Chapter 349: Winning the Lottery

Late at night, at the school gate.

Xu Qianqian tilted her head, glanced at someone, and chirped in a light, quick voice.

"Scores come out by Tuesday at the latest. No point hiding it."

"We'll talk later. Are you conceding on your own?" Jiang Nian looked at Xu Qianqian. "Don't really go for it, you'll just be unhappy again."

"Oh, then did you break one-thirty on math?" She cast a straight hook, hard, trying to read something on Jiang Nian's face.

However, she failed.

On Jiang Nian's face: three parts smile, three parts sleep-numbed blank stupidity, two parts high-spirited vigor, and another two parts dejected loss.

Like a game of face-changing, a riot of colors.

"What are you doing?" Xu Qianqian was a bit speechless. "Changing back and forth like that, aren't you afraid you'll end up with a face like Kitano Takeshi, all paralyzed?"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian instantly returned to normal, pinched the soft flesh of Xu Qianqian's arm, and said—

"Then forget it. The whole of Asia's looks are propped up by two men. One is Daniel Wu, and he's already old. I can't afford any more trouble."

"If you're going to talk, just talk. Why are you pinching me?" Xu Qianqian broke out in goosebumps all over, slapped him hard. "Messing with me?"

"Collecting some interest in advance." Jiang Nian's face was utterly indifferent.

Jiang Nian's one sentence instantly made Xu Qianqian tense up again.

Her expression shifted slightly, her heart couldn't help but start drumming. She thought, he wouldn't really—?

The two of them ambled along and made their way home.

The instant before Xu Qianqian shut her front door, she glanced at the door opposite. Jiang Nian, also about to enter his home, suddenly called out to him.

"Jiang Nian."

Jiang Nian had one hand twisting open his front door. Hearing this, he turned to look at Xu Qianqian. The hallway was dim, his expression unreadable.

"Mm?"

Xu Qianqian gripped the door handle and asked weakly.

"Can I get a discount?"

"No way. Women are just cruel to themselves." Jiang Nian refused sternly. "Tsk tsk, if your legs are discounted how would you even get to school."

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian instantly flushed red.

"You illiterate fool! That's discount, she!"

Bang! The door shut.

Jiang Nian clicked his tongue, thinking: now that it's raining you know to bring an umbrella. A draw costs half a loss—when there's a chance to win, why the hell would you surrender?

With a clang, he shut the door, and while changing shoes, opened up a game.

On the other side, Xu Qianqian set down her backpack. Absentmindedly she picked out a change of clothes, hugged them into the bathroom, and quietly took a shower.

Halfway through washing, she suddenly flared up in annoyance.

In the empty bathroom, she punched hard at the stream of water.

"Go to hell, Jiang Nian!"

That night, Xu Qianqian tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

She both hoped Jiang Nian's total score wouldn't reach six hundred and ten, and didn't want him to truly bomb. Best case: above six hundred, below six hundred and ten.

But—Jiang Nian's various reactions seemed to foreshadow a certain outcome.

The moment she thought of the bet, Xu Qianqian felt miserable.

Before today's exam was over, she had always habitually baited Jiang Nian. Holding the idea that rather than let some green-tea bitch bait him, she'd do it herself.

At the very least, it could motivate him to be more positive and upward-striving.

Wouldn't that be playing with fire and burning herself?

The next day.

Jiang Nian had slept well and felt refreshed all over.

After washing up, he grabbed his bag and headed out.

The moment he bent his head to change shoes, he saw the wall calendar. November had already been flipped past, replaced by a brand-new page.

December.

He stared blankly for a while, inevitably feeling a bit dazed.

Three major exams had transformed him from a four-hundred-point mid-to-lower student in the regular class into an ordinary top student gunning for the 600-point realm.

The system had also turned him from a three-hundred-yuan high school boy into a rich guy with three hundred thousand in savings.

Bro's gotta live it up with this kind of net worth.

"What are you eating?"

White steam rolled before the bun shop; dawn had not yet broken at the end of the street. The boss, a plastic bag reversed over his hand, stood facing the boy before him.

"All kinds of buns, or the usual?"

Jiang Nian was slightly surprised, and after realizing the boss had remembered him, felt a bit awkward. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded.

"Then the usual."

Before long, a combo of fresh buns came out of the oven.

With a beep, Jiang Nian finished paying and turned to leave. In his heart he was mulling: maybe tomorrow he'd try a different bun shop.

The whole cow, huh?

Quite the opposite.

If he kept patronizing this bun shop, then one day didn't go. Passing by, he'd feel guilty instead, always feeling like he owed the guy.

After going upstairs.

Jiang Nian took out the test paper, thought about it, then put it back, and instead pulled out a bound volume of Ah Shuai from Li Hua's drawer.

Outside, the sky was just beginning to lighten; the classroom lights were snow-white, quiet and spacious.

He flipped open a page of *A Shui*, reading it with great relish.

Half an hour later.

Yao Bei Bei lingered by the classroom's front door for a moment, peeking inside.

