Chapter 109

"Nian Ge, isn't that right?"

"If Yu Zhiyi breaks up with Wu Jun Gu, won't her charm plummet? She doesn't understand my good intentions—I just want them to be happy!"

In the bedroom, Jiang Nian held his phone and laughed until he rolled all over the bed.

Fuck that shit about happiness.

Are you really hoping for their happiness? I'm too embarrassed to call you out—you're just satisfying your pure-love blond boy xp!

What a wife enthusiast!

He replied to Lin Dong: "You like good girls?"

"No, how could that be! I don't have that fetish!" Lin Dong sent seven or eight messages, the classic triple denial: "You've misunderstood me, Nian Ge."

"I'm being kind—I'm truly thinking of Yu Zhiyi's well-being."

Jiang Nian replied with a Husky emoji pointing at someone.

He glanced again at the photo Lin Dong sent, and upon zooming in, saw the boy straining to carry water—he couldn't help smiling.

He wouldn't send it to Wu Jun Gu.

He'd only casually asked about transfer procedures for boarding school, just to build goodwill. After all, Wu Jun Gu was in his group—they'd keep running into each other.

Later, he'd just randomly given him some emotional advice once.

He'd phrased it gently, but still offered practical suggestions.

For example, make more friends of the opposite sex, don't obsess over what Yu Zhiyi does.

But Wu Jun Gu couldn't do it—he couldn't let go.

People's joys and sorrows are always different; this guy's headache was love.

His grades were already a full level above Jiang Nian's, and his weekly test scores seemed like he'd scribbled them half-asleep.

Jiang Nian was still stressing over the upcoming Eighteen-County Joint Exam—he'd done his part, at least.

Seeing Wu Jun Gu's situation was too complicated, he just cut ties to avoid being dragged down. What happened to others? He didn't care.

Seeing it was getting late, Jiang Nian quickly ended the chat.

Eleven-thirty at night.

Lin Dong lay in bed, staring at the red exclamation mark on his phone.

He didn't understand—he'd told the truth, so why had Yu Zhiyi deleted him?

The world's gone to hell.

Don't the guys who hang out with Yu Zhiyi know she has a boyfriend?

Obviously they all know—and that's precisely why so many like her.

That's the real source of her charm.

Yu Zhiyi has boundaries, which elevates this charm even further.

If she truly fell for someone else, she'd just be a pretty girl with a good body.

Ha! Does Zhennan High School from Gao San to Gao Yi lack pretty girls?

The answer is no—not just Zhennan High, even in Class Three alone, you couldn't count all the pretty girls on one hand: the monitor, Zhang Ningzhi, Chen Yunyun…

Yu Zhiyi is so clueless! Throwing away her greatest advantage!

Lin Dong tossed and turned all night, still couldn't sleep. Even though Yu Zhiyi deleted him, it didn't matter—he rarely chatted with her online anyway.

He decided to help Wu Jun Gu—couldn't let a good guy's heart grow cold!

Jiang Nian went to school alone in the morning; on the way up, he suddenly got curious and glanced into Xu Qianqian's class on the third floor—saw Xu Qianqian slumped over her desk, writing.

He was taken aback—wasn't she a top student? Was she actually panicking?

But then again, it made sense—it was the Eighteen-County Joint Exam, and an official ranking would be released.

Zhennan was just a small county town, obscure and with truly mediocre educational resources.

It was like a minor sect cultivator entering the Luotian Da Jiao of the cultivation world—a frog at the bottom of a well staring at the bright moon. Without a ranking, you never know how vast the heavens are.

The more talented someone is, the more they want to know their own limits.

Jiang Nian felt nothing—he was just mid-tier in the Olympiad class. The Eighteen-County Joint Exam would just spit out a list; his name probably wouldn't even appear.

Not to mention the Six-City Joint Exam in November, or the Provincial Joint Exam by year's end.

By next year's Gaokao, the rankings would be even more terrifying.

A provincial rank of ten thousand—below ten thousand others—you wouldn't even flinch. Look up, and you're surrounded by provincial prodigies; look nationwide, and even prodigies are unknown.

Jiang Nian just lay flat and let life happen—he wasn't thinking that far ahead.

As long as he didn't get demoted.

Just as he entered the classroom, Zhang Ningzhi was already there, early as always. She turned, saw Jiang Nian come in through the front door, and smiled happily.

"You're here?"

That tone—why did it sound so weird? Like a bride returning home.

"Yeah. Did that idiot from the liberal arts class bother you today?" Jiang Nian dropped his bag and asked casually, his eyes sweeping over the lemon tea on her desk.

He didn't really like drinking it, but after one sip, he'd gotten hooked.

Should be strictly regulated.

Truthfully, he'd originally just been curious about that transparent straw—hoped one day Baby Zhizhi would hand it to him with bite marks on it.

