Chapter 295: A Good Friend of the Top Spot

Jiang Nian glanced once and looked away—no other meaning behind it.

Old Liu stood at the back, the whole class watching Li Hua, that bastard, and his fire-drilling kit. With nothing else to look at, he could only look outward.

Bang—the classroom back door slammed shut.

Li Hua got dragged off—pop the champagne!

"That scared me half to death—why did the head teacher come?" Zhang Ningzhi was a little shaken, and patted Jiang Nian's arm. "Why didn't you warn me just now?"

"Ah, weren't you not caught?" Jiang Nian countered.

"Right, why didn't the teacher catch me?" Zhang Ningzhi suddenly caught on.

"Because I pointed at Li Hua."

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi's face went red on the spot.

"You're way too wicked—weren't you deliberately screwing over the group leader?"

"Or should I report you and shield him instead?"

"No, that's even worse."

Jiang Nian clicked his tongue. "Well, there you have it—Li Hua's dead is dead, let it be."

Right then, Zhang Ningzhi felt the group leader was pretty pitiful.

But on second thought, while she'd been dozing off just now she'd had a brief dream—the ground in the dream was swaying back and forth, probably Li Hua drilling wood for fire.

At once she felt Li Hua deserved it, more or less.

After a while, Jiang Nian got thirsty and reached into his desk to feel for his water cup. After pulling it out he found it empty and couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

He'd been busy doing problems all afternoon and hadn't had time for anything else.

He sensed someone's gaze on him, turned his head, and saw Zhang Ningzhi's eyes wide and round, staring at him like a clumsy squirrel eyeing a pine cone in autumn.

"What is it?"

Zhang Ningzhi pressed her lips together, her gaze shifting slightly away from his.

"Want some water?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then pointed at her thermos.

"I want something hot."

"Oh, alright then." Zhang Ningzhi immediately put her lemon tea away and took out the thermos. "Hand your cup over."

A thermos was never for direct drinking—one usually poured hot water out through the cap.

She had a delicate little glass cup; when she drank she would pour a tiny bit and cradle it in her hands. Warming her hands while sipping hot water—two birds with one stone.

Jiang Nian always liked watching Zhang Ningzhi cradle her little glass cup for a drink, secretly sighing that girls really did have all sorts of little trinkets.

He saw Zhang Ningzhi already gripping the thermos and looking at him, and couldn't help feeling a little awkward.

"I don't have a cup, could I—"

Smack! —his arm took a hit on the spot.

Zhang Ningzhi, all cutesy-fierce, said, "Hand it over, quick."

"Oh." Jiang Nian immediately behaved, passed his cup over, and the two clinked together with a gurgle.

Li Hua had been caught fire-drilling, so the last row of the first big group was now down to just Jiang Nian and Zhang Ningzhi—free to do as they pleased.

The two of them drank hot water together, and Jiang Nian even clinked cups with Zhang Ningzhi.

"Do you have any more of those little glass cups at home?"

Zhang Ningzhi answered honestly, "There's still one at home."

Jiang Nian tilted his head. "If you accidentally broke this glass cup, would you bring a new one tomorrow?"

Zhang Ningzhi thought for a moment, her brows furrowing.

"I'd beat you to death!"

"I really want a new cup, but I don't have money." Jiang Nian put on a pitiful act. "No cup either, and barely any money."

The girl couldn't help rolling her eyes. "I'll just bring you one."

"Thanks." Jiang Nian grinned.

First period of evening self-study was over.

In the dimly lit classroom corridor, Lin Dong and Sun Zhicheng stood in a sheltered corner chatting, their position letting them see right into the classroom's back door.

Chen Yunyun sat in Li Hua's seat, chatting with Jiang Nian.

Lin Dong glanced over, his mind full of how Li Hua's fire-drilling tools were made. Seeing something good made him itch to try replicating it.

But he heard Sun Zhicheng beside him let out a sigh, a long, drawn-out exhale.

"Brother Dong, I'm done chatting."

"Giving up already?" Lin Dong was still mulling over how to make the hand-drill for fire-drilling, and said absent-mindedly, "Don't take online chats to heart—wake up and move on to the next one."

"I can't do it, Brother Dong." The moment Sun Zhicheng thought of that message he'd seen that morning—ganle ge shuang—he couldn't help trembling all over.

What made it even more twisted was that after he'd vented to Lin Dong about it—

That bastard had immediately changed his group nickname in the class chat to "ganle ge shuang." The guy was truly inhuman, like a beast.

"Have you made up your mind?" Lin Dong asked casually.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it all day." Sun Zhicheng turned his head, deliberately not looking toward the classroom's back door. "At first chatting did feel fresh, and it was fun."

"But by the last day they'd toss out a hook, and the longest it ever lasted was barely a week. In the end you realize the other person was just killing time too—nothing but a moon reflected in water, a flower in a mirror."

On the corridor, people came and went, bustling and noisy.

Lin Dong pursed his lips and glanced at him.

"A-Cheng, you're wrong."

"Flirtatious chatting is itself about drawing emotional value from each other. If you keep thinking about providing emotional value for others, you'll keep on suffering."

Sun Zhicheng heard this and was stunned as if struck by lightning.

"Then what should I do?"

Lin Dong offered no opinion, only said:

"It's up to you."

He felt Sun Zhicheng had become extreme—expecting misfortune, doubting good fortune; seizing no opportunity when it came, refusing to let go of doom when it arrived.

