Chapter 335: You're saying you can play all day without a phone

Zhou Yuting drifted in a daze, not even knowing how she made it out of the school gate.

"Can we do it some other way?"

Up ahead, Jiang Nian didn't even turn his head as his figure melted into the night.

"No."

She gritted her teeth, rushed in front of Jiang Nian, and blocked his path.

"Why won't you give me a chance?"

"Fine, then go explain it to the teachers at the Dean's Office. See if they give you a chance." Jiang Nian walked around her and kept going.

Zhou Yuting froze, weighing the lesser of two evils. If she really had to choose, she would still pick screwing over Liu Feipeng.

After all, the promotion exam she was implicated in—she didn't dare gamble on the school's attitude. Even if she escaped punishment, it would be a devastating blow.

But screwing over Liu Feipeng didn't matter; he was a discarded piece to begin with. No matter how bad things got now, at worst it would just mean an open falling-out. Once she came back to her senses, she went after Jiang Nian. But she found he was already about to ride off, and her face changed instantly.

"Hey, I haven't gotten on yet!"

With a squeak, Jiang Nian braked the bike and waited for the gasping Zhou Yuting to catch up, then said, "Take a taxi."

With that, he sped off like a puff of smoke.

In the night wind, Zhou Yuting stood dumbfounded on the road outside the school. Staring at the receding taillights, she was so angry her silver molars nearly shattered.

"Bastard!"

She understood perfectly well that Jiang Nian's attitude was no different from telling her: if she didn't handle this well, there was no friendship to speak of either.

In fact, she had misunderstood.

Jiang Nian couldn't care less about Zhou Yuting's thoughts, or even whether she could pull it off—he only needed Zhou Yuting to be present.

A tool is just a tool—who cares about a tool's feelings,

As for why he didn't let Zhou Yuting hitch a ride along the way, it was because Jiang Nian knew Zhou Yuting, this person, all too well.

The moment his attitude softened even slightly, Zhou Yuting would immediately start haggling with him.

After years of being together, Jiang Nian not only knew how to raise her favorability. He also knew how to stoke her negative emotions, to pour cold water on her.

After arriving at the KTV.

Jiang Nian didn't go straight in; he casually parked and pulled out the key.

Before long, Zhou Yuting arrived too.

Jiang Nian had already spoken with Zhou Yuting on the phone on the way, so she knew what she was supposed to do.

She shot Jiang Nian an indignant glare, then said helplessly.

"They're all here, let's go in together."

In the past, Zhou Yuting would never have taken him seriously. Now that the situation had flipped, her attitude unconsciously changed.

Even if she wouldn't admit it out loud, in her heart she had already elevated Jiang Nian's status to the top.

Because she was a textbook case of princess syndrome—having been the sole ruler of her little circle for so long, she took herself far too seriously.

Faced with a dimensionality-reducing blow from outside, she would turn soft and weak.

"Mm, let's go."

Jiang Nian walked ahead, entering the dimly lit KTV. Two people appeared at the far end of the corridor, walking toward the exit.

He couldn't make them out from afar, but as they drew near he realized it was Coach Lao Tian.

Coach Lao Tian spotted Jiang Nian too, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. Then he patted the person beside him before greeting Jiang Nian.

"Haha, boss isn't in class?"

He remembered another VIP student who taught English mentioning that the young boss was close to six hundred points, a sure bet for a key university.

"Took the day off, came to hang out." Jiang Nian smiled, then asked, "By the way, did my instructor pass Subject Two?"

"Just barely missed it." Coach Lao Tian looked a bit awkward.

Jiang Nian always felt that "just barely missed it" made Qian Bao's results seem a little more padded than they were.

"Boss, you can definitely do it. You'll have your license before the end of next month." Coach Lao Tian suddenly started making bold predictions.

"You can start picking out a car now. A big Audi."

Jiang Nian looked at Coach Tian. "Right now I can only afford a Yadea. If I insist on driving, I'd have to borrow the coach's Audi."

Hearing this, Tian Yongsheng laughed as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world, laughing until tears came out.

"As long as the boss wants to drive, what car can't you afford?"

Zhou Yuting stood beside them watching their chat, completely lost the entire time.

Only after the two middle-aged men left did she come back to her senses. Her mind was filled with driver's licenses, and... Audis and BMWs.

"You... got a driver's license?"

"Mm." Jiang Nian replied casually, about to step forward, then asked, "Which way?"

"Oh oh, it's over there, follow me." Zhou Yuting quickened her pace two steps, hiding the stunned and shocked expression on her face.

He hasn't even finished the college entrance exam yet, and he already has a driver's license?

Liu Feipeng has a driver's license too, but that was only because he was two years older than his peers, so he got his license during the summer break of Gao Er.

But he drove his dad's car, an old-model BMW.

So, Jiang Nian has one too?

She had no way of knowing what kind of car he had. But judging by his words and expression, that coach's demeanor didn't seem like a joke.

So, Jiang Nian can really afford a car?

And it's not the kind of car-buying where someone does poorly in school, plans to drop out a bit, and gets a BYD to run Didi rides.

Zhou Yuting was dumbfounded, her head buzzing.

She knew Jiang Nian's family circumstances best—not exactly poor. If the family really pushed, they could still scrape together gold coins for a bride price.

After spending all the gold coins, he'd probably be back to broke overnight. He could only be considered a fairly ordinary, normal family in a small county town—no comparison to nouveau riche Liu Feipeng's household.

But now... Zhou Yuting suddenly realized she didn't seem to understand Jiang Nian at all.

