Chapter 411

Jiang Nian mostly showed off just to test his skills, since among all his abilities, 【Fishing】 was the most useless.

Gao San was busy with classes and never had occasion to use it.

Besides, he didn't like eating fish.

Since nobody knew each other, fishing wouldn't hurt. So he started fishing right away, thinking of developing a new gimmick.

As for whether it would be awkward, forget about all that nonsense.

Students who cared about their dignity couldn't show off.

But then again, he really was the Motivation Star, and he really could score six hundred points—any gimmick he tried was guaranteed to work.

So is this even showing off anymore?

Qiangzi said he was face-blind, because his wealth really could let him marry any milk tea girl. That was everyone's consensus; no one called him unworthy.

If he didn't show off, how would strangers know he had countless talents?

If Gao San didn't show off, he might as well go home.

"Now that's settled—at least it's not useless…"

,

The people around couldn't hear his muttering, nor did they know he was fishing. Silence stretched for a long time—even the referee teacher was stunned.

Hitting every target wasn't the issue; the issue was how smooth it all was.

"Holy shit, does he even need to aim?"

"That doesn't make sense—he looked like he was just throwing randomly, no technique at all, yet it was so smooth…"

"It went in."

"Bro, this is way too much showing off."

But honestly, fishing to show off was genuinely satisfying.

The only downside was, it didn't work on people who knew him.

And it varied by person—even if surrounded by strangers and successfully drawing attention, introverted people still wouldn't approach.

After all, this wasn't magic.

"How'd it go?" Lao Liu walked over, this time acting perfectly normal, "How many did you hit?"

"All of them."

"That's pretty good, you're practically guaranteed the prize." Lao Liu couldn't hold back his grin, "Li Qingrong did pretty well too, 【27】 she hit most of them."

Basically a hit."

"All of them too?"

"No, the competition was lighter on the girls' side." Lao Liu glanced around, "Huh? Did you argue with someone?"

Jiang Nian realized that after two uses of the skill, Lao Liu had become immune to 【Fishing】.

It meant their relationship had become familiar at this moment.

Fuck, Lao Liu.

Could it be that between us… it was just a purely profit-driven teacher-student relationship?

"No, not at all," Jiang Nian said, effortlessly delivering a lie, "maybe he's genuinely happy for me."

Lao Liu suddenly felt worried—this damn kid might get bullied by the crowd.

"Cough, cough, better keep it low-key."

"Don't worry, Teacher, no one understands low-key better than me." Jiang Nian patted his chest without hesitation.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!!!" The boy who had just thrown his last shot walked past, heard this, and choked on his saliva.

Jiang Nian froze for a moment, originally thinking, Who's so unlucky?

Then he spotted "Good Guy Brother," and lunged over, patting Good Guy Brother's back.

"Classmate, don't be afraid—if you feel unwell, tell the champion."

"Cough… cough… say… your mom!"

"Cough... cough, tell... tell your mom!"

He wondered if this guy had some misunderstanding about low-key, but then remembered he'd just won two event championships today.

So he immediately started faking a laugh again.

To be honest, before Jiang Nian transferred in,

Lao Liu's main focus had been on the top students in class, especially Li Qingrong, hoping she'd get into Tsinghua or Peking University.

But after Jiang Nian arrived and started winning awards, Lao Liu suddenly realized Class Three could excel in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education!

When higher-ups came for inspection, who would be the face of the class?

It would surely be…

Thinking of this, Lao Liu started smiling.

At this moment, he already imagined himself sitting in the dean's office chair, telling visiting students:

"Student, don't be afraid—if you have trouble, tell the director."

So when Li Qingrong finished her competition and came over, she happened to see an old man and a young man laughing wildly.

So, when Li Qingrong came over after the match, she happened to bump into two men, one old and one young, laughing wildly and brazenly right there.

By the end, they suddenly added an overtime round.

Because Jiang Nian had hit every target, it clearly wasn't satisfying enough for them, so they gathered those few people together for another round.

Because Jiang Nian had bet on all-correct, it clearly wasn't a satisfying outcome for them. So they gathered those people together and had another match.

Even if he competed a hundred more times, as long as Jiang Nian didn't hold back, even with his eyes closed, even if he used a burning stick—he'd still hit it!

Compete another hundred times, as long as Jiang Nian doesn't want to throw the match. Even with eyes closed, even with a fire-poking stick, he could still hit!

This was practically unbeatable—there was no way to miss.

"A-again... all hits again?"

"He guessed right on this too? How does he never miss?"

"Then what do we do? If Director Fang's students can't get the championship, then even if those two classes rack up awards per capita, it still won't be perfect, will it?"

"Try talking it over with their homeroom teacher. If the youngster knows what's good for him..."

While they muttered here, Director Fang's face over there had gone nearly rigid with awkwardness. This championship meant far too much to both classes.

The prize money didn't matter—it was mainly for publicity. What was harder to swallow was that the championships in both the boys' and girls' divisions seemed impossible to hold onto.

Before long, Old Liu arrived.

"Ahem, I can understand that too. It's just that the situation is—"

"That's the situation, Li... you all know it too."

Hearing this, the teachers all wore awkward expressions. Bullying a little girl now, and one day when she bullied them back, there'd be no tears left to cry.

Suddenly, someone asked.

"Then what about that boy in your class?"

"Right, Liu Laoshi. Your class having one champion is enough. The boys' division has to let go—people can't be that selfish."

