Chapter 459

Jingfu Community, in the study.

On the table sat freshly cut fruit and a cup of tea. He had drunk it—far better than the stale leaves in Old Jiang's study.

Jiang Nian was assembling the PC, while Li Qingrong helped unpack the delivery boxes beside him.

"Embracing Qingqing, did you pick these components yourself?"

Li Qingrong: "I glanced online and bought whatever."

"Oh oh, that's actually reasonable." Jiang Nian carefully lifted the CPU. "Are smart people just naturally good at everything?"

Li Qingrong said nothing, holding out a piece of honeydew to him.

"Eat?"

Jiang Nian glanced at it and saw the honeydew was skewered with a toothpick.

"I prefer holding it in my hand."

Li Qingrong: "?"

After a while.

"The motherboard, SSD, RAM—all easy...:..:" Jiang Nian muttered, "Ugh, cable management is such a pain."

9

He struggled to fix it, and even he thought it looked terrible.

"Embracing Qingqing, this cable management..."

"It's fine."

"Then I'm relieved."

After much effort, Jiang Nian assembled the PC smoothly. The only flaw was the terrible cable management—but the class monitor didn't care.

He plugged in the power. Everything was ready. He pressed the power button—the computer lit up, and now came system installation.

While waiting, he turned and asked.

"Embracing Qingqing, you haven't moved in yet, right?"

"Mm." Li Qingrong nodded, lowering her eyes. "Just cleaning up."

"Oh oh."

Jiang Nian had no interest in the class monitor's household affairs and didn't press further. He just wanted to be a peace-loving nobody—let time flow quietly.

After all, when immortals fight, little ghosts get crushed.

He didn't want the immortals' war to burn him. One misstep, and friendship could turn into Zhennan's little era.

I'll give you five million—leave my daughter!

Thank you, Uncle!

Accepting fate's gift always feels a little shameful.

But if it ever came to that, it wouldn't really concern him anyway. No early romance, no nothing—just pure classmates.

So, better to kill a thousand than let one slip away, right?

Other parents, desperate for their daughter, might actually do it. But... the class monitor's parents—hard to say.

"Alright, all done." Jiang Nian checked the time—it was past six. "Let's play a game first, test the PC..."

"Wait! No! We're late for class!"

Seeing him rush to leave, Li Qingrong first stared at him in confusion, then, out of kindness, spoke up.

"You're already late."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian instantly fell silent.

"Oh, then let's eat first."

He was like this—if he couldn't make it on time, why rush? Showing up late was still late—better to eat first.

Seeing him run to the door, then turn back, Li Qingrong couldn't help finding it amusing.

"Mm."

They stepped outside—the sky was dark. Sunday streets were busy; several middle schoolers rode past on bicycles.

Beneath neon signs, their shadows passed.

"What to eat?"

"Whatever."

Jiang Nian knew the class monitor would answer like that, so he took her to a wooden-bucket rice shop—just make do.

She said whatever—so he'd follow his own whim.

"Delicious?" he asked deliberately.

"Spicy."

"Hehe, you still need practice." Jiang Nian, shameless, asked, "Mine isn't spicy—want to swap?"

Li Qingrong hesitated a few seconds, then shook her head.

"No."

Seeing he couldn't tease the class monitor, Jiang Nian gave up. He just wanted to be absurd—he didn't want to be seen as an idiot.

In the classroom, just before the weekly test.

Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong slipped in amid the chaos, directly taking their assigned test seats—no one noticed them.

Except... Young Master Li Hua, the pale-faced kidney-deficient one.

He sat diagonally across from Jiang Nian, turned his head to glance at Jiang Nian, then glanced at the class monitor—his face twisted instantly.

"What did you do this afternoon?"

"Studying. Studied the whole afternoon at home." Jiang Nian called out across the aisle. "Then what about you—did you study?"

"!!" Li Hua turned pale instantly, clutching his head and letting out a shrill scream, "Chi Shi, I'm at the internet cafe right now!"

"Pssst." Jiang Nian deliberately provoked him, continuing to lie, "I didn't even go to the bathroom—I studied for over five hours."

"Ah, your mom! Are you even human?!"

Listening to Li Hua's curses, he felt considerably better. Whether he studied or not didn't matter; what mattered was making Li Hua believe he had studied. For Ma Guojun, this was completely irrelevant.

Whoever studies at the internet cafe, let them study.

The weekly quiz still began with Chinese, and Tao Ran was handing out answer sheets. As he passed Jiang Nian's seat, he casually asked.

"Where's my doll?"

"On the way."

Jiang Nian was also taken aback—this damn Tao Ran was a total freak. He looked so mild-mannered, but inside he was a pure furry demon king. Chinese exams naturally devoured time; before he knew it, half the evening self-study period had vanished.

After finishing the test, he once again propped his head up on his hand.

Did nothing else, just stared at the monitor, and merely looking at her made him happy.

Li Qingrong shot him a warning glance, her eyes tinged with helplessness.

"Turn around."

"I won't."

Li Qingrong:

After collecting the papers, everyone returned to their own seats.

The final evening self-study session.

With the new week came new seating—naturally, new positions. The sixth small group was back in their loyal sanitation corner.

"Fuck, who ate spicy strips and threw them in the trash?"

