Chapter 149: Who's Prettier, Me or Zhou Yuting

The classroom was brightly lit, and Jiang Nian was moving desks.

In practice, that just meant dumping the clutter out of the desks, then splitting the three-row seating into two-row groups. The desks didn't need to be carried out—leaving them empty in the classroom was fine.

During exams, one person per row per group, twenty-eight people per examination room.

Li Qingrong walked up to Jiang Nian, drawing quite a few glances from nearby.

"Got a moment? Help tear down the test papers stuck on the wall."

"Sure."

Oh, looking for him to do some work.

Ceng You and the others looked away and went back to cleaning.

Zhang Ningzhi was wiping the blackboard, with a basin of water on the podium. She glanced over at the two of them a few times, absently wringing out the cloth, and pressed her lips together without thinking.

The class monitor is also really pretty—how does he get along so well with all the pretty girls in class?

She wiped the blackboard from left to right with her head lowered. Actually, it was a whiteboard. Chalk dust caused lung disease, so the school had long since switched to a combination of markers and whiteboards.

This thing was harder to wipe than a blackboard—the cloth had to be dragged across with more force to get the whiteboard clean.

Zhang Ningzhi first wiped the smudges at the bottom and in the middle, then looked up. She jumped, and a shallow arch appeared at the top of the whiteboard.

But even so, the very top of the board still couldn't be reached.

She was about to go get a stool when the cloth in her hand was suddenly pulled away. She turned her head, her breath catching for a moment—she didn't know when, but Jiang Nian was standing right beside her.

He seemed to have been watching for a little while, a smile still on his face.

She knew what that smile of Jiang Nian's meant, and puffed up with annoyance without realizing it.

But Jiang Nian didn't look at her—he just took the cloth and reached up, wiping in clean, efficient strokes.

Zhang Ningzhi looked over; behind his profile was the open classroom door. Outside were the dimly lit county-town buildings, and farther still, the dark, hazy mountains.

After watching for a few seconds, she felt her heart beating a little faster.

After a quick wipe, Jiang Nian finally glanced down at her, lowered his hand, and smiled.

"Good deskmate, move aside—I'll wipe the other side."

"Oh, okay." Zhang Ningzhi snapped out of it. The podium was that small, and she was standing in the middle, blocking someone's path. She hurriedly stepped back down off the podium.

Standing on the podium, she just watched Jiang Nian wipe.

That "good deskmate" suddenly rang in her ears again, and her earlobes grew warm. The low mood she'd been in became lively once more.

The cleaning lasted half an hour in total.

Li Hua let the girls leave first; Wu Jun Gu and Ceng You went to take out the trash. For the remaining cleanup, he and Jiang Nian worked together, dragging things out until half past nine.

Li Qingrong was about to leave too, slinging her bag and walking out the classroom door. Halfway there, she turned back—Jiang Nian happened to be coming out of the classroom as well, apparently planning to wash his hands.

The restroom was at the end of the corridor, past two classrooms and by the stairwell.

The two of them naturally fell into step side by side.

"Class monitor, which exam room are you in?"

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes. "B302."

"What a coincidence—I'm in the exam room opposite yours."

"Mm."

At the stairwell, the two were about to part ways. Li Qingrong remembered the gesture friends should make when saying goodbye, so she called out to him.

"Jiang Nian."

"Mm?" Jiang Nian had already walked past the stairwell; hearing her voice, he turned to look at her.

The dim light was like candlelight, and the girl stood there waving.

"Bye-bye."

Jiang Nian stared at her cool, aloof face, inexplicably frozen for two seconds, before coming back to himself.

"Oh, bye-bye. Be careful on the way."

Back in the classroom.

Li Hua told Jiang Nian to go on ahead first—he was about to sacrifice himself again.

"Let's walk together." Jiang Nian picked up his bag.

"No need. Ceng You and the others haven't come back from their second trash run." Li Hua shook his head and refused, insisting, "I'll wait for them. You go ahead."

"Hm?" Jiang Nian looked at him. "Isn't Wu Jun Gu there too? Aren't you embarrassed?"

Li Hua smiled, letting it go. "What's there to be embarrassed about?"

Jiang Nian pondered. "Late Eastern Han, Boss Cao—"

"Red Rock Red Rock Red Rock!!!" Li Hua instantly jumped. "My heart is a sheet of ice in a jade pot—you're the one who likes other men's wives! Get lost, get lost, get lost—don't let me see you!"

Jiang Nian laughed out loud, picked up his bag, and left.

On the third floor, the various classrooms were also cleaning up; there were barely any people in the corridor.

Xu Qianqian was sitting on a desk and chair by the classroom door, playing on her phone. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of someone. She instinctively looked up, saw it was Jiang Nian, and only then got up.

"Let's go, let's go."

She yawned and shook her head.

"Your class moves fast—already done?"

"Fast?" Jiang Nian looked puzzled. He turned his head at the stairwell to look back; several classrooms on the third floor were still moving desks. "Why is your class so slow?"

Xu Qianqian hopped down the stairs step by step and said casually,

"Moving books, I guess. Someone put books out in the corridor. The homeroom teacher called them back, and it took half an hour of fussing—they only started cleaning ten minutes ago."

"Your class is really troublesome."

"Yeah."

The two walked and chatted their way out of the school gate, since evening self-study had been dismissed early. At this hour, aside from a few students still cleaning, almost no one remained.

