Chapter 440: Timely Rain Little Song

Jiang Nian had a splitting headache.

On the fifth floor, the only person he knew was Pleasant Goat, who bounced around while thinking.

One could understand flying into a rage for a beauty—it's only human nature. But the problem was, she was just a sheep.

Wait, an abstract girl? They're fighting over this too?

Back to the fourth floor.

Li Qingrong looked at him. "What's wrong?"

The Son of Heaven ruled by letting his hands hang down, but occasionally he would appear in person. His gaze swept over Yang Qiming and Sun Zhicheng leaving the venue, his expression as calm as ever.

"Nothing, maybe... they're just messing around." Jiang Nian thought of tomorrow's championship match and felt a little uneasy.

"What's done is done. Let's eat first."

"Mm."

Jiang Nian didn't take the class monitor to the cafeteria. Instead, he turned a corner, went outside the west gate, and found a clean little shop to eat at.

"Class monitor, try this."

Guinan's local food scene had two good things. One was the three-fresh rice noodles with pork liver, pork lung, and chicken small intestine. One bite was delicious, but one bite too many and it got cloying.

The other was Guinan home-style stir-fry.

Eat Guinan stir-fry, savor the Guinan life.

"Okay." Li Qingrong glanced at the time, figuring they wouldn't make evening study hall. "Is our class playing the championship match tomorrow?"

"That's right," Jiang Nian said.

After saying that, he lowered his head and shoveled two bites of rice, then felt something was off. He looked up and saw Li Qingrong's gaze, dark and quiet, looking down at him.

No emotion at all, her eyes like a calm lake,

"Do you need me to buy you anything?" Li Qingrong's expression clearly hadn't changed, yet somehow she felt a little terrifying.

Intimidating.

The class monitor held such small grudges—nothing showed on her face usually, but she kept a running tally in her heart and would suddenly whip it out to apply pressure. "No need, no need." Jiang Nian laughed awkwardly, lowered his head to eat quickly, and mumbled, "Just having you there to support is already great."

Li Qingrong shot him a glance. "Mm."

If fate held one tribulation for him, he hoped it would be the young matron Bai Jie—not playing the last match of his life on the championship field.

Retiring was fine; what he feared was being expelled from the biological circle.

Back in the classroom, evening self-study had already started.

Jiang Nian specifically asked Cai Xiaoqing if anyone had come to take attendance. Getting a negative answer, he knew he'd bet right again.

Fake life-or-death gambles: your gun has no bullets.

Real life-or-death gambles: the student council doesn't take attendance.

"Hilarious, didn't catch me." He sat down at his seat and immediately met two gazes, one from each side. "What?"

"Where did you go with the class monitor?" Li Hua pointed at him, his face full of envy. "Dammit, skipping even evening self-study."

"The office downstairs, where else could I go?" Jiang Nian tossed out a small lie casually.

"With scores like yours, you don't even qualify to ask."

"Eat shit!" Li Hua lost interest at that—mere test-taking, after all. "Jiang Nian, don't look down on the poor youth."

Jiang Nian scoffed, unbothered.

"Eight-point kid."

He turned his head and met Zhang Ningzhi's hollow gaze.

"Did you go eat with the class monitor?"

"Finished asking questions, had a meal—isn't that normal?" Jiang Nian countered. "Next time I'll treat you, a whole week straight." "Yao Bei Bei can forget it, she finds her own food."

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi puffed up with anger.

"Hmph."

She had originally wanted to take advantage of the class monitor's absence to say he could ask her if he didn't understand. But on second thought, there really hadn't been much time that afternoon.

If she spent the afternoon explaining problems to Jiang Nian, then Yao Bei Bei would be snatched away by some other girl.

"Then how about I treat you for two weeks?" Jiang Nian said casually, searching for his test paper while jokingly raising the stakes out of thin air.

If he really treated her for two weeks, Jiang Nian would actually come out ahead.

"Don't want to."

"Then out of respect for you, I'll treat Yao Bei Bei along with you. I'm used to eating alone, but occasionally I want a little more liveliness."

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi turned to look at him.

"When?"

"The afternoon after tomorrow. You guys go home for lunch at noon." Jiang Nian casually set up the meal and dispelled Baby Zhizhi's suspicions in one go.

So open and aboveboard—there was nothing suspicious to find.

Perhaps he and the class monitor really had just... discussed the problems. Seeing it was late, they simply grabbed a meal together.

Hearing that, Zhang Ningzhi felt uneasy instead.

"Then... what about the class monitor?"

"Huh? Of course let her go eat on her own."

One had to say, the perks of sitting in the very last row were simply too many. With the class monitor gone, Jiang Nian even talked more boldly.

"Ah, you..."

Zhang Ningzhi imagined the class monitor, because she'd been explaining problems to him, missing mealtime and having to eat all alone.

Then she recalled Jiang Nian's earlier tone—matter-of-fact, light as a breeze—

And the fury inside her flared up all at once!

"You have no conscience at all! How could you possibly... do this! You're utterly rotten—class monitor shouldn't have explained problems to you!"

Jiang Nian lowered his head and swallowed his anger.

"I really have no conscience. I'm a piece of shit."

"Don't swear!" Zhang Nenzhi glared at him, seizing the chance to reprimand him, "If I hear it again, you're done!"

"Fine." Jiang Nian swallowed his anger again.

Forbidding a boy from swearing was harder than killing him. But under current circumstances, he could only endure for now.

In a while, Zhang Nenzhi would probably forget about this.

Li Hua, beside him, burst into laughter, making a Zhen Zidan pointing gesture, thinking: You got what was coming to you?

He slapped Jiang Nian's shoulder and spat out two words.

