Chapter 114: Zhang Ningzhi, Who Wanted to Strive Together

Evening self-study, three students in a row each lost in their own dream.

Zhang Ningzhi was still immersed in the pink bubbles of the sunset, absorbing nutrients while diligently doing homework; all her thoughts were as clear as early spring willows.

Jiang Nian solved math problems while fantasizing about the system rewarding him with a skill: unlocking all banned websites or manually restoring pixelated images.

Especially the last one—he had a friend who truly needed this tiny ability.

Li Hua fantasized about playing in the NBA, his touch today unusually smooth. Though the groin-touch tactic was banned, they couldn't stop bank shots.

Fly straight to America, wear a championship ring, attend the All-Star Silver Party.

Thinking this, Li Hua crumpled a useless English test paper. Whoosh—he rolled it into a ball, bent his wrist as if shooting, aiming at the far corner trash bin.

He sat on the outer side of the second row in the third major group, no more than two meters away.

Estimating the position of the red trash bin, he flicked his wrist—the paper ball flew through the air in a perfect arc and plopped neatly inside.

Ceng You in the front row sneaked a glance back, staring at Li Hua for several seconds, eyes wide.

"You scared the hell out of me!"

Li Hua was pleased with Ceng You's reaction—his buddy, the Tiger of the South. A shot must have presence; otherwise, how would he ever get his own locker room in the NBA?

"What were you sneaking a look at?"

"Supernatural—I was at the tense part, and you scared me!" Ceng You cursed, "You bastard, I thought Old Liu had come."

Li Hua had forgotten about Himeari and asked eagerly.

"What book is it? Good?"

"Three Corpses Speak—eh, it's just that kind of thing." Ceng You wasn't keen on sharing what he was reading; it felt like sharing a girlfriend.

He was a pure love fan—he couldn't stand this stuff.

But Li Hua got excited, "Alright, I'll look for a physical copy when I get home."

Li Hua's home was strict—he rarely brought his phone to school. But he had decent pocket money; he could ask others to buy physical books online to kill time.

Long Three was a misjudgment, Long Four was a total waste of money, and Ma Guojun threw it away.

He swore never to touch literary boys again—damn it.

Hearing this, Ceng You's face grew awkward.

He feared Li Hua would share plot details—he'd already read ahead. If Li Hua started babbling, fine, he'd switch to another book in a few days.

"Can you stop talking? You're disturbing my studying!" Jiang Nian elbowed Li Hua, "Always chatting—if you keep this up, I'll report you to the monitor."

Li Hua was speechless, "Are you possessed by Dong Wensong?"

Reporting to the monitor? What are you showing off? You've turned into a brown-noser! Turning a feather into a command!

Let me slap you to exorcise the demon!

Sometimes Li Hua truly wished he had a superpower to upgrade the crap people around him said into gold. Each one was harder to endure than the last—had Jiang Nian also started pretending to be a good student?

He leaned over to take a look and saw Jiang Nian was genuinely doing problems—fast too. He'd barely started evening self-study earlier; curious, he asked.

"Why are you suddenly like you've been injected with adrenaline?"

Jiang Nian glanced at him, "What? Jealous of my drive?"

My dude's got a cheat—of course he's energized.

This cheat wasn't meant for studying, but hey, using it for dating wasn't bad either. Still, for Jiang Nian, applying it in Gao San could open even wider horizons.

"Got a girlfriend?"

Li Hua suddenly blurted this out—Jiang Nian showed no reaction.

My dude's holding nearly 200,000 and still living like a monk. Didn't even buy the NetEase Spring Wind Cup—pure sunshine boy.

Instead, it made Zhang Ningzhi, who was sitting nearby, nervous too—luckily she was bent over her desk writing the exam. The tall stack of books blocked her face, and no one noticed.

"If you've got a girlfriend, how would you have time to chat with me?" Jiang Nian propped his head on his hand, revealing a smile every guy understood—Li Hua immediately pointed at him like a Husky.

You little brat, all you think about is porn, right?!

Near the end of the third evening self-study session, Lin Dong secretly swapped seats with Li Hua.

Huh? Yellow hair?

Jiang Nian stopped writing and instinctively glanced at Wu Jun Gu's seat in front—empty. No wonder Lin Dong dared come over—wanted to share yellow hair insights, right?

I'm not yellow hair!

"Bro, I've got some intel to share with you," Lin Dong winked.

Any guy seeing that expression would refuse nothing—unless he was rushing to finish homework due at class end. Otherwise, he'd inevitably stop writing and listen to the people's concerns.

Jiang Nian put down his pen, his expression solemn.

"I'm not interested in this stuff."

Brother, go ahead.

"Didn't I go find him at lunch?" Lin Dong used "him" to refer to Wu Jun Gu, since everyone around knew Wu.

