Chapter 290: Not What You Want, But What I Have

"Where should we eat?"

"That fried noodle place on the back street of the North Gate, the five-yuan one."

"Then hurry up and go, it'll be packed later."

"Wait, you're bringing homework back to the dorm?"

The stairwell after school was packed with people, noisy with chatter—mostly plans for late-night snacks and bursts of laughter.

"Hey, stop pushing me." Xu Qianqian complained, walking on the inside of the stairs. "I'm about to be squashed into the wall, one more push and I'll be flat."

"You weren't exactly round to begin with." Jiang Nian said it, but still made some room for her. "Did your homeroom teacher say there's no morning self-study on Saturday?"

"Mm, something about a coming-of-age ceremony." Xu Qianqian pressed her lips together.

The stairwell was too crowded, and she didn't want to talk much. She waited until the two of them had completely come downstairs and split off from the crowd, then let out a long breath.

A cold night wind swept past, blowing away all the stuffiness.

Jiang Nian knew very well that neither set of parents would attend the coming-of-age ceremony. On one side it was laziness; on Uncle Xu's side, the reasons were more complicated.

"Then what time are you going to the classroom on Saturday?"

"I don't know, depends on the situation." Xu Qianqian hesitated, walking as she spoke. "If someone opens the door, it'll be the same as usual."

Jiang Nian was just asking casually—he still had to write some test papers when he got back.

He was running out of steam, five or six test papers in one night. No matter how he wrote them, he'd have to carve out extra sleep time to catch up; he could only write a bit more before bed.

The two passed a late-night stall billowing with white steam and stopped at the same time.

Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian exchanged a glance, and she suddenly stretched out her hand.

"Rock-paper-scissors."

She won, and happily started ordering.

"Boss, four fish balls, two radishes—what's this? Never mind, give me some of that too. And that greens over there, grab a handful."

"Can you finish all that?" Jiang Nian stood behind her.

Zhennan Long Street stretched far into the distance, the night quiet and still.

Xu Qianqian turned her head at his words.

"Isn't there still you?"

Before Jiang Nian could be moved, the next line came.

"Pay up."

"I'm done, Xu Qianqian." Jiang Nian was speechless, scanned the code and paid.

"Morning sickness? Then you definitely can't eat fish balls." Xu Qianqian set her bag aside, her eyes curving into crescent moons. "Guess I'll just have to suffer through it."

After paying, Jiang Nian came back over and ordered some more food. In his hands were two pairs of disposable chopsticks and a small dish of cilantro.

Both of them were easy to feed, with no dietary restrictions.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Nian pulled out the math test paper.

Xu Qianqian immediately bristled. "Jiang Nian, that's enough, you're purely trying to disgust me, right?"

Jiang Nian really did want to disgust Xu Qianqian a little—after all, even top students don't truly have infinite love for studying. They're human too, and sometimes want a break.

This is the weakness of human nature.

He forgot who wrote it, something about "several."

"First, Xu Qianqian, guilty of the sin of envy—can't stand seeing me improve, can you?" Jiang Nian suddenly turned coy, glanced at her and said.

"Or could it be that you actually harbor those kinds of feelings for me, and you're afraid I'll suddenly get smart and you won't be able to fool me anymore?"

Xu Qianqian's words immediately caught in her throat, thoroughly stunned.

"How long have you been having this delusion?"

"Since middle school. I always felt you were plotting something against me."

"I like watching the intellectually disabled sing and dance. I just have to pretend to listen seriously, and he gets encouraged, then puts on more of a show."

Just then, the boss came over with the spicy hot pot.

"Xu Qianqian, your mouth is really venomous." Jiang Nian pulled out a chair, making a little room at the table.

"Hmph, likewise." Xu Qianqian snapped the disposable chopsticks apart with a snap, then added, "But still, I do hope you're a little smarter."

That was Xu Qianqian's true feelings—only a complete idiot would be led around by the nose by someone like Zhou Yuting, a girl who only counts as a trophy. She couldn't fool an idiot herself.

If Jiang Nian had been even a little smarter back then, he should have been the one led around by her nose.

Even though it's all the same kind of baiting, at least she would have baited him into getting into a first-tier university. What could Zhou Yuting bring him—single recruitment or a third-tier college?

Xu Qianqian remembered there was a couple in Class Four where the girl dangled grades in front of the boy. Rank up by so many places, and you get a kiss, foot play, stuff like that.

A bit disgusting, but she felt that if she were the one running things, it definitely wouldn't be that disgusting.

Double standards—so what.

Jiang Nian didn't pick up the thread, using the dim light to look at the test paper.

He put on an air of being so absorbed he forgot to eat or sleep, then casually used his chopsticks to spear a fish ball. The blind stab landed perfectly, sending the fish ball straight into his mouth.

Suddenly, he heard Xu Qianqian say something.

"How are things going with that girl surnamed Zhou?"

"Cough cough, don't talk that kind of nonsense." Jiang Nian nearly choked to death on the fish ball, barely managing to swallow it. "What the hell am I 'going' with her?"

"Isn't she in your class? No rekindling of old flames?"

"If you don't know how to use words, don't open your mouth, yeah? You've learned a messy hodgepodge." Jiang Nian was getting a bit heated, but couldn't show it. "Chasing me down with my dark history, huh?"

"Isn't history always written by the victors?" Xu Qianqian ate her late-night snack, her tone casual. "So, will Zhou Yuting be the victor?"

"Definitely not. Not Xu Qianqian, you just can't let it go, can you?" Jiang Nian didn't want to keep chatting about meaningless topics.

