Chapter 305: Can't Ask for a Bride Price, Right?

At half past eleven, Jiang Nian was still furiously writing at his desk.

His phone sat on the desk playing music, the screen set to never sleep.

The phone buzzed with a notification. He glanced at it, then glanced a second time.

He hesitated two seconds, then tapped open the image and zoomed in.

Is that what a horse-face skirt looks like?

Honestly, this skirt didn't have that much appeal. He'd only looked back and forth over twenty times, examining every corner zoomed in.

The lower half was a black skirt, gold trim along the pleated edges. The upper half was a white Chinese-style frog-button blouse. Worn together, a cool, aloof aura washed over him.

It wasn't quite the breathtaking beauty of a classical painting come to life.

After all, the outfit was clearly a modern-styled improved version, not something newly bought. Jiang Nian even suspected the thing was custom-made, because it fit too well.

Ancient costume needs its mystique stripped away too—after all, not everyone suits wearing it.

Generally speaking, thin people pull off the upper half well,

meaning slim figures in ancient costume have stronger adaptability with a conventional build. For instance, wearing a horse-face skirt, the rear won't bulge out in an unsightly lump.

That's the so-called "burst pleats."

Take someone like Yu Zhiyi with her pear-shaped figure—if she wore ancient-style clothing, she'd only bulge out front and back, looking bloated and heavy.

Li Qingrong clearly wasn't that traditionally slim type either—she looks slim in clothes but out of clothes... he wouldn't know, but she obviously has a figure.

But in the photo she sent, her upper half didn't look bulky, and her lower half had no "burst pleats"—this outfit was most likely custom-made directly.

Damn, what kind of family is this.

Jiang Nian thought of his own driving school VIP treatment—video check-ins for Subject One, and all the subsequent Subject Two practice driving handled entirely by the instructor,

Forget it, forget it—first, I'll kneel to the big shot.

A few minutes later, Li Qingrong on the other side still hadn't moved. As if after sending that message she didn't plan to continue, or maybe didn't know what to send.

Jiang Nian finished examining it carefully and replied.

"Looks really good."

Wow, Li Qingrong replied almost instantly.

"Mm. (smile)"

In his room, Jiang Nian stared at the smiley emoji on his phone screen, a trace of confusion drifting across his face.

"The class monitor isn't being passive-aggressive at me, is she?"

"That shouldn't be the case."

So, this was just a pure, simple smile.

Jiang Nian laughed, saw the chat had gone quiet, and waited a while longer. Sensing no more messages were coming, he buried himself back in his biology test paper.

Beauty is precious, but knowledge is more valuable—six hundred points isn't worse than five hundred.

So what if it's six hundred points? Pushed to the limit, I can hit it just the same.

So what if it's Tsinghua!

If I can't get in, no matter how desperate—even dying won't get me in.

Being desperate isn't being crazy—he can still tell the difference.

Under the small desk lamp, the pen tip scratched smoothly across the test paper.

Jiang Nian's brows were serious, his gaze sweeping every line of text on the paper. Every question he finished, he could find the corresponding knowledge network diagram in his mind.

Instinctively able to draw inferences, he gradually felt a sense of fulfillment.

Just like that, time slipped away unnoticed,

and with a buzz, the phone vibrated.

Jiang Nian was working on his sixth test paper and was already struggling to hold on. Thinking it was a message from Chen Yunyun, he casually tapped open his phone—but the message was actually from Xu Qianqian, a photo of her and Song Xiyun in front of a full-length mirror.

"【Image】 How is it? Does it look weird?"

Jiang Nian replied,

"(Thumbs up) Could be used as wallpaper."

Across the hall.

After washing up, Xu Qianqian and Song Xiyun lay on the bed playing with their phones,

the two girls pressed close together, easily able to see each other's phone screens. While Xu Qianqian was sending messages, Song Xiyun was playing a game.

She liked playing MOBA games, but her phone couldn't handle them,

so she had to settle for the next best thing and play match-three. When those things popped, they flashed all colors with little bangs—good enough to kill time.

She turned her head and saw Xu Qianqian send the photo over, and immediately felt it was strange.

The photo was a joint shot of the two of them, and actually didn't show much. On the contrary, it was the most normal photo imaginable—at most revealing a section of calf.

Just as Song Xiyun was paying it no mind, she happened to see Jiang Nian's reply. Startled, she turned to look at Xu Qianqian, and Xu Qianqian was looking at her too.

The two girls couldn't help it and burst out laughing.

"So fake."

"I think so too."

Jiang Nian, labeled "fake," was still working on problems under the stars.

The moon hid, the night deepened, a thin mist settled.

The next day.

Jiang Nian groggily woke up in bed, his memory still stuck on hunched-over problem-solving.

He didn't remember how he'd gotten into bed last night—probably his body acting on autopilot. Unconsciously he'd crawled into bed, pulled the blanket over his chest in a daze, and fallen asleep.

His head felt a bit foggy; he struggled up to wash up.

He didn't use the once-a-day healing skill, because the coming-of-age ceremony was held in the morning. If he got tired in the morning, he could rest, and in the afternoon he still had to attend class normally—less than two hundred days until the college entrance exam. What was wrong with taking one easy day?

He'd drop dead suddenly.

Basketball players rely on muscle memory when shooting, and the college entrance exam is the same. Stop training after the mock exam, and the next one will teach you a lesson.

The system filled in his basics for him. Scoring five hundred wasn't hard—around six hundred, just relying on textbook knowledge points was useless. Repeatedly memorizing all kinds of problem-solving routines, mastering them thoroughly, until they became muscle memory.

