Chapter 347: Qingbao's Little Pride

In the classroom.

Li Qingrong glanced at the answers on the blackboard, then lowered her eyes to look at her own test paper, the red pen hovering without falling.

From the desk in front, Jiang Nian suddenly turned around.

"How many did you get wrong?"

Li Qingrong looked once more at the math test paper that didn't have a single red mark, then looked at Jiang Nian, and held out the red pen in her hand.

"Do you want a red pen?"

Hearing that, Jiang Nian was instantly struck as if by lightning.

No way.

You didn't get a single one wrong?

"Sure then, lend me the red pen." He took the red pen from the class monitor's hand, turned back around, and quietly buried himself in correcting his answers.

Correcting the math paper, he didn't say a single word.

He turned his head to look at Zhang Ningzhi beside him—she was also silent. Pinching a red pen, she sat there correcting, writing and calculating.

Zhang Ningzhi sensed it, turned her head, and met his gaze for a moment.

Miserable.

Bitter smiles appeared on both their faces as they began probing each other.

Jiang Nian: "Zhizhi, how many multiple choice did you get wrong?"

Zhang Ningzhi's face turned bitter, and she whimpered twice.

"One."

Hearing that, the smile vanished from Jiang Nian's face once more. In its place was a solemn expression, his eyes fixed intently on Zhizhi.

"One? Five points off?"

"Yeah." Zhang Ningzhi's face drooped.

"Which means out of sixty points for multiple choice, you got fifty-five." Jiang Nian rubbed his face. "You must have gotten a lot wrong on the fill-in-the-blanks, right?"

"Didn't get them wrong." Zhang Ningzhi nodded.

Jiang Nian hesitated, then asked word by word.

"When you say 'didn't get them wrong'—does that mean you didn't get a single one wrong, or are you just agreeing with me?"

"Didn't get a single one wrong." Zhang Ningzhi said.

"Hahaha." Jiang Nian was instantly amused into laughing out of exasperation. He rubbed his face. "You mean to say out of multiple choice plus fill-in-the-blanks, you only got one wrong?"

Zhang Ningzhi fell silent, and stole a timid glance at Jiang Nian.

"How many did you get wrong?"

"Four." Jiang Nian exchanged a look with Zhang Ningzhi, thinking to himself that if she dared laugh, she was done for tonight.

Zhang Ningzhi pressed her lips together, lifted her head slightly. Her gaze drifted to the ceiling, thinking to herself that if she laughed out loud, she was done for.

That little vengeful cat was petty and held grudges.

Jiang Nian stared—

Zhang Ningzhi rubbed her face, her gaze fixed straight ahead. She coughed once—ahem—and under the bright lamplight, her dimples dipped in.

She spread her hands toward Jiang Nian, signaling that she hadn't laughed.

"Teacher Zhizhi." Jiang Nian stared at her and said, "Do you know what the Foolish Old Man's last words to his sons were before he died?"

Zhang Ningzhi heard that, felt she didn't really want to laugh anymore, and so shook her head.

"I don't know."

"Move the mountain, move the mountain." Jiang Nian put on an expression like he was about to breathe his last, then sang, "Twinkle twinkle little star."

Zhang Ningzhi couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

"Haha, what even is that?"

Jiang Nian's face changed instantly, and he pointed at Zhang Ningzhi.

"Great, I knew you'd laugh at my score. You got one wrong on multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks, I got four wrong. Is that funny?"

"I didn't!" Zhang Ningzhi immediately puffed up with indignation. "You're the one who made me laugh on purpose, I didn't laugh at all."

"Setting all that aside, you still laughed." Jiang Nian immediately began roughhousing with Zhang Ningzhi, then hijacked a box of drinks.

Zhang Ningzhi had actually bombed the exam too—her estimated score was around 120. Only slightly better than Jiang Nian, whose estimate was in the low 110s.

Logically speaking, Zhang Ningzhi should have scored in the 130s or 140s.

On the big questions, she'd misread the conditions, calculated in the wrong direction for ages, wasted time, and that led to errors on the solid geometry as well.

