Chapter 121: Everyone

"She called me? Why didn't she come herself?"

Facing the English class representative, Jiang Nian looked up and said something sarcastic.

"Jiang Nian, stop pretending. " Li Hua put down his Gaokao vocabulary book and sneered, "Get out now, or you'll stand for two whole classes."

The English class rep was sweating too, unable to handle this annoying guy. But he remembered it might have been his own actions in front of the camera last night that caused Qian Bao's resentment.

For now, he dared not expose himself, so he evaded vaguely.

"Big Brother Jiang, Qian Bao's waiting outside the corridor—she probably caught you sleeping. Just apologize and it'll be over."

Hearing this, Zhang Nengzhi also turned her head. She had fully shaken off that strange feeling and looked at him with concern.

"Don't talk back to the teacher."

"Fine."

Jiang Nian stood up, played his part hard, then stopped while ahead. If he delayed further, Qian Bao would really get angry and make him stand at the back of the classroom.

"Hua, make room for Dad."

"Go to hell!" Li Hua shoved his chair forward.

Jiang Nian pulled on his school uniform jacket and walked out. He'd been overdoing it with the female bodhisattva last night and was utterly exhausted. Stepping into the morning light outside the classroom, he yawned.

He looked lazy overall; his gaze swept across and spotted Qian Bao standing in the corridor playing with her phone.

Fine, now she's acting all aloof while trying to scold someone.

She's probably glaring right now.

He didn't care—he was already a hardened case. Getting caught sleeping by a moody Qian Bao who wanted to make an example of him? No big deal. He'd just lie down and take it.

After all, he was in the wrong.

"Teacher, you called me?" Jiang Nian stopped two meters away from Qian Bao.

Qian Bao pretended to scroll through TikTok, deliberately muting the sound and feigning busyness.

She'd just watched a funny video, her shoulders trembling as she barely held back a laugh.

No, she had to hold it in.

Only when she heard Jiang Nian's voice did she snap into teacher mode, turning sharply with a stern tone.

"Jiang Nian, do you know why I called you?"

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly slapped her hands over her eyes. She couldn't imagine what had just happened—her first glance had made her cheeks flush.

Yeah, it really was Jiang Nian.

The student who made dogs shake their heads, the brat who stole her snacks—purely disrespectful to her as a teacher!

What's going on today?

Did she attend some advanced class in Tokyo's Ginza yesterday?

No, why was she blushing at Jiang Nian? She'd blush when he graduated and got a job in Tokyo's Ginza!

She'd heard it only cost a few hundred yuan to have someone light your cigarette and pour your wine.

Qian Bao took a deep breath and regained her composure.

It was strange—that feeling lasted only an instant. Though unforgettable, looking at him a second time now felt much better.

But she definitely couldn't keep scowling at him anymore.

Jiang Nian was puzzled too—why was Qian Bao acting so weird?

Why had she randomly pulled him out this morning? She'd never cared before when he slept during morning reading.

She pulled him out, then said nothing—just waved her hands around like she was doing a dance.

Too bad he hadn't brought his phone out.

"Sleeping?" he asked.

"You know you were sleeping?" Qian Bao feigned anger. "Is morning reading for sleeping? There are only a few days left until the big joint exam—how many?"

"Eight days," he muttered.

"You know it's eight days, you—!" Qian Bao choked again. She couldn't scold him anymore. UwU.

Jiang Nian, hearing no sound for a long time, curiously looked up.

Wait, did Qian Bao not charge her battery this morning?

Why was her speech stuttering?

Qian Bao's cheeks slowly reddened; she fanned herself with her hand, avoiding his gaze. This damn kid—don't stare at your teacher like that, you're so clueless.

"How many points did you get on your last weekly test?"

Jiang Nian nodded. "Just 143. No room for improvement."

Qian Bao was struck again. UwU, why did he have to say that?

Is the teacher useless now?

"If you didn't score 150, don't get complacent," she said, feeling guilty—she herself could only manage 140, and even she made mistakes sometimes.

"Then can you score 150, Teacher?" Jiang Nian added.

Qian Bao wanted to die—she'd been mocked by a student.

"Alright, go back to class!"

Jiang Nian replied and turned toward the classroom. He had the eerie feeling that a pair of eyes were watching his back, making him shiver—wasn't it just a little teasing?

Qian Bao couldn't be that petty, could she?

Women are unpredictable—they're all so petty. Whatever, better go back and apologize, or he might lose his right to sleep during class entirely.

He turned around and saw Qian Bao pouting with a wounded expression. She quickly hid it, pretending to scroll her phone while muttering to herself.

Shit, I messed up.

Am I going to be silenced? No, you're twenty-eight—why are you acting like an eighteen-year-old?

Stupid woman!

Embarrassment elevated the earlier mockery to a new level; Jiang Nian was already sweating. He wanted to explain, but Qian Bao had already walked away in silence.

Oh well, done for.

Sure enough, during the first two English classes in the morning, Jiang Nian stood at the back of the classroom.

But standing at the back wasn't without advantages—Qian Bao hadn't specified where he had to stand. So he drifted over to the water dispenser and stood chatting with Lin Dong and Chen Yunyun and the others.

