Chapter 316: The Bad-Girl Childhood Sweetheart Loves to Fish

Night fell, on the road home.

Xu Qianqian tugged her clothes tighter and glanced up at Jiang Nian.

"Can you actually pull it off?"

"Whether I can or not, don't you already know?" Jiang Nian shot back, not dodging this very adult topic. "Six hundred points, guaranteed pass."

"Real or not, I have nothing to say to someone at five hundred points." Xu Qianqian said it with a perfectly natural face, delivering a wildly outrageous take that was utterly inhuman.

Great, great, great—so you're oppressing the low-scorers, huh?

"I vaguely remember someone owing me a request." Jiang Nian fought fire with fire. "I've decided—if I score six hundred points."

"My request is, you let me lick it once. You can't refuse."

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian's expression changed.

"Jiang Nian, you keep refreshing my understanding of what a pervert is."

"You're too kind, I don't deserve the praise." he said humbly.

Xu Qianqian:

"Was that a compliment?"

But back and forth, she neither agreed nor refused. She'd awakened the bad girl's unique superpower—stringing Jiang Nian along.

Win, and you smoke but only breathe in without exhaling?

What does that mean?

Lung fog, obviously!

Lose, and it's "haha, I never said yes"?

Hehe, just a little Chunan after all—really want to lick, don't you?

November new episode, fresh out of the oven.

"The Love Brain Battle Between a Five-Hundred-Point Stray Dog and His Bad-Girl Childhood Sweetheart"

Where to watch? Good question.

Counting on his fingers, the Six-City Joint Exam was only a week away.

Honestly, Jiang Nian wasn't sure of himself either—everyone has a ceiling. His limit was around five-eighty or five-ninety; he just vaguely felt his accumulation was nearly there.

The actual result still depended on the difficulty of the paper and his condition on exam day.

Jiang Nian was at the late-stage peak of the five-hundred-point realm; low-scorers could only sit at the same table as Ma Guojun. Compared to the people around him,

there was still a gap.

As for Zhou Yuting, just a low-tier five-hundred-point stray dog.

After getting home.

After his usual wash-up, Jiang Nian set about finishing the remaining one-and-a-half biology papers. So he could go straight to Qingbao tomorrow and farm some experience.

A veteran's experience was still worth farming.

Qingbao was young, having taken over the competition class partway through not long after starting work. Apart from her outstanding work ability and looks, her problem-solving approach was top-tier.

She was both Jiang Nian's biology enrichment teacher and his Gao San guide.

Including the study plan he was currently using—for example, listening carefully in the afternoon, finishing homework to keep up with the pace—

was all set up by Qingbao.

Logically speaking, a Gao San teacher wouldn't specially do something like this.

Especially since Qingbao was a non-stick pan—any trouble or anything unfavorable to her path, she basically wouldn't do. The whole cautious approach.

But for a closed-door disciple, it was fine.

The phone on the desk buzzed.

Jiang Nian heard the movement but didn't check the message right away—a fifty-fifty chance it was Chen Yunyun; the two chatted every day and didn't need such a prompt reply.

If there was only one message, a one-in-three chance it was the class monitor. But the class monitor's reply window was longer, so a few minutes didn't matter.

Besides, he was in the middle of a biology long-answer question—chatting wasn't good for studying. A damn group of six-hundred-point prodigies, tempting a five-hundred-pointer like him into slacking off.

Inhuman!

Five or six minutes later, he finally picked up the phone, intending to glance at who had messaged.

However, the message was from next door—Xu Qianqian.

Xu: "If you can hit 610, it's not like I can't...:::

Can't what?

Hold on, you cut off mid-chat too?

Jiang Nian stared at the six ellipses on the WeChat chat screen and couldn't help swallowing. His body suddenly felt a little hot, and he started scratching his ears restlessly.

Xu Qianqian did have some bad-girl potential after all—suddenly starting to fish at midnight.

He replied, asking, "Lick?"

Next door.

Xu Qianqian saw the message and couldn't help feeling pleased.

Cringe.

But she didn't send him a sixty-second voice message either, afraid that shameless Jiang Nian would actually enjoy it. Frowning, a scheme came to mind.

She didn't say lick what either—stretching her foot over would surely infuriate him.

Besides, whether he could maintain his last high score wasn't certain. Maybe this time he'd take a tumble, and a lesson would do him good.

No matter what, it wouldn't be as serious as stumbling at the college entrance exam.

Tap tap tap, she typed back.

"Score it first, then we'll talk."

Jiang Nian on the other end of the screen froze again at the sight.

She actually agreed?

He had only been casually swinging the bat out of habit—hit or miss—but since Xu Qianqian had agreed, it was like doubling the stakes. How could he not milk it for all it was worth?

"Alright then, I'll keep on reviewing. 【Photo】"

Jiang Nian flipped his phone and sent over a photo of himself burning the midnight oil, to boost his own morale and incidentally take Xu Qianqian down a peg.

Sure enough, Xu Qianqian went silent.

Delighted.

The grind of problem-solving dragged on until the small hours of the morning—overall, still pretty tedious.

Chen Yunyun sent him a message before bed, just like all close friends do—right before sleep, a little goodnight.

"Goodnight."

Jiang Nian: "Can you really fall asleep?"

In the girls' dorm.

Chen Yunyun lay in bed, unsure what he was getting at.

"I can."

"Once you're asleep, take a photo and show me."

"Can you not say things so creepy!" Chen Yunyun pressed her lips together. The phone's faint light fell on her Bai Xi face as she added a few more emojis.

"(Punch) (Punch)!"