"Touched a nerve?" Xu Qianqian raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

As the ancients say, within five paces there is always an antidote.

Jiang Nian was indeed a bit flustered—any normal person would be when their embarrassing past gets dragged up. After all, not everyone is Emperor Zhaolie of Han; give a guy a little face.

Not Chongqing noodles, though.

"I'm not flustered. I just feel like a black pot fell from the sky and landed on me. It's clearly unreasonable—a good horse doesn't eat grass from behind, and besides, I didn't even get to eat it."

"Didn't get to eat it? So, you really wanted to eat it back then?"

Back then he really did want a taste—after all, Zhou Yuting's grass was pretty tender.

But during summer break, he had already stopped seeing Zhou Yuting through rose-tinted glasses. Even if the system hadn't shown up later, he should have started working hard for a second-tier university.

"That's just a forced smear, no logic at all." Jiang Nian didn't bother defending himself—the innocent prove themselves. "I don't have feelings for someone like her anymore."

"So you're saying you've found a new little Zhou Yuting?" Xu Qianqian asked.

Jiang Nian fell silent. "What the hell would I be looking for."

"Your sexual orientation changed?"

Damn it—Jiang Nian really wanted to pick Xu Qianqian up.

How did her mouth get this damn poisonous?

"Yeah yeah yeah, if you think so, then so be it." Jiang Nian gave up, burying his head in his late-night snack. "Anyway, the truth is, we're like fire and water now."

Hearing that, the corner of Xu Qianqian's mouth lifted slightly.

"Tch."

Jiang Nian felt a little uncomfortable now, but still pretended to be calm as he ate his late-night snack and looked over the test paper.

Ten minutes later.

The two finished their late-night snack, slung their backpacks over their shoulders, and headed toward home.

Xu Qianqian glanced at him. "Why aren't you talking? Want some quiet time?"

Jiang Nian shook his head. "Not that—I'm calculating the scores for each subject, figuring out how high I need to score on the six-city joint exam at the end of the month to break six hundred."

Hearing that, Xu Qianqian recalled what Jiang Nian had said after the last joint exam—some people who cared too much about face pressured themselves to break six hundred.

"Oh, that thing? Well, good luck."

Jiang Nian nearly broke from her breezy tone—everyone has their limits.

His limit naturally wasn't five-ninety, but he was close to it. In the short term, his grades were very likely to fluctuate within that range.

So-called "breaking six hundred" doesn't mean scoring six-oh-one. It means staying consistently above six hundred—otherwise in the end you're just deceiving yourself.

Reaching the alley entrance, Jiang Nian suddenly turned and looked back at Xu Qianqian behind him.

"What if I score six hundred?"

"What do you mean, what if?" Xu Qianqian looked completely baffled.

"Aren't we going to bet on something? No bet, no motivation." Jiang Nian actually wanted to erase the embarrassing past and shut the haters up directly.

"But there's nothing I really want."

"Wrong, Xu Qianqian." Jiang Nian suddenly stepped closer, a pair of eyes staring down at her. "A bet isn't about what you want—it's about what I have!"

"Ah, then what do you have to bet?"

"Good question. Let's skip the tacky stuff and go for something fresh." Jiang Nian thought for a moment. "There's a stuffed bear on my bedside, and you happen to like stuffed animals too."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost—that bear on your bedside is for propping up your feet!" Xu Qianqian's face was full of disgust.

After being ruthlessly exposed, Jiang Nian felt a little awkward.

"Then let's talk tacky stuff. I'll cover lunch and dinner for you and Song Xiyun for a week. If I lose, I'll transfer the money directly—five hundred yuan for lunch funds, enough?"

Xu Qianqian knew Jiang Nian had money, and five hundred yuan was pretty appropriate. It would both pile pressure on Jiang Nian and snag a little perk for herself and Xiyun.

"Fine then. What should I have to put up?"

"I want you to agree to one condition of mine."

Hearing that, Xu Qianqian couldn't help but step back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you want to do?"

"How narrow-minded. Is that really the image I have in your eyes?" Jiang Nian was a bit speechless. "I mean, it's definitely something you'd be willing to do."

Xu Qianqian thought for a moment, then stepped back again.

Jiang Nian: "???"

No—this conversation is getting more and more twisted the more we talk.

"Ahem, I mean something you can do effortlessly." He added another line. "Something perfectly normal—nothing illegal or against public morals."

Xu Qianqian hesitated for a while, then agreed for the sake of the lunch funds.

"Fine then."

Going upstairs, Jiang Nian was in a good mood.

First, get rid of the embarrassing past—otherwise being snarkily jabbed at by Xu Qianqian every day isn't going to work. That stuff can't be explained clearly; better to just solve it at the source.

Xu Qianqian glanced at him, not knowing what he was so happy about, so she spoke up.

"You just thought about seeing Zhou tomor—"

Before she could finish, both her cheeks were suddenly pinched by Jiang Nian.

"Are you done, Xu Qianqian!"

"Mmph—let go!"

Jiang Nian even used a little force to knead them back and forth—Xu Qianqian's face was like dough. Pretty soft to knead; he'd thought it was as hard as her mouth.

"I've put up with you the whole way!"

After Xu Qianqian broke free, she quickly changed her shoes and dashed inside, shooting Jiang Nian a fierce glare.

Bang—the front door slammed shut hard.

Jiang Nian looked utterly indifferent, turned around, stuck the key into the keyhole, and went home to wash up.

"Serves you right."

Around eleven o'clock at night.

Jiang Nian straightened up from the desk in his room; he had finished more than half of the math test paper. He picked up his phone and glanced at the class group chat, only to find the messages had hit 99+.