Chapter 174: Actually, I

After school, the three blended into the flood of boarding students returning to their dorms, passing through the northern dormitory complex.

Beyond the north gate stood old, crowded rental housing, with chaotic power lines slicing through the sky above.

Farther away lay the industrial zone, the sky a dull yellow.

Li Hua led the two into a dark alley, enthusiastically explaining as they went.

"Someone recommended this place to me—it's cheap and tasty."

Jiang Nian was genuinely interested; he'd hardly ever eaten at small eateries. When he had no money, he couldn't afford them—he ate only in the cafeteria. Even after he got money, he still ate only in the cafeteria.

"How far?"

"Right up ahead, one or two hundred meters."

"Chi Shi, you said that two minutes ago," Ma Guojun wiped sweat from his forehead. "If you keep lying like this, I'll kick your ass—you're deliberately dragging us this far, you bastard."

If Li Hua was treating them to a meal, what he treated them to didn't matter, nor did what they ate.

First, just get out of the school. Even if they had to squat by the roadside, they'd pull up two blades of grass and shove them in their mouths.

What? No money?

Give me your phone.

Where'd you get 150,000? Don't ask about things out in the world.

Although Jiang Nian and Ma Guojun had earlier joked about drinking Red Bull and Pocari Sweat, when it came time to order, they only ordered two dishes and washed them down with cheap tea leaves.

"You really won't drink anything?" Li Hua blew on his pale yellow tea, moved. "You don't have to save money for Dad—lately I've got more cash than I know what to do with."

Jiang Nian spoke first. "Forget it, Hua. Save it for your bride-price fragments."

Ma Guojun laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, exactly."

"Shit." Li Hua, hearing the phrase "bride-price fragments," snapped. "Holy shit, you're so naive—why bring up the one thing that's not open?"

The three usually mooched meals off each other; drinks mostly came from Jiang Nian. He often bought Niu Ma Yin oral liquid and Sprite, and mooching off him gave no one guilt.

"I'll buy you drinks—what do you want?" Ma Guojun stood up, ready to get drinks. "How about something chilled? Soy milk or something else?"

"Didn't I say I was treating?" Li Hua said.

Watching the two bicker, Jiang Nian suddenly suggested.

"How about… some alcohol?"

Instantly, the small square table fell silent. Li Hua and Ma Guojun stared at each other.

A minute passed.

"How about we get some?"

"Let's do it."

…

Evening study was about to begin; the classroom glowed bright with lights, filled with chatter and laughter.

Zhang Ningzhi couldn't help lifting her head from her desk, glancing at the two empty seats beside her. She wondered what they were doing—they hadn't returned yet, and class was about to start.

Soon, the three arrived at the classroom just as the bell rang. As soon as they entered, the front row erupted in teasing.

"Holy shit, Fatty, you playing games again? Why's your face so red?"

"Damn, this strong alcohol smell—they went drinking this afternoon!"

"Monitor, I'm reporting someone for binge drinking!"

"Supplements, supplements—what did you do to my Ma?"

"Holy shit, Li Hua, don't spill on me, fuck."

"Did Jiang Nian drink?"

"Hey hey hey, don't spread rumors," Jiang Nian pointed and retorted. "Rumors die with the wise—I'm allergic to alcohol. Didn't drink a single drop."

The front rows were noisy, but Li Qingrong merely glanced curiously at Jiang Nian. Seeing his face wasn't flushed and his walk was steady, she quietly looked away.

As long as this didn't happen frequently, or if they weren't caught red-handed by authority, no one cared.

Ma Guojun's face was too red to argue—he silently returned to his seat.

Li Hua wasn't much better—reeking of alcohol.

Jiang Nian sat in the middle seat, entering before Li Hua. The moment he sat down, Zhang Ningzhi leaned over slightly and sniffed—she caught only a faint whiff of alcohol.

She wasn't sure if Jiang Nian had drunk or not, hesitating, suspicious.

"Did you drink?"

Jiang Nian didn't look up, answering without hesitation.

"Only tea. Don't believe me? Ask them."

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi was half-skeptical, turning to look at Ma Guojun and Li Hua in the same row.

Fat Baby pulled out his biology textbook, pretending to stand for evening study, his round, chubby hands propped on the desk.

But no matter how hard he feigned indifference, his red face betrayed him.

