Chapter 373: Why Don't You Ask Me?

"Kneel down, sis has something to ask you."

"Xu Shao plays this trick too?"

Jiang Nian was a bit speechless, but after staying up all night, his mind was still foggy, and he couldn't be bothered to quibble over it.

He shot Xu Qianqian a glance, reached into the right pocket of her padded jacket, and directly swiped her daily pocket money.

"You're a robber!" Xu Qianqian was dumbfounded, furious first thing in the morning at this gross man. "You have zero respect for the law."

Jiang Nian stuffed the change into his jeans pocket and walked ahead, heading downstairs. The cold draft in the stairwell carried the scent of his shampoo.

"No, I'm used to paying for myself."

"This is robbery!" Xu Qianqian refused to lose face.

"Oh, then I should've been taken out for target practice yesterday." Jiang Nian rubbed his face. "Whatever, go ahead and call the police."

Hearing that, Xu Qianqian was instantly at a loss for words.

If it were anyone else, they absolutely wouldn't have stayed with her overnight. Although she didn't say it out loud, having Jiang Nian around really did feel reassuring.

Still, if he hadn't scared her, she wouldn't have been... afraid.

Rounding up, they were even.

Xu Qianqian sorted out her thoughts, just about to argue with Jiang Nian, only to find the guy taking the stairs at a rapid pace.

Hmph, he must be feeling guilty.

Jiang Nian was dressed thinly, still just a thermal top plus a thin jacket, the top had no pockets. Going downstairs, Xu Qianqian tried to catch up to him.

Once she caught up, she tried to snatch the money back, Ye Yanqing kept glancing toward his pants pocket, where the rolled-up bills were half sticking out.

Reaching the first floor, she suddenly extended two fingers.

Trying to pinch the money back out.

She'd seen on TV that those master thieves all did it this way—a quick pinch with two fingers and the thing was in hand without anyone noticing.

But she wasn't really stealing it; the money was hers to begin with.

Jiang Nian heard movement behind him, thinking Xu Qianqian was about to fall. After turning around, she crashed right into his arms.

Hm?

In that instant, he froze. Instinctively he put his hands on Xu Qianqian's shoulders, the motion looking exactly like he'd turned and embraced her.

Xu Qianqian's mind also went blank; as her center of gravity gave out, she uncontrollably hugged him, keeping herself from falling.

They were too close, the tip of her nose filled with the air-dried scent of laundry detergent. Steamed by body heat, there was another scent different from the detergent.

It smelled really good, indescribable.

"Held it in all night?" One sentence from Jiang Nian shattered Lan Yixuan the mood.

Xu Qianqian pressed her lips together, blinked rapidly. Her heart rate quickened too, and her face flushed instantly.

"My money!"

Neither was willing to back down, so they were still holding each other.

Xu Qianqian tried to pinch the money out, but her fingers trembled inexplicably. She failed twice, and the trembling only got worse.

Both of them froze, neither speaking.

Early morning, in the empty stairwell. Thin mist drifted over from the courtyard, bit by bit filling up this worn-down stairwell.

"Ahem, forget it." Xu Qianqian withdrew her hand, putting on a generous act. "The money's yours, I've got plenty."

Saying so, she smoothly pulled away from Jiang Nian's embrace.

Jiang Nian didn't hold onto her either, just lowered his eyes and shot her a glance. Giving Xu Shao no face at all, he said with cold mockery.

"Are you putting on a brave front here?"

"What's it to you, can't I have the heart of a tycoon?" Xu Qianqian refused to be put on the back foot, so she got anxious.

"Tycoon?" Jiang Nian sneered. "That's called being a walking ATM."

The moment the words fell, he took a direct hit from Xu Qianqian. A round of shaking, plus a flurry of excited punches.

Outside the breakfast shop.

Jiang Nian used Xu Qianqian's money to buy breakfast, then casually stuffed the remaining change into the hood of her sweatshirt.

After arriving at the classroom.

Jiang Nian was completely exhausted, and couldn't bear to use 【Heal】. He yawned while going to get hot water, then slumped over the desk to catch up on sleep.

When he woke again, half of morning self-study was already over.

Luckily it was English morning self-study, Qian Bao basically didn't bother with him. As long as the grade-level head teacher didn't catch him, everything was fine.

But Jiang Nian wasn't worried about that either; he wasn't the only one dozing off during morning self-study.

For example, Li Hua during English morning reading usually recited loudly for the first ten minutes. Sat silently reading for the next five, and fell asleep by the seventeenth minute.

byd was more punctual than a biological clock—doze off the moment he started memorizing words.

Fatso Ma Guojun was even sneakier, head down memorizing words. Dozing on and off, occasionally looking up sneakily to scan around.

