Chapter 145: shuhaige.net

The two of them stood at the railing, one facing forward and the other facing back—one leaning over to look at Zhou Qingmu Ridge, the other leaning against the railing to watch the classroom.

The autumn breeze blew through the afternoon; neither of them spoke, and they quietly listened to the young couple arguing.

Ji Jiayu: "Can you be a little more mature?"

Yuan Zhengchuan: "Mature about what? As mature as your new boyfriend?"

"What new boyfriend? Are you sick in the head?!"

"How would I know! You know perfectly well yourself!"

"Whatever, suit yourself."

The few lines of the young couple's argument made Jiang Nian, outside the classroom corridor, laugh out loud. Too bad the one standing next to him was Chen Yunyun—he couldn't gloat together with her.

Sigh, women really are no fun.

He was standing too close, and it wouldn't do to take out his phone to record—if he got caught, it would be awkward.

After all, he was now a "three-not-touch" person, a complete white lotus with no idea what was going on. How did they even start arguing? Truly terrifying—hope they break up soon.

Of all times to run a fever during the second half of lunch break—anyone who didn't know would think they were doing it—damn it, that's all I can say.

As for when to stop? They never laid a hand on each other in the first place, so there's no such thing as "stopping."

To be fair, what's wrong with helping a classmate? This society is just too damn cold.

If you want to blame something, blame the impurity of their love—so fond of giggling, then keep on giggling.

Lunch break.

The young couple went out to argue, and the classroom fell silent.

Jiang Nian skillfully slumped onto the desk, resting his head on his own arm, savoring the quiet of the classroom. No one shaking the desk, no whiny pouting, no giggling.

He slept in one stretch until the lunch-break bell rang.

Li Hua, Ma Guojun, and Zhang Ningzhi arrived at the classroom one after another. Jiang Nian, sitting in the middle of a row of seats, stood up to give up the wall-side seat for Zhang Ningzhi.

Zhang Ningzhi took a box of lemon tea out of her small bag and placed it in Jiang Nian's desk drawer.

When she looked up, she saw Jiang Nian covering his mouth with his hand, yawning as he walked out the classroom door.

She couldn't help but tense her little face, feeling as though she was feeding an ungrateful wretch.

In the corridor, a crowd had just woken from lunch break, or had just rushed over from the dorm or home to the classroom. Their faces wore numb expressions, much like visiting a grave.

Jiang Nian, Ma Guojun, and Li Hua stood in a row at the railing, leaning over to watch the bustling crowd below.

Li Hua opened the conversation, clicking his tongue twice.

"That one's pretty."

"Where?" Ma Guojun craned his head.

"Hua, you have a crush on Yu Tongjie-geigei?" Jiang Nian hadn't been looking at the girls—instead, he'd spotted Yu Tongjie in the crowd at a glance, and his gaze had been following him ever since.

That's how the pure-hate faction works—the person you like isn't necessarily the first one you notice. But the person you hate, even if they burned to ash, you can recognize them from a hundred meters away.

Li Hua also spotted Yu Tongjie in the crowd below, and said with displeasure.

"It really is that kid—don't know what he's been up to lately. Makes me want to throw up just seeing him, pure garbage."

"Hey, don't force the compliment."

After Jiang Nian finished speaking, he kept staring at Yu Tongjie until he disappeared into the building below, then finally pulled his gaze back.

"Wonder how many points Brother Jie can score on the exam."

"How many points could he possibly get? Trash scoring over five hundred."

Hearing that, Ma Guojun and Jiang Nian both turned their heads at once, staring at Li Hua.

"You little sneak, releasing an AOE-taunt skill on us, huh?"

After staring at Li Hua, Ma Guojun pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and suddenly got excited. "Can we get out of evening self-study early tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"The joint exam is the day after tomorrow, right? Don't we need to prep or something." Ma Guojun explained, "I'm guessing we'll only have two periods of evening self-study. Whose turn is it to be on duty tomorrow?"

"Seems like it's our group?" Li Hua was dumbfounded.

Jiang Nian didn't care—if it was their group's turn to be on duty tomorrow, then after evening self-study let out early, the whole group would have to stay behind to clean up.

They might also have to help set up the exam room—move desks around, stick on student numbers, that sort of thing.

He'd ask Xu Qianqian tonight—she didn't have to stay for duty, so he'd let her go home first. Anyway, the second period of evening self-study only ended a little past eight, and it would still be light out.

The afternoon classes passed, and Jiang Nian used one charge of Fatigue Immunity.

He wasn't sleepy, just—

At dusk, Jiang Nian came back from the cafeteria after dinner and found an extra box of lemon tea on his desk. He was stunned for a moment—he'd already drunk one in the afternoon, so where did this one come from?

