Chapter 314: Childish

At noon, the classroom was bright with light.

Even though the coming-of-age ceremony had brought a string of events Jiang Nian hadn't expected, it hadn't changed his daily routine—he still did problems and took a nap as usual.

Gao San still revolved around grades; he had to work at it carefully.

Three hundred thousand yuan could buy a lot of things, but it didn't help much with the college entrance exam. It might even become an obstacle, making him lose himself in pleasure.

Based on his past experience and the conclusions drawn from the system, this was clear.

Tickets are very important.

Some people are born with an eight-point fate—life comes easy to them. They simply got a ticket to life and achieved success right from the root.

Beyond that, life is full of tickets everywhere.

For example, the system had patched up Jiang Nian's fundamentals. That had pushed his grades up in a short time and earned him the ticket to a higher class.

After that, he'd relied on his own effort to drag a five-hundred-point foundation up to six hundred by sheer will.

Fundamentally, Jiang Nian was still that same Jiang Nian. He had no photographic memory—he'd simply gotten the ticket to a higher class.

Then he'd seized the chance and studied hard.

If he hadn't moved up a class, he wouldn't have just missed out on grades—he'd have lost friends too. And a stable study environment, better teachers.

In the system's simulations, Jiang Nian had missed ticket after ticket. He'd dawdled the years away, only starting to fight after graduating college.

Once you enter society, tickets become even rarer and more precious.

Effort isn't always useful, and love isn't all-conquering either. No matter how much youthful vigor you have, in the end it just sinks into the sea like a clay ox—without a sound.

Life's error tolerance really is high—even when he stumbled at every step, his luck with women never dried up. The red thread just slipped through his palm, not a single strand left behind.

The final outcome: at thirty-eight, everyone who'd ever had an emotional entanglement with him was enduring alone, weighed down by regret.

So, even though he had no grand ambitions—no vow to shine in college—he still valued the ticket to a famous university.

If he only got into an ordinary university, he'd fall behind the people around him.

Even if he had plenty of money later, he'd probably lose some connections in the unseen workings of fate. And he actually wasn't short on money—

When he was broke, the system would top him up.

So for him, the scores money couldn't buy were very important.

The rest was nothing more than doing his best and leaving the rest to Chen Tianming.

In the classroom.

Jiang Nian silently worked on problems, thinking to himself that this was about all the suffering his bros had to take. Once the college entrance exam was over, he'd be like a bird in the open sky, a fish in the vast sea—there'd be plenty he could do.

His bros were just caged birds, Neji-style.

Who was Naruto again?

First he'd blow out his kidneys, so he wouldn't go wrecking himself.

At one-thirty in the afternoon, Jiang Nian's biological clock reminded him it was time to sleep. His body sent tired signals too, so he finally put down his pen and got ready to rest his head for a bit.

Right before sleeping, Jiang Nian glanced at the classroom.

Sunlight was like a long, slender blade, slicing the podium in two. In the silent classroom, only a few people remained, heads bowed over their problems.

The end-of-nap bell rang.

Jiang Nian woke up and found that Zhang Ningzhi had already arrived. She was currently bent over her desk doing homework; the dress she'd worn to the morning coming-of-age ceremony had been changed.

Her down jacket had been swapped too, replaced by a thin light jacket. She didn't know how many layers she had on underneath—probably a wool sweater stacked in.

The people in the classroom had changed clothes too; only a few who loved showing off were still wearing the little suits they'd put on that morning, not yet returned,

probably wanting to make full use of them.

Zhang Ningzhi sensed someone's gaze and sneakily turned her head.

Suddenly she remembered something and didn't really feel like acknowledging him.

Jiang Nian saw her turn back, then suddenly turn away again. Not knowing what she was playing at, he simply greeted her, then got up to go drain the snake.

"I'm going to take a leak."

Zhang Ningzhi: "

She really wanted to roast him, but held it in.

Listening to the sound of a chair being pulled out in the bright, noisy afternoon classroom, that distinctive set of footsteps slowly approached the back door—

Only then did she cautiously glance back. The boy's profile just brushed past the door frame. Zhang Ningzhi realized he seemed to care nothing at all about what had happened that morning, acting as if he'd lost his memory—it made her look petty instead.

She immediately buried her head back into the desk, unhappy.

After a while, Jiang Nian came back.

She only heard a soft clack as a lollipop was tossed onto Zhang Ningzhi's desk. She was in the middle of an English test paper; seeing it, she couldn't help but pause and asked,

"What for?"

Jiang Nian brushed off his hands. "For the little kid."

Zhang Ningzhi stared at the lollipop in her hand for a moment, then turned to look at Jiang Nian.

"You just went to...

"Took a leak." Jiang Nian sat back in his seat, did a stretch, then explained, "Saw the English teacher in the office, grabbed two."

"Oh, oh." Zhang Ningzhi nodded, then suddenly remembered something and asked warily, "Where's the other one?"

Hearing that, Jiang Nian froze.

"You're this bossy? Fine, fine, I was saving it to eat myself in class anyway—it's all yours."

Saying that, he pulled an orange-flavored lollipop out of his pocket.

"Here, for you."

Zhang Ningzhi smiled faintly, thinking to herself that she wasn't nearly as childish as he was.

"Thanks—then let me give you something to eat too."

She took out the QQ gummies, but hesitated as she held them out. It wasn't that she couldn't bear to part with them—she was afraid Jiang Nian would start acting up again—so she warned him.

"You're not allowed to say anything weird."

