Chapter 289: Do You Think I'm Pretty?

Regarding the system, Jiang Nian's attitude had always been ambiguous.

Take its benefits, discard its dregs.

What counts as dregs mainly depends on Jiang Nian's mood.

For example, the memories the system granted revealed a clip about Zhang Nianzhi breaking up with him because her parents disapproved, and he felt that was pure dregs.

Feudal old fossils, don't look down on a poor youth!

So here's the question: if Jiang Nian someday had a daughter as cute as Zhizhi, and she too fell for a poor boy, what would he do?

Throw both the guy and the will-o'-the-wisp into the river.

Double standards?

A bit, but he's not that absolute a person — he'd still judge by the situation.

Jiang Nian deliberated for a few seconds, then removed himself from the blond-haired delinquent category.

First, things that haven't happened aren't worth a damn word.

Second, he's not in that twenty-eight-year-old washed-up state anymore.

Lastly, bro's wings are plenty hard now.

Thinking it through, the unflattering impression Jiang Nian had of Zhang Nianzhi's parents didn't really amount to a shadow — after all, he'd never met them, it was all the system yapping.

In any case, most of it was gone.

The bell rang, afternoon dismissal.

Zhang Nianzhi stole a glance at Jiang Nian. For some reason, since a moment ago this guy had been burdened with worries, but now seemed fine again.

Boys are so weird, no telling what's going on in their heads.

Jiang Nian stood up just like that, ready to go eat.

But just as his hand pressed on the desk, he seemed to think of something, turned his head, and spoke to his tablemate.

"You know the school's holding a coming-of-age ceremony this month?"

Zhang Nianzhi shook her head and answered honestly.

"I didn't know, but I overheard it while you guys were talking just now."

"Damn, can't tell — you've got a talent for espionage?" Jiang Nian was shocked; he clearly remembered Zhang Nianzhi burying her head in furious writing at the time.

Holy crap, can she really do two things at once?

Let me see, did you write down the intel you eavesdropped on in pencil on paper?

Hearing that, Zhang Nianzhi's face flushed, but she refused to admit it.

"I just happened to overhear it. Whose fault is it for talking so loud?"

Sure sure sure, what a stubborn mouth.

"Let's not talk about that. Ahem, which side of your parents is coming?" The moment Jiang Nian said this, he suddenly felt awkward, yet had to keep asking.

Anyway, just this one question and I'll stop.

Hearing that, though Zhang Nianzhi didn't know why he was asking, she still answered truthfully.

"Mom, probably. Or maybe both of them. Why?"

"Nothing, just asking off the top of my head." Jiang Nian stood up. "I was worried Li Hua would ruin our group's image, so we'd have to lock him up in advance."

Saying that, he also casually drifted out the classroom door.

Zhang Nianzhi naturally didn't get a chance to speak either. She blinked, looked at the classroom's back door, and felt like only Yellow Crane Tower remained where this place once was.

Why was he asking that?

Of course, the group leader did affect the Sixth Squad's image.

But purely out of concern for the squad — Jiang Nian clearly wasn't that kind-hearted either. He himself also affected the squad, being pretty pervy after all.

Pushing aside the layers of fog, only the truth remains.

She had no heart for doing problems. She lay sprawled in the seat against the wall, only a pair of eyes peeking out. Blink blink, she stared absently at the dim, empty classroom.

Dorm cafeteria.

"A coming-of-age ceremony?" Chen Yunyun was surprised.

"School-organized. The grapevine says it's this month." Jiang Nian paused his chopsticks, his gaze sweeping across Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe at the opposite table.

Why the sudden lunch date?

No date needed — Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe had a fixed daily route.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at noon, wash hair first then eat; every afternoon, routine return to the dorm to get water. Occasionally special reasons caused rotations, or solo flights.

So these two girls, under normal circumstances, would respawn on schedule at the dorm cafeteria after afternoon dismissal.

Elsewhere, this kind of situation was quite rare.

