Chapter 420: The King Does Not Meet the King

Jiang Nian swore he would never mess around with abstract jokes again.

"Show me your legs" doesn't actually mean literally showing legs. It's a classic internet probe phrase, meaning "ask."

Has our relationship reached the point where we can "show legs"?

He hadn't expected that his casual abstract remark would suddenly be cashed in by Chen Yunyun, and far beyond his expectations at that.

The hazy, dreamlike scene was perfect material for a dream.

The sky wasn't fully light yet when Jiang Nian grabbed his bag, slammed the door shut with a bang, and headed downstairs.

When buying breakfast, he habitually NTR'd the bun shop owner. Striking a pose of buying buns, he sidled up to the steaming-hot stall and took a look.

Under the bun shop owner's expression of pleasant surprise at a lost-and-found regular customer, he turned without hesitation to the neighboring stall to buy a rolled flatbread and soy milk.

So boss, what is life?

Gao San's building.

The corridor was misty, the classroom's front door wasn't open.

Jiang Nian skillfully circled to the back. After entering the classroom, he tossed his bag onto the seat and swept a glance at the spacious room where only two people were present.

"Fangfang, morning."

"Mm." Empress Fangfang was unusually aloof, working on a second-round Chinese language handout no one else was doing. "Did you finish the Chinese homework?"

"Done."

At his words, Huang Fang froze, unable to help turning to glance at Jiang Nian.

"How did you finish it?"

That look was as if she'd seen Huang Gai strike Zhou Yu—a bit of heaven and earth reversed.

"What kind of talk is that? Where's my motivational Star medal?" Jiang Nian rummaged on himself, blowing his own horn with a string of puffs, then abruptly shifted the topic.

"Chen Yunyun helped me bring it back to copy. Rounded off, that counts as me having written it."

Huang Fang:

She couldn't speak for a long while, finally squeezing out one sentence.

"Does Zhizhi know?"

"If she knows." Jiang Nian blew at his hair.

Bro's signature move—fifteen years in the making.

Huang Fang pressed her lips together and turned away.

"A bit scummy."

"What's that supposed to mean, we're all classmates here." Jiang Nian pointed at this insider in front of him. "Don't talk nonsense, if something happens I'm coming for you."

Huang Fang:

She instantly pulled the cat-speechless meme face, knowing that stumbling into the White Tiger Hall never led to anything good.

Children.

Knowing too much isn't a blessing.

About ten minutes later, Li Hua burst into the classroom.

"Holy crap!"

"Jiang Nian, you absolute birth, how come you always come this early?"

He lifted his head from his seat at the sound, brows slightly furrowed. He made an "eight" hand gesture, his eyes blank as he asked, "Fangfang, did you hear a dog barking?"

"Eat shit!"

"Classroom

How come there's a dog in here?" Yao Bei Bei poked her head in from the empty corridor, breezing into the classroom. "You guys!" Li Hua couldn't hold it in, cursing up a storm.

Yet zero people cared.

Jiang Nian glanced at Yao Bei Bei, his face puzzled.

"Why are you here so early?"

"What do you know? A day's plan starts in the morning."

Jiang Nian slowly typed out a question mark, pointing at Yao Bei Bei.

"There are still children in the classroom, don't get dirty first thing in the morning."

Yao Bei Bei: "?"

Normally, she would definitely fire back hard, but today she had something to ask Jiang Nian for help with.

So after much thought, she chose to swallow it.

After a while, when Jiang Nian got up to go get hot water, Yao Bei Bei also quietly rose, thermos in hand, and stealthily followed.

In the corridor, two sets of footsteps—one fast, one slow—echoed.

Tap tap tap, Yao Bei Bei sped up a few steps to catch up with someone.

"Hey, Jiang Nian, wait for me."

"Yesterday's thing?" Jiang Nian stopped walking and turned to look at her.

"Yeah." Yao Bei Bei hadn't expected him to ask outright, but when this kind of thing comes up, it doesn't follow logic at all.

Her heart pounded violently, and she mustered all her courage to look up and ask.

"Do you think my parents' conflict will escalate?"

Jiang Nian looked at the Yao Bei Bei in front of him—her summoning was pure chaos, she'd somehow invoked the Erlang Manifested Saint himself.

Perhaps someone out there understood divorce better than he did.

But 【Verify】 had refreshed.

"Conflict escalating, huh... I haven't read many books." Jiang Nian asked, "Can I take that to mean divorce?"

"Contradictory, it's contradictory!" Yao Bei Bei corrected him. "Actually it hasn't reached that point yet, it's just that they've been arguing pretty fiercely lately."

In fact, it wasn't just fierce. It had already reached a pretty outrageous level — the moment they met, they could start arguing. "Just leave it be, middle-aged couples arguing is normal. If they could divorce, they would have already." Jiang Nian waved his hand. "If they can't divorce..."

"... what will happen?" Yao Bei Bei's face was full of hope.

"They'll find a way to divorce."

Yao Bei Bei:

"..."

