Chapter 322: Everyone Scolds Me, Yet I'm Not Exactly a Good Person Either

In the back seat, Li Qingrong looked up.

Her gaze toward Jiang Nian was deep and quiet, carrying a hint of inquiry—as if she didn't quite understand what he wanted to say.

After waiting a few seconds, she looked at the stuck Jiang Nian.

"Mm?"

"Nothing. Are we having a weekly test tonight?" Jiang Nian skipped the address; he'd planned to just call her "baby" and be done with it, but canceled at the last second.

"Mm." Li Qingrong nodded.

In this era of devalued language, "baby" equals anyone. Just like Tao Bao customer service—everything can be "dear."

Its value is about the same as the Republic-era gold yuan notes—weighed by the jin by the sackful.

Li Qingrong clearly isn't the type to keep up with the era's devalued language; "baby" in her mouth might still carry its proper weight.

The smugness of profiting from a momentary unequal currency exchange only masks the visible-in-the-future great collapse of the currency system.

So Jiang Nian withdrew a misunderstanding on the spot.

Evening study hall began.

Li Hua suddenly started seriously memorizing vocabulary—English words during chemistry evening study—diligent enough to feel unfamiliar. "Abandon!!" (read aloud three times)

Pfft.

Jiang Nian couldn't help laughing, pointing at him, guffawing as if watching a clown.

"The most important thing for you right now is to file a county report."

Facing his buddy's vicious mockery, Li Hua didn't change expression. Like a protagonist in a xianxia novel, he smiled faintly.

"I am the Heavenly Emperor—I shall slay all enemies in this world."

The moment the words fell, it wasn't just Jiang Nian. Even the listless Ceng You in the front row, and Ma Guojun across the aisle, burst out laughing along with him.

"Hahaha, Heavenly Emperor now? Byd, has he gone off the rails?"

"Li Hua really has something—memorize one word and start fantasizing about being invincible. How many did he record this afternoon,

still not awake yet?"

"Hahaha, laughing me to death."

Facing the mockery, Li Hua could barely hold it in. He pointed at the little haters around him and swore through gritted teeth.

"What happened today, I'll repay a hundredfold!"

"Hahaha, memorize ten words first before talking." Jiang Nian was nearly laughing himself out, "Hua, you're always this entertaining."

"The Spring Festival Gala could just invite you up—no need to make dumplings anymore.

"Memorize then—ten words in ten minutes!" Li Hua didn't laugh, propped up the vocabulary book as cover, and continued loudly reciting words.

"Hua, your cover is as funny as you are." Jiang Nian kept laughing—school is miserable as hell, and it's all these abstract bros that spice up life.

Evening study hall ended.

Li Hua silently put down the vocabulary book, wanting to hide it in his drawer as if no one was around. Main strategy: if no one notices, it never happened.

Suddenly, a single "haha" rang out.

"I told you—he'd sneakily pretend nothing happened." Jiang Nian's voice rang out like a demon's.

"The group leader really has a three-minute attention span—it's only ten words." Zhang Ningzhi whispered, especially grating.

"Eat shit, eat shit!!!" Li Hua hopped with frustration, about done with these two—colluding to oppress the group leader.

They've all rebelled! All of them!

Still, he figured the main blame lay with Jiang Nian. Bored beyond reason—does anyone really sit and watch someone else memorize words for over ten minutes?

Jiang Nian clicked his tongue, too lazy to bother with Li Hua.

Everyone curses me, but I'm honestly not much better either.

Class committee member Tao Ran walked in from outside the classroom carrying a stack of Chinese test papers. Standing at the podium, he said listlessly, "blah blah blah, weekly test."

The class immediately began the muscle-memory routine of clearing desks, grabbing their things, and getting up to find their weekly-test seats, whispering among themselves.

"What's up with Tao Ran? Took an afternoon off and came back this drained?"

"Who knows—I heard he has a beast-eared girl figurine at home as tall as a person. Just hearsay, probably turned in his homework."

"Damn, for real?"

"No idea, but what if it's true?"

Zhou Yuting walked past the classroom aisle, hearing these nasty comments, her expression turning somewhat ugly.

After finally scouting out a guy with good looks and decent manners, he just happened to have no interest in three-dimensional things.

The people in this class... each one more outrageous than the last—what kind of behavior is this?

Before the weekly test began, test papers and answer sheets fluttered down like snowflakes, passed from front to back.

Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong's weekly-test seats were still next to each other.

Li Qingrong took the answer sheet, her long lashes dipping slightly. Her body turned a small amount, the corner of her eye sweeping past Jiang Nian's face.

He was resting one hand on the test paper, meticulously filling in his name.

【Li Hua Fa De】

Seeing this, Li Qingrong froze for a moment.