But this was a school — hot water and other resources were scarce, and all kinds of activities were almost always time-limited, so this sort of NPC behavior was everywhere.

For example, boys who fought for every second to play ball the moment school let out, and couples: "Baby, I know a place where no one goes, no one will see us."

Chen Yunyun, on her way back to the dorm, casually sent Jiang Nian a message asking where he was eating.

Jiang Nian shot back a question, and just like that, it was a date.

Hearing that, Chen Yunyun felt a bit relieved.

"Not having class is nice, but I wonder how they're planning to do it?"

"Li Hua said something about inviting parents, then weird outfits and stuff." Jiang Nian buried his head in his food. "Last term there was a senior who wore a JK uniform, and another who wore a gown."

Chen Yunyun's expression immediately turned a bit panicked at hearing that.

"Isn't that super awkward?"

Wang Yuhe put down her chopsticks, couldn't agree with that, and said softly.

"For some people, high school gives them only this one chance. Strictly speaking, a lifetime seems to have only this one coming-of-age ceremony — they'd definitely be brave once."

"True, only schools would pull this kind of thing." Jiang Nian agreed, and naturally asked the question, "So what are you all wearing?"

Chen Yunyun immediately grabbed at her chopsticks—some things couldn't be said outright.

"Just like usual, I guess."

"Fair enough, it's the dead of winter." Jiang Nian didn't think much of it, purely taking advantage of the meal to casually bring up topics that would come up this month.

"Among three people walking together, there must be my teacher."

Wang Yuhe thought for a moment, then spoke cleverly.

"What does your dad usually wear?"

"A little skirt, maybe, with some white stockings—shall I buy it for you?" Jiang Nian unhurried, elegant and composed, "Or black stockings works too. Do you have little leather shoes?"

"I'll punch you to death!" Wang Yuhe didn't get the upper hand and turned from embarrassment into anger.

"Why the rush?"

"Yunyun, he's bullying me!"

"Hey, no use, two against one." Jiang Nian, feeling secure, kept eating. "But I feel like this event the school will run will be pretty bad."

"Why?" Chen Yunyun asked curiously.

"Simple—it's an outdoor activity in the dead of winter. One gust of cold wind and who can stand it? Usually only some day-school students' parents will attend."

Jiang Nian set down his chopsticks and spoke at length.

"The grade-level group's ability to organize events is terrible. Last year's tug-of-war, either the rope snapped or someone cheated, and in the end it just fizzled out."

Hearing this, Wang Yuhe also nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the grade-level group is very perfunctory with events."

Since it was just casual chat, the topic was left at that and very naturally shifted to studies.

After the meal.

The two girls carried water up to the dorm and planned to rest there for a while. Jiang Nian, downstairs from the girls' dorm, parted ways with the two girls and went straight back to the classroom.

Dormitory building, midway up the stairs.

Chen Yunyun carried the thermos, absentmindedly thinking about something, looking somewhat silent.

Coming-of-Age Ceremony

Wang Yuhe noticed she seemed to be spacing out and couldn't help but poke her arm.

"Yunyun, what are you thinking about?"

The stairway was dim, with quite a few people coming and going.

"Nothing, just zoned out."

"Oh."

The dorm door was locked, which meant her roommates hadn't come back yet. Or maybe, having forgotten their keys, they were next door chatting in someone else's room to kill time.

Creak—the door was pushed open.

Wang Yuhe pocketed her key and wandered into the dorm.

She had just set the thermos down in the corner against the wall at the edge of the balcony and hadn't straightened up yet, when she suddenly heard Chen Yunyun's voice from behind her, some distance away.

"Yuhe, do you think I'm pretty?"

Wang Yuhe froze. She straightened up and turned to look back. Chen Yunyun was standing in the dim dorm hallway, the thermos still in her hand, not yet set down.

Why was Yunyun asking this?

Was she looking to make trouble with me? Obviously not.

Then it must be that she wasn't confident in herself—girls lose confidence for a few days every month. Wang Yuhe deeply agreed with this; there were always a few days when one's strength drained away.