Seeing Jiang Nian at his seat, she walked straight over toward him.

*Plonk*—she dropped her backpack onto Li Hua's desk, gave Jiang Nian a hearty slap on the back, and looked at him with a mysterious, honeyed smile.

"I've got some news for you. You're definitely going to be interested."

"What?"

Yao Bei Bei put on a secretive air, pointed upward, and spat out a few words.

"An enemy descends from the heavens."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian could barely hold it together.

"Holy hell, 'enemy from the heavens'—you've been reading too many xianxia novels too, just like Ceng You?"

"Pfft, isn't Class Zero basically heaven?" Yao Bei Bei pouted. "Someone from Class Zero is coming down, and they picked our class."

"Huh? Why?" Huang Fang in the row ahead turned around too, a fierce fighting spirit for the Class Zero challenger gleaming in her eyes.

*Mortal-tier cultivator, I wield one sword. *

"What else could it be? They couldn't stand being in Class Zero anymore." Yao Bei Bei said. "The pace over there is insane—I heard they start school in July."

"While we were on summer break, Class Zero had already started their first review cycle. By now they're probably halfway through the second."

"Then why are they coming to our class?" Jiang Nian asked.

Yao Bei Bei was speechless, then explained.

"Because we're the top of the science-competition tier. Anyone from Class Zero voluntarily transferring down, if they had half a brain, would only come to our class."

"If someone from Class Zero comes down, they'd have to go to Group Eleven, right?" Jiang Nian asked.

Class Three had seventy-one students in total, including one who took a leave of absence right at the start of the semester and another bro who went home to self-study in September.

Apart from those two special cases, they weren't in class even before Jiang Nian moved up.

Class Three had a standing roster of sixty-nine students, divided into eleven study groups, with the extra three merged into Group Eleven.

One more person, and we could form a new—Group Twelve.

"Wrong, that's the second piece of news I was about to tell you." Yao Bei Bei flashed her signature Anya-style smile again.

At the same time, she lowered her voice.

"You two better not tell anyone, okay? Someone in our class is switching out. Not moving up—just a direct swap with whoever's coming down from Class Zero."

"Who?" Huang Fang's pupils dilated, her breathing quickening. "No exam? They just swap straight up?"

Class Zero was the pinnacle of Zhennan Middle School—faculty, living conditions, everything was basically the entire school's top resources funneled into it.

Boarders in Class Zero got double rooms with a fridge, washing machine, and private bathroom included.

Impoverished students not only had tuition fully waived, but their living expenses were basically covered by grants, awards, and meal-card subsidies.

That was the treatment Huang Fang had been dreaming of—sounded like a real money-saver the moment she heard it.

Too bad the path to ascension had never been opened, and the transfer exam was only open to those below the science-competition tier. Mortal-tier cultivators had their ceiling after all.

Then she discovered that someone in their class could actually "swap" straight up into Class Zero.

In an instant, Empress Fangfang's worldview took a hit.

"Ahem, who else could it be?" Yao Bei Bei curved her lips, not bothering to keep them in suspense. "Yu Tongjie, of course. Who could out-bull him?"

"Probably happening today. Just wait and see."

Hearing that, the dumbfounded Huang Fang blurted out instinctively.

"Why?"

Yao Bei Bei was about to speak, but Jiang Nian cut in first.

"Because by Tuesday at the latest, the language scores will be out. Once the grand joint-exam total rankings drop, any class swap after that would be controversial."

Jiang Nian paused mid-sentence.

"Damn Young Master Yu must have choked on this grand joint exam."

*Bam! *

Yao Bei Bei elbowed him, annoyed.

"Ladies present—crude men, keep it clean."

Jiang Nian's face instantly turned awkward, and he apologized at once.

"Forgot Fangfang was listening—my bad, my bad."

Yao Bei Bei flew into a rage, grinding her teeth.

"What about me?"

Jiang Nian fell silent for a moment. "Honestly, I've never dared confirm whether you, bro, actually grew a dick or not."

"Jiang Nian!" Yao Bei Bei went straight in with two heavy punches, hammering his arm. "I'm telling Baby Zhizhi!"

"Go ahead." Jiang Nian's face was the picture of not-giving-a-damn.

Only those who are two-faced fear their persona collapsing—he, on the other hand, was a true gentleman of unity of knowledge and action.

As for Yao Bei Bei, useless.

Sit with Li Hua.

Morning reading was approaching.

Zhang Nianzhi bounced in through the door full of energy, walked to her seat and set down her backpack. The energetic girl beamed and greeted her groupmates.

"Good morning~"

"Good morning, squeaky." Jiang Nian pinched his voice.

With a thud, Zhang Ningzhi threw a red-faced punch, disgust flashing in her eyes.

"Gross!"

"Morning." Jiang Nian tried to imitate Xi Yangyang's lazy drawl.

"Copycat, I'm really getting mad now!" Zhang Ningzhi bit her lower lip, glaring at him with puffed-up cheeks. "How can you be this annoying!"

