Chapter 206: Is It Just for Me, or Does Everyone Get One?

Li Qingrong saw this, turned around, and said to Jiang Nian.

"I'm heading back."

Jiang Nian's gaze swept past, and he answered.

"Oh, okay."

He was just passing by; he still had to hurry home for an afternoon nap. He'd go to the classroom an hour early in the afternoon to copy last night's homework.

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes for a moment, as if remembering something. On the street bathed in warm sunlight, she raised her hand and waved, her voice almost transparent.

"Bye-bye."

"Yeah, bye-bye." Jiang Nian waved back.

He watched the class monitor get into the passenger seat, still holding the milk tea and the braised meat roll in her hand. She buckled her seatbelt with one hand, sat ramrod straight, her gaze tilted slightly.

The instant the car started moving, she happened to turn her head and glance at Jiang Nian.

In the car.

Li Lanying turned her head to look at her younger sister and asked curiously.

"Your classmate?"

"Mm."

"Don't you not drink milk tea? Was that from a boy?" Li Lanying asked casually while steering the wheel, "What does his family do?"

The car was quiet; no one answered.

Li Lanying was long used to it, and pretended to be hurt.

"I'm about to cry, you're ignoring me."

The car drove past Zhennan Main Street, turned at an intersection, and headed south along the riverside Nanjiang Road.

"The old hometown hasn't developed much, but it's a bit better than before." Li Lanying sighed, "Coming back this time, at least the roads are better than before."

Midway through, she glanced at the passenger seat.

"Let me have a sip of the milk tea, I'm a bit thirsty."

Li Qingrong's tone was ice-cold: "Buy your own."

"Hey, you—" Li Lanying didn't think much of it, and set her sights on the braised meat roll, "Then give me the food, I just got home and came to pick you up, haven't had a single bite."

"You already ate, I saw your Moments." Li Qingrong said coldly.

"Oh, you even check my Moments." Li Lanying was flattered, and said gleefully, "Secretly following big sis, huh? Don't love me too much."

Li Qingrong: "."

"Don't be so stingy, let me have a bite." Li Lanying drove while her little mouth ran nonstop, "We used to buy it all the time back in school, I really miss it."

Li Qingrong ignored her and looked down at her phone.

She tapped into Jiang Nian's QQ zone; the latest post was frozen back in August summer vacation. It was a landscape photo of a purple sunset, with only two characters as caption.

【Wocao】.

It had a kind of beauty of someone who'd been to school but wasn't very cultured.

Scrolling back were all daily posts, 【My mom said she'd throw me out the window, lmao, doesn't she know you can't die from a fall from the third floor】.

Or some game rants, 【Middle of the night, accidentally entered a mourning hall, no offense intended, why is everyone a bot】.

Li Qingrong only scrolled back about ten posts before hitting the bottom, then she tapped open the message board. Over six hundred messages, most of them from girls.

All sorts of Happy Lantern Festival, Happy New Year, Happy Mid-Autumn, Happy Birthday.

Apart from that, there were other daily posts.

Sanqi: 【Treat me to milk tea.】

Jiang Nian: No money.

Some back-and-forth interactions that looked like they had some years on them. The message board's most active period was basically concentrated in the third year of junior high; once high school started, there was basically no activity.

The most recent messages were even fewer, none at all, completely empty.

The tires rolled over the ramp into the underground garage, and the surrounding sounds became hollow. The parking lot was brightly lit, the engine's sound echoing; the car soon pulled into a parking space.

Li Lanying got out of the car and took off her sunglasses. Turning her head, she saw Li Qingrong still carrying the braised meat roll and milk tea in her hand, and was greatly puzzled.

"You're not eating it, why bring it back?"

"Eat."

"Then if it's the world's number one best big sis, can she have a little?"

"No."

Lin Dong was feeling a bit worn out; on the way back to the dorm he ran into a little couple.

Ffs.

The guy was big and burly, holding the girl and spinning her around on the road. He was passing by and got kicked straight into the green belt by a swing of the girl's leg.

Damn couples, may their first child and triplets all be fathered by someone else.

Back in the dorm.

Lin Dong saw Ceng You sprawled on the bed in a coquettish pose; it'd be a waste not to be a Nanliang.

The rest of the dorm wasn't there, and he couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"Where are they?"

"Wu Jungu went back to his aunt's for a meal, Luo Zhongping went to the classroom to do homework." Ceng You swung his two legs back and forth, like some maiden.

"I don't know about the others, they probably went out to play."

Lin Dong said "oh," squatted down, and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed. He'd played ball for three hours that morning, and the sweat on his body had already dried.

He had make-up class in the afternoon, so he planned to find some clothes, take a shower, and then sleep.

"I'm telling you, it was mega cringe. Just now on the way back to the dorm, I ran into a couple whose moms must be dead; they were spinning around and one kick sent me into the green belt."

"Haha, fuck, what did they say?" Ceng You asked.

"I'm an idiot for not seeing it, damn it."

"Can you really put up with that?"

"It's fine, we're all classmates," Lin Dong picked up his clothes, his expression serene as a Buddha. "I already know which class that girl is in."

Ceng You was baffled—what good would knowing that do?

Retaliation?

