Chapter 166

"Who's looking for you?" Li Hua turned to ask.

"Dunno." Jiang Nian stood up, his long legs stepping over the gap left by Li Hua's squirming, "Probably about the bio enrichment thing."

Qing Bao is the typical responsible teacher—she didn't find him this afternoon, but she'd definitely come to review his test paper eventually.

When he stepped out, he found it was Le Zhi, someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Huh? You're looking for me?"

The atmosphere was oddly tense, like meeting an ex-girlfriend.

What's with this Nantong metaphor?

In fact, boys have stronger emotional numbness—they can more easily let go of temporary friendships, but meeting a friend after a falling-out still feels awkward.

Breakups among boys usually happen without process; unlike girls, they don't try to reconcile—they just stare blankly.

The rift grows wider until the mountain cracks open, then they treat the other like air. Even if they later make up, they can never be as close as before.

Mostly separated by a thick barrier.

But honestly, there's nothing to miss—Le Zhi didn't do anything extreme, he just chose a different path.

"Yeah, I've got something to discuss with you." Le Zhi was also awkward; if he had a choice, he'd rather pay for tutoring than come up to the fourth floor.

But tutoring alone couldn't boost his score by eighty or ninety points in a month—if he didn't hit five hundred in next month's higher-level Six-City Joint Exam.

Whatever, just send it, just jump through the hoops.

Right now, Le Zhi's mind held only one thought: regret, pure and simple regret! His entire future life would now have only two phases.

Before cheating, and after cheating.

Maybe he'd forget it years later, but the shame would haunt him for a year. He might as well start preparing to repeat the grade—this mindset would directly catapult him into private school.

Discuss?

Hearing that word come from Le Zhi's mouth, Jiang Nian couldn't help but frown in confusion.

"What's up? Tell me first."

Listen half-heartedly, no promise I'll help, and even if I do, no guarantee I'll go all out. Just remember: brothers in heart, message me on the drift bottle if you need anything.

"Uh, I scored 521 on this exam." Le Zhi scratched his head, "You get it."

When he looked up, Jiang Nian was gone.

Le Zhi froze, his gaze rising—he saw Jiang Nian had already moved five meters away.

"Why'd you run so far?"

"Nothing, just remembered my dinner's still in the washing machine." Jiang Nian scratched his head, "I'm off. Message me on the drift bottle if anything comes up."

"Wait, you—" Le Zhi stood stunned for a moment before snapping back, "I really scored 521, damn it! Stop pulling these lame jokes!"

Hearing that, Jiang Nian slowly walked back and asked.

"Isn't scoring five hundred-plus pretty good?"

"Good? Are you kidding?" Le Zhi lowered his voice, "You think a slacker like me, who usually scores four hundred, could hit five hundred?"

"Huh? Didn't you just score it?" Jiang Nian didn't want to argue—he'd rather go back to class and nap on his desk.

Le Zhi hesitated for a moment, "I used a little tech."

"Cool."

Le Zhi: "??? No, I'm not asking you to praise me, Jiang Nian, Brother Nian, save me—if I don't hit five hundred next month, I'm done for."

"Easy, just use tech again." Jiang Nian said casually.

He'd been passed around like a ball—now he was exactly the shape Qing Bao wanted: blameless.

"Can't keep using tech forever," Le Zhi said. "Can you help me? How do I raise my score in a month?"

"Get some Doraemon memory bread," Jiang Nian said.

"Bro, stop joking." Le Zhi thought he meant cheating, sighed, "Just now during evening self-study, I heard someone call me 'Tech Brother.'"

Jiang Nian scratched his face, thought for a moment, then spread his hands.

"No good solution."

"Sigh, should've never joined that group to buy test papers." Le Zhi sighed.

"What group?" Jiang Nian glanced at him.

Le Zhi had come to Jiang Nian with sincerity—he knew Jiang Nian wasn't the type to leak secrets, and seeing his interest, he spilled everything.

Ding ding ding!!

The third evening self-study session began; people slowly returned to their classrooms down the corridor.

After hearing Le Zhi's story, Jiang Nian's gaze grew distant.

As the corridor emptied, Le Zhi grew anxious—it was the Olympiad class floor; if a teacher showed up now, it'd be embarrassing.

"Uh, I'll go down first—I'll message you on my phone."

"I'll go down with you. Let's talk while we walk," Jiang Nian was no longer indifferent. "We can still discuss helping you raise your score, but—"

"Don't worry, I'll send you a red packet," Le Zhi was quick to understand.

"I don't want money—I want the account you used to buy the test papers," Jiang Nian said. "I can only tell you how to catch up, not tutor you step by step."

"Fine," Le Zhi agreed without hesitation.

He didn't really want to stay with Jiang Nian either—it always felt awkward. Sigh, they used to be so close, but it was gone forever.

Thinking of that, he asked again.

"What do you need my account for? You're not gonna report that group, are you? Don't report me directly—if my dad finds out, I'm finished."

"Huh?" Jiang Nian glanced at Le Zhi as they descended the stairs. "I'm not that righteous. That group won't last long anyway—no need for me to report it."

"Then what are you—"

"Oh, right—I think a friend of mine bought the same set of test papers as you," Jiang Nian said. "Just lend me the account—I won't do anything shady."

"What are you taking it for? Extorting more than two thousand yuan and you're going in." Le Zhi had this one memorized pretty well — wonder what his old man would think if he knew.

"Yeah, just chatting. It's all legal anyway." Jiang Nian walked him to the door, and as they were about to part, "Decide for yourself. I don't care either way."

With that, he turned and walked off.

Le Zhi stood at the classroom door, his face slightly conflicted. If Jiang Nian wouldn't help him, he could only turn to an after-school tutoring agency. Trust them, or trust Jiang Nian?

As for that little group, even if the whole thing blew open, the ones who'd suffer would just be those answer-sellers. With so many buyers — Gao Zhongsheng from a dozen counties — there's no way they could keep track of them all.

And even taking it ten thousand steps back, the worst that could happen from this case is getting on his knees before his own old man and admitting he was wrong. As long as his grades went up, what was a small mistake?

The old man had always wanted him to get into the police academy, or at least a decent university.

When Jiang Nian went up to the fourth floor, he happened to lock eyes with Zhou Yuting, who was coming down from the third floor. In the empty corridor, the two of them kept their gazes fixed on each other without looking away.

Zhou Yuting's complexion was no longer haggard — she lifted her chin proudly, like a little swan.

However, she only heard Jiang Nian toss out one line before his figure vanished at the stairwell.

"Idiot."

Zhou Yuting immediately clenched her teeth and looked up, furious.

"You're the one—"

"Ahem." Grade-level coordinator Ji Ming was holding a phone, heading up from the second floor.