Attending class while whispering quietly, lips still, voices moving.

Honestly, Sun Zhicheng felt a bit unwell.

Listening to Jiang Nian and Chen Yunyun whispering, he would've reported them both—if it weren't for Chen Yunyun. Talking during class was too disruptive to learning.

It also disrupted his own learning; he couldn't concentrate at all.

Listen, the conversation was pointless; don't listen, but he feared they might be fooling around in class—what if Jiang Nian was touching Chen Yunyun?

From what he'd observed lately, Chen Yunyun seemed indifferent toward all boys. And with Jiang Nian being so crude, he showed zero gentlemanly manners toward girls.

Chen Yunyun probably didn't like Jiang Nian—she just liked playing around with boys.

Jiang Nian too—Chen Yunyun's words were clearly diplomatic. What did it matter to him that she went out with Wang Yuhe? Yet he kept going on about it.

At the end of the first class, half the class was sprawled out asleep.

As soon as the bell rang, Jiang Nian sat right down on the book basket against the wall to sleep—it was Chen Yunyun's, Wang Yuhe's, Lin Dong's basket anyway; he wasn't worried someone would get mad.

"Move over, let me lean." He shoved Chen Yunyun's books eight centimeters inward to make room for his arm to rest on, since he'd be standing again in the next class anyway.

Fine, resigned.

Women can be viciously petty—regretting he hadn't taken his phone and snapped Qian Bao's expression.

"Can't you go back to your seat to sleep?" Chen Yunyun bit her lower lip; for some reason today, strange images kept flashing in her mind.

Though the moment of heart-fluttering lasted only that instant, arriving with no logic whatsoever.

Suddenly her pupils dilated, her heartbeat accelerated, her bodily reactions intensified. The sensation was utterly strange—numbness in patches, her body momentarily uncontrollable.

A current surged from the soles of her feet upward, passing just beneath her chest, then climbing along her throat to her crown, finally bursting open like a bouquet.

That feeling of bodily lightness, the roaring sound of blood in her ears—she'd never forget it.

Now, looking at Jiang Nian, he was still good-looking. But in the classroom, there was no such surge of hormones, nothing as intense as that first morning encounter.

That morning, it felt as if her entire heart, pupils, and hormones had spiked in an instant—like she'd been cursed by a love insect, utterly out of sync.

Hard to explain, maybe no explanation was needed.

"Too lazy to move. Just a few minutes. Next class I'll be standing right here anyway." Jiang Nian lay sprawled along the edge of the desk. "Don't talk to me before class."

"Okay."

For Jiang Nian, his relationship with Chen Yunyun was fine.

In some ways, she and Jiang Nian were quite in sync. She could get his lowbrow jokes, so they became friends.

Even when Chen Yunyun blushed, he'd only assume she was dizzy—he never considered the other possibility: I treat you as a friend, but you want to sleep with me?

They'd only known each other less than a month, and Chen Yunyun wasn't the type to go that far.

After two English classes, Sun Zhicheng was utterly drained.

Luckily, during the second class, Jiang Nian kept trying to sleep while standing. Qian Bao wandered around the room while teaching, so Jiang Nian barely chatted with anyone.

As soon as class ended, Jiang Nian returned to his seat, and the classroom erupted in noise.

Sun Zhicheng lay face-down on his desk and overheard Chen Yunyun and the others chatting. They seemed to be discussing weekend afternoon plans—why go to a gym?

"Won't we get stared at if it's our first time?" Wang Yuhe asked.

"No, Jiang Nian said it's huge," Chen Yunyun said enthusiastically. "Just go straight there. Someone will guide us—we'll just hang out ourselves."

Boom—the world felt like it was collapsing on Sun Zhicheng.

Weekend? She's going with Jiang Nian? Why would a high school student go to a gym? His dad said the service there was terrible.

He avoided those people, which was why he bought a membership but never went. Fishermen, by contrast, were all big bosses—every one of them spoke politely.

He swallowed hard and turned to say something.

"Uh, I heard gym people are all kinds of riffraff. Why are you getting memberships there? Total waste of money—my dad said they don't even—"

"Did your dad get a membership too?" Chen Yunyun asked curiously. "Which gym? There are only two or three in the county—could it be the same one as Jiang Nian's?"

Sun Zhicheng froze—he caught the blind spot.

"Jiang Nian got a membership?"

"Yeah, we didn't get one—we're just going to try it out," Chen Yunyun laughed. "Jiang Nian knows someone there—he has free trial vouchers. We'll just go play a bit and leave."

"Oh oh, you—" Sun Zhicheng's head buzzed—what three-person outing? "Wait, why would Jiang Nian, a high school student, get a membership?"

"Dunno. You'd have to ask him," Chen Yunyun shook her head.

"Maybe he's interested," Wang Yuhe suddenly spoke up. "After all, Jiang Nian's pretty strong—he probably seeks strength. A bit stronger than me."

Hearing this, Sun Zhicheng nearly fainted, his face turning even darker.

Seriously—fishing and getting a gym membership? Is this even a proper high school student?

Could he be training his waist?!