Her mind spun for a few seconds before realizing "fa de" was the Chinese homophone of an English word. But she still found it strange—this was a weekly test that would count toward grades.

The next second, she saw Jiang Nian begin filling in his name and student number on the answer sheet. Almost instinctively she held her breath, hesitating whether to warn him not to mess around.

However, Jiang Nian didn't scribble nonsense—he honestly wrote his own name and student number on the answer sheet.

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes, somewhat speechless.

So you scribble freely on the test paper just because it doesn't have to be handed in?

Her expression was flat, showing no emotional fluctuation. The quick-dry pen moved to the information column, and she swiftly filled in the details.

Two hours later.

Jiang Nian clicked off the last word of his essay, then tossed his pen aside with a clack. Half an hour ahead of schedule, not a single word changed.

Don't talk about checking it over — one extra glance and he'd count it as his loss.

So... the remaining half hour was all free time, and a portion of the class's speed-demons had already finished their papers too.

Buzz, buzz, buzz — the sounds of chatting and talking layered over one another.

He brazenly let out a whistle, then habitually leaned over to peek at Li Qingrong's paper. Then he saw Li Qingrong freeze, as if she'd been hit with a time-stop.

"Why'd you stop writing?" Jiang Nian asked.

The class president, "time-stopped," didn't respond. Her gaze stayed locked on the essay answer sheet, like a wooden dummy.

Li Qingrong turned her head and gave him a warning glance, then said in a low voice.

"You... stop staring at me."

"Oh, oh, alright then." Jiang Nian covered his face with both hands, then tilted his head slightly, peeking at the class president's essay through the gaps in his fingers.

Li Qingrong: "

Some people only learn which comes first — the oil or a certain someone — once they've been dropped into a frying pan.

Ten minutes before the exam ended, Li Qingrong finished her paper ahead of time. She didn't check the answer sheet, just stared down at the test paper in a daze.

Ten minutes earlier, Jiang Nian had taken advantage of a moment when Li Hua — seated to his front-right — slipped off his shoes during the exam, and had already pulled out his shoelaces.

At this moment he was negotiating with the other party, the two of them going back and forth.

"F—ck, hand it over!"

"I didn't take it."

"Shit, you f—cking shameless bastard!"

"Nope."

Suddenly, Jiang Nian felt his arm get poked.

He turned his head, only to find Li Qingrong still in the same pose, seemingly staring at the answer sheet to check it. He couldn't help feeling puzzled — why poke him?

He looked down and saw the class president's test paper had slid across the desk.

On it was a line of neat, delicate handwriting.

【Play badminton during Wednesday's PE class?】

No way, class prez... the Chinese exam paper is for this kind of use?

The point clearly wasn't that.

Jiang Nian's gaze swept over that line of small writing, his expression wavering for a moment.

The big joint exam was being held this weekend, so review time was actually a bit tight.

A trivial little class like PE — he had actually been planning to use it for doing problems. After all, the drive to secretly grind was more than enough.

Everyone else is playing, and you're studying.

Straight-up transform into a — 【Super Saiyan】!! No stopping, just grind!

But... the class president had invited him to play together, and Jiang Nian didn't want to give up the chance to hang out with a pretty girl either. After all, playing ball builds affection — once you're playing, who knows what might happen.

Affection is built up bit by bit; one day it'll just fall into place.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but have some less-than-pure thoughts in his head. Same as when he'd been hugged by the two girls during the mountain climb — inevitably, he looked up.

Wait, no — the class president isn't at the age for dating yet, still a few months off.

Then forget it.

He coughed, planning to refuse on the grounds of studying.

He turned his head and met Li Qingrong's gaze.

Her expression was faintly dim, not obviously so — like the tiniest flaw on a piece of celadon.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then said with half a sigh.

"I was originally planning to grind problems that day, but if it's playing badminton with you, then I won't. It's just... we can't go to that court to play."

Hearing that, Li Qingrong was slightly stunned.

So the other's moment of hesitation hadn't been about finding an excuse to refuse. It was because of the venue — the court near the teaching building had already been banned for badminton.

She pressed her lips together, then wrote beneath that line on the Chinese paper.

"We can go to a different court."

Jiang Nian agreed without even thinking. "Okay."

"Mm." Li Qingrong's expression eased a little.

After the papers were collected, the class returned to their original seats.

Jiang Nian went to use the restroom, and checked his phone messages on the way. His coach had sent him a message, asking if he had time to take the Subject 1 test next Wednesday.

He typed back to refuse, asking if it could be moved to Thursday.

Coach Lao Tian replied instantly, "(Fist bump) Works for me, haven't booked yet. Once Thursday's set, I'll let the boss know."

"OK." Jiang Nian sent back an OK sticker that no Korean man could accept.

Boss Jiang is very busy.

He put away his phone and opened the system that hadn't popped up a message in days. Ever since he'd grabbed that free-purchase perk last time, the system had gone quiet.

