Chapter 609: Valentine's Day

Jiang Nian: "???"

Li Hua: "???"

Cai Xiaoqing blinked, her mouth falling slightly open.

"Damn, he didn't take attendance."

In truth, Old Liu had arrived too early. And this middle-aged guy's entrance was, frankly, a bit too abstract.

Add in some clapping dance, and it'd really hit the mark.

Everyone who betrayed me got into second-tier universities, so what about those who stay loyal to me in the future?

Vocational college!!

Where did this success guru come from?

"Too abstract, what is Old Liu doing?" Fatty Ma Guojun couldn't hold it in. "That happy?"

"Maybe he's having a second kid," Li Hua speculated maliciously.

Jiang Nian said, "I recorded it."

"Eat shit!"

Old Liu surveyed the room from the podium, didn't mention the attendance thing, just briefly asked who wasn't here.

A few names came up from below; he glanced at his phone.

"Oh, they're all on leave."

"Ahem, let's hold a class meeting." He coughed once. "New semester's started, everyone's had enough fun."

"Haven't had enough!!" The crowd below heckled.

"Alright, alright, whether you've had enough or not." Old Liu pressed his palm down. "Bring your minds back, focus on review."

Then he said some more about how important the three rounds of review were.

Things like overtaking on the curve, finding and filling gaps, and so on.

"Also, last semester some students reported to me. Wanting to switch groups, or wanting to switch seats, that sort of thing."

"Here, I'll only adjust individual students based on final exam scores."

The moment the words fell, the classroom erupted in an uproar.

"Wait, we can switch groups?"

"Holy shit, why not wait until I'm dead to tell me?"

"What's the condition for switching groups? Final exam score over 580? Or does the teacher set the target?"

"You kid, planning to betray the group, huh?"

"No, I want to cut ties with these traitors. I'm Group 4, Subgroup i, loyalty witnessed at dusk."

"Why doesn't the group leader reflect on himself? If things were good, why would the members leave?"

"Shit!"

The classroom buzzed with heated discussion.

On the podium, Old Liu had already started calling names.

C

Zhou Yuting,.

!

Down below, the moment her name was called. Zhou Yuting's clenched hand loosened, her face showing a mix of joy.

From then on, she was free of those two weirdos.

This move was like a bird taking to the blue sky, a fish returning to the sea—no more torment, one step closer to Li Lu University.

She was happy,

and looking forward to her new life. Zhou Yuting thought of this and couldn't help glancing subconsciously toward Jiang Nian's direction, recalling that scene after the new year.

That person had been peeping at her on the street.

She'd thought he had something to say to her, but after she went out. That person was just hungry, and shamelessly said.

"Can you fish out a piece of that pork knuckle for me?"

Hearing those words, Zhou Yuting nearly blacked out. Luckily she held on; thinking back on it now.

The past.

She stared in that direction for a while. She noticed Jiang Nian had heard her name, but didn't turn to look.

She didn't know what expression to wear, her heart a tangled mix of feelings.

After class.

Zhou Yuting prepared to move her seat, but saw two people looking at her.

"Why are you leaving?" Yang Qiming looked baffled. "I think our group's people are pretty decent."

She tucked the hair by her ear, smiling with composure.

"It's not about the people, it's just that my grades have never picked up. I want to try switching to another group."

"Oh, oh, I see."

She was on decent terms with Yang Qiming and the other one, especially Huang Cailang.

Usually, any food she didn't want to eat.

Like a breakfast portion, or snacks other boys had given her. Feeling it'd be a waste to throw them away, she basically gave them all to Huang Cailang.

So even though Zhou Yuting was leaving.

The two of them proactively offered to help Zhou Yuting move her desk. In no time at all, she was merged into Tao Ran's group.

Dong Que turned around, smiling in greeting.

"Hi."

"Hello, everyone." Zhou Yuting smiled stiffly, glanced at her brand-new group members, and her mood gradually lifted.

This was what a proper study group should be like!

Second evening self-study period.

Tao Ran left his seat and began collecting winter-break homework. As expected, a small portion of the class still hadn't finished it.

He stopped by the sixth group—Jiang Nian was drinking grape juice, Li Hua was clipping his fingernails, and Ceng You was replacing his tempered-glass screen protector.

The Divine Group.

"Collecting homework now."

"Huh?" Li Hua raised his head like a sloth and gestured, "You mean... the test paper? Can't find it."

Ceng You picked up the thread, "When my grandma was lighting the fire, she accidentally stuffed my test paper into the stove too."

Tao Ran: "

Jiang Nian had finished his homework long ago, so he had time to rest. He swayed his grape juice while watching Ceng You replace the screen protector.

