Chapter 299: Lying in Someone

"Why did the round end so fast?" Jiang Nian complained.

Saying this, he poured a small cup of hot water into a glass cup Zhang Ningzhi had given him, then scooped out a pinch of jasmine tea from a drawer and brewed it right there.

Zhang Ningzhi merely glanced at him, and suddenly a cup of jasmine tea appeared in her hand.

Her earlobes flushed red as she whispered something.

"Thank you."

In the afternoon, the clouds hung low, and there was little sunlight after two o'clock.

The classroom felt cool and dim, especially near the back door.

Deskmate Li Hua dozed half-asleep on his desk, listening to Old Liu prattle on about the round, eyelids drooping, utterly unmoved.

"What's Old Liu muttering about?"

Jiang Nian sipped his jasmine tea calmly.

"He's secretly in love with you."

Deskmate Li Hua smacked his lips. "Teacher-student romance isn't encouraged—I should warn Old Liu not to harbor delusions."

Ma Guojun, across the aisle, couldn't help but retort.

"Did you rub sticks together so hard you burned out your brain?"

Jiang Nian held his cup in one hand, sipping the hot tea, while casually solving a problem.

"His brain must've been damaged in Old Liu's office—he's been dumb and dazed ever since."

Deskmate Li Hua leaned over to take a look and saw several biology exam papers stacked on Jiang Nian's desk.

"Why are you suddenly studying biology?"

"Who asked you?"

"Chishi!" Deskmate Li Hua snapped, but only for a moment—then he brightened again. "I made an appointment with the boss to pick up my clothes this afternoon."

Hearing this, Ma Guojun adjusted his glasses, suddenly interested.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Old Liu on the podium staring in their direction—he instantly shrank back, not daring to move again.

Zhang Ningzhi sneakily glanced at Jiang Nian's exam paper, blinked her eyes, and whispered.

"Private tutoring?"

Jiang Nian half-lay on his desk, solving problems while turning his head to stare at her with dead-fish eyes.

"Envious?"

Zhang Ningzhi thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"I can score eighty in biology, but it's hard to go higher. I forget some one- or two-point questions—no matter how much I practice, it doesn't help."

This didn't apply to Jiang Nian—he never lost points on memory-based questions.

Because he remembered everything.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian fell into a daze, wondering when he could become as excellent as Baby Zhizhi.

Breaking past six hundred points is difficult—just having a solid foundation isn't enough. You must face an overwhelming sea of problems and master every kind of solution strategy.

Without insight, memorizing the textbook won't help.

From Zhang Ningzhi's perspective, Jiang Nian sat silently in thought. His profile looked like he was zoning out—or maybe a little yuyu.

"What's wrong?"

The advantage of the back row is that you're not monitored.

"Solving exam papers is tiring—I need a friend's hug." Jiang Nian's teasing had grown bolder, no longer limited to holding hands.

"Then go hug the group leader!"

Jiang Nian's voice grew listless. "What's the point of hugging a kid?"

"You damn Chishi!"

"Eavesdropping, huh?" Jiang Nian pointed at Deskmate Li Hua.

"Chishi, who wants to listen to your gossip!" Deskmate Li Hua gave up. "You're right next to me—I can't avoid hearing you. Should I cut off my ears?"

"Eat some pork head meat—it'll bring you good luck," Jiang Nian replied.

Suddenly, Old Liu on the podium shouted.

"Deskmate Li Hua! Stand up!"

"Huh?"

"All day long, either digging holes or rubbing sticks together—nothing productive. You like talking so much? Then stand up and talk."

Deskmate Li Hua was stunned. Is it just me?

Jiang Nian spoke up too—there's another one here, damn it!

"Teacher, someone else was talking too."

Old Liu hadn't expected Deskmate Li Hua to talk back—he grew angry.

"If someone else commits a crime, do you commit it too?"

Deskmate Li Hua thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, Teacher—have you ever heard 'the law doesn't punish the masses'?"

The whole class burst into laughter. Amid the uproar, Deskmate Li Hua felt a little giddy, proud of his wit.

Old Liu, even with a bachelor's degree, was still cut down by this sovereign.

Then he stood on the podium for the entire class.

Zhou Yuting and Yu Zhiyi had agreed to meet—one wearing a qipao, the other a dress. Naturally, Zhou Yuting wore the qipao—her chest was too big for it to look good.

Yu Zhiyi had originally planned to wear a formal gown, but after glancing at the rented gowns—all half-exposing the chest—she quickly chose a fitted dress instead.

The two had arranged to meet in the afternoon to pick up their clothes and stand together for tomorrow's coming-of-age ceremony.

Regarding tomorrow's coming-of-age ceremony, Zhou Yuting was also quite looking forward to it.

Even though she couldn't quite balance the troublesome matters of school and life at hand, the coming-of-age ceremony was like the first breath of cool wind in a sweltering summer.

The more anxious she was, the more she longed to catch her breath.

When choosing a qipao, she also quite cleverly picked the most boyfriend-stealing style. Where had a little homebody boy ever seen a fitted qipao? It was a total grip.

Then could it grip Jiang Nian?

The thought almost inevitably popped into her head, and she couldn't help feeling a little wistful. If it had been half a year ago, perhaps it could have.

Half a year had passed, and the world had changed beyond recognition.

Yu Zhiyi, on the other hand, was preoccupied with taking photos, worried about not looking good in them tomorrow.

Her phone had been confiscated by Old Liu last week, and afterward she borrowed one from a friend in Class Two to play with. Luckily she'd downloaded her SIM card before handing it in, so surfing wasn't affected.

