Chapter 205: That Impressive? Then Let's Send a Red Packet to Celebrate

Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment, only coming back to his senses after hearing it all.

"Ah, you haven't opened it?"

He didn't know why the class monitor wanted access permissions—loyalty was all that mattered. He pulled out his phone single-handedly and opened the permissions right in front of her.

"Done."

Li Qingrong glanced at it and nodded.

"Mm."

After saying that, she suddenly paused and pointed at Jiang Nian.

"Can you enter mine?"

Jiang Nian blinked. He really had never visited the class monitor's QQ zone. Mainly because Douyin was too easy to scroll through, so he didn't pay much attention to friends' zones.

What are you looking at, my message board?

He coughed once to cover his awkwardness.

"Uh, let me see. I'm usually busy studying."

To be fair, aside from Zhou Yuting's zone, Jiang Nian treated everyone else's zone equally—he didn't step foot in any of them.

But from this moment on, that could change.

Jiang Nian tapped to visit Li Qingrong's zone—no permissions needed. Before she could even react, he slid in smoothly.

Once inside, he found it was a completely blank page, no decorations at all.

"Class monitor, there's nothing in your zone?"

Li Qingrong looked at him and nodded.

"Mm-hmm."

Jiang Nian: "."

Then what's the difference between entering or not? Just to leave a trace?

He took a careful look at the class monitor's face, his gaze sweeping over her full, rosy lips. He thought to himself that he really was being foolish—the class monitor did things for her own reasons.

Loyalty was all that mattered.

The second half of the parent-teacher meeting began.

The class monitor was busy hosting the proceedings—even a Holy Son of Heaven had to hold court. Roughly speaking about matters related to class life and giving a report to the parents.

Taking advantage of this gap, Jiang Nian slipped outside to chat with people.

The weather was clear, the sunshine just right.

Zhang Ningzhi and her group member Huang Fang huddled together, chatting in low voices.

Ceng You sat on a chair placed in the corridor, and Wu Jungu was also looking down at his phone. Li Hua had run off to play ball and hadn't returned yet.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe were huddled together. The trip to the internet cafe they'd agreed on that day was probably not going to happen. But they couldn't blame her—the school had changed the parent-teacher meeting time.

Jiang Nian had no choice but to go find Liu Yang to chat—truly down on his luck.

Gurgle gurgle.

The two of them each had a cup of tea; Jiang Nian held a teapot in his hand. The tea leaves were given by Old Liu, and there wasn't much water left at the bottom, so the two of them simply split it and finished it off.

Liu Yang took a sip of tea and, gazing at the warm sunshine, sighed with feeling.

"The years are quiet and good."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and picked up the thread.

"To Class Four."

Liu Yang was amused—Class Four had practically become an inside joke within a small circle. But Class Four really had taken a lot of bullets, truly shouldering the burden for Class Three.

"To Class Four."

Two disposable cups clinked together, the tea rippling.

About half an hour later, the ball-playing group returned.

Li Hua walked in front chatting with Lin Dong, followed by Sun Zhicheng holding a basketball with a cool expression. He seemed to be thinking about some move, his shoulder twitching.

Lin Dong spotted Jiang Nian and the sports committee member Liu Yang from far away, laughed heartily, and asked.

"Why didn't you guys come play ball?"

"Parent-teacher meeting, duh." Jiang Nian was speechless.

Li Hua felt a bit guilty. Deserting before the battle should technically land him in military court, so he came up with a plan on the spot.

"Indeed, our group worked pretty hard. I'll treat them to milk tea this afternoon."

Jiang Nian shifted his gaze away. Since Li Hua was being so tactful, there was no need to say more.

But then he heard Lin Dong drop a line.

"Ah Cheng was seriously badass playing ball just now—gave some middle-aged uncle three straight blocks."

Hearing this, several people looked at Sun Zhicheng.

Liu Yang said, "Good job, Cheng. Worthy of coming out of our Class Three."

An instigator with no morals, purely loving to stir the pot.

"I love telling it like it is—I think that last hook shot had the flavor of White Chocolate." Li Hua, even more shameless, started blowing it up directly. "The White Chocolate of the South."

Zhang Ningzhi and Huang Fang just glanced over curiously, then went back to chatting. Chen Yunyun, however, changed expression, her look a bit odd.

She thought to herself that her flighty dad had said he'd just be wandering around downstairs. How had he ended up playing ball with people?

Jiang Nian gave a thumbs up and praised.

"Awesome, little LeBron."

"You know it—my Brother Cheng is invincible under heaven." Lin Dong praised him to the skies, and deliberately sought interaction with Chen Yunyun. "Chen Yunyun, don't you think there's some truth to it?"

Chen Yunyun: "Mm, well actually…"

"Did you hear that, Acheng? This is everyone's shared opinion," Lin Dong cried out passionately. "So, let's make a group and send a red packet to celebrate!"

Sun Zhicheng: "Huh?"

In the temporary five-person group 【Sun-Liu-Jiang-Lin】, a red packet popped up.

The four of them opened it, and immediately broke into smiles.

Liu Yang blurted out, "Holy shit, over twenty bucks? I'm kneeling."

"My eyes are wet—I haven't seen such a big red packet in ages," Li Hua said.

"You're underestimating Acheng—this little red packet means nothing to him," Lin Dong perfectly embodied the definition of a bad friend, though he wasn't wrong.

A mere hundred yuan meant nothing to Sun Zhicheng.