"Newly bought film?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you stop applying it?" Jiang Nian planned to treat the process like a Douyin stress-relief video.

"I can't do it right—I always end up with little air bubbles."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then reached out his hand.

"Give it to me."

Hearing that, Ceng You handed it over half in doubt. A few minutes later, he got back a flawless phone.

"Sick."

"Naturally."

Hearing them, Zhang Ningzhi looked up at them. She couldn't help but wonder—boys' happiness was truly strange and odd.

Evening self-study ended.

Jiang Nian and a few boys, same as last semester, habitually stood in the corridor by the classroom door to enjoy the breeze and get some air.

At that moment, two or three girls from the Olympiad Class One were slowly passing by the door of Class Three and turned to glance at Jiang Nian.

Suddenly, the two girls burst into laughter together.

Amid their silvery laughter, the girl in the middle blushed to the tips of her ears, lowered her head, and stepped forward to ask,

"Um... hi, could I add your... your QQ?"

"Sure."

Jiang Nian barely reacted, but Ma Guojun and the others were dumbfounded. They turned their heads, staring at the scene in shock.

Li Hua was even more heartbroken, wishing he could drop dead on the spot.

Damn it!!

Betrayal! Naked betrayal!!

The wound in their friendship... damn, it's already as deep as the Mariana Trench.

"Jiang Nian! Are you going to destroy this class?!"

By comparison, Lin Dong wasn't quite as jealous. After all, although he couldn't compete offline, online he was invincible.

Even Jiang Nian, once he entered the online world, was no match for him.

Having chatted online since the Qing dynasty, he had long since enjoyed the feeling of being pursued by girls, and now found it utterly tasteless.

A BGM drifted through his mind: 【I Haven't Been the Big Brother for Many Years】.

"Li Hua, calm down." Lin Dong lifted his head slightly and said coolly, "I can understand Jiang Nian's situation."

"Damn, we really need to rein him in!" Liu Yang also got anxious.

After a while, the three girls left.

"You gave it to her?"

"Gave it."

"Eat shit, you absolute dog!" Li Hua trembled with rage, "I'm reporting you right now, you bastard."

Yu Zhiyi was wearing a figure-hugging outfit today, drawing plenty of backward glances in the corridor.

She came back from the restroom and happened to witness that scene from afar.

Before she knew it, she had finished peeking.

Suddenly, she saw Jiang Nian walking toward the restroom from afar again, and instinctively hid behind a pillar.

"Wait, what am I hiding for?"

"I've got nothing to feel guilty about—the one who should feel guilty is him."

That's what she said, but Yu Zhiyi still didn't show herself. Just then the class bell rang, and she instinctively wanted to head back to the classroom.

But the moment she lifted her foot, she stopped again.

Meanwhile, Jiang Nian came out of the restroom. After lazily washing his hands, he stood by the corridor gazing at the night.

"Hey!"

This spot was away from the class, so Yu Zhiyi jumped out from behind the pillar. Probably because she was wearing a sports bra, her jump wasn't all that dramatic.

"Are you sick?"

"You're the sick one!" Yu Zhiyi noticed Jiang Nian's gaze and thought to herself that this outfit was quite form-fitting.

Heh, men.

At the same time she felt a little proud—her clothes weren't tight, just fitted, revealing a hazy silhouette.

"Today several guys hit on me, so annoying."

"Oh." Jiang Nian was unmoved, thinking, What are you bragging to me for? Truly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

"I just saw a girl looking for you. What did she want?" she asked.

"Asked for my QQ number."

"You just gave it to her like that?" Yu Zhiyi's eyes went wide—she herself had been blocked and deleted by this guy three or four times.

"Gave her my student ID number."

"Oh oh, you're pretty, uh, whatever." Yu Zhiyi smiled, "I didn't give my QQ either.

Jiang Nian: "???"

"By the way, what's your WeChat?"

Jiang Nian held out a hand. "One hundred."

"You—!" Yu Zhiyi smacked his palm, then felt it was warm, like a little furnace.

"Never mind then."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian turned around and headed straight back to the classroom.

"If you don't want it, why all the fuss."

As evening self-study was about to end, the lights in Class Three blazed bright.

"Tomorrow's Valentine's Day." Li Hua suddenly sighed. "What am I supposed to do, with no lover?"

Ceng You turned his head with a cheeky grin. "Eat dog food."

"Eat shit!"

Li Hua cursed, then suddenly recalled that scene during the evening self-study break, and couldn't help glancing at Jiang Nian.

"Nian, you won't betray us tomorrow, right?"

"What?"

"That girl who asked for your QQ last class—she's not gonna give you chocolate, is she?" Li Hua asked, staring at Jiang Nian dead serious.

Too many people had seen it, no point hiding it.

