Chapter 161

Not bad—it's a word that inherently carries a comparative meaning.

Lin Zhongying, flipping through his answer sheet, uttered the word while playing favorites; given their relationship, it clearly wasn't offhand.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian immediately understood.

At least 124.

Add to that Lin Zhongying used "you all," not just "you"—the "all" clearly refers to Zhang Ningzhi, so it's reasonable to infer Zhang Ningzhi scored at least 138.

Thinking of this, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Found it!"

Lin Zhongying pulled out two answer sheets and handed them to Jiang Nian, glancing at them briefly.

"124 and 138? You guys are insane."

Jiang Nian didn't even look—he handed the 138 answer sheet to Zhang Ningzhi, then kept his own 124 math paper, treating it like Bai Yu's precious artifact, admiring it repeatedly.

If you're not in the parallel class, you can't understand how it feels to score over 120 in math.

He'd crammed problems for a month, but his efficiency was actually low; half this exam's score came from that period of grinding.

The other half came from luck—he hit an original question—and from Zhang Ningzhi's dream, which had subconsciously trained his problem-solving approach through rote practice.

Jiang Nian truly wasn't very interested in math; talent is hard to define. Either way, after the Gaokao, he'd never stubbornly choose a STEM major.

He'd drifted too far ahead—he snapped back to reality and suddenly noticed the silence around him.

Something's off—did he stumble into some weird horror dungeon?

He quietly turned his head and saw Zhang Ningzhi watching him with clear concern. He was utterly baffled—what's going on? I'm not even dead yet.

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Ningzhi pressed her lips together, her expression serious.

"124 is still great."

Jiang Nian instantly cracked—he couldn't help it: "This is what you call 'a little cute'?!"

Can't you hide your 138 answer sheet before saying that?!

Wait—he didn't even care about math scores.

His dream wasn't to go to Harbin Institute of Technology and weld pipes. Sure, that dream was decent—but that was Li Hua's ultra-dark fantasy.

He never wanted to be a spaceman for Xi Zhi Lang, eating Grandma's slaps.

Math scores just needed to be decent—though higher was naturally better.

But! Everyone knows that's only for the Gaokao.

In short, Jiang Nian studied only to pass exams—he was a man without dreams, a pragmatist, an elite soldier of exam-oriented education.

Naturally, his score wouldn't shake him—124 had already met his expectations.

"I didn't mean anything—I was just… admiring it," Jiang Nian admitted honestly, to prevent further misunderstanding.

"Ohhh," Zhang Ningzhi covered her face.

She'd thought Jiang Nian's spirit would shatter from such a low score. Thank goodness not—he seemed genuinely satisfied with it; a steady, gradual mindset was indeed good.

Jiang Nian didn't forget to check the monitor's score—when he saw it started with 14, he quietly looked away.

Truly impressive—science prodigy.

He wondered what Xu Qianqian scored—maybe she bombed and got a 130-something. But more likely, it was a 140-something—too terrifying to look at.

Morning study ended; only part of the class had collapsed onto their desks.

Some were happy, some were sad—the ones lying down weren't necessarily asleep; maybe they were laughing loudly on the surface, but beneath their heads, they were spiraling into emo.

Li Hua, that dark soul, was already loudly cursing the graders before morning study even ended.

"They're deliberately picking on me—forcing me to lose points."

As soon as morning study ended, Li Hua gathered his friends and headed for the cafeteria.

"Come on, let's get food. I just don't get it—why the hell did they deduct four points from me?"

Jiang Nian slumped down too, but turned his head toward Zhang Ningzhi—sneaking a glance, was she really not tired? Was she correcting her English test?

Good students are so boring—in anime…

His eyelids slowly drooped; after a tense morning, he was truly sleepy. The last second before his eyes fully closed, he thought he caught Baby Zhizhi turning her head.

Whatever—I'm too tired.

Zhang Ningzhi stole a glance at him, feeling like a thief caught in the act. She wanted to pull out his math answer sheet to analyze it, see if she could figure something out.

But he treasured that sheet too much—he was sleeping on it.

His face was pressed right against it—no opening at all.

Finally, she reached into her bag, pulled out a carton of milk, and silently slipped it into Jiang Nian's desk. She hadn't planned to bring it for him—the exam was over, the deal was done.

But suddenly, she didn't want to drink it herself—fine, she'd generously let him have it.

First and second periods were English—Jiang Nian listened, half-asleep.

Then came math class; since he'd done well, he was suddenly alert and listened to every word without missing a single one.

At noon, he returned from the cafeteria.

Jiang Nian sat back in his seat, leaned on the railing, sipping the milk Zhang Ningzhi had given him. He gazed at the gloomy sky, squinting slightly, already looking forward to the afternoon's answer sheets.

Each subject's teacher had marked scores on the answer sheets; once all six were collected, grading would begin.

Chen Yunyun appeared at the far end of the corridor and walked toward Jiang Nian.

"How'd you do?"

Though they were on good terms, Chen Yunyun had recently become much more reserved. Back when they first met, during their sweet phase, she'd cross half the classroom just to check his scores.

Then she'd take over Li Hua's seat, chatter nonstop for ages, and return only when class started.

Now it seemed they'd entered a cold phase—had their feelings just run out?

That's a bit of a player, Chen Yunyun.

"Not bad, English," he reported the two subjects' scores one by one, then naturally asked back, "I'm not asking about the player part, I mean you?"

Chen Yunyun had actually wanted to go look at Jiang Nian's test paper during the midday run, but she held back. She didn't know why either—suddenly she felt like playing it cool.

She would occasionally overthink, wondering if she didn't ask, he just wouldn't say.

She said, "Both subjects are a little over one-thirty."

Once the words were out, the atmosphere immediately fell silent.

Chen Yunyun's heart lurched—he might not care at all what she scored. And he wouldn't really mind whether she asked or not. It was all just her own wishful thinking.

"And after that?" Jiang Nian asked.

"What?" She turned her head, stunned.

"No, are you this shady?" Jiang Nian stared at her. "I told you my exact scores, and all you give me is 'both subjects a little over one-thirty'?"

"Ah, you're a pervert, right? You fish out my real scores, then go back to your seat, add yours up, see they're higher than mine, and sneakily gloat by yourself during lunch break, right?"

Chen Yunyun: ". No."

"If it's not that, then what? In a bad mood?" Jiang Nian glanced at her. "You came over from the corridor side, the whole you absent-minded."

"Math 134, English 138, did pretty average."

The smile vanished from Jiang Nian's face. He would never smile again.

"You—holy crap."

The smile reappeared on Chen Yunyun's face, just like usual.

"Did you change your answer sheet? Let me see?"

"Changed it in black pen."

Chen Yunyun: ". As expected of you."

She turned to look at the low buildings of the distant county town. What she had been thinking about seemed a little... too far away.