Chapter 203

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian scrolled up through the chat history.

The atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious—absurd!

Jiang Nian used her account to reverse everything he said.

It's fine to have empty walls, no bride price is nothing to fear. Si Dong Fist, Si Dong Sword—ride dreams as steeds, don't waste your youth; carve out a path in this society.

The chat log made her feel more and more awkward the more she read.

Liu Ruoxin was initially quite happy, then she started being extreme again.

"Society isn't easy to break into—I have no education, no connections. Working with a child won't earn much—I'll get my degree first."

Xu Qianqian frowned; Liu Ruoxin was just too argumentative. Tell her to go east and she'd go west; mention going west and she'd head east—utterly frustrating.

Isn't this just pure teasing herself?

She put down her phone, thinking she'd just vaguely reply to such messages in the future.

After a while, her phone popped up a new message.

Liu Ruoxin: "Qianqian, do you know anyone at the police station? My husband and friends got beaten up while eating late-night snacks, and the station called."

Xu Qianqian: "I don't know anyone."

Jiang Nian leaned back on the sofa, laughing loudly, gaming, chatting on his small screen, and watching a movie—all at once.

Li Hua sent several photos: him, Yang Qiming, and Huang Cailang in a row. The table was covered entirely in instant noodles, Red Bulls, and several opened cans of beer.

"Qiming's treating us—he's rich after getting dumped."

After reading the message, Jiang Nian nearly broke his composure.

With these three fine generals, the Han dynasty's dim light shall surely be restored.

He replied, "You're drinking Red Bull now? Good."

"But honestly, it's useless—really. Where did your Red Bull even come from? Don't stay silent just because you're drinking it—drinking Red Bull doesn't mean you've got power."

"Do you understand what 'unworthy of your position' means, bro?"

Li Hua: "Dog's basket's getting anxious."

Jiang Nian replied, "Hey, you fucking— (Li Yunlong emoji pack)."

They exchanged a few more jabs and quickly ended the chat.

Before long, it was the dead of night.

Jiang Nian was still battling in the Arena of Kings, the movie playing on mute. Xu Qianqian had unconsciously fallen asleep on the sofa, covered by a small blanket.

The teammates matched at midnight all lacked refined tastes—either strawberry gummies or mom-hunters; the matches felt utterly dull.

Three a. m.

Jiang Nian yawned, stood up, and prepared to head home and sleep.

He turned and saw Xu Qianqian still asleep on the sofa. After hesitating a moment, he picked her up in a bridal carry and muttered to himself.

"Sleeping on the sofa is bad for your back—better sleep on the floor."

After placing Xu Qianqian on the bed, Jiang Nian stared for a few seconds, then shut the door and left. The last sliver of light in the room faded in a fan shape, plunging into darkness.

Five seconds later, the door burst open, light pouring in like threads.

"You're faking sleep, aren't you! (Husky pointing at person)"

The room was silent, faintly audible only Xu Qianqian's steady breathing.

Jiang Nian scratched his head, embarrassed, and backed out.

"I never came in."

The room darkened again; footsteps faded from the living room until—click—the door shut, leaving total silence.

About five or six minutes passed, and the steady breathing ceased.

Xu Qianqian slowly opened her eyes in the dark, blinking at the pitch-black ceiling.

She thought of what had just happened, thinking Jiang Nian was utterly shameless—beyond words. Then she rolled over, hugging the blanket, and went back to sleep.

The next day.

At 8:30 a. m., Jiang Nian was woken by his alarm.

He lay in bed, eyes open, visibly exhausted. Slept at three, woke at eight—Yan Wang counted it, five hours was already a long life.

Buzz—Zhang Nianzhi sent him a message.

"Good morning, are you here? (cute)"

Jiang Nian's current state.

This is fucking absurd—who the hell goes to school on a weekend holiday?

I only had six hours off, and now? To show loyalty to these annoying parents, I'm going to serve as a waiter for Little Deng's mom and dad at the parent-teacher meeting.

To be fair, respect parents.

Might even be a future father-in-law.

Assembly is at nine; technically, don't be late. But rules are dead, people are flexible and weird—ten minutes late won't hurt.

Besides, that kid Li Hua pulled an all-nighter at the internet cafe last night—he's probably late too.

After sorting out his scattered thoughts, Jiang Nian replied to Cute Baby Zhizhi.

"On the way."

Zhang Nianzhi: "Okay~"

Jiang Nian set a five-minute alarm and slowly closed his eyes.

Ding ding ding!!

"Shit! I just closed my eyes!" Jiang Nian frantically checked his phone, "Stole my five minutes? Fucking phone, creating a time black hole."

Reluctantly got up, washed up, dressed, and left.

On the weekend, he used the 【Vehicle: Electric Scooter】.

Facing the morning sun, Jiang Nian spent five minutes zigzagging his way to the school. He had the throttle nearly twisted off the whole way, stepping off at the school gate at 8:52.

"Guess I should've dragged it out a bit longer—am I late?"

"Not at all."

Beneath the Gao San building, a large crowd of parents had gathered—some on the phone, some chatting. Part of them were asking about the floor, part of them were inquiring about the head teacher. Jiang Nian went up to the fourth floor unimpeded and saw several parents standing outside the door of the Olympiad Class Three. They must have been the early arrivals, half an hour ahead of time.

