Chapter 427: Stop Chatting Already

After school.

Underneath the pitch-black Gao San building, Xu Qianqian met up with Jiang Nian.

She walked a stretch, then suddenly turned her head. Looking at the brightly lit Building D not far away, she couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"The Gao Si students really go hard."

"Repeating a year has no fallback—pressure really is huge." Jiang Nian, for once, said something decent, then thought of that girl with grape-shaped eyes.

Oh, called her senior.

To be precise, a former-year senior who doesn't enjoy the military academy registration qualification.

But that person doesn't look too bright—better not pollute the army. Send her straight into the crucible of repeating a year, stoke the flames and refine—Xu Qianqian, swaying as she walked forward, slowly turned her head and shot him a warning glance.

"Oh right, I remember there's a repeater in our building."

"Oh, Brother Mingming." Jiang Nian also remembered, instantly puzzled, "How come I never bump into him going up and down the stairs normally?"

Brother Mingming is a homebody who wears black-framed glasses, doesn't talk much usually. He's a normal person, just a bit introverted in temperament.

"Heard from your mom that Brother Mingming went home to study."

"Huh? Is that even right?"

"How would I know if it's right or not, hard to say." Xu Qianqian rolled her eyes at him, "But there's a pair in our class who went home to study."

"Did it work out?"

"Mm, it did." Xu Qianqian nodded, glanced at him and said, "Just got engaged last month—heard both sets of parents are very satisfied."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian couldn't hold it together for a moment.

"This... this is honestly a bit, uh, something—were that pair from your class going home to prep for exams, or going home to prep for pregnancy?"

The little girl tucked her sleeves in, turning them into straight tubes, and breathed out a puff of white air.

"Who can say for sure."

True enough, Zhennan people do Zhennan things.

If that pair really finishes the big life event, well-matched families and easy on the mind. Parents help raise the kids, these two go off to college.

When it's all over, graduation, pull out the marriage certificate.

Counselor, extra points!

The two of them wandered over to a late-night snack stall.

Xu Qianqian suddenly stopped in her tracks, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the steaming stall, unable to drag herself away.

Jiang Nian had robbed Yao Beibei of snacks during evening self-study, so his stomach wasn't really hungry.

"Eat a bit?"

"N-no... I'm afraid of getting fat, I've already had late-night snacks several times this week."

"Hm? You're plenty skinny right now." Jiang Nian glanced at the little stall, "One bunch of greens, plus a radish."

"But I want fish balls." Xu Qianqian said guiltily.

"Frozen fish balls, even when boiled through are still low-calorie. Just ordered greens and radish, so rounded off it counts as eating nothing."

"Fine." Xu Qianqian pressed her lips together and wandered over.

Jiang Nian was in a good mood too, humoring Miss Xu. If he were in a bad mood, it would be...:.. still trying to lose weight yet eating, let's just go home, okay?

Go home, kid—you're better suited to being a pig.

A boy's emotional intelligence should rise and fall with his mood, elusive as the wind, because the Emperor is capricious.

Maybe someone will say, I'm emotionally intelligent.

The emotionally intelligent all get dragged off for beheading—Louis XVI, your reserved seat.

It's the 21st century now, the Qing dynasty died ages ago. High emotional intelligence used to coax girls is pure crap—if she doesn't like you, she just doesn't like you.

Those who care don't need coaxing; those who don't care can't be coaxed. If someone likes you even seven-tenths, you don't need to wag your tail like a dog with high emotional intelligence.

Jiang Nian wandered around once, ordered a tofu, kelp, and quail egg dish.

"Don't look at me, you eat yours."

"Oh."

When she was little, Xu Qianqian was still quite well-behaved.

Later on, that fell apart.

"Food's here!" The boss carried over the boiled dish, set it between the two of them, "Small bowls and chopsticks, grab them yourself."

On the little low table, the steaming boiled dish wafted up heat.

Quail eggs and fish balls soaked in the broth, tofu had absorbed the soup till full. Tender white radish held up to long cooking without falling apart, wide glass noodles glistening and springy.

Gulp.

Xu Qianqian, utterly spineless, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, habitually sitting and waiting for the meal to start.

"Ready?"

"Mixed up a dipping sauce, same as before." Jiang Nian brought over disposable small bowls and chopsticks, "Eat, eat."

When eating, Xu Qianqian is at her most well-behaved.

"Don't know why, these past few afternoons I just never have much appetite, but once evening self-study ends I always feel starving."

Jiang Nian bit into a piece of tofu soaked full of broth, not even looking up.

"Eating too much."

"Drop dead!" Xu Qianqian punched him hard, "You just can't understand what having no appetite feels like—sage.....

"

"Ugh, pervert!" Xu Qianqian looked at him with utter contempt, not wanting to discuss lewd topics with him, "Ready for the provincial joint exam?"

Hearing that, Jiang Nian stroked his chin.

"Our teacher set my target at 640, but I've already been studying for 650."