The system didn't have a second piece of bread to give him, but he felt he could do it on his own.

The feedback from high-frequency problem-solving gave him the confidence of being well-prepared.

Jiang Nian gurgled out his mouthwash, and with a ding tossed his toothbrush into the cup. He never used a cup when brushing his teeth—just cupped water in his hands and got it over with.

Outside the bathroom window, the sky was just beginning to brighten. He splashed cold water on his face and prepared to head out.

In the living room, Li Hongmei, still bleary-eyed, called out to him.

"Isn't your coming-of-age ceremony today?"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian, who was carrying his bag, looked slightly surprised.

"Mom, you even know about this?"

"What do you mean? I saw it in the parents' group chat." Li Hongmei pointed at him, hesitant to speak. "You're going so early—will the classroom even be open?"

Jiang Nian thought of Huang Fang, so he nodded.

"It will."

"Go on, go on." Li Hongmei thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you still have money?"

"Are you guys short on money?" Jiang Nian asked, surprised.

Hearing this, Li Hongmei's face immediately drooped. In the past, giving money was like throwing it down the drain. Now she wanted to give, but it seemed there was no chance.

"I'm asking if you're short or not."

Jiang Nian perhaps also felt that he had prematurely robbed his parents of their pain, and also robbed them of the joy of giving money—probably similar to raising a pet.

Suddenly one day, you discover your cat can earn its own cat food. And even opened a livestream, earning more than you, able to take care of everything.

The only downside is, the cat is leaving for a faraway place.

"No need, I still have quite a bit of money on hand. If it's not enough, we'll talk." Jiang Nian didn't shut the door completely. "Oh right, there will be a few deliveries coming today."

Li Hongmei was stunned. "What did you buy again?"

"Something for you guys, some winter clothes and shoes." Jiang Nian didn't dawdle. After saying that, he slipped straight out the door. "I'm off to school."

In the living room, only Li Hongmei was left standing there in a daze.

She slightly furrowed her brow. Honestly, she was a bit anxious. A pig raised free-range for years hadn't even left the pen yet, and it was already being force-ripened—it would never run wild over the hills again.

One day it would inevitably become a pair of empty-nest elders, sighing that all that's left here is the empty Yellow Crane Tower.

Li Hongmei thought for a moment, went into the room, and woke up Old Jiang with a pat.

"Still sleeping? Your son bought you stuff again. Can you really sleep?"

Old Jiang, still groggy, looked at his wife who had a two-day weekend off.

"Was I not asleep?"

After Li Hongmei's explanation, Old Jiang became even more confused.

"Isn't this a good thing?"

"Good my ass!" Li Hongmei couldn't quite say what was wrong, she just wasn't used to it. "You think he's working this hard because of Qian..."

Old Jiang propped himself up to sit on the bed, put on his glasses, and thought for a while.

"Then Old Xu shouldn't ask us for a bride price, right?"

With a slap, Li Hongmei smacked Jiang's father's arm.

"That's all you've got!"

Old Jiang gave an awkward smile. "I was just joking. I was thinking Old Xu has been living so awkwardly all this time—doesn't remarry, barely looks after Qianqian."

"What if he really gets a grandson or granddaughter? Our two families raising them together wouldn't be nice?"

Hearing this, Li Hongmei was a bit tempted.

"That kid isn't reliable, is he?"

"Don't know. Lately they seem to be getting along pretty well." Jiang's father scratched his head. "If it doesn't work out, since you're free today, why not go to the school and have a look."

"Look at nothing. What would Qianqian think?" Li Hongmei rejected it without thinking. "Wait until they make it official, then I'll go see them together."

"After the address change, at least she'd have a mom, right?"

Jiang's father didn't push it either. They didn't have that much parenting wisdom. Like most families, it all depended on the child's own self-awareness—at most, they set an example.

As for why they didn't emphasize parent-child education?

Why don't they eat meat porridge?

When Jiang Nian went out, he saw Xu Qianqian's and Song Xiyun's shoes both on the shoe rack.

He carried his bag and calmly went downstairs, heading to the classroom early as usual.

The front door of Class Three was locked, but the back door was open.

Huang Fang, in her school uniform, was sitting in the classroom reading. She didn't seem to care much about the "coming-of-age ceremony." In fact, it was because she had no choice.

Jiang Nian didn't feel much about the coming-of-age ceremony either—mainly it was just for the eye candy. But he had more options: he could passively participate and also check out the girls.

"Morning, Fangfang."

"Morning." Huang Fang didn't even look up, doing homework.

"You opened the door?"

"Yeah, I asked Chai Muying for the back door key last night." Huang Fang was still working on problems, then suddenly paused. "Why are you here so early?"

Her tone was slightly surprised, and she raised her head.

"Doesn't it only start at nine today..."

"Ding ding ding, of course it's because I've got a test paper I haven't finished yet." Jiang Nian sat down, too lazy to go get hot water—waiting until eight o'clock would be fine too.

"Oh oh, I see." Huang Fang turned back around. After a while, her muffled voice came through, "Jiang Nian, you're really diligent."

"Next time just compliment me on being handsome—that trait's a bit more obvious." Jiang Nian said.

Huang Fang laughed, then buried her head even more seriously in working the problems.

One group doesn't allow two test kings!

The classroom instantly fell quiet, the lights bright, leaving only the rustle of two people writing.

The sky gradually brightened too.