Ceng You couldn't hold back—he stood up immediately. He sat in the corner of the front row, a position from which escape was impossible.

"Who?!"

"Who else? The Spicy Strip Prince, Lin Dong!" Li Hua jumped to conclusions, "He's always snacking on spicy strips in class."

"Shit!" Ceng You said, "He still owes me an apple!"

At the mention of "apple," Zhang Nen Zhi's eyes lit up instantly.

"Are you two that close?"

Wu Jungu lifted his head, frowning slightly. He thought: Lin Dong, you bastard—trying to steal your ex-girlfriend's attention wasn't enough, now you're stealing your best friend's too?

If that's really the case, he must be controlled!

"Nope. He just asked if I wanted to buy an apple," Ceng You said. "I told him to give me one—he didn't say no."

For Baby Zhizhi, this abstract version of Ceng You was still a bit too advanced.

Zhang Nen Zhi thought for a moment, then fell silent.

"Alright."

"Speaking of apples, isn't Christmas Eve coming in a few days?" Li Hua squirmed excitedly. "Holy shit, I can't wait!"

"Huh? Hua?" Jiang Nian was baffled. "What are you looking forward to? Christmas Eve isn't even a holiday—it's not a day off."

"You don't get it!" Li Hua scoffed, then grinned. "Nian, tell me—on Christmas Eve night..."

"Won't some girl confess to me while I'm biting into an apple? Say she's been exhausted and wants a steady, reliable man to lean on?"

Hearing this, everyone around him cracked.

Jiang Nian chuckled. "How the hell is this apple hallucinogenic? Did you eat string beans on Christmas Eve?"

"Chi Shi!"

Ceng You was even more cutting: "You're already dreaming—why do you still assign yourself the qualities of 'steady and reliable'?"

"Chi Shi! Chi Shi!!"

"Li Hua, the more likely scenario is that Ji Ming walks by, doesn't catch any dating couples, grabs the apple-biting you, drags you to the office, and gives you a formal reprimand."

"It's typical for guys: you give an apple to someone you like, and they throw it back and hit you in the head."

"Dizzy and confused—that's just a little fantasy."

"No one gives you an apple, so you bury your head in studying during evening self-study. You faint from the stench of the trash bin in front of you—this is just your life flashing before your eyes before death."

Harsh words rained down like a torrential storm.

"Chi Shi! I won't listen! I won't listen!"

Jiang Nian was still laughing when he suddenly felt a poke at his waist. He instinctively turned to look at Zhang Nen Zhi and asked casually.

"What's up?"

Zhang Nen Zhi pressed her lips together and lowered her voice to ask,

"You... in a few days, will you give an apple to anyone? I don't mean anything by it—I'm just curious."

Jiang Nian didn't hesitate—he answered directly, "Nope. I'm a very traditional person—I never celebrate foreign holidays."

Zhang Nen Zhi opened her mouth. "Oh."

"If you want one, I can give you an apple separately," Jiang Nian added. "After all, you're my desk partner."

"Really?"

"If you want, I can give you an apple too," Jiang Nian added. "After all, you're my desk mate."

Suddenly, Li Hua leaned over.

"Bro, what about me?"

"You... I'll get some string beans from the market the day after tomorrow," Jiang Nian said, stroking his chin. "You're more suited to eat these."

"Brother, what about me?"

"You... I'll get some green beans at the market the day after tomorrow," Jiang Nian said, stroking his chin. "You're better suited to eat this."

"You fucking... really!" Li Hua pointed at him, stubbornly saying, "On that day, someone will bring it to me."

Back row.

Li Qingrong lifted her eyes to glance at Jiang Nian, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face.

Apple...

After school in the evening.

The after-school homeward group gained one more member, and became a bit livelier.

Night deepened, the black sky like a lid.

Xu Qianqian and Song Xiuyun linked arms, chattering ahead, talking idle gossip, giggling nonstop.

Jiang Nian was purely an outsider, walking a little distance away from the two girls.

The three passed through the school gate, heading toward the mixed residential area. Streetlights flickered dimly, their shadows overlapping.

"Jiang Nian!"

"Hm?"

A voice rang out, and the shadows shattered like a lake disturbed by a thrown stone, scattering across the ground.

"Do you want an apple on Christmas Eve?" Xu Qianqian turned to ask, "If you do, we'll add one for you."

"What's so special about apples?" Jiang Nian didn't care.

"They're really delicious apples—sugar-core ones," Song Xiuyun spoke up. "They're sold at the supermarket—you'll know once you eat them."

Jiang Nian glanced at Song Xiuyun and nodded.

"Fine."

He finished speaking, and out of curiosity, asked one more question.

"In your budget, how many people are you planning to give apples to?"

"Five including you—all close friends," Xu

Qianqian said, "Girls care a lot about ritual."

"I don't care."

"Obviously, you're not a girl," Xu Qianqian rolled her eyes. "Honestly, we don't even want to give them, but after discussing it, we decided to anyway."

"Why?"

"Because it's the last Christmas Eve of high school," Song Xiuyun explained. "After this, we'll only be giving them to college classmates."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian thought it made sense.

"I'm not giving you guys anything."

"Pfft, fine, don't give us anything," Xu Qianqian shot him a look. "Stingy bastard, like we even care."