Chapter 207: You're Not My Bro, You're a Songstress, Aren't You

An afternoon passed, three class periods, and the last short self-study session.

Jiang Nian couldn't help but ask.

"byd, where's Ceng You?"

"He took leave, said it was acute gastroenteritis from the change of seasons," Li Hua said. "But he was bouncing around this morning, so he's probably just skipping class."

Jiang Nian was stunned, and said in heartfelt anguish.

"Skipping class in Gao San — what's the difference between that and Dog Shao riding a bicycle one less time?"

Zhang Ningzhi, who had been bored all afternoon, was drawn in and couldn't help asking.

"What happens if Dog Shao rides a bicycle one less time?"

Jiang Nian let out a hei-hei, and answered without hesitation.

"Then you'd have to ask Li Hua."

"Chishi chishi chishi!" Li Hua let out a piercing shriek, hearing this vicious review as if he were about to die the next second. "You're too vicious!"

But his antics were quickly cut off by the discipline committee member, and he immediately behaved again.

With only a few minutes left before school let out, Yu Zhiyi, who was on duty supervising the afternoon short self-study session at the podium, stood up, tidied her things, and prepared to return to her seat.

Li Hua pretended to stretch his neck, and snuck a peek at Yu Zhiyi.

When his gaze was returning to center, a tilt of his head got him caught red-handed by Jiang Nian, and he froze on the spot.

Jiang Nian had a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, and revealed his phone camera from the sleeve of his long-sleeved jacket.

Li Hua would never smile again — not bro, you're a big piece of cargo, aren't you!

Between people, is there nothing left but surveillance?

"No, Nine Demon Nian-ge, can you delete it?" Li Hua gave in, whatever Surveillance Dragon. "Stop tormenting your bros, will you?"

Jiang Nian smiled without a word, and slowly put his phone away.

"It wasn't turned on."

"You f***ing—!!"

"Just kidding, it was on."

"Bro, what do you want to eat this afternoon?" Li Hua's face turned slick and oily. "I recommend the cafeteria's chicken leg rice — four dishes and a soup, varied taste, rich in nutrition."

"Eh, why so polite?" Jiang Nian declined.

Li Hua piled on a smile, and declared righteously.

"I just love spending money on my bros."

Hearing this, Ma Guojun scooted over, his chubby face barely holding back a grin.

"Eh, I want some too."

Li Hua turned his head. "You're not my bro, you're a songstress, aren't you."

Ceng You woke from a nap and found it had gone dark outside the window.

Ding-ding-ding! Ding!

"Students, class time has arrived. Please return to your classroom promptly and prepare for class."

He sat up straight from the bed, still a bit dazed.

After a long while he remembered he had taken leave, and had slept from the afternoon straight through to evening.

Gurgle gurgle, he was hungry.

He felt his belly — flat.

After the parent meeting ended and he came back in the morning, he got hooked, and watched straight through to three in the afternoon.

He had meant to go downstairs to buy something, but was too sleepy and slept through it.

He hadn't eaten all day, and his hands and feet were a bit weak.

He checked the time — damn, just past seven, this is already the second evening self-study session. Hopefully the first-floor dorm door isn't locked, but most likely he can't get out.

Thinking of this, Ceng You felt his way downstairs.

The first-floor main door was indeed locked, and he walked back upstairs with a face full of dejection. Reaching the third floor, he suddenly stopped — the dorm room directly facing the hallway had some movement inside.

He listened carefully for a while — it was a faint, suggestive sound.

Ceng You was shocked — what the hell, this is the boys' dorm!

Even more terrifying.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva; when a person is afraid, courage sometimes bursts out instead. He took a deep breath, and quietly peeked through the peephole.

Most dorm doors in Building 5 had a fan-shaped peephole, but they were basically all blocked with torn-out textbook pages, or free CDs.

This dorm room looked unblocked, but in fact had already been gambled shut.

Who the hell is clapping?

Ceng You looked through the peephole, and saw — first, darkness. The cone cells went on strike, the rod cells began working; from light to dark, three seconds in total.

In those three seconds, he could only hear the panting from inside the dorm, and the violent pounding of his own heart, which seemed especially loud in this dim environment.

Finally, he saw clearly — a blurry outline in the darkness.

Damn, it's a couple.

He vaguely heard the girl's voice: "Big bro, guess what I'm doing?"

In the brightly lit classroom.

Lin Dong stared at the newly popped-up message, and couldn't help rubbing his chin.

"It's actually a voice message."

He tapped voice-to-text, but Lin Dong didn't understand what it meant. He figured this girl was probably also off her rocker — saying nothing at all, how would anyone know what you're doing.

But out of a spirit of revenge, he still kept baiting her and replied.

"Didn't hear it."

Sure enough, a second, longer voice message popped up.

It was during second-period evening self-study; the classroom was silent, with only occasional coughs.

