Chapter 366: Wanting to Hear a Sound

Target?

In an empty living room.

Li Qingrong sat alone on the sofa, the balcony floor-to-ceiling windows flung wide open. The cold wind poured in, making the place feel bleak and desolate.

Li Lanying had left, and once again, in the vast house, only she remained.

But she didn't mind, merely tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling.

Thinking of Jiang Nian's scores across all subjects in the three exams, she fell into deep thought.

"Set it too high, and I can't pull it off."

"But if I set it too low, the effect would be pretty limited."

She silently calculated various score values, referenced the score-boosting journeys of her friends in the elite class, and mentally worked out a number.

Buzz.

On the other end, Jiang Nian's phone buzzed, and he received a message.

"650?"

Seeing that, Jiang Nian sat up straight at once.

What?

You think I'm some super top student?

The 616 in his arms hadn't even warmed up yet, and still carried a sliver of luck in it. After all, it was the last moment, and he'd used 【Verification】 to cut corners.

Physics alone was a good many points higher than usual—that was how he'd scraped together 616.

If he went by his true level, Jiang Nian could score at most around 608. From 650, the gap was more than a hair.

Put simply, by that math, Najiang was done for. From 601 to 605, then to 650—a chasm of forty points, and what was he supposed to fight it with, his head?

So, Jiang Nian switched to another algorithm.

He had absolute super-strong subjects: a fixed 140 in English, and Biology could hold steady above 90.

If he didn't slip up, normally speaking—put in some effort, get a little luck—130 in Math was no problem.

Chinese would be at least 100 no matter how he took it.

That left Chemistry and Physics, each needing 85.

Mm...:.. (girlfriend hand gesture), that's only 630.

Obviously, his English couldn't possibly be just 140, Biology wouldn't stop at 90, and Chinese couldn't possibly stay that low every time.

Three subjects, five points contributed by each.

645 was in the bag.

Looking at it this way, it didn't seem like such a big problem after all.

So, Jiang Nian didn't agree right away. Instead, he very cautiously chose to change the subject, bringing up the reward for hitting the target score.

Money was definitely off the table.

Jiang Nian messaged, "Qingqing, you can't offer money—money can't motivate study drive. (certain)"

A few seconds later, Li Qingrong replied with one line.

"Is that so? (doubtful)"

"Yes."

After a while, Li Qingrong sent back a reply.

"Then what do you want?"

Seeing that, the corner of Jiang Nian's mouth couldn't help but curl up. He'd been hooked into a pursed-mouth smile on the spot, then twisted and rolled back and forth on the bed.

I want...

Forget it, from a realistic standpoint.

If I really asked for something and couldn't redeem the prize, wouldn't that be a wasted effort?

He twisted around on the bed for a little while, then gradually calmed down again. Acting like this didn't seem quite right—after all, this was a gain.

Weren't grades his own business?

The class monitor, for the sake of his grades, still had to throw in a reward on top.

Thinking this way, Jiang Nian recalled his human side once more. Every now and then, one ought to show a little glimmer of humanity.

Give back!

If he lost, he'd hand himself over to

That was a bit like eating and taking the leftovers.

To be fair, Jiang Nian still hadn't figured out to this day what the class monitor was short on. If nothing else worked, he'd just offer up a tribute of birthday goods.

Let Li Hua be in charge of escorting them, and remind him not to eat the red dates.

Li Hua, don't eat them!

He thought for a moment, then cleverly replied.

"I want a little bit of physical contact, of course. Not the lewd kind, I'm a serious Li Qingrong: '???'"

Jiang Nian instantly fired back, "Pretend I never said that."

The topic just died down there, with neither the score nor the reward settled. But that was fine too—better than owing her and feeling guilty.

What if one day the class monitor said she was short a kidney for cooking.

Wouldn't he have no way to refuse?

He could only take out the newly bought pig kidney from the kitchen—the true essence of married life is the ordinary three meals a day.

Time trickled away bit by bit, and Jiang Nian's eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

Since he'd already washed up, he could close his eyes without a care. By the time he opened them again, it would probably be tomorrow morning.

He checked again to see what the class president had replied, or whether she had replied at all.

Buzz!

Half in a dream, half awake, the phone screen lit up.

Jiang Nian's eyelid twitched, but in the end he still couldn't open his eyes. When he woke again, he found the light on the ceiling hadn't been switched off.

He groggily opened his eyes — still the middle of the night.

He drifted in a daze for a while, completely unable to tell what he was doing. Only when his senses returned did he hurriedly look for his phone.

"Damn, accidentally fell asleep."

He flipped open his phone and saw the time was just past three in the morning. He couldn't help but blank for a moment, then went on to check the class president's messages.

She really had replied.

Li Qingrong: "A kiss?"

