Chapter 226: I Am a Dark-Hearted Gutter Rat Who Will Forever Stalk You

Zhang Ningzhi had long grown used to Jiang Nian's habit of turning host into guest. While burying her head in packing up her stationery, she couldn't help but glance at him from the corner of her eye.

She saw him chatting with Ceng You about games, grinning from ear to ear.

Hmph, annoying pest.

The afternoon combined-science exam was two and a half hours long—one look down, one look up, and it was almost five.

In the instant of passing the papers from back to front, Jiang Nian felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

He wasn't the only one who felt that way.

A weekly test meant one day of exams and one day of going over papers—back and forth, it ate up two whole days.

Round it off, and that equaled two days a week without class.

Count it up two days later—if there was a PE class, he could catch his breath again.

Papers had been collected at five, so by rights there was no need for the evening self-study period. But the grade office hadn't said anything, and no one on the fourth floor was leaving, so they could only sit down and do self-study.

"Holy crap, what's that noise downstairs?" Ceng You looked around nervously.

He'd just finished the exam, and there he was pulling out his phone again.

The sudden commotion nearly scared him to death—completely spooked, terrified of getting caught.

His skills were top-notch; to this day, he'd never been caught once.

But he knew full well that getting caught once would lead to a second targeted crackdown against him.

"Stop hiding. I saw it."

"What's that thing in the drawer? Hand it over!!"

Just those two sentences alone could give him psychological scars, and if that happened, his life in the class would become unbearably difficult.

Li Hua couldn't sit still any longer and stood up.

"I'll go out and check."

Jiang Nian couldn't be bothered to move—after the combined-science exam, he was completely worn out.

He'd spent half the day running a healing ability, and the result was both exhausted and wide awake, so he could only do homework to kill time.

Before long, Li Hua came back looking defeated.

"Damn, those guys on the third floor already got dismissed—why do we still have to do self-study!"

The third floor housed a few parallel science-track classes. In a small county town, information was cut off, so more people followed the crowd and chose the science track, leading to an uneven arts-and-sciences distribution at Zhennan Middle School.

The scout Li Hua's report was shocking, and the class instantly erupted in agitation.

"Why the hell are we still studying."

"Let's go, let's go, school's out—the grade office doesn't give a damn anyway." Lin Dong was the first to fan the flames.

After saying that, he looked toward Class Three's linchpin, Cai Xiaoqing, waiting for Cai Xiang to speak up.

As long as Cai Xiaoqing said something, the rest would be easy—what they feared most was her silence.

"No way, if the third floor can leave, there's no reason our fourth floor can't!"

"Right, why can't we leave!"

Cai Xiaoqing frowned; for a moment, she couldn't quite make up her mind either, and she spoke up.

"Quiet. Wait for the other classes on the fourth floor to leave first."

Lin Dong was quick-witted, and on hearing that, a scheme immediately came to mind.

He turned and beckoned to Sun Zhicheng, signaling him to lean in, and whispered a few instructions.

"Will it work? Bro." Sun Zhicheng's expression was priceless.

"Then keep waiting, wasting the most important twenty minutes of your life." Lin Dong said solemnly, "Without those twenty minutes, your life is destined to be a relatively failed one."

"Fine."

Next door, Class Two was in the same kind of uproar.

Plenty of people had started clamoring to leave at first, but were forcibly suppressed by the class officials. Under the pressure of being reported to the teacher, they had no choice but to sit obediently in the class.

Even if they couldn't leave, they had to grumble about it.

Suddenly, a figure flashed past the front door.

"Notice from the grade office—evening self-study is cancelled!"

"Huh?"

Class Two went quiet for a moment, then erupted in a huge cheer!

A group of people stood up, and the classroom instantly rang with the sharp screech of desks and chairs scraping.

"Wuhu! School's out!"

"I told you we could leave—those idiots were still going on about rules, rules, rules."

"Shut up, careful they'll report you to the teacher."

"Screw 'em, let 'em report whatever they want, damn it all!"

Ji Jiayu looked up amid the cursing and the sounds of dismissal, completely bewildered.

More than the dismissal, she was concerned about something else—that voice just now seemed oddly familiar. It had been deliberately pitched higher, but she was sure she'd heard it before.

Just as she was thinking, a boy with delicate features walked up to her desk. He knocked on the table, and when she looked up, he flashed a perfectly timed smile.

"Can I borrow your test paper to go over the answers?"

Class Three.

The instant they heard the cheers from the next class, everyone pricked up their ears.

"What's that sound?"

"Damn, the next class is dismissed."

"Cai Xiang." Lin Dong sprang to his feet, turned to stare straight at Cai Xiaoqing, and asked loudly, "Class Two already left—can we leave too!"

Cai Xiaoqing wasn't a control freak; she kept her word and waved her hand.

"Class is dismissed."

"Wuhu!! Take off!"

"Play ball, play ball."

"Cousin, what're you doing? Staring blankly all this time?" Lin Dong patted Yang Qiming and asked, "Wanna head back to the dorm for dinner?"

Yang Qiming felt a little heartbroken; at lunch dismissal, he'd asked An'an if he could borrow some "luck."

An'an replied instantly: a luck red packet for 88.

"Fine, let's go." Yang Qiming sighed.