"Guinan."

Jiang Nian pointed at him, ready to curse.

"You fucking—"

"Cough, cough—swear word." Li Hua was being insufferable, wriggling side to side, "What were you about to say? That you're fucking?"

Jiang Nian opened his mouth but stopped. "Hua, you're such a bastard."

"Oh, come on, curse me," Li Hua grinned, scratching his cheek. "Don't hold back—I love getting cursed, it feels so good."

"Are you an M? You're such a pervert!"

"No, I'm not an M," Li Hua flicked a delicate finger, disgustingly theatrical, "I just like being passive." Jiang Nian fell silent for a second, zero-frame initiation.

"Baby, you keep saying you like being passive because no one's ever firmly chosen you, right?"

At these words, Li Hua's expression froze instantly.

"The fuck?"

He froze, feeling a knife had pierced his heart with perfect accuracy—the sky turned gray-white.

He stared at Jiang Nian, eyes wide.

"Fucking Jiang Nian, is that even something a human can say?"

Jiang Nian looked unconcerned, shrugging.

"I do talk a bit harshly. I'll get back to homework now. But you'd better behave—pig-slaughtering season's coming soon."

Li Hua: "Your mom!"

Ma Guojun chuckled from the aisle, watching the whole thing, thoroughly enjoying the dogfight, and couldn't help clapping in praise.

"Two idiots."

The evening self-study passed without incident, nearing its final period.

Liu Yang slipped from his seat and sneaked to the back to express concern to Jiang Nian and Li Hua, the two team core players.

"Tomorrow's the match—what do we do about those two brawlers?"

Jiang Nian nodded. "What should we do?"

Li Hua: "?"

Liu Yang: "?"

"Chi Shi, you're the captain—why are you asking us what to do?" Li Hua whispered, glancing furtively toward Sun Zhicheng.

"Come up with a solution, you bastard!"

"Yeah, what if they both get on the field and start fighting again?" Liu Yang said. "What about rotating them?"

"Yang Qiming can't play defender—he's worse than Sun Zhicheng," Li Hua shot it down. "Rotation'll just lead to more competition."

After saying that, the two of them turned their heads at the same time to look at Jiang Nian.

"Waste, say something."

Jiang Nian pondered, stroking his chin as he glanced at Li Hua, then at Liu Yang, finally looking at the unsolved problem.

"Infinite over infinite—differentiate once more?"

"Infinity compared to infinity—take the derivative one more time?"

"Forget your damn problem—come up with a plan!" Liu Yang gave up. "The opponent tomorrow is especially strong!"

Due to the football match's length, few in the class still cared about the championship game.

Yet, this was exactly what Jiang Nian wanted.

"It's simple—make them both benchwarmers. Trick Tao Ran in and tell him the prize includes a beast-ear girl doll."

"That's not hard at all. Make those two be the substitutes. Trick Tao Ran into coming, and tell him the prize is a beast-ear girl plushie."

Li Hua and Liu Yang stared at each other, thinking: Which window should we open? How the fuck did Jiang Nian just kick the roof in?

"Can the class monitor even play football?"

"Human potential is infinite—he's got decent physical conditioning," Jiang Nian pointed. "Believe first, question later."

"A person's potential is limitless, and his physical conditioning isn't bad." Jiang Nian pointed. "Believe first, then doubt."

"Really?"

So far, Class Three had played two matches and advanced straight to the championship.

If Tao Ran were suddenly brought in and they lost, no one would say anything—the runner-up prize was negligible anyway.

If they won, splitting the prize unfairly disadvantaged the others.

But Tao Ran was the class monitor—they couldn't really treat him like a stranger. That'd make the guys look petty. But... it was still unfair.

"Otherwise, who's going to bow down to them and beg them to stop fighting and just play properly?" Jiang Nian said.

"Nah, let's just bring Tao Ran in," Li Hua shook his head first. "If we lose, fine. If we win, the class monitor deserves all the credit."

"Then forget it, let's pull Tao Ran in instead." Li Hua was the first to shake his head. "If we lose, so be it; if we win, the study committee member deserves the most credit."

Hearing this, Liu Yang also agreed.

"True, having the study committee member on the field is better than pinning our hopes on them."

As the saying goes, you don't fear a god-like opponent, you fear a pig-like teammate. If the teammate is a total idiot, there's really no saving it.

Tao Ran can't play football, but at least he won't be a drag.

Zhennan Middle School doesn't have many people who can play football; the defenders just slide-tackle and that's that. A little dirtiness is fine—best to take the opposing player off the field entirely.

One kick, red card, sent off.

The other side gasping, clutching their leg as they left the field.

Zhang Ningzhi saw this group huddled together whispering for a while. After they left, she said cutely to Jiang Nian, "I'll be cheering you on tomorrow!"

"Alright then." Jiang Nian nodded, casually squeezing her leg. "That's enough, tomorrow's energy quota topped up.

Zhang Ningzhi: "!"

Is there any chance the championship match could be held in a private setting?

They're minors—protect their privacy, okay?

Obviously not.

On the way home from school.

Jiang Nian turned his head, looking at the two chattering little girls under the streetlight. His brows slowly furrowed, then relaxed again, and—

"Hmph, what kind of look is that?" Xu Qianqian said with a look of disdain. "I'm just not talking to you, so what?"

"Not looking at you, looking at her." Jiang Nian scoffed.

Song Xiyun felt a little awkward; that sense of being out of place quietly began to surface in her heart again.

"My aunt passed away, my mom went back to help out."

Jiang Nian sized up little Song, then nodded.

"Oh, oh."

The Timely Rain—Song Jiang has arrived.