Chapter 610

"Ah?" Xu Qianqian feigned ignorance, "I swear by my youth—I won't participate in any form of gambling."

"So……"

She tried to yank her arm free, desperate to break Jiang Nian's grip.

But it was futile.

"Cheating, huh?" Jiang Nian's expression remained calm, "I knew you'd pull this trick—too late."

Since Song Xiyun was still showering, Xu Qianqian dared not struggle too hard, freezing in place.

"It's not cheating—it's just… not right now."

"Why not?" Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow, signaling her to continue, "Give a good reason, and I'll drop it."

"Really?"

"Fake. How could it be real?"

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian flew into a rage and aimed to bite his hand—but he shoved her away, flailing wildly.

"Let go!"

"When?"

"Pick an auspicious day," Xu Qianqian said. "I… checked the almanac—these next few days… everything's inauspicious!"

"Impressive." Jiang Nian laughed bitterly. He was about to say something, but the shower noise stopped—he had to cut himself off.

"Fine. Wait and see."

Seeing Jiang Nian stand up and prepare to grab his bag and leave, Xu Qianqian felt both relief and excitement.

Surviving the ordeal, she still felt the thrill lingering.

"That's it?"

The next instant, Xu Qianqian was shoved into the sofa, her cheeks pinched and twisted like dough from both sides.

"Sss~!!"

「You...... $%！」」

Jiang Nian squeezed for a while, then slowly released her. Before leaving, he turned and pointed at Xu Qianqian.

"You forgot both front and back—just remember this."

Xu Qianqian sucked in a sharp breath, rubbing her cheeks. She thought: this guy is so crude—her face was already swollen.

"Pfft."

Click.

Safe again, Xu Shao began to gloat, secretly guessing that Jiang Nian must've been repressing himself.

"Hmph, little cook boy."

She wandered the living room a while, then returned to her room to fetch clothes for a shower. As she pulled open the first drawer of her wardrobe—

Suddenly, she remembered the spot on her neck he'd bitten.

Her movements slowed slightly.

She stopped.

The next day, Valentine's Day arrived.

Jiang Nian rose early as usual, washed up, and stepped out—only to find the Valentine's atmosphere this year seemed… oddly muted.

No signs of promotional materials had been prepared by shops along the street.

In past years, some milk tea shops or stores had already displayed heart-shaped balloons or

pink posters.

But perhaps because the New Year had just passed, the mood wasn't strong—only games were running promotions.

"Dead."

During morning self-study, Li Hua put down his English book, his face scrunched into a bun, letting out a despairing groan.

"You're young and already dead?" Jiang Nian turned to him. "Hua, that's a precursor to paralysis."

"Damn it!"

Jiang Nian nodded. "I know an old man—before he got paralyzed, he was just as irritable as you."

"You son of a bitch!" Li Hua snapped. "I mean, why hasn't anyone given me chocolate?"

Down the aisle, the fat guy Ma Guojun ambled over with a grin.

"That's a good thing."

Li Hua: "?"

Ma Guojun said, "It proves our class has no fake people—if someone actually gave you chocolate, we'd have to trace your family tree."

"Damn it, damn it!!!" Li Hua couldn't take the sarcasm anymore. "My suffering outweighs yours!"

Ceng You in the front row turned around, stroking his chin.

"Leader, maybe a cute transfer student, one meter fifty tall, will suddenly blush and hand you chocolate."

"You look so cool pretending—please go out with me."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian and Ma Guojun burst out laughing. Even Wu Jungu, usually reserved in the group, couldn't hold it in.

"On the front of weirdness," Jiang Nian gave a thumbs-up. "I have to say—you guys really know how to do it."

Ma Guojun said, "That sounds like the ultimate fantasy after accidentally swallowing a bottle of correction fluid."

"Your top priority right now is uninstalling Bilibili."

Hearing this, Li Hua ignored the nutjobs in his group. He opened his vocabulary book and began loudly reciting words.

"Bed! Bed!"

"Leader, you're holding your vocabulary book upside down," Zhang Ningzhi whispered weakly. "And 'bad' is pronounced with the vowel 'ae'."

"What a fine joke." Jiang Nian patted his shoulder. "Keep amusing me like this every day."

At this, Li Hua truly lost his composure.

"Redstone!"

On the other side, Zhou Yuting was enjoying her first morning self-study session after switching groups.

Everything felt just right; the study atmosphere was wonderful. No one daydreamed in broad daylight, and no one flattered anyone.

Everyone was perfectly normal, all reciting their lessons.

Suddenly, Tao Ran looked up and said.

"Dong Que, have you had any psychological issues lately?"

Hearing this, question marks immediately popped up over Zhou Yuting's head.

"???"

