Chapter 294: Who Told You to Drill Fire by Friction in the Classroom?

Jiang Nian felt like he'd eaten some wild mushrooms — a row of tiny people was running past his eyes.

Are they already dating?

Not at all.

But the class monitor's tone was terribly misleading. Fortunately, he had a clear conscience and they were perfectly innocent with each other. But what if his conscience weren't clear?

Or next time just call the class monitor "baby" directly.

How would she respond then?

After all, Li Qingrong had answered with those three words "anything's fine," which meant he had, privately, at least one occasion to call her by name without permission.

Speechless. Classic Guo-nan mentality.

It's just a question of what to call each other — is there any need to make such a big deal out of it?

Jiang Nian figured, actually, there was.

In fact, he could tell that both of them cared a lot about the form of address. It touched on the question of how close their relationship was — roughly equivalent to a conscience test.

Is it a passerby, or something more than friends?

From the looks of it now, at least a little above the good-friend range.

As for how much above, Jiang Nian wasn't sure. But in any case it was a good thing — there wouldn't be a situation where he wasn't his own good friend's good friend.

That kind of thing really is no fun.

Of course, Jiang Nian definitely hadn't had that kind of embarrassing past himself. He hadn't had a breakdown either — just a friend he got along well with, who ran into an awkward friendship situation back in tenth grade.

After that, that friend turned around and started hanging out with people who were better at socializing.

Evening self-study.

Jiang Nian's gaze drifted every now and then toward the front row of the classroom. He still couldn't figure out why the class monitor had suddenly grabbed him that afternoon — maybe because it was awkward?

After he calmed down and turned it over in his mind, he was sure of only one thing.

His friend-tier ranking with the class monitor might already be on par with Cai Xiaoqing and the others.

At least higher than Nie Qiqi's — she's an idiot. But this conclusion still needed verification; he'd test it when he got the chance.

He had just come back to his senses when he looked up and saw a few snowflake-like test papers being passed down from the front row. His face immediately changed.

"Didn't they hand out the test papers yesterday?"

Li Hua said with a grin, "Didn't you also eat yesterday?"

"How could that be the same?"

"Because the coming-of-age ceremony is the day after tomorrow, so this week's test papers have been handed out early." Huang Fang turned her head and explained patiently, dead serious.

"I see." Jiang Nian nodded.

You really had to hand it to Fangfang — she's reliable.

What kind of deoxyribonucleic acid is Li Hua?

Jiang Nian sighed inwardly, thinking that these past two days had been spent entirely on test papers. How was there any time for special training, let alone side work?

There was, however, one ruthless person in the class who didn't follow the teacher's pace and studied entirely on his own.

But looking at the results, they were average, and score improvement was a struggle.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nian couldn't help but hesitate. Was the goal of violently punching through the 610-point floor by raising his score by twenty points too high?

Better to aim for 601 points instead.

Hm? How is 601 points not "above 600 points"?

All in all, he just needed to perform normally and then gain ten more points. There was still a week and a half left — plenty of time to make a plan.

Zhang Ningzhi was getting a bit drowsy, barely managing to stay awake.

She'd said in the morning that she wasn't going to talk to Jiang Nian, and sure enough, from noon to afternoon she hadn't spoken a single word to him. She'd been sulking the whole time and hadn't slept well at lunch either.

She'd already been a bit sleepy in the afternoon, but out of spite she stubbornly refused to nap.

During the day she had to attend class and do test papers, and time flew by without her feeling tired. The moment evening self-study started, Zhang Ningzhi felt something was off.

Her eyelids were so heavy, so sleepy.

She really wanted to sleep.

But evening self-study was still going on.

"Fishing here?"

The familiar voice startled her.

Zhang Ningzhi snapped back to attention, turned her head, and saw that the speaker was Jiang Nian. She whipped her head back around again, her voice muffled.

"You're the one fishing."

"If you're sleepy, just nap for a bit — don't force yourself." Jiang Nian found it a little funny. "I just watched you for two minutes; you were nodding off like you were fishing."

"Not sleepy." Zhang Ningzhi said stubbornly.

Jiang Nian looked around; no one in the class could see this corner. So he wrote a small note, rolled it up, and slipped it onto Zhang Ningzhi's desk.

Zhang Ningzhi's expression shifted slightly. Pressing her lips together, she pulled the note over.

She opened it — just three characters.

Angry Zhi.

Zhang Ningzhi's cheeks puffed up instantly, even more annoyed.

She'd long since stopped being angry — she was just sulking a little from time to time, not actually giving anyone the cold shoulder. On the contrary, Jiang Nian had been weirder that afternoon, a bit absent-minded.

"No."

"Alright then, but how about taking a nap?" Jiang Nian asked.

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi hesitated a little.

To be honest, she really was very sleepy now, and Jiang Nian's suggestion was tempting. But she was timid and a little worried about being caught, so she wouldn't sleep soundly either.

What if the teacher comes?

Jiang Nian lowered his voice, "I've got eyes on it."

He didn't know why Zhang Nenzhi was in a bad mood—maybe it had nothing to do with him. Or maybe it was that time of the month. Either way, better soothe her first.

After all, it was Baby Zhizhi.

Zhang Nenzhi was truly struggling. She glanced around, then quietly turned her head and whispered.

"Oh, then remember to call me."

"Alright."

After a rustling sound, Zhang Nenzhi gently laid her head on the desk, preparing to sleep. Her face turned toward Jiang Nian's direction; before closing her eyes, she saw he was still working on problems.

Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy, like they were filled with lead.

After a while, Li Hua, sitting at the very end, stopped what he was doing. He turned to look at Jiang Nian—and at Zhang Nenzhi, fast asleep beside him.