Sensing no danger, he'd put on an act and memorize two more words, then raise the book again, switching back into fishing mode.

Compared to them, Jiang Nian was more straightforward. Slept straight until he woke naturally, flipped through two test papers once awake, took a breather, then started doing problems.

Zhang Ningzhi had already finished memorizing today's words, checked them once with no errors. She turned to look at Jiang Nian and asked curiously.

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

"Yeah." Jiang Nian propped his head up, pulled two finished chemistry papers from the desk. "Wrote test papers all night."

That was the truth, he wrote two chemistry papers in one night.

But in Xu Qianqian's room.

Though he hadn't done anything, just changed locations to write papers. If you really had to nitpick, his own room would've been more convenient.

Awkward, but sometimes his own room wasn't convenient either.

It's late at night; we can't launch a full-scale night raid.

I stayed in her room just to keep Xu Qianqian from being afraid. Scaring her again would serve no purpose whatsoever.

It's like the other person is sick, and suddenly the Genius Idea activates.

Let's try a body temperature of thirty-eight degrees.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Nenzhi glanced curiously at his chemistry test paper, then suddenly remembered something and flipped through it carefully.

"You wrote this much in one night?"

"Yeah." Jiang Nian didn't understand why she was interested in his chemistry test. "What? You want me to give you a set?"

"No thanks, I have my own." Zhang Nenzhi pulled out her purchased test paper. "Hey, are you going to do this set?"

"Oh, thanks." Jiang Nian accepted it casually—after all, it was from Baby Zhizhi; no need to be polite.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Zhang Nenzhi bit her lower lip, looking shy, then looked up and blinked her eyes.

"Go ahead. English?" Jiang Nian asked, puzzled.

"No."

"Biology?"

"Nope—it's chemistry." Zhang Nenzhi looked serious, her big eyes bright, revealing no hint of her intent.

Jiang Nian was completely lost—he had no idea what she was up to.

"Which question?"

"It's just…"

,

Before morning self-study ended, Zhang Nenzhi pulled a test paper from his desk drawer. "There are two big questions I don't understand."

"Oh, sure. Point them out." Jiang Nian grew interested—explaining problems to others helped him improve too. "I've finished them all."

The paper was spread out, its surface still neat.

"This one." Zhang Nenzhi cleverly pointed at some random big question, then patiently listened as he explained.

"It should be like this—did you get it?" Jiang Nian finished speaking, feeling unsatisfied yet with a flicker of clarity in his mind.

Explaining problems really was different from solving them himself; after walking her through it, his own understanding deepened slightly. "Got it." Zhang Nenzhi's eyes sparkled.

Jiang Nian glanced at her; his face already began faking a smile. To be honest, he was already enjoying himself.

The hell—what official could withstand this kind of test?

"There's one more." Zhang Nenzhi pursed her lips, pointing to a big question marked in two different handwritings. "I don't get this one."

Jiang Nian glanced at it and said, "Oh."

"First, look at the problem statement…"

3

Jiang Nian explained enthusiastically, gaining a +1 to his gains—and once again earned Zhang Nenzhi's sparkling eyes, filling him with great satisfaction.

He thought: Baby Zhizhi is so cute today, even cuter than usual.

She didn't ask for anything in return—it made him uneasy.

Finally.

Zhang Nenzhi pointed at the big question and asked, as if casually,

"Did you solve this one yourself?"

"Not really—I tried once and got it wrong." Jiang Nian didn't care much, answering offhandedly. "I asked the class monitor."

"Oh, that's still pretty impressive," Zhang Nenzhi said.

Her suspicion was confirmed; she exhaled in relief. Asking the class monitor made sense—after all, she was top of the class.

But her heart still felt sour. Jiang Nian was so annoying.

After a few minutes, she suddenly poked the guy's arm. She let out a soft breath, then pouted slightly.

"Why don't you ask me?"

"Then I'll ask you…"

Jiang Nian actually pulled out a question and asked her. They discussed until morning self-study ended.

The bell rang.

At that moment, Li Hua also woke up.

The sleeping beast let out a long "Ahh," stared blankly at the blackboard, then turned his head toward Jiang Nian. "To be honest, I've already started studying the opponent."

Jiang Nian: "?"

The last person who said that has already retired.

"You're going to inject some excitement into Class Three's soccer team?" Jiang Nian laughed. "Are you the legendary unbreakable king too?"

Zhang Nenzhi, who had been about to lie down and rest, asked curiously upon hearing this.

"Group leader, what's your research conclusion?"

"After studying, I found the opponent is too strong." Li Hua shifted side to side. "Whether we go or not doesn't matter anymore."

