Chapter 200: I

Upon hearing this, the class erupted in another wave of laughter.

"Teacher, it's not a chicken—it's Yang Qiming."

"Hahaha, fuck, the Lord of the Rooster has descended to earth—my bro Yang really has game."

"Aww, I'm turned on, I wanna marry him."

"You bastard, I'm totally into this. Hey, question: will Brother Yang crow while he's jerking off?"

"Stop fucking talking! The English teacher's right here!"

Qian Bao was completely stunned, listening to the classmates chatter back and forth. She roughly pieced together what had happened, but still couldn't believe it.

"Yang Qiming, stand up."

The latter reluctantly rose, already regretting having imitated the rooster.

"Teacher, I'm sorry."

"I didn't say you were wrong—I'm just curious how you did it." Qian Bao wore a mischievous grin. "Alright, do it again for me."

At these words, the class burst into laughter once more.

Yang Qiming couldn't help but feel embarrassed, scratching his head.

Seeing this, the classmates immediately started egging him on.

"Bro Yang, Class Three has never backed down—don't embarrass us!"

"Yeah, bro, don't be a buzzkill—give us one!"

"It's just imitating a rooster—what's so hard?" Li Hua fired up the trio: "Man up, don't act like some shy girl—do it!"

Jiang Nian turned his head and pointed his finger, arresting him on the spot.

"Hey hey! What did I do to you? That's classic Chinese male thinking—you're getting flagged on Xiaohongshu!"

Li Hua snapped back, pointing at him.

"Fuck, don't take that out of context!"

"Here's the thing: 'taking out of context' comes from the article that says 'don't take out of context.'" Jiang Nian pointed at him. "Aren't you yourself taking this out of context?"

"Red Stone! Red Stone! Red Stone!"

Zhang Nenzhi propped her chin on her hand, listening to Jiang Nian and Li Hua's childish argument, and sighed wistfully while cradling her face.

Boys are just so immature.

Either they imitate roosters or stir up chaos—like monkeys.

Thinking of this, she stole a glance at someone and couldn't help speaking up.

"Jiang Nian, do you know there's a parent-teacher meeting tomorrow?"

"Of course I do. What's the issue?" Jiang Nian looked puzzled, thinking Baby Zhizhi was treating him like an idiot. "It's at 9:30 a. m. —I remember clearly."

Zhang Nenzhi nodded and continued.

"Right, but we don't know which group is assigned to clean the classroom. Any idea?"

At this, Jiang Nian's smile vanished.

He frowned deeply, turning seriously toward Zhang Nenzhi. After much hesitation, he ventured tentatively:

"First, our group is definitely not it, right?"

Zhang Nenzhi shook her head, her pink lips softly parting.

"Wrong guess."

Jiang Nian's face darkened; he clutched his head in despair.

"Fuck, we're fucked!"

Over there, Yang Qiming imitated the rooster again—this time even better. Everyone was awed by his vocal skill; Qian Bao stood frozen, then led the applause.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—Yang Qiming stood alone in a sea of applause.

Even though he had just endured betrayal, he was still moved by this small thread of class camaraderie. Even a trick as lowly as crowing like a rooster could bring him a sense of accomplishment.

In that moment, he understood.

Actually, I can imitate a dog too—I learned it from an old man in my village. Doesn't matter if it's a good skill or not—dog barking is easier than crowing.

Nobody thinks I'm gonna perform, right? Haha, only an idiot would imitate a dog.

Yang Qiming suppressed his urge to perform, sat down amid the applause, calm and elegant, as if he had just swept away his fame and glory with a flick of his robe.

"Bro, you're awesome," Huang Cailang leaned forward, praising Yang Qiming across Zhou Yuting. "I listened and wanted to loop it and squat in the comments."

"Haha, you're exaggerating," Yang Qiming waved it off humbly. "Just a little talent—nothing special."

Zhou Yuting felt like vomiting—what kind of weirdos surround me!

Why imitate a rooster and not a dog?

Since we got promoted, we haven't had a single peaceful day—every day is chaos.

Can we please have some normal people? Is there not a single normal boy in this class?

"I'm getting Yu Yu'd."

Jiang Nian lay face-down on his desk, utterly defeated.

"No more sleeping in tomorrow—my world's collapsing. I'm thinking of recording my Yu Yu experience online and fast-forwarding to the 'Don't Laugh Challenge.'"

Hearing this, Li Hua gave a thumbs-up in approval.

"Then the next top 100 UP主 will be you—congrats, congrats."

Zhang Nenzhi was confused; she'd only heard of the "Don't Laugh Challenge." There were plenty of such videos on foreign sites—they looked fun—but she didn't understand what they were talking about.

She felt she couldn't keep up with Jiang Nian's train of thought, and grew frustrated.

Hmph, not including me.

Li Hua couldn't accept it, but who was he to refuse—he was the group leader. Wu Jun Gu and Huang Fang accepted the news calmly; they were both emotionally steady comrades.

Ceng You couldn't take it anymore—he'd already planned to stay up all night.

"Can I skip tomorrow?"

"Sure, find someone to switch with you," Li Hua said, being fairly reasonable. "There shouldn't be much to do tomorrow anyway—just clean up after the parent-teacher meeting."

"Then never mind," Ceng You gave up.

He wasn't without friends, but he'd barely gotten a rare day off where he could sleep till natural wake-up—no one without a life-or-death bond would swap duty with him.