"He didn't believe me, got mad, so I showed him the photo."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian couldn't bear to listen further.

"You're really not human—what happened next?"

"Then he went to find her, and tonight she added me back on QQ." Lin Dong was clearly basking in the joy of doing good deeds, grinning proudly.

Jiang Nian winced—had yellow hair traits become this abstract now? Relationships that are too good aren't cool, not impressive. Relationships that are broken aren't cool, boring.

You like those couples who can't break up, endlessly pulling back and forth, right?

"What did she say?" Jiang Nian asked.

Their conversation was encrypted—outsiders could only hear "he" and "she" and couldn't tell them apart. Zhang Ningzhi, though curious, was thoroughly confused.

"Not read yet—she just replied." Lin Dong lowered his voice, "I got the message and came straight to you—how loyal am I?"

Actually, Lin Dong thought he'd get scolded; being the unofficial king who saves a relationship was great, but sometimes he needed an audience—and Jiang Nian was the only confidant.

Share a bit of the fire, and the sense of security grows stronger.

Jiang Nian wanted to whistle, leaned over to check—Yu Zhiyi had sent five or six messages on QQ.

"Lin Dong, are you insane?"

"Who asked you to meddle? You sent that photo! Now he wants to break up with me!!"

"Wait and see! Don't let me run into you!"

Lin Dong panicked; Jiang Nian laughed.

"Holy shit, how did it come to this?" Lin Dong's face changed instantly; he swallowed hard. "Bro Jiang, do you think she's joking?"

"I don't think so. But you don't need to worry too much," Jiang Nian said seriously. "Go back to the dorm, take a shower—you'll even save the red envelope for wiping your body at the funeral."

"Huh?" Lin Dong couldn't sit still.

If Yu Zhiyi really gets a few guys to beat him up, he's done. He was just doing a good deed—how did it turn into his own funeral pyre?

With ten minutes left until evening self-study ended, Lin Dong grew restless and finally stood up.

"I'm leaving first. If the teacher comes, say I went to the bathroom."

Jiang Nian gave a thumbs-up and laughed at his back. He turned and saw Zhang Ningzhi quickly pulling her gaze away—he frowned in confusion.

You're stalking me too, huh?

Don't you dare listen to gossip!

After evening self-study ended, on the way home.

Xu Qianqian walked while reciting study points, not wasting a single moment. Even a top student's discipline was kinda scary—she recited line after line.

He reminded her, "The exam's at month-end—there's still ten days."

"Pfft, little Jiang Nian, how could you understand my lofty ambitions?" Xu Qianqian glanced at him, proud. "You're still a five-hundred-point little trash, looking at me like a frog in a well staring at the moon."

"Try looking at me after you hit six hundred. Know what it means to be a mayfly seeing the blue sky? You're that mayfly."

"Cool, you're cool." Jiang Nian raised his thumb.

"Don't worry, I won't look down on you," Xu Qianqian, on top, smiled happily, then thought for a moment and handed him her phone. "Jiang Nian, I got insulted again."

"I told you to stop scrolling Xiaohongshu. Let me see." Jiang Nian took the phone, unlocked it. "Oh oh—'seductive girl,' Xu Qianqian, you've been expelled from the female guild."

"I told you not to argue online—you see, you lost again?"

"I didn't do anything! The other person kept changing the subject, then randomly started attacking me." Xu Qianqian got angry too—people online were too malicious; you had to fight poison with poison.

Jiang Nian was her official internet mouthpiece.

"That's just how the internet is. It's normal," Jiang Nian said, replying for her while comforting her. "Everyone only cares about stance and labels, never identity."

"What does that mean?" Xu Qianqian didn't understand.

"Hard to explain clearly—like that online guy who says 'you're not worthy to bear the surname Zhao,'" Jiang Nian scratched his cheek. "Basically no brain. Don't argue online."

Xu Qianqian didn't get it, but she trusted Jiang Nian. He often insulted people online; last time she checked his phone, his ID had a gold diamond after it.

Looked pretty cool.

"Here, done," Jiang Nian handed her phone back.

She took it, glanced at it, and her pale face flushed red instantly.

"What did you post?!"

"Just replied casually."

Would anyone reply like this? 【I'm not seductive—I'm super-female. Every day I look in the mirror and stars bloom in my eyes. You better hide your mom—don't let me see her.】

North District Dormitory, Building 5.

Someone called Lin Dong to fetch water; he refused.

"I'll just take a cold shower today—I won't go down."

"Holy crap, Brother Dong, you're that tough?"

"Did you sneak eat a Xizhilang? It's still cold out—really taking a cold shower?"

Lin Dong wasn't in the mood for jokes. Yu Zhiyi's threat was way too cruel for a baby with over two hundred months of life experience.

