Chapter 124: How Did Both Desk Partners Start Grinding So Hard

On the dim street, Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian each had a bowl of oden in hand.

"I'm starving to death."

Xu Qianqian tilted her head back, a piping-hot fish ball in her mouth, going "sii sii," white steam rising from her on the road, her little mouth like a fish blowing bubbles.

"Hahaha, that's hilarious." Jiang Nian laughed, "You must have been reborn as a starving ghost, Xu Qianqian."

"Laugh at your own head!" Xu Qianqian swallowed the fish ball and glared at him. "Lately there's been more and more test papers and homework, Gao San pressure has really kicked in."

"I'm so hungry every day, by the third evening self-study period I'm already dizzy with hunger."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian nodded.

"I'm hungry too, feel like I could eat a whole pig in three bites."

"Keep bragging, you."

Gao San students are different from Gao Yi and Gao Er—once the real prep period begins, the whole person is basically studying from morning till night, endless problems and homework.

Three meals a day simply aren't enough, and on top of that, sometimes in the afternoon you're doing problems in the classroom and lose track of time, look up and you've already missed dinner.

Late-night snacks become a necessity.

When you're truly doing problems till you're starving, even a bite of instant noodles smells absurdly good.

As for fearing getting fat—

For an inner-competition warrior like Xu Qianqian, she does problems even after going home. Her energy is completely drained, so she simply can't get fat.

"Oh right, our homeroom teacher said after the joint exam, evening self-study will be extended to ten-twenty." Xu Qianqian swallowed a radish, mumbling.

"What? Isn't that four periods of evening self-study?" Jiang Nian's world collapsed.

"Yeah, forty more minutes." Xu Qianqian's cheeks puffed out. "I heard the cafeteria at the new campus has free late-night snacks for Gao San, you can eat right after evening self-study."

"Why don't we get any!"

"They only need to score above six hundred, or be a student from a poor family."

"If we don't have it, then we don't have it. I'm not really missing that one bite anyway." Jiang Nian's tune suddenly changed, becoming magnanimous. "Spending money on oden isn't bad either."

"That one was on me!" Xu Qianqian trembled with anger!

"So stingy, splitting yours and mine now. I'll treat you back tomorrow night."

The two walked slowly toward home on the road, chatting about things that had happened in class. Everything Xu Qianqian said was gossip, but clearly not as explosive as what Jiang Nian shared.

What Jiang Nian shared were little stories about Wu Jungu, which left Xu Qianqian stunned again and again.

"He won't get expelled, will he?"

"You're overthinking it. He's in the Olympiad class, first offense was a warning with parents called in, and that was that." Jiang Nian's shadow flickered at the intersection, slanting past the roadside trash can.

"Boarding school must be tough, that guy's pretty devoted too."

"You think it's devoted?"

"Hmm? What about it?" Xu Qianqian stopped on the road, a fish ball hovering by her mouth, thought for a moment, then said, "If it were me, I wouldn't let my boyfriend board at school with me."

"What would you do?"

"There are plenty of ways to solve the water-carrying problem—spend money to hire someone, or suck up to a strong girl and be friends." Xu Qianqian went "om-nom" and bit down on the fish ball.

"#￥% ways, there's always more solutions than difficulties, that girl is such a poser."

Jiang Nian laughed. That was Xu Qianqian for you—her ideas were always more proper than anyone's.

North District Building 5, a certain boys' dorm room.

The lights had long been out.

In the dim dorm room, Huang Cailang stood by the window.

Across the way were two rental apartment buildings outside the north gate—one was a migrant workers' apartment that looked like an illegal construction, with a tin shack built on top, the other next to it belonged to a local.

A crumbling old building, the plaster had all fallen off.

But because it was close to the school, every year failed candidates slinked back to repeat a year. Along with various accompanying-study or shared-rent Gao San examinees, so it had stubbornly existed for many years.

The college entrance exam is truly magical—even a dump can be turned into gold.

Inside lived Gao San and Gao Si boys and girls. These buildings didn't come with toilets; the shower room on each floor was at the end of the corridor.

"Yo, cramming biology again?" Lin Dong had just finished showering, wandered over in his underwear. "Working so hard every day, and the points just get scored by you—"

Halfway through his sentence, Lin Dong froze, only to see him staring at the bathroom glowing with orange light at the end of the sixth floor across the way, swallowing hard.

"Holy shit!!!"

Even Lin Dong, a pervert himself, thought that was perverted, and retreated behind his roommates.

"Are you sick in the head, staring at some girl's bathroom?"

Hearing that, the other five in the dorm all went "ew" in unison and began fierce condemnation.

"Cailang, that's kind of disgusting."

"Classic case of being ruled by lust. Go take care of it in the bathroom, don't let desire affect your studies."

"You're done for, totally done for. Your case is incurable, the only option is to try sealing the pipe with cement."

"Can't you learn from me—burning the midnight oil studying?"

"Yeah, don't let desire pierce your will. Do you want your soul to rot and stink?"

Faced with his roommates' disgust and denunciation.

Huang Cailang turned around, his gaze sweeping over his roommates. His lips trembled slightly, and with just one sentence he pierced their wills.

"There's a girl across the way outside the school, probably a repeater. After showering she often wraps herself in a towel and runs out."