Did the lemon tea copy-paste itself?

Ten minutes later, Zhang Ningzhi and Yao Bei Bei came back hand in hand.

Yao Bei Bei didn't go back to her own seat, but simply plopped her butt down in Li Hua's seat.

Jiang Nian glanced at her. "Huang Beibei, what have you been up to these past few days?"

"Get lost, you're the one surnamed Huang!" Yao Bei Bei sprawled back in the chair, looking at the ceiling. "What else could I be doing—prepping for the big joint exam, obviously."

"Between seizing the day and carpe diem, I chose carpe diem—pretty impressive, right?"

"Impressive." Jiang Nian gave a thumbs-up. "Beibei-jie is invincible, I wave the yellow flag for you. Too bad Li Hua's not here, or he could learn a thing or two."

"Him?" Yao Bei Bei sat in an arrogant pose, as if she could take on seven at once. "Who is Li Hua?"

Such strong aggression—truly worthy of Huang Beibei.

A downer guy like Li Hua, when faced with seizing the day and carpe diem, would only choose to seize and grab—when the pressure's on—

Pumped up by Jiang Nian's flattery, Yao Bei Bei got completely inflated. She rummaged around on Li Hua's desk and pulled out his English test paper to desecrate the corpse.

"How is this guy still using a black pen for corrections—can't face his true self? I'll mark them out for him."

After Beibei left, Jiang Nian finally turned curiously to Zhang Nianzhi.

"Why'd you buy (lemon tea) again this afternoon?"

Zhang Nianzhi turned her head to glance at him, her little face taut, and said seriously.

"Rich and willful."

"Hahaha, awesome awesome awesome." Jiang Nian was amused by her. "I know you've got money, but don't buy me any next time. I can't finish it, it's a waste."

"You can give it to the group leader," she said.

Jiang Nian waved his hand in refusal. "He's a pure boar who can't appreciate fine things."

"Okay."

Before evening self-study, the sky grew ever darker. Yang Qiming lay on his dorm bed, staring at the fluorescent tube on the ceiling.

He was heartbroken, like a fish stranded on shore gasping for air.

At the breakup he felt nothing, treating it like any ordinary quarrel. Only after the parting did the aftereffect slowly well up — she had completely withdrawn from his life.

His heart felt hollow, as if half of it were missing.

Even though he tried hard to forget, when he was alone he still got emo.

After school that afternoon he went alone to the Gao Er teaching building, went to her class. He carefully pretended to pass by, but didn't catch a glimpse of her.

Yang Qiming picked up his phone. Half an hour earlier he had posted a status.

【The end of the sea is not the sea, but the regret deep in the heart.】

A dozen or so people liked it, mostly boys from his class. There was even one "Jiang Yue Nian Nian Wang Xiang Si" — he didn't seem to have added Jiang Nian's QQ.

How did he end up liking it?

Below were several comments, the first from his good brother Lin Dong.

"The end of the sea is Boli seaweed."

Yang Qiming's defenses crumbled. People's joys and sorrows have always been different. The ache in his own heart, landing on someone else, was just a simple, casual joke.

In the end, after switching dorms, the brotherly bond had grown distant too — love and brotherhood both lost.

The second comment came from Luo Yong: "The end of the sea is the enemy."

Enough, he was sadder than Allen!

The third comment was from Huang Cailang, and surprisingly it was a rare warm encouragement.

"I understand you! Yang-ge, jiā yóu! (Thumbs up) Everything will get better!"

Yang Qiming couldn't help but be deeply moved. Brothers from the same dorm were still warmer. He tapped out a reply to Huang Cailang's comment, typed a whole bunch, and in the end only sent "thanks."

Suddenly, the dorm door was pushed open.

"Yang-ge?"

Hearing this, Yang Qiming froze, poking his head out from the top bunk.

"Cailang? Why are you back at the dorm?"

"Just finished eating, came back to grab a jacket." Huang Cailang walked into the empty dorm, took his clothes from the bottom bunk. "Yang-ge, you need to pull yourself together."

"Thanks, Cailang. I've already given up."

"No way!"

"Huh?"

The dorm lights were switched on and off uniformly by the dorm manager. Late October now, the days short and the nights long. The dorm lights coming on meant evening self-study was about to start — at most half an hour left.

Huang Cailang knew he didn't have much time, had to hurry and say it.

"Yang-ge, can you accept it?"

"Accept it? It's already over, what else can I do?" Yang Qiming's mindset was strange — when no one cared he struggled on bitterly, but once someone comforted him he went slack and gave up.

"But isn't this ending way too sloppy?" Huang Cailang stepped closer to the bed's edge, his face serious. "Yang-ge, don't you at least want to know why?"

Yang Qiming froze, murmuring.

