Chapter 231: What Are You Mumbling? Do You Like Me?

The cold street was lined with shops mostly closed, orange streetlights casting dim yellow halos.

Jiang Nian walked past the streetlight, carrying a bag, his shadow shortening as he moved.

"After all that, Xu Shao, you're not a class officer?"

"Are you?" she countered.

"Cough, give it time," Jiang Nian evaded. "I observe our class biology rep is lazy, indulges in male beauty—I shall surely replace him."

"Is your biology rep a girl?"

"A boy."

Xu Qianqian: "."

The two wandered home together; after entering the alley, they resumed talking about the holiday.

"Is there a break this month?"

"Six hours on Sunday."

"Not that—I mean a one- or two-day long holiday," Xu Qianqian tightened her schoolbag. "I've been saving a TV drama; it's already finished."

"Which one?"

"Go away, I won't tell you," Xu Qianqian glanced at him, knowing full well his intentions. "No spoilers—not even a glimpse. You'll never guess."

"Why not watch one episode before bed?"

"I'll hate studying after watching."

"That's exaggerated," Jiang Nian said.

He emerged from the alley entrance, turned into a narrow lane, and cut home through the gap between buildings flanking the gutter, Xu Qianqian following behind him.

As they climbed the stairs, Xu Qianqian suddenly spoke.

"You went to play ball this afternoon?"

On the stairs, Jiang Nian froze.

"Nonsense. I was studying in the classroom."

"Really?" Xu Qianqian looked up at him, lips slightly curled. "You're quite bold—you quit the team, yet you still fought with those guys?"

"I didn't fight."

"Hmph, you admitted it," Xu Qianqian narrowed her eyes, smug as if she'd caught him red-handed. "Stay away from those guys, or I'll tell Li Yi."

Jiang Nian broke into a cold sweat—Old Arthur again, always playing the same trick.

"Xu Qianqian, besides tattling, do you have any other talents?"

At this, she frowned tightly.

"I'll tell my dad."

Jiang Nian silently gave a thumbs-up. "Fine. In the name of Father."

Both doors shut. No goodnight.

This was their daily routine—once home, both just wanted to shower and collapse into bed. Listen to some music, scroll TikTok for minutes, then slowly fall asleep.

The difference: Xu Qianqian sometimes chose to watch online lessons.

Jiang Nian only wanted to score six hundred points on the exam; beyond school, he had no drive. At home, he only wanted rest, hiding under the covers to watch fetish streamers.

After showering, he lay on his bed, the room's speaker softly playing "Love Before Christ."

【The priest's temple, war, arrows—who was it from the past?】

Li Qingrong lowered her gaze, staring at the line of text on Jiang Nian's QQ page.

Favorite song: "Love Is Seven Yuan."

She tapped search and played: 【I love the scene where, amid the crowd, you belong only to me, passing by the goddess Su Mei, I vow in the goddess's name】

After listening, she prepared to sleep.

Ten minutes later, she reached out in the dark for her phone and reopened Jiang Nian's QQ page.

She pulled up the 26-key keyboard but didn't know what to send at this hour.

111:.

The other side reacted quickly—typing indicator appeared.

Li Qingrong checked the time: 23:25. He was still awake.

Does he have a habit of staying up late?

What topic should she bring up? Is he doing homework?

While hesitating, the message arrived.

Jiang Nian: "?"

Li Qingrong stared at the question mark on screen; suddenly, all pressure rebounded onto her.

"1."

Jiang Nian: "2."

They exchanged numbers from 1 to 32; Jiang Nian broke first.

"Monitor can't sleep?"

"Mm."

"Then it's definitely a posture problem. What's your usual sleeping position?" Jiang Nian rarely felt sleepy before midnight unless he was utterly exhausted.

He'd played less than half a game in the afternoon; he hadn't even sweated much, let alone felt drowsy.

Li Qingrong: "Lying down."

Jiang Nian replied with an emoji pack: Old Bull: Where's Tutu?

He sent it, then worried the monitor wouldn't get it, and was about to explain in the dumbest way possible.

Suddenly, a message arrived—a photo taken right then and there.

【Image】.

The dim room had only one bedside lamp on, its light spilling from a uniquely shaped wooden lantern.

The girl, her hair loose, lay on her side holding her phone to take a picture.

The scene was indescribable; one simply felt the monitor's aura as thin as morning mist.

Jiang Nian typed, "Try this 【Image】."

Diagonal style.

He was only slightly more serious with the monitor; if he were chatting with Huang Beibei, the cure for insomnia would be judo—do one round and you'd fall asleep.

What? Still not sleepy?

Then let's review to gain new insights.

In the prime of youth, mountains piled high, golden light flickered; cloud-like hair drifted over snow-white cheeks.

Li Qingrong didn't reply for a long time.

Jiang Nian assumed she had fallen asleep and didn't pay much attention, switching screens to browse suggestive photos of models.

At night, Douyin was full of good stuff—ghost stories or suggestive model content, all of which easily got him worked up.

"Shadow by the window."???? Jiang Nian was intently staring at his phone when it buzzed with a new message.

"Okay."

The sense of dread vanished instantly.

He sighed, opening the monitor's chat interface.

"Did it help?"

Two minutes passed, and Li Qingrong still didn't reply.