Jiang Nian narrowed his eyes and scanned Li Hua.

"Can you tell me the secret to being alternately arrogant and insecure? I plan to audition for the clown 'Chi Shi' after the college entrance exam." Li Hua buried his head to sleep, then after a moment sat up seriously. "In terms of actual strength, our team only has the two of us as starters."

"Hua, how do you say 'ant' in English?"

"M…:..:" Li Hua's train of thought was interrupted by this sudden knowledge quiz; his answer made others laugh.

Come on, this was supposed to be a serious, heroic atmosphere.

Jiang Nian, if you don't act like an idiot, will you die?

The morning classes were extremely dull.

Sun Zhicheng fell asleep during the first English class, dreaming he had entered the Seven-Hundred-Point Realm and ruled alone over Class Three for all eternity!

With the college entrance exam approaching, he skipped self-study and went straight home to play games. Old Liu came to his door with a humble expression.

Brother, go back to self-study—the principal will ask questions, and it'll be hard to explain.

Before he could even sip his hot tea, he was shoved out the door with a mouthful of dishwater.

Get out! I'm a Seven-Hundred-Point powerhouse—why should I answer to anyone?

When he woke up, he smacked his lips and glanced toward the person in Class Three most likely to score seven hundred, thinking what a pity.

Such a good class monitor—how did Jiang Nian get lucky?

At the same time, he encouraged himself inwardly: opportunity favors only those who are prepared; he should work harder too.

The class monitor can definitely keep Jiang Nian in check—he has no chance at all.

Yang Buyi shot a sideways, contemptuous glance at the awakened Sun Zhicheng, sneered, and thought, "What an idiot—can't even wipe his drool."

But he had no time to care about the clown—he was busy chatting with Lü Xuan. The only downside was that she was rather introverted.

She replied only once after he sent ten messages, acting coldly after class.

After thinking long and hard, he decided to consult the master.

"Zhou Yuting, are you free?"

"Hm?" Zhou Yuting was about to doze off when the big fool interrupted her—she frowned in confusion. "What is it?"

"That… I've recently…" Yang Buyi grew awkward.

Zhou Yuting's eyes turned dead fish, thinking here we go again.

"You've fallen in love again, right?"

"This time it's real—but I've run into some problems," Yang Buyi said seriously. "Help me think it through."

"This…" Zhou Yuting hesitated.

In truth, she didn't want to watch a circus show first thing in the morning. She'd already seen the movie "Clown" at the theater long ago.

"Help me out—I'll bring you breakfast for a whole week!" Yang Buyi quickly added an incentive as she hesitated.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuting was tempted.

She didn't crave the breakfast—she simply enjoyed the feeling of others bringing it to her. She could just give it to Huang Cailang anyway.

It was just a glance—what did it matter?

"Fine," Zhou Yuting said primly, then took Yang Buyi's phone. "You two chat a lot."

But as she scrolled up through the chat history, she froze in awkwardness.

It was all Yang Buyi talking to himself—Lü Xuan replied only occasionally with one or two lines. The only exception was whenever Jiang Nian was mentioned.

For some reason, she seemed unusually focused on Jiang Nian.

She scanned everything, then returned the phone to Yang Buyi.

"Are you two already together?"

"Sort of…" Yang Buyi put on a show for the sake of appearances, "Never mind that—what do you think?"

Zhou Yuting thought for a moment, then hesitated.

"Your girlfriend is about to fall in love."

The end of the third class.

Old Liu suddenly entered the classroom and called Jiang Nian alone to the office.

After they sat down.

The homeroom teacher wore an expression trying hard not to laugh, and patted his shoulder.

"There's great news—try to guess."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian hesitated slightly, blowing on his hot tea again and again.

"Someone reported the school for extra classes?"

Old Liu was speechless, thinking, this damn kid—later, I'll make sure he doesn't mention my name outside, or he'll bring trouble.

"Ahem, extra classes are strictly voluntary."

"Last Saturday, after the city-wide joint exam, didn't I ask you to fill out the application for the Inspirational Star award?"

"The results came out this morning."

"I got selected?" Jiang Nian asked.

Then Old Liu resumed that same strained, barely-contained grin—utterly lacking dignity, he burst out laughing.

"No competition at all."

Jiang Nian couldn't help laughing too. Their petty triumphs drew glances from other teachers in the office.

Two hundred points—where could you find a rival?

Only students with scores above five hundred on the city-wide joint exam qualified for the award—and those students already had strong historical records.

Even the biggest improvement was capped at one hundred points.

Then came this shameless guy who jumped straight from four hundred to 616—people began suspecting foul play.