Chapter 409: Learning Thief

The three afternoon classes passed in the blink of an eye.

Afternoon self-study.

Jiang Nian didn't sleep after class either; he sat there full of energy, working on the test paper. Yu Zhiyi happened to pass by on her way to the restroom and glanced at him curiously.

How is this guy not sleepy? Does he have eight kidneys?

"Done?" Zhang Ningzhi scooted over for a look, then couldn't help exclaiming, "How did you finish so fast?"

"Practice makes perfect." Jiang Nian handed the test paper over.

This time he didn't touch her hand either—quite proper.

"Oh." Zhang Ningzhi couldn't help glancing at him again. She took the paper, lay it on the desk, and started grading it against the answers for him.

Jiang Nian didn't touch Zhang Ningzhi's leg, and he had no plans to touch anyone else's. He just felt that lately he'd been stirring up too much trouble.

He was afraid of pushing it too far and getting stabbed by little Nishinomori.

He decided to behave himself for a while and put his energy into school life.

After school in the afternoon.

The classroom was bustling, almost everyone heading for the door.

Jiang Nian wasn't in a rush to go downstairs; he stayed in the classroom and did homework for a while. Then, timing it just right, he sent Chen Yunyun and the others his location.

"Got something good to show you."

Chen Yunyun: "?"

Ten minutes later, Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe appeared under the parasol trees at the front of the teachers' apartment building.

The two had just gotten hot water and hadn't eaten yet.

"What's up?" Chen Yunyun asked.

She'd drunk some Xiao Chai Hu at noon and wasn't in great shape. She'd planned to buy some medicine in the afternoon, but after getting Jiang Nian's message she decided to come over first.

"So hungry, Jiang Nian." Wang Yuhe complained, "You called us over—do you have something good to eat?"

"No, but there's something for everyone anyway." Jiang Nian reached into his jacket pocket and started pulling things out.

"A key?" Wang Yuhe took a black key, then turned to look at Chen Yunyun. "Two identical keys?"

"What's with the 'blah blah'?" Jiang Nian waved them over, motioning them to follow. "This way."

The two girls exchanged glances, then followed behind Jiang Nian into a half-open little courtyard.

He pointed at one of the storage rooms on the ground floor of that row and said to Wang Yuhe.

"Go open the door."

"You rented a room?" Chen Yunyun looked stunned. She looked at Jiang Nian. "Ren... renting a room for what?"

Seeing that Wang Yuhe had already pushed the door open and gone in, Jiang Nian turned and smiled at Chen Yunyun.

"Guess?"

Chen Yunyun froze on the spot, her breath catching. Her heart felt like it had been gripped, suddenly suspended in midair, stung sour by the wind.

From outside the courtyard, around the corner, came a crisp bicycle bell.

Her mind went blank—she didn't know if it was the wind. Her body stiffened there, completely unable to move.

"I....."

"Yunyun, come quick!" Wang Yuhe poked her head out from the doorway, beaming. "There's a bed and a desk inside too!"

Jiang Nian: "?"

Chen Yunyun: "?"

The two of them walked in and met up with the grade-schooler Wang Yuhe. The three of them standing in the room made the space feel cramped.

"Damn, it's a bit cramped." Jiang Nian complained, then turned to the grade-schooler. "Wang Yuhe, you go out first."

"Why should I!" Wang Yuhe glared up at him.

"I'm the one renting it."

"You—!!" Wang Yuhe punched him angrily, really about to head out. "Fine, I'm leaving—here's your key back!"

"Hey hey, just kidding." Jiang Nian pulled her back.

"Let go of me!"

Who would've thought Wang Yuhe was really angry, like a New Year's pig. Shockingly strong, she almost broke free.

"Hey, don't just yell randomly."

Luckily Wang Yuhe calmed down after a bit, though she kept glaring at Jiang Nian.

Stare---

Jiang Nian glanced at her, then glanced at Chen Yunyun, who was unmoved. A lightbulb went off—he pretended he was about to take his clothes off. "Huh?"

"Ah!! What are you doing?!"

"Oh, scratching an itch." Jiang Nian reached into his clothes and scratched. "There's water and electricity here—don't you guys have any thoughts?"

Chen Yunyun's face warmed slightly, the flush creeping to the roots of her ears.

"What.

Wang Yuhe stroked her chin and looked around.

"I can charge my phone."

"Charge your what now. I found you a holy land for washing hair." Jiang Nian pointed at that corner. "Plug in, wash your hair, blow-dry—whatever."

"Really?" Wang Yuhe was a beat slow, then asked, "Wait, Jiang Nian, why are you suddenly being so nice?"

Jiang Nian shot her a look and laughed coldly.

"Hot tip: if you can't talk nicely, you can shut your mouth."

"No!"

At that moment, Chen Yunyun asked in a small voice.

"How much is the rent?"

"Not much. This one's rented from a teacher's place." Jiang Nian waved his hand. "They gave me the lowest price in the area, out of respect for my Inspirational Star title."

Chen Yunyun: ".....

.. Seriously though."

"My record is verifiable."

In the end, Chen Yunyun never managed to pin down an actual price.

Jiang Nian explained the purpose of the house — in a while he might use it to store some things, taking up less than half the space.

Letting them use it was just a side benefit.

Chen Yunyun didn't believe him, and there was nothing he could do about it. Let her think whatever she wants — what's done is done, let's eat first.

If it really comes to it, he'll just feel her up to settle the debt.

The shops on the street outside the school were packed; a casual stroll and it was almost time for evening self-study.

