Chapter 591: A Gentleman Must Cultivate Virtue

"Hua, you free?"

"Redstone."

"Oh, you're busy." Jiang Nian prepared to hang up. "Then wait till you've eaten, I'll call you back."

"What the hell, you sick in the head?" Li Hua was done with it. "Spit it out quick, my dad's boarding soon."

"Boarding tomorrow?"

"Damn it, isn't tomorrow New Year's Eve?"

Jiang Nian said, "Ma Guojun says he's coming, we'll both go. He'll support you, asking if you're playing?"

"Oh, in that case..." Li Hua hesitated for a moment. "If you two are both going, I've got nothing to worry about."

Hung up the phone.

Jiang Nian's car was parked under a tree, squatting by the roadside continuing to make calls.

"Old Ma, boarding tomorrow?"

"Are you insane, tomorrow's New Year's Eve!"

"Li Hua says he'll go, no more jungling, playing ADC properly. Also bringing two bottles of Red Bull for you as an apology."

Ma Guojun grinned, "Then I have to go."

"Hey, Liu Yang, four out of five for a five-stack."

"Sure."

"Class Rep, coming to the internet cafe for a five-stack tomorrow?" Jiang Nian said smoothly. "Ahri's got a new skin out, I'll gift you one."

Tao Ran barely thought about it, agreed in one breath.

"What time?"

The call ended, Jiang Nian nodded thoughtfully. Grabbed his treasured sword, straddled his electric scooter and zipped home.

As they say, going out still depends on friends.

Mm:

After getting home, he just made it in time for dinner. The family of four at the dining table all turned their heads to look at him in unison.

Jiang Nian immediately felt like a clove of garlic stuffed into an orange.

A complete outsider.

"Mom, why didn't you call me when dinner was ready?"

"Running around outside all day, who knows if you'll come back to eat." Li Hongmei urged, "Go wash your hands."

"Oh."

Jiang Nian went to wash his hands, thinking to himself: not going today. Then not going tomorrow either, slipping off to the internet cafe to play games is perfectly reasonable.

He returned to the dining table, only to see Xu Qianqian looking in some direction.

"What did you bring back?"

"A treasured sword."

Xu Qianqian stopped her chopsticks, "I saw that group of aunties doing square dancing in the park, they had that thing in their hands too."

Jiang Nian: "

"Being handsome is a lifelong matter, you wouldn't understand."

The people at the table exchanged glances, all laughing. They discussed tomorrow's New Year arrangements and divided up the tasks.

For various reasons, this year they're spending New Year in the county town.

Going back to the hometown on the first.

"Qianqian and Xiyun come with me, we're hitting the supermarket tonight." Li Hongmei had no daughter, these two days she'd had a blast.

Double the company, double the happiness.

"Mom, I'm going to the internet cafe with classmates tomorrow." Jiang Nian said, "He's transferring schools, wants to play one last game with us."

"Nonsense, who transfers schools in Gao San!"

"Someone does."

"Xu Qianqian's class, attended a whole semester. Even changed homeroom teachers twice, about to be the third one."

"Really?" Li Hongmei was stunned, her attention successfully diverted, looking to Xu Qianqian for confirmation.

"Really, Li Yi."

Song Xiyun nodded, "Mm."

"Isn't the school too irresponsible?" Li Hongmei worried, "What if it delays your studies."

Taking advantage of their chatting, Jiang Nian buried his head in his food.

Seeing no one paying attention to him, he silently slipped back to his room. Replied to a round of messages as usual, lay down to rest.

Glanced at his phone, started replying to messages.

Zhang Lingzhi was spending New Year in Qiongzhou, sent a few photos with the sea. Also took pictures of food, a wave of messages every two hours.

"So bored."

"Really want to go back to Zhennan, no one here to hang out with me."

"Ate today 【picture】."

Jiang Nian browsed through them one by one, then replied to her. Talked about some trivial matters, snapped a photo of the test papers on the desk.

"Doing problems."

After dinner, Xu Qianqian and the others left.

Jiang Nian came out of his room, to the corner where miscellaneous stuff was stored. Dug out an induction cooker, then snuck around the kitchen.

Once packed, he found an opening and carried it out the door.

On the way, he bought half a flat of eggs, sped all the way to school like the wind, and went straight upstairs to the night-shift dormitory building.

Knock knock knock — the sound of a door being knocked rang out.

"Who... who's there?"

"Me, Jiang Nian."

Click — the sound of the door latch being pulled came from inside the room. The iron door let out a pitiful screech and slowly opened a crack.

Orange-yellow light, like silk threads, rushed out one after another.

"Is... is there something you need?"

Before Zhou Haifei could react, Jiang Nian tossed down the stuff and ran. The motion was smooth, without the slightest hesitation.

By the time she came back to her senses, there wasn't even a shadow left in the hallway.

Zhou Haifei: ".

"

She stood at the door for quite a while, then squatted down to look at the things in the bag, slowly rummaging through them one by one.

Outside the dormitory, under a street lamp.

Jiang Nian walked along the deserted campus road heading out, when his phone dinged with a text message: "Thank you."

He didn't reply, and quickened his steps home.

Helping someone wasn't for any reward — it was just a casual thing. Not to mention, whose family doesn't eat dumplings during New Year.

He got home.

Jiang Nian hurriedly washed up and blow-dried his hair. Grabbing his precious sword, he gave it a few swings, then felt a bit like an idiot.

Played around for a while, then started his daily routine of doing problems.

The internet says it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, and he had already walked through who knows how many twenty-one days.

