Chapter 471: Red Lips

Jiang Nian glanced at the classroom door but didn't enter immediately.

Seeing this, he turned and walked away, descending to the first floor with a clatter.

He glanced briefly at the door of the Integrated Science Office and saw Qing Bao, looking pained, tidying up apples on her desk.

Tap-tap-tap!

"Teacher?"

Qing Bao turned her head at the sound and looked toward the door.

"Hmm?"

She glanced at Jiang Nian, then at the apple in his hand. Thinking he was bringing her an apple, she immediately felt a headache.

"I don't eat apples."

"Oh, I don't like them either." Jiang Nian ran to her desk and placed the apple on her workstation. "Just put it here."

"Huh?" Qing Bao frowned.

"Someone gave it to me. There's no room left in the classroom." Jiang Nian spoke honestly. "Leave it here with you. I'll come get it tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." Qing Bao nodded.

She wasn't embarrassed at all—she never wanted students to give her apples. But refusing was awkward; if Jiang Nian gave her one, she'd get a headache too.

Still, Jiang Nian was the kind of guy everyone disliked—doing something like this was unexpected yet perfectly in character.

"Mm-hmm." Jiang Nian was about to leave.

Suddenly, he glanced again and fixed his eyes on Qing Bao's white plastic basket. Inside, it was packed full, apples neatly arranged.

The packaging bore blessings—quite impressive to look at.

Qing Bao was the real succubus.

"Teacher, these… these are all apples given to you?" Jiang Nian stared in shock. "Holy shit, even a whole basket can't hold them all?"

"Yes." Qing Bao sighed, frowning. "My current class gave them to me. I turned away some."

"Others are from my past parallel and key classes. I can't stop them—they just drop them off and leave."

Damned if I didn't meet a real succubus.

Jiang Nian no longer rushed to leave. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Teacher, why are you so popular?"

Qing Bao frowned, thought for a moment, then looked up.

"Maybe… because I'm pretty?"

Tap-tap-tap.

Jiang Nian left the Integrated Science Office, thinking Qing Bao was rather self-absorbed. There was truth to the saying that great teachers produce outstanding students.

Case solved—the source of her self-absorption was Qing Bao herself.

When he entered the classroom, evening self-study had already been going for over ten minutes.

His hands were empty. After sitting down, he glanced at the apples on his desk—two from boys, and one from the arts committee member, Xiao Bailing.

Oh, never mind then.

Zhang Ningzhi was solving problems. She glanced at him but didn't ask why Xiao Bailing had given him an apple—she could guess exactly what he'd say.

Not close. Just friends. I don't know.

Jiang

Nian spread out his exam paper and settled in to write. He exhaled in relief—thankfully Zhang Ningzhi hadn't asked. But even if she had, it wouldn't matter.

Not close. Just friends. I don't know.

Triple kill was effective.

The truth was, he wasn't close to Xiao Bailing—just exchanged a few words with her normally. But if she insisted on giving him one, fine—let her. He never gave apples anyway.

The second evening self-study session ended.

Jiang Nian decided not to wander outside—the situation was already out of control. If more came, he couldn't explain it.

But staying in the classroom wasn't an option either—too many people were watching.

He thought for a moment, then slowly walked outside. Found a quiet spot nearby, stood before the railing, and let the night wind blow on him.

After standing awhile, he felt it wasn't safe.

He turned, spotted Huang Fang passing by, grabbed her, and pulled her straight to the railing. He asked seriously:

"Fangfang, what do you think is the meaning of life?"

Huang Fang was nearly sweating, "I need to use the restroom."

"Go after class. It's fine later." Jiang Nian said shamelessly. "Tell me—what is the meaning of life?"

Not far away, Zhang Ningzhi had just left the classroom.

She glanced casually, saw Jiang Nian and Huang Fang tugging at each other, and rolled her eyes, thinking this guy was utterly shameless.

Then, happily, she went to find Yao Beibei.

Inside the classroom, the lights blazed bright.

Sun Zhicheng sat at his seat, nervously swallowing saliva. His peripheral vision flickered toward Chen Yunyun in front, his mind warring within.

He had already given apples to everyone else in his group.

Even Lin Dong, the apple peddler, had received one from him. Upon learning the price, Lin Dong was so moved he fainted dead away.

Only Chen Yunyun remained.

He longed for Chen Yunyun to notice on her own, walk up to him, smile playfully, and ask:

"Where's my apple?"

"Acheng, you're spacing out again." Lin Dong sat up from his desk. "That look on your face? Like you just finished recording."

Sun Zhicheng: "

He had no time to chat with Lin Dong; he was just gathering courage to speak to Chen Yunyun.