Looks generous, but it's the same logic as a JD. com gift card.

The system's stingy too — what's the harm in giving him a car? Bro's already eighteen, wouldn't having his own Porsche make him even more successful?

He stood in the hallway letting the breeze hit him for a while, then headed back to the classroom.

Fourth-period evening self-study.

Having just finished the weekly test, the classroom was a little restless.

Jiang Nian glanced at Zhang Ningzhi beside him and asked kindly.

"Are your hands cold?"

Zhang Ningzhi was working on a problem and gave him a suspicious look at the question. She thought to herself that if she said she was cold, he'd definitely make his move.

So she shook her head and said.

"Not cold."

"Oh, is that so? I'm pretty cold." Jiang Nian said as he slipped his hand into Baby Zhizhi's coat pocket to warm it.

Zhang Ningzhi was stunned speechless.

"You—" "What? You said you weren't cold yourself, you cheapskate." Jiang Nian pulled his hand back, slumped over the desk, and started muttering.

Zhang Ningzhi was furious and punched his leg.

"Drop dead!"

Before long, Old Liu came in from outside the classroom.

The weekly Sunday evening self-study period's routine class meeting was, as always, the same old tune—after the talk about fire prevention, electrical safety, and drowning prevention.

Then suddenly he added.

"Ah, that thing—tomorrow there's a study excellence symposium, two people from each class to attend. There are grade requirements, as the name suggests, top-notch—"

"I don't think we need to vote, just pick two from the honors students."

Old Liu walked to the door and looked for a while at last week's test score sheet posted on the wall. Without even asking who the honors students were, he went straight to the scores.

"Yu Zhiyi, and then the other one is—" Old Liu paused for a moment, then suddenly saw Jiang Nian's name. Remembering that he seemed to have given up his honors slot, out of a sense of compensation—

"Then... Jiang Nian it is. The venue is on the sixth floor of the administration building—"

Jiang Nian was a bit confused and looked up at Old Liu.

Old Liu! Bro, I'm not an honors student anymore!

Has menopause hit you so hard you've gone senile?

Old Liu had already moved on to other matters, and Jiang Nian couldn't be bothered to correct him.

He stacked eleven biology test papers together, brimming with a sense of accomplishment. He'd specially marked them up, just waiting to farm experience points tomorrow.

Reviewing like this seems very simple.

But it's just like Chunan's first time being intimate—putting on a relaxed front. Ask and it's "easy peasy,"

when in reality you have no idea where to start.

After a whole night of studying, he was about to crack the math problems.

The important stuff—zero clue.

So by the same logic, the entry point for review is crucial.

Jiang Nian's strength lay in a solid foundation in memorization-based subjects; blindly charging at physics couldn't be said to be useless, only that the effect was minimal.

Grind problems for a week, and the ones you know don't get tested, the ones you don't know all get tested.

Biology was different—grind problems and master the approach, and the scores would rise no matter how the questions were set.

At the very least, he'd secured a strong start on the science comprehensive, which could free up more problem-solving time for chemistry and physics later.

In both the short and long term, it was a pretty good deal.

School was almost out.

Jiang Nian glanced at Zhang Ningzhi again and asked once more.

"Are your hands cold?"

Zhang Ningzhi immediately shut her mouth, thinking he was going to use his pocket again. She didn't want to warm the bad guy's hands—let him freeze to death.

"Cold!"

Saying so, she stuffed her left hand into her pocket in advance.

"What a coincidence, I'm cold too." Jiang Nian brazenly slipped his hand into her coat pocket, gave her hand a quiet squeeze, then pulled it out.

Zhang Ningzhi's eyes went wide. "Don't you have your own pockets?"

"My family's poor, my pockets aren't as warm as yours." Jiang Nian grinned, then suddenly remembered he still had several pairs of gloves stockpiled at home.

Last month, to complete the system's spending task, he'd bought some appliances and clothes to pad the order.

Because the weather wasn't cold back then, they'd been sitting in the wardrobe. So much so that only now did he remember—perfect timing to repay a favor.

After all, the cushion on his stool was still a gift from Zhang Ningzhi.

He'd bring them tomorrow, to avoid getting turned down.

So the question arose—should he just give some to a few more people?

For instance... good buddies.

After thinking for a moment, he gave up on this dangerous idea. Being clever for its own sake wasn't a good thing—the styles were too similar to hide.

Li Hua put on a shameless face and said coyly.

"Me... me too, my hands are cold too~"

"Oh really, baby? Which hand is cold, let me see." Jiang Nian said, "Here's a punch for you, useless thing!"

"Eat shit!" Li Hua turned away.

That did remind Jiang Nian—exactly five pairs, and they weren't expensive anyway, so he'd give one pair to each person in the five-person little group.