Chapter 54: One Thought, God or Demon

Jiang Nian patted her head. "Alright, don't be sad anymore."

"It's not your piggy bank getting smashed, waaah waaah!" Song Xiyun was crying over her piggy bank, but also because the money had been returned.

No one understood her shame over poverty—like carefully offering the family's best square cake, but it was meant for Qingming ancestral rites.

Things she'd never even eat to prop up a wobbly table were politely returned to her. The gentleness of the return felt like thorns all over her skin.

Four hundred yuan in loose change—surely insignificant to him.

"You've got a point, baby. Then I'll go home and talk to my piggy bank?" Jiang Nian waved at her. "See you."

Song Xiyun cried harder. "Are you gonna eat people?!"

"Eating people's illegal, right?" Jiang Nian hesitated, then suggested, "I'd rather eat the fried dough cakes by the school gate. Why don't you treat me now?"

"What?" Song Xiyun stopped crying.

Outside the school gate, Jiang Nian squeezed into the crowd with ten yuan in hand and shouted.

"Sister, four shrimp cakes!"

Four small oil-paper bags. Jiang Nian handed one to Song Xiyun and ate three himself. He also bought a Sprite and a Fruit Granule Orange with her money.

Purely selling the ancestral land—no regrets.

Doesn't matter. Next time I'll have an excuse to treat you back.

When Jiang Nian returned her money, Song Xiyun was still wailing over her pink piggy bank. Now that he was spending her money, she didn't mind at all.

She clutched the oil paper edges like a hamster, damn it, eat eat eat!!!

Jiang Nian was also eat eat eat!!!

Before even entering the school gate, they'd finished their shrimp cakes. Stepping through the campus entrance, they twisted open their drink caps in unison—pfft—gulp gulp gulp.

Jiang Nian tightened the cap. "I'll buy you a piggy bank in a few days."

"No thanks, I'll buy my own." Song Xiyun kept her head down, voice muffled.

She planned to pick a suitable box to store money—or a book she liked. Fill the gaps between its pages with ten- and twenty-yuan bills.

"Ha, so tough?" Jiang Nian laughed. "Friends exchange things, right? You treated me to cakes, but won't accept my gift—what's the logic?"

Song Xiyun muttered, "I can't be friends with you. I only have four hundred yuan."

He'd wanted to say, "I'm friends with your mom, so we're friends too—brothers, basically." But he feared she'd explode, so he kept quiet.

"I don't judge people by money—I've got more than anyone!" Jiang Nian felt good inside, but he could only show off like this in front of Song Xiyun.

"Hmph, I'll be richer than you someday!" Song Xiyun stubbornly retorted.

"Yeah yeah, right now just grow quietly. Thirty years in Hexi, thirty years in Hexi's opposite." Jiang Nian scratched his cheek. "What was that saying again?"

"Don't underestimate a poor girl!" Song Xiyun couldn't help jumping in. "And also—tears soak your chicken rice, swear to earn a million!"

"Oh oh, now I remember." He feigned sudden realization. "The dead are sacred!"

"You..." Song Xiyun was furious.

But after parting on the third-floor corridor, Song Xiyun suddenly stopped being angry. She'd smashed her symbol of dignity herself—and Jiang Nian had fixed it for her.

On the fourth-floor corridor, Jiang Nian walked forward holding a Sprite. His face was calm, but inside he was touched—Song Xiyun really did give him the money.

If only it had been four hundred yuan. But it was four hundred and twenty-five.

He pulled out his phone, opened Tao Bao, and searched for piggy banks. After thirty seconds of browsing, he added an 111-yuan piggy bank to his cart.

Night fell. Evening self-study. Everyone was excited.

Outside, the sky darkened; inside, the classroom glowed bright. Before evening self-study, there were twenty minutes of biology recitation. The class rep climbed onto the podium, marked the reading range, and told them to memorize.

Li Hua blended his singing into the recitation: "My strong dad, what can I do for you~"

"Help me copy my English homework, big boy." Fat Ma Guojun grinned lewdly, adjusted his glasses, and stood beside Li Hua. "How about it?"

"Get lost! Tomorrow's a full holiday—I won't even do mine." Li Hua shook his head. "I'm waking up early to go to the internet cafe, play till afternoon, then sleep at home."

"Boring." Ma Guojun didn't play LOL—he loved his iPhone for Clash of Clans.

Too bad this damn game got bought by Qidian's grandpas—upgrading got harder and harder. Originally max level nine, now they raised the main base cap to thirteen.

All sorts of pay-to-win mechanics, plus skin purchases—this damn game was ruined.

"Fine, I'll play Genshin Impact this weekend." Ma Guojun said something fitting his weight. "After school, shower, late-night snack, then Genshin in bed."

Jiang Nian looked up, rubbed his chin, and said something fitting his mental state.

"If I play Genshin Impact while jerking off, does good and evil cancel out?"

Instantly, both fell silent, struggling to keep composure.

"Bro, are you playing One Thought, God or Demon here?"

"Aren't you treating us like outsiders anymore?"

"I was just making a hypothetical. I didn't say I'd actually do it." Jiang Nian acted nonchalant—as long as you didn't take it seriously, no one else would either.

Common saying: wealth breeds lust, poverty shifts morals, Wei Wu yields, a married woman is taken.

"Count me in, count me in! What are you talking about?" Yao Bei Bei edged closer, eager to join. After a quick explanation, she too fell into deep thought.

Li Hua: "You're all so perverted—it makes me feel out of place."

Yao Bei Bei looked up. "I think Jiang Nian's action should deduct merit points."

"Who asked you for an answer?! How'd you even arrive at that?" Ma Guojun complained, adjusting his glasses. "At least show your reasoning."

Zhang Nenzhi in front of them, hearing their wolfish talk, trembled—small, helpless, but part of this little group.

Jiang Nian even added vivid details: "When you're playing Genshin, jerking off on the bed, and tomorrow your relatives come over... your dad knocks."

"Alright bro, stop. Too vivid." Li Hua sighed, defeated.

During a break in evening self-study, Jiang Nian suddenly remembered Zhang Nenzhi in front. He poked her back. When she turned around, he asked casually.

"What are you planning to do tomorrow, off day?"

"Hmm... do homework, then scroll Douyin, or Xiaohongshu." Zhang Nenzhi suddenly gasped. "Oh! I haven't added Beibei on Xiaohongshu yet!"

"You'd better not add it," Jiang Nian advised.

"Why?" Baby Zhizhi asked, face full of confusion.

"Well... ask Li Hua, he knows Yao Bei Bei's Xiaohongshu nickname." Jiang Nian immediately pushed it off to Li Hua beside him, and the latter's face instantly went horrified.

"Damn, don't talk nonsense, I don't know!"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, opened his Xiaohongshu following list, found Yao Bei Bei's personal page, and handed the phone to Zhang Nianzhi.

【You want to drink water1 take off my pants why】