Chapter 249: The Jasmine Tea Bag Pocketed Away

"Oh." Jiang Nian hesitated for two seconds, mentally weighing which excuse would be appropriate.

"Probably too much happened yesterday, the class had the challenge letter delivered and we picked the psychology committee member."

An excuse that wasn't really an excuse, pure setup.

"I should have seen it yesterday, just didn't get a chance to ask. Put it off and forgot, only just remembered now."

A fifty-point excuse.

On the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship scale it would fail, but on the classmate relationship scale it counts as the maximum sincerity. The careless won't be taught, the caring—

Li Qingrong had clearly only mentioned it in passing, not really caring.

"Mm."

The two went downstairs together, heading to the Science Comprehensive office.

The Science Comprehensive office was in the innermost room on the left side of the first floor, the office door wide open.

Inside the lights were bright, only two teachers preparing lessons.

Qing Bao was also there, looking a bit dazed when she looked up.

Seeing Li Qingrong and Jiang Nian arrive, she couldn't help rubbing her eyes and pointed toward the row of desks against the wall.

"The Science Comprehensive test papers are over there."

Saying so, she instinctively picked up her teacup to drink tea.

When she lifted it, the weight felt wrong. Looking down, the tea was all gone.

Qing Bao was about to stand up when a hand reached over.

"Teacher, let me."

Jiang Nian was utterly Qing Bao's lackey—eat the lord's salary, serve the lord's business.

Though not as exaggerated as he put it, since he was right there, no need to say much about a small thing like pouring tea—loyalty was all that mattered.

"Ah, thanks." Qing Bao was a bit flustered, thinking he wouldn't be trying to rob her of something again, would he?

She wasn't short on money, one person fed, the whole family wasn't hungry.

But that was that—robbing her of some stationery was fine, just don't rob her of her teaching supplies.

In a moment, the tea was refilled.

Li Qingrong was counting test papers over there, glancing at Jiang Nian from the corner of her eye.

Seeing him standing by Qing Bao's desk, chatting and laughing with the biology teacher for a few words. He had some kind of packet in his hand, then walked toward her.

She unobtrusively withdrew her gaze, lowered her eyes, and kept her head down counting test papers.

The test papers were all sorted by large group, so they could be easily distributed in class later.

"Class monitor, how many groups have you counted?"

"1."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian fell into deep thought.

What did that 1 mean?

Forget it, better help out first.

He counted out one large group of test papers, turned his head, and saw two stacks of test papers had already appeared in front of Li Qingrong.

He thought, truly worthy of the class monitor, efficiency is top-notch.

"Class monitor, finished counting that fast?"

"Mm." Li Qingrong nodded, then took a few more test papers and laid them on top of the first stack, "Finished counting, might have missed a few."

"It's fine, no one is perfect." Jiang Nian adapted on the fly.

Li Qingrong said nothing, lowering her head to count answer sheets.

This thing didn't need to be as precise as counting test papers, accurate to within three or four sheets. Just grab a few extra, grabbing ten or so more doesn't count as a lot.

For Gao San students, the demand for scratch paper was enormous.

There were always little collectors in the class who liked to pocket a couple of answer sheets—perfect for use as scratch paper.

Jiang Nian had even seen Li Hua's entire notebook of math answer-sheet scratch paper, plus one finely curated, rarely taken out, premium answer-sheet compilation.

So, just grab a few extra.

If you don't take more, other classes will. As for whether the last class can get answer sheets—don't even think about it, there's always one class that takes a small loss.

That's also why the main reason to pick up test papers promptly. Even if you don't distribute them yet, just pile them in the subject representative's desk, get them in hand first.

Li Qingrong didn't count carefully either, roughly estimated. Grabbed a few extra anyway, to avoid the class not having enough answer sheets and having to come back down.

The two finished counting the test papers and answer sheets, about to leave.

Qing Bao suddenly looked up, let out an "Ah" and then paused.

Something like, Ah——

So the two stood at the office doorway, waiting for Qing Bao to remember what she wanted to say.

After about a five-second pause, Qing Bao finally reacted.

"You guys might as well count the weekly biology quiz papers too. Note it's the one where the first multiple choice is about photosynthesis and respiration."

"Oh oh." Jiang Nian went back to count test papers again.

Qing Bao suddenly felt a bit embarrassed—after all, the two students were almost out the office. She had to say it now of all times, not earlier, not later.

The two had to turn back, they might complain about her.

She was a classic blame-dodger, even the possibility of being complained about by students was unacceptable.

That kind of thing, no way.

Thinking this, Qing Bao took off her blue-light anti-nearsightedness glasses. She stood up, ready to count test papers with Jiang Nian, but just as she finished this motion—

She turned her head and saw Li Qingrong had already walked over.

Mm. One desk can't fit three people standing on it, and he couldn't very well stand on a desk nearby and count the test papers. It wasn't that he was putting on airs—it was just that doing so would be a bit awkward.

Jiang Nian wouldn't badmouth him behind his back, would he?

No, wait—why on earth would he badmouth him!

In his anxiety, Qingbao sat back down. The thought that his perfect-teacher reputation might be ruined at the hands of his ungrateful student left him worrying without realizing it.

He started regretting it again—he should have just gone over directly earlier.

Jiang Nian had no idea Qingbao was running through this whole inner drama; even if he did, he wouldn't have found it strange.

Class Three, a hall full of upright talents.

The class bell had long since rung; they were now using class time. Jiang Nian wasn't in the slightest hurry, taking his sweet time counting the test papers—a full three minutes.

"All done, Teacher."