In an instant, Jiang Nian stood straight up from the bed. Staring at the chat page in his hand, he blanked for a full seven or eight seconds.

After swallowing a mouthful of saliva, the whole person let out a sound.

"Haha!"

Originally he hadn't wanted to bring it up himself, but had guessed the class president might refuse or something else — turns out the reward was a kiss.

This time it wasn't him doing the kissing, it was the class president.

The class president was an honest person, she would absolutely not pass off something shoddy for the real thing. So this time he really had struck gold, and even the psychological burden was gone.

Ecstatic!

Jiang Nian coughed once, slightly steadied his mood, then replied.

"Okay."

Who would have thought that the moment he sent it, the other end of the phone suddenly responded.

Li Qingrong: "Mm." This time it was Jiang Nian's turn to be dumbfounded; the joy vanished in an instant. It was so late — she couldn't have been waiting for his message this whole time, could she?

If that were true, it would make Jiang Nian feel utterly, terribly guilty.

His brows knit tight, he typed and asked.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?"

The other side is typing....

After quite a while, Li Qingrong replied with one line.

"The message can't be recalled."

Jiang Nian was dumbfounded — every single one of the class president's replies was beyond his expectations. But thinking it over carefully, it also made sense.

Is this even right?

"So you... sent that message, but then regretted it," Jiang Nian said. "And you've been trying to figure out how to recall it this whole time?"

Li Qingrong: "Mm."

"Isn't there a recall button?" he asked.

"Timed out."

Jiang Nian:

"What methods did you try?"

Li Qingrong: "Baidu."

Jiang Nian fell silent. He replayed the class president's mental journey in replying: sent it, regretted it, timed out, Baidu.

Found it useless, then waited foolishly.

v

Now the situation was awkward — the class president was too direct and too honest.

Pretend he hadn't seen it, then go ahead and let the bet stand?

Anyway, once a message times out it's unsendable to begin with. Besides, the class president also seemed easy to fool.

Could only say, no bragging, normal performance — coaxing two little ones out of her would definitely be no problem.

But Rongbao was already pitiful enough.

Let the child get a good night's sleep.

So Jiang Nian, very magnanimously, sent one line.

"It's fine. As long as I delete it on my side and you delete it on yours, that message counts as successfully recalled."

Half a minute later, Li Qingrong said.

"Not recalling it."

"Uh, actually I didn't look carefully at what you sent," Jiang Nian said. "You don't need to feel bad about it,

it's fine."

Li Qingrong: "The reward is kissing you."

Jiang Nian froze, mulled it over for a while. He figured the class president probably wasn't joking — she didn't actually want to recall it.

Then what was the feeling that had her waiting until three-thirty?

"Alright, then it's settled," he replied.

"Mm, 650 points." Li Qingrong typed bit by bit, splitting it into two messages. "Kissing you."

This one made him blush a little — a bit too bold.

But the class president was so straightforward, maybe there wasn't even a blushing step for her; to her it might just be a small thing.

Now it was his turn to have no psychological burden — after all, the class president had repeated it again, clearly she was doing it willingly.

He set down his phone, not yet having had time to sigh over it, before quickly realizing a blind spot and typing to ask.

"If you don't sleep at night, won't your older sister scold you?"

Buzz.

Li Qingrong: "There's no one home."

He, biting his finger in front of the screen, froze once again.

No one?

Then couldn't he just move into the class monitor's house?

Thinking too much.

Jiang Nian shook his head, thinking this wasn't the point. The class monitor's state didn't look like her family was just on a short trip.

"Is a video call convenient?"

After about a minute over there, she finally replied with one line.

"Mm."

But then again, with no one at home, what would be inconvenient? Unless she wasn't wearing any clothes at all, but it was the dead of winter right now.

The video call went through.

A few seconds later, the video feed came through on his phone. A death-grip extreme upward angle from below, and the class monitor in the frame was still good-looking.

A youthful beauty is just that kind of magical creature—at eighteen, there are never any unflattering angles.

Rustle rustle, the frame shook for a moment.

Li Qingrong was still wearing the same outfit from the daytime, seemingly sitting on the living room sofa, looking like she hadn't bathed since getting home.

The edge of a pair of little white socks was faintly visible. *Slurp slurp. *

Hey, where did my tea leaves go?

The class monitor was a little shy, but Jiang Nian didn't mind that her feet were dirty. It wasn't that he had to drink it; he really just had no tea leaves.

"Ahem, Embracing Qingqing, why haven't you washed up yet?" Jiang Nian asked in as gentle a tone as he could manage, and didn't bring up her parents either.

He was an outsider; he had no right to pass judgment.

Jiang Nian was a typical pragmatist—he didn't do meaningless things, he just wanted the class monitor to get a good night's sleep.

