Chapter 281: Putting a Perfect Period to It

The sky outside the street slowly darkened, nightfall shrouding Zhennan County.

The two turned into a clay-pot soup shop thick with the bustle of life, steam rising at the doorway.

Inside the lights were bright, a dozen or so tables and chairs, plenty of diners eating in.

"What would you like to eat?" The owner looked up at the young couple in front of her. "The shop's running a promotion—spend over thirty and you get a free side dish."

Whether a local clay-pot soup shop sells anything good, whether the soup is drinkable, all depends on the owner's skill. Some shops brew soup like dishwater, others are incomparably delicious.

This shop had been open for ten-odd years, the walls blackened by smoke. Inside, though, it was kept very clean; from a distance one could see the layout of the kitchen through the glass.

This shop sold stir-fried dishes and clay-pot soup, and noodles on the side.

Jiang Nian glanced at the menu posted on the wall, then turned and quietly asked Zhang Ningzhi for her preference.

"What do you want to eat?"

Zhang Ningzhi looked at the menu on the wall, slightly hesitant.

"Anything's fine."

Jiang Nian shot her a glance, quite helpless.

"Then let me ask the owner if there's a dish called Baby Zhizhi."

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi gave him a light push.

"Why are you so annoying!"

"Must be hereditary—my mom's the same way." Jiang Nian brazenly pinned the blame on Li Hongmei. A loving mother, a filial son—Li Hongmei's number one anti-fan.

"But she only acts like that with me. She likes little girls more."

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi quietly let out a breath of relief. She'd thought Jiang Nian's mother might be the difficult sort, but on second thought, it might be quite the opposite.

After all, anyone who could put up with Jiang Nian all this time must have an extraordinarily good temper.

What if she herself had a son like Jiang Nian?

Hiss~ scary.

The owner just stood there with her notepad, smiling as she watched the couple bicker.

They looked like big spenders—one order covering two orders' worth.

And so it was. The two ordered two of the pricier stir-fried dishes, plus two soups. The total went straight past sixty, paid by the boy.

Rice was free, and they threw in a smashed cucumber dish and a small plate of peanuts.

Once seated, Jiang Nian asked.

"Have you eaten here before?"

Zhang Ningzhi shook her head and said unhurriedly.

"Either I eat at home, or I have the shredded-cucumber noodles at the school gate, or—"

Jiang Nian froze, recalling last Sunday's holiday. The braised-meat wrap and milk tea he'd bought Li Qingrong at the school gate—he couldn't hold it together.

"Your mom won't let you eat out?"

"Not really, I just rarely eat outside." Zhang Ningzhi said honestly. "School gets out early, and it's convenient to go home."

"Oh, I see." Jiang Nian understood.

First, you need a house close to the school; second, someone has to be home cooking. And if the home-cooked food is better than what's sold outside, naturally you won't eat out.

Jiang Nian's home was fairly close, but going back meant cooking for himself. Both parents worked, earning money to save up fragments for his bride price.

Three in the family—no, four, plus Xu Qianqian next door. Five people across two households, all eating lunch out; on workdays the homes were basically empty during the day.

The shop was noisy with chatter, and the two talked quietly at a corner table.

Zhang Ningzhi looked out at the brilliant street scene, the streams of cars passing by, the students walking past, and suddenly began quietly talking about things at home.

"My parents fought the day before yesterday, because—"

The stir-fried dishes and clay-pot soup were brought over. Jiang Nian listened carefully to her while snapping apart a pair of disposable chopsticks and handing them to her.

At the same time he scalded a spoon with hot tea, wiped it dry with paper, then poured hot tea over it again and scalded it once more, only then placing it in her bowl.

"Eat first, it'll get cold."

"Oh."

Zhang Ningzhi lowered her head to drink the soup. Perhaps afraid of gaining weight, she rarely picked up dishes and ate only a little rice.

Perhaps finding Jiang Nian a good listener, after eating for a while she spoke again. She talked some about her parents, then some about her own worries.

"Sigh, I don't know what to do in the future."

Baby Zhizhi's parents' conflict was just "conflict"—it didn't affect the family's stability.