If it was real, she hoped it wasn't. If it was fake, that Jiang Nian had deliberately spent money to hire someone to show off, she hoped it was real.

Inside the KTV private room.

The yellow beer swayed twice in the diamond-patterned embossed square glass, clinked against something with a ding, and white foam leapt over the rim.

The dim light passing through the glass made it seem even dimmer.

The musty sofa smell stewing in the private room made one feel dizzy. Liu Feipeng sat on the center sofa, drinking leisurely.

His eyes were full of composure, a faint, elusive smile hanging on his face.

Ever since the last gathering had failed, he'd turned his attention to his career. Now, the number of his underlings had doubled.

Liu Feipeng watched his trusted underlings snatch the microphone, or wildly show off the fruit platter. Heroic feelings welled up in his chest, and he wished he could dash off some impassioned prose right then.

Damn, this feels great!

He suddenly thought again of that girl who held the microphone and sang sweetly, her smile like a flower, and the smile on his face faded.

That was his regret, an untouchable wound in his heart.

Without a doubt, Zhou Yuting was worthy of the title of the woman by Big Brother's side. Whether looks or emotional intelligence, both were top-notch.

Even if he accomplished great things later, he figured he wouldn't become a heartless man.

But it was only falling flowers with intent, flowing water without feeling. During this period he'd basically been unable to reach Zhou Yuting, the reasons hard to say.

In his gloom, he could only focus on his career.

But what surprised him was that Zhou Yuting had contacted him yesterday. She'd said quite a lot, saying she wanted to invite him out to get together.

Liu Feipeng had a premonition that Zhou Yuting definitely wanted to get back together with him.

The door was pushed open.

Zhou Yuting walked in, her fresh young face free of makeup. A sharply defined jaw, a slender figure and beautiful legs.

Liu Feipeng narrowed his eyes, watching the fresh and charming Zhou Yuting, his throat bobbing without meaning to.

A glass of wine went down his throat, and only then did he suppress his restless emotions.

A proper smile appeared on his face, and he was about to stand up. But then he saw another person come in through the door—Jiang Nian!

Yet the next second, Jiang Nian said to Zhou Yuting.

"Sorry, my girlfriend keeps too tight a leash on me, I'm a bit late."

Zhou Yuting found it hard to keep a straight face—this was a scene outside the script.

She could see clearly enough now: that bastard Jiang Nian, to keep himself out of it, wasn't even above fabricating a girlfriend as a lie.

Truly the dregs among the despicable, a shameless wretch.

Liu Feipeng froze for a moment, thinking to himself, Jiang Nian already has a girlfriend?

But then again, it made sense—finding a girlfriend wasn't hard for him.

Then the reason Zhou Yuting brought Jiang Nian to the KTV was obvious too: to avoid awkwardness, she'd called her classmate Jiang Nian along.

Looking at it this way, it was Le Zhi, who'd once stood up for Jiang Nian, who'd ended up the clown.

Some were in love, some had moved up a class. As the saying goes, adults have no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

And he himself would be the winner tonight.

Thinking of this, Liu Feipeng stood up with a glass of beer in hand. He walked toward Zhou Yuting, a calm smile on his face.

"Yuting, you arrived early—why didn't you come up? It's warm in the private room. Could it be that after moving up a class, you've grown distant from us?"

After he finished, he secretly congratulated himself on how eloquent his words were.

He'd both taken a jab at Jiang Nian and put pressure on Zhou Yuting at the same time. And he'd given Zhou Yuting a way out, showing he cared about her.

The two canceling each other out, Zhou Yuting would use this topic to come back to his side.

As for Jiang Nian, after the awkwardness he'd be pushed to the margins. Later they'd switch venues to play, and the broke loser should just get lost.

Zhou Yuting shook her head and forced a smile.

"I just felt it had been so long, I was embarrassed to come up."

After speaking, Zhou Yuting sat down directly beside Jiang Nian. She didn't lean toward Liu Feipeng's side, and the atmosphere turned awkward again.

But after Liu Feipeng filled in the blanks himself, he felt this must be Zhou Yuting playing hard to get.

Otherwise she wouldn't have brought along a Jiang Nian who had a girlfriend to come with her—it was just the old play-hard-to-get routine.

It could make him jealous, without making him angry.

Having the cover of being Jiang Nian's classmate on that side, everything was perfectly justified, leaving no room for criticism.

That was so Zhou Yuting.

After the two sat down, Liu Feipeng called for a few more fruit platters.

Jiang Nian sat down without a word, burying his head in eating and drinking. Had to say, there wasn't anything good in a KTV, the taste was just so-so.

But the upside was it was fresh—he usually couldn't be bothered to go buy fruit.

This directly amused Liu Feipeng. In his excellent mood, in a tone he considered humorous and joking, he said.

"Want me to order you a Shaxian rice bowl?"

"Sure, I've heard the kitchens inside KTVs are all filthy." Jiang Nian picked his teeth with a toothpick, his expression unreadable in the dim light.

"You can shade me all you want, I don't use my brain anyway. Dealing with idiots, thinking too much burns brain cells."

Liu Feipeng froze for a moment—he hadn't expected Jiang Nian's attack to be this strong. His face immediately fell, and he stared at him fixedly.

The underlings beside him all stood up too, unfriendly looks on their faces.

Jiang Nian didn't even look up. If this bunch in the private room were decent guys from vocational school, he'd immediately turn tail and run without a second word.

Unfortunately, they weren't.