Listen to a man's words for a whole evening, and you might as well have heard nothing at all.

Jiang Nian stood in front of the water dispenser at the end of the hallway and began to counsel her.

"My suggestion is — don't get involved, wait until after the college entrance exam."

Yao Bei Bei sighed. "But every time they argue, it's always when I come home from school, and they make me judge who's right."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian let out an "oh."

He held his thermos and reached out to get hot water, but only saw the screen light up. It showed the deduction, yet not a single drop of water came out.

The scene turned awkward. Yao Bei Bei wanted to advise him

to take his water card off first.

But then came a thud — the hot water dispenser had been kicked hard. After letting out a wail, it started gushing water with a splashing sound.

Yao Bei Bei: "Huh?"

After the little interlude, Jiang Nian set both thermoses aside.

"Believe it or not, your parents have never actually thought about divorce. Arguing all day long — who knows, maybe they just want to grab your attention."

"How would you know?" Yao Bei Bei was stunned.

On this matter, besides telling Jiang Nian, she had also talked to a few female friends, but the results of those discussions weren't optimistic.

The conclusions boiled down to three: "Talk it out," "Mediate," "Find a marriage counselor."

Only Jiang Nian said: leave it alone.

"But what if..."

"Let me ask you, what kind of civil servant divorces?" Jiang Nian stared at her. "In a small town like Xinjiang, what happens after a divorce?"

"Have you thought about this — are your parents the sentimental type?"

Hearing that, Yao Bei Bei's pupils suddenly dilated. The thin fog shrouding her heart abruptly parted, revealing the key information.

"No, they're tax officials."

The Iron Army is the kind of unit with the best benefits but the hardest path to advancement. May you wander half a lifetime, and return still a Grade-One Enforcement Officer.

At their age, waiting a little longer and they can reach the other shore of their ideals.

In short, in a small town all the rules are pretty lax. But correspondingly, with bones broken but tendons still connected, divorce is basically impossible.

"Then there you go, consultation's over." Jiang Nian picked up his thermos and started to leave. "Remember to transfer the consultation fee to me."

But the Iron-Mouthed Divine Calculator doesn't need a little red envelope.

"Hey wait, then what... what should I do?" Yao Bei Bei already mostly believed Jiang Nian, and instinctively looked to him for advice.

"Treat me like a Why-Oh-Why hotline? How would I know?"

"No, please, help me out." Seeing him about to leave, Yao Bei Bei couldn't help panicking a little. "How about this — once this blows over, I'll treat you to a meal."

He raised an eyebrow. "My stomach's not great, I don't like eating out. How about this — if it works, you have to do me a favor."

"Deal."

Hearing that, the corner of Jiang Nian's mouth curved into a slight smile.

"I suggest you don't go home for now. Stay at a classmate's house — one with a big house, plenty of money, and an only daughter."

"Where am I supposed to find..." Yao Bei Bei started to say, then suddenly looked up at Jiang Nian. "Isn't that Baby Zhizhi?"

Jiang Nian had always been a very cautious person, fond of feeding fish and teasing cats.

Although right now he was only eighteen, he had to figure out what the biggest obstacle between him and Zhang Ningzhi was.

If Zhang Wanhai didn't understand love, fine — but did his future mother-in-law?

Win over Baby Zhizhi's parents?

Wrong.

Of course, a love blessed by parents is the most beautiful love.

But what if it's a five-way split... friendship?

So Jiang Nian's goal wasn't to get Baby Zhizhi's parents' approval. It was to extract some information from Yao Bei Bei.

A crystal ward.

Anyway, it's a no-cost deal, and he can win over Yao Bei Bei on the side — why not?

"I don't know about that, so sleepy, so sleepy." Jiang Nian yawned as he left, tossing the water card to Yao Bei Bei.

The big break between morning classes.

"Damn, where's my water card?" Li Hua rummaged around, immediately doubting his whole life. "I saw it here this morning."

"Tsk tsk, gotta keep that water card safe." Jiang Nian comforted him, then started walking the water card around on a strip of clear tape like he was walking a dog.

"Come come come, little card's going for a walk."

Li Hua froze for a few seconds, then took a careful look at the water card.

"Your mom!"

"That's also your grandma — remember to be filial." Jiang Nian returned the water card to Li Hua, then turned his head toward the girl who was snickering.

"Did you bring something to drink today?"

The faintly guilty smile on Zhang Ningzhi's face vanished, and she immediately stopped being amused.

"Not giving it to you!"

Jiang Nian turned his head, "Qing..."

The words hadn't even left his mouth before his leg took a hit.

"Hmph, fine, here you go!"

Li Qingrong glanced at them, a faintly puzzled look on her face.

"I only have mineral water."

True enough — the class monitor didn't like drinking beverages either.

But this type of girl would more often than not lick the yogurt cap when no one was around; he could only say he hoped he never got caught doing it.

Otherwise...

"Mineral water is great, replenishes..." Jiang Nian said with a smile, then suddenly hissed and sucked in a breath, "Let's go run the morning exercises first."