With prior experience, Jiang Nian couldn't relax while scrolling through suggestive model content. When you're in the middle of something arousing, a friend suddenly messaging you makes your heart uneasy.

It felt like your moral value had dropped to zero.

So he sent a message to test the waters.

"Why aren't you replying?"

Li Qingrong replied instantly, "I fell asleep."

The next day.

During morning reading, Zhou Yuting left her seat and walked over to Yu Zhiyi.

"Hey, I've got to tell you, yesterday—"

The two had only officially become friends two days ago, their bond rapidly deepening due to shared views. Now, they were somewhere between friends and besties.

After listening, Yu Zhiyi burst out laughing.

"There really are people like that?"

"Yeah, a bottom-tier guy," Zhou Yuting fanned herself with her Chinese knowledge checklist, complaining, "He started by giving his name, like I was supposed to know him."

"Zhang Xiaofan? Sounds familiar," Yu Zhiyi frowned. "Isn't that the one who loves basketball? He once hit me with a ball when I passed the court."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuting froze—wasn't this a classic idol drama opening?

"And then?"

"What then?" Yu Zhiyi looked puzzled. "It was just normal—he hurt me bad, I called him an idiot and walked off."

Zhou Yuting didn't know what to say. Was that a normal reaction?

Maybe it was.

Forget it, let's not talk about this.

"He suddenly added me—I got a real scare," Zhou Yuting continued complaining. "I checked his Moments—nothing but sneakers, concert pics, basketball stuff."

"He said he can sing, dance, and play basketball too. Claims he's admired me for a long time and wants to get to know me."

Hearing this, Yu Zhiyi asked.

"Which class is he in?"

"First floor."

"Oh, that's fine then—at least he's a person," Yu Zhiyi's interest immediately faded upon hearing he was from the first floor.

What's the point of talking if he can't get into college?

Of course, she didn't hold prejudice against classmates with low academic scores. But their future paths and values would differ too much—the longer they spent together, the more exhausting it would become.

She had an older cousin, over thirty, who married a guy who dropped out after junior high and went to work. They fought almost every day after marriage and divorced with two houses.

Then she immediately found a college junior doing an internship, constantly posting happiness in the family group chat.

Though she felt nothing for her cousin's happiness, purely from the perspective of choosing a potential boyfriend, finding someone wealthy didn't conflict with finding someone with higher scores.

"What do you think of him?" she asked.

"Honestly? No opinion," Zhou Yuting shrugged, indifferent. "He offered to buy me bubble tea, but I'm dieting."

"Then he said he'd give me a gift, but I glanced—it was all cheap stuff. I could buy any of it myself easily. Anything expensive would probably hurt his wallet."

Hearing this, Yu Zhiyi asked curiously.

"Then why not delete him?"

Zhou Yuting looked puzzled, retorting.

"Why delete him?"

"Keep him—he's funny to talk to, funnier than bad puns."

Group Three.

Lin Dong pulled his gaze away from Yu Zhiyi and spoke to Sun Zhicheng beside him during morning reading.

"What are they chattering about? Do they like me?"

"No idea." Sun Zhicheng had been listless these past two days.

Ever since he learned that Yang Qiming had quickly locked down a partner at City No. 1 High School, his mental state had collapsed.

Yang Qiming looks like Kabuda — stand him up and he's a pig with a human face. Is that girl blind? Did she grow up in the Land of Women and never seen a man?

So annoying, don't want to go to morning reading, feel like hanging myself.

Lin Dong had long gotten used to Ah Cheng's intermittent impotence — it had to hit about twenty days a month. Nobody had any faith in Ah Cheng, but luckily Ah Cheng never tried to prove them wrong either.

He couldn't be bothered to respond and started reading with deep feeling.

"Give me two more minutes~ let me freeze my memories into ice!"

"Oi, Nian, heard there's gonna be a challenge letter." Li Hua, in his signature pose of propping his head up with one hand, saw that Xiang Jiang ignored him, so he shamelessly went to pester Ma Guojun instead.

"Oi, Lao Ma, your waistline's really heating up, huh."

Ma Guojun was speed-reading classical poetry and shot a glance at Li Hua.

"Piss off."

"Shit." Li Hua came crawling back, his face full of misery as he looked at Xiang Jiang. "Tell me, are the girls in Class Four pretty? I really wanna go take a peek at Class Four."

Xiang Jiang rocked his head back and forth, in a state that snipers couldn't lock onto.

"Can't hear you, can't hear you."

This user has declined to chat with an idiot.

After the second period ended, Xiang Jiang had already started getting ready to take off his clothes. Suddenly he noticed the broadcast for the running exercises hadn't gone off and thought, this is really weird.

There was a stir at the back of the classroom.

He turned his head and saw Cai Xiaoqing carrying a big red sheet of paper, walking toward the podium.

"Quiet for a moment."

"In a bit, the people from Class Four will come to our class to deliver a challenge letter. While they're reading it, the class needs to stay quiet and show them proper respect."

"After they finish reading, our class will stand up and shout the slogan."

"Liu Yang, organize the specific slogan."

Hearing this, the class immediately erupted in excitement.

"Shit, I suggest our class's challenge letter must be written in small seal script. I don't want the people from Class Four to see it in the exam hall — we can just use it directly."

Friendly book recommendation: from the matchmaking-genre author, Sichuan-jie's new book "My Girlfriend Died in the Past"

(End of chapter)