Chapter 123

"Alright." Jiang Nian agreed.

Li Hua, to be fair, was quite competent as a group leader.

After spending so much time together, he'd developed a stereotype, almost forgetting that Li Hua's popularity wasn't free.

Jiang Nian suddenly realized he got along well with both the male and female social butterflies in Class Three.

Although he wasn't a social butterfly himself, he was the social butterfly's social butterfly.

Sounded a bit like a hooligan—whatever, Class Three was always full of wild types anyway.

A breeding ground where the winner takes all.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nian recalled an abstract meme he'd seen on Tieba: "Fight to the death, loser becomes the female," which he still couldn't forget.

He shook his head; the bell rang, dismissal time.

On the podium, Zhong Qing finished her lecture and closed her teaching materials.

"Alright, class dismissed. Jiang Nian, come with me."

In the bright sunlight of the corridor, Jiang Nian walked beside Zhong Qing, listening as she explained some biology problem-solving techniques and mentioned she'd give him a test paper soon.

So far, the eighteen-year-old reward was severely limited—it could only draw attention from people close to him, and even then, only once, for just one second; it had no effect on strangers or those unfamiliar with him.

It's like starting a web novel with a flash screen, fittingly absurd.

"Can you squeeze in time to finish the test paper before tomorrow?" Zhong Qing turned to ask.

Although he still had half of yesterday's biology test left undone in his desk drawer, he hadn't used today's fatigue-removal ability—he could just skip his nap.

This kind of special tutoring was pure extra work for Miss Qing, and since she was willing to make time, he had no excuse not to.

"No problem, Teacher."

"Mm." Zhong Qing squinted slightly, her mood improving.

She was considering replacing Yu Zhiyi—these past few days, the tasks she'd assigned kept getting delayed.

At first, she'd worried about Jiang Nian; after all, you really can't judge a person by appearance.

On the first floor of Gao San, at the corner of the office corridor.

"Goodbye, Teacher."

"Mm. Stay safe."

Zhong Qing waved and walked into the Integrated Science office.

The office was on the first floor; stepping inside, coolness washed over him. Against the wall, a row of desks held stacks of physics, chemistry, and biology test papers—all delivered by the small print shop.

After dismissal, the corridor outside was noisy, but the office was unusually quiet.

Zhong Qing didn't rush home. She sat at her desk by the window. Sunlight streamed through the glass, falling on one corner of her desk—her favorite sight.

No one disturbed her in the office; in the midst of noise, she found quiet, and the sunlight was perfect.

Integrated Science classes were almost all scheduled in the afternoon; such moments came only once a week. So she cherished this quiet moment after work on Friday noon.

After leaning back on her desk for a while, she pulled out two ranking sheets.

Holy shit, death list.

No, just a favoritism ranking list.

With over a hundred students across two classes, and only one Zhong Qing, even if her heart shattered into a thousand pieces, she couldn't possibly distribute attention evenly.

Still, she had no intention of abandoning any student—whenever she noticed a student putting effort into biology, she'd mark it on the list, or jot a note in red ink.

She was still young; her passion for education hadn't faded.

Although Zhong Qing often heard the veteran teachers in the office complain, she believed in giving whatever light she could. What happened later? Later would take care of itself—right now, at least, she'd try.

The students in both classes were like two lush green vegetable patches to her.

Teaching was not unlike the farm games she'd played in college—watering, pest control, sunlight on schedule.

Watch the bok choy grow, then harvest during exams.

A sense of happiness welled up.

She thought for a moment and checked Jiang Nian's name. Like a kindergarten star sticker, she'd expected him to be mischievous, but he'd turned out unexpectedly well-behaved.

After making that mark, she added a question mark next to Yu Zhiyi's name on the other class's list.

A good teacher never denies a student—only questions their current state.

Not every bok choy grows strong during its growth phase. First observe, then treat accordingly; if all else fails, set it aside for now.

Bang!!

A basketball soared high, bounced a few times on the court, then rolled lazily to Jiang Nian's feet.

"Bro, grab the ball."

He'd just left the cafeteria, bent down casually, hooked the ball with his hand, and tossed it. The ball traced a perfect arc through the air, clanged off the rim two or three times, then dropped into the hoop.

Instantly, the three or four boys burst into exclamations.

"What the hell are you doing shooting at your own basket?!"

"Throw it over here, you little shit!"

"Furious! Thought we met a nice guy—turned out to be a lunatic!"

Jiang Nian didn't even turn around, completely ignoring the juniors' fury—because people from Zhennan never look back after an explosion.

Besides, the ball was in his hands now—who decided which hoop to shoot at? Him.

Steamed bun? Got a problem? Come beat me up!

After going upstairs, Jiang Nian pulled out the biology test and began writing.