Why worry so much? Where in life isn't Qingshan?

Sun Zhicheng hesitated for a while, then ultimately gave up.

He couldn't be as carefree as Lin Dong; reality, though not smooth, was still visible and tangible, and dealing with it felt solid.

The coming-of-age ceremony is the day after tomorrow—perhaps it's an opportunity.

The bell rang.

Zhou Yuting entered the classroom through the back door, glaring at Sun Zhicheng, who stood hesitantly blocking the entrance. She glanced at Jiang Nian, and her expression turned complicated.

She had a suspicion, but wasn't certain.

The chat group incident remained a thorn in her heart—a knife hanging over her head, unsure when it would fall.

Could it have been Jiang Nian?

She knew Jiang Nian too well—he was bad when he chose to be. Subjectively, Jiang Nian had no reason to join the group, but what if he wanted to keep a backup option?

Or perhaps the "clown" was Le Zhi?

She had inquired: Le Zhi's score in last month's eighteen-county joint exam rose nearly a hundred points; if that wasn't cheating, she'd jump off a building herself.

But just now, she asked a classmate from the previous class, and learned that Le Zhi had spent every break since then sitting at his desk solving problems, completely devoid of worldly desires.

So she was confused too.

Still, for safety's sake, she decided to test Jiang Nian during the next break.

Is chatting with Chen Yunyun really that enjoyable?

Zhang Ningzhi's cheeks involuntarily puffed out as she shot him a teasing glance—but she wasn't angry; after all, they were just talking normally.

No physical contact at all—absolutely no grounds for complaint.

"Still want a cup?" Zhang Ningzhi didn't indulge Jiang Nian at all, making this threat:

Jiang Nian froze for a moment. Though he didn't know why she was upset, he'd done plenty of bad things before, so he chose to surrender instantly.

"Yes, how should I proceed?"

Seeing Jiang Nian's attitude, Zhang Ningzhi's anger immediately halved. She thought: after all, they were friends; she couldn't be so possessive—it would scare others.

"Then where do I rank among your friends?"

The class had already begun evening self-study, but no one in the back row paid attention. They could chat freely, snack, even start a fire by friction.

Li Hua was still in the office and hadn't returned.

Jiang Nian paused, thinking for several seconds about the question of friend rankings.

"First tier."

Zhang Ningzhi pursed her lips. "What about the monitor?"

"Second tier."

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi exhaled in relief.

If Jiang Nian had said Li Hua was in the lowest tier of friends, it would clearly be a joke—meaning his "first tier" was also a joke.

But if Li Hua was first tier, that meant his first tier could hold many people.

Jiang Nian's answer satisfied her.

"You're first tier too."

She said it outright, very bluntly.

Of course, Jiang Nian's answer was sincere too—he played no word games, like claiming there was a "zero tier" above first, or "number one best tier."

None of that. His first tier of good friends was only Zhang Ningzhi.

So he said it without guilt.

The monitor's situation was too complicated; Jiang Nian figured he couldn't let himself be lured into becoming a hooked fish. Perhaps the monitor meant nothing by it, but being constantly on edge was too distracting.

So Jiang Nian returned to his state as a problem-solving machine.

Near the end of evening self-study, he suddenly spoke up.

"Li Hua's not here—so quiet."

At the classroom's back door, Li Hua had just returned from the office and was about to push the door open when he heard those words. His heart, which had been hanging, sank completely.

"You fucking—!"

"What the hell? How'd you get back?" Jiang Nian's face showed not a trace of shame at being caught.

Ma Guojun adjusted his glasses and chuckled.

"Li Hua, where's that fire-starting-by-friction set you've got?"

As soon as he spoke, a cry erupted from the classroom's cleaning corner.

"Holy shit—it's on fire!"

The classroom erupted again with the smell of burning, drawing everyone's attention—but this time, the flames were extinguished before any visible fire could spread.

Lin Dong's complaining voice rose: "It's too hot in here—almost caught fire."

Cai Xiaoqing put down her pen and spoke up.

"No friction fire-starting in the classroom. If I catch you again, I'll tell the homeroom teacher."

The class immediately burst into chaos.

Li Hua returned to his seat and snapped his fingers at Ma Guojun.

"Heir, Dong."

After the second period of self-study, Jiang Nian was called out by Zhou Yuting.

"Something you need?"

"Let's talk over there." Zhou Yuting pointed toward the shadowy stairwell corner by the restroom.

Jiang Nian didn't care either way, and followed her, stopping just outside the shadow.

"Go ahead."

Zhou Yuting was taken aback for a moment at his attitude.

"You still holding a grudge?"

"No." Jiang Nian shook his head. "If that's all you wanted to say, then I'll head back."

He really didn't hold much grudge against Zhou Yuting—after all, it didn't amount to any deep-seated hatred. New things kept flooding in, and time would fade the past.

To him, Zhou Yuting was just a memory point.

But having no grudge didn't mean his attitude toward Zhou Yuting would change.

It's like I'm not angry at you anymore, but when we meet, you'd better still be careful. If I'm in a good mood, one slap; if I'm in a bad mood, two slaps. If I can screw you over, I still will.

When he was mocked during summer break, right or wrong no longer mattered.

Friendship recommendation: "College Entrance Exam Strategy: You Want Me to Conquer My Deskmate?"

Jiang Yu reasonably suspects that his reality is one giant Truman Show.

Because in his eyes, every single person has an exclamation mark above their head.