He wanted to listen, but hadn't brought headphones, so he turned and asked.

"Ah Cheng, got any headphones?"

Sun Zhicheng had been dazed all afternoon, his mind a mess.

The man he blocked earlier that morning was Chen Yunyun's father—and he'd blocked him three times in a row. This wasn't blocking a shot; it was severing his already short thread of fate.

Hearing Lin Dong's voice, he slowly came back to himself.

"What?"

"Headphones, sis."

"Didn't bring them, sis."

"You're such a waste, sis." Lin Dong gave up.

He asked everyone else in the group, but Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe hadn't brought any either. He turned his head and locked eyes with his former buddy Yang Qiming.

The other guy acted as if nothing had happened and put on his headphones.

Lin Dong didn't want to borrow from him, so he pretended not to see and decided to take a gamble.

If he turned the volume down to the first notch and held it tightly with his hand, no sound would leak out.

Buzz—a message popped up in the dorm group.

It was that bastard Ceng You.

Lin Dong's finger was almost touching the voice bar, but he decided to check Ceng You's message later.

QQ launched!

An unexpectedly shrill, piercing cry rang out in the pin-drop-quiet classroom.

In that instant, Lin Dong wanted to die—no joke.

"What was that?" Li Hua, the first to react, jumped to his feet, scanning the room. "Holy shit, did someone just yell?"

Jiang Nian put down his pen and looked up. "Something's burning."

The class let out a collective "Ooh!"—laughter erupted like a tidal wave, all eyes turning to Lin Dong's group.

"My family runs a supermarket—that's just bulk shopping. If you listen to that, you'll go straight to hell."

"Try again, bro."

"Hearing this is like sudden enlightenment—after this, I'll be a fish in the sea, a bird in the sky, free from all bonds."

"Haha, what kind of bird bonds?"

The classroom erupted into chaos; Discipline Committee member Cai Xiaoqing had to step in.

Zhang Nianzhi, curious, poked Jiang Nian.

"What was that sound?"

"Nothing. Just a prank file." Jiang Nian didn't want to pollute Baby Zhizhi's ears and gave an excuse. "Ignore it. Keep doing your homework."

Zhang Nianzhi blinked, confused, then nodded.

"Oh."

"Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me!" Ceng You leaned against the stairs and messaged the dorm group. "Someone's duo-playing in the dorm and screaming like crazy."

"Just now I peeked in—they smiled at me. Holy shit, so creepy. The guy even told me not to leave, said he'd beat me up after he finished."

"Guys, I'm terrified—someone save me!" Soon, someone replied in the dorm group.

Lin Dong: "I'm already dead."

Nian Nian Wang Wang Xiang Si: "Dorm building, right? Wait—I'm gathering people to come over."

Ceng You was overjoyed, fingers trembling as he typed.

"Okay."

A few seconds passed, then he felt something was off.

"Wait—how did Jiang Nian get into our dorm group?"

Nian Nian Wang Wang Xiang Si: "Because I am the Emperor. After many days, the great Emperor Nian has returned to his loyal Dorm 514. Any questions?"

Ceng You: "."

Jiang Nian sent another message: "Don't question it—believe it. Don't panic—the squad's coming to reinforce you."

Ceng You was starving and chose to believe the squad.

"Bro, bring me something to eat."

Jiang Nian: "Got it."

In the classroom, Discipline Committee member Cai Xiaoqing stared into the empty sixth group, lost in thought.

"So you're all saying... you all need to use the restroom?"

Jiang Nian nodded. "Drank too much water."

Wu Jun Gu said, "Can't hold it anymore."

Li Hua: "Cai Xiang, I'm turning purple."

Cai Xiaoqing: "."

Being discipline committee member in this class was sometimes just frustrating.

"Fine."

Jiang Nian and the others let out a "Wuhu!" and dashed out of the classroom, then raced straight to the dorms. Lin Dong followed shortly after, but his smile looked forced.

Li Hua noticed Lin Dong's sadness and patted his shoulder.

"It's fine, everything will pass."

"Really?" Lin Dong felt moved.

Li Hua burst out laughing, "Fake, because I've brought up this incident repeatedly over the next six months."

Lin Dong's face darkened and he walked ahead first.

"Hua, don't be so cruel." Jiang Nian came out of the convenience store with some food he'd bought for Zeng You, who was nearly starving, "Why is Brother Wu here too, joining the chaos?"

Wu Jun Gu, walking at the very back of the group, responded with a soft "Huh?"

"We're from the same dorm, let's go take a look."

"Then let's go, this is explosive news—don't let them escape." Jiang Nian sighed again, "Too bad Ma Guojun didn't come—no one's blocking the stairwell."

"Stop talking nonsense, just catch them in the act," Li Hua said.

