Chapter 237

"Alright, everyone, hold on a moment."

Jiang Nian looked up, knowing Lao Liu was about to select the class psychologist.

But he had no interest in the position of class psychologist.

Jiang Nian knew himself well—he wasn't the backbone of the class, but he was certainly a rotten apple in the bunch.

Before being elected class psychologist, he was not a priest for little boys, but a male high schooler who understood human nature, a safe harbor for his classmates' souls.

Once elected, he'd forget his roots in a flash.

"Hua, you finally admitted it—you even went after your groupmate's ex-girlfriend."

So, he was doomed to fail as class psychologist.

"Those who want to run for class psychologist, raise your hands—I'll take a rough count," Lao Liu said from the podium, already ready to write down names.

A few hands rose sporadically.

Li Hua didn't raise his hand—he'd already given up.

"Nian, who are you voting for?"

Jiang Nian ignored him.

Ha, a clumsy trap.

The number of people running could be counted on one hand; five minutes each, and less than half the self-study period had passed.

These four had finished their speeches—just vote for whoever you want.

Could you actually say out loud who you support? Would admitting you backed Zeng Yong be the truth?

That's pure nonsense.

Besides, could anything spoken here really be your true thoughts?

Who among decent people ever speaks their true thoughts?

The election began.

The first few to take the stage were all harmless, gentle types—clearly kind-hearted people.

Perhaps in their minds, class psychologist meant someone outgoing, or someone who gave off a sense of safety.

Of course, that wasn't wrong.

But Jiang Nian thought their campaign speeches were too shallow.

Like speaking through a thick barrier, unable to reach deep into the heart.

All of them repeated the same lines: listing their strengths and how they'd serve classmates if elected.

Clichéd, lacking originality.

"Hey, what the hell are they babbling about?" Li Hua had learned this trick too, lowering his voice. "Nian, what do you think?"

Jiang Nian glanced at him. "Sit and watch."

Li Hua got no affirmation from Jiang Nian, so he slumped back onto his desk.

Finally, the big one was coming.

Yu Zhiyi made her grand finale entrance, strolling onto the stage—and unlike the earlier awkward silence, the whole class erupted in cheers, buzzing with excitement.

Nobody knew why they were cheering, but they were having fun.

"Here he comes—the chosen one!"

"Our class is rife with scheming and treacherous ministers—this is precisely why we lack a class psychologist."

"Indeed, if Yu Zhiyi is elected class psychologist, the treacherous ministers will flee in fear, and virtuous gentlemen will rejoice."

"This is an achievement worthy of praise from Yao and Shun!"

Yu Zhiyi was nervous—she'd expected silence when she stepped up.

Just imagining that awkward scene made her feel awful; her body trembled slightly as she walked those few meters from the aisle to the podium.

Who knew the response would be so enthusiastic?

She froze—damn, that Wang Ba was right.

Yu Zhiyi looked at the enthusiastic classmates below, took a deep breath, and began reciting her prepared speech.

"The reason I'm running for class psychologist is—"

In their seats, since Yu Zhiyi had taken the stage, Jiang Nian had been writing homework with her head down, and Li Hua had pulled out an English vocabulary book and was quietly reciting.

Both had maxed out their acting skills, pretending not to care at all—as if they weren't even interested in the election or who stood on stage.

Jiang Nian listened to Yu Zhiyi's voice, then slowly turned his head to glance at Li Hua.

"Hua, how many words have you memorized?"

Li Hua froze—the words were good, but they didn't stick.

"What about you? How many problems have you finished?"

Jiang Nian moved his arm aside, glanced at Wu Jun Gu's back, and smirked slightly.

"Why are you distracted, memorizing vocabulary? Are you the Drunken Old Man—"

"Chishi Chishi!!" Li Hua nearly screamed, quickly cutting him off and whispering, "Nian, don't quote classics if you don't understand them!"

As he spoke, Li Hua stole a glance at Wu Jun Gu in the front row.

The head of Group One, spying on a groupmate's ex-girlfriend?

If this got confirmed, he'd be socially dead.

To be fair, Jiang Nian was like a courier delivering a package right to his door—he'd been hiding perfectly, and Jiang Nian just had to make this scene.

"I don't have much culture," Jiang Nian said in his usual tea-speak, voice dripping with feigned innocence, "but after self-study, I want to eat the canteen's guandong stew—three fish balls and—"

"Three fish balls? Are you crazy?" Li Hua gasped. "You really don't fear bloating?!"