The three could only grab a quick bite and hurry back to the classroom.

"A kettle, a hair dryer or something..." Jiang Nian looked at the two of them. "My family has been poor for three generations — there's not much I can do to help."

"We'll buy them ourselves." Chen Yunyun said, thought for a moment, then looked at him again. "How about we split it? Is fifteen hundred enough?"

Jiang Nian: "....... If you want to give me money, just say so.""

He thought to himself that his rent alone was nine hundred, yet the moment Chen Yunyun opened her mouth it was fifteen hundred — flip it once and he'd net a cool six hundred.

Why even bother studying? He should just go into real estate brokerage!

"I really didn't rent it on purpose, it was just a side thing." Jiang Nian took a deep breath, looked at her and said, "Mention money again and I'm taking the keys back."

Chen Yunyun was left speechless, and could only lower her head.

After the meal, the two girls left first.

Jiang Nian, stealing a moment of leisure, still remembered to bring Zhang Ningzhi a room-temperature fruit tea. The moment the bell rang, he took off at a sprint.

"Damn it, who moved the bell up?!"

"Time to hand in homework."

Tao Ran wandered around the class, collecting language homework for ages. Out of the entire class of sixty or seventy, he only got twelve.

"Come on, you've got to hand in at least half, right?"

Hearing this, the surrounding classmates started complaining one after another.

"There's so much math homework, when would we have time to copy language?

D

"Exactly, exactly — I haven't even written my physics homework. With that kind of time, wouldn't it be better to do some science homework?"

"The cost-effectiveness of writing language homework really is low. I wrote homework for half a month last month, and my score actually went down." Lin Dong suddenly spotted the blind spot and grabbed Tao Ran in the aisle.

"Wait, did you hand in your language homework?"

Tao Ran looked at Lin Dong with a puzzled face.

"I'm the class rep!"

Lin Dong gave an awkward laugh. "Fair point.

But the next second, Tao Ran said with a perfectly matter-of-fact look.

"I'm already the class rep — why would I still write homework?"

"You f*cking.....

Jiang Nian was rummaging around in his desk, and when he turned his head he saw Tao Ran standing beside him, with a creepy, mysterious little smile on his face.

"What the hell?"

"Weren't you looking for language homework?" Tao Ran stood ramrod straight, smiling. "No worries, as long as it can be handed in."

"Hand in my ass." Jiang Nian didn't even remember writing any language homework, and fished out a chemistry test paper from his desk.

He turned to look at Tao Ran and said with a perfectly matter-of-fact expression.

"I'm already the Inspirational Star — why would I still hand in homework?"

Tao Ran instantly lost his smile. Looking at this beast of a person in front of him, he felt a boomerang slam into him hard. "You f*cking—!"

Li Hua, looking sly as hell, leaned over to smooth things out.

"Nian, listen, you too, let me say something fair..

"Stray dog, shut up. What rank are you?" Jiang Nian cut him off. "You can't beat me on the exams — what the hell are you even saying."

Li Hua was so riled up by Jiang Nian's aggressive words that he instantly turned red.

"Eat shit, eat shit!!"

Huang Fang shook her head, thinking this class was getting more and more strictly hierarchical. She slowly turned her head, glanced at Li Hua, and said.

"It's fine, group leader."

"Even though you're one point below me, I won't hold it against you like that."

Zhang Ningzhi heard this and said in an adorable voice.

"Group leader's score is really low."

Li Hua was instantly left speechless, mouth opening and closing with nothing to say.

"You people....

At that moment, Tao Ran patted his shoulder and asked.

"Brother Stray Dog, did you write the language homework?"

Li Hua looked at Tao Ran in shock, only to despairingly discover that even Tao Ran — that die-hard furry — had scored quite a bit higher than him.

After evening self-study, Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong left the classroom together.

"This crappy competition is tailor-made for those two guinea-pig classes. Just don't know if they'll pull some shady stuff."

Jiang Nian walked ahead, turned his head, and said to Li Qingrong behind him.

"But no matter what, a competition with prize money is a good one. Their appetites are too big — they can't cheat out in the open."

Li Qingrong nodded. "Mm."

Jiang Nian started to say something, then stopped, figuring he'd let it go.

After all, the class monitor had never been broke — hard for her to understand his craving for money.

Luckily, Zhennan Middle School put grades above all else, whether it was competitions or exams. As long as a reward was set up, it was always cash or gift cards.

So the strong stay strong.

Even... gobble it all up.

On the staircase, Li Qingrong turned to glance at him, pressed her lips together, and asked.

"That prize money... you really want it?"

"Fifteen hundred yuan — who wouldn't want it." Jiang Nian smiled, his tone light. "But whether I can get it depends on the situation."

"Mm."

The activity center on the second floor of Building D — the spacious venue was packed. Students from a few familiar classes gathered together, whispering.

"Holy shit, looks like there's shady stuff going on?"

"What shady stuff?"

"By rights each class can only pick two people for the competition, but I saw some class with damn near twenty-plus people show up."

"Fuck, that's really scummy!"

"Which

cheap-ass bastard came up with this rule, it's fucking unfair as hell. How about we few guys just rush it!"

"Forget it, there's prize money."

"Right, more people doesn't change the pot-throwing. It's not scored by class anyway, the prize money goes to individuals."

Listening to this group talk on the side, Jiang Nian couldn't help but laugh out loud. But he quickly reined in his expression, staying silent and playing it cool.

Even so, standing together with Li Qingrong, he still drew the attention of plenty of passing Gao San students.

Until Jiang Nian suddenly pulled out a test paper.