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi lifted her head from the pile of homework.

"Hmm?"

"What girl?"

In the back row, Li Qingrong also looked up at Jiang Nian's back. Propping her chin on her hand, her face still expressionless.

"Nothing, didn't know her." Jiang Nian said. "Asked for my QQ, I gave her my student ID."

"Oh oh." Zhang Ningzhi let out a breath of relief, though she didn't want him to notice. "I see, why didn't you give it?"

Jiang

Nian: "

"Don't even know her, why would I?" he said. "There's an entrance exam next week, no time to think about anything else."

Zhang Ningzhi: "Oh."

The school bell rang.

The first evening self-study of the new semester ended. Jiang Nian, as usual, grabbed his bag, said goodbye to those around him, and prepared to leave.

He hadn't given Valentine's Day a single thought.

Chinese people don't celebrate foreign holidays.

Besides, Li Hua was right—no lover, what's there to celebrate? Giving chocolate too, isn't that just pure cultural dregs.

Damn, everyone's already celebrating foreign holidays.

What about Qixi?

Jiang Nian finally understood why there were always old fogeys in ancient times who were reactionaries—ancestral rules must not be changed!

What a collapse of rites and music.

School gate.

Jiang Nian looked around the roadside for a while before finding the two girls at a stall, each holding up a grilled sausage.

Staring at him like a pair of silly dogs.

"You guys.....

7

"I'm hungry." Xu Qianqian said, glanced at the sausage again, and sighed. "This flavor's just so-so."

"If only there were a bowl.

"Stop right there." Jiang Nian cut her off, a bit exasperated. "Did your rice dumpling come to life or something? Don't eat so much at night."

"Oh." Xu Qianqian, sulky.

After the winter break, she could no longer boss Jiang Nian into making her late-night snacks.

Life is hard for a mouse.

"We got a new head teacher." Song Xiyun picked up the thread very naturally. "A young male teacher."

"What's his name?"

"Zhao Qifeng, teaches math.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, no impression. Too many people in the math department, and more than one young male teacher.

"What does he look like?"

Song Xiyun thought for a moment. "Wears glasses, looks pretty bookish. Heard he ruined his eyes playing games."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian suddenly had a vague impression.

"Oh, I think I've seen you before."

"Hm?"

"I went to the math office before and saw a teacher secretly playing games there—his screen-switching speed was insane."

Song Xiyun: "..

Xu Qianqian seized the opening to add, "Our new homeroom teacher seems quite reliable—not so many rules."

Jiang Nian grunted, but didn't continue the topic.

After returning home.

He routinely sat in Xu Qianqian's living room for a while, though it was after the New Year and no longer necessary to visit daily.

But Jiang Nian was used to it, and the two girls were used to it too.

He tossed his bag onto the sofa and lay down, scrolling on his phone, while Xiao Song

went to take a shower first.

Xu Qianqian returned to her room, then came out again and sat on the opposite sofa.

The bathroom emitted a rustling sound; she put down her phone, stared at Jiang Nian for a moment, then asked with a serious expression.

"Do you know what day tomorrow is?"

"Valentine's Day." Jiang Nian stared blankly, glancing at Xu Qianqian. "You planning to celebrate?"

"Of course I am—I'm a beautiful girl," Xu Qianqian said. "Let's exchange gifts, so it won't be awkward."

"What's awkward?"

"That way, if someone gives me something, I have an excuse to refuse," Xu Qianqian said. "I've already accepted one—accepting another would be impolite."

"There's such a rule?" Jiang Nian rubbed his chin, asking curiously. "What if you accept more?"

Xu Qianqian sneered. "You're dumb, aren't you? Doesn't that mean you're indirectly accepting multiple people's feelings?"

"Once others find out, they'll gossip behind your back."

"Oh, so what about Xiao Song's?" he asked.

"I'll give her one," Xu Qianqian said quickly.

"Wait—you're giving her one?" Jiang Nian interrupted. "Then… why don't you two just exchange with each other?"

He immediately realized.

Xu Qianqian wanted to save Xiao Song money, but this method was truly abstract—and the relationship dynamics were a bit tangled.

"Oh, so you're just a converter now?"

"Pfft!" Xu Qianqian frowned. "What converter? That sounds awful—I'm a bridge of friendship!"

Hearing this, Jiang Nian thought: Xu Shao really is a bridge.

"Alright."

They sat for a while longer; Xu Qianqian rose from the sofa, yawned, and headed for her room.

"I'm going to pick out clothes for my shower."

Suddenly—snap! —Jiang Nian grabbed Xu Qianqian's wrist as she passed by.

"Didn't you forget something?"

Xu Qianqian's pupils dilated slightly; she forced calm.

"Wh... what?"

"The bet."