Li Hua, reeking of alcohol, was even worse—he couldn't even stand, just slumped onto the desk and fell asleep.

Jiang Nian patted Li Hua like a dead dog and asked.

"Hua, didn't I not drink?"

Li Hua was half-unconscious, unable to rise, only waving his hand in response.

Jiang Nian found this hilarious—he turned to Zhang Ningzhi and grinned.

"See? I told you."

Zhang Ningzhi was half-skeptical, but ultimately it had nothing to do with her, so she said nothing.

She couldn't lean in to check closely—that would be too presumptuous.

Unhappy.

Evening reading ended, seamlessly followed by evening self-study.

Li Hua sobered up quite a bit. To avoid being caught red-handed by the teacher, he ran to the bathroom to wash his face and rinse his mouth.

Close behind him was Ma Guojun, while Jiang Nian stayed put at his seat.

Outside the empty bathroom, the lights were dim.

Two faucets gushed. Li Hua and Ma Guojun simultaneously cupped a handful of water with their hands, took a swig, and tilted their heads back to gargle.

"Damn it! Jiang Nian really deserves to die!" Li Hua couldn't help cursing. "How did he do it? We clearly drank together, yet he doesn't smell of alcohol at all."

"He definitely bought gum on the sly. I told you, what was he dawdling at the school store for?" Ma Guojun cursed along too. "Too bad we can't expose him."

"Let me tell you, if you'd drunk even one more cup, he definitely wouldn't have held up." Li Hua reviewed the situation.

"Cut it out, the bet's already lost." Ma Guojun was a bit speechless. He washed his face again and concluded, "Anyway, we can't drink with Jiang Nian anymore."

In the classroom, Li Qingrong patted Jiang Nian's shoulder and asked directly.

"Did you drink?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and answered honestly.

"Just one cup."

Li Qingrong looked at the single finger he held up and nodded.

"Mm."

Little liar!

Zhang Ningzhi wrote her test paper vigorously, glanced at Jiang Nian, and puffed up with anger. Just now when she had asked him, he'd clearly said he hadn't drunk.

The class rep asks him, and he tells the truth. Little liar with the long nose.

After Li Hua came back, he looked at Jiang Nian's gloating expression and couldn't help trembling with anger. But the moment he thought about how he was the one who paid for the alcohol, he immediately felt relieved again.

The rich dog has money; bending one's waist a little isn't much of a loss.

During the first period of evening self-study, Qian Bao came in with a jaunty little walk. The first thing she did was—

"Open the windows, open the windows. It's not even winter yet, so why do you keep them shut every day?"

Saying so, Qian Bao began her routine lap around the class. She had only taken a few steps when she stopped in the aisle between Li Hua and Ma Guojun.

"I told you to open the windows for ventilation, but you wouldn't listen. A bit of sweat smell on a normal day is one thing, but today it's even fermented into the smell of alcohol?"

Hearing this, the people around burst into laughter and started tattling one after another.

"Teacher! Those three next to you were drinking!"

"Yeah, Teacher, I saw with my own eyes the three of them drinking from cases."

Hearing this, Qian Bao hauled the three of them to their feet and focused her interrogation on Li Hua.

"How much did you drink?"

Li Hua had a sudden brainwave. "Teacher, I only drank one cup."

Qian Bao glanced at him. "Then I'll go find your head teacher."

"Three bottles, three bottles. Teacher, I was wrong." Li Hua surrendered instantly. "I'm fine now, I've digested it all."

"Oh really? I still have a few sets of English papers here." Qian Bao crossed her arms over her chest.

"Teacher, actually I'm still a teeny bit dizzy." Li Hua said it in a coy, bashful way.

Qian Bao couldn't be bothered with him and turned to look at the big fatty whose face wasn't obviously red.

"Ma Guojun, what about you?"

The big fatty was nervous and confessed without being pressed, holding up two chubby fingers.

"Two bottles."

"Well done, you two. Quite the achievements—three bottles, two bottles. Did you do well on your English exams?"

Qian Bao frowned. She usually didn't bother with much, but she kept a close eye on Li Hua. When the leadership held a meeting, they had specifically mentioned certain top students with lopsided subjects, almost reading out Li Hua's ID card.