"Fine, I'll stop." Jiang Nian dropped to his knees at the speed of light.

A few minutes later, Li Hua walked into the classroom with his bag on his back, though his expression didn't look too good.

"Damn unlucky, this morning was really unlucky, took a tumble."

Jiang Nian flipped a page of Ah Shuai and asked casually.

"How'd you fall?"

Two-thirds of the classroom had already arrived, noisy before morning reading. The afterglow of the joint exam hadn't faded yet; people were still discussing the test questions.

"Don't even mention it, ran into some idiot on a bike on the road." Li Hua sighed. "Almost got hit, lucky I reacted fast, only took a tumble."

"Tsk tsk, one second of sympathy for you." Jiang Nian shook his head, then shared the new news Yao Bei Bei brought to the two seatmates.

Zhang Ningzhi didn't react much, just said "oh."

Clearly still angry.

You really can't trust a woman's words—didn't she say she wouldn't be mad!

"Yu Tongjie really is an idiot, but him leaving is a good thing." Li Hua cursed, then patted the dirt off his pants.

Then he started wildly fantasizing about whether the new student was a beauty and so on.

"Nian, say, if the person coming down from the zero class is a loli, how should I quickly greet her and break the ice?"

"You son of a bitch."

"Huh?" Li Hua was speechless. "Seriously, do you have any suggestions?"

Jiang Nian glanced at him. "Huh? Didn't I just say it?"

"Say what?" Li Hua looked blank, wondering if he had King Crimson'd himself too. "You clearly didn't say anything."

"You son of a bitch." Jiang Nian repeated.

Hearing this, Li Hua was completely dumbfounded.

"Shit! You use 'you son of a bitch' as your first greeting to a girl?"

"Who said it's a girl? Could just as well be a guy." Jiang Nian chuckled. "Imagine a chubby-faced guy with stubble, you'd behave real quick."

Li Hua imagined the scene Jiang Nian described and immediately shivered.

"You son of a bitch."

"You son of a bitch." Jiang Nian cursed back.

Then for the next fifty minutes, the two fell into an infinite loop, cursing each other for an entire morning reading session, voices rising and falling.

When the morning reading bell rang, a large swath of the class instantly slumped over their desks.

"You son of a—" Li Hua rubbed his throat, already starting to hurt. "Forget it, I'm gonna go buy a drink."

Saying so, he left the Iron Throne of Group Six.

The king went to drink water.

Jiang Nian rubbed his throat—luckily, not too sore. He'd been so busy trading curses with Li Hua that, while it wasted time, it was worth it.

"I won."

He happily unscrewed his thermos, poured it into the little glass cup Baby Zhizhi had given him, and after lifting it, blew a satisfied puff of white breath.

"Hey, little Li Hua, useless trash."

Zhang Ningzhi beside him was utterly speechless and rolled her eyes at him.

"You two are so boring."

After saying that, she also slumped down to catch up on sleep. Before lying down, she specifically tucked her thermos into her desk.

Jiang Nian: "."

He felt like Baby Zhizhi seemed to have some strange misunderstanding about him.

Forget it, peace and quiet—

Before this thought could even form, a ding rang in Jiang Nian's mind, and a translucent quest panel popped up.

Age thirty-eight, you stand at the crossroads of life.

You completed a pleasant date with your ex-girlfriend Song Xiyun, yet you remain unaware of Song Xiyun's illness.

Looking at her ever-thinner face, her clean but worn clothes, you recall her kindness and feel increasingly guilty.

So, you decide to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

Quest: Figure out the illness afflicting Song Xiyun. Reward: Skill: Lottery refreshes once every five days】

After reading the quest, Jiang Nian's gaze was inevitably drawn to the reward.

Song Xiyun's illness isn't urgent—she was diagnosed with it later. Most likely after college graduation; everything's normal for now.

Besides, Song Xiyun's illness had already been ruled out twice by him using verification. Neither congenital nor organ failure.

Wait a few more days, once the verification】cooldown passes.

First, carefully interrogate Song Xiyun once, narrow down the range, then try again.

Basically, he'd already figured out seven or eight tenths of what illness it was. Since it's an illness she'd only get in the future, just spending some money to prevent it would do.

The quest isn't hard, but the reward is curious.

Lottery.

Most likely another minor conceptual skill.

For this, Jiang Nian had nearly figured out the pattern.

The skills granted by the system carried a hint of conceptual influence, but their practical effects were limited, relying entirely on his gradual discovery of their uses.

Winning the lottery, Jiang Nian's first thought was to buy a few small lottery tickets. He couldn't hit the big prize, but a few thousand or ten thousand yuan should be within reach.

Winning the lottery would be great—thirty thousand yuan in savings couldn't last long no matter how you spent it.

"Dingdong! Students, class is starting."

The preparatory bell rang.

Jiang Nian suppressed his excitement and pulled out his English exam paper.

One more chapter left; I'll fix it and post later. Begging for votes at the start of the month.

Kneeling before the masters, orz