Wu Jun Gu interrupted, "We don't even know who they are—what are we going to catch them for?"

"Lin Dong knows—he even added that girl on QQ," Jiang Nian laughed, watching the dorm entrance draw nearer, "It's all pure love, no cheating involved."

Li Hua thought of what happened that afternoon and suddenly felt guilty.

Even though they'd broken up, it still wouldn't sound good if it got out. It was all Jiang Nian's fault—no one knew if he'd actually taken the photos or not; he might hold this secret over them for life.

Hearing this, Lin Dong was left speechless.

So it wasn't you who got kicked into the greenery, and it wasn't you who got forced into that play. You dog, standing there talking without a care in the world.

Damn, today's luck is truly terrible.

"Uncle, our classmate is locked inside the dorm—we're taking him back to class."

Below, after countless calls and appeals, the dorm supervisor came with the key to unlock the door.

"Which dorm are you from?"

The three answered in unison, "301."

"Do you really need this many people to unlock a door?" The supervisor was skeptical.

"We lost our key—we're just trying to see if another key can pick the lock," Jiang Nian said without blinking, "If that fails, we'll have to break it—many hands make light work."

Hearing this, the supervisor had no choice but to open the door.

"Go on, don't linger."

"Thank you, Uncle."

The group thanked him one by one and sprinted upstairs like the wind, the stairs rattling beneath their feet.

The dorm supervisor strained his ears downstairs for a while, then soon heard loud banging on the door—voices shouting, "Open up!" and "Why is it locked from inside!"

"A bunch of brats."

Third floor.

Zeng You wolfed down a sandwich, pointing at the door as he chewed.

"There's definitely someone inside!"

"So cool, picking a fight with our Class Four!" Lin Dong exploded with rage—he'd never been so disgusted, "Call the grade head!"

"Still acting tough?" Li Hua kicked the dorm door and ordered, "Call now—love seeing these bastards get expelled."

Ji Mingzhen, the grade head, was dragged over, accompanied by the homeroom teacher of Dorm 301.

On the second floor of the cafeteria, a certain window faced directly onto the corridor of Building 5.

Jiang Nian, Lin Dong, Li Hua, Wu Jun Gu, and Zeng You stood there, each stretching their necks to watch the activity across the dorm building.

Lin Dong suddenly understood.

"Brother Jiang, damn, you're really fucking evil—I get it now, why you bought that lock."

"Locked in, no one can get out," Li Hua shook his head, "Damn, this guy is black from head to toe."

"Don't just slander him—what if he gets out? Are you afraid of being hunted down by a mad dog?" Jiang Nian glanced over, "Let's go back—we've caught them all."

The group agreed unanimously and walked along the dim campus path toward the teaching building.

"Do you think they'll get expelled?"

"Hard to say—maybe just probation."

"What if that guy finds out we reported him?"

"You little brat, can't you say something lucky?"

"Don't panic—when the truth comes out, first activate…"

"What else can we do? Just fight him."

The group chattered back and forth, no clear plan forming, yet their hearts remained exhilarated—as if they'd accomplished some earth-shattering feat, now left with only emptiness.

Evening self-study ended.

The Gao San building buzzed with voices; students flooded everywhere, heading home or to their dorms.

Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian walked side by side up the stairs, surrounded by noise.

Occasionally, people whispered gossip—the term "male dorm" came up especially often.

Downstairs, Xu Qianqian broke free from the crowd and exhaled in relief.

"Jiang Nian, want to hear some gossip?" She turned around, her backpack on her back, serious as could be, "Buy me fish balls, and I'll tell you—deal?"

"Male dorm gossip?" Jiang Nian's expression turned strange—he thought, Has this spread this fast?

"How did you know?" Xu Qianqian froze.

"Boring—I'm a good student, I don't have time to care about this stuff," Jiang Nian sneered, "Stop testing me—you think I'd be interested?"

Xu Qianqian was dumbfounded—what even was this?

Still, she got her fish balls as planned, devouring them one by one, utterly satisfied—but soon anxiety set in again.

"Jiang Nian, do you think eating this much will make me fat?"

"You dummy, can't you just imagine the fish balls are cucumbers?" Jiang Nian offered kindly, adding that Xu Qianqian's weight gain was going to all the right places anyway.

"Isn't that just deceiving yourself?" Xu Qianqian felt something was off.

"Exactly, it's a deception meal." Jiang Nian said with absolute conviction. "Did you see any calorie numbers written on the fish balls?"

Xu Qianqian took a look and shook her head.

"There's nothing."

Jiang Nian swallowed a fish ball. "If it's not written, then it's zero calories. Eat without worry."

Friendly recommendation: *Hong Kong Comprehensive: Charity? No, I Just Want to Open a Shop! *

Synopsis: Transmigrate into a Hong Kong Comprehensive world, open a shop all the way to the moon.

(End of chapter)