The whole dorm went quiet for a moment, then everyone scrambled over.

"Damn, then we have to look."

"When's she coming out? Is she in there yet?"

"Stop crowding, you're practically inside mine! Nantong much!"

Lin Dong was the fastest; after a few minutes, several guys instinctively sucked in a sharp breath and spontaneously shouted, "Wucao!" in unison.

"She runs so fast—her room's right next to the shower, so why isn't she wearing clothes?"

"So white."

"You didn't even see anything—white my ass, boring."

"It's just your xp, already seen it too many times, no fun."

Lin Dong turned his head and secretly sent Jiang Nian a photo.

Jiang Nian: "?"

"Across the building."

Jiang Nian: "(thumbs up), I'll go see Old Liu tomorrow to get dorm residency sorted."

Lin Dong grinned—he thought it wouldn't be bad if Jiang Nian actually moved into the dorm. With him around, the room would never lack material, and nights would turn straight into dorm comedy shows.

Way more interesting than Sun Zhicheng—Ah Cheng just pretends to be cool.

Huh, why did I just think that?

He put down his phone and faintly heard someone say they were going to a milk tea shop tomorrow afternoon; he asked,

"Huh? A date? With who?"

"A girl from the parallel class—we've been chatting on QQ for months," the roommate scratched his cheek sheepishly. "We even went out during summer break."

The dorm fell silent. All eyes turned to the shy kid.

"Did you kiss her?"

"Meh."

You're saying "meh" now?! Die, you little shit!

The group pinned him down. "Spill it—did you get your hands on her?"

His response was silence.

The roommates cracked, pummeling the shy kid.

"Wait, who let you touch her?!"

"Bro Dong, I'm planning to send an anonymous letter to the admin office—you in?"

Lin Dong thought for a moment and declined, shaking his head.

"No need—we're all dorm brothers. Look at you guys all worked up. Besides, what good is the admin office? Just file a real-name complaint—drop it straight in the principal's mailbox!"

"Guys, spare me! I'll bring back food when I get back!" the shy kid begged.

"Fine, give you happiness, sigh."

"By the way, aren't you afraid you'll run into someone from our class at the milk tea shop?"

"Hey, have you ever seen any of the couples from our class?"

"I've seen them once or twice—uh, but I can't say their names," the shy kid stuck to his principles. "I saw them come out of the milk tea shop's bathroom together."

"Wucao, what were they doing in there?"

"That kind of thing—what else could they be doing? Making milk tea?"

"The vibe in Zhennan is totally rotten. Sigh, guys, anyone wanna go to the milk tea shop with me? I'm not picky."

The group chattered loudly, until Lin Dong asked the most crucial question.

"Have you..."

The shy kid fell silent for a moment. "I can't say."

The dorm erupted again in furious yelling—hardly envy, just pure frustration: how the hell could someone actually do that kind of thing with a girl?

At eleven p. m., dorm night talk: the shy kid shared his dating experiences.

"Zhennan's so small—where else can you go? Either by the river or the milk tea shop."

"You can only climb up Qingmu Ridge, but bottled water there costs triple. And once you get up, it's packed—hand-holding on the way up, hugging on the way down."

"Honestly, after the first date, my balls felt like stones—hurt like hell."

Sunday morning, waking up early.

Jiang Nian brushed his teeth in the bathroom, staring at the mirror, remembering two things.

First: submit the biology extra practice test this morning. Second: lunch date with Zhang Nengzhi.

Life was actually pretty full—if forced to choose one, he'd do both: eat lunch and do the test.

Cruelly speaking, a Gao San student's value seemed to be nothing but exams.

If you didn't study, only dated and played at flirtation, you were a total waste in the eyes of school and parents, and just gossip over meals to classmates.

Jiang Nian was different—he was a pure, unadulterated pervert.

Back to basics.

As for judging Gao San dating couples, Jiang Nian just found them hypocritical. Was this really about love? Your hand's already inside her clothes—still calling it love?

Why not be honest? If she's hot, wouldn't dating someone else be the same thing?

No—he'd be thrilled.

He stepped out, glanced at the shoe rack across the hall—Xu Qianqian had already left.

Fine. Even though you're gorgeous, you're more obsessed with studying than me—I'll still call you a study dog.

Jiang Nian arrived at school, eating a steamed bun as he climbed the stairs.

He happened to see Zhou Haifei descending the stairs sideways, head down, hurrying past. As they were about to pass each other, she seemed to recognize his lower half.

Though the phrasing was odd, she looked up. Their eyes met in midair—somehow, there was a strange, familiar understanding.

Wait—we've never even spoken. How'd we get this "we know each other" vibe?

Maybe it was coincidence.

Thinking this, Jiang Nian went up to the fourth floor and, once in the classroom, began working on problems.

But because it was Sunday, no matter how he tried to calm his mind, he could still feel the restless atmosphere in the classroom. Especially after Li Hua entered the room, it became completely restless.

"Nian, after school at noon, want to go to the internet cafe?"

"Not going."

"Then what are you doing this afternoon?"

"Studying."

The whole morning passed in a flash, but Li Hua felt the two people beside him were unusually quiet. Zhang Ningzhi didn't move at all between classes, working problems at her seat.

But Jiang Nian had also worked problems the entire morning — wasn't that strange?

How did they all start grinding so hard?