Chapter 264

The "Reverse Heaven" images were only circulated among a few people, all of Tao Ran's acquaintances.

The class monitor himself also knew, and had no intention of stopping it. After all, this wasn't even a secret—everyone in Class Three had long known he liked furries.

Tao Ran remembered, on a certain sunny afternoon.

Golden sunset flooded into the classroom like a tide; after the class reassignment, everyone took turns introducing themselves, some shy, some lively.

Only he himself, lived with complete openness.

He still remembered how much he loved the third sentence he said while standing on the podium.

"I like furries."

At that time, Old Liu clapped loudly, cheering nonstop.

"Furries are amazing—I like furries too. Speaking of auspicious signs, there are many famous ones in Chinese history. Any students know any?"

The classroom fell into dead silence, broken only by the creaking of an old electric fan.

What a beautiful, naive memory.

The morning exercise broadcast blared, snapping Tao Ran out of his reverie.

He strolled calmly, elegantly rose, and prepared to go downstairs and run the damn leader's exercise.

What a bunch of blind, disgusting idiots—lost their minds? It just rained last night, the ground's still wet, why run exercise?

Just as he reached the door, his sharp eyes spotted a piece of paper on the floor.

It looked familiar—wasn't this Li Hua's picture?

Tao Ran bent down, picked it up, crumpled it into a ball, and was about to toss it in the trash. He had no intention of dating in high school; showing his interests was perfectly normal.

The crumpled paper traced a parabola and landed in the cleaning corner to the right of the podium.

The playground—air thick and humid.

Moisture clung to the skin, greasy and sticky against clothing. The students gathered for morning exercise were restless, noisy and agitated on the field.

"Tao Ran exposed his xp on the first day of class reassignment, and he thinks it's just a hobby," Yang Qiming chuckled, fanning himself as he spoke to Zhou Yuting.

"It's not even a secret in our class—the monitor's a total weirdo, can stare at a Grimm's fairy tale illustration for half the day."

"I thought he was looking at Little Red Riding Hood, walked over, and damn—he was staring repeatedly at the wolf in grandma's clothes."

Zhou Yuting's face turned pale; she no longer wanted to hear a single word from Yang Qiming. Her eyes went blank, lips trembling slightly.

This Olympiad class.

"Fuck! Who the hell suggested morning exercise?" Ma Guojun, sweating profusely, his fat face already flushed, "The ground's soaked—run to the market instead!"

"Where's Jiang Nian?" Li Hua scanned the surroundings.

Unable to find Jiang Nian, he turned to look for Zhang Ningzhi—only to find Zhang Ningzhi had arrived and was standing with Yao Beibei, which struck him as odd.

"He's not showing up for exercise? I have to report him to the Discipline Committee."

Hearing this, Ma Guojun turned his head, his gaze sweeping the area.

"Just call Old Liu."

Beep—!!

A shrill whistle cut through Li Hua and Ma Guojun's thoughts; the exercise formation began to move.

In the line, Nie Qiqi jogged slowly, glancing curiously left and right. Suddenly she noticed the monitor was gone—her dropped jaw nearly refused to close.

Where's the monitor?

Where's my huge monitor!!!

Panting, she turned to Cai Xiaoqing, who ran beside her.

"Xiaoqing, where's the monitor?"

Cai Xiaoqing jogged on, silently reciting the vocabulary flashcards she'd brought downstairs. She wasn't as obsessed as Nie Qiqi; she gave a half-hearted reply.

"Dunno. Maybe she's busy."

"Wahhh, without the monitor, morning exercise is pointless," Nie Qiqi felt cheated—she should've faked illness and stayed upstairs.

Jiang Nian sat in the office, propping his chin on Qing Bao's desk as he yawned.

The next class was biology, but Qing Bao's computer had a small glitch, so she called Li Qingrong to fix it.

He happened to be passing by on the first floor and slipped in casually.

On such a hot, humid day, only a lunatic would go run exercise. Sweating sticky filth in this weather doesn't strengthen your body or prevent colds.

But—let's be honest—the leaders don't run, so they don't care what you do.

The computer issue was minor; Li Qingrong could fix it alone. The rest of the time was just waiting—the three of them waited for the computer to recover.

Two minutes later, the problem was solved.

"Great, thank you," Qing Bao sighed in relief, smiling. "Would you like tea? Unsweetened."

Li Qingrong was confused, thinking it was jasmine tea bags.

Jiang Nian had given her a pack last time—she still remembered clearly. She didn't know whether to take it, and instinctively glanced at Jiang Nian's reaction.

"Yes, Teacher. Got anything else?" Jiang Nian remained utterly calm.

"Here, some test papers."

"No thanks, no need," Jiang Nian jumped, thinking: Qing Bao doesn't have a sense of humor—she hits back with a nuclear strike.

Nobody understands my humor. Fuck.

He stepped out of the office.

On the sports field, the morning exercise music hadn't stopped.

Before going upstairs, Li Qingrong glanced at the Eastern leaf in her hand, then at Jiang Nian's identical one, unsure what to say.

Oh—it's a drink.

Jiang Nian was never one to sit still—he spoke first.

"Class president, what are you doing this afternoon?"

In another two hours, the once-a-week golden six-hour holiday would arrive again. From noon to six p. m., nowhere to go.

In another week, he'd have to face the pressure of the joint exam from six cities at the end of the month.