Old Liu felt Director Fang's gaze land on him too, and it felt like ants were crawling all over his body.

True, a gentleman wouldn't do anything underhanded. But a gentleman with power would stay silent, and a lickspittle would take care of the rest.

He understood the reasoning perfectly, but he also had reasons he couldn't give up this championship.

The fifteen-hundred-yuan prize money, he could quietly make up to Jiang Nian. Only, losing the championship would dampen Jiang Nian's enthusiasm.

The student wins the award, and he himself kneels first. Greedy for small gains and forgetting righteousness, he could never retire as vice principal either.

He thought it over and decided to gamble.

"That boy... the two of them have a bit of a situation. If we do it this way, that little girl over there will have objections too."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

They wouldn't care about an ordinary little girl's thoughts, but this little girl's surname was Li—and besides, they truly didn't have the moral high ground in this matter.

Neither holding the moral high ground nor standing on "Li's" side—that would be too much of a coincidence.

Suddenly, Director Fang spoke.

"Then congratulations, Liu Laoshi. Since the competition was fair, just, and open, if there are no objections to the results, let's finalize the rankings."

Old Liu felt a stab of disgust, but could only smile.

Who could blame him—the man was a director (about to retire soon). The good news was he wasn't the Academic Affairs Director, and he only had a few years left to bounce around anyway.

Let him do whatever he wants—he himself stands on "Li's" side.

Not far away.

"We actually got the championship?" Jiang Nian scratched his face, then turned to look at Li Qingrong. "Doesn't that mean we have two championships?"

"Mm."

"Did Old Liu get a buff? This version's that overpowered?"

"What?" Li Qingrong didn't understand.

"Nothing, just complaining about Old Liu." Jiang Nian looked toward the organizing committee. "Good, Old Liu didn't betray me."

In reality, what he didn't know was... Old Liu was merely a fox borrowing the tiger's might. It could only be said that Class Three being this absurd was largely thanks to Old Liu.

Often, the more serious a person is, the more absurd they turn out to be.

In the activity center classroom, there was a small stage. A teacher stood on it reading out the rankings, calling people up one by one to receive their awards.

"Boys' division, girls' division champions."

"Science track, Olympiad Class Three, Jiang Nian. Science track, Olympiad Class Three, Li Qingrong."

When the championship rankings were announced and one class's name appeared twice in a row, the entire venue—

A hundred-plus people instantly erupted.

"Olympiad class?"

"How are the science geniuses this fierce? Two champions from one class?"

"If certain classes hadn't sent over twenty people, I'd really think this result was rigged. All I can say is it's immensely satisfying."

"Even among geniuses there are sporty ones. My friend's class, that guy..."

When Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong went up together to receive their awards, they also heard the arguing rising from below, and their eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

When a person is weak, even anger looks like a joke. When a person is strong, even cursing at everyone is just being absurd.

Ask and it's humor—lock him up.

The champion's prize was utterly ordinary—a thin envelope. Inside were fifteen paper bills, plain and unadorned.

Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong stood together receiving the award, with no need to give any acceptance speech.

Even silence was a form of invisible showing off.

"Damn, that girl is really pretty. I heard she's a top student from the science Olympiad class?"

Down below, a boy from the same floor as Class Three laughed.

"How uninformed, brother. If you don't go up to the fourth floor of the science building, you won't just know nothing about the top students—the looks are also 'what does that mean?'"

"Olympiad top students score five or six hundred. Those are nearly seven hundred—Tsinghua and Peking seeds."

"No way, why would someone scoring nearly seven hundred stay in the Olympiad class?"

The boy shrugged. "Who knows."

Saying so, the two of them simultaneously looked up at Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong on stage.

Suddenly, they saw that boy take the envelope and immediately look down to count the money. But after Li Qingrong took the envelope, she turned and looked at him.

The two boys who had just finished discussing were speechless at the sight.

Damn, now I get it!

Holy shit, does this guy only like money?

After taking the money, Jiang Nian grinned from ear to ear.

He and Li Qingrong didn't linger any longer either; they collected the award, took a photo, said hello to Old Liu, and prepared to head back to the classroom. After leaving Building D, it was already the fourth evening study session.

There were still some first- and second-year high school students in the school who hadn't finished leaving after evening study session, scattered along the road.

The black curtain of night hung high, a cold wind swept past.

"Here you go."

"Huh?" Jiang Nian turned his head, saw an envelope held out in front of him, and couldn't help but be stunned. "Why are you giving this to me?"

Li Qingrong pressed her lips together. "Mm."

Jiang Nian was a bit dumbfounded. "But I have one too."

She said, "Save it."

Sis, saving money should be done at a bank, not with Jiang Nian.

"Private individuals can't open banks, right?" Jiang Nian muttered. "Then aren't you afraid I'll run off with the money if you save it with me?"

Li Qingrong shook her head and took out her phone.

"

I still have...

"Hold on, if the amount is too large I'll really end up in there." Cold sweat nearly broke out all over Jiang Nian's body, and he casually accepted the envelope.

"Alright then, this money is saved with me. Let's temporarily name it the Reserve Hidden Energy Source—whenever you need it, I'll give it to you."

That name was clearly way too beast-folk, going for a vibe of pure loyalty and righteousness.

Li Qingrong frowned slightly and looked up at him.

"It's the Shopping Fund."