In Jiang Nian's view, apart from life and death, nothing counted as a big deal. So he didn't rattle off a bunch of advice, just casually offered a one-size-fits-all response.

"Go to college." Jiang Nian set down his chopsticks and glanced at her. "Deal with future stuff later. Once you're in college, you'll be free."

"Alright." Once Zhang Ningzhi got the words off her chest, most of her worries dissolved.

The two walked out of the shop into a street blazing with lights on all sides. With the matter of their stomachs settled, only one thing remained.

That was to pick up a parcel at the courier shop next to the school gate.

So the two began heading back again.

In her heart, Zhang Ningzhi treated this dinner as a date, so in the soup shop she'd kept trying to talk more, doing her best to make the whole thing feel "complete."

Now, the nervousness she'd felt had slowly faded away.

The night breeze brushed her face, and she suddenly smiled.

Suddenly, as they passed a boutique shop, Jiang Nian stopped.

"Let's go in and look around."

"Huh?"

Zhang Ningzhi obediently followed him in. Before she'd looked around twice, a hair tie was held up in front of her. It wasn't given to her—he just held it up, measuring it against her hair.

It seemed he was checking the effect before handing it to her.

"Do you like this color?"

Zhang Ningzhi glanced at it and nodded.

"Mm."

Jiang Nian heard this, picked up the hair tie, spun it once, and bought two. Then he asked the shopkeeper the price, scanned the code to pay, and handed it to her.

"For you. It suits you well."

"Thank you." Zhang Ningzhi pressed down her rising lips, deliberately maintaining composure, unilaterally declaring the date a perfect ending.

Her heart was twisted into a dull ache, surging upward from her chest.

If no one were around, she would probably have covered her eyes with her hands to hide the physiological mist of tears.

Right now, she could only blink by turning her head, gently concealing the emotions from a second ago, as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you, Zhizhi." Yao Beibei received the friendship seat cushion Zhang Ningzhi gave her.

"Mm hmm."

Group Six.

Huang Fang hadn't expected Zhang Ningzhi to give her one too, and was suddenly flattered.

"Thank you."

Ma Guojun also thanked her—he had never bought a cushion himself, and occasionally stole glances at Li Hua's cheap twenty-eight-yuan useless cushion, now receiving something better.

"Fuck, only a Young Lady's gifts are good. That cushion of Li Hua's is garbage, totally useless."

Li Hua had been ecstatic, but suddenly got splashed and felt annoyed.

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"The truth."

"You're a traitor, a snob who looks down on the poor."

"Stop talking so much. Where's today's drink?" Ma Guojun extended his fat hand.

"I bought drinks for our group—what's it got to do with you, an outsider?" Li Hua's face flushed, pointing a finger as if ready to explode.

Ma Guojun said, "Jiang Nian said he'd leave his portion to me."

Li Hua: "Fuck."

Only Wu Jun Gu and Ceng You in the group hadn't received a cushion, but since this wasn't meant as a group benefit, neither paid it much mind.

Wu Jun Gu had his own cushion, but rarely used it. Ceng You claimed his butt was the best cushion—comfortable no matter where he sat.

One could only say, Ceng You the Emperor was utterly legendary.

Evening reading.

Jiang Nian carried the mop outside the classroom to mop the floor, thinking about taking leave tomorrow noon to practice driving.

He wondered whether he should tell Old Liu now.

Just as he was thinking, a shadow crept out from behind the classroom.

Wang Yuhe stepped on the freshly mopped floor right in front of Jiang Nian, then gave him the middle finger before sprinting into the classroom.

Jiang Nian stared in shock, thinking: What the hell is this guy doing?

I just mopped this floor!

If you've got a grudge against me, step on me, why step on the floor?

Suddenly, a voice drifted by.

"Mopping?"

Jiang Nian looked up and saw Yu Zhiyi smiling at him—likely just arrived, casually stepping over the very spot he'd just mopped.

"Hehe, sorry about that."

"You fucking—"

Jiang Nian rolled up his sleeves and mopped for a while, then stood resting in the hallway. Soon after, he was about to play with his phone when he turned his head.

