Chapter 198

Zhang Ningzhi couldn't help but frown at the thought of tomorrow's parent-teacher meeting.

She wondered how the Olympiad class parent meeting was conducted—what the homeroom teacher would say: grades, classroom performance, or maybe emphasizing early romance before the college entrance exam.

"Idiot, you'd definitely pick Pineapple BlowSnow—it has the highest single-unit limit," Li Hua argued with Jiang Nian. "A mecha that can burst blood is practically invincible."

"Fuck, where'd you even get that blood-bursting thing?" Jiang Nian retorted. "Cheng Ge's performance is stable—just activate the 'Go All Out' dungeon, and he still wins in disadvantageous situations."

"Chi Shi, saying that means the animation's combat power setting is flawed," Li Hua expressed doubt, continuing to babble with examples, gesturing excitedly at the desk.

Zhang Ningzhi: "."

Human joys and sorrows have always been incomprehensible to one another.

Qian Bao had just entered the classroom, amid the boiling-hot noise of morning recitation. Seeing Li Hua and Jiang Nian reading aloud at a furious pace from afar, she felt reassured.

What day is it today? Even Li Hua is starting to memorize vocabulary.

Nowadays, young boys suddenly become diligent with no warning at all. I used to think only early romance could give them goals, like vowing to get into the same university together.

Hehe, their faces are even turning red—working so hard.

How many girls has he dated?

Qian Bao crept closer quietly; Li Hua and Jiang Nian's voices grew clearer.

"Still not right."

Li Hua was speaking enthusiastically when he suddenly noticed Jiang Nian's expression change.

He realized something, fell silent, felt awkward, and thought he ought to say something. After a few seconds of holding back, he blurted out one phrase.

"Abandon (give up)."

Jiang Nian watched Qian Bao drag Li Hua away, sighing and shaking his head.

"If you really have nothing to do, biting a pen is fine too."

Noon running drill.

The loudspeaker blared, sunlight streamed down the corridor, and many chose to obediently go running—just to stretch their legs, since staying in the classroom all day was boring.

Dong Wensong approached the PE monitor, Liu Yang, clutching his cheek.

"Liu Yang, my tooth hurts."

Liu Yang froze, then thought for a moment and said.

"Should I blow on it?"

Dong Wensong's face changed, and he stepped back silently.

"What I mean is, I can't do the running drill—my toothache makes my whole head throb with every jolt."

"Alright, alright. If the homeroom teacher asks me, I'll just tell the truth," Liu Yang was unsure. "Try holding some warm water if your tooth hurts."

"OK."

After Liu Yang left, Dong Wensong smiled.

Back at his seat, Dogbasket leaned back against his chair.

He thought: Running drill is hard to skip? Just open your mouth and you get excused—effortlessly.

There were hardly anyone left in the class. He looked up and caught sight of Jiang Nian preparing to leave with Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe—his heart sank.

He's got good luck with girls, but it doesn't matter.

Not jealousy—just the truth.

Even if you're close to girls, you still have to run the drill, sweating buckets, exhausted like dogs. What good is being handsome? You still get hit up for bride price.

You might even get played by someone, a lickspittle.

As Dong Wensong was mentally cursing fiercely, suddenly he saw Jiang Nian turn and look at him. In that instant, every hair on his body stood on end.

Wait—he heard me?

But Jiang Nian only glanced once, then turned away. He said something to the two girls beside him, and both burst into laughter.

Dong Wensong was startled and afraid, feeling both guilty and angry.

Are they laughing at me?

Three seconds later, he saw Jiang Nian turn and toss something—a pen? It arced gracefully through the air and landed perfectly inside the pen holder.

Dong Wensong froze. It wasn't aimed at him.

But hearing the girls' exclamations by the door, he felt worse again. There were hardly anyone left in the classroom—so he was just showing off, using me as a bystander to impress them?

Throwing a pen is cool? What, you can't afford a new one if you break it?

That's pure waste of money—wasting your parents' money. Is it even your own money? If it were me, I'd never dare do that—it's so fucking stupid!

Unconsciously, Dong Wensong's face had turned hot and red.

Down the corridor stairs.

Wang Yuhe couldn't help herself, curious.

"How'd you throw it so accurately?"

Jiang Nian remained expressionless, deliberately retorting.

"I just threw it and it went in—can't you do that?"

Wang Yuhe fell silent, naturally unwilling to admit defeat.

"Of course… I can."

"Good, then let me see your skill next time," Jiang Nian said casually, habitually pressuring her. "You wouldn't lie, right?"

Chen Yunyun couldn't take it anymore and interrupted.

"Stop bullying Yuhe every day."

Jiang Nian paid no mind, walking down the stairs.

"Should I bully you instead?"

Chen Yunyun: "."

Wang Yuhe was both angry and helpless, secretly swearing that next time she would definitely get her dignity back right in front of Jiang Nian. Make him sincerely convinced and praise how amazing she was!

Fortunately, the weather was neither cold nor hot, and not many people were sweating after finishing the morning run.

Yu Zhiyi didn't like the morning run at all, always feeling like someone was staring at her.

Whenever she encountered some greasy gazes, or glances that pretended to look elsewhere and swept past in a flash, it always made her feel physically uncomfortable, wanting to post about it on Xiaohongshu.

