Chapter 309: A Few Classmates, Too Many People Can

Jiang Nian thought of the success guru giving an impassioned speech on stage, with a crowd of students doing push-ups beside him shouting in unison.

I'm going to college.

I can definitely do it!

Then, swept up in the moment, he stormed onto the stage and smashed his phone.

Instantly, sweat poured down his face from sheer embarrassment.

To be fair, motivational speeches are a bit perverted.

He thought to himself, "Motivational teacher... I pick Lü Xiaobu—he's the one everyone truly wants."

In fact, Jiang Nian had seen other schools' coming-of-age ceremonies.

At the key high school in the neighboring county, the ceremony featured two hours of motivational speeches by a guru. The audience below turned into idiots from sunburn, and a gust of wind gave two out of ten attendees colds.

Students in their uniforms stared blankly as the sword master on stage hawked success books.

And so they became adults in the most bullshit way possible—even the ceremony was a waste of life.

Fortunately, Zhennan High School had some dignity, ranking among the middle tier of the eighteen counties. It occasionally produced students admitted to Tsinghua or Peking University, so it didn't cut corners.

When the school cuts corners, the students cut corners too.

One reason was this; another major reason was that the branch campus next door ran things seriously and openly, forcing Zhennan High's main campus into internal competition.

All Gao San students stood in formation, and at the far end of the track stood a massive red "Longmen."

Several teachers stood there chatting and laughing, holding party poppers. They kept glancing at the students, waiting for the first class to pass through the Longmen—the legendary "Zero Class," followed by the Olympiad class, parallel classes, and key classes.

They claimed equal treatment, but the key classes had already been shoved to the corner of the field. They stood there like background props in a tree-planting photo.

Class 403, due to its strong academic record and science focus, was assigned directly behind the Zero Class's humanities group, making it the first class in the Olympiad-tier lineup.

Teacher Liu grinned like a madman, his smile harder to contain than an AK-47's recoil.

He wore a neat little suit and polished leather shoes. His face twisted into a grin as he beamed at his students—only to see a bunch of... giant monsters?

Shit, he froze.

Class 3's lineup was organized entirely by Cai Xiaoqing and Liu Yang—both veteran class officers, and Teacher Liu fully trusted their competence.

So he only arrived when the leaders began their speeches.

Instead of staying with his class, he mingled with the Chinese department head and the Academic Affairs Director, laughing and chatting.

He'd just finished his own progress report, feeling refreshed and clear-headed—until now, when he finally saw the monsters hiding in his own class. It was a full-on opening shock.

Giant monsters and tiny monsters?

Teacher Liu didn't watch cartoons, but he had a kid.

"Yang Qiming, Huang Cailang—what the hell are you two wearing?"

In the line, Yang Qiming grinned proudly: "Teacher, this is tokusatsu."

Hearing this, Teacher Liu opened his mouth to scold them—but then remembered today was their coming-of-age ceremony. He thought better of it, not wanting to ruin the mood.

"It's... kinda nice-looking."

"Teacher, you've got great taste," Yang Qiming beamed, glancing at his desk-mate Zhou Yuting, thinking: Straight girls can't appreciate good stuff. In the line, everyone who'd dressed up had left their outerwear on their chairs, revealing dresses, suits, trench coats, and other coming-of-age attire.

The three members of the Guobao Attack team also wore trench coats, standing together looking surprisingly dignified.

Someone turned to look at Jiang Nian, then elbowed their neighbor to watch. They gestured for them to look back—eyes scanning over heads, locking onto the boy.

Jiang Nian had an excellent frame: tall, lean but not bulky, with clearly defined bones still growing, long legs, a narrow waist, and pale skin—like a model.

His sharply defined face gave off a casual, unruly vibe.

He radiated an aura of aggression, yet with his lowered eyes, he seemed approachable. Just standing in the sunlight, he carried an inexplicable sense of forbidden allure.

