Chapter 288: Non-Expiring Life Tickets

"Boss, let's eat here."

"Oh no, no, I couldn't possibly."

"It's fine, it's fine."

Before Jiang Nian had spent even a minute practicing driving, he'd already gotten a free meal.

Actually, Tian Yongsheng was quite happy about it.

When it came to teaching driving, he definitely couldn't give the boss much in the way of emotional value. Treating the boss to a meal wasn't bad either—at least it was a way of serving the boss.

This round, it was a win-win.

After the meal, Tian Yongsheng drove Jiang Nian back, chatting casually along the way.

"These days, lots of people are buying cars, lots of people are learning to drive."

Jiang Nian sat in the passenger seat, watching the quiet afternoon sunlight outside the window.

"That's not bad, then."

"Yeah, not bad at all." Tian Yongsheng sighed, then chuckled. "Heh, I heard that in some villages under the townships, they even compete over which village has more cars."

"Showing off isn't a bad thing, but keeping a car is expensive these days." Jiang Nian rubbed his neck. "When I don't have much money later, I'll just buy a used one to drive around."

"Boss, you really know how to live." Tian Yongsheng opened with a compliment, but he didn't take Jiang Nian's words to heart—listen to a rich kid's talk and that's it.

Can't afford a car?

With those connections, even if you can't afford one, someone will give you a car to drive.

Ten minutes later.

"We're going to the front gate, right?" Jiang Nian asked.

"Ah—"

"The front gate is already closed at this hour. Go to the street behind, I'll go in through that small gate on the north side." Jiang Nian pointed at the intersection ahead.

"Turn there, go straight to the end, then turn right—that's it."

Tian Yongsheng had no objections. He turned the steering wheel.

"Got it."

The car passed through a shaded stretch of road, heading toward the north gate.

Originally Jiang Nian had planned to get out at the intersection, but Tian Yongsheng insisted with an eager face on driving into the alley, finally stopping at a stretch of road in front of the north gate.

Thud! Thud!

The two got out of the car, and Tian Yongsheng was about to go knock on the gate.

Jiang Nian's eyelid twitched. He was nearly scared out of his wits and raised a hand to stop him.

"Hey hey, no need to knock, I'll go through another gate."

Tian Yongsheng looked left and right. Beside him was a stretch of continuous high wall, and he was suddenly a bit dumbfounded.

Besides this iron gate, was there really another gate nearby?

"Boss, are you sure?"

"Mm, mm, sure." Jiang Nian had already started walking along the wall in another direction. He turned his head and waved at Coach Lao Tian. "Thanks for your trouble, you can head back."

Hearing that, Tian Yongsheng didn't ask any more. At any rate, he'd done his part.

With a thud, he sat back in the driver's seat but didn't leave right away. He just rolled down the window, click—lit a cigarette, and sat in the car puffing away.

Service means going the whole nine yards. Successful people pay more attention to the details.

What if the boss comes back in a bit?

He took two drags, then turned to look in the direction Jiang Nian had left.

Suddenly, he saw Jiang Nian walking along just fine, then suddenly hop onto a shared bike leaning against the wall. Using it for leverage, he nimbly flipped over the wall.

"Cough cough cough!!!"

Tian Yongsheng stared in a daze, nearly choking on his cigarette.

"The boss really is something else."

When Jiang Nian flipped into the school, the afternoon nap period had already begun.

The north district dormitory building was also locked. Before 1:40, the dorm manager absolutely wouldn't open the door.

Therefore, there was almost no one on the campus paths.

He passed through unobstructed, crossing the north district and smoothly reaching the Gao San building.

In the afternoon, the sunlight had already passed over the building. It hung high on the back side of the Gao San building, casting a clear line of yin and yang on the cement ground below.

Jiang Nian stepped right onto the yin-yang line, entering the shaded area.

He looked up at the building. He saw only a scattered few people holding books, working on problems in the corridors of the fourth and fifth floors.

Going upstairs, the classroom was also dead silent.

The spot by the hygiene corner.

Wang Yuhe had her hair down, head buried in a tall stack of books, doing homework.

Chen Yunyun was sleeping at the window-side seat, the sunlight still lingering at her spot. Her freshly washed hair was fluffy, basking in the sun.

Jiang Nian walked over quietly, not yet close.

Wang Yuhe suddenly looked up, spotting him in advance, and silently mouthed something.

"What?"

Jiang Nian shook his head, took out two cartons of milk drinks from behind him and handed them to the little student. Then he pointed at Wang Yuhe, then at the sleeping Chen Yunyun.

"OK? (gesturing with his hands)"

Wang Yuhe was speechless and gave him a thumbs-down.

"Tch. (wild guess.)"

After finishing everything, Jiang Nian left quietly.

Thanks to Old Li Hua, this week's drinks were overflowing—he couldn't possibly finish them all. Last time he only bought drinks for the group, so this time he took the chance to make it up to the two girls.

After all, he usually mooched plenty of snacks off them—returning the favor.

Chen Yunyun groggily woke up in the latter half of the lunch break, and the moment she opened her eyes, she spotted the drinks by her desk.

She froze for a beat, then got up and turned to look at Wang Yuhe in the back row.

Wang Yuhe was already slumped over asleep, and a box of drinks sat by her desk too. But Chen Yunyun was certain Wang Yuhe hadn't bought anything like that at noon.

So she turned her gaze toward the back door of the classroom—Jiang Nian was clearly also slumped over asleep.

Alright then.

After the lunch break ended, Jiang Nian woke up and saw Zhang Nianzhi sitting at her seat working on problems.

He'd taken half a noon off and felt like someone who'd escaped the walls of St. Maria's. A little half-day felt like a whole day—back at school, it was the same old rhythm.

