Chapter 392: The First, and Most Brilliant One

Oh, maybe I just misread it." Jiang Nian felt no guilt whatsoever.

Saying this, he looked up at the sky.

"You!" Wang Yu had just raised her tiny fist when a flash of insight crossed her mind—her eyes instantly dimmed.

"You guys... are you hiding something from me? You all know, and only I don't!"

,

Done for. I'm being isolated.

"No, no," Chen Yunyun hurried forward and gently hugged Wang Yuhe, offering a brief explanation.

She naturally omitted Jiang Nian's hand on the waist, mentioning only the hair-drying incident.

Wang Yuhe was half-skeptical, "Really?"

Jiang Nian gave her a sharp glance and said only one thing.

"Believe first, question later."

The hairdryer was merely a pretext—the classroom wasn't suitable, so naturally they'd find another place to dry their hair.

But Jiang Nian also wanted to test the boundaries between himself and the two girls; if the relationship wasn't there yet, meddling would be awkward.

As for what kind of conditions he could offer, it depended on tonight's draw.

Clearly, the two girls didn't reject Jiang Nian's suggestion—but they didn't take it seriously either, treating it as casual friend chatter and fantasy.

Thus, the topic ended there, temporarily archived.

Afternoon, winter warmth.

Jiang Nian stood in the corridor chatting with the two girls, guessed it was nearly one o'clock, and silently returned to his seat.

The Silver Demon's Hand gripped the quick-dry pen.

In truth, he wasn't really a Silver Demon—just after becoming familiar, doing things everyone enjoyed... two... three... forget it, whoever wins wins.

Qin Shi Huang ate Sichuan pepper and won big.

One-thirty, biological clock activated. Jiang Nian put down his pen and fell into a deep sleep; the classroom fell silent, save for the rustling of turning pages.

Afternoon nap over, someone tapped him.

Jiang Nian lifted his head from the desk, exhaustion radiating from every part of him. A slender, bony hand rested on Bai Xi's nape.

Slept at two, woke at six—the King of Hell praises my health.

Bao Weiwei stared blankly for a moment, then reminded him.

"Collect the physics homework."

There were six people in the group; each was assigned to collect homework for one subject—Bao Weiwei was in charge of physics.

"Okay." Jiang Nian rummaged on the desk, pulled out a notebook, and handed it to her, "Here."

At the same time, he twisted open his thermos.

Shook the few remaining ice cubes from Yao Bei Bei's contribution, tilted his head back, and took a sip—his energy slightly revived.

Stupid Yao Bei Bei replaced his hot water with ice cubes.

After a while, Bao Weiwei returned with the collected homework.

Jiang Nian stood up to go to the restroom; they passed each other in the aisle.

Jiang Nian deliberately brushed his fingers against hers, glanced at her flustered face, and walked off smiling.

Occasionally teasing a little girl was kind of fun.

The afternoon classes were dull.

Jiang Nian activated his once-daily healing, wiping away the fatigue accumulated from the morning—Bao Weiwei stared, dumbfounded: "Weren't you exhausted after nap? Why are you suddenly not tired?"

"Oh, I was faking it."

"You're so annoying!"

Before long, the three afternoon classes ended—and finally, the soccer match arrived; the lineup had been decided two weeks ago.

First match: an internal battle among science Olympiad teams—Class Three versus Class One.

The last class was biology; Qing Bao had just finished. She packed her things and headed out, looking up to see Jiang Nian stand up.

Soon after, several boys in the class followed her out.

In the corridor, Qing Bao was caught up by boys from Class Three, greeted with chatter—each one like a peacock spreading its tail, frantically trying to talk to her.

"Teacher, will you come watch our match?" Liu Yang asked openly, his face brimming with hope. "Yeah, Teacher, do you have time?"

The most obsequious among them was Li Hua. This perpetually annoying male creature suddenly had an idea and began playing the victim.

"Teacher, everyone in our class is doing quiet study. No one's left to cheer for us—it's just so pitiful—"

Qing Bao thought for a moment and replied, "But I heard Teacher Liu say only your class gets ten minutes of quiet study."

Hearing this, Li Hua froze, feeling guilty.

"Is... is that right?"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian, walking behind, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Sorry, just remembered something funny."

Aside from Luo Yong, demoted from forward to substitute for skipping practice, the rest of the team also burst into laughter.

"Chi Shi! Chi Shi!" Li Hua exploded, whirling around and grabbing Jiang Nian's collar. "You bastard, targeting me again!"

"Stop it, paternal love is as solid as a mountain." Jiang Nian brushed off Li Hua's hand. "Hua, you're too impulsive. Let me give you advice."

"Next time you're angry, throw a red bean into a glass bottle. When you control your anger, throw a green bean in."

The joke wasn't funny—the story of nailing out nails and tossing green beans was too clichéd.