By comparison, she could more readily accept Jiang Nian's gaze.

There was no particular reason—being looked at was unavoidable anyway. If the other person's looks were a bit higher, at least it wouldn't feel so off-putting inside.

Besides, Jiang Nian was a bit mentally ill.

This person clearly didn't like her, even harboring strong prejudice.

But even so, didn't he still like looking?

Thinking of this, Yu Zhiyi couldn't help feeling a bit smug, a thought flashing through her mind.

If she could make the person who hated her the most willingly fall at her feet. Just imagining the scene, she was already starting to feel thrilled inside.

In the running formation, Jiang Nian was thinking about what to eat for lunch.

He looked up and his gaze met Zhou Yuting's.

Both of them looked away in unison, faces wearing an expression of bad luck.

Idiot.

Bastard.

Question: what's it like being in the same class as the person you hate the most?

Zhou Yuting definitely had the right to speak on it—like hanging yourself in front of Lin Zhengying, no matter what you do there's no way out, you can only watch that person bouncing around in front of you.

It's not that she's spoiling him, she just can't exactly beat him up.

After school at noon.

Lin Dong went out of school with bloodshot eyes to pre-order milk tea, Jiang Nian didn't take his money. Instead, it was changed to one fruit tea per person for both small groups, just watch them being delivered.

Five people on Jiang Nian's side, six people in her own group. Adding up to eleven cups total, completely insignificant compared to the money he earned from fleecing her.

Outside the school, the sunlight was brilliant, and the wind felt a bit cold when it blew.

Lin Dong looked up, shielded his eyes with his hand to glance at the sun, and a smile couldn't help appearing on his pale face.

This wave directly made him rich, accumulating quite a few fragments of bride price.

In fact, he also knew another even grayer way to make money.

Mess around with some small loans.

This was something he learned while chatting online with a big brother—now small loan platforms are springing up like mushrooms after rain.

Loose review, they'll lend to anyone. Each one has the credit line pulled way too wide, aiming for the nine-out-thirteen-return scheme.

But even if he were old enough, he still wouldn't dare touch these things.

Just treating it as a kind of life experience, so next time he can brag about it in front of his roommates.

Lin Dong walked into the milk tea shop, his gaze locking onto a clerk.

"Hello, I need eleven cups of milk tea."

Ceng You was playing games in the dorm, he'd gotten tired of watching in the morning.

After lunch at noon, he washed his feet and got on the bed, leaning against the wall playing Ball Ball Big Battle.

This game was rather niche, not many people in the class played it.

He could only fight alone, roaming and devouring in space by himself. Sometimes when he ran into opponents with better skills and cheats, the game immediately became unplayable.

After playing for a while, he irritably quit the game, instinctively wanting to delete it.

His finger long-pressed for a moment then hesitated—this game might be as lonely as himself.

In the end, he still didn't delete the game.

The phone battery was running low, the green bar turning red.

Ceng You muttered, turned over and fished out a brick-like power bank from under the blanket.

He had two of these power banks.

He rented a charging box at the small shop, charging it non-stop twenty-four hours a day.

So whether in class, out of class, or back in the dorm, he was always playing on his phone.

In the dorm, his roommate was doing laundry.

Ceng You's clothes had already been washed by foot, he comfortably leaned back in the blanket and tapped open.

Watching and watching, a sudden huge sense of emptiness welled up in his heart.

He'd watched too much, every time after watching a huge sense of loss would well up inside. As if something had been lost, his chest instantly felt hollow.

There was a feeling of waking from a dream, his heart aching inexplicably.

Yet he was also addicted to this feeling, like a customer who's visited a brothel once. Lingering endlessly between the brothels and pleasure quarters, just to keep repeating that feeling.

He felt that maybe he should do something.

How about trying to work hard, study properly—playing like this forever, what to do about the future?

Is he going to lie around playing every day even after getting into college?

With a buzz, a message popped up on his phone.

That was a friend he'd added a month ago while playing a game, the other party was an older brother who'd entered society. Quite interesting in conversation, often imparting some life experience to Ceng You.

He thought for a moment, then sent a message over.

"Brother Chen, are there any money-making projects students can do?"

Half a minute later, the other party replied.

"Squeeze the catfishes. (Shades)"

Ceng You saw this, froze for a long while, then tossed his phone into the blankets.

"What an idiot—can jerking off even make money?"

Lunch break was approaching.

Jiang Nian stood in the hallway together with Chen Yunyun, holding a physics test paper in his hand. Folded to the width of a palm, he worked the problems while sunbathing.

The two chatted on and off, and the conversation drifted to tomorrow's parent-teacher meeting.

"Your parents really aren't coming?" she asked.

"What else can they do."

"Then you're not coming tomorrow either?" Chen Yunyun looked at him. "So what are you planning to do tomorrow afternoon?"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian fell into thought.

"You've got me there."

Chen Yunyun gave up completely—this guy was pure cement-headed. She had wanted to find an excuse to invite him, but he had blocked her airtight.

It was obvious he really cared about his rest time.

"Are you coming to school tomorrow afternoon?"

"No."

"Fine." Chen Yunyun sighed, then suddenly thought of something. "Tomorrow I want to go to an internet cafe with Wang Yuhe to play games. Are you coming?"

"Sure, what time?"