Warm sunlight streamed through the corridor, raising the temperature.

It was already November, with a big temperature difference between morning and evening. Everyone was in long sleeves and long pants, wearing jackets or even sweaters, heralding that winter was near.

Zhang Ningzhi wore a creamy white jacket on top, paired with light-colored jeans on the bottom. Underneath was a thin white turtleneck sweater, making her look well-behaved.

"You're here?"

"Yeah, I was walking and eating baozi on the way here—almost choked to death." Jiang Nian was used to freeloading; he stretched out his hand. "Got anything to drink?"

Suddenly, a refined-looking middle-aged man appeared at the classroom door.

He must have overheard the conversation; he gave Jiang Nian a puzzled look. He didn't say anything, just walked up and asked where the restroom was.

Before Zhang Ningzhi could answer, Jiang Nian helpfully said—

"It's at the end of the corridor, uncle."

"Ah." The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment.

Jiang Nian, thinking he hadn't understood, took the initiative to offer—

"Uncle, I happen to need to use the restroom too—let me take you there."

"Sir, this way."

By the time Zhang Ningzhi came back to her senses, the two were already walking off toward the end of the corridor. She opened her mouth, but in the end didn't say a word, and silently went back to the classroom.

At the restroom, Jiang Nian finished first and came out, washed his hands, then whistled his way back to the classroom.

Li Hua helped him move the desks; the rest were in charge of pouring water into disposable cups. The cleaning had already been done by Group Five last night—they were reaping the rewards.

Apart from pouring water, they walked around with rags to show how hardworking they were.

Li Hua moved the desk, then winked and made faces.

"Let me tell you something badass."

Jiang Nian glanced at him. "You snuck off to guard your lane in a net-bar restroom last night?"

"Eat shit!" Li Hua was speechless. You must've set up surveillance—good thing I didn't do anything. "A few thugs came in the second half of last night; they'd barely been online a few minutes before they got busted."

"Then why didn't you get caught?"

"I'm a legit, upstanding citizen—what would they grab me for?" Li Hua was getting excited. "Here's the good part: someone hit a cop. Guess what happened next."

"What happened?" Jiang Nian asked.

"Four or five cops, all like one-eighty-something, rushed in from outside—one baton per second." Li Hua was animated. "You didn't see it, the scene was fucking震撼."

"Half a minute earlier, those guys were still cursing up a storm—stuff like 'beat cop,' 'pig,' whatever. After that they all went quiet, scrambling to sell out their buddies."

"Hahaha, we had a great time watching."

Jiang Nian laughed too—who'd have thought there were still this kind of ballsy people these days.

"Hitting even the cops—this isn't ordinary thugs, gotta hit 'em hard."

Li Hua got it instantly, giggling along.

"I bet they submitted after the first baton; they didn't hold out after that. Probably hurt too damn much to scream, so they took five more."

The two of them riffing on stale memes, they headed back to the classroom.

Apart from Group Six's people, the other main class cadres had also shown up. They were mainly in charge of guiding and receiving guests, and doing other miscellaneous tasks.

For a moment, the classroom was a bit noisy.

Zhang Ningzhi handed over the drink, and Jiang Nian accepted it with peace of mind. Gotta say, soft rice without steel wool in it tastes especially good.

To show he wasn't a Bai Yanlang, he deliberately asked a question out of nowhere.

"Hey, did your parents come?"

Zhang Ningzhi nodded. "Mm, they did."

"Let me see." Jiang Nian bit the straw, stood at the door, and leaned half his body into the classroom. "Oh, there's just one person sitting at your seat."

"Your dad is quite—"

Halfway through, Jiang Nian froze. Wasn't this the middle-aged man he'd led to the restroom?

Holy shit, Baby Zhizhi's father?

He pulled back his gaze and turned to look at Zhang Ningzhi.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Zhang Ningzhi pursed her lips and turned her head away from him.

"You were too fast—I hadn't finished talking and you were already—"

Jiang Nian pointed at her. "What kind of talk is that? Keep this up and I'm calling a lawyer."

"Aiya, it's nothing." Zhang Ningzhi said happily, "I just asked Dad what he thought of my seatmate. He had a lot of nice things to say about you."

"What did he say?" Jiang Nian was curious.

"Mm, just that you're pretty good, and he wants to have a private chat with you." Zhang Ningzhi's eyes curved into crescents. "Dad rarely talks to people one-on-one."

"Ah, this—no need at all." Jiang Nian broke out in a cold sweat.

But he only felt guilty for a moment before he adjusted—it's not like he did anything. A pure and innocent seatmate—could he really have run off with your daughter?

Guilty about what, damn it. I'm tall and hard as hell.

After a while, Old Liu arrived, presumably to officially start the parent meeting. The students in the classroom also took the cue to step out, still holding a cup of water in their hands.

Jiang Nian caught sight of Chen Yunyun and the other girl, so he took the initiative to leave that troublesome spot.

"I'll go take a look over there."

In the corridor, Zhang Nianzhi watched him walk toward Chen Yunyun and couldn't help but purse her lips.

"If you don't care, then don't care."

Inside the classroom, Old Liu had already started roll call, and Li Qingrong was also present as class monitor.

She had received the name list, but it was Cai Xiaoqing who called the names.

Li Qingrong stood at the edge of the podium, somewhat absent-minded.

(End of chapter)