He hunched over his desk, and when he looked up again it was already deep into the night.

He picked up his phone and glanced at it. "Holy crap, it's midnight and they're still chatting — these people can really freaking chat."

In the class group, messages scrolled nonstop, showing 99+.

Jiang Nian scrolled up and found that Yang Qiming had reposted a vulgar post from "Can't Figure It Out, Sis."

And then, he got besieged by the whole class.

Half the boys laughed, half condemned him. Among those charging at the front lines, Sun Zhicheng was the bravest of all.

"You really disgust me."

"This is the class group, and every day you post this kind of vulgar stuff. I accidentally tapped it open outside and lost all face."

"Lucky I'm a guy, thick-skinned so it doesn't matter."

"What about the girls?"

Sun Zhicheng's burst of impassioned righteous speech drew quite a few people to chime in, mostly girls.

Originally, taking a bit of scolding and it would have passed.

Who would have thought, Yang Qiming and Sun Zhicheng's group started arguing with each other. The group chat instantly became stormy, a downpour pressing down on the eaves.

"Stupid dog!"

"Your mom...."

【Sun Zhicheng, Yang Qiming have been muted by admin Qing.】

Jiang Nian stroked his chin, thinking to himself that Cai Xiang was so prim and proper. Didn't expect that even this late, he was still awake.

After all, no matter how serious, they're still people the same age.

Just imagining Cai Xiaoqing lurking, watching the two of them trade insults for over a hundred messages. Squatting there, spotting dirty words, and muting them on the spot.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud — it really was a bit funny.

"@Cai Xiaoqing, lurking this late?"

Jiang Nian tossed out one message, and it was like a stone stirring up a thousand ripples, drawing out quite a few screen-peepers.

Qing: "About to sleep."

Ceng You: "@Jiang Nian, (sunglasses) I've been up since last night until now — two days and one night without sleep."

"Awesome!" Luo Yong sent a few thumbs-up gestures. "Bro You, try to hold on one more day."

"I heard three days and one night is the human limit."

"Wouldn't that kill you?" Liu Yang sent a photo of a basketball court. "(grin) Come play ball, no one's at school."

Wang Yuhe: "@Jiang Nian, what are you doing? (peeking)"

Jiang Nian glanced at it and took a photo of his test paper.

"Doing problems."

"Are you insane!" Li Hua couldn't hold back and jumped out. "Damn it, study thief! Secretly grinding, huh!"

"So freaking cheap, damn." Ma Guojun spoke up. "@Jiang Nian, you really are the number one cheap bastard under heaven."

Liu Yang: "@Jiang Nian, five-stack at the internet cafe tomorrow, I want to jungle. (sunglasses)"

"@Jiang Nian, how many sheets have you done?" Wang Yuhe sneakily @'d him, mixed in among the flood of messages.

Jiang Nian: "Finished them all, this is a test paper I bought."

The moment the message went out, more people jumped out. Even some usually introverted folks started joining in.

"Way too grinding!"

"I only did two sheets, couldn't do anymore."

"Way too twisted."

"By the way, when do the final grades come out? Does anyone know if the papers have been graded yet?"

"Don't know. Next one."

10.

Human nature is a repeater machine; once they see something interesting, they fall into collective repetition.

Wang Yuhe: "(Fist) I'm almost done too."

Chen Yunyun: "@Jiang Nian, why are you still awake so late?"

"Can't sleep. I usually do practice tests until 2:30 a. m." Jiang Nian landed critical hits one after another, "Circadian rhythm, hard to reset."

"Monster! Fucking monster!" Li Hua sent an emoji pack.

"Go to sleep early," Chen Yunyun @Jiang Nian, "Staying up too late isn't good for your health."

"I have a calming incense—want me to have someone bring you some?"

The group chat messages kept refreshing.

Zhang Ningzhi @Jiang Nian, "I know a sleep-promoting pillow that's great—I just happen to have one new one left."

As soon as the message appeared, the group exploded with activity.

Li Hua and Ma Guojun both sent laughing emoji packs—their meaning was obvious: brotherly loyalty was useless.

Until, Yu Zhiyi also jumped in.

"@Jiang Nian, calming tea is good too. We have a kind of tea here—quite famous, probably quite good."

Li Hua: "Red stone! He drinks... a damn hammer!!"

Jiang Nian: "Hua, don't rush. A gentleman must cultivate virtue—you must cultivate virtue too."

Ma Guojun immediately sent a laughing-coughing emoji: "(Hehe), Li Hua must cultivate virtue."

Li Hua: "@Cai Xiaoqing, Discipline Committee, mute these people who swear."

Cai Xiaoqing: "Asleep. (Tired)"

Meanwhile, outside the screen.

Sun Zhicheng watched the group chat suddenly come alive because of Jiang Nian's message, and felt a pang of bitterness.

He, meanwhile, had argued for hundreds of replies with Yang Qiming.

Worse still, he was currently muted. He could only watch Chen Yunyun jump in and interact with Jiang Nian.

Even sending calming incense.

He had the same incense at home—he understood this art well. But being muted, he had no way to respond.

Lin Dong: "Ah Cheng asked me to pass on a message—he also likes burning incense and sipping tea, especially loves Silver Needles."

Yet, this message vanished into the sea. The group chat kept scrolling forward, and no one replied.

Jiang Nian responded to each one in turn, politely declining all suggestions.

His sleep was fine; explaining did no good, but private messages still poured in.

The night passed without incident.

Jiang Nian opened his eyes, washed up, then checked his phone—the lock screen wallpaper had automatically switched to bright red.

Lunar New Year's Eve.