Hate hate hate—can't just punch Jiang Nian to death.

She thought for a moment, without any hesitation, and nodded affirmatively.

"You're very pretty!"

But from Wang Yuhe's perspective, her good bestie didn't brighten up at her words, and instead still wore that spaced-out look.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun came back to herself, picked up the thermos, and walked toward the balcony.

"Nothing, I'm wondering whether to put on light makeup that day."

That day—Wang Yuhe naturally knew which day. But the words "put on makeup" were outside her area of expertise; the only people she'd seen wear makeup were the brides getting married in town.

Honestly, after heavy makeup you can't tell what someone actually looks like at all.

"Th-then do you know how to do makeup?"

Chen Yunyun shook her head. "No."

What she was considering was that crash-course makeup was obviously unrealistic—should she find someone to do it for her temporarily? But going off-campus wasn't really possible either, so she could only find someone who knew how.

Wang Yuhe also fell into thought. What she was wondering was whether lotion and cream counted as makeup? Dabao worked pretty well too—smearing a bit in winter felt nice and fragrant.

"Yunyun, I can apply Dabao—will that help you?"

Chen Yunyun turned her head, her smile slightly awkward.

"It will, thanks."

"Great!" Wang Yuhe beamed happily.

Chen Yunyun smiled, walked to the brighter balcony, turned to face the crude washstand, and looked at the pretty girl in the mirror on the wall.

She studied herself for a while, then pressed her lips together.

Am I really pretty enough?

In the classroom, the lights were bright.

"First is Tao Ran, guilty of the sin of pride. What the heck is a furry? He doesn't deserve to glom onto big sister!" Li Hua, red in the face, argued his case passionately.

A few boys gathered in a circle arguing about the law, the scene quite heated.

"What an idiot, Li Hua." Yao Bei Bei walked past from the side, muttering a jab, "Getting more and more idiotic, I really want to kick him."

Zhang Nianzhi walked into the classroom holding Yao Bei Bei's arm, pressing her lips together without laughing out loud.

"The group leader is usually like this."

"Most likely has something to do with Jiang Nian, he wasn't this shameless before." Yao Bei Bei's sharp eyes saw through the crux of the problem at a glance.

Zhang Nianzhi didn't comment, but didn't object either. She swept a glance and noticed Jiang Nian wasn't at his seat.

The guy had disappeared again.

Jiang Nian wasn't in the Gao San building.

He had originally planned to go up to the classroom to work on problems after eating, but ran into Le Zhi downstairs.

The two found a basketball court, joined in for a while, chatted a bit, and split up when evening self-study was about to start.

Le Zhi seemed rather taciturn, looking like his CPU was overloaded from studying. But he had no choice — the consequences of giving up were more than he could bear.

Evening self-study was quiet; the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology each handed out one test paper.

The class immediately erupted in wailing, but then math handed out two more. The students who had been complaining nonstop instantly calmed down.

Jiang Nian looked up, and three periods of evening self-study flew by in a flash.

"Done with the papers?"

He didn't direct the question at anyone in particular, just asked the person beside him.

"All done." Li Hua squirmed in his seat, "The ones with lots of writing I'm too lazy to write, I can tell the answer at a glance anyway, what's the point of writing."

Zhang Nianzhi was comparatively much more normal, replying that she hadn't finished.

"Only finished chemistry and biology."

Jiang Nian sighed and tossed his pen aside.

"Shit."

This schooling is really driving me to a breakdown, even with cheats I can't take it. Every day is high-intensity, it's not just a simple physical task at all.

During the fourth period of evening self-study, Old Liu suddenly walked into the classroom.

He slipped in directly through the back door of the classroom, locking onto Ceng You's seat at first glance. But Ceng You happened to not be playing with his phone — he was doing homework.

As long as he was still a Gao San student, he always had to do some homework.

Ceng You turned his head and saw Old Liu standing in the aisle, and immediately got a jolt.

