Chapter 429: Pat the Duck's Head

Climbing a mountain—if there are too many people, I won't go.

Stay alert for three knives and six holes.

Jiang Nian was just thinking that South Province didn't have a sea either, and a one-day round-trip activity seemed to have no better choice besides mountain climbing.

Few people, watch the sunrise, climb at night.

Quite worth thinking about.

Too many people, call Baby Zhizhi and the others along too. Going, all happy with poetry and the distant horizon; coming back, pieces of corpses and the police.

So, we'll see when the time comes.

If it really won't work, then choose staying home by the stove to review. Hiding at home, no one can knife me—happily prepare for the provincial joint exam.

Studying is the best way out for young people.

Back in the classroom.

The seating had changed.

Jiang Nian's group was pushed to the back row of the second large group. Li Qingrong's group retreated to the first row of the third large group.

Half a classroom apart, gazing at each other from afar.

Not funny.

But the good thing is the back row is wide—I can stretch out my one-meter-eight long legs however I want. Even better, I can lie down in class, lie on my stomach and listen to the lecture.

"Weekly test, stop dawdling." Li Hua shot him a glare, muttering, "The great Dao contends for supremacy—how could you beat me?"

Jiang Nian slowly dragged himself up from the chair against the wall.

"Hua, look at Tao Ran's glasses on the podium."

"What's there to look at?"

"Don't look at them sideways, look at them vertically." He pointed at the podium. "Look at those glasses—don't they look like the 8 points I have over you?"

"Eat shit, eat shit!"

Li Hua pointed at him, warning him in a husky tone.

"Society has no canopy-tree—don't take 8 points as forever."

"One-eight, life-eight." Jiang Nian pointed back, also starting to clear his desk, muttering, "The language weekly test is so boring,

I really want to copy."

Zhang Ningzhi was packing her things, frowned at his words. She turned to look at him, her expression fierce.

"Bad kids copy test papers, good kids do it themselves!"

"Fine."

Jiang Nian was really just saying it—doing a language test paper wasn't actually that painful. Just pick at random, free expression.

"What time did you wake up this afternoon?"

"F... ve o'clock." Zhang Ningzhi looked a little embarrassed. "We went shopping after school and got too sleepy, overslept together."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian froze for a moment.

He'd been busy lately and almost forgot to ask how things went with Yao Bei Bei. Not easy to ask Baby Zhizhi either—could only check tomorrow.

"Alright, I'm heading over first."

"Okay, you're not allowed to copy the class monitor's." Zhang Ningzhi looked dead serious, still holding a stack of books in her arms. "Got it?"

"Fine, I won't copy anyone's." Jiang Nian nodded.

"Good kid."

Jiang Nian: "?"

Evening self-study, weekly test as usual, the classroom brightly lit.

*Snap! * Jiang Nian sat down according to his student number, snapped his fingers at Li Qingrong. "Will you let me read your essay this time?"

Li Qingrong lowered her eyes, turned her head and shot him a warning glance.

"No."

The test papers were rustling down from the front. Jiang Nian turned to glance at the class monitor. He stroked his chin, thought for a moment, then said.

"I think it's pretty good."

Li Qingrong turned her head away, no longer paying him any attention.

In the classroom.

"Cough, cough!"

*Thump-thump-thump! *

"Mmm~~ mmm~~"

Coughing, leg-bouncing, and soft singing mingled together, forming a unique little tune for the evening self-study weekly test.

Jiang Nian occasionally looked up, glancing at the clock on the podium.

"Time passes so slowly."

He pushed through in one go, finishing all the questions except the reading comprehension. Along with the essay, he wrote everything, then let out a breath.

He turned back, leisurely savoring the story in the reading comprehension.

His whole person instantly felt like drinking an ice-cold cola in the height of summer—thoroughly refreshed from head to toe, all about that爽.

Li Qingrong heard the movement, turned her head and shot a certain someone a warning glance.

Hmm?

After watching for a while, she reached a conclusion.

Although she couldn't understand a boy's inexplicable happiness, he must have thought of something joyful, which was why he was waving his arms and dancing about.

After Jiang Nian finished writing, he stopped dancing too.

The pen clattered onto the desk, and his head thudded against it too, the stench of the exam paper lingering at his nostrils.

Can't catch my breath, bro.

He immediately lifted his head and glanced at the clock. One hour remained until the exam ended, and no one around had finished.

He leaned over again to peek at the monitor's exam paper.

Li Qingrong noticed and covered her paper, preventing Jiang Nian from ogling. Other papers didn't matter, but the Chinese exam had an essay.

"Write your own."

Jiang Nian spread his hands. "Finished."

He added, "Let me see yours."

Li Qingrong: "..

