Chapter 283

Are you there? If you're there, you'll answer for sure.

When the monitor sends a message, you have to get up even if you're asleep.

"What's wrong?"

But the message sent over to her vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, with no reply ever coming back.

Jiang Nian was baffled, but didn't think much of it.

After he switched seats, he hadn't spoken to Li Qingrong at all. He'd originally planned to share some funny thing with her, but forgot the moment he turned away.

In the end, space limited the distance.

Online, he didn't know if Li Qingrong even wanted to chat—after all, some people really hated replying to messages, didn't want to touch their phones at all.

In Gao San, there were plenty like that: only replied to texts, never logged into QQ; only replied when they felt like it; everyone had their own situation.

So he didn't want to be too forward.

After a long while, Jiang Nian was scrolling through borderline short videos.

His phone buzzed suddenly, and a message popped up.

Li Qingrong: "(smile)."

Jiang Nian replied casually, "What were you doing today, monitor?"

The other side was probably typing.

"Doing homework."

Class Three operated under a monarch-offline system—trivial matters were all handled by the Minister of Rites, the Right Chancellor, and the Directorate of Ceremonial.

The Son of Heaven sat in the Bright Hall, untouched by wind or snow.

Jiang Nian was used to this; he rolled onto his bed, hugged his phone, and replied.

"Did you finish your physics homework?"

"Mm."

"Can I copy yours tomorrow?"

"Mm."

On the other side.

Li Qingrong held her phone for a while. Seeing the chat end there, she lowered her eyes and sat in silence for a moment.

She didn't know what to talk about, couldn't think of any interesting topics. After thinking it over, she finally pulled the blanket over her head and sighed.

The next day.

Hu Nianzhong was in good spirits, waking up very early.

Aside from getting scolded by Old Liu in the office last night during self-study, everything else had gone smoothly. He repaid Yu Tongjie's money and gave the compensation to his family.

As for that app, he deleted it that morning.

After pulling back from the brink, his first thought was: how would he survive this month?

He'd given all the compensation money to his family, using the excuse that he'd been hit by a car. He half-truthfully showed them the bruises on his leg, and they believed him.

He'd specifically told them to sincerely thank the classmate who stood up for him.

He'd agreed to that too.

But back then, he'd been too excited and given all the money to his family, leaving only a few dozen yuan. He spent twenty-five on transportation, so altogether he had just forty-five yuan left.

Forty-five yuan to live on for a month.

The school would still deposit some money into his meal card this month—every student on the poverty aid list got this, so he wouldn't starve.

If he was careful, it might just be enough to get by.

He ran the numbers in his head, then trudged downstairs in the morning mist to buy steamed buns.

Just as he was about to enter the dorm cafeteria, he looked up and saw a girl.

He froze—first because the girl was beautiful, second because she was holding red-sugar steamed buns. That stuff was worse than pig feed, let alone pigs.

He was this poor himself—he wouldn't even eat it if someone gave it to him.

He was poor, sure, but these days no one actually starved to death.

But those red-sugar steamed buns were truly disgusting—pure powder. You could only swallow them down with soup; the only advantage besides remembering hardship and cherishing sweetness.

Just one thing: cheap.

Twenty-five fen, or maybe less—limited quantity, practically free.

He went upstairs, hesitated, and picked two red-sugar steamed buns.

He swiped his meal card—beep!

Jiang Nian stared at the hot water dispenser's rolling numbers, but not a single drop came out; his eyes widened.

"Shit, why's it broken?"

No one maintained the water dispensers—no one ever did. These bastards only knew how to collect money, had the worst attitudes, acted like idiots.

When he was in Gao Er, the guys who collected water-card payments used to go door-to-door in every classroom asking if anyone wanted to top up.

No one in his class responded, so the guy got angry and yelled, "Fuck, a bunch of poor-ass students," and was immediately surrounded by the boys.

Luckily, the homeroom teacher was right outside the door, or he'd have gotten his head cracked open.

He couldn't take it anymore—he kicked the hot water dispenser.

Thud!!

The corridor, fogged with white mist, fell silent, save for the echoing clang of the metal panel being struck.

Soon, footsteps tapped down the corridor, accompanied by a mocking voice.

"It's early morning, and you're already this angry?"

Jiang Nian turned—and saw a figure step out from the stairwell, shrouded in morning mist.

Ji Jiayu had long hair cascading over her shoulders, her bangs held in place by a pink squirrel hair clip. She wore a brown coat paired with white pants.

She walked over now with a smile, exuding a certain delicate, refined charm.

Jiang Nian glanced at her and spoke.

"Where's your husband?"

At this, Ji Jiayu nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

This guy was the type to poke at the sorest spot—his tongue as venomous as arsenic. They say you don't strike a smiling face, but he swung his fist full-force.

His good mood vanished right after breakfast.

"Don't talk nonsense—I don't have a husband," Ji Jiayu frowned, clearly annoyed. "Are you never going to let this go?"

"Nah, I just said it offhand," Jiang Nian waved his hand, carrying two thermoses back toward the hallway. "The water dispenser is broken. I'm going to refill on the third floor."

Hearing this, Ji Jiayu's expression softened slightly.

Her dating life had become a black mark in his eyes—this guy was just too annoying. But he really was just joking, not serious.