After showering, Lin Dong got back on bed, found two people, and successfully got the girl's QQ number. He created a new small account and added her as a friend. Afternoon.

Jiang Nian woke up from bed and glanced at the shoe rack across the door as he left.

Xu Qianqian's shoes were by the door—she was still at home, probably planning to go to school later. If he hadn't left his homework completely undone, he'd have done the same.

He arrived at school twenty minutes later; the sun was slightly harsh.

There weren't many people in the classroom.

Luo Zhongping sat in the middle of the second row, head down writing homework. A few scattered students sat around—some playing on their phones, others sleeping.

Not long after, Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe walked in through the door, laughing and chatting. Seeing Jiang Nian, they headed straight for his seat.

As they drew near, Jiang Nian noticed Chen Yunyun was carrying something.

"What's that?"

"Some clothes and food my parents brought me. Too lazy to go back to the dorm, I'll return this afternoon," Chen Yunyun hesitated a moment, then asked, "Do you want some?"

"Sure, can I pick the clothes?" Jiang Nian perked up.

"Pick your head!" Chen Yunyun lowered her voice, blushing but smiling. "Can you be serious? Only the food—you can take it or leave it."

"I'll take it." Jiang Nian accepted everything.

"But it's not store-bought snacks—my mom fried them herself: fish dumplings, some wrapped in green chilies," Chen Yunyun felt embarrassed, afraid he'd dislike them.

Her family wasn't short on money, but homemade snacks always tasted better than store-bought ones.

"Then I want them even more—can I take them all?" Jiang Nian exclaimed "Wuhu!" and reached straight into the bag, sampling every kind of food.

Chen Yunyun smiled warmly, quietly relieved.

Wang Yuhe suddenly spoke up, "Jiang Nian, if you eat a chili dumpling, can you go without water?"

Jiang Nian froze, glancing at her.

"What?"

"I ate one of Yunyun's chili dumplings and didn't drink a single sip of water," Wang Yuhe crossed her arms, beaming with pride, staring straight at him. "Can you do it?"

Jiang Nian thought for a second, then swallowed a chili dumpling whole.

"It's sweet."

Wang Yuhe's smile vanished instantly, yet she kept staring at him.

"You want water, right?"

Jiang Nian turned to Chen Yunyun, curiously asking.

"Did you put sugar in them?"

Wang Yuhe's face fell, and she stomped off angrily.

Jiang Nian grinned. He knew Wang Yuhe wanted to compete with him over who could handle more spice. He actually found it spicy too, but he could endure it—he'd crushed a primary schooler.

Chen Yunyun rubbed her forehead, exasperated by the two of them.

"Don't keep picking on her."

"Laughable. Pathetic."

Chen Yunyun: "."

She knew Jiang Nian was just like this, so she turned to find Wang Yuhe.

Jiang Nian smiled and went back to copying homework. After copying about seventy or eighty percent, he went downstairs to buy a drink, and ended up buying several boxes of fruit yogurt too.

On the third floor, he ran into Le Zhi, and they stood there chatting for a while.

"I tried the score-boosting method you gave me—it actually works," Le Zhi sighed. "But it's way too bitter. This week killed me."

"I'm curious—how did you stick with it?"

Jiang Nian thought back, then chose his words carefully.

"Add points to Deep Blue."

"Man, I really admire you—you can still find joy in suffering," Le Zhi rubbed his face, eyes bloodshot, gazing into the distance. "My life is walking on thin ice."

"Jiang Nian, do you think I can still make it to the city-wide joint exam at the end of the month?"

"Keep going," he had nothing else to say. "I know you're exhausted—but don't exhaust yourself."

Le Zhi: "."

"By the way, I checked your last exam results," Le Zhi asked curiously. "After your class upgrade, your biology score jumped twenty points. How'd you do that?"

"Oh, the grade team set up an elite student program," Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow. "If our bio teacher hadn't picked me, I'd still be barely passing."

"Of course, passing isn't bad. But eighty points? For me, that's a whole new world."

Le Zhi fell silent. He'd wanted to vent, but now it hurt even more.

Still, chatting with Jiang Nian had strengthened his resolve a little. At least now he had a goal—not just to save face, but to prove something.

Half an hour passed; as class neared, students trickled into the room.

Zhang Ningzhi entered and noticed a box of fruit yogurt on her desk. Classic skin return—she couldn't help recalling the scene from her first exam.

She stepped over Jiang Nian's seat and asked curiously.

"Did you buy this?"

"Yeah."

Zhang Ningzhi was about to say something when she turned and saw a box on the monitor's desk too. She froze, her gaze shifting slightly, and noticed that Li Hua's desk also had one.

For a moment, she felt downcast.

So this wasn't just for her—others had it too. Hmph, she knew it: she only got what was left over after everyone else picked.

Jiang Nian was still copying homework, and it was a long while before he looked up.

Just then, the class bell rang, and Li Hua burst into the classroom. Suddenly, he spotted a box of milk on his seat and was overjoyed; he turned and saw that Ma Guojun had one too.

Even though he guessed it was from Jiang Nian, he rejoiced at the free gift.

"Godblessyou!"

Jiang Nian, hearing this, was about to say something slick, but his peripheral vision caught Zhang Ningzhi.

She was sullen, unsure what was wrong.

(End of Chapter)