Chapter 133

Jiang Nian ran off right after school, and Li Hua ran off too.

Zhang Nizhi was stunned; in an instant, her entire row of seats was empty.

Before she could blink, Jiang Nian and Li Hua had already reached the door.

She remembered how, after the third class at noon, Jiang Nian had asked Li Hua a question. Even though Li Hua was top in math and his desk partner, why hadn't he asked her?

Was it because she couldn't score 140 in math?

She felt a little down, then turned to see the monitor still sitting at her desk solving problems. The classroom was nearly empty, yet she seemed utterly unaffected by the outside world.

Only then did Zhang Nizhi recall that Li Qingrong also often scored 140 in math.

Wuhhh, Jiang Nian's neighbors on all sides could score 140—except her!

In fact, Wu Jun Gu, who sat in front of Jiang Nian, also couldn't score 140 in math. But since he'd been quiet lately, and silent in class, she'd completely ignored him.

So Zhang Nizhi just overlooked him.

Lost in thought, Zhang Nizhi snapped back to find before her a pair of slightly cold eyes, tilted slightly in curiosity as if studying her.

As if asking: Is there something?

"Ah!" Zhang Nizhi gasped, mortified—she'd been staring blankly at the monitor. "I didn't mean to, Monitor, why aren't you going home?"

Li Qingrong's gaze lowered slightly. "I'll leave soon. Want to go together?"

Zhang Nizhi blinked. She wanted to refuse, but remembering her earlier impoliteness, she swallowed hard.

"Okay."

Ten minutes after noon dismissal, the hallway was no longer crowded.

Sunlight fell on the two beautiful girls, making them a striking sight wherever they walked.

On the stairs, people kept turning back, their eyes following the two girls.

High school students are generally the most shy group, and since Zhennan High is a key school, the students' quality is relatively high—most only glanced twice.

As they walked, Zhang Nizhi was nervously uneasy when suddenly Li Qingrong spoke.

"Are you and Jiang Nian close?"

Boom—Zhang Nizhi's mind went utterly blank. The monitor had specifically come to ask her this—had she noticed something?

"Not really close."

She stammered, deeply guilty; even the sunlight on her skin felt cold.

"It's just because we're in the same group—group members, you know—"

"Mm." Li Qingrong responded.

She turned her head, puzzled why Zhang Nizhi was so nervous—had she said something wrong? She wasn't good at speaking; she often made others feel pressured.

Even when talking with homeroom teacher Old Liu, she'd often find him falling silent mid-sentence.

When she asked him why, he wouldn't answer—just kept drinking tea.

Maybe she should phrase the question differently.

"Besides that, is there anything else between you two?"

"Anything else?" Zhang Nizhi had turned into a startled bird, half-confessing: "No, no—just occasional QQ chats."

She felt the monitor wouldn't randomly approach her—she must have noticed something, or was here on behalf of the homeroom teacher.

Choosing after school was clearly to preserve her dignity.

Some things could be mentioned—they were perfectly innocent. But other things, like last week's dinner in the city, shopping, scratch cards—those couldn't be mentioned.

"QQ?" Li Qingrong barely used her phone, and even at home—

Partly because her family strictly controlled her, partly because she simply didn't enjoy using her phone. Her circle was narrow—she only knew a few fixed people.

Due to her reserved nature, she never took the initiative to make friends.

"Mm, yes." Zhang Nizhi thought, surely not—she'd seen Li Qingrong post announcements in the class group (big group). "Monitor, what's your QQ number? I'll add you."

"I don't know." Li Qingrong spoke honestly, then seemed to recall something and added seriously, "I'm not refusing to add you—I genuinely can't remember it."

"Oh oh." Zhang Nizhi was startled—why so serious?

The school gate was right ahead.

Zhang Nizhi sighed inwardly—had she fooled her? Just before parting, she thought again and turned to the monitor.

"Monitor, it's fine—I can add you via the class group when I get home."

Li Qingrong nodded, then lowered her eyes and asked again.

"Can you add Jiang Nian's QQ through the class group?"

Zhang Nizhi's smile froze. Her heart screamed in terror.

She's targeting me! She's targeting me!

Wuhhh!!

"Y-yeah, I guess so." Zhang Nizhi broke into a cold sweat again; her fear of Li Qingrong deepened, her voice trembling.

"Monitor… I—I'm going home now."

"Mm." Li Qingrong watched her, thinking they were probably friends now.

Nie Qiqi and Cai Xiaoqing had taught her that girls should hug when parting. That was Nie Qiqi's idea—but Cai Xiaoqing had beaten her for it, then corrected it to:

"Bye." In the sunlight, she waved.

Li Hua rode his mountain bike home, pedaling so hard sparks nearly flew.

Just thinking of Carib made his already hot body burn hotter.

High school forbids dating, and his family didn't even let him have a phone. The one he had was borrowed—he could only log into QQ and watch study videos.

As soon as he got home, he hurriedly ate, washed his face, and went straight to his room.

Before closing the door, he called out loudly.

I'm dead tired! We've got so many classes this afternoon!