Jiang Nian frowned, pointed at him, and raised his hand.

"You're on my team," snap—Li Hua grabbed Jiang Nian's finger and smiled.

"Let's make a deal."

Zhang Nenzhi glanced curiously at the two, wondering what nonsense the boys were talking about now.

But she didn't ask further—it certainly wasn't anything good.

Li Hua surrendered immediately; Jiang Nian blew a triumphant whistle. You could say, free stuff always tasted better—he was already looking forward to the cafeteria's late-night snack.

Hehe.

He turned to look at Zhang Nenzhi, in high spirits, and asked.

"Want fish balls?"

"No," Zhang Nenzhi shook her head.

She was trying to keep her figure—eating nonstop all day would turn her into a pig's head eventually.

"Oh, okay then." Jiang Nian said, turning to leave.

Zhang Nenzhi grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back hard. Looking at Jiang Nian's bewildered face, she said seriously.

"I changed my mind."

She had just remembered that the class monitor ate fish balls—and was easily swayed by people as shameless as Jiang Nian.

As a member of Class Three, she had the duty and responsibility to protect the class monitor from harassment. She'd reluctantly take care of it herself—occasional late-night snacks wouldn't hurt.

"Oh oh, fine," Jiang Nian didn't care.

Yao Beibei ate everything, but she might not have time to join them at the cafeteria.

On the podium, Yu Zhiyi had finished her campaign speech.

Teacher Liu stepped up, scanned the classroom, then said.

"Anyone else want to run?"

He asked twice more—no one responded. The election process moved directly to the next critical stage: anonymous class-wide voting.

Everyone except the four candidates had the right to cast one vote.

Each person wrote a slip, collected by their group leaders, then totaled on the podium by the class secretary Tao Ran and discipline committee member Cai Xiaoqing, who would tally the votes and mark the tally marks.

The so-called "tally mark" meant writing the candidates' names on the blackboard.

When Cai Xiaoqing called out a name, class secretary Tao Ran would draw a stroke under that name with a chalk stick. In the end, the one with the most strokes won.

At Teacher Liu's command, the whole class erupted in noisy scribbling.

Zhang Nenzhi tore off a square slip from her scratch paper, paused to think, then decided to vote for an ordinary-looking girl among the four.

Because she often read psychology books, perhaps she really wanted to become the psychology committee member.

As for the others—Zhang Nenzhi didn't know Yu Zhiyi well. Though it sounded bad to say so, she felt Yu Zhiyi didn't need votes anyway.

So after some thought, she decided to vote for that girl.

After writing the girl's name on the slip, she turned to look at Jiang Nian and saw he and Li Hua had already finished—much faster than her.

Curious, she whispered.

"Who did you vote for?"

Jiang Nian went "Ah," without blinking, face calm, heart steady.

"Luo Yong—he's someone I occasionally hang out with."

Hearing this, Li Hua added.

"Yeah, you can only vote for someone you know in these kinds of votes."

"Huh, I guess so," Zhang Nenzhi mumbled, realizing she herself also favored acquaintances over strangers, and she bit her lip.

After collecting all slips, the podium began tallying.

"Luo Yong!"

The first vote went to Luo Yong; on the blackboard, a black stroke appeared under his name.

From Lin Dong's group.

Chen Yunyun turned to look at Lin Dong, deliberately avoiding looking at Sun Zhicheng.

Not that she was isolating anyone—just that Sun Zhicheng's rare expression was too hilarious; she feared she'd laugh out loud.

"Group leader, who did you vote for?"

Hearing this, Lin Dong replied calmly.

"Yu Zhiyi—who else is more suitable?"

Others cared about gossip, but he didn't care. What's wrong with supporting Yu Zhiyi? Isn't the psychology committee member supposed to be someone you find comfortable to look at?

Is there a problem?

I, Lin Dong, live with integrity and never back down!

Chen Yunyun stammered, preparing to turn away.

She'd only asked out of idle curiosity—the votes for all four candidates were still roughly equal. No clear lead yet; no one could tell who'd win.

"By the way," Lin Dong suddenly added, "Ah Cheng also—"

Sun Zhicheng, who had been slumped lifelessly on his desk, turned bright red in an instant, leaping up to cover his mouth.

"What?! What?! Don't say nonsense!"

Yu Zhiyi's votes on the blackboard began surging.

"Yu Zhiyi x9."

(End of Chapter)