For one thing, the nickname "Li Hua's Line" was practically universal in Gao San. For another, if Li Hua could pull his English up, getting a 120 would lock him into a 985, with a shot at C9.

Suddenly, Qian Bao felt as if she had missed something. She turned her head and found Jiang Nian had quietly sat down on his own.

Qian Bao: "..."

Jiang Nian looked up, met Qian Bao's exasperated gaze, and stood up with an awkward smile.

"Teacher, I figured you'd get tired interrogating them one by one, so I was saving you some trouble."

Qian Bao gave a dry laugh and looked Jiang Nian up and down. Seeing his complexion showed nothing unusual, as if he hadn't been drinking at all, she questioned him as usual.

"How much did you drink?"

Jiang Nian was silent for two seconds, then held up two fingers and said coyly.

"Teacher, I can't hold my liquor well. Out of curiosity, I diluted it with water and tried two small cups."

Hearing this, Li Hua and Ma Guojun turned their heads one after another, staring at Jiang Nian with a look of astonishment, as if to say: you are shameless to the core.

In the end, Qian Bao took Li Hua away alone, and Jiang Nian and the big fatty exchanged a smile.

The Taoist dies, the poor Taoist lives. I'm back in the game!

After Qian Bao left, the classroom gradually quieted down. Jiang Nian twirled his pen while working on problems. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Zhang Ningzhi's brooding gaze.

Jiang Nian: "?"

One period of evening self-study passed. After class, Jiang Nian prepared to go relieve himself—he'd drunk too much and his bladder couldn't quite hold it.

He had just stood up when he met Li Qingrong's cold gaze. For the first time ever, he read a hint of displeasure in it.

"??"

Everyone's... so weird.

Whatever, off to pee. Yay!

In the corridor, where the light wasn't exactly bright, Sun Zhicheng and Lin Dong leaned against the railing, chatting idly.

Just as he happened to see Zhou Yuting coming over from the stairwell, a strong premonition suddenly flashed through Sun Zhicheng's mind — perhaps in a moment he would have an encounter with Zhou Yuting.

His gaze followed Zhou Yuting; he even forgot to answer Lin Dong, already slipping into a self-forgetting state.

He only heard a *snap*, and the Zhou Yuting who had walked up beside Sun Zhicheng suddenly dropped a set of keys from her person.

Sun Zhicheng froze for a beat, then was swept up in an unexpected surge of wild joy.

Sixth sense! It came true!

His whole body trembled; he didn't even hear Lin Dong calling him "A-Cheng." His mind went blank, and almost on instinct he bent down to pick up the keys.

However… a hand appeared in his line of sight, faster than him.

In that instant, Sun Zhicheng's mind went blank once again. He turned his head in shock, and saw Jiang Nian's perfect side profile — he lost his soul entirely.

How is it him again! Can he just drop dead!

But no matter how unhappy he was, he could only accept reality — the loser eats the dust.

Sun Zhicheng was a man of dignity; he couldn't bring himself to do something like snatching. He could only force a bitter smile, slowly withdrew his hand, and stood back up.

Zhou Yuting, seeing Jiang Nian pick up the keys for her, couldn't help feeling a little dazed.

He used to take care of every little thing for her like this too — could it be that Jiang Nian

Jiang Nian reached his hand toward the keys on the ground, and the instant his fingers were about to touch them, he abruptly swerved.

One sharp U-turn — he squatted right down and started tying his shoelace.

Three seconds later he stood up, and walked off as if nothing had happened.

In the corridor, Zhou Yuting and Sun Zhicheng stood disheveled in the night wind.

What the hell is wrong with him!

Lin Dong was also stunned for a beat, then laughed heartily, turned and ran toward Jiang Nian. He caught up to Jiang Nian from behind and gave his shoulder a light pat.

"Nian-ge, do you have some kind of grudge with Zhou Yuting?"

"No?" Jiang Nian turned his head, face full of confusion. "Why do you ask?"

"I saw everything just now — you didn't even pick up the keys." Lin Dong wore a look that said *you little punk*. "If you tell me you two have no issues at all, I really won't buy it."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then said earnestly.

"Actually, I'm a pretty new kind of introverted simp. Just now it was because I was too nervous, so I couldn't pick up the keys, and it got a little awkward, so I just left."

"Dong, in the future, don't say things that aren't conducive to classmate unity."