A chain of mistakes dragged her down into the 120-point territory.

Originally Zhang Ningzhi had indeed been feeling pretty down, but after Jiang Nian stirred things up like this, she instantly felt like maybe it wasn't so bad.

A faint, almost imperceptible curve lingered at her lips—she had successfully汲取 emotional value.

Li Hua wasn't in the classroom during the first evening self-study period; he'd run off to the office to chat with the math teacher, and didn't return until the second evening self-study period.

At this point, the three blackboards in the classroom were filled with biology answers. A group of people crowded around the podium, comparing answers and correcting their papers.

Li Hua glanced at the biology answers on the blackboard and couldn't help but yawn.

"At a rough glance, it looks like I got them all right."

After saying that, he immediately struck a defensive posture at his seat, guarding against an attack from Jiang Nian—a chokehold, an Overlord Fist.

However, seven or eight seconds passed.

Silence.

Li Hua peeked through his defensive posture at his deskmate Jiang Nian, only to see that this person's expression was calm, with absolutely no reaction.

"Nian, what's gotten into you?"

Jiang Nian sighed but said nothing, only pointing at the blackboard ahead with an utterly exhausted voice.

"How many biology questions did you get wrong?"

"One multiple-choice and one fill-in-the-blank, maybe ninety-one," Li Hua declared, revealing his true colors.

But when he turned around, he saw Jiang Nian smiling.

"What are you smiling at?"

Jiang Nian's lips curled up. "Hua, I got one short-answer wrong—lost three points."

Li Hua froze for a moment, thinking he was dreaming.

"How much?"

Hearing this, his usual biology-correcting desk partner Zhang Ningzhi turned around, staring at Jiang Nian in disbelief.

"Huh?"

"Wait, you really got ninety-seven in biology?" Li Hua, who always dominated, cracked slightly and blurted it out.

At that moment, the group members in front and half the class turned to look at Jiang Nian.

"How much?"

"Ninety-seven? That's insane!"

"That's only three points short of full marks—can anyone even get full marks on this damn test? I only got sixty-something in biology!"

The news that Jiang Nian scored ninety-seven in biology caused a major stir in the class. Scores weren't important—progress was.

Under Qing Bao's training, Jiang Nian improved by thirty points in biology—the value of that gain spoke for itself.

Students weak in biology naturally trusted Qing Bao more than any paid online biology course.

After all, online course "masters" were manufactured, but Jiang Nian's progress—everyone in class had seen it with their own eyes, a living example.

Yang Qiming shook his head and clicked his tongue twice.

"What kind of monster is Jiang Nian?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuting thought Jiang Nian truly was a complete monster. But then she paused, and felt a pang of sorrow.

Jiang Nian was nearly scoring full marks in biology, yet she still hadn't found her strength.

Wang Yuhe clenched her fist and wrote the number ninety-eight on her test paper—next provincial mock exam, she would surpass Jiang Nian.

After finishing this, she turned to Chen Yunyun.

"Yunyun, if I spent time on biology, I could score ninety-eight next time!"

"Mm-hmm, yeah," Chen Yunyun replied, pulling her gaze away—she estimated her own biology score at eighty-two. "How did he do it?"

Yu Zhiyi was stunned. Could a human really score this? They were all from the same biology enrichment group—how could the gap be so huge?

No good. I need him to get that thing done fast.

I'm taking the biology representative position!

Sun Zhicheng didn't care—he was obsessed with chemistry. He didn't care about biology, only about Chen Yunyun in the front row of their group.

He was waiting for the right opportunity, believing the class monitor could rein in Jiang Nian.

This time, he would win.

Yu Tongjie's eyes darkened as he gripped his biology test—scored under sixty. His mood was at its lowest; he wanted to switch classes.

Before the mock exam, Teacher Liu had spoken with him. The rumors from others had severely shaken his mindset, even causing a total breakdown.

Aside from math and English, all other subjects had collapsed. Switching groups was now a luxury; switching classes might still be possible.