On the way home, Jiang Nian suddenly spoke up.

"Xu Qianqian, do you believe I can score six hundred?"

"I believe you."

"Huh?" Jiang Nian fell silent at her one-word reply.

He had already prepared his rebuttal, ready to fight to the death—yet she had simply surrendered.

Fuck, you gave up!?

Fine, according to the customs of Zhennan's hometown, the defeated must—

"Actually, my earlier teasing was meant to push you to work harder," Xu Qianqian said, not looking at him. "So you wouldn't be stupid enough to go chasing after someone again."

Jiang Nian: "Don't hit me where it hurts."

"Huh? Does my way of speaking hurt you?" Xu Qianqian feigned confusion. "Is it my words that hurt more, or Zhou Yuting's?"

He was done.

Jiang Nian was utterly speechless. They say strike the snake at its seventh inch—Xu Qianqian truly knew exactly where his weak spot was, and one blow had left him silenced.

"Forget it. I stopped liking her a long time ago."

Darkly speaking, he hoped Zhou Yuting would drop out by accident—whether from Yuyu Syndrome or something else. Any bad news about her would make him happy.

In short, he worried every day that Zhou Yuting was doing well.

But these thoughts were clearly not for sharing—they were too murky, too damaging to his image of light and righteousness.

In stereotype, only eunuchs hold grudges like this.

Jiang Nian was clearly not a eunuch, but he didn't want to be defined by gender, so he left it unaddressed.

Sometimes, it's fine to hold a grudge.

"What about before? Why did you like her back then?" Xu Qianqian seemed deeply interested in this topic—they rarely talked about Zhou Yuting.

After all, to Jiang Nian, it was "the past."

Damn, Xu Qianqian's aggression was too high.

"Before? There wasn't any special reason—just because she was pretty," Jiang Nian answered bluntly.

He considered himself past that childish phase; though he hadn't yet reached the point of self-mockery, at least he could face his past honestly.

"The only kind of girl around you was Zhou Yuting?" Xu Qianqian used the word "货色."

In a girl's mouth, "货色" meant nearly the same as "trash." It was a highly aggressive term, saturated with strong personal emotion.

Then again, Jiang Nian could only insult Zhou Yuting with "a piece of trash who can't even score five hundred and thirty."

But Xu Qianqian? She could use the superior "six hundred? Anyone with hands can do it."

"Something like that. Back then, I didn't know anyone else," Jiang Nian admitted. "Zhou Yuting was one of the prettiest girls around me."

"Pfft." Xu Qianqian cut off the conversation.

They left the road and entered an alley. Every twenty meters or so stood an old streetlamp—some lit, some dim, flickering in alternating brightness.

Xu Qianqian walked ahead; the soft glow fell on her hair, dyeing it golden.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

Jiang Nian walked slowly behind her, then saw her stop—he halted too.

"What's wrong?"

Xu Qianqian turned to face Jiang Nian. Orange light poured down from above, making her glow. She bit her lower lip, hesitating.

"Who's prettier—me or Zhou Yuting?"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian froze.

It wasn't that the answer was hard—it was exactly the opposite. He used to dote on Zhou Yuting, but he'd never gone to the countryside to set off fireworks for her.

Because she didn't deserve that from Jiang Nian.

Even after that incident in summer, when he cut ties with Zhou Yuting and her group, his heart held only resentment—he had never forgiven any of them.

Xu Qianqian stared at him, watching him stare blankly, and frowned.

Was Zhou Yuting really that unforgettable?

"Of course you're prettier—do you even need to ask?" Jiang Nian snapped back to himself, without hesitation. "Zhou Yuting? She's nothing. She can't compare to you."

Xu Qianqian: "... You hesitated."

"I was just staring at you. Got distracted."

"Pfft." Xu Qianqian lost interest in asking further and turned toward home.

Jiang Nian didn't bother explaining further—it felt like trying to hide something by covering it up. The answer didn't matter anymore; the past was past, and the fireworks had already been set off.

Right now, the most urgent thing was tomorrow's big joint exam.

Next morning, morning reading.

Jiang Nian felt relatively relaxed—he was studying classical Chinese translation techniques. He hadn't memorized this section using Memory Bread, so he had to learn it himself.

Overall, since the first subject was Chinese, everyone in class was in a relaxed mood.

The Chinese exam started at 9:30 a. m. and ended at 11:30 a. m. The math exam was from 3:00 to 5:00 p. m., meaning there was ample time to review and rest after school.

Li Hua was singing loudly; Jiang Nian studied classical Chinese translation techniques; Zhang Ningzhi was nervously reciting ancient poems.

In the front row, Ceng You the Emperor had been sanctioned—his books used to hide his phone were all gone. Now he just stared blankly at a Chinese textbook, head down, drooling as he slept.

Empress Fangfang studied a Chinese test paper covered in dense red markings—the value of the Commoner Stream was still rising. Wu Jun Gu read a small Chinese booklet—he clearly was cramming last-minute.

Due to seating arrangements for the exam, Li Hua and Ma Guojun's desks had merged. Jiang Nian and Zhang Ningzhi remained side by side, with the class monitor and her desk partner behind them.

Ma Guojun was doing something unknown—his lips moved rapidly. At that speed, he was either chanting a spell or cursing; from his lip movements, it looked like he was saying "Mom."