Around twenty minutes later, just before the twelve-fifty lunch bell, Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe entered through the classroom door.

Wang Yuhe returned to her seat; Chen Yunyun, hair loose, walked toward him. She took Wu Jungu's seat, sat backward, and leaned her body onto his desk.

In the window's sunlight, her hair spilled across the entire desk.

Jiang Nian lived a life of quiet detachment; upon catching the scent of shampoo, he pushed her head away outright.

"Hey, get out of the way, don't disturb my studying."

"What's the big deal? Can't I just dry my hair here for a bit?" Chen Yunyun snorted, stood up, and walked to the window to play with her hair.

This scene caught the eye of another boy.

Luo Yong had originally been a boarding student, but transferred to day student status in Gao San and rented an apartment off-campus. The lone wolf who strolled through life with ease, he had a simple, earnest appearance and personality.

"Hahaha, Chen Yunyun, it's your turn to get roasted!"

"It's not my fault you say stupid things," Chen Yunyun sighed, returned to her seat, grabbed her charger, and walked to the podium to plug in. "Hey, who's phone is fully charged?"

She swiftly changed the subject to prevent Luo Yong from teasing her with his roguish remarks like "You've got a guilty conscience!"

"Mine," a girl in the classroom answered.

"I'll unplug it then."

"Fine."

This trick worked perfectly—she cut the topic short and spoke to a third party. Screw Luo Yong, he's just a classmate.

That annoying guy Luo Yong couldn't find any opening to attack her.

She didn't feel embarrassed by being pushed away—Jiang Nian was just like that. He treated everyone equally, but she had no time to explain herself to Luo Yong.

After charging, Chen Yunyun returned to the window and found Jiang Nian still writing his biology test. She muttered under her breath: "First he got obsessed with math, now he's diving into biology?"

"Hey, what's the name of that gym you go to?"

"Forgot. Let me check," Jiang Nian said, but kept his eyes on the test. "Exam on genetic diagrams—switched the kids. What the hell, Chen Hansheng!"

"Let me see," Chen Yunyun leaned over. "Huh? I've never seen this test before."

"Got it as a reward from playing Fifth Person."

Chen Yunyun: "."

In the end, she still got the answer from Jiang Nian. Though she knew he wouldn't go, she was still happy—tomorrow afternoon she could go play with Wang Yuhe.

"By the way, remember to finish the biology workbook homework," she reminded him at the end. "And the physics workbook—I saw both shoved under everything else."

"OK."

Jiang Nian didn't lift his head, kept solving problems until afternoon.

Luckily, there was a Chinese class in the afternoon; he hurried and finished all the tests. At five, during the last self-study session, he stretched out.

After resting a few minutes, Jiang Nian turned to Zhang Ningzhi.

"Do you have any extra hair ties?"

Zhang Ningzhi had been busy all afternoon—either listening to class or sleeping. She was earnestly doing homework when suddenly he said that, leaving her momentarily stunned.

"Huh? Yeah, I do. You wanna tie something?"

"No, just for fun."

"Fun?" Though puzzled, Zhang Ningzhi still reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a black hair tie for him.

But soon, she understood what Jiang Nian meant by "fun."

Snap—sharp sound.

"Ahhhh!" Li Hua screamed in pain, sucking air through his teeth. "It's my turn, you bastard!"

Snap! Then came Jiang Nian's sharp intake of breath, pained.

They were playing rock-paper-scissors—the loser tied the hair tie around his wrist, and the winner pulled it taut, then released it with a snap.

Zhang Ningzhi: "."

Li Hua, writhing in pain, learned the game and went to find Ma Guojun.

When Zhang Ningzhi returned in the afternoon, she found five or six boys playing rock-paper-scissors with hair ties—thick ones, and Ma Guojun was even holding a tourniquet used for injections.

She gave up. Jiang Nian was having the most fun in there.

Had he gone insane?

During evening self-study, Qian Bao couldn't take it anymore.

"It's autumn—why are you guys slapping mosquitoes in your class?"

At this, the continuous snapping sounds ceased.

After a moment, another snap rang out, accompanied by a sharp hiss—uncontrollable, as if it came straight from the soul.

Qian Bao could no longer hold back. "Stand up! Who's eating spicy strips in class?"

A boy stood up reluctantly, his face flushed, making it even more obvious he was guilty.

"Teacher, I didn't eat spicy strips."

"You say you didn't? You're making me confiscate it—" Qian Bao walked over to the boy, saw the hair tie on his wrist and the red mark, then noticed another boy's nervous expression.

"Oh."

Qian Bao's face turned red too; she covered her mouth and giggled, her expression saying: You guys actually…

A little way off, Jiang Nian shook his head.