He just wanted to stop that yellow-haired guy from interfering in a young couple's romance—he wanted Yu Zhiyi and Wu Jun Gu to reconcile. You two, just get married and give me happiness!

Yellow-haired creatures are not allowed to interfere!

Interfering with anyone else is also forbidden!

Local yellow-haired guys just don't understand the rules—they're too selfish. Only thinking of themselves, not others. Wanting to ruin Yu Zhiyi's charm?

After thinking it over, he decided to activate his alt account to add Yu Zhiyi.

If Yu Zhiyi really breaks up with Wu Jun Gu, he'd defend Wu Jun Gu's justice. Third parties never get good endings. Those who bully others are bullied in return.

Night stretched long, North District Building 2, girls' dormitory.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe showered together; the sound of rushing water filled the air. The dim, cramped shower stall barely held two people, lit only by a flashlight's faint glow.

"Little Yuhe, have you noticed? The group leader's acting weird today?"

"No, what's wrong with him?" Wang Yuhe rarely paid attention to Lin Dong; when she talked to him, it was usually about math problems.

"He's just… never mind. When did he get so close to Jiang Nian?" Chen Yunyun said. "To be honest, I'm a little jealous of their friendship."

Wang Yuhe was startled. "You don't mean—"

"No, it just feels weird," Chen Yunyun said. "We got here first, right? I mean, the friendship—Jiang Nian only transferred classes last month."

Wang Yuhe didn't get why Chen Yunyun was piling on the pressure—and dragging her into it.

But then she thought: Jiang Nian had made her cry. He wasn't exactly a jerk, but he wasn't just a regular classmate either—rounding up, they were friends.

"Mm."

"So it's weird, right? The group leader just popped out of nowhere," Chen Yunyun dried herself, then pulled out a small printed tissue and handed one to Wang Yuhe.

"It's like they've got some secret bond—suddenly got super close. It gives me this feeling… how do I say it? Like I got… cuckolded."

Wang Yuhe took the small tissue, her gaze level as it caught Chen Yunyun's chest. Don't gaze on impropriety—she'd forgotten there was a small step there—and tilted her head up to look at her good bestie.

Bao Weiwei was a little startled and asked.

"Are you jealous of the team leader?"

The next morning, Friday.

Jiang Nian woke up dizzy and foggy-headed; last night he'd been scrolling through some female college students' Douyin. He'd accidentally scrolled too long and nearly slipped into the role of a college guy himself.

The comments below had made his head spin.

"Bro, are you guys really eating this well?"

He struggled to get up and go to school in the morning, planning to watch some high school girls to cleanse his brain.

He didn't run into Xu Qianqian in the morning; she'd once again gone to the classroom early. Influenced by her, Jiang Nian had been quite self-disciplined about doing problems and going to school lately.

A boat sailing against the current must advance or fall behind.

The pressure of the joint exam had truly arrived, even in the Olympiad Class 3. The number of people arriving at the classroom early in the morning had visibly increased—most of them boarders.

There were still over twenty minutes before morning self-study. Jiang Nian put down his bag; Zhang Ningzhi hadn't arrived yet.

He pretended to walk past the back row on his way to the water fountain and saw Chen Yunyun and the others eating baozi in the classroom, writing problems while they ate. It wasn't just them—many people in the class did the same.

After morning self-study, Zhang Ningzhi surprisingly didn't slump over the desk to sleep.

Jiang Nian was puzzled and asked, lying on the desk.

"So full of energy today?"

As everyone knows, the golden ten minutes after morning self-study are prime sleeping time.

Zhang Ningzhi's expression was a little conflicted as she said softly.

"I'm afraid I'll do badly at the end of the month and get demoted."

Jiang Nian: "???"

No way—are you some kind of pressure-pumping princess?

True, this joint exam only targeted those who'd been promoted up, as a quality check. But it would only weed out people with big score fluctuations. You—

"You scored over six hundred—how could you get demoted?" Jiang Nian found it a bit funny, adjusted his sleeping posture, and said, "If anyone's leaving, it'll be that loudmouth Yu Tongjie first."

"What if… I underperform, miss the exam, or—" The more Zhang Ningzhi spoke, the paler her face got. She pressed her lips together and said softly, "I don't want to be demoted."

"Don't worry, there won't be that many accidents." Jiang Nian comforted her.

Still, Zhennan Middle School really did judge purely by grades. Even a little pest like Yu Tongjie could only get promoted by scoring his way up—the classroom was absolutely ruled by merit.

"You have to work hard too," Zhang Ningzhi's voice was as faint as a mosquito's. "I don't want you to—"

He turned his head, and Jiang Nian had already fallen asleep on the desk.

Friendly book rec: *My Girlfriend Is a Cellist*