He yawned, stood up to go drain the snake, and asked casually.

"When did you get here?"

Zhang Nianzhi turned her head, thought for a moment, and answered seriously.

"While you were sleeping."

Jiang Nian: "..."

Li Hua pushed open the back door of the classroom, caught sight of Jiang Nian, and immediately struck a hugging pose.

"Got good news for you—I'm gonna be a dad."

"Get lost. Where's today's defeat drink?" Jiang Nian held out his hand.

"Trolled, zero chemistry." Li Hua lost interest, sat down, and said, "In your drawer. Bought it during P. E. at noon."

"By the way, what'd you take leave for?"

Jiang Nian's driving lessons—Li Hua was also in the know. After all, they were desk mates, and he'd watched him grind through the Subject 1 questions on his phone, but didn't believe he'd actually gone to practice driving.

In his understanding, learning to drive took at least a month.

"Why do you care so much?" Jiang Nian didn't explain and headed out to drain the snake.

On the way, he ran into the class monitor and casually said hi.

"Class monitor."

"Mm."

The afternoon classes were still boring and tedious.

Luckily the first period was Chinese. Jiang Nian took a sip of hot water from his thermos. A sidelong glance caught Baby Zhizhi listening attentively to the lesson.

Somehow, their eyes suddenly met.

Jiang Nian had the inexplicable feeling that she seemed a little "down."

An illusion?

He turned his head and continued his tactical water-drinking.

Zhang Nianzhi pulled her gaze back and couldn't help puffing her cheeks. *Drink, drink, drink—always drinking water. He wasn't even here during P. E. at noon, and it's not like I can just ask. *

The confidence her seatmate gave her wasn't enough to pry into his private affairs.

Unless he gave her an excuse—like a non-expiring ticket. Held in hand, it could grant her free passage through his world.

Jiang Nian's third tactical water-drink—he was getting a bit waterlogged, so he tilted his shoulder slightly.

"What's up?"

The ticket had already been handed over. Zhang Nianzhi pressed her lips together, then asked softly.

"What were you doing at noon?"

"Mm, practiced driving for two hours, but I don't need to go again this week." Jiang Nian told her truthfully, omitting the Qian Bao part.

After all, the two had already agreed—each keeping their own secrets.

Neither wanted to—

"Oh." Zhang Nianzhi nodded.

Her emotions clearly hadn't fully released; there was still room left.

"After that I had a meal at the driving school, then came back for the lunch break." Jiang Nian figured there wasn't much else to say—climbing over walls wasn't exactly something to brag about.

"Alright. The math teacher asked where you went at noon," Zhang Nianzhi said softly, her patience returning.

Jiang Nian's eyelid twitched. "What did you say?"

"It wasn't me who said it, it was the group leader." Zhang Nianzhi hesitated. "He said he said you went to get a procedure done, and then the math teacher stopped asking."

Jiang Nian: "..."

What kind of procedure—any guy would know.

Li Hua, you absolute supermarket-grade sword-fish!

"Oh right, the math teacher also assigned homework." Zhang Nianzhi's mood clearly improved—seemed like a little honesty was enough to make her happy.

"Where?"

"The big review book. I dog-eared it for you, and checked the answers too." Zhang Nianzhi quietly claimed credit, chin tilted up slightly.

"No need for all that. I'll just copy yours directly."

Zhang Nianzhi: "..."

Suddenly, Old Liu on the podium coughed once, cutting off his lecture.

"Like talking that much, do you? Want me to let you come up and teach?"

At that, Zhang Nianzhi instantly became like a startled fawn. She snapped back into her seat, ears red, head lowered, not daring to look up.

Jiang Nian, meanwhile, couldn't give a damn. He scratched his face.

Get up on stage and talk?

Sure, then let's start from the night xx won the championship.

Huh? Isn't he—

Hater, shut up!

After class, Li Hua's kidney reflex zone got elbowed hard by Jiang Nian.

"Ah! Holy shit!!"

Li Hua leaped straight up, rubbing his kidney reflex zone and glaring.

"Ouch, what are you doing!"

"Cut the act, stop putting on a show." Jiang Nian pointed at him.

Li Hua immediately stopped groaning and walked out of the classroom crab-style to get some air.

"Eating shit."

An afternoon passed quickly. The people tortured by two consecutive physics periods were already slumped over their desks catching up on sleep; the self-study period was unusually quiet.

Suddenly, someone sneaky from the back row crept over and squeezed between Jiang Nian and Li Hua's seats.

"Hey, you guys know they're holding a coming-of-age ceremony this month?"

Jiang Nian looked down and glanced at Lin Dong, who was crouching in the back row.

"What coming-of-age ceremony?"

"What other coming-of-age ceremony could it be—the Gao San coming-of-age ceremony, of course." Li Hua picked up the thread, rattling it off like a catalog, "I've got it all memorized, one coming-of-age ceremony and one hundred-day oath rally."

"You sure remember that well, but what's the use? It's not like we get a holiday." Jiang Nian was thoroughly uninterested—after all, his own parents wouldn't come to the coming-of-age ceremony.

He suddenly realized, if the school really held a coming-of-age ceremony, wouldn't Zhang Ningzhi's parents come too?

Obviously, Jiang Nian did have a little bit of ability.

The kind where he worked hard, aiming to stabilize above 600 points before the college entrance exam, then get into a Double First-Class university—a talent with a promising future.

But in front of Zhang Ningzhi's parents, it was a bit lacking.

Because of the information the system had revealed, he was somewhat averse to making contact with Zhang Ningzhi's parents. Last time at the parent-teacher meeting he saw her dad, and he could still joke around.

If both her parents showed up together, he wouldn't be joking around anymore.