"Holy shit, is Lao Jiang this hot?"

"What's that called again? Three parts casual, three parts color palette."

"He looks spaced out—his eyes are so dreamy."

"Idiot, that bookworm's staring at his biology test!"

Girls looked at Jiang Nian more often. But after being in the same class so long, you saw him every day—in uniform or jeans—and it felt ordinary.

He was just a bit good-looking, but he acted like a total weirdo.

Over time, classmates easily forgot Jiang Nian's good looks. Even when looking at others, they didn't think anyone was ugly.

Only occasionally, when students from other classes suddenly mentioned: "Hey, your class has this super hot guy," would they suddenly realize: Oh...

Yeah, he's alright.

Another moment like this was during events unrelated to daily school life.

Like the coming-of-age ceremony, or New Year's Eve party.

When someone suddenly changed clothes, you'd suddenly realize: Who the hell is this hot guy? Wait—he's always been this hot?

Zhang Nenzhi heard the commotion and turned to look at him.

Her eyes instantly curved into crescents. Under the pretense of being his desk-mate, she openly waved at Jiang Nian in front of the homeroom teacher, sweetly and cutely.

She thought: Out of sight, out of mind.

Jiang Nian saw her and smiled, waving back.

He thought: Baby Zhizhi must've grown up eating cute candy.

With his future father-in-law so hostile toward him, he fast-forwarded to "Don't underestimate the young man..." Then he paused—his system was probably a midlife comeback one, so then...

Shit! Don't underestimate the broke middle-aged man!

Chen Yunyun also turned around amid the exclamations. She didn't wave, but gave a small, subtle wave in front of her chest. Her gaze met Jiang Nian's, and she smiled like a blooming flower.

Since Sun Zhicheng had seen Chen Yunyun come down, he'd been subconsciously watching her.

Now, seeing her greet Jiang Nian, he nearly cracked.

He swallowed hard, bitterness rising in his chest. Even when ending their online chats, he'd never regretted it—he'd just treated it as a minor footnote in life.

He thought that if he could start over, life would be much broader.

Yet no one had ever told him that some things have very little margin for error; a tiny mistake makes chasing back the path a hundred times harder than the beginning.

Like carving a mark on the boat to find the lost sword, he wanted to return to the river's center to retrieve it—but the sword had long been swept away by the current, with no hope of recovery.

Boom—the cannon fired.

Class Zero began crossing the Longmen; the line started moving slowly.

Accompanied by the broadcast music, everyone's faces flushed with tension and anticipation, hoping to leave their best selves behind today.

Crossing the Longmen began with students passing one by one.

But some always hoped to cross the "Longmen" with friends, best girls, or someone they liked, so occasionally small groups of two or three would form.

The grade head initially corrected them, but after roughly estimating the time needed for Class Zero's science class to pass, he concluded there simply wasn't enough time.

If every senior had to cross one by one, the event would be impossible to complete.

So they could only use the microphone to advise students to cross in groups of two or three friends—the ideal number being two or three—and not too many. Upon hearing this, the students instantly erupted in excitement, scrambling to find partners. Of course, occasional fractures in friendship also appeared.

Classic moment: I'm not my best friend's best friend.

Then what am I to you in your heart!!!

(Screaming) (Frantically twisted) (Crawling in darkness)

Yang Qiming stood with Huang Cailang, while Lin Dong invited Sun Zhicheng. Tao Ran wanted to cross with Furei, but this wish could not be fulfilled.

Nie Qiqi wanted to "come of age" with the class monitor; just as she turned to gaze hopefully at him, she suddenly realized the monitor was gone.

After searching, she found Li Qingrong heading toward the boys' side.

That direction clearly led to Jiang Nian.

Chen Yunyun, who had been hesitating, saw the class monitor go over, so she took Wang Yuhe and walked toward Jiang Nian as well.

Zhang Ningzhi was stunned, but she had no time to think—she grabbed Yao Beibei and ran over.