Jiang Nian also grinned. "Free stuff is always sweet. Dude, I just saw a rich second-gen in broad daylight—I'd die happy."

Sun Zhicheng initially felt awkward, but eventually lost himself in the chorus of praise. A faint smile curled his lips; his confidence slowly grew.

Huang Fang watched from afar, then turned to Zhang Nenzhi.

"Zhizhi, boys are all shameless."

Zhang Nenzhi blinked, then nodded.

"Mm-hmm."

After a bit of play, the parent-teacher meeting neared its end.

After it ended, it was Jiang Nian and the others' turn to work. They cleaned the classroom first, then could each go home—remember to return for class at 2 p. m.

All one could say was: Que Shi was born.

This half-day holiday felt like a demo version—gone before you even felt it.

Sun Zhicheng claimed the last red packet: only five yuan. But it didn't matter—he was no longer the man he used to be. The cowardly Sun Zhicheng was dead.

Now, he had transcended himself.

He looked toward the classroom door, where Chen Yunyun was talking with a young woman. He hesitated—should he go say hello? On what grounds?

Wait—where was his own father?

According to the plan, his father was supposed to go chat with them. Then the two families would naturally get to know each other—even just leaving an impression would be good.

Isn't that the whole point of a parent-teacher meeting?

Sun Zhicheng turned to look for his father, only to find Sun Jianguo laughing and chatting with Jiang Nian. He froze. Dragon coiled, tiger crouched, red spider lilies in bloom—when would he ever have a home?

Hey, your son's right here!

Fuck.

Sun Jianguo had merely happened to walk out from behind the classroom, out of respect for the Fishing King. He'd instinctively paused to exchange a few pleasantries with Jiang Nian.

He had to go fishing tonight, so he'd need a nap after class.

By the way—where was his precious son?

Just then, a middle-aged man came walking the opposite way down the hallway. He pushed through the crowd and reunited with Chen Yunyun, to Sun Zhicheng's astonishment.

Chen Yunyun looked exasperated and called out.

"Dad, where were you just now?"

Sun Zhicheng clenched his lips and looked up at the high ceiling.

Dad—that is, father. Hmm. If he hadn't guessed wrong, the middle-aged man he'd mentally cursed three times just now was Chen Yunyun's father.

Good. Perfect.

In that instant, Sun Zhicheng felt his corpse warming up.

Lin Dong noticed Sun Zhicheng's odd behavior and asked.

"What's wrong with him?"

Li Hua instinctively replied, "Just let him play Genshin Impact."

Jiang Nian had just rolled up his sleeves to clean the classroom, and upon hearing this, said:

"He's got an expert appointment."

Ceng You finished dumping the trash and rushed straight back to the dorm.

He flopped onto the bed—finally, he felt comfortable.

Too bad—he checked the time: only two and a half hours left. Blame this stupid parent-teacher meeting for swallowing up his short holiday.

He pulled out his phone. He was a little sleepy, but if he slept now, he'd have no time to play afterward. For a moment, he hesitated—should he play or sleep?

Suddenly, his roommate came in, noisy and boisterous, shattering his thoughts—he could only sleep.

But after flipping through a few pages, Ceng You grew anxious again. Class was coming up in the afternoon—how painful that would be.

He closed his eyes and suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.

Ceng You drafted a leave request, using the parent-teacher meeting as an excuse to ask his homeroom teacher for time off. The reason? Naturally, illness and so on—he gritted his teeth and requested the entire Sunday.

After a long wait, his phone buzzed.

Teacher Liu replied with just two words.

"Okay."

In that instant, Ceng You felt his whole self improve. It was like gulping down childhood wind—his body floated light as air.

A single leave slip extended his holiday until late tonight—his anxiety vanished completely.

He lay there happily, wrapped snugly in his blanket, and drifted off.

At the school gate.

Li Qingrong stood by the roadside waiting for a ride, her figure standing in the sunlight—cold and slender.

"Class monitor, what a coincidence."

A familiar voice sounded behind her, making her turn around.

"Mm, what a coincidence."

"Ha." Jiang Nian was still holding half a braised meat roll in his hand, and he eagerly stepped forward to greet her. "Class monitor, are you waiting for someone? Want a braised meat roll?"

"I—" Li Qingrong hesitated for a moment.

Then, a bag of braised meat rolls appeared in her hand. The thing was flatbread wrapped around braised meat and cucumber strips, along with some other little side dishes—something everyone young and old could enjoy.

"Thank you." She said it solemnly.

"No need, it's nothing." Jiang Nian wasn't about to let any chance slip by. He turned his head and asked, "Class monitor, the person you're waiting for still hasn't shown up? Oh right, want some milk tea?"

Three minutes later, a cup of milk tea appeared in Li Qingrong's hand.

"Than—" She was nearly running out of words.

She didn't have many words to begin with, and her local vocabulary was being squeezed dry by a certain someone.

"You're welcome, class monitor."

Suddenly, a red Mercedes pulled over by the roadside.

The window rolled down, revealing a face of an unusually young woman wearing sunglasses.

A faint smile appeared on her face. Her gaze swept past Jiang Nian, then glanced at Li Qingrong.

She had seen this kind of situation plenty of times before and had already filled in the whole cause and effect in her head.

High school boys were nothing if not pure-hearted—either chasing this one or chasing that one.

"Get in the car, let's go home."

(End of this chapter)