Online, everyone else's coming-of-age ceremonies featured Princess dresses.

Too bad she couldn't fit into that kind of outfit, and there weren't such exquisite dresses available offline either. After much deliberation, she could only wear a fitted skirt in the end.

It looked a bit like a stepmother dress when worn, but it didn't have that cheap feel.

With nothing to do, she happened to scroll across a post Yang Qiming had put up that morning. She just found it strange—why wasn't there anyone from Class Three in the like list?

She only glanced at it, and Yu Zhiyi immediately burst out laughing.

Big Monster and Little Monster?

What a bizarre outfit combo—did they no longer have anyone they cared about at school?

But honestly, she was quite looking forward to it.

After all, if someone drew the crowd's attention away, then that little bit of worry about her figure would drift away with the wind and no longer be a problem.

Thanks to her naturally good rapport with the opposite sex, Yu Zhiyi understood boys' psychology fairly well.

With Big Monster to look at, who'd be staring unblinkingly at a stepmother dress?

Perhaps Jiang Nian?

That's a bit perverted.

As soon as school let out in the afternoon, most of the class had already bolted.

Jiang Nian, contrary to his usual behavior, didn't get up to eat. He remained at his seat working on problems—the state he'd been in last month preparing for the eighteen-county joint exam had returned!

Yao Bei Bei came looking for Zhang Ningzhi; the two girls had arranged to go to the dry cleaner's to pick up their clothes.

"Lao Jiang, this serious?" Yao Bei Bei wandered past Jiang Nian's seat on the way and dropped a bombshell line. "Studying hard—farming dowry fragments?"

Jiang Nian heard this and nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, turning his head to look at her.

"Byd, can you say something human?"

"Can't, because I'm an evil baby." Yao Bei Bei raised her hand, made a peace sign by her eye to act cute. "Flower of human evil."

"Still flower of evil—at best you'll be a stepmother someday." Jiang Nian's mouth was equally venomous. "Idle days, beat up the original wife's kids, scold your husband."

"That works too—beat up yours." Yao Bei Bei took all comers.

Jiang Nian didn't even look up. "Tch, then Deskmate Li Hua's in for it."

Zhang Ningzhi was sandwiched between the two, looking at Jiang Nian one moment, then at Yao Bei Bei the next. She blinked nervously, her head completely spun around by them.

"Why beat up the group leader?"

Lin Dong and Sun Zhicheng left the school gate to pick up clothes, and happened to run into the duo of Yang Qiming and Huang Cailang.

When Yang and Sun met, their eyes turned red with particular hostility.

Ever since their last fight, the relationship between the two had been very strained. Now that they suddenly ran into each other, even with Lin Dong present, some exchange of pleasantries was inevitable.

"Yo, isn't this Brother Dong?" Yang Qiming threw out a crow-style Hill salute. "Not eating dinner, out walking the dog?"

Sun Zhicheng's face changed, and he immediately let out a neither-here-nor-there laugh.

"Is the person standing next to you your girlfriend?"

After saying that, he apologized again.

"Oh my, Cailang my bad—it's too dark, mistook the person."

"My fault for being forgetful too. Brother Yang's girlfriend dumped him. Now he's all lovey-dovey with a Gao Er underclassman, lying in someone's arms watching tangled earthworms."

Lin Dong was a professional peacemaker, but hearing that line about "lying in someone's arms watching tangled earthworms" really couldn't hold it in.

Damn, that's truly vicious as hell, damn.

"What the hell are you saying!" Yang Qiming wanted to charge right then, but was held back by Huang Cailang beside him, and blocked by Lin Dong in front.

"Harmony is precious, let's talk this out." Lin Dong broke out in a cold sweat, signaling Huang Cailang to take Yang Qiming away. "We're all brothers, no need, no need."

"Everything I said is fact—why's someone getting so worked up?" Sun Zhicheng had been holding it in terribly these past few days, and had finally found an outlet.

"Or is it that everything I just said is actually true?"

"Damn! You asking for a beating, you dead simp!" Yang Qiming wished he could throw a punch, beat this skinny dog Sun Zhicheng flat to the ground.

Suddenly, a silvery-bell-like laugh rang out.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Both groups stopped at the same time and turned to look back. They saw Yu Zhiyi and Zhou Yuting watching them—the two beauties standing together were quite a sight.

Lin Dong immediately perked up, too lazy to bother with Yang Qiming anymore, and walked straight toward the two girls.

Let them fight—worth less than a single hair on Yu Zhiyi's head.

"We're going to pick up clothes. Where are you guys headed? To eat?"

"No, we're also picking up clothes." Zhou Yuting revealed a perfectly measured smile. "Where are you going to pick yours up? On the way?"

"A bit far, over by Zhen'nan Slant Street." Yang Qiming saw Zhou Yuting's healing smile, and his mood couldn't help but lift. "What about you?"

"Not on the way—ours is at the North Market." Yu Zhiyi cut in first; she really didn't want to try on clothes with Big Monster and Little Monster.

"What a shame." Yang Qiming sighed.

"We're heading to the big market up north to pick up clothes too, so it's right on the way." Sun Zhicheng flashed a winner's smile, looking at Zhou Yuting and the other girl as he spoke.

"Coincidentally, Dong-ge and I are also about to hail a cab over there. How about we go together?"

"Sure, we were originally planning to take the bus." Zhou Yuting exchanged a glance with Yu Zhiyi, then readily agreed, "We'll split the cab fare four ways."

Sun Zhicheng flipped his hair and said warmly.

"No need to split it. I'll just pay."