Qing Bao, usually so serious, couldn't help laughing.

She remembered how, as a child, she'd done something similar—later, her mother had ground her collected red beans into soy milk.

Seeing this, the few of them exchanged glances at once.

After all, Qingbao was the prettiest among the homeroom teachers of Class Three—no one could deny it... oh, except for Qian Bao.

Qian Bao had a beautiful air about her, winning out in every aspect except age.

Blondie substitute Lin Dong carried a pack of mineral water in his hand, patted Jiang Nian, and said.

"Nian-ge, you let the teacher... come watch our match. You guys play the game, I'll handle keeping the teacher company."

Liu Yang and the others began silently putting in effort, one by one begging Qingbao to come watch, their pleas pitiful and earnest.

Qingbao hesitated for a moment, then looked at her chief disciple Jiang Nian. And Jiang Nian looked out toward the staircase, looking like it had nothing to do with him.

"Your mom! Is this what a captain's supposed to do?" Li Hua was furious, suddenly grabbing Jiang Nian by the collar.

"Speak up, you little bastard!"

Jiang Nian was pinned against the wall, slowly raising his head like a sloth.

"Huh?"

"What the hell are you pretending!"

"Exactly, speak up, speak up! You clearly know—damn you really are faking it—say it already!"

Under the three men's frenzied coercion, Jiang Nian had no choice. He could only turn and look down at his master on the staircase, pleading.

"Teacher, come watch our class's match?"

Hearing this, Qingbao nodded.

"Alright."

She had nothing to do after work anyway—at most she'd immerse herself in work in the office for a bit, then she'd have to leave soon enough.

To avoid being seen as a try-hard by her colleagues and getting ostracized.

Of course, she also had some thoughts of giving Jiang Nian face.

She'd already been wavering anyway, and seeing Jiang Nian formally make the request, she simply went along with it.

""Wow!!""

The group immediately cheered and happily headed downstairs. Qingbao needed to stop by the office, while the others headed toward the sports field.

Halfway there, Li Hua suddenly turned to look at Jiang Nian. Almost without warning, he pointed at Jiang Nian and started blasting him.

"Byd, when does the biology teacher ever listen to you?"

Hearing Li Hua's words, everyone suddenly snapped awake. They'd been too excited and nearly overlooked this detail.

"Damn!"

"Holy shit, it's really true... when did you get so close? You really deserve to die, trying to hog all the attention, huh!"

Jiang Nian stood with his hands behind his back, coldly laughing.

"Outside dogs!"

"Gan! Aluba aluba!"

"Can't take it at all, never seen someone this arrogant. Jiang Nian, you really deserve to die—you got everything!"

"You scored 97 on the test." One sentence from Jiang Nian instantly killed the whole scene. "Why so quiet, were you born aloof?"

"Damn!"

"Shit, you idiot!"

"Really want to chop off

his dick, scoring 97 like it's something great!"

The group bickered noisily, charging straight toward the sports field.

In the afternoon, dusk spread over the barren soccer field. On the withered yellow grass, quite a few people had already gathered around the two elevated platforms.

Quite a few people had come to watch the rules for the first match.

Among them were some pretty junior sisters, as well as some pretty Nanliang junior brothers, making the abstract-born members of Class Three blush.

"That one, look, that one..."

"So handsome."

"Look at that one, so buff."

"Like a gorilla."

The few of them changed clothes and took the field, squatting on the ground to tighten their shoelaces. The players from Competition Class One were doing the same. The head referee was the PE department teacher, that middle-aged unlucky guy Jiang Nian had twice scared into a groundhog scream at the sports meet.

His gaze swept over the players on both sides, then suddenly froze on Jiang Nian.

"Hmm?"

"Why is it him?"

"Where's the red card? I clearly had it in my pocket."

Even before the match had started, the head referee had subconsciously prepared to blow his whistle. This guy looked like a violation just standing there—he had to be sent off!

"Forget it, this is a soccer match. The rules are open and transparent; no matter how great his abilities, he can't stir up any tricks."

"Speechless, can the grade-level group blacklist this guy!"

Jiang Nian was currently stretching with his teammates, unable to hear the head referee's complaints, but clearly heard Li Hua's muttering.

"I am a chicken, a happy wild chicken. The chickens around me know, as long as I'm happy."

Jiang Nian: "?"

"Hua, what the hell are you mumbling?"

"Song of the Wild Chicken."

"Huh? Lin Dong, why are you up here? Hu Nianzhong got replaced by you. Damn, you, a substitute, took over the starter?"

Lin Dong flipped his hair, his gaze resolute.

"The other side... is the enemy."

"Huh?"

"Yuan Zhengchuan, her ex-boyfriend or whatever." Lin Dong threw in a line. "Too bad, he fell on the road of the Holy Grail War."

