Chapter 150

During morning reading, Zhang Ningzhi asked softly.

"Do you drink this?"

Jiang Nian turned his head and saw a small box of fruit yogurt on Zhang Ningzhi's desk; she extended her pale, slender fingers and slowly nudged it toward the edge of his table.

Long time no see—the campus jerk's signature item, a perfect icebreaker.

"Drink." Jiang Nian nodded.

Damn, it's like the classic exam skin has returned.

He'd originally used this stuff to Gou Gou Da—no, meet Zhang Ningzhi. Back then, he'd just been in a good mood and never expected to run into her again.

What started as a fleeting romance became classmates, then the same class, then the same group, and finally, desk partners.

In Naruto, this could warrant two full flashback episodes.

He took it, about to tear open the straw, when his good desk partner poked him again.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Zhang Ningzhi looked serious and whispered.

"You can't drink it now."

"Why?" Jiang Nian was baffled.

Did they put something in the fruit yogurt? So mysterious.

"If you drink it and get diarrhea, it'll ruin your exam performance," Zhang Ningzhi said seriously. "So it's best to drink only purified water, and have this one after the exam."

Jiang Nian nodded seriously in return and gave her an OK sign.

"Got it."

Zhang Ningzhi took this exam extremely seriously—like a lion going after a rabbit. After all, it involved promotion to a higher class, and she didn't want to take even a one-percent risk.

Jiang Nian matched her seriousness to ease her mind.

At the back of the classroom.

Yu Tongjie sat calmly, loudly reciting common classical Chinese translation terms.

Last night he'd missed his chance to grab a good spot for his books due to certain reasons; he only carried them out after second period, expecting the hallway to be packed.

After all, a whole crowd of students were frantically searching for places to put their books, and some boarders had just moved theirs straight back to their dorms.

To be honest, at that moment, he was a little panicked.

But soon he calmed down, because some day students didn't want the hassle—they simply placed their book baskets right on the stairs. Genius!

Logically, the stairs were short and the book baskets were large.

A single basket wouldn't fit, but these people stacked them layer upon layer, building a new staircase out of book baskets—and suddenly, more options appeared.

Yu Tongjie's books were placed right on the stairs, so he easily found a spot. So why were all those people rushing to grab positions? Could books really be…

Halfway through morning reading, the empty staircase.

Yu Tongjie pressed against the wall, crouching inside his book basket, rummaging for his exam stationery bag. As he searched, beads of sweat slowly formed on his forehead.

Half his stationery was gone—all the high-end stuff!

He cursed his luck, but since it was done, he accepted it. As for moving books or changing spots—he'd given up. Chinese exam came first.

He'd move them at lunch. After all, only a few pens in the basket were flashy. The rest were reference books—Gao San students never lacked reference books.

Who wants them?

Shaking his head, Yu Tongjie walked back to the classroom with a light step.

Ding-ding-ding—the bell for the end of morning self-study rang.

The class stirred: some headed for the cafeteria, others got up to use the restroom.

Li Hua stood up, stretched in his seat, then turned to Jiang Nian.

"Going to the cafeteria?"

"No," Jiang Nian didn't look up—he was still studying essay templates.

If he didn't score over six hundred, he couldn't tell Zhou Yuting, "You're trash if you can't even hit six hundred." Even if the odds were slim, he still wanted to try.

Don't underestimate the power of hatred!

Thinking of Zhou Yuting, Jiang Nian remembered the gold-digger she was chasing—the ugly gold-digger Liu Feipeng.

Jiang Nian believed that if Liu Feipeng's face were as handsome as his own, Zhou Yuting would've already surrendered.

This wasn't bragging—he made three hundred yuan a month and still moved in circles. He was basically a Beiye among Gao Zhongsheng, still getting a little soft meal off his looks.

You could call him a lickspittle, but not a contributor.

Three hundred yuan a month? What contribution? At most, he occasionally bought her bubble tea. Sometimes, at month's end, Zhou Yuting even had to chip in a little.

Broke guys are like this—no oil to squeeze.

But as for benefiting from him? Not really. Liu Feipeng occasionally treated, but Jiang Nian rarely went; when he did, he always paid for drinks or fruit.

So Jiang Nian never took advantage of men—he'd only ever taken a tiny bit of financial advantage from Zhou Yuting.

He was a man of principle; he owed Liu Feipeng nothing, only pure hatred. But since they rarely saw each other, he didn't dwell on it much.

If he could, he'd have used his twenty-odd-thousand-yuan savings to humiliate Liu Feipeng badly.

After all, Liu Feipeng only had money because of his father. He had a few thousand a month—so what? Jiang Nian had twenty thousand he could spend freely?

Unless his dad died today and left him the inheritance, before university, Young Master Liu would probably still live on a few thousand a month.

As for what happens after? Who knows?

If I hit college with a few million, I'd make this idiot green with envy.

Of course, it was just fantasy—this wasn't "Dragon King Returns." Flashy rich-guy tropes feel great while you're doing it, but afterward you're left holding your head in regret.

Li Hua left, taking Ma Guojun to the cafeteria.

Ten minutes later, the two returned smelling of leek pancakes. Li Hua tried to come over and chat, but Jiang Nian immediately shoved him away with a book.

"Get the hell out, you fucking asshole."

