Chapter 117

Hearing this, Jiang Nian adopted a serious expression.

"How could that be possible?"

Chen Yunyun asked hesitantly, "That's good—did you say anything to refute him back then?"

"No, because I don't like married women," Jiang Nian said, finishing the first small question and glancing up at her, "so I don't really understand what 'feminine charm' even means."

"True, I'm not an old woman," Chen Yunyun relaxed, completely baffled, "our group leader is just as despicable as yours."

Another attack on Li Hua.

Fine.

"Actually, it's nothing—just happened to be there together to watch the show," Jiang Nian said, not wanting anyone to know his original reason for being with Lin Dong.

Right now, he's still just watching the show—Lin Dong's life is too packed with entertainment, too many laughs. But it's kinda gross, can't talk about it with girls—it's a guy thing.

Jiang Nian's moral value is average; he maintains a neutral, watchful stance.

"You don't need to care too much about others' opinions—didn't someone confess to you just the other day?" Jiang Nian said offhandedly, "There are still plenty who like you."

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun really wanted to ask: What about you?

And this urge was faintly hard to suppress, but she wasn't one of those Gao San girls who went wild over boys—like she'd never seen a guy before and fell in love after a few chats.

She'd never understood why, since childhood, people always asked her: 【Yunyun, between XXX and XXX, who do you prefer to hang out with?】

Now she understood: when you truly find a friend who makes you happy, you do get insecure—like the feeling that your best friend's best friend isn't you.

She could lose to any other girl, but not to Lin Dong! What right did Lin Dong have?!

She really wanted to ask Jiang Nian: Girl, am I more beautiful than Lin Dong?

But asking that sounded too ambiguous—though she wasn't worried, because Jiang Nian was single.

As for how to confirm it, it was actually simple: he could chat with anyone, proving he had plenty of time and no need to avoid suspicion.

He never runs errands during meal times—if he had a girlfriend, he'd inevitably be running around to check on her, bring her food, etc. If you're not doing that, someone else is already warming her up.

They've even warmed the corpse for her.

In summary, Jiang Nian was unmistakably single—a little lewd, a little mischievous, a small innocent boy.

Chen Yunyun lowered her voice, "Between me and Lin Dong, who do you have a better relationship with?"

To be honest, Jiang Nian was a bit stunned.

Is Gao San pressure really this bad? Have all the girls in girls' high school been driven this crazy?

A little insane.

"What did you just ask again?"

Chen Yunyun also thought she'd been an idiot—her face flushed instantly. She quickly turned away, wishing she had superpowers to make Jiang Nian forget.

If all else fails, even a sturdy stick would do.

"Nothing—I just got a little off-track," she bowed her head, hands clasped, "please forget what I just said—I'll do anything."

Jiang Nian rubbed his chin, "What about math?"

Chen Yunyun was honest, "I really can't do math—I can't solve it."

The minor incident was brushed off, for certain reasons. Chen Yunyun took a set of her own completed test papers from her desk and lent them to Jiang Nian.

The classic "Forty-Five Sets," math volume.

Chen Yunyun had marked all the key and difficult points, skipping the easy questions entirely. She told him to do the red-pen-marked problems when he had time—they'd help raise his score on the exam.

Now everyone knew he was bad at math.

Usually, someone bad at math isn't good at physics either. People like this who choose science either barely scrape into a second-tier university, or kill themselves trying to get into a first-tier one and collapse.

Sometimes, choice matters more than effort—afterward, improving scores becomes extremely difficult.

Of course, the arts score cutoffs are also a hellish joke.

Jiang Nian kept burying himself in math problems; when tired, he slept. In a science class, being bad at math made your mood anything but beautiful.

The Gaokao still depends mostly on scores—if your scores suck, even if you strut like a peacock, it's useless.

To be honest, Jiang Nian wasn't really giving up—he just had his own rhythm. With everyone around him scoring high, even his relaxed pace couldn't be too relaxed.

In the afternoon, a cup of fruit tea refreshed his desk.

Li Hua was starving for it—soon, it became a shared cup among five people.

In the afternoon, Jiang Nian used one of his fatigue-removal items. Right after the first physics class ended, three-quarters of the class collapsed on their desks—he kept studying relentlessly.

Zhang Nengzhi was also exhausted, wanting to nap, but saw Jiang Nian still energetic. She felt guilty, like a deserter abandoning the battlefield.

But… too tired. Just sleep a bit.

By the second afternoon break, the number of students napping on their desks had clearly decreased.

Li Hua grew louder again, leaning in mysteriously.

"Guess what I saw on my way here at lunch?"

"Stray dog?" Jiang Nian paused his writing to rest.

"No—I saw a couple from No. 2 High School confessing to each other," Li Hua wailed dramatically, "So shameless! Right out in public like that!"

"Wait—can they even afford a 300,000 RMB bride price?"

Jiang Nian blinked, "You're stealing my bride price joke, aren't you?"

"I can't take it—why are middle schoolers a few years younger than me already dating?!" Li Hua rubbed his face in despair, "How the hell are they even going to understand love?"

"They were kissing right there—ew, I'm embarrassed just watching!"