Holy shit Holy Grail War, whose cup.

"Not us bros....." Jiang Nian was speechless. The starting lineup of the first match, the substitute blondie had pushed out the decent guy.

The scene couldn't be called completely without structure, only that it was a total mess.

"Don't worry, I'll be responsible for holding back Yuan Zhengchuan." Lin Dong patted his chest, inexplicably fired up.

Ten minutes later, players from both sides were called by the referee to the center of the field. Handshakes first, then prepare to start.

At this time, the boys and girls of Class Three finally came down.

"Class Three! Go!"

"Class Three! Victory!"

At dusk, along with the girls' crisp cheers echoing across the field, Class One was shouting a certain boy's name: "Shao Ziheng! Go!"

Hearing that, Li Hua walked toward midfield while looking back. He coughed toward Jiang Nian along the way, asking curiously.

"That Shao whatever, who is he?"

"Who knows, later just look at which byd on the other side is playing the hardest, that's him." Jiang Nian looked completely indifferent.

"Heads or tails?" The referee looked at Jiang Nian, then glanced at Shao Ziheng on the other side—also a six-foot-tall big guy.

The two stood together, and the smell of gunpowder rose.

The loser of the Holy Grail War, Yuan Zhengchuan, was also standing on the right side of midfield. Happening to face Lin Dong, his expression a bit awkward.

"Heads." Shao Ziheng, a complete muscle-bound bookworm, looked at Jiang Nian with utter arrogance: "I'm more upright than you!"

"Is your mom upright?" Jiang Nian asked calmly.

"F**k****!" Shao Ziheng's defense instantly broke. He'd never seen anyone this dirty: "Are you f**king sick in the head!"

"Referee, where's the yellow card?" Jiang Nian pointed at Shao Ziheng across the way. "This guy's cursing, my head's starting to hurt."

"You're lying!" Shao Ziheng raged.

Head referee: ".

4

Damn, where did these weirdos come from, and two of them at once.

"Cough cough, shut up, all of you!" The head referee teacher's face darkened. "First warning, say one more word and you're getting sent off."

"F**k!" Shao Ziheng cursed silently.

His eyes stared at Jiang Nian unkindly, thinking to himself: weakling from Class Three. Later I'll just charge through him and scatter them, let him know what the school team is.

Just as he was thinking, a few clear, sweet cheers from girls rang out at the edge of the football field stands.

"Jiang Nian! Go!"

The match hadn't even started, and Shao Ziheng was naturally drawn in. He turned his head to look outside the field and narrowed his eyes.

He saw several quite pretty girls standing outside the field waving and cheering. Their beauty was on a completely different level from everyone around.

Even the dim dusk seemed to brighten.

Shao Ziheng was momentarily dazed at first. He'd long heard Class Three had lots of pretty girls, and today was truly a case of seeing being better than hearing a hundred times.

Usually he could only catch a glimpse of one or two occasionally, but today they were all here. Two or three standing together, each with her own charm.

His eyes could no longer keep up, he almost forgot he was still playing football.

At this moment, Class One also shouted in unison as if competing.

"Shao Ziheng, go! Shao Ziheng, number one!

Little verses one after another, easily drowning out the crisp cheers of Class Three's girls. Like a great bell, resounding across the field.

But Shao Ziheng came back to himself.

Yet the person was still a bit dazed, hearing the celestial sound being drowned out by the roar of a tractor

A look of wistful loss floated across his face.

He couldn't help but fantasize, if... those crisp cheering shouts just now were for him, that would be wonderful.

Too bad, they were for someone on the other side.

Shao Ziheng thought for a moment, looked at the person standing directly opposite him and asked.

"Jiang Nian?"

"Heh."

After confirming the other person was Jiang Nian, Shao Ziheng's heart was a tangle of emotions. His back expanded, bones cracking: "You really should die!"

With a clink, the coin was tossed into the air.

With a slap, it was covered under the head referee's back of the hand. The three of them looked at the back of the hand at the same time, and the referee slowly lifted his palm.

"Tails! Class Three kicks off!"

"Holy s**t!!!" Class Three's abstract fans cheered, deliberately messing with the other side's mindset: "Ayy, what terrible luck the other side has!"

"Tch, honestly, even my grandma standing here could win."

"Locked in, I've already started researching our next opponent."

Class Three's trash talk successfully disrupted Class One players' emotions. One after another they started cursing, the defenders unconsciously stepping forward.

At this moment, Class Three, who were already in an attacking formation. Jiang Nian suddenly kicked off, passed to Sun Zhicheng, and pretended to run toward the opponent's half.

Shao Ziheng saw the ball suddenly kicked off and instinctively pressed forward.

He suddenly saw Jiang Nian making a forward run into his side of the half, immediately realized his side was standing too far forward, so he retreated along with him.