He recalled what his mother had told him yesterday: the Zero Class had one "auditor" slot, allowing one student to transfer.

This was what Vice Principal Ji Ming had personally told his parents—likely true, a real chance to enter Zero Class.

Yu Tongjie remembered he had an acquaintance in Zero Class. But if he accepted, it would be a public admission he got in through backdoor connections.

Face, or substance?

But then he realized something else: if he started fresh in Zero Class and returned transformed, what would Jiang Nian matter then?

Strong survive, weak perish!

During the second break.

"I think the Imperial Jade Seal is just a rock," Li Hua was rambling. "In essence, it has no real value."

"You're right," Jiang Nian nodded, looking up. "But if His Majesty found it, that's another story."

"Jiang Nian, the teacher wants you," Yu Zhiyi walked to his desk and called out, then silently stared at him.

But Jiang Nian only said "Oh," then stood up and left.

Yu Zhiyi didn't know if he'd understood her hint at all—she grew both angry and anxious, stomping her foot in frustration.

She thought: now that Jiang Nian's score is out, Qing Bao's teaching status will skyrocket—and so will the biology representative position.

Thinking of this, she grew even more desperate.

In the Integrated Science Office, lights blazed brightly.

Piles of answer sheets lay on desks; students from every class came and went—some checking scores, others asking questions.

The scene was bustling, lively beyond measure.

In the corner of the office.

Teacher Qing Bao sat hunched at her desk, holding a cup of tea, another steaming cup of jasmine tea resting beside her.

Qing Bao wasn't plump—she had a slender, bone-structured beauty, yet every curve was perfectly in place, a natural mannequin.

Even sitting silently in the office, she drew glances from passing students.

Since answer sheets from all classes were mixed together, each class had to send someone to manually search—so the office was packed with students.

Several boys took advantage of this to linger in the office for long stretches.

The scene was too chaotic—leaders were all in meetings, no one was watching, and many students took the chance to wander freely.

It wasn't until Jiang Nian walked in from outside the office.

The moment this boy, who looked like a young poplar tree in midsummer, appeared, his dark eyes swept the room and he grinned.

"Teacher, you wanted to see me?"

As he spoke, he didn't even look at the others in the office. He walked straight to Qingbao's desk, and before he even sat down, he had the tea in his hand.

He held the disposable cup, gave it a gentle blow, didn't ask anything, and took a small sip straight from it, then sat down.

"Are the grades out?" he asked with a smile.

Qingbao nodded, a faint smile appearing on her face as well.

"Biology 97. Not a bad score."

The student's result was beyond her expectations—almost something she could take a little pride in.

"It's all because the teacher taught well. When I was doing the questions, it felt really—" Jiang Nian meant to say "smooth," but the word that popped out of his mouth was "moist."

Qingbao pulled a combined-sciences test paper from the desk, spread open the biology section's fill-in-the-blanks for the big questions, and pointed at a certain genetics problem.

"You shouldn't have gotten this one wrong."

A few boys in the office stared blankly at the pretty biology teacher, who was gently and softly explaining the problem to that infuriating guy.

Hate, hate, hate—they wished they could take his place.

But after all it was only one small sub-question, when a figure suddenly appeared at the office doorway.

Old Liu walked in.

Seeing Qingbao explaining a problem to Jiang Nian, he was first taken aback.

Then, unexpectedly, he stopped right where he was and waited, nervously rubbing his hands together. He didn't even take out his phone, just stood there listening on the spot.

After the explanation was done, Qingbao greeted Old Liu.

"Go on, Teacher Liu might have something to discuss with you."

Old Liu, hearing this, immediately felt something was off. Clearly Jiang Nian was his student too, yet he had this feeling of Emperor Ming Taizu and Lan Yu's adopted son.

Step back, I command you all to step back.

"Teacher, you wanted to see me?" Jiang Nian walked out of the office.

"Yes, step back—no, come with me." Old Liu pulled himself together. "Aside from the Chinese score, the grades for all the other subjects are out."

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