"Six-fifty? You?" Xu Qianqian looked puzzled, a hesitant expression on her face. "You don't have to be in such a rush."

Jiang Nian saw her fidgeting, her face starting to turn red.

He wondered what she was imagining again, but never mind. Even without the bet with the class monitor, he would still aim for a higher score.

At least after the college entrance exam, when filling in his choices, he could still end up not far from Xu Qianqian.

"Actually, I'm quite rushed."

"Rushed about what

?"

Jiang Nian also started fidgeting, looking at her as he spoke.

"Of course I'm rushing to go home and prepare for pregnancy... no, prepare for the exam."

"Pervert, go die!"

The next day.

Early morning, in the spacious classroom of Class Three.

Jiang Nian glanced down at his desk. A math test paper had mysteriously appeared on everyone's desk, a vast expanse of white snow.

"When did Lin Dong hand these out?"

Huang Fang turned her head to look at the empty classroom, realizing he was talking to her.

"After evening self-study let out yesterday, the subject representative handed out extras."

"Holy shit, what a living animal!" Jiang Nian spoke his mind. "Six hours in the afternoon and you hand out another one?

r

Huang Fang thought for a moment. "Time is like a sponge..."

Indeed, squeeze it and it stretches.

Jiang Nian sat down, took a deep breath, and started working on the test paper.

"I must work hard!"

Plop—he fell asleep while writing.

Li Hua's voice rang out, not sounding quite real.

"Is he dead?"

Damn, unfilial brat.

"Turned off, sleeping this deep?" Ma Guojun said. "Let Zhang Ningzhi try, wake him up. It's kinda creepy."

Fatty's no good either, total idiot.

"He looks really sleepy, let's not disturb him." Zhang Ningzhi's voice rang out, gentle and soft.

Baby Zhizhi good, others bad—there's truth to it.

After a while, Jiang Nian, slumped over his desk, felt a jade-smooth hand. From under the desk, slowly and leisurely, it probed near the tip of his nose.

Jiang Nian: "?"

He had already opened his eyes and recognized it as Baby Zhizhi's hand. Taking advantage of the approaching fingers, he bit down on them directly.

His teeth snapped shut like lightning, then loosened after a moment.

"Ah!" Zhang Ningzhi swiftly pulled her hand back,

Jiang Nian nimbly climbed up from the desk, turned his head, and said to Li Hua.

"Your dad's alive, a celebration for the whole world."

"Eat shit." Li Hua flipped him the bird, then asked curiously, "How did you sleep so dead early in the morning?"

"Went to sleep at three last night."

Hearing this, Li Hua immediately sucked in a cold breath.

"No way, bro, you're a bit outrageous. What can you possibly read until three in the morning? Hundreds of pages of web pages must've been flipped through by you."

"Doing test papers. How else would I be eight points ahead of you?" Jiang Nian said calmly. "Those eight points are the chasm between you and me."

Hearing this, "kindly" laughter rose all around.

Li Hua instantly flushed hot, blurting out a flag without thinking.

"You f—king—Jiang Nian, just you wait! Next exam I will

definitely take back everything that belongs to me. Today's matter, repaid a hundredfold!"

Jiang Nian watched and laughed, overjoyed.

"Then keep on taking it. Remember, don't bark like a dog when you lose. A low-scoring scrub isn't just trash at the skill game, his mouth is also top-tier hard."

Zhang Ningzhi stayed silent the whole time, hunched over her desk doing problems.

Already behaved.

Morning self-study, same as always.

Li Qingrong got tired from reading, and rubbed the rubber duck on her desk. Like patting a dog's head, quite the owner's air.

The morning classes were boring, and it wasn't raining so they had to run exercises.

"Shit!" Yang Qiming panted like a bull, his back already soaked with sweat. "What kind of weather is this, cold and hot at the same time."

Jiang Nian looked at Yu Zhiyi, and Yu Zhiyi at that moment also looked at him.

"?"

"!"!"

Four eyes met, gazes converging.

Jiang Nian got a certain mischievous answer, and could only say that Da Yu was quite generous as a friend, willing to talk about anything.

Even if she said nothing at all.

The monitor ran exercises without a hint of redness or breathlessness—just standing there, cold and distant, like a chill wind brushing past a bare branch.

Too far away, Jiang Nian didn't go over.

He pulled out an exam paper and, before all his friends, staged a show of hanging himself from a beam and pricking his thigh with a needle, seizing every second to study.

Those around him were unfazed; some even took out vocabulary books to memorize words.

After the exercise session disbanded, Jiang Nian followed the crowd out, wondering whether the cafeteria would serve spicy chicken for lunch.

This dish was charged separately.

For Jiang Nian, money wasn't an issue. From a student's perspective, he had so much he could never spend it all.

But once out in society, it was different—holes were everywhere.

"Days until the Gaokao still:.." Lin Dong tilted his head, reading the numbers on the Gao San building's LED panel, "Holy shit."

"Fuck, why'd you read it out loud?" Li Hua pointed back at him, "Now everyone's miserable."