"Holy shit!"

Old Liu was a bit speechless, but ultimately couldn't catch any evidence, so he had to let it go. After sweeping a glance at the whole class, the classroom gradually quieted down.

"Ahem, everyone stop for a moment."

Saying so, Old Liu walked toward the podium, clearly having something to announce.

The class was still doing their own things, no one stopped. But Lin Dong stopped, sitting ramrod straight, eagerly awaiting Old Liu's announcement.

To be precise, eagerly awaiting the notice about the coming-of-age ceremony.

Because one could see legs, even if they were wearing nude tights. In any case, the probability of seeing beauties that day was second only to the New Year's Eve gala.

"Say it, say it." Lin Dong had already started bouncing his leg.

Sun Zhicheng glanced at him, looking somewhat listless.

"Why are you so worked up?"

"The coming-of-age ceremony, didn't I tell you already?"

Hearing this, Sun Zhicheng couldn't muster a shred of interest.

This whole period he'd been following the plan Lin Dong laid out for him, endlessly chatting online. It felt great at first, but later it started draining his energy.

After chatting for a while, he really did stop caring about Chen Yunyun.

Strictly speaking, he stopped caring about all people and matters in real life. Every day his mind was on nothing but studying and online chatting — the moment he got home and grabbed his phone, he'd reply to messages.

From morning to night, he didn't even take a noon nap.

Of course, the progress was gratifying — chatting with girls online was now coming more and more naturally to him. He'd been deleted by people before, or had one-day flings, but he'd still toughened up through it.

The problem was, chatting too deeply meant his nutrition couldn't keep up.

Sun Zhicheng consulted Lin Dong, but Lin Dong just looked at him with a puzzled face. Then he said, "You can't even handle such simple flirting?"

He had nothing to say, yet grew more and more exhausted.

On the podium, Old Liu talked about fire and theft prevention, then brought up the topic of prohibiting puppy love again.

"Ah, as far as I know, there are also a few little couples in our class. I'd like to advise these students to put their minds back into studying sooner rather than later."

"Ah, when I was in high school, I was rather fair and clean-looking. When girls asked me to walk around the track with them, I always refused sternly — why?"

From the back row, Jiang Nian cut in.

"Because you, Teacher, preferred walking around with boys."

"Hahahaha!!!"

The class immediately burst into laughter. Old Liu laughed too, then called for quiet a few times.

"Ah, how should I put it, I also didn't like walking around the track with boys. Because back then I was devoted to studying, and now looking back—"

Li Hua asked, "You should've just gone."

The class erupted in laughter again, when suddenly the neighboring class burst into cheers.

This got Lin Dong a bit anxious, thinking hurry up and announce the coming-of-age ceremony.

"Go, I definitely wouldn't go. It's just that now looking back, after I refused that female classmate back then, I should've just picked A for that multiple-choice question."

Hearing this, Yang Qiming said loudly.

"Teacher, you're already married — a well-fed man doesn't know how the hungry suffer."

The class erupted in laughter and jeers, a chaotic mess.

Old Liu didn't continue on that topic. He coughed once and shifted to talking about this week's school arrangements.

"Saturday! Saturday, Cai Xiaoqing, jot this down. Saturday morning, the school is organizing a coming-of-age ceremony for the senior year of Gao San. Be down and lined up promptly at nine in the morning."

"Oh, and PE committee member Liu Yang, jot this down too — organize the classmates to gather at their running spots on the field."

Hearing this, Lin Dong immediately got excited and asked,

"Teacher, do we have morning self-study?"

Old Liu sat at the podium, stared at Lin Dong for three seconds, and tossed out one line.

"No need."

In an instant, the classroom exploded in an uproar.

At last they understood what the neighboring class had been cheering about — the long-awaited reprieve from morning self-study, arriving at school at nine, every single minute was worth its weight in gold.

The feeling of not having to drag yourself out of bed in winter for morning self-study and an eight o'clock class — it was simply heavenly.