Li Hua knew that if he shouted this out, no one would come knock on his door. He could lock the door, pull the curtains, and study in perfect peace.

He walked to the bed, knelt down, and began feeling under it.

In less than half a minute, he pulled out an old phone from under the bed. He turned it on impatiently, opened QQ, and there it was—the collection Jiang Nian had sent him.

Gulp, he swallowed hard and tapped the link to the cloud drive.

【Pirates of the Caribbean 1 HD】

His smile vanished. He swiped down—Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

"Fuck!!" Li Hua screamed silently, sending Jiang Nian a string of question marks. "You!! You've deceived me—you've earned your death!"

In seconds, Jiang Nian replied.

"(kneeling) Your Majesty Tang, spare my life!"

Immediately, another collection arrived.

【Old Driver Collection, Includes Roast Chicken, Makes You Salivate】

Li Hua hesitated, opened it—and there they were, all kinds of roast chickens. He instantly flew into a rage, ready to activate his Sharingan!

"You fucking—!!"

Before he could type his second sentence, Jiang Nian sent another collection. Just one line: Gao Zhongsheng National English Listening Exam + Free Download.

He opened it—and instantly felt relieved.

"Bro, you're a real good guy. My listening is saved."

Before lunch break, Jiang Nian sat at his desk, chatting with Chen Yunyun while replying to Li Hua on his phone.

Seeing Li Hua's reply, he couldn't help smiling. You're so pragmatic, Hua.

"Jiang Nian, is chatting with me really that boring?" Chen Yunyun sat in Wu Jun Gu's seat, visibly annoyed by his constant phone-checking.

"Not at all," Jiang Nian put down his phone. "They're all interesting. I just prefer double the joy."

Just then, a red dot appeared on his QQ contacts.

Huh?

He opened it: 【111 added you as a friend from Dream Chaser A403 Class Group】.

What the hell?

Seeing Jiang Nian fall silent after speaking, Chen Yunyun felt a pang of irritation. But she didn't dare peek at his phone—she could only pout, propping her chin on her hands.

"Who are you chatting with now?"

Jiang Nian didn't look up. "You."

"I mean on your phone—your double joy," Chen Yunyun said. She'd meant it as a joke, but somehow, her voice turned sour.

"The monitor."

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun froze, thinking Jiang Nian was just trolling.

"Impossible."

Jiang Nian flipped his phone around and showed her.

On the QQ screen, the contact was labeled "Monitor," with an anime cat avatar—probably just added. Jiang Nian had sent "What's up?" The other side was still typing.

"It really is the monitor. Did she add you?"

"Yeah."

"That's weird. She must need something," Chen Yunyun placed both hands on Jiang Nian's desk. "The monitor hardly ever logs into QQ."

"Then how do you reach her if you need something?" Jiang Nian asked.

At this, Chen Yunyun rolled her eyes at him.

"Just log in."

"Isn't she not in that second group?" Jiang Nian asked casually. Li Qingrong was still typing—still hadn't replied.

"Yeah. We all thought… well, not afraid, just figured she wouldn't add anyone," Chen Yunyun said. "But the Discipline Committee's in there, so it's like the monitor's there too."

"What kind of equation is that?" Jiang Nian winced.

"It's true—Cai Xiaoqing and the others are close to the monitor," Chen Yunyun said. "Anyway, no one ever invites her. It'd be awkward if someone did."

"True," Jiang Nian nodded.

About a minute later, a message came through on QQ. He opened it.

Li Qingrong: "No."

Jiang Nian didn't get it. Huh? What does "no" mean?

Chen Yunyun was curious. "What did the monitor send you?"

"No."

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun turned away, thinking he was withholding something—slightly annoyed.

"Stingy."

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Nian replied.

"【Alright then】."

He waited—but Li Qingrong didn't reply.

So Jiang Nian put his phone away, chatted with Chen Yunyun, and worked on his biology test, mostly talking about the upcoming weekend joint exam.

"We have to move all the books? That's insane?"

"Yeah. They say it's to mimic the Gaokao standards," Chen Yunyun sighed. "No books allowed in the classroom, or even in the hallway."

"Wait, where are we supposed to put them?" Jiang Nian blinked.

"In the corridors, or the stairwells…" Chen Yunyun groaned. "Maybe the staff office. Then we'll have to fight for space again. No idea when they'll start moving them."

"Ridiculous." Jiang Nian sighed.

They chatted a few more sentences, and when the lunch-break bell rang, Chen Yunyun left reluctantly. For some reason, chatting with Jiang Nian was a tiny bit more enjoyable than chatting with other people.

Jiang Nian didn't nap that quickly; sleeping too long made his hands and feet easily go numb. He generally only started sleeping in the last half hour of lunch break, for about twenty minutes.

He spent half an hour grinding through test papers, and before sleeping, glanced at his phone.

He found that the class monitor had replied to his message.

"(smile)."

One more chapter, around two o'clock, my thoughts got stuck for a bit this afternoon.

The next chapter counts as a make-up.

Still three chapters tomorrow.