How to put it? He wasn't bad—just pure trash.

Born Sword Seed.

"Alright, got it. I'm going downstairs," she took a deep breath and turned to walk down the stairs.

But after only two steps, she suddenly heard a sound behind her: "Hey!"

She turned to look at Jiang Nian and forced out a smile.

"What?"

Jiang Nian lowered his head in thought for a moment, then looked up and asked:

"Does your husband get heaty?"

Ji Jiayu's smile vanished instantly. She stomped heavily up to the fifth floor to refill hot water, her teeth grinding so hard they felt ready to shatter—she was furious.

Great Sword Seed!

Seeing Ji Jiayu head up to the fifth floor, Jiang Nian grinned, whistling as he went down to the third floor to refill.

No waiting line—awesome!

He'd brought two thermoses, so filling them took longer. On the way down, he glanced into Class Four—didn't see Xu Qianqian.

She was probably studying in some corner of the teaching building and hadn't returned yet.

Song Xiuyun wasn't there either—her home was far away. Usually Zhao Qiuxue picked her up in the morning and evening; if she woke too early, her mom had nowhere to go.

A quick glance, however, caught sight of Zhou Haifei.

The black-framed girl was hunched over a tall desk, writing homework. Perhaps she heard the commotion outside the classroom. Out of nowhere, she looked up—and their eyes met.

The boy smiled at her, waving with exaggerated flair.

The girl with glasses froze, utterly flustered.

Before she could react, Jiang Nian had already strolled past.

There were benefits to waking up early.

After refilling the water, Jiang Nian sat in the back row of the brightly lit, nearly empty classroom. He scanned the vacant room—and felt a quiet satisfaction from the inner competition.

Even though he hadn't written a single assignment, it didn't matter.

The question was: had he woken up early?

Zhennan High had an unofficial hierarchy—or rather, a talent chain for academics. Those who studied hard but performed poorly sat at the very bottom.

Such people were often called "book worms" or "fake hard workers."

Those who performed well and studied hard were called "bookish nerds."

Those who performed well yet slacked off daily were called geniuses with natural talent. Ask them—they'd say they played games at home, yet still topped the class on exams.

These people often dated, or played with their phones in class—little diversions.

In and out, it all boiled down to one word: cool.

Jiang Nian belonged to none of these categories—he was the classic "none of the above."

If you absolutely had to label him: power-user type.

He had a cheat but didn't flaunt it—he just loved to watch the clever, talented guys who pretended to grind. He showed up early, didn't do homework, and when asked:

"Have you ever seen Zhennan at 4:30 a. m.?" (raspy voice)

Slowly climbing scores—how's that for terrifying?

He wanted to show off, but then remembered Jiang Nian—the weirdo in class. It felt like a phlegm stuck in his throat: couldn't pretend to be talented, couldn't pretend to be hardworking.

Disgusting, but unavoidable—he was roasted.

Li Hua leapt through the back door into the classroom, a gust of cold wind blasting Jiang Nian's face.

"Kids, your father's back!"

"Close the door."

"Got it!" Li Hua shut the back door, then realized something, "Hey, Nian—we're gonna be stuck with this cold wind for a whole week, aren't we?"

Jiang Nian looked up at him, speechless.

"You just noticed now?"

"It's different—the past two days weren't this cold," Li Hua dropped his bag. "With people coming and going, the wind's so strong—you think I'd let you suffer?"

"What the hell?" Jiang Nian felt this was a direct jab at him.

Li Hua glanced at Zhang Ningzhi's empty seat and chuckled.

"Nothing."

That bitch said yesterday Gao San didn't date—guess how well that rule holds up.

Fuck, there are only four guys in our group.

Ceng You is an internet eunuch, so we'll set him aside for now. Wu Jun Gu has already talked it over with Yu Zhiyi, which leaves only himself and Jiang Nian with zero dating experience.

As group leader, how could he stand by and watch his good buddy fall into the path of depravity.

He had to give him a brutal wake-up call!

Jiang Nian felt Li Hua was being a bit passive-aggressive, jealous to the point his eyes were about to shoot green sparks.

"Hua, you've got the wrong idea."

"What do you mean?" Li Hua flicked his eyebrows.

"Ahem, I'm a damn good student." Jiang Nian said solemnly, "Gao San students have the mission of Gao San students — if everyone's off dating, who's going to build up the hometown?"

Build up the hometown — it never said whose hometown.

Forget Zhennan.

Hearing this, Li Hua was deeply moved.

He felt the sincerity in Jiang Nian's words — he really did think that way. Looks like the group's number one degenerate was none other than that bastard Wu Jun Gu.

Damn, having dated a big-breasted girlfriend is something to brag about for twenty years.

"Good buddy, I can tell at a glance you're not cut out to be a traitor!" Li Hua grabbed Jiang Nian's arm tightly, "Together, let's create a world that belongs only to single dogs!"

"Deal!"

Suddenly, the back door was pushed open.

Chen Yunyun smiled at Jiang Nian, placed a piece of candy on his desk, and greeted him with a smile.

"Morning."

"Morning." Jiang Nian replied.

Wang Yuhe walked out from behind and punched Jiang Nian in the back.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Li Hua was dumbfounded, looking at the two girls who had already left, then looking back at Jiang Nian.

"Damn it, I'm gonna kill you!"