Suddenly, Chen Yunyun stood up. Under Sun Zhicheng's startled gaze, she called out to Wang Yuhe, who was still writing problems.

The two girls, each holding an apple box, left the classroom together.

Seeing this, his heart turned cold.

In the hallway.

Huang Fang, utterly defeated, witnessed Jiang Nian accepting Yu Zhiyi's apple. The two exchanged a sharp retort—nothing like acting.

"What kind of attitude is that?"

"What?"

"I gave you an apple, and you haven't said one nice word!" Yu Zhiyi was furious, her chest heaving.

。

"Then I'll kowtow to you." Jiang Nian snorted, indifferent. "The biology monitor forcing classmates to kneel."

Yu Zhiyi turned and walked away. "Go to hell!"

Halfway down the hall, she saw Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe approaching. She pursed her lips, a wry smile forming, and waved them off. Chen Yunyun glanced at her, then at Jiang Nian not far away.

Hmm. Wang Yuhe had no ill will toward Yu Zhiyi—after all, Yu Zhiyi had once praised her for being capable. She was actually quite nice.

Sharp-eyed and discerning!

"Here, take this apple." Chen Yunyun handed it to him, her gaze lingering on his hands—there was no apple there.

Of course, Huang Fang had it.

If looks could kill, she would have sliced Jiang Nian to pieces. Dogs can't be treated like people, but Jiang Nian turned into one anytime he pleased.

So shameless!

"Oh, thanks." Jiang Nian took it, subtly brushing his finger against her palm, his expression unreadable.

Chen Yunyun gave him a slow, piercing look, lips pressed tight, saying nothing.

When it came to Wang Yuhe's turn, she was reluctant. She dawdled for ages before shoving her apple into Jiang Nian's hand.

"I didn't want to give it to you."

"I didn't want it either—you're so slow about it." Jiang Nian said. "If you don't want to give it, then give back my doll."

"No way!"

Huang Fang returned from the restroom, still stunned. All three apples had been entrusted to her care—Jiang Nian was beyond ridiculous.

She walked past the podium back to her seat. As she sat down, her peripheral vision flicked toward Jiang Nian.

Shameless.

Zhang Nianzhi was slightly surprised. She raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Fangfang, did someone give you these?"

Huang Fang had no way to explain, so she nodded vaguely.

"Mm."

During the third period's evening self-study break, Jiang Nian remained calm. Technically, there was no break—so no one left their seats.

On the surface, he'd received only a few apples. Most were social gifts—not too unusual in class.

Li Hua rubbed his chin, calculated on his scratch paper, then said:

"Liu Yang is such a scumbag!"

"Why?"

"He got eighteen apples. Do you know what eighteen means?" Li Hua gestured dramatically.

"I've been counting—it's like wholesale."

"He's got lots of friends—he gives out plenty too." Jiang Nian said casually, silently counting his own apples.

One, two, three...::. Excluding Baby Zhizhi's green apple cake, he'd received fifteen apples today.

Good enough—he hadn't surpassed Liu Yang.

So far, only five apples had appeared publicly. Liu Yang was a lucky slacker; he was a pure white lotus MVP.

And in just over an hour, school would end—this was already settled.

Lanyangyang's words carried even more weight now.

Sleeping at home—no one would bother him!

Time ticked away, and finally, dismissal arrived.

As soon as the bell rang, Jiang Nian quickly greeted Baby Zhizhi and the monitor and bolted.

As soon as the bell rang, Jiang Nian quickly waved to Baby Zhizhi and the class monitor and ran off.

She muttered under her breath, "Weird."

Li Qingrong shot him a glance, then looked away. Her expressionless face betrayed a flicker of exasperation.

An unexpected situation arose—the hallway was blocked by students.

A crowd planned to cross class or grade boundaries after dismissal, making one final brave attempt to hand out their apples.

"What the hell?" Jiang Nian stared, dumbfounded.

Suddenly, someone patted him on the back. He turned to find Zhou Yuting, who hesitated a moment before slipping an apple into his hand.

Suddenly, someone tapped him on the back. He turned to find Zhou Yuting, who hesitated for a moment before slipping an apple into his hand.

Jiang Nian: "?"

But Zhou Yuting had already vanished into the crowd, heading in another direction.

However, Zhou Yuting had already been carried away by the crowd toward another direction.

Sixteen already.

He was worrying about where to put the apple when a girl from the neighboring class squeezed through the crowd, stumbling as she handed him an apple.

It had a QQ number and a blessing written on it.

"Wish… wish you…"

Before the girl could finish speaking, the crowd swept her away in all directions. So many people were jammed at the stairway entrance that they could only inch forward slowly.

Seventeen.

He looked down at the two apples in his hand and thought gratefully that he hadn't surpassed Liu Yang yet.