"But this number's still pretty long, right?" Ma Guojun said, automatically asking Jiang Nian, "You think so?"

3

He turned his head and found Jiang Nian staring blankly at the crimson LED.

Ma Guojun's heart jolted—he hadn't expected someone like Jiang Nian, with his background, to harbor such tenderness inside.

Yeah, after the Gaokao, they'd all part ways.

Melancholy.

Jiang Nian froze, staring at the zero on the LED panel—it felt exactly like the big deal he was about to close at lunch today.

Negotiating a ten-thousand-yuan deal with Xu Shuang, that stupid little idiot.

Zero zero zero—just feast straight away.

Gacha forever!

He snapped back to reality and saw the fat guy pretending to be brooding; he blinked in surprise and asked, concerned:

"If you're sick, go home, kid."

The last two classes before lunch flew by.

In the final minutes before class ended, Jiang Nian sent a QQ message to Xu Yuanshan: Don't move, wait for me at the school gate.

Xu Yuanshan: "Are you taking advantage of me?"

Huh?

Is Zero Class really this lax?

"You guys can play with your phones in class?" Jiang Nian typed blindly under his desk, "Take it easy—if they confiscate your phone, I won't be able to reach you."

Vibration—immediate reply.

"(Sunglasses) Don't worry, no one but my sister can control me!"

Still under sister's thumb—Guinan's potential stock.

"What if your sister catches you?"

Xu Yuanshan: "Then I'll be in my sister's hands."

A dumb fool—falling into Zhou Yuting's hands. No joke—she could play with Xu Yuanshan like a dog if she wanted.

But she didn't want to.

The dismissal bell rang.

Jiang Nian still thought of his big deal; after greeting those nearby, he hurried toward the school gate.

On the third floor, Xu Qianqian and Xiao Song walked out together.

Because Xu Shuang was pretty too—if she showed up and Xu Qianqian happened to spot her, misunderstandings might arise.

Better to mention it: going to gacha with a friend.

Xu Qianqian: "Spendthrift?"

"Don't worry about it."

Two vibrations—Xu Qianqian's message came through.

"Heh, I'll tell Li Yi!"

"I'm not gachaing—I'm taking a friend to gacha," Jiang Nian sighed. "My luck's better—I'm helping him draw one." Xu Qianqian: "……Boring."

Seeing this, Jiang Nian put his phone away.

He thought: Hmph, boring—then let's see yours.

At the school gate.

"Over here!" Xu Yuanshan waved wildly.

Clearly, the stupid little idiot was already desperate.

Beside Xu Yuanshan stood a graceful young girl—oval face, deer-like eyes, her gaze calm as still water.

Quite composed.

Jiang Nian glanced at Xu Shuang, then at Xu Yuanshan.

As if asking: Did your sister really come?

The stupid little idiot blinked hard and waved his phone. Jiang Nian instantly understood—he was already in his sister's hands.

Noob! No wonder he can't draw cards!

"You..." Jiang Nian looked at Xu Shuang, as if wanting to say something but holding back.

Xu Shuang tucked her wind-tousled hair behind her ear. "I won't interfere. Just pretend I'm not here."

"Oh."

In reality, Jiang Nian couldn't care less about any interference.

【Jackpot】Who understands the real value here?

It was only because Xu Shuang had come that he had to say that line. To avoid her asking all sorts of questions afterward.

The three of them walked together, with Xu Yuanshan standing in the middle, a pure chatterbox.

What cards, what market price.

Jiang Nian listened until his head swelled, so he simply turned to look at his sister. Every sentence Xu Yuanshan said, Jiang Nian stole another glance at her — eye-candy to make up for it.

This odd trio also drew the eyes of passersby on the road.

At the intersection of Side Virtue Road, a person came running over from afar.

"Wait....... wait!"

"Wait for me!"

Xie Zhihao, backpack slung over his shoulder, cut diagonally down from the west gate, neatly blocking the path of the three who had set out from the school's main entrance.

"How did you get here?" Xu Yuanshan asked in surprise.

Jiang Nian was secretly amused, thinking: this guy's here for your sister. Putting up with playing with you, this little brat, for so long — he really knows how to talk, damn it.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with him.

How wonderful, truly wonderful — this is a chronicle of youth.

"I was a bit late packing up, heard you guys were going to do card pulls." Xie Zhihao was quite a character himself, and in a few words he had wormed his way in.

"Oh, you're here too?"

Hearing this, Xu Shuang shot him a glance and gave a perfunctory nod.

"Mm."

And so, three became four.

Xu Yuanshan had found someone to chat with, so he latched onto Xie Zhihao and wouldn't stop talking. The latter could only helplessly turn his head every now and then.

One look was all it took — he nearly collapsed.

Because the pesky little brat had latched onto him talking, Xu Shuang had actually ended up chatting with Jiang Nian, their conversation broken but ongoing.

Xie Zhihao's face instantly flushed red, his lungs nearly bursting with anger.

Stop chatting already!