"Alright, alright, Hua, watch your mouth," Jiang Nian laughed, "You're a pervert too—staring right at them kissing like that."

"Forget it, I'm chilled to the bone."

The entire afternoon, Jiang Nian spent in disciplined diligence—giving Zhang Nengzhi a heavy dose of pressure, forcing her to study hard, daring not to slack for a second.

During the final break, Li Hua suddenly asked the person beside him.

"Do you keep dogs at home?"

Huang Fang shook her head. Keeping dogs in town was inconvenient, even though they lived in a self-built building—it was bought floor by floor, and they had to consider neighbors and the town's poor sanitation.

"Only people with courtyards can keep dogs easily. Why are you asking?"

"A relative of mine wants to get one," Li Hua explained. "It's not me—it's a real relative. I don't like dogs myself."

Jiang Nian cut him off. "Watch your political correctness. That kind of comment would get you erased on Douyin."

"My bad, almost forgot." Li Hua asked around and got a variety of answers—single dog, half a dog, even hellish jokes.

Zhang Ningzhi shook her head, saying her family didn't keep dogs either.

The last free study period before afternoon dismissal, a five-minute break.

Jiang Nian got up to collect the answer key for forty-five sets of exam papers from Chen Yunyun, and they ended up talking about what to eat for lunch. They'd been eating the cafeteria for days and were tired of it.

On Chen Yunyun's desk sat a biology practice test booklet; she handed him the answers and recommended a vegetable pancake roll, though it was on the street by the north gate of the dorms.

"Seriously, it's amazing!"

Lin Dong added, "It really is delicious."

"Then let's go—no reason to refuse." Jiang Nian wasn't old-fashioned, and lately he'd been suspected of defecting from his group, stepping on two groups at once.

"I'm not going this afternoon. I'm eating at the fast-food place by the front gate," Lin Dong declined. "I'll practice printing English script. Too lazy to eat."

He was afraid Yu Zhiyi would corner him. These past two days, she'd become obsessed with Lin Dong—greeting him daily, going mad trying to find him, then dragging him to die together.

Suicide pacts weren't just ancient legends—they'd scared him stiff.

But she'd probably just have a tantrum and move on. He figured he'd avoid provoking Yu Zhiyi until Wu Jungu and that crazy woman made up.

"What's there to practice in printing script? Just keep it neat," Jiang Nian said, exasperated.

"You've got a 140, so of course you can talk big," Lin Dong snorted. "Ask Chen Yunyun and the others to point the way—they're heading back to the dorms anyway."

"Go back to the dorm to get water?" Jiang Nian asked like a curious child.

"Yeah, and to put down the water barrel."

"Won't the water you fetch early go cold? It's cooled down already, and fewer people wear short sleeves in the afternoon." Jiang Nian was chatty—this water-fetching topic lasted two minutes.

As afternoon free study was about to begin, Chen Yunyun said.

"Why don't you come with us? Just wait while we go back to the dorm to grab something, then we can leave after getting water."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and nodded.

"Alright."

Sun Zhicheng, listening nearby, felt a little uneasy after last time's embarrassing confession. He'd developed trauma and dared not act like a fool again.

But seeing how close they were growing, he was so jealous he felt like he was morphing—completely shut out of their conversation, the exclusive dorm-student topics.

Why did they accept Jiang Nian? They'd been desk partners for so long and never once invited him to get pancake rolls.

Cliques within cliques, huh!

Already been replaced?

His spot was fully taken by that outsider with the yellow hair! Fuck, he couldn't hold it together anymore.

Look at me!

Sun Zhicheng wanted to say something, but remembering his earlier brain-dead moment, he felt guilty and couldn't force the words out.

Fuck, he didn't even know how to laugh anymore.

Die, yellow hair!

After afternoon dismissal, Jiang Nian followed Chen Yunyun and the others toward the north dormitory building. Amid the flood of boarding students returning to their rooms, his mood felt strange.

Like exploring a new map.

The last time he'd come to the north dorms was when Lin Dong needed his help. Back then, he'd been too absorbed in his thoughts to notice the scenery.

Chen Yunyun walked on his right, holding hands with Wang Yuhe.

Crowds bustled, stepping through the golden dusk toward the dorms. Around the playground, they spotted an abandoned student service center, its entrance lined with old-style card-swiping payphones.

"Why's it abandoned?" Jiang Nian pointed at the service center.

"It used to be a phone charging station, but it caught fire and got shut down by the school," Chen Yunyun explained. "Now the convenience store handles charging."

As they walked forward, Jiang Nian saw the convenience store Chen Yunyun mentioned—a L-shaped chain shop selling daily necessities and more.

Ahead lay the female dormitory, and soon they reached the entrance of Building 2.

"We'll go up to get our thermoses. Wait here for us," Chen Yunyun turned to say. After a pause, she added, "Five minutes."

"Mm." Jiang Nian didn't care—he had plenty of time.

Just as he reached for his phone, a task panel popped up, accompanied by what seemed like a CG video.

PS: Working hard on three updates a day—my attitude is sincere, aiming for ten-thousand-word daily updates.

Friendly recommendation: "Mythic Journey to the West: I Am the Indestructible Buddha"