Suddenly, he saw Jiang Nian turn and run back.

Shao Ziheng and the two fullbacks were somewhat surprised by the sight. But seeing Jiang Nian head back, the threat vanished.

So they didn't think much of it. The three of them, thinking only about getting the ball, charged straight toward the Class 3 player holding it.

Li Hua, playing defensive midfielder, looked past Lin Dong. Following the line further forward, he spotted Jiang Nian's position changing direction once more.

Seeing this setup, he blinked. A possibility crossed his mind, and his heart began pounding like a war drum.

The chemistry built through training let him instinctively grasp Jiang Nian's idea. A dummy run to draw them off, then a burst into the opponent's penalty area.

Sure enough, Jiang Nian cut back again, strolled, then exploded into motion, shaking off every Class 1 player and sprinting toward the opponent's box.

In midfield, players from both sides were tangled like interlocking teeth—"Pass!" Li Hua shouted.

Sun Zhicheng steadied himself and played the ball to Li Hua's feet. Li Hua barely brought it under control and dribbled forward a stretch.

Shao Ziheng was already closing in. Li Hua swallowed hard.

Under pressure, he just booted it long.

He overhit it; the ball flew over more than half the pitch, sailing toward the Class 1 penalty area. Stopping a ball like that was no easy feat.

Yet Jiang Nian showed no sign of slowing down.

He raised his right foot at the ball's landing spot,

cleanly bringing the ball under perfect control. For that instant, the ball seemed frozen in place.

It was an almost perfect trap, and the ball then began to roll.

"Holy shit!!"

Everyone off the pitch was stunned by this rather rough yet brutally simple, and strikingly beautiful, scene.

"It's open—their defense is wide open!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Jiang Nian surged forward with the ball, leaving everyone in the dust. In less than a minute from kickoff, he was in the opponent's penalty area.

Before him stood only the Class 1 goalkeeper.

The keeper hadn't expected to be called into action so soon at kickoff; he scrambled to intercept, but it was already far too late—a quick shot, and the ball was in the net.

Whooo—!!!

A sharp, long whistle pierced the pitch, signaling the goal was good. The referee was thrilled after blowing it too—a dream start to the first match!

The Class 1 players turned to look at their own goal, dumbfounded. They couldn't believe the opponents had scored within a minute of kickoff.

The pressure crushed in from forehead to brain.

The next second, a mountain-like roar of cheers erupted across the pitch. The Class 3 players on the field went absolutely wild.

"GOAL!! Holy shit! A goal in one minute, badass! The Class 1 idiots are stunned, holy shit holy shit!!"

"Damn, Brother Nian is a beast!!!"

"I must be blind—this is what a real captain looks like! A striker!! Brother Nian deserves it, way too awesome!

Off the pitch, the Class 3 spectators were even more worked up—"They scored! They scored!!"

"Bro, am I still asleep? Did our class just score?!"

"No mistake, our class is amazing!"

The instant the goal went in, Zhang Nianzhi threw her arms around Yao Bei Bei.

"They scored! They scored!! Beibei, did you see? Our class scored, Jiang Nian and the others are amazing!

The two pairs of breasts collided so hard they nearly made Yao Bei Bei throw up.

"Easy, easy, baby."

She thought to herself, thank goodness she wore the padded bra this morning—otherwise Zhizhi baby crashing into her like that would've rubbed her raw, baby; just hit my face instead.

Li Qingrong's spot wasn't great; she was a bit nearsighted. Too many people, she couldn't see clearly. She squinted, still couldn't make it out.

Only at the moment the goal went in did she finally see Jiang Nian surging forward alone with the ball.

The instant the ball hit the net, she pressed her lips together.

"Class monitor!! Our class scored! Wooo!!" The timid little tiger Nie Qiqi was about to rub herself all over the class monitor.

A pale, slender hand reached out and grabbed her by the back of the collar, forcibly cutting off the clingy Nie Qiqi's snuggle dream—"Who?!!" She turned her head, saw Cai Xiaoqing looking down at her coldly, and immediately deflated.

"Oh, it's Xiaoqing, I...."

Qiqi acted cute, "I'm the White Lady, I'm your sis.... mmph mmph!!"

Cai Xiaoqing directly used her other hand to clamp Nie Qiqi's mouth shut.

"Cut the crap."

The boys in the class buzzed with discussion, exclaiming in awe.

"Jiang Nian's explosiveness is insane—he just blew right past their players."

"I swear, right? I wasn't really watching, blinked, and wondered what just flew past."

"This is destined to be the first, and the most brilliant, goal of this school tournament!"

The moment the goal went in, Chen Yunyun threw her arms around Wang Yuhe too, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Jiang Nian, that's amazing."

Wang Yuhe heard this, blushed for a long moment, then squeezed out one line.

"I can do it too."