"Did you two have a fight today?"

Jiang Nian looked utterly confused. "What nonsense are you spouting?"

"Chishih! Chishih!! He just keeps taking advantage of me!" After his temper flared, Li Hua regained his composure. "No fight? Look at you two—not speaking all day."

"Too busy to even talk," Jiang Nian brushed him off.

But the speaker meant nothing, and the listener took it to heart—he really had been a little off today. Still, he quickly forgave himself: it was all because the monitor was too beautiful.

The monitor was worth a hundred Zhou Yuting's. Anyone would go a little mad for a moment.

He couldn't even imagine what would happen if the monitor asked him if he was dating anyone—he'd have to hesitate for seconds.

As a normal little Chunan, a little mental haze was normal. Only eunuchs could stay calm.

"Pfft." Li Hua couldn't be bothered with him and continued his wood-drilling.

Hmm? Hmm?

Jiang Nian suddenly turned his head and stared at Li Hua's desk—he almost thought he'd imagined it.

"What the hell are you doing?"

In Li Hua's hand was something resembling a cross—upon closer look, it was two disposable chopsticks. White thread wound around the middle, with a pull rod and drill rod already in place.

Damn it—wood-drilling fire-starting tool!

"Can't you tell? Wood-drilling for fire," Li Hua sneered, pulling a small pinch of cotton from his coat pocket. "Unseen things shock you? Country bumpkin."

"Huh?" Jiang Nian stared, dumbfounded.

He thought for a moment, then joined the crowd watching Li Hua drill for fire. Ma Guojun at the other end of the aisle had stopped writing, and Wu Jungu in the front row kept glancing back.

Amidst the expectant gazes of all, the pull rod began to spin.

"Will it ignite?" Ma Guojun asked.

"Hard to say," Jiang Nian shook his head.

Li Hua focused entirely, pulling the rod rapidly, the sharpened disposable chopstick spinning like a whirlwind.

"Don't doubt—believe first. We'll win."

The three stared for minutes—no smoke appeared. They all sighed in unison, turned away, and went back to what they were doing.

"Hua, your thing looks good but does nothing."

"Ignore him—he's pure trash."

"Sigh."

Li Hua, hearing the mockery around him, felt his face burn red. He thought: thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—these people with dog eyes look down on others.

He was determined to produce fire—to crush their arrogance.

Thinking this, he clenched his teeth, accelerating the motion of his Zhu Qilin arm.

Outside the corridor, Old Liu slipped out of Class Two for a breath of air.

He played with his phone a bit, saw the arrangements for the coming-of-age ceremony in the work group. Then listened carefully—when he heard no noise from the neighboring class, he nodded.

Those little rascals, at least they still followed discipline.

But that wasn't true.

Old Liu did the opposite. A regular homeroom teacher would smile in satisfaction now. But he was an old teacher—he knew how sneaky students could be.

Too quiet meant someone was up to mischief.

He descended to the third floor via the opposite staircase, circled around, and appeared behind the classroom door. Per the grade group's requirement, all classroom back doors must remain open.

Old Liu gently pushed—the back door opened a crack.

He peered in: Zhang Nenzhi was asleep on her desk. He immediately frowned. It was only the first evening self-study session—how had she fallen asleep already?

Just as Old Liu was about to wake her, their eyes met—Jiang Nian had seen him.

Forget it. She's probably just exhausted from studying.

Old Liu normally championed academic performance and was always lenient with top students. Of course, this class had no truly poor performers—just different treatment.

He pushed the door crack wider and slipped quietly inside.

Suddenly, a smell of burning filled his nose.

"Ha! I did it! I did it!" Li Hua leapt to his feet from the last row, excited. "Hei Zi, speak up!"

"Jiang Nian, why the hell didn't you say anything?"

Li Hua turned—and froze, staring into the impassive face of Old Liu, standing like a statue by the back door. As he twisted his body, the smoking tool on his desk came into view.

Even Old Liu, with years of teaching experience and multiple Gao San classes under his belt,

stood frozen in place.

"Li Hua! What the hell are you doing?" Old Liu snapped, slapping him hard on the back. "Who gave you permission to drill for fire in the classroom?!"

"What are you standing there for? Put out the fire!"

At those words, Zhang Ningzhi was jolted awake instantly. Realising it was the head teacher, she got a tremendous fright.

The rest of the class turned their heads to look back one after another.

No helping it — it was simply too explosive.

What kind of niche vocabulary is "making fire by drilling wood" in the middle of class?

The class burst into laughter on the spot, and some of the boys sitting closer stood right up to crowd around and watch.

"Holy crap, that's awesome!"

"No way, for real? I was wondering what smelled like it was burning."

"Damn, those are the genuine article — actual tools!"

Amid the babble of voices, Li Hua's face was full of awkwardness as he used his finger to pinch out the smoking, scattered sparks.

"Teacher, I was just curious."

"Curious about what? Come to the office and tell me all about it properly." Old Liu couldn't hold it in any longer, and dragged him outside. "Bring your gear, let's go."

Jiang Nian, gloating the whole time, chimed in with a line.

"Little inventor, huh."

Another wave of laughter erupted around them.

Jiang Nian turned his head amid this burst of laughter, his gaze, as if guided by some unseen force, cutting through the classroom and instinctively drifting toward the direction of the podium.

Li Qingrong was also looking at him, her gaze like a scoop of clear spring water.

Their eyes met for an instant, then instantly broke apart.

Not in good shape with a cold, slept through the afternoon into the evening, woke up and it was already nine o'clock — can only make up the missed chapter tomorrow morning.

Three chapters tomorrow.