"Group leader, don't even think about it." Dong Que set down her English composition materials. "I won't make an appointment for you."

"Really not possible?" Tao Ran looked regretful. "Last time I talked for half the session, and the teacher said she was going to get coffee."

"Turned out a whole class passed, and she never came back."

Dong Que: "

2

Zhou Yuting fell silent, but then thought it over. At least aside from Tao Ran, everyone else was normal.

"Forget it, I'll ask Jiang Nian." Tao Ran said. "I remember... he's quite familiar with the psychology teacher."

"Wait a moment."

Dong Que suddenly said, "I've changed my mind. It's not that I can't make an appointment for you, but I want to go see for myself too."

Tao Ran made a hand gesture. "OK."

Zhou Yuting propped her hands on the desk, slowly threading her fingers into her hair. Her face was one of disbelief, thinking, You've got to be kidding me,

The rope always snaps at its thinnest part... fate, truly.

First period in the morning, Qian Bao had just entered the classroom.

"Teacher, Happy Valentine's Day!"

A few people from Class Three shouted in unison, presenting chocolate in the name of the class, flattering the old woman till she lost her bearings.

Li Hua suddenly asked, "Your relationship with the English teacher is this good—why not give her chocolate privately?"

At this, Jiang Nian remained unmoved.

"No point."

"Why?" Li Hua asked.

He merely shook his head. Women were indeed easy to coax. But to forge iron, one must be strong oneself; mere coaxing was useless.

Qian Bao needed him to run errands; in a while she might call him to go pick out chocolate.

"Even if anyone's giving chocolate, it should be her giving it to me."

Hearing this, Li Hua's face was full of confusion.

"For real?

Zhang Ningzhi also turned her head and glanced at him. She couldn't help pressing her lips together and quietly rolled her eyes hard.

"Hmph."

Jiang Nian heard someone's disdainful mockery, turned to glance at Zhizhi, and found the latter pretending to be busy.

Zhang Ningzhi was fiddling with paper and pen, staring at the desk.

After a while, she stole a sidelong glance at her deskmate with her peripheral vision. Seeing Jiang Nian still staring at her, she immediately felt a bit guilty.

This guy's relationship with the English teacher was way too good.

"Jealous of my status?"

Zhang Ningzhi was a bit speechless, mumbling.

"I didn't."

The first two periods in the morning were back-to-back English. Qian Bao stood at the podium lecturing on subordinate clauses, and the class listened, drowsy.

Zhang Ningzhi pressed her lips together, seeing no one watching on either side.

Her fingers crawled across the desk, finally reaching the edge of Jiang Nian's arm, then she lightly tapped the back of his hand with her finger.

"Hey."

"What's up?" Jiang Nian leaned slightly toward her.

"This morning....." Zhang Ningzhi lowered her

voice, "this morning, did anyone give you chocolate?"

"Yeah." Jiang Nian said.

Zhang Ningzhi blinked, every thought written plainly on her face.

"Oh, who?"

"So far yet so near." Jiang Nian's mouth curved up. "You know her too—great grades."

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi's lashes fluttered several times in quick succession.

"Oh."

It had to be the class monitor.

"Li Hua, that dropout." Jiang Nian laughed. "He was going to use it as a return gift this morning, only to find no one had given him any."

"In a fit of pique, he gave it to me."

Saying so, he took the chocolate out of his drawer. He shifted half his body aside, revealing a corner of it for her to see.

"Oh." Zhang Ningzhi smiled with her lips pressed together.

The second class ended.

Qian Bao packed up her lesson plans and glanced down at the students.

"Jiang Nian, come out for a moment."

Hearing this, Li Hua's face twisted in shock. He looked up at Qian Bao, then turned to glance at Jiang Nian.

"Holy shit!"

The damn thing was right—the English teacher really called for him.

In the hallway.

Jiang Nian followed Qian Bao, strolling slowly forward, weaving through the crowd as they descended the stairs amid the pre-exercise bell.

"You did well on your final exam," Qian Bao said, turning back. "I have too many snacks in my office—take some."

"Alright." Jiang Nian nodded.

They reached the first floor. Qian Bao was wearing a fitted outfit today: a white high-neck sweater that accentuated her mature curves.

Below, a brown pleated skirt made her look youthful.

Qian Bao was brewing tea—tea gifted by a friend. As a woman who never aged, wealthy and well-connected, she was always receiving gifts.

Every year, friends sent her things.

Sometimes it was tea grown in their own gardens, sometimes fruit, or sausage, mountain specialties.

"Teacher, is your tea good?"

Hearing this, Qian Bao felt a flicker of pride. She had brought it out to show off—why else would she brew tea?

"Just say it outright."

"I want it."