Fuck, the floor was stepped on again.

Baby Zhizhi glanced at the floor, then at Jiang Nian, who leaned on the mop.

"You did a good job mopping."

After saying that, she pretended nothing happened, walked into the classroom, wandered around, then exited through the back door. Tap-tap-tap, she stepped all over the hallway again.

Finally, she patted Jiang Nian's shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Keep it up."

Jiang Nian: "…"

After Baby Zhizhi left Class Three, she glanced at tomorrow's schedule.

She found she had two consecutive morning classes in Class Three, and an afternoon class in Class Two—meaning two free hours in the morning.

She thought for a moment and contacted her driving school instructor.

"Can I practice driving tomorrow at ten a. m.?"

The other side was typing for a minute or two, then replied after a long delay.

"A VIP student also booked that time—I'll ask him first."

"Then forget it," Baby Zhizhi didn't care much.

After a while, Tian Yongsheng from the driving school replied.

"He said it's fine—he just wants to get familiar with the car, won't take much time. He's rushing to lunch, so we can practice together."

Baby Zhizhi read the message, thought for a moment, and replied.

"Alright."

During evening self-study, Tao Ran collected the corrected science comprehensive exam papers from the weekly test.

Below.

Ceng You was still doing things his own way, curled up in the corner.

Wu Jun Gu reminded him, "The math homework is due in a bit."

Ceng You didn't even look up, "I'll just copy it in a bit."

Jiang Nian heard this and thought, byd, came to a third year of high school to relax. Just as he was sighing, he turned his head and saw the head teacher standing at the back door, nearly giving him a heart attack.

"Holy shit!"

Li Hua was digging a hole on his desk; hearing this, he turned his head and instantly threw out three fake moves in one second.

"I'm done for."

Old Liu had a clear target, locking straight onto Ceng You by the wall. His expression was stern, not blinking once, walking straight to the second-to-last row.

"Hand it over!"

Ceng You looked up blankly, locking eyes with Old Liu.

"What?"

"The phone!" Old Liu didn't want to waste words with him. "Don't say so much, come out first."

Ceng You complied, stood up, and said awkwardly.

"Teacher, I really don't have one."

"Cut the crap!" Old Liu said sternly.

Once Ceng You came out, Old Liu searched him first, running his hands along the sleeves all the way to the clothing pockets and both side trouser pockets. But he didn't feel a phone, so he went to the seat to search.

He rummaged through everything top to bottom, still didn't find a phone, only found a fifty-cent "Hilarious Campus" comic book, and finally confiscated the comic.

After Old Liu left, the members of the sixth group were dumbfounded.

"Ceng You, where's your phone?"

"There isn't one, who brought a phone?" Ceng You sat back in his seat, pointed at Jiang Nian, "I hate slanderous people the most, don't become like that."

Saying so, he pulled the phone out from his crotch.

Jiang Nian: "You—"

"For thirty years the river runs east, for thirty years the river runs west, never look down on a poor youth." Li Hua directly began chanting, "The Great Emperor's supreme might, those who chant my true name shall gain eternal life."

"Damn, Ceng You, you're truly invincible."

Wu Jun Gu hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth to ask.

"Aren't you going to wipe it off?"

Ceng You gave a roguish smile and kept using it.

"I don't mind."

Soon, three periods of evening self-study passed.

Jiang Nian looked up and stretched his neck; every time he finished his homework it was basically the third period of evening self-study, with no extra time at all to do other things.

But he had built up some foundation now, so the pressure wasn't too great.

The only thing he wasn't used to was perhaps that the class monitor's seat had been pushed to the front row of the second big group, right under the podium, separated by an enormous distance.

Unlike the previous two weeks when they were in front and back rows, convenient, and could chat occasionally.

Li Qingrong had just finished a test paper and habitually looked up.

Seeing the multimedia podium floating before her eyes, she couldn't help but pause for a moment.

Last Sunday at noon when school let out, when the whole class was moving desks, she had only then realized she was being moved to the front row, and couldn't help feeling a bit unaccustomed to it.