"Yeah, can't just leave it all muddled like this."

"What if there's something else going on?" Huang Cailang really wanted to eat wontons, but didn't want to be the bad guy, so he could only push from the side, trying hard to convince himself.

This was for Yang-ge's own good, not leaving him with regrets. He cared about him, asked nothing in return — what was wrong with helping a roommate out of the shadow of heartbreak?

Move Zhennan Top Ten Gao Zhongsheng!

"I'll go find her and try again. I'll, I'll buy some snacks, how about using that as an excuse?" Yang Qiming sat bolt upright on the bed, rubbing his hands together nonstop.

Huang Cailang swallowed, thinking to himself that this rich dog was truly generous. Meeting the ex and never showing up empty-handed — worthy of someone dating a junior girl from the same school.

"Sounds good to me!"

Yang Qiming, as if injected with a shot of adrenaline, shed his dejected air at once.

"Clothes, clothes — which outfit looks cooler? What time is it now? Wtf, it's this late already? Cailang, what snacks should I buy?"

Huang Cailang was a bit dumbfounded. "Whatever, ge."

Evening self-study. The classroom was brightly lit.

Li Hua stared at the several English test papers on his desk — a sea of red — and felt the sky was falling!

"Who! Who did this!"

"Your Beibei-jie."

"What's wrong with Yao Bei Bei!" Li Hua's face was full of agony as he stared at the red crosses on the English paper. "I specifically used a black pen to correct it, and she changed it to red for me."

"I can't take it, can't breathe! Campus 80!"

First and second period evening self-study: biology and chemistry quizzes.

Right now only English and physics were left untested — speak of the devil and third and fourth period evening self-study was the English quiz.

Jiang Nian had a cheat, so he wasn't tired. He finished the English paper early and tossed it aside. Watching Li Hua scratch his ears and fuss over the test paper, his mood was especially pleasant.

Do exercises today, review them tomorrow, the big joint exam the day after.

He counted, and with this week's quiz plus last week's, it seemed he'd sat three rounds of tests.

It seemed every subject teacher had a tacit agreement: before the big joint exam the day after tomorrow, hold a few small quizzes first, as if to give the students a warm-up.

He had just wanted to lie down and catch a nap when his arm was poked.

He turned his head and saw Zhang Ningzhi staring at him.

"Don't sleep during evening self-study."

After saying that, she even deliberately pointed at the box of lemon tea on the desk. Meaning to remind Jiang Nian that, regarding the big joint exam pact, she enjoyed the supreme authority of oversight.

"Fine, I wasn't going to sleep. Li Hua asked me to help him find the most comfortable sleeping posture."

Li Hua couldn't do the English test paper at all, eavesdropping the whole time, and got anxious.

"Damn it! Stop framing me!"

"Haha."

After evening self-study let out.

Huang Cailang walked out of the classroom carrying a bag of snacks, watching Yang Qiming's lonely back as he walked ahead. He couldn't help but shake his head — heartbroken men really were pitiful.

He quickened his pace a few steps and patted Yang Qiming on the shoulder.

"Brother Yang, what happened?"

Yang Qiming only shook his head. "She won't meet with me. There's no hope."

Hearing that, Huang Cailang's mind went blank. He had originally wanted to comfort Yang Qiming, then say something like it would all pass, focus on preparing for the big joint exam.

But the snacks in his hand were heavy, and after a moment's hesitation, what came out of his mouth was—

"Brother Yang, could it be that she's also being tormented by the emotions of a breakup, and hasn't figured out how to face you? In the same lost state as you."

In the boarding students' army returning to the dorms, among the crowd.

Yang Qiming's footsteps halted.

Friend recommendation: Good news: Reborn in the city, with a cultivation system. Bad news: It has a bug. Good news: It runs entirely on that bug.

【Detected that the host's cultivation has stagnated. Might as well travel the five lakes and four seas, temper the Dao heart, and thereby comprehend the Dao. Reward: a suitable spell, Mysterious Communion x1.】

Chu Dan arrived at the foot therapy shop, faced the pretty girl who was shyly lowering her head, and frowned slightly: "So frail and delicate… you, you're not worthy of being my opponent. Call your elder out here!"

Facing a forty-something-year-old uncle, Chu Dan was overjoyed, laughing heartily: "Now that's a challenge. Senior, haven't you eaten?!"

【The host, with a Qi Refining body, faced a Foundation Establishment body cultivator, fought three incense sticks' time without defeat, and even comprehended the Dao mid-battle, like a Battle Asura. Reward: Blood Sha Asura Art x1.】

Chu Dan limped out of the foot therapy shop, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the sky.

Who says health-preserving foot Dao doesn't count as Dao, that massage technique isn't an algorithm?