In the end, Jiang Nian still didn't see Embracing Qingqing's essay. He could only lie on the desk, sleeping to kill time, while making a mental inventory.

His pocket held several meal cards; he'd given one or two to Xu Qianqian and the others.

The one he used daily was a 600-yuan meal card with no cafeteria restrictions, plus a rarely used cafeteria card.

It deducted money every day.

Eating for free was the same as getting paid.

Oh right, Sister Feifei still owed him a meal.

After completing that job for Xu Yuanshan,

the Prodigal Son System returned a hundredfold, triggering a critical hit for a 100,000-yuan bonus.

His current cash totaled roughly 420,000 yuan.

Not enough to buy a house.

Housing prices in Zhennan County were absurdly high; even if he spent all 400,000-plus, he could only afford a single unit in Lishi Quyuan on the outskirts.

To live next to Baby Zhizhi, he'd need to earn twice as much again.

What about living next to the monitor?

Housing prices in Jiangjing Villa District were equally terrifying.

All he could say was: the boy still had to work hard.

If he bought a car, he'd get his license in two weeks. Technically, buying one was possible, but a Gao San student had no use for a car.

Time was so tight, even finding a moment to use the restroom was a struggle.

On Sundays, with only six hours off, he couldn't even travel within or outside the province. If something urgent came up, he could always borrow his dad's or Old Xu's car.

As for buying things, his home already had everything. The major purchases were done; the only big expense left was probably the bride price.

Aside from that, he glanced at his skills.

Several skill panels showed 【Lucky Draw】 and 【Double-Check】 still on cooldown. 【Fishing】 was just for fun—useless for actual catching.

The most frequently used were still 【Precision】 and 【Heal】.

Jiang Nian slid his fingers across the panel, pondering carefully. He suspected more skills would unlock later, still unlit.

All other system tasks were completed.

There was one reward left unopened: memories of his ex-wife. Opening it would knock him out cold—unsuitable for doing in public.

He planned to open it after evening self-study, before bed.

To avoid causing misunderstandings in class; falling asleep elsewhere wasn't nearly as terrifying. In Gao San, passing out could raise suspicion of sudden death.

Bro, why are you dead?

Poke him, call 120.

Jiang Nian wasn't short on ambulance money—this wasn't Gotham, where you paid for the siren with the rest of your life.

He just couldn't afford to die, thanks.

He opened his eyes to find Xu Shao, Xiao Song, Baby Zhizhi, the monitor, and Chen Yunyun all standing beside his hospital bed—five beautiful girls at once.

Too happy, right?

Wrong. He'd probably faint from the sweetness. He dared not open his eyes, hoping it was just a hallucination—why was there a chainsaw sound in the hospital?

Where are my legs?

Honestly, that'd be better than death.

Half an hour passed.

Tao Ran stood from his seat, turned to glance at the noisy classroom, then decided to walk up to the podium and collect the papers.

"Cough, cough—pass the answer sheets from back to front."

After passing his answer sheet, Jiang Nian cast a reluctant glance at Li Qingrong. He hadn't found a chance to touch her hand or see her essay.

Not funny.

Hiding the argumentative essay? Ridiculous!

"Hm?" Li Qingrong lowered her head to pack her things, turned to look at him, eyes full of confusion. "What's wrong?"

"N-no… nothing." Jiang Nian waved his hand—he couldn't say he wanted to touch her leg. "We're so far apart now that we switched seats."

Hearing this, Li Qingrong's eyes dimmed slightly.

"Mm."

Final evening self-study session.

Li Qingrong sat in the middle of the first row, third group, directly in front of the blackboard and the cleaning corner.

There wasn't even a foul smell—winter odors in the classroom were so strong they'd completely deadened the sense of smell.

Even if there was a smell, you couldn't detect it.

Just after the Chinese weekly test, the classroom buzzed with noise, desks empty. Li Qingrong stared blankly. On her desk sat a rubber duck—looking absurd.

For most of the time, the two of them had been desk mates in front and back. Suddenly separated, an odd feeling arose, something unfamiliar.

"Monitor, what's wrong?" Nie Qiqi leaned in from behind, her痴女 face pressing toward Li Qingrong's.

"Nothing." Li Qingrong dodged away.

The timid smiling tiger was unhappy, yet spoke with extreme flattery. His expression and tone were like a cunning fox.

In this class, the person she liked most was Li Qingrong.

The one she disliked most was Jiang Nian—she punched him every time she saw him. But she never dared to land a real punch, because she was a timid smiling tiger.

Yue, sis.

Reject male green tea, physically repulsed, fam.

"Monitor, is this seat not comfortable?" Nie Qiqi offered advice, "You could sit with me?"

"So, want to switch seats?"

At that moment, Nie Qiqi wore the same smile as Aniya. Even though nothing had happened, her mind was already racing with fantasies.