"A friend gave me this. I have plenty," Qian Bao said, pulling open a drawer. "Since you want it, I'll give you a pack."

"Oh."

Jiang Nian took the sealed bag of tea and was about to examine it closely when Qian Bao asked another question.

"What were you whispering to your desk partner in class?"

"Li Hua?"

"Who else?" Qian Bao covered her mouth, grinning mischievously. "Was he asking if you got any gifts?"

Jiang Nian: "Teacher, are your ears that sharp?"

"I didn't eavesdrop on purpose—I just happened to walk by and guessed from their lip movements," Qian Bao said dismissively.

"Heh."

He hung around in the English office, lingering until the pre-third-class bell rang, then finally stood to leave.

Before leaving, he took several elegantly shaped chocolate birds.

Roughly speaking, it counted as salary.

The last class of the morning was biology. When Qing Bao entered, she too received a "Happy Valentine's Day" greeting.

She accepted the greeting but took only the smallest chocolate.

The rest of the chocolates, she distributed one by one to students through questions.

The classroom atmosphere was thus stirred up.

At dismissal, Li Hua glanced at his watch. He leaned over to Jiang Nian and whispered low:

"I think Valentine's Day might be like the New Year."

"How so?"

"Think about it—New Year has early and late celebrations. Could Valentine's Day have different customs depending on morning or evening?"

Jiang Nian: "????"

Li Hua said, "I was too eager. No one gives out chocolates first thing in the morning, and the whole morning there was no buzz in class."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian looked down at the pile of "salary" in his drawer.

"So chew?"

Li Hua cleared his throat. "Give me back the chocolate you got from me—I might need it tonight."

"Alright." Jiang Nian nodded.

"Huh?" Li Hua frowned, puzzled by how easily Jiang Nian agreed. "Then give it to me."

"Oh."

Jiang Nian pulled out the chocolate birds from his drawer. "Hua, was that chocolate of yours… filled with liquor, or…?"

Li Hua's face darkened, his teeth grinding.

"Chishih!"

After school, Jiang Nian was called back by Qing Bao.

Ma Guojun stared in shock, stood up, and patted Li Hua. "Hey, why's the teacher calling that bastard?"

Li Hua's face twisted in bitterness as he sighed at the state of the world.

"Giving stuff, obviously."

Hearing this, the big fat guy also froze.

"Damn!"

"Fucking Jiang Nian really deserves to die!"

But as Li Hua had said, it was true.

Jiang Nian entered the biology office and received gifts from Qing Bao—but not chocolates, only snacks.

Since the day he picked her up at the airport, the two of them hadn't been in touch.

Could only say, this was very Qingbao.

"Teacher, is your home in the provincial capital?"

"Mm." Qingbao nodded, felt it wasn't quite right, and added, "In the Honggu Tan New District."

"Do you eat much?" Jiang Nian

also didn't say anything about going to take a look or the like.

"Still, the old city district has a bit more." Qingbao said, "When you graduate and come, if you go to the provincial capital to play you can ask me."

She was just saying it casually, not paying it much mind.

First, Jiang Nian's grades wouldn't keep him in the province; the surrounding universities would have him returning to Zhennan, the direction not the same as the provincial capital.

In other words, there wasn't even a chance of it being on the way.

The two chatted a while longer, and finally Jiang Nian went to eat. Qingbao tidied up her things, took her keys, and got off work.

Cafeteria.

Jiang Nian was carrying things and it wasn't convenient to go outside, so he simply ate in the cafeteria; he'd just eaten half when his phone buzzed.

He took a look — it was a message from the low-score kid.

"Xueya, are you in the cafeteria?"

Jiang Nian: "?"

"Never mind, I see you."

After roughly ten seconds, a crisp voice rang out beside his ear.

"Xueya!"

Jiang Nian looked up. Lin Yuxi was wearing a rather dark-grey hooded jacket, with black pants below, which made her skin look fair.

Compared to before the new year, she seemed to have lost a little weight.

Her Bai Xi face had a healthy pink to it; when she smiled, the apple muscles pushed out to both sides, forming pretty dimples.

"You came so late, I've already finished eating."

"Three bites, one whole pig?"

"You're the pig, I just arrived early." Lin Yuxi pouted beside him, "Xueya, eat up."

Jiang Nian felt it was a bit odd, picked up his chopsticks then put them down again.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, you eat yours." Lin Yuxi smiled brightly.

After the meal, she followed him out.

"Xueya."

"What?"

"Giving you something." She pulled a bag of chocolates from her pocket, stuffed them into his arms, and ran off.

After running a stretch, she turned back and made a face at him.

"Bleh!"

She cupped her hand into a trumpet shape and called out with a laugh, "You have to finish it all."