house to measure his height.

Fortunately, Han Jiangxue was still reliable and went to visit Xia Shanhai on the balcony first.

"Tsk tsk, bare height of 174." Xia Yan directly pressed Jiang Xiao against the door frame of her room, where there were many horizontal lines with heights and dates written on them. "About my level in the third year of junior high."

Jiang Xiao said with a smile, "You're already a senior in high school. Three years have passed, and you're still about the same level as you were in the third year of junior high?"

"Shut up." Xia Yan muttered, pushed Jiang Xiao away, stood next to the door frame by herself, and said, "Help me see."

"Ah..." This time, Jiang Xiao tilted his head and looked. The dates on it only went up to the first year of high school, ending at 176. The current Xia Yan was probably 3 or 4 centimeters taller than she was in the first year of high school.

"What are you doing spacing out for? Go find a ruler and measure it. There's one in the study desk over there." Xia Yan was immediately annoyed when she saw Jiang Xiao just eyeballing it.

After the height was measured, Xia Yan was much happier. The distance from the 176 horizontal line to the top of her head now was 3.1.

179.1?

That was assuming there was no exaggeration in her 176 horizontal line.

Regardless of how ecstatic this girl was, Jiang Xiao himself was also quite happy.

It seemed that in the month in the Snow Plains, although the food wasn't great, the amount of training was definitely substantial, and with the nourishment of the Star Beads, his height had increased by 2 centimeters. If this continued, reaching 1.8 meters wasn't a dream.

"Did you separate from your parents in the first year of high school? Did you move out and live on your own?" Jiang Xiao asked.

"Eh?" Xia Yan was stunned for a moment, then thought of the height markings on the door frame. She placed one hand on Jiang Xiao's head and rubbed it hard. "You are a bit clever. This topic ends here."

Jiang Xiao shrugged. Judging from the tense relationship between Xia Shanhai and Xia Yan, it was probably in that year that this girl had a deep conflict with her father.

Xia Yan's mother, He Zeyun, no matter how she evaluated Jiang Xiao in her heart, she was very gentle and kind to Jiang Xiao.

During the meal, she also specifically thanked Jiang Xiao for the blessings he had given her.

Jiang Xiao secretly smirked, "You should be glad you passed out."

If you were awake, you probably wouldn't be so grateful to me.

This wasn't Jiang Xiao's random guess, it was based on real evidence. Li Qingmei had already asked Jiang Xiao out several times on WeChat, saying that she wanted to have a good talk with him.

Jiang Xiao, such a brave and courageous person, who wasn't afraid of White Ghouls or mercenaries, would he be afraid of a small, ordinary woman like you?

Without saying a word, Jiang Xiao directly changed Li Qingmei's WeChat chat box to "Do Not Disturb" and still hadn't dared to reply.

Before the meal was finished, Jiang Xiao's phone rang again.

Jiang Xiao secretly took out his phone, looked at WeChat, and found that Li Qingmei had sent him several more messages, while the notification sound was from Li Weiyi's WeChat.

Toulong Street, No. 59: Help, please reply to her messages.

Jiang Xiaopi: ???

Toulong Street, No. 59: I'm being tortured to death by her.

Jiang Xiaopi: She's your girlfriend, who else would suffer if not you?

Toulong Street, No. 59: There were many people that day, she was indeed very embarrassed.

Jiang Xiaopi: Wasn't it you who asked me to bless her? You should be blaming you, why are you coming to me?

Toulong Street, No. 59: But... it was your light that made her make strange noises.

Jiang Xiaopi: So you're now trying to set us up?

Toulong Street, No. 59: Jiang! Xiao! Pi!

Jiang Xiaopi: Love is a light, green enough to make you panic.

"Damn it!" Li Weiyi threw away his phone, held his forehead with one hand, and rubbed his handsome face hard. "This kid is poisonous..."