Li Qingrong: "No."

"Huh?" Nie Qiqi looked bewildered.

Just a moment ago she was smiling, now she turned into Tian Xiaocao. She glanced at the monitor, then bit her lip, silent for a long while before speaking.

"Why?"

Of course there was a reason, but Li Qingrong only shook her head.

"Nothing."

Saying that, she turned her head. She picked up her pen, ready to write homework to pass the time, but couldn't bring it down—something felt off.

Finally, Li Qingrong's gaze landed on the duck on the desk.

She reached out and touched the duck's head.

That was it.

Back row, second large group.

"Holy shit, the back row is so wide!" Li Hua flopped back in his chair against the wall, "No wind blowing, no one splashing water."

"Country bumpkin."

Ma Guojun sneered.

He sat in the last row of the third large group—the very spot Li Hua had just mentioned, where people often splashed water.

The Guobao Special Attack trio still sat together in the back row when Yu Zhiyi came with a water cup to fill up. Ma Guojun quickly moved aside, pulling his chair inward.

"Thanks." Yu Zhiyi bit her lip.

"Cough." The fat guy pushed up his black-rimmed glasses with his middle finger, unsure how to respond.

One move by Yu, both tensed up.

Li Hua was the same—sometimes gripping his pen in a pose, sometimes pretending to be deep, then finally just yelled at Jiang Nian: "You fucking—!"

Jiang Nian was happily checking his test paper, waiting for Zhang Nengzhi to correct it, when suddenly his neck was grabbed and he was thrown backward.

He was stunned, instantly filled with question marks.

"Huh?"

As he struggled, Jiang Nian caught sight of the formidable Yu Dundun. He instantly lost composure and couldn't help cursing.

"Fuck! Li Hua, are you even human?"

Love your brother or love your woman? Love your brother or love your woman?

Woman!

Too fucking real.

After filling her water, Yu Zhiyi glanced over at Li Hua and the others. Her eyes curled into a smile, and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Haha, you guys are hilarious."

Li Hua immediately scratched his head and kept wrestling with Jiang Nian.

"Jiang Nian never acts human!"

One could only say it was upside-down heaven.

After struggling a bit and subduing Li Hua, Jiang Nian lost composure again and couldn't help lashing out at Yu Zhiyi: "You better not be loitering here either—fill your water and get the hell out."

"Pfft." Yu Zhiyi turned and walked off, tap-tap-tap.

Once Carrot left, Li Hua's donkey-like energy vanished. He sat down, scratching his head awkwardly.

Jiang Nian pointed at him but said nothing.

One could only understand.

Another advantage of the back row: it was sufficiently hidden.

Since the left side was blocked by Li Hua and the rear had no view, Jiang Nian could now boldly touch Zhang Nengzhi's leg.

Occasional sneak attacks.

What he called "touching" was really just a brush.

Zhang Nengzhi would instantly puff up like a pufferfish, slapping his hand away, then frowning at him, scolding him nonstop.

"If you do it again… I won't talk to you."

"Oh." Jiang Nian nodded, feigning remorse but never changing.

Before dismissal.

Jiang Nian watched Yao Bei Bei pack her bag three minutes early, then walk to the last row and sit beside Zhang Nengzhi.

His gaze dropped—poor Baby Zhizhi had half her butt hanging in midair.

"Want a chair?"

"No!" Zhang Ningzhi's face flushed slightly; she thought, Is this guy even looking? Isn't this plainly saying he's taking my spot?

"Oh, it'll fall down."

"Then no!"

"Oh, you could actually…"

Jiang Nian trailed off, writing on his scratch paper: 【Sit on my lap.】

Zhang Ningzhi clenched her fist and punched him.

"Even less so!"

Then she picked up her pen too. With a bold stroke after the five words Jiang Nian had written, she added two more: 【

Pervert!】

To be fair, he was a pervert.

In the final minute, Jiang Nian finished packing his bag. He looked around aimlessly and met Yao Bei Bei's gaze.

He gave her a questioning look: Did it go well?

Yao Bei Bei's parents only argued and never divorced, dragging her in to take sides. A highly educated family—this kind of drama was unbearable.

Thunder without rain—pure emotional venting.

Jiang Nian gave her a tip: go hide at Zhang Ningzhi's place for a few days; let them argue among themselves. Without an audience, the conflict won't escalate.

Never really thought about divorce?

【Verification】 said so—the system was still quite accurate on this.

Yao Bei Bei nodded, then shook her head. Jiang Nian was confused—what was she trying to say?

The bell for evening self-study rang.

Whoosh—a crowd stood up.

Jiang Nian didn't want to be left behind; without thinking, he squeezed out the classroom door. Following the flow downward, he locked eyes with Xu Qianqian.

"Go?"

"Mm."

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