Too bad she was dense and never understood his feelings.

"No." Zhang Ningzhi was in good spirits.

She was usually a bit slow and had never experienced anything like that before. She'd barely finished speaking when Jiang Nian immediately took her to confront the guy and defend her.

She'd been completely stunned, spending all three evening self-study sessions writing exams and doing homework.

Only when she got home and slowly sank into the bathtub did she finally relax. As she closed her eyes, the scenes replayed in her mind—and her face flushed bright red.

"Oh, good, nothing's wrong." Jiang Nian sprawled back in his seat, as if all his strength had been drained.

The moment he entered the classroom, he felt instantly assimilated by its magnetic field—always feeling like someone had died here. Ghosts lingered, sucking the yang energy out of the students first thing in the morning.

"Want a cookie?" Zhang Nenzhi handed him a box of long, strip-shaped cookies—the kind you dip in sauce.

Jiang Nian was still adjusting to the low-pressure atmosphere of the classroom and glanced at her sideways.

"Are these the leftovers you didn't finish?"

"How could that be!" Zhang Nenzhi shook her head violently—how could she possibly be that stingy?

Jiang Nian instantly lost interest. "Oh, I don't like cookies."

"Fine." Zhang Nenzhi pouted and turned away.

Staring at the classroom ceiling, Jiang Nian truly wished a beautiful girl would kiss him—transfer a bit of yin energy to balance the yang energy slowly leaking from his body.

Sigh. Going to school is like going to a funeral.

He struggled to sit up and pulled out Jin Taiyang's math exam paper from under his desk.

Just then, Li Hua arrived. Seeing both desk-mates writing exams, his scalp prickled. What the hell are you two doing?! Can't you just date already?!

"It's barely morning—are you two doing homework together?"

Jiang Nian ignored Li Hua's sour tone and turned to say:

"The eighteen-county joint exam is coming soon—aren't you taking it seriously? I'll curse you to pay 388,000 yuan in bride price later!"

"Holy shit, that's too cruel!" Li Hua panicked, immediately sat down, and pulled out his English vocabulary book from under his desk, flipping a page with practiced ease.

After memorizing "acceptable" for a while, he remembered Jiang Nian's cruel curse. He grew uneasy, fidgeted a bit, then said:

"Take back what you just said."

"What did I say?"

Li Hua: "…"

In fact, Li Hua's worries were completely unnecessary.

This thing doesn't target the Brahmins of the county town—if anything, it's easier to cut down those in the townships and below, or the lower class in the county, or families on a downward spiral.

A downward spiral means each generation is worse than the last, with no mountains left to feast on.

Like the Jiang family.

Jiang Nian himself realized that without the system, if he couldn't get into a good university, his life would be stuck—no matter how good a person he met, he couldn't hold onto them.

Even if given chances, he'd still fail.

Thinking of this, his speed in scribbling calculations slowed. Unbidden, he thought of Xu Qianqian, then glanced again at Zhang Nenzhi beside him.

Suddenly, he realized: the system's tasks, beyond their objectives, were like scattered fragments of information painting trajectories onto his otherwise blank future map.

He opened the task panel and browsed through the completed tasks.

Age twenty-eight, summer, with Zhang Nenzhi in Guangzhou.

Broke his leg in winter, broke up the next year.

Xu Qianqian's information was too sparse—he only knew she'd be successful by age thirty-eight. The rest was his own comeback task: lose weight, read books.

It looked weird—how was his life so dark?

Flipping through again, his gaze locked onto his ex-wife.

Jiang Nian couldn't understand—his family didn't seem short on money. Why force a near-million-yuan payout? Was it really just to make that person refuse to marry? Or… something else?

He wasn't worried about what would happen in ten years—his fate line had already changed.

Let's wait and see—wait for the new task.

After morning reading, Jiang Nian dozed off with his head on the desk. Lin Dong came over looking for him—actually, he was looking for Wu Jun Gu. Seeing Jiang Nian asleep and Wu Jun Gu's seat empty, he left.

On the other side, the morning classes ended, during the third break.

Zhou Yuting was annoyed.

The end-of-month joint exam was coming soon, and she'd been busy solving problems all this time—even reduced her mirror-checking. She swore she'd make it into the Olympiad class!

This was her last chance. That idiot in Olympiad Class One had started dating—just after being promoted, he got cheated on by someone from another class and fell into unbearable pain after the breakup.

This was a godsend opportunity—she had to grab it tightly!

Although, compared to replacing that big idiot in Olympiad Class One, Zhou Yuting wanted to take Jiang Nian's place instead. Too bad Jiang Nian's grades were stable, and he didn't date.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuting lifted her chin slightly, feeling quite proud. Jiang Nian should thank her—she'd raised his aesthetic threshold.

Otherwise, he'd get his heart racing at the slightest brush from some cat or dog, and end up just like that idiot in Class One.