"Oh oh, thanks for the trouble, you two go on up first." Qingbao instructed them along the way, "Later, distribute the test papers for me, and we'll go over them in class tomorrow."

The two of them answered, turned, and left the office.

The stairwell was empty; the two of them climbed the stairs one on each side, test papers in their arms.

Li Qingrong stayed silent all the way up to the second floor, then turned and asked.

"What did you get from the biology teacher?"

Jiang Nian was a little puzzled as to why the class monitor would care about this, but he still pulled two small sachets out of his pocket.

"Jasmine tea bags. What, does the class monitor like tea too?"

"I—" Li Qingrong hesitated for a moment.

"Here." Jiang Nian didn't care whether Li Qingrong drank tea or not—everyone present got a share, after all. "Hey, class monitor, your hands are both full—let me tuck it into your pocket."

Saying so, he stuffed the fully packaged tea bag into Li Qingrong's coat pocket.

Li Qingrong felt her pocket grow heavy, not knowing what to say.

"Oh."

Back in the classroom, Li Qingrong handed out the test papers.

Jiang Nian helped hand out the answer sheets instead; after going around once, five were left over. Looks like there weren't many little collectors, or they were busy writing the English test and hadn't gotten around to it yet.

In any case, Jiang Nian and Deskmate Li Hua split up.

Ma Guojun had the People's Hospital letterhead paper, so he couldn't be bothered with the rough answer sheets at all.

The second evening self-study period was nearing its end.

Lin Dong looked up from his math problems—he was a bit hungry.

At this hour, the cafeteria on the teaching building side was basically closed. The dorm cafeteria was still open, but it was too far away; he didn't really feel like going.

He nudged Sun Zhicheng and said in a low voice.

"A-Cheng, let's grab something to eat after class."

Sun Zhicheng was also a bit hungry; the gloom over his haircut had mostly passed, and he couldn't help but ask.

"Eat what?"

"Instant noodles."

"Are you crazy? Eat instant noodles in the classroom?" Sun Zhicheng got a huge fright.

"You're sick, jumping at nothing." Lin Dong didn't think much of it, tempting him, "We won't get caught. Worst case, we eat in the hallway."

"Not going." Sun Zhicheng refused flatly.

He'd just temporarily suffered a Waterloo in life, lost the hair that adorned his looks. Those were things that could be fixed, but eating instant noodles in the classroom would cost him his right to choose a mate.

Others might not know, but he and Chen Yunyun were in the same class and the same group. He knew perfectly well that Chen Yunyun definitely couldn't accept this kind of behavior—so what about the other girls?

He wasn't doing it anyway; Lin Dong could go by himself.

Lin Dong saw he couldn't talk Sun Zhicheng into it and was a bit dumbfounded.

"I give up."

He'd originally wanted to find someone else to go with, but on second thought, he gave up.

Bear with it—go back to the dorm and fix up a bucket of instant noodles.

Thinking this, Lin Dong simply lay his head on the desk and slept. He tried to use sleep to fight off hunger, figuring it was only two hours anyway, and he'd leave the moment school was out.

In a blink, one period passed, and only the fourth evening self-study remained.

Lin Dong gripped his pen but couldn't write a single problem. His mouth was wildly producing saliva; he swallowed again and again, feeling he could down a whole pig in three bites right now.

While he was suffering, he suddenly heard Yang Qiming and Huang Cailang chatting in low voices.

"Bro, you hungry?"

"Hungry. Later let's go outside the north gate for stir-fried noodles." Yang Qiming was visibly excited, swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said, "Add some tofu and a fried egg, get a bottle of something to drink."

Gulp—Lin Dong only grew hungrier listening.

Who would have thought, Huang Cailang suddenly threw in a line.

"How about turtle soup and steamed pork with rice flour for lunch—"

What followed was a long, drawn-out scene of torment like a menu recital, leaving Lin Dong dizzy from listening.

He felt like dropping to his knees before Huang Cailang, begging him to stop tormenting his buddy.

Sun Zhicheng heard it too, but paid it no mind. He secretly thought these people were really bored—wasn't it just eating one banquet? Did they have to harp on it like this?

That big dummy Yang Qiming, leading around another dimwit—what was he putting on?

Truly top-tier.

Suddenly, Huang Cailang shifted the topic and said shyly.

"Brother Yang, I feel like you guys eating at the banquet were all very refined—I'm the one who ate the most, along with Wang Yuhe."

Hearing this, Sun Zhicheng was stunned.

Wang Yuhe was actually there too?

What does that mean — did they eat at the same table at noon?

But that's normal too, after all they're classmates. Spotting someone familiar at a banquet and spontaneously sitting together — standard move.

If Wang Yuhe went, that meant Chen Yunyun went too.

"Hey, what's the big deal, just couldn't eat anymore." Yang Qiming waved a hand, unconcerned. "Jiang Nian and I have about the same appetite — we stop once we're full."

Sun Zhicheng's heart skipped a beat; he couldn't help glancing toward Chen Yunyun.

Why did Jiang Nian go too?

Lately it didn't seem like they'd been talking as much — Chen Yunyun spent most of her time at her seat working problems.

Why, all of a sudden, were they this close again?

He swallowed once, his heart feeling a little hollow.

Lin Dong patted Chen Yunyun on the back and asked weakly.

"Wait, you and Jiang Nian and the others had a big meal at noon?"

Chen Yunyun turned around, surprised by the question for a moment.

"Mm, it was fine. Not really a big meal — just happened to be a wedding banquet."

Lin Dong's face was full of anguish. "Why couldn't you add me?"

Sun Zhicheng was even more anguished than Lin Dong — why did people have to have ears?