"Since you put it that way, I just have to bring up the girls' dorm stories." Jiang Nian opened with a scare tactic. "Have you... ever woken up in the middle of the night?"

In her blanket, Chen Yunyun curled her feet in.

"Say one more word and I'm ignoring you."

Jiang Nian: "You didn't actually fall for it, did you? (laughing-crying)"

Chen Yunyun:

The small hours of the morning.

In the girls' dorm, Chen Yunyun suddenly woke up. At first she instinctively tried to open her eyes, but the thought of Jiang Nian's words made her freeze.

All his fault—so annoying.

But she also kind of had to pee... in the dead of night, she didn't dare make a sound. She could only burrow into the blanket, stew for a while, then get a little annoyed and unlock her phone.

"It's all your fault, I'm awake now!"

Message sent successfully. The timestamp read 2:24 a. m.

But the next second, a sound.

Jiang Nian replied, "Haha, I haven't slept at all. 【Photo】"

Seeing that, Chen Yunyun let out a breath of relief.

After seeing Jiang Nian's photo of him hunched over his desk doing problems, that Mao Mao feeling in her heart vanished on the spot. Even though they were far apart, she still felt at ease.

After all, Jiang Nian's home was barely a kilometer from the school—maybe there was one window with its light still on.

She felt a sense of reality, and wasn't really scared anymore. She threw off the blanket, got up to pee, and along the way replied to Jiang Nian's message, asking in confusion.

"Why are you still up so late?"

The other side replied instantly: "Doing homework."

"But we still have class tomorrow." Chen Yunyun reminded him.

After she climbed back up to the top bunk, before she could even burrow into her blanket, the phone lit up—a message popped up. Jiang Nian's reply was very brief.

"Tomorrow afternoon is a holiday."

Seeing that, Chen Yunyun burrowed into her blanket, thought for a moment, then couldn't help asking.

"What are you planning to do tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sleep."

The words Chen Yunyun had been about to say died in her throat.

She had actually wanted to invite Jiang Nian to go hiking together. She'd been in high school in Zhennan for three years now, and almost all her classmates except her had been to Qingmu Ridge.

With a snap, she opened the weather app.

It showed that tomorrow would still be a bright, sunny day.

Mm, perfect weather for a hike.

Before she could work up the courage, the other side sent a message first.

"Something up?"

Chen Yunyun thought it over—beating around the bush would only put her at a disadvantage.

"Want to go hiking."

She waited a while, but Jiang Nian still hadn't replied. She couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, her heart Bao Weiwei beating, and slowly closed her eyes.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes again and added one more line.

"With Wang Yuhe."

After the message was sent, she couldn't help burying her head in the blanket. In the darkness, her eyes gleamed faintly, and from outside the window came the sound of wind scraping against leaves.

For some reason, she suddenly felt a little sour.

The phone lit up. Chen Yunyun took a deep breath and glanced at it.

Jiang Nian: "Taking an elementary schooler hiking—isn't that just a field trip?"

Hearing that, Chen Yunyun couldn't help pressing her lips together, suddenly thinking of something.

"Are you going?"

This time there wasn't too long an interval; the message came through directly.

"What time?"

Once the time was set, Chen Yunyun looked at the message and couldn't help but smile.

The night was deep and long.

Jiang Nian didn't sleep all night, working on problems straight through until the early hours of the morning.

Since Sunday afternoon was a holiday and there was no class, he used one immunity-to-fatigue charge in advance. It refreshed daily anyway, so he put it to good use.

Morning. The dawn light was faint.

Jiang Nian set down his pen. Warding off fatigue once didn't mean he wouldn't get tired at all. Taking advantage of this brief window while it was still light, he played a game.

After doing test papers all night, not only did he finish the biology test paper.

He also did two math papers along the way, skipping the small questions. He tackled the harder problems, which could be considered some gain.

Estimating that the time was about right, he finally walked out of his room to wash up, slung his backpack on, and headed to school.

Right before leaving, he glanced at the shoe rack.

The new shoes he'd bought his parents the day before yesterday had arrived; today he saw them at home. No matter how he picked at them, the two of them ultimately liked new shoes.

To his parents, he couldn't say anything too mushy either.

Parents and children always maintain a kind of tacit understanding. No matter how understated the feelings, the weight is never lacking—put it on a scale and it still can't be held down at a thousand jin.

Bang—the front door shut.

At noon during break, the grade-level running exercises were canceled.

Old Liu led two people in carrying a board inside, and the people in the classroom immediately exchanged uncertain glances, unsure what strange thing the grade-level group had come up with now.

"Teacher, what is this?"

Old Liu didn't keep them in suspense, explaining directly.

"It's a grade-level activity. Everyone writes down their dream university and one sentence they want to say on a piece of paper. The class committee member is in charge of collecting them."

"Then, stick them on this board. When you're tired of studying, go over and take a look, draw some new motivation."

Hearing this, the people in Class Three were dumbfounded.

"Teacher, why are you only doing this now?"

Old Liu let out a sheepish chuckle, pointed at the crowd of students in the classroom, and said.

"If we'd done this stuff right at the start of Gao San, wouldn't the wall be full of Tsinghua and Peking? The goals would be too high—it wouldn't give you guys even the slightest bit of motivation."

The people in Class Three turned red, their faces flushed.

Admittedly, if it were them right at the start of Gao San.

Writing down their target universities, they would surely be a bit wilder. Head thrown back, laughing as they stride out the door—are we the sort of people who belong in the weeds!

With five hundred points to their name, they'd dare to charge at Tsinghua.

Now... the first review round was almost over, and their heads had sobered up a bit.