Tsk tsk, old Jinjiang types.

Everything looks like BL to them.

Then he pulled out the tourniquet Ma Guojun had brought from his desk, a smile forming on his lips. The noise drew Li Hua's attention—he turned pale instantly.

His hand already hurt.

After the second evening self-study session, the classroom lights blazed bright.

Li Qingrong was working on problems when suddenly she remembered something. She lowered her gaze for a moment, then tapped the back of the boy in front of her.

He turned around, puzzled. "What?"

Among group members, no one called her class monitor—it was probably distance that created beauty. Too close, and though she wasn't as blind as Dongzi, the mindset had worn thin.

The class monitor is so pretty!

Right, right!

And your group leader too!

Oh.

Li Qingrong said, "Next week when we change seats, I want to swap with you."

Snap!

Li Qingrong's deskmate, a soft and cutesy girl, pressed down so hard her 2B pencil broke clean in two. Her heart shattered along with it—was the class monitor about to abandon her?

Boohoo, I might as well just die.

The boy still felt a little happy deep down. After all, even though he wouldn't be sitting with the class monitor, if after the swap he could sit with that girl, that would be pretty great too.

"Why though?"

"Because—" Li Qingrong's face was expressionless. She had just been about to say something when her arm was grabbed.

Her deskmate Nie Qiqi went, "Boo-hoo, I was wrong, group leader, I'll change."

Discipline inspector Cai Xiaoqing strode over and slapped Nie Qiqi's arm away.

"Don't take the chance to take advantage, you little fox."

"Bleh, none of your business! I'm taking advantage anyway." Nie Qiqi stuck out her tongue, then turned and started putting on a teary, tea-scented act again. "Group leader, please forgive me."

"Don't change seats, I'll do anything."

After their little scene, Li Qingrong no longer needed to give a reason. The boy in her group had only asked casually—he wasn't that invested in the answer.

The bell rang, and Cai Xiaoqing went back to her seat.

She was curious about why the class monitor would suddenly want to change seats. Then she overheard the people in her own group also discussing switching seats—but today was only Saturday!

Are they all this in sync?

On Monday, when seats were changed, Li Qingrong's seat was in the middle of the third row of the first big group. In front of her were the people from the sixth small group, who had been moved up from the third big group to fill the gap.

Sixth small group, second row.

Zhang Ningzhi, Jiang Nian, Li Hua.

Hm? Jiang Nian?

Discipline inspector Cai Xiaoqing froze for a moment. Li Qingrong changing seats couldn't be for Jiang Nian's sake, could it? The two of them didn't seem to have any interaction, except for one game of badminton.

They had briefly crossed paths at the sports meet, but two people had run the three-thousand-meter race. Afterward, Jiang Nian had taken leave and hadn't gone at all to watch Li Qingrong run the three thousand.

Not loyal at all!

Pah, he doesn't even deserve the word loyal.

In any case, that possibility wasn't likely. Even taking a step back, a fierce sport like badminton really could breed feelings—but usually it bred grudges.

The urge to smash a shuttlecock into the other person's face.

But Li Qingrong had always been slow on the uptake; she wouldn't hold a grudge to that extent.

After ruling out every possibility, Cai Xiaoqing was stumped.

After evening self-study let out.

Jiang Nian was completely exhausted. Finishing all the problems really wasn't much fun. Apart from that thin little sense of fulfillment inside, and his slowly improving problem-solving skills.

And Zhang Ningzhi's warm small talk—what else could there be?

Not studying tomorrow afternoon!

Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, Zhang Ningzhi suddenly lowered her voice and spoke first.

"Tomorrow at noon when school lets out… wait for me."

Oh right, Sunday afternoon is a holiday.

Date, a-seu-mi-da.

It wasn't really a date, just mooching a meal. He also didn't know how the red thread he'd tied for Zhou Yuting was going—had the two Zhous fallen madly in love?

Recommend locking it down for good!

"Sure, ugh, school too—Gao San has to make up classes on Sundays." Jiang Nian complained, then smoothly segued, "I'm heading out, goodnight."

Zhang Ningzhi blinked, the corners of her mouth lifting just a little, and waved.

"Okay, goodnight."

This feeling of saying goodnight after evening self-study in the classroom was strangely wonderful—a bit like an unfamiliar married couple. Before going to their separate rooms to sleep, a small, tentative probe.

Hehe, marriage before love.

Eat shit! You're a Jinjiang reader too!

Take this punch too!

Jiang Nian slipped away. Once he was out the classroom door, he stopped thinking about the meal. He treated it as just an ordinary dinner; what he was actually looking forward to was what dishes he'd get to eat tomorrow.

Gao San has nothing else—pure exhaustion, pure hunger, craving like a dog.