Some people, when they're tired, think about ending their suffering.

This gave him an unpleasant association, after all, sitting in the system's item column was that one suicide note, belonging to Li Qingrong.

Fortunately, after being promoted to this class, he got to know Li Qingrong.

Li Qingrong on the other end of the video swayed slightly, tilting her body a little to glance at Jiang Nian. Her eyes showed confusion as she hesitated.

"Then I'll go wash up now."

As she spoke, she stood up. She didn't seem to think about closing the balcony either; the night wind whistled past, and a faint rumble of thunder could be heard.

Was it going to rain?

Jiang Nian thought to himself that it really was a case of speak-of-the-devil, no need to play soccer tomorrow.

Li Hua is trash!

Just as he was secretly delighted, he lowered his head to glance at his phone screen.

"Hey hey hey, don't take it off!" Jiang Nian was scared to death. "Don't point the camera at yourself, I... I can see."

Li Qingrong, curious, leaned over and took a look at the camera.

"Oh."

Her hair was fully tied up, and she had put on a shower cap. It looked like even living alone, she took good care of herself.

Wait... why is she still live-streaming?

Jiang Nian instinctively wanted to tap to hang up, but his finger hovered in front of the screen. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to press it.

There was nothing inappropriate; the camera always stayed above the class monitor's neck.

Besides, someone had apparently tossed a smoke bomb into the bathroom, making visibility a bit low, completely impossible to see clearly.

【.

So, keeping the call connected just for company.

Don't doubt someone's loyalty.

Isn't it nice to have someone on the line chatting away while you're home alone, showering or sleeping? At least you won't feel lonely.

He didn't know if the words "lonely" existed in the class monitor's dictionary. But it didn't matter — just do good deeds.

Hm? The camera seemed to move.

Oh, just an illusion — actually, he hadn't been staring at the camera the whole time either.

When the steam-sealing segment in the bathroom ended and an even more tantalizing sound of suffocation rose up, Jiang Nian immediately clenched his fists.

Counting in order, he could roughly tell which step of dressing the class monitor had reached.

Truly the ultimate turn-off!

You're here for warm companionship! Pervert, wake up!

Jiang Nian took a deep breath and patted his own cheeks, trying to rid himself of lust — this was really not good.

Does a high school boy think of nothing but lewdness all day long?

And being lewded.

Who would have thought the sound of Jiang Nian patting his cheeks was a bit loud — it actually drew the class monitor's curious glance, fleeting as it passed.

She leaned her head over and gave him one puzzled look.

"Are you very sleepy?"

"Not sleepy, I......" Jiang Nian couldn't exactly say that he'd eaten two bowls of rice to the sound of her showering,

my face is too dry."

"Oh."

Li Qingrong finished dressing, then rubbed her undergarments between her hands before returning to the room and sitting on the bed.

Then, the two stared at each other.

Jiang Nian couldn't help wiping away drool—staying up all night really did make you salivate more. The monitor looked so sweet,

and her skin was so smooth.

Shouldn't we talk about something serious now?

He thought things were fine just as they were, and he didn't really want to hear about family grudges. Unless the monitor brought it up himself, he wouldn't ask.

Li Qingrong said nothing, only gazed at Jiang Nian, and after a long while, spoke.

"It's raining."

"Really?" Jiang Nian stood up, pulled back the curtain, and glanced outside. "It really is raining. Do you want to bring in your clothes?"

Li Qingrong shook her head. "It won't get wet."

"Do you always live alone?" Jiang Nian couldn't help asking. "You can even take a shower at midnight."

"Mm." Li Qingrong nodded.

She spoke very little and rarely added anything after her replies. For instance, after saying "mm," she never followed up with even a single word. Jiang Nian, if he'd heard that, probably couldn't have stood it.

But she didn't. She didn't seem to care about being alone. That was a good thing—at least it proved it didn't affect her.

After a while longer, Li Qingrong clearly grew sleepy.

Seeing her forcing herself to stay awake, Jiang Nian couldn't help saying:

"Go to sleep."

"Will you hang up?" Li Qingrong asked. She lowered her gaze for a moment. "I want to hear some... sound at night."

He didn't catch part of what she said in the middle.

But Jiang Nian's reply was firm. He shook his head.

"No. If it drops, it's a technical issue with the video call. You can just redial,

or we can switch to voice call."

There were only two hours left until dawn.

Li Qingrong nodded. "Mm."

Her phone rested beside the pillow, held in place by a simple box. Jiang Nian's eyelids grew heavier and heavier until he finally fell into a deep sleep.

Li Qingrong closed her eyes too, as if she had returned to that rainy bus stop.

Rain fell on her again.

A few blurred figures stood or sat under the awning of a shop, staring fixedly at her, their faces indistinct.

And she stood in the rain, unable to leave.