He'd woken up from the real-life romance game "Miracle An'an"—recharging was too expensive. As he reached the door, he couldn't help glancing back at Jiang Nian's empty seat.

Instantly, he remembered the scene during the English exam that morning, and his heart grew heavier.

The monitor lent him "luck" and even blew on it. The gap between people was greater than the gap between a person and a dog.

But then again, he was the monitor.

Dusk.

On a stone bench at the edge of the basketball court.

Hu Nianzhong had no appetite for dinner; he'd recently made a small profit by borrowing a chicken to lay eggs.

Now the chicken's owner was demanding he get to work, leaving him with a choice.

Return the chicken and do nothing, or keep the chicken and do the job.

First, Yu Tongjie didn't lack money.

Ever since Dong Ge introduced him to this path, the moment he got paid, he suddenly understood.

As long as you had a sharp mind, making money wasn't hard.

He'd done plenty of hard labor before—worked in factories, labored on construction sites, helped repair houses.

Rain or shine, he wore the same few clothes.

From middle school to high school, his dark, sunburnt face looked dull. Making friends wasn't easy; no matter how calm he appeared, his sense of self-worth remained strong.

Before, he might've taken the money and done the job.

Now he wanted to earn more money—ideally, he'd delay it.

If the pay was small, he'd take it and do the job; if the pay was big, he'd return it.

He tilted his head to watch the basketball thrown high into the air, squinting involuntarily amid the cheers.

This was the basketball court near the teaching building and cafeteria; the school team members were big and burly. They claimed the entire court for a match, surrounded by a dense crowd of boys.

Occasionally, a few girls stood watching, but most were boys loudly commenting.

He spotted Jiang Nian inside the court—he seemed about to play, taking off his jacket and putting on a basketball jersey handed to him by another boy.

Hu Nianzhong froze for a moment; he hadn't seen Jiang Nian play much before.

As a boy, he naturally had favorite sports.

Due to years of physical labor, Hu Nianzhong was tall and strong. Compared to skill-based table tennis, he preferred the physical intensity of basketball.

Without thinking, he stood up and walked toward the crowd.

"What's that group doing?"

"Nothing, just savages fighting over a ball," Nie Qiqi said proudly, lifting her head like a little fox. "Is basketball so expensive? Why's everyone fighting over it?"

Cai Xiaoqing was speechless, glancing at the wooden-headed girl beside her.

"Watch less Baby Bus."

"What's wrong? I'll watch whatever I want." Nie Qiqi stood tall, sneering. "I was just joking—don't take it seriously."

"Idiot."

"What did you say!" Nie Qiqi gritted her teeth—she hated being called stupid. "I'm faking it! Don't think I'm just sweet and dumb—I'm actually—"

"You're what?" Cai Xiaoqing glanced at Nie Qiqi.

A death stare.

She instantly wilted, hesitating.

"Actually, I'm even cuter inside—I'm a sewer rat, easily manipulated. When bullied, I can only stare. But I hold grudges—I'll stare at you forever."

The two girls were heading to dinner and passed by the basketball court.

Nie Qiqi made an "eh?" sound and patted Cai Xiaoqing.

"That—that guy—is that Wang Ba?"

"Who?" Cai Xiaoqing looked confused.

She followed Nie Qiqi's finger and saw Jiang Nian—she too was surprised.

The school team played once a week.

Sometimes Wednesday, sometimes Friday—no fixed schedule; everyone was used to it by now.

But except for the sports officer Liu Yang, she'd never seen anyone from her own class on the court.

"That Wang Ba Jiang Nian—he talks to the monitor every day," Nie Qiqi clung half her body to Cai Xiaoqing, whispering softly in her ear like a boneless doll.

"He's the worst. Last time he bullied me. Boohoo, Xiaoqing, you've got to stand up for me—better write his name down till the page's full."

Cai Xiaoqing was speechless; her discipline log rarely recorded names.

Three pages of paper, Li Hua's name appeared seven or eight times—he didn't care. That kind of token task for the grade committee? She'd already lost.

"That's your own fault. Let's go."

"No, let's watch a little longer." Nie Qiqi wore a gray-and-blue patched jacket—the monitor's preferred style; every detail was perfectly matched.

She pulled Cai Xiaoqing's arm, her voice sweet and tinkling like a tiny windmill.

"Sis, stop for a moment—I want to see that Wang Ba get beaten to a pulp. Take a few photos as leverage, so the monitor can see how useless this guy is."

Cai Xiaoqing stopped and gave Nie Qiqi a slightly surprised look.

"You sound like a brain-dead idiot talking like that."

"Fine, I won't plant the flag then." Nie Qiqi also felt her words sounded like a defeated dog's whine. "Let's just see if we can get a photo of his disgrace."

"Show it to the monitor?" Cai Xiaoqing asked.

"No way, I'm not that stupid to show it to the monitor." Nie Qiqi cooed sweetly. "I'm a beautiful, kind-hearted, adorable, considerate, and classmate-loving fluffy little girl."

Then she uttered an outrageous statement.

"Keep it for myself—when he bullies me later, I'll print it out and spit on his ugly photo."

Cai Xiaoqing fell silent, thinking of Nie Qiqi's earlier claim of being beautiful and kind-hearted.

"When you say 'fluffy little girl,' you mean 'spit'?"

Pssssss—!!!

A whistle sliced through the sky.

(End of Chapter)