Jiang Nian was delighted; he knew what Zhang Ningzhi was talking about.

"What weird talk?"

"It's... it's just—"

Zhang Ningzhi was thin-skinned, too embarrassed to say it out loud.

Suddenly, bang—a sound, and the back door was pushed open.

The moment Li Hua entered and saw the two in the back row, his gaze locked onto the QQ gummies. The hanger-on's eyes immediately lit up,

and he launched into action with zero delay.

"Ah, how should I put it—milk QQ gummies. ebaby!"

Zhang Ningzhi was mortified. After tossing the QQ gummies, she dove back under the desk at top speed, as if trying to cut all ties with the dumbass group leader Li Hua.

The back row of the classroom burst into laughter, the atmosphere rowdy and lively.

Jiang Nian laughed too, casually pocketing both the QQ gummies and the drink, feeling a little guilty.

The morning's incident was already in the past, after all, so there was room to muddle through.

The problem wasn't that big.

When Luo Yong entered the classroom, his steps were a little unsteady.

He actually didn't feel much about the coming-of-age ceremony. So he hadn't made any preparations, only setting aside a slightly more formal outfit the night before.

Then he burrowed into the covers and took off his pants.

Because he liked sleeping naked.

He took out a fresh pack of tissues, because he had rhinitis. His nose would always get blocked in the middle of the night, unbearably uncomfortable, needing a good clear-out.

He turned on his phone, because he had trouble falling asleep.

He was used to scrolling short videos before bed; if he had no data he'd just watch whatever was cached. Occasionally in the middle of the night he could connect to the upstairs WiFi and download movies.

He opened the browser, because he wanted to Baidu the knowledge points he'd learned during the day.

Review the old to learn the new.

But he accidentally clicked on a certain website, and just at the crucial moment—the screen suddenly froze, locked on the male actor's body, and blew up on him.

He cried, and didn't have to accept this reality until morning.

So at the coming-of-age ceremony, he looked a bit listless.

After the coming-of-age ceremony broke up, Luo Yong had a meal with some close buddies. He didn't get back to his rental room until nearly one in the morning, originally planning to rest.

But after tossing and turning for half an hour without being able to sleep, he figured sleeping for the last twenty-something minutes would be pointless.

Time to handle it, heh.

Just right to make up for last night's blown-up遗憾, the tangled blankets, a tear hanging at the corner of his eye—pain pain pain!!! Where's the happiness that was promised?

In short, he now deeply regretted it.

Before sitting down, Luo Yong swept his gaze across the class. Somehow, he happened to see the class monitor coming in through the classroom door, glancing at the back row.

Hmm?

He followed the class monitor's gaze and saw Group Six sitting by the back door, and... Jiang Nian.

"The day before yesterday, didn't Jiang Nian sit in the front row chatting with the class monitor?" Luo Yong muttered to himself.

He also recalled hearing in the morning that Jiang Nian had crossed the Dragon Gate with the class monitor, Zhang Ningzhi, and Chen Yunyun, with the head teacher filming right beside them.

Really makes one envious.

Speaking of which, he could have originally invited a girl too.

There was a period when he was on pretty good terms with Chai Muying, but unfortunately he forgot to maintain it later, and the relationship faded.

The first period was biology. Luo Yong grew drowsy as he listened.

After yawning, he pulled a Yilin magazine from his desk. Flipping to the humor jokes section, he began to savor it carefully.

Jiang Nian filled in an answer on the test paper, then looked up at the lecturing Qing Bao.

Saturday afternoon, periods one and two were back-to-back biology. Qing Bao was rushing to cover a round of material. While lecturing she glanced at Jiang Nian and saw he was listening attentively.

She couldn't help but nod in approval.

In reality, Jiang Nian was up to mischief at that moment—listening to the lecture while secretly working on the test paper. He also realized the morning's incident wasn't really a big deal.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and cheered up again.

Break time.

Before lying down to rest, Zhang Ningzhi glanced at Jiang Nian.

Seeing him doing test papers as usual confirmed that the guy didn't care about the morning's incident. She wanted to know what he was thinking, yet didn't want to know.

"Why are you creeping on me again?"

At his words, Zhang Ningzhi's heart skipped a beat and she immediately shrank back.

However, Li Hua's voice rang out.

"What's it to you to look? Possessed or something, working so hard on test papers?"

"Ah, getting anxious?" Jiang Nian sneered.

"Eat shit!"

The boys' childish bickering echoed in the back row, and Zhang Ningzhi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Her ear tips felt hot, and she secretly thought—thank goodness.

An afternoon passed, and the coming-of-age ceremony was thoroughly over.

Evening.

Four subjects' homework was written on the blackboard, and the classroom light was dim.

"Baby Zhizhi, going to eat?" Yao Bei Bei left her seat, walked toward the back row, and casually took "Zhang" by the hand. "The braised-meat rolls at the one on the front street are good."

"Oh, wait for me a sec." Zhang Nianzhi sped through one more line, then stood up at once, ready to head out. "Alright, let's go."

Once it got past late November, it grew dark earlier and earlier.

And the weather kept getting colder, so day students like Zhang Nianzhi and Yao Bei Bei gradually stopped feeling like going home, and just grabbed a bite in the afternoon instead.

Before heading out, Zhang Nianzhi glanced back as if offhand and asked,

"Want me to bring you anything?"

"Huh?" Jiang Nian looked up, pen still in hand. "Then get me one, then. Heart."

Zhang Nianzhi's eyes brightened; she pressed her lips together and smiled.

"Childish."