He felt his calf was about to be bruised purple — Zhang Ningzhi really did have a vicious hand.

Li Qingrong tilted her head, blank-faced.

"Hmm?"

The morning-exercise music started up, and the classroom sank into a sea of noise. Liu Yang took the class banner from the back of the front door and shouted for everyone to head down.

Yang Qiming instantly deflated, not wanting to go down for the morning run.

"My stomach hurts, I want to make a little cake."

"Cut the act." Liu Yang was iron-faced and impartial. "Nine out of ten people who don't want to run say their stomach hurts — you on your period?"

Yang Qiming tried sighing, "Fine then, I can only make a little dessert on your chair..."

Liu Yang was completely dumbfounded — bro, let's speak Chinese together.

"Damn you, sometimes I really wish I hadn't grown ears."

"Then—"

"Up to you." Yang Qiming gave up trying.

"Your mom... forget it, go ahead."

Jiang Nian's trio — the Fruity Robo combination — merged into the crowd, drifting lazily down the stairs, chatting about trivial little things.

"Why are you walking so slow?"

A rather g00d-looking girl appeared from the side, flashed Jiang Nian a smile, waved, and left.

Li Hua and Ma Guojun formed a pincer angle, staring at Jiang Nian expressionlessly.

"What's the situation with you two?"

"Just classmates, right?"

Jiang Nian had no interest in Yu Zhiyi — after all, that woman was no good person — so he said with a thoroughly indifferent face, "Innocent."

"Then why does she keep looking for you?" Li Hua had had his eye on his teammate's ex-girlfriend for a long time and asked through gritted teeth.

"God knows, maybe..." Jiang Nian rubbed his chin, "she's after my good looks — eight points taller than a certain someone."

"Eat shit! You can say any damn thing!" Li Hua cursed, but also realized Jiang Nian wasn't lying.

Ma Guojun offered a very fair-minded remark: "Regardless, neither Jiang Nian nor Yu Zhiyi is any good."

After the morning run ended, Old Liu appeared on the sports field. After a brief inspection, he had someone call Jiang Nian out alone.

"This afternoon, we have our class's soccer match."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian had no reaction.

"Got it."

"Are you ready?"

"No, the competition cycle is too long." Jiang Nian scratched his head. "So we can't expect the team to keep prepping the whole time."

As the saying goes, first push and you win; second push and you weaken; third push and you're spent.

"Then can we still win?" Old Liu frowned instinctively.

He wanted the championship trophy — after all, if that honor landed on Class Three's head, he as the head teacher would benefit from it too.

"We'll win." Jiang Nian nodded.

After a while, Lin Dong came over.

"What did Old Liu ask?"

"He said we're playing Class Four this afternoon, and asked if anyone in our class knows how to slide-tackle to break up Class Four's attacks."

"I can!" Lin Dong instantly perked up, slapping his chest so hard it thundered. "Watch me — I'll send them flying."

Looking at his clear-eyed classmate, Jiang Nian was deeply moved.

Damn, so easy to fool.

Although he'd already arranged the violent slide-tackle position, raising the odds of winning — to secure a sure victory, he still had to rile up the others too.

Going up the stairs, Jiang Nian patted Liu Yang.

"Yang-ge, soccer match this afternoon."

"Got it."

"Play rough — we have plenty of subs." Jiang Nian didn't blink an eye. "If we win, I'll steal a pack of Old Liu's Furong Wang for you."

Why not Huazi? Because there's still another match. This time it's the final four; next time is for the championship cup. This time, it's a rare occurrence — two Olympiad classes advanced to the final four on group-stage points.

So Class Four is strong.

But someone still spotted something off.

"Wait, rotation?" Li Hua's eyes went wide. "Nian, why does it sound like you're not planning to play much?"

"Giving you guys more chances to shine." Jiang Nian said solemnly. "I said it before — I won't hog this glory all to myself."

"Then when are you going on the court?" Zhang Ningzhi asked, finding a moment.

"Oh, that, it's not certain." He rubbed his thigh. "Oh no, my leg seems to have gone numb. The afternoon match....."

"You're touching my leg!" Zhang Ningzhi was speechless, and as she pressed her lips together, a dimple appeared on her fair cheek.

"My bad, no wonder......." He went on, "I'm the captain, so if something feels off I'll go on to save the day." Zhang Ningzhi was dumbfounded—how could it be like this?

After school.

After Zhang Ningzhi left, Jiang Nian turned to look at the class president, who was still working on problems. He deliberated for a moment, then put on a troubled look and said.

"Qingqing."

"Mm?"

Hearing this, Li Qingrong looked up.

She had not yet reached the age when she would stop developing—a face that was cool and aloof. Her neck was fair and slender, yet her chest was already quite ample.

Even Jiang Nian was briefly taken aback.

"Um, that...... could you help me buy a few things after school this afternoon?"

She tilted her head slightly. "This afternoon, isn't there a match?"