Li Qingrong slowly went upstairs, then tilted her head slightly.

Today was overcast, no blinding sunlight on the stairs, yet the light was still bright. Her skin was on the cool-pale side, like a cold, elegant piece of porcelain.

"Not doing anything, just... staying put."

"Oh oh, reading, right?" Jiang Nian figured that reading during the holiday fit the stereotype seal of a top student.

After all, Li Qingrong's grades were absurdly good. If she could keep up this momentum, she might really get into Tsinghua or Peking.

He'd heard that top students, in order to get recommended admission or extra points for the college entrance exam, would go all-out competing in contests during grade ten and eleven. He had no idea how many Li Qingrong had entered.

"No, I'm just staying put." Li Qingrong shook her head.

"Watching a movie?"

"Not watching."

Jiang Nian listed a bunch of options, but Li Qingrong shook her head and shot them all down. Only after pressing hard did he learn she really was just staying home.

Uh... staying put in the literal sense.

Staying in her room, killing time meaninglessly, then napping when sleepy. By the time she woke up, it was almost dark, and she'd pack up and head back to school.

But then again, those lousy six hours would pass with just one nap.

Jiang Nian thought to himself, so couldn't he ask the class president to hang out next time? She was free anyway, but the thought was quickly dismissed.

Way too abrupt — what's the difference between that and writing "burning with desire" across his own face?

They'd just reached the fourth floor.

Li Qingrong suddenly stopped walking, turned her head without warning, and asked Jiang Nian.

"Were you serious about what you said yesterday?"

Jiang Nian froze. Had he said something outrageously delusional in the classroom yesterday?

"What did I say?"

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes. "Learning to drive."

"Oh oh, of course I was serious. I just haven't found the right opening yet." Jiang Nian said it casually — he was a giant in words, a dwarf in action.

"What's an opening?" Li Qingrong asked curiously.

"Just the right timing, I guess. Maybe I'll find a driving school this afternoon and ask around." Jiang Nian said offhandedly. He was actually just talking big.

What a joke — finally getting a holiday.

Why would he go out looking for a driving school instead of lying around at home for a few hours? Passing Subject One was easy, sure, but the driving practice check-ins afterward were the real deal.

Not to mention, rushing through Subject One now felt great. But when it came time to queue up for driving practice check-ins over the New Year, the drawbacks would show — he'd definitely be dead last.

So picking the right school mattered, otherwise it'd disgust you to death later on.

"Oh, I happen to have an opening." Li Qingrong really was putting it to practical use. Her gaze drifted elsewhere. "My cousin knows a friend at a driving school."

Jiang Nian was a bit stunned. What a coincidence?

Still, when it came to the class president, he trusted her — she probably wouldn't screw him over.

He hesitated a few seconds, then asked tentatively.

"How much is the registration fee?"

"A thousand."

Jiang Nian suspected his ears had broken. He looked at Li Qingrong with a face full of confusion.

"How much?"

"Eight hundred."

"Huh? No... that's..." Jiang Nian was dumbfounded. Is this driving school run by Shen Teng or something?

How can the tuition still go down?

He hadn't even started haggling, and it was already self-discounted twice. You could say they were busy recruiting, so a price drop was fine — but a full one-fifth off?

"Five hundred?" Li Qingrong said hesitantly.

"Stop, stop, stop, don't lower it anymore." Jiang Nian coughed once, gathered his thoughts. "Class president, let me ask one thing — the driving school isn't in Southeast Asia, is it?"

Li Qingrong shook her head and said calmly.

"It's over by Zhenbei Square, Zhuoyue Driving School."

"Then why is the registration fee so cheap?" Jiang Nian's eyelid twitched.

He thought to himself, what kind of bankruptcy price is five hundred? Pure loss, right?

Li Qingrong's answer was very brief. "Friend."

"Oh, I see." Jiang Nian roughly understood what was going on. The class president had used her cousin's connections to get him a discount.

He'd originally wanted to politely decline, but the moment he turned his head and met Li Qingrong's eyes, he was momentarily dazzled. His mouth opened, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word.

"Alright then... thanks, class president."

Jiang Nian thought, he'd just ask around later to find out the original price. The class president was being kind — wait, no, the class president meant well, he shouldn't let her down.

Li Qingrong nodded, her gaze shifting slightly.

"Mm."

After a few seconds, she took out her phone and said.

"I'll add the driving school owner for you."

"Oh oh, sure." Jiang Nian also pulled out his phone, then remembered he didn't have her on WeChat yet. "Class president, let me add you on WeChat first."

A commotion came from downstairs — the running-exercise group was back.

Li Qingrong's eyes lowered slightly as she stood at the stairwell landing on the fourth floor. She didn't seem to be in any hurry at all; she reached out and handed her phone to him.

Jiang Nian was briefly stunned, thinking to himself that adding someone on WeChat didn't require handing over the phone. Whatever, no point dawdling.

He took the phone, did a few quick operations, and handed it back to Li Qingrong.

"All done, Class Monitor."

Li Qingrong's fingers were slender, the bones of her hand clearly defined. The skin on the back of her hand had a cool undertone, fair and delicate, giving an overall bony elegance—truly a pleasure to behold.

She took the phone and, in a few quick motions, sent over her name card.

What surprised Jiang Nian was that after he added her, the other side accepted in under a second.