Jiang Nian had something to say, but was suddenly yanked by Zhang Nengzhi. "What's wrong?"

"You! Don't switch!" Baby Zhizhi frowned, her expression stern.

"Why?" Jiang Nian broke into a sweat of tiny yellow beads, thinking, Did I break a heavenly law? Why are you targeting me like this? "Lin Dong's dad might come to the parent-teacher meeting—I was thinking—"

"No!" Zhang Nengzhi cut him off.

"You're being too domineering. Isn't it just that you guys can't stand me sleeping in?" Jiang Nian was speechless. "I'm just a kid."

Li Hua: "Pfft, shameless."

Ceng You: "Despicable."

"Trying to sneak away," Baby Zhizhi fumed.

Huang Fang: "There's a traitor in our group."

The only honest kid, Wu Jun Gu, ignored the distractions and asked about the matter at hand.

"What time do we need to show up tomorrow?"

"Nine o'clock. No need to come early," Li Hua explained. "No cleaning in the morning—just mop the floor and wipe the blackboard. The rest is just reception duty."

The entire Sixth Group accepted their fate as servants, each with their own thoughts.

The first evening self-study session ended.

Lin Dong left his seat, preparing to go to the cafeteria for food.

He'd made a big profit yesterday, and the lingering euphoria would let him live lavishly all semester—even without asking his parents for allowance, he could make it through to the New Year.

In high spirits, he decided to invite two or three friends along.

"Ah Cheng, going to the cafeteria?"

Sun Zhicheng declined—he had something on his mind.

His own failure was regrettable, but his enemy's success cut deeper.

Yang Qiming's ventriloquism had deeply shaken him, even stirring a pang of envy.

He'd spent one or two months obsessively pursuing Chen Yunyun, losing himself in the process. Once, he'd had refined taste—every move exuded elegance.

Now, he was just a mundane guy, abandoning self-improvement.

He couldn't help but ask: Was this really right?

Sun Zhicheng thought it over and decided to change. He picked up again the transformation plan he'd abandoned with Zhou Yi—the first step to boosting charm was reclaiming himself.

Then came reading. If you don't read The Guiguzi, it means your social experience is shallow. You can't grasp the essence of social relationships, lack a grand perspective. Your future level will be limited—you'll just live a relatively failed life.

Damn, he kinda wanted to be The Guiguzi's dog.

Ah, his head itched—was wisdom about to awaken?

Yang Qiming glanced at him and clicked his tongue.

"Crazy."

Sun Zhicheng stopped his wild fantasies, turned to Yang Qiming, and said calmly.

"I'm crazy. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What kind of dumb username is 'Crazy Kick the Cripple's Good Leg'?" Jiang Nian mocked. Beside him, Lin Dong and Hu Nianzhong headed straight for the cafeteria.

He hadn't wanted to go, but Lin Dong had promised to pay for the late-night snack.

Free late-night snack? How could he not eat it?

"It's just a throwaway account," Lin Dong chuckled. "I once argued with some girl on Xiaohongshu for over a hundred replies."

"Her username was kinda provocative—something like '43-Degree Crazy Beautiful Sheep.' I couldn't beat her, so I changed mine to add some swagger."

The group chatted and laughed, bought several meat pies at the cafeteria. Lin Dong ran to the convenience store, got three bottles of iced red tea, and twisted open the caps for everyone.

The bell for the second evening self-study session rang, but the three didn't budge in the cafeteria.

"Boss Lin, isn't that platform usable anymore?" Hu Nianzhong asked quietly. "I saw someone still making money today—seems nothing happened."

Lin Dong didn't answer, evaded vaguely.

"Ask Year Brother."

Jiang Nian glanced at him. "If something happens, it's all over."

Hearing this, Hu Nianzhong nodded.

"I get it, Brother."

In truth, Jiang Nian didn't want to say much—he hadn't been involved anyway. Saying more would only make people think he had ulterior motives.

High EQ: Everyone has their own fate.

Low EQ: None of my damn business.

"Boss Lin, any other ways?" Hu Nianzhong asked again. "Can you take me next time? I'll be obedient—east if you say east, never west."

Lin Dong hesitated. He only occasionally snatched a few scraps—purely small-time stuff. Why did this guy look like he'd found his niche?

If he found a vertical niche through this hook, it'd be a one-way road.

Thinking of this, Lin Dong looked at Jiang Nian, hoping he'd say something.

"Cough, cough—Year Brother, what do you think?"

Jiang Nian was intently eating his meat pie and drinking iced red tea when suddenly addressed. He paused, chewed slowly, swallowed, then frowned and spoke slowly.

"My opinion is to reserve judgment."

Lin Dong was convinced—the old schemer was truly a master at playing dumb.

On second thought, he wasn't Hu Nianzhong's father. Why ruin a perfectly good friendship by taking risks, only to end up falling out and becoming enemies over an uneven split of the spoils?

"I agree. Let's wait and see."

Third-period evening self-study.

Yao Bei Bei swapped seats with Jiang Nian. She deliberately scooted over to sit with Zhang Ningzhi to do homework together, and along the way chat about Xiao Tian.

Jiang Nian moved to the back of the classroom, sitting in Yao Bei Bei's seat.

The seat in front belonged to Yu Zhiyi.

(End of chapter)