In principle, self-study should continue until eight-thirty, and students can only leave the classroom half an hour before the exam starts, but around eight-fifteen some people were already heading to the exam venue early.

The classroom was bustling, with many people getting up to pack their things. Li Hua had already left—the guy only brought two pens and nothing else.

Ma Guojun has rhinitis and habitually carries a pack of tissues in his pocket. When Jiang Nian saw it, he snatched a small pack of tissues from his pocket, and Ma Guojun was heartbroken over it.

"Damn it, you're just like Li Hua—grabbing stuff even when you don't need it!"

"That's not right—what if I don't need it, can't I give it to someone else?" Jiang Nian rubbed his face. "What if the person sitting in front of me in the exam room is a 1.5-meter-tall white-haired little loli with the Evil King's True Eye."

"You idiot, do you think this is Tokyo?" Ma Guojun cursed.

Jiang Nian snickered, looking completely indifferent. So what? He'd snatched a pack of Green Tea tissues anyway—top-tier magical crafting material.

Outside in the hallway, there were already one or two scattered students from other classes waiting, curiously poking their heads in to look at the classroom.

"Which exam room are you in?" Jiang Nian returned to his seat to grab his things—he had finished packing long ago.

Zhang Ningzhi had been seriously reviewing during morning reading and self-study, and only now had time to pack her pencil case. Hearing his voice, she put down what she was holding and looked up.

"It's in this building, 504, should be upstairs."

"Alright, I'm in the senior-2 building, so I'll head off first—" Jiang Nian was still standing by his seat, holding a transparent pencil case and a bottle of mineral water, looking like he was about to leave.

"Oh, okay, bye-bye." Zhang Ningzhi waved, thought for a moment, then added, "Good luck!"

Jiang Nian smiled and nodded.

"Alright, good luck."

Li Qingrong had already left, so Jiang Nian didn't have to think about whether to walk with the class rep. It's an exam, not dating—no need to be wishy-washy.

Everyone has their own personality, and getting along this way is actually more relaxed.

Yang Qiming was on his way to the exam room and hurriedly bumped into Jiang Nian at the stairwell. Just as he was about to trip, Jiang Nian's quick reflexes caught him.

"Thanks." Yang Qiming broke out in a cold sweat on the spot.

Between Jiang Nian and Yang Qiming, aside from running into him arguing with his girlfriend at the milk tea shop, and knowing about that little misunderstanding with Lin Dong, there wasn't much interaction.

"No problem. Why do you look so off? Like you didn't sleep all night."

Hearing that, Yang Qiming couldn't help but want to vent.

Last night, Huang Cailang had been snoring the whole time. Everyone in the dorm fell asleep, but he stayed awake, tormented by the snoring for half the night before finally falling asleep.

When he asked around in the morning, damn—everyone in the dorm had slept fine except him.

But since he and Jiang Nian were only nodding acquaintances, it wasn't appropriate to say these things to him. Besides, Huang Cailang had always been good to him—they were practically brothers.

Forget it.

"Ah, it's nothing, just a bit of insomnia." Yang Qiming went down the stairs with Jiang Nian, and they parted ways on the first floor. "I'm off, my exam room is in the senior-1 building."

"Mm." Jiang Nian headed toward the senior-2 building.

Meanwhile, Ma Guojun forgot his 2B pencil, so halfway to the exam room he turned back toward the classroom.

Although buying a pencil would be faster, the first exam is just Chinese—no big deal. He wouldn't be late, so no need to waste money.

Even if it cost him some energy, it wouldn't affect the exam at all. If you can't do the Chinese exam, you can't do it even with abundant energy—walking around more might even help him do better.

After finally climbing to the fourth floor, the big guy was panting and out of breath.

"Shit, I'm exhausted."

He slowly walked to the stairwell entrance and found his book basket among the huge pile. He suddenly felt especially grateful—following Jiang Nian had gotten him a good spot.

Gotta admit, Jiang Nian really knows his stuff.

Otherwise, if the book basket was placed at the very back or the very front, either getting books would be inconvenient or the books wouldn't be safe.

What? How could books not be safe?

You can only say you don't know how dangerous school is, how wicked people can be. If you run into some twisted-hearted bastard who doesn't like the look of your book basket as they pass by, they'll just stomp it to pieces.

Are you gonna check the surveillance? Besides, it's not a hallway—there's no surveillance.

Ma Guojun found the 2B pencil in his book basket, switched to the other staircase, and went down. His gaze casually swept over the book baskets on the stairs, when suddenly a big "Yu" character caught his eye.

"Huh?" Ma Guojun stopped in his tracks, muttering to himself, "This 'Yu' character is written so flashy—could it be that idiot Yu Tongjie's?"

Thinking this, Ma Guojun bent down and flipped through the papers, and sure enough, he saw Yu Tongjie's name.

"Why is this idiot putting his book basket on the stairs? Isn't he afraid someone will trip over it?"

Ma Guojun looked around—nobody on the stairs above or below. His heart skipped a beat nervously for a moment, then he decisively raised his fat leg and delivered a Nike kick to the book basket!

Crack! A faint sound rang out!

Gotta admit, Nike soles really are quality—the book basket split open with a big crack.

After doing all this, the big guy felt guilty and immediately scurried down the stairs.