Only idiots date in Gao San!

Suddenly, the phrase—"Baby, I'm not mad, I got promoted"—echoed in her ear. Zhou Yuting's teeth clenched with rage, her ballpoint pen squeaking under her grip.

Jiang Nian deserved to die!

Once she replaced him in Olympiad, he'd regret it! Then she'd dress up every day, sway in front of him, brilliant grades and beautiful—drive him crazy!

When he apologized, she'd humiliate him mercilessly—return every ounce of pain!

Jiang Nian, die!

She looked up just as Le Zhi walked up to the podium to hand in his test. As he turned, their eyes met briefly—Le Zhi's expression was utterly blank.

He naturally noticed Zhou Yuting's disheveled state—her hair wasn't as neat as before. She looked worn out, with faint dark circles under her eyes.

Why hadn't he noticed before? Zhou Yuting was just… ordinary. Not a heavenly beauty at all.

Hmph. Boring.

Zhou Yuting also saw Le Zhi—his posture slack, walking like a man drained of his kidneys. She found him utterly unsatisfying; how had she ever thought he was decent?

Even without his family background, he was worse than that bastard Jiang Nian!

Frustrated, she pulled out her phone from her bag. A stranger had added her yesterday—she'd ignored him at first, but he kept trying.

Well, he asked for it. Zhou Yuting accepted. A few messages later, he sent her breakfast. They arranged to meet in the small grove—but she never went to pick it up.

She dragged it out until almost morning reading time before sending a single message: "(guilty) (guilty) Overslept, barely made it on time, (bow)."

Actually, she had been the first one in the classroom that morning—she just wanted to let the other person stand a while longer in the grove of trees. What a bunch of idiots, every last one of them! Jiang Nian especially!

That boy from the liberal arts class messaged again, his name seemed to be Zhou Haifei. But Zhou Yuting hadn't bothered to change the contact note, she just glanced at his latest message.

【I'll treat you to milk tea at noon, (grin), is there anything you want to drink?】

Zhou Yuting glanced at it and replied.

"(awkward) (awkward) Let me treat you instead, I already feel bad enough about making you wait for me this morning."

"No need, let me treat you!"

Zhou Haifei was hiding in the restroom replying to messages, having just sent that line. Suddenly a red envelope notification popped up, and he froze for a second before tapping it open—thirty yuan.

Instantly, a warm current surged to the tip of his heart.

He had chased after plenty of girls, eaten plenty of eye-rolls, been flustered into rejection, and even run into a lunatic or two. But! He had never met such a considerate girl!

She had even reminded him to make sure he finished the buns from this morning. Otherwise they'd get cold, and eating them cold would upset his stomach.

Warm! So warm!

Neither extravagant nor taking advantage in the slightest, and on top of that good grades and pretty—simply.

Zhou Haifei was nearly moved to tears, staring at the address she had sent, silently swearing an oath!

Even if it meant traveling to the ends of the earth, he would bring that milk tea back! He took a closer look—eleven kilometers away? Wait, is she sending me on a pilgrimage to fetch the True Scriptures?

But the next second, Zhou Yuting sent a message.

"Never mind, it's too far, suddenly don't feel like drinking anymore. Keep the money, treat yourself to two cups. (awkward)"

A mere eleven kilometers! That counts for nothing!

Zhou Haifei's fighting spirit flared up again—even if he had to pedal his bicycle chain to pieces. He would definitely bring back the True Scriptures—oh, wait, no—he would definitely bring back the milk tea!

"(grin) No need, I'll go buy it at noon."

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" Zhou Yuting sat at her desk in the classroom, a book propped up to hide her screen, the corner of her mouth curving slightly upward as she typed casually, "I think I'll just skip it then. (awkward)"

"No trouble at all! I'm in great shape! (grin)"

"Sorry about that, it's just that the strawberry snow-top from that shop is the most authentic (awkward) I forgot that shop is too far from school." Zhou Yuting was still playing hard to get—spending thirty yuan meant nothing to her.

"No problem! Less ice, right? I guarantee the ice won't melt by the time it reaches your hand! (grin)"

"Mm."

By the end of the game, Zhou Yuting had lost interest. If only the one on the other end were Jiang Nian, she could have gotten a little revenge; as it stood, it was simply boring—better than nothing.

Ring ring ring, the bell for fourth period rang.

She turned to look out the window, propping her chin in her hand, thinking about the joint exam. Mixed in with that was another thought—she had to make Jiang Nian regret it!

In the deafening ring of the class bell.

An earthy-yellow basketball was tossed high, tracing a graceful parabola through the air, passing cleanly through the iron hoop with no net.

"Holy crap, a swish!" Li Hua's voice rang out across the concrete basketball court, and he turned to look at Jiang Nian, who had just thrown the three-pointer. "Your touch is that good?"