Just as he thought this, an acquaintance came down the stairs and got pushed right next to Jiang Nian, then casually patted him on the shoulder.

"Here, take an apple."

Jiang Nian turned his head and stared at Zhennan Xi Yangyang with confusion.

"Why are you giving me one?"

Lü Xuan was about to gossip: "You and Li Qingrong…" but saw Jiang Nian deliberately pushing forward into the crowd.

"Hey, you!"

Eighteen.

Jiang Nian grew anxious, then received a WeChat message from Xu Qianqian saying the crowd was too thick and she was waiting for him in the open space below the Gao San building.

He typed rapidly and replied one line.

"Okay."

He put away his phone and squeezed his way up to the second floor.

He glanced casually and met Xu Shuang's gaze. He froze for an instant, then quickly looked away.

He went down to the first floor.

Xu Shuang thought for a moment, then handed him an apple. After hesitating, she frowned and asked:

"How did you pull out that card last time?"

What was pulled out?

Nineteen.

Jiang Nian was dumbfounded. He brushed off Xu Shuang with the word "luck." He unpacked the box, and only barely managed to fit the apples into his backpack. "Weird."

He didn't take it to heart, searched around below for a while, and eventually met up successfully with Xu Qianqian, then went home together.

Song Xiyun was still absent, because Zhao Qiuxue was leaving Zhennan tomorrow — this was their final night together.

The next time they met might be during the New Year.

In short, for them, everything after tonight was unknown.

The two wandered out of school, the noise fading behind them.

Under the streetlamp, Xu Qianqian glanced at him, then curiously looked at his bag and asked:

"How many apples did you get?"

"Five, didn't count properly," Jiang Nian said without blinking, "Most were social apples."

That wasn't wrong — but everyone else had the same.

"Oh." Xu Qianqian walked ahead a bit, then couldn't help asking again, "Do you remember what hit Newton?"

Jiang Nian thought, "A cannonball — the Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment."

Xu Qianqian:

1

The guy was completely impervious. She gave up hinting. After all, if he didn't give her one, it wasn't worth missing.

They entered an alley, and Jiang Nian suddenly asked:

"Why aren't you talking?"

Xu Qianqian glanced at him, tightening her backpack.

"Big bro is naturally cold."

"Oh oh, alright," Jiang Nian nodded and continued, "I'm pretty tall — I'm the high-heat type."

Xu Qianqian was speechless, stepped away several paces.

They went upstairs, before entering the door.

Xu Qianqian couldn't help herself — she turned back to look at Jiang Nian. But all she saw was his wave and his "Good night."

He was really asking for a punch!

She took a deep breath, told herself not to get angry at a dog, then quietly closed her door and turned toward the quiet home.

"It's fine — tomorrow I'll live with Xi Yun!"

"Hmph, I won't wait for him to walk home!"

She muttered to herself, instinctively reaching for the living room light switch.

She froze, looking up.

In the dim living room, a glowing Christmas tree stood in the center, its layered colored lights shining brilliantly.

Xu Qianqian stood stunned for a long time, forgetting to put down her backpack.

He hadn't forgotten.

Everything on the way was an act.

The girl's widened pupils, her unwillingly smiling lips — these small details signaled a hidden surprise.

Click.

She turned on the light.

The living room suddenly brightened, the Christmas tree still radiating charm.

Xu Qianqian placed her backpack aside, took a photo of the Christmas tree with her phone, and after thinking for a moment, saved it into a certain album category.

She looked back and forth twice before stepping out.

Looking again at the living room, she felt it wasn't quite so lonely.

She stepped forward, touched the branches and leaves of the Christmas tree. Realizing it was a real tree, she spotted her sock among the foliage.

"Ah!!! Jiang Nian!!!"

Jiang Nian was already in the shower when he received Xu Qianqian's WeChat message demanding an explanation.

Wuuu!!!

He dried his hair while replying to Xu Qianqian: "Isn't the Christmas gift hidden in the sock? What's so shocking about that?"

Xu Qianqian: "You took my sock from the balcony!"

Jiang Nian: "And then?"

Xu Qianqian: "You pervert!"

Seeing this, Jiang Nian changed the subject.

"Did you try the lipstick?"

At this, Xu Qianqian fell silent.

After five or six minutes, she replied with a single message.

"I don't need it."

Jiang Nian knew Xu Qianqian better than anyone; he guessed she was standing in front of the mirror trying on the lipstick, so he typed:

"You're trying it in front of the mirror—why not show me?"

On the other end, Xu Qianqian saw that message and nearly dropped the lipstick in shock.

How did he know?

After a moment, she bit her fiery red lips, found the right angle in the mirror, fidgeted for a long while, then took a photo.

Sent.