Chapter 635: The Upgrade Upgraded the Upgrade

Evening self-study let out.

Jiang Nian had already packed his things, ready to bolt. Only one thing was left on the desk—an unfinished test paper.

"Goodnight, everyone."

"Oh oh." Zhang Nianzhi, curious, noticed the physics test on the desk. "An old lady's walking speed is....

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.... 43km?"

Looking up, Jiang Nian turned back and snatched the paper away.

"Peeping at my privacy, are we?"

Zhang Nianzhi puffed out her cheeks, displeased. "No way, you left it on the desk yourself, and you got it wrong."

Jiang Nian turned and pinched her arm.

"Don't yell."

As he spoke, he stuffed the paper into his pocket. He turned and hurried out of the classroom, joining the stream of people in the corridor.

The night was vast and dark.

"Done with math?"

"Xu Qianqian, don't go picking the one pot that's not boiling." Jiang Nian, displeased, edged toward the dim yellow streetlamp.

"How'd the exam go?" Xu Qianqian sauntered beside him.

"Medium-rare, with a little blood." Jiang Nian said offhandedly. "Good enough to eat, closer to European life."

Xu Qianqian was speechless. "I'm asking about the exam."

Jiang Nian patted her head and said seriously.

"I'm not doing cosplay."

"Mm-hmm." Song Xiyun laughed at the side, but when someone's gaze came her way, she immediately turned her face away.

Jiang Nian smoothly shifted his gaze away, didn't look much either.

"Let's not talk about exams, let's talk literature. Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms—pick any of the Four Great Classical Novels."

Hearing that, Xu Qianqian looked thoughtful, then turned and asked.

"Is the Black Whirlwind left-handed or right-handed?"

Jiang Nian: "???"

All one can say is, for Xu Qianqian to come out with something like this—she might be close to genius. But she's already far from human.

The three dawdled into the alley, each step lighting up a streetlamp.

"I want spicy strips."

"You'll break out, Xu Qianqian."

"I know, just saying." She walked with little hops. "Maybe Xiyun wants some too."

"I'm fine either way." Song Xiyun chose a middle-ground answer—meaning if Xu Qianqian wants to eat, then she wants to eat.

Conversely, if the wind is against her, it means she actually doesn't really want to eat, and since she can't have it, forget it.

Jiang Nian was speechless and spoke up.

"Stop using her as a shield, go home and sleep."

"Pfft."

After getting home, Jiang Nian was at Xu Qianqian's place. Nothing much to talk about, so he lay on the sofa and played with his phone.

Splash splash, the sound of water came from the bathroom.

Jiang Nian moved his phone aside, glanced at Xu Qianqian sprawled on the sofa opposite him the same way, and a sly grin crept across his face.

"Pfft pfft."

Xu Qianqian moved her phone aside and asked, annoyed.

"What?"

"Wanna bet this time?" Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow. "Last time you almost won, you won't be unsatisfied?"

"No, I give up." Xu Qianqian rolled on the sofa, facing the backrest, her backside toward him.

"I was short-sighted, Master Jiang Nian, you win."

Jiang Nian: "

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He opened his mouth, but still couldn't say a word. The previous two times, it was either kissing her neck or feeling up her black stockings.

He went too far, scared Qianzi off.

"Fine then, since you're chickening out, forget it." He said. "Speaking of which, my grades are pretty much capped out too."

"Victory is a game for the brave."

However, Xu Qianqian was unmoved. She faced the sofa backrest playing with her phone, her voice sounding a bit muffled.

"Lazy Sheep never surrenders."

She absolutely wouldn't take the bait. Jiang Nian couldn't be bothered to keep talking. He felt his bag and unexpectedly found a pack of Qinzui Shao.

Probably leftovers from last time, not sure if he got them from Baby Zhizhi or looted them from Li Hua.

After a while, Song Xiyun finished washing up and came out.

She had a dry towel wrapped around her head, and when Jiang Nian's gaze came her way, she instinctively dodged, then immediately acted as if nothing had happened.

All one can say is, the traces are still too obvious.

Jiang Nian knew this perfectly well, he just occasionally liked to tease his future ex-girlfriend a bit, to see her reaction.

As long as he didn't go too far, it wouldn't affect anything.

He stood up, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door. As he reached the threshold, he turned and found Song Xiuyun standing right there.

A gust of wind swept in through the balcony at night, passing through the living room. In the lamplight, one corner of her pajama was lifted by the breeze.

"Bye."

Jiang Nian realized that Song Xiuyun's face was actually quite beautiful. She lowered her eyes slightly, looking somewhat uneasy.

He stared at her for a moment, then handed her the spicy strip.

"Here, a spicy strip."

Song Xiuyun froze, lifting her head again—only to find Jiang Nian already gone, leaving only the sound of the door closing.

The next day.

Jiang Nian woke up chilled; the room was dimly lit. He faintly heard the sound of rushing water and only then realized it was raining.

He washed up and was about to grab an umbrella. The moment his fingers touched it, a translucent blue window popped up.

【A regular umbrella】

Huh?

Jiang Nian was startled and nearly threw the umbrella away. Fortunately, he held himself back and examined it closely.

Label it?

The next second, the system panel activated again. 【Can be upgraded to a brand-new Heaven Umbrella. Upgrade?】

Jiang Nian nodded and selected "Yes."

He rarely abused his skills, since his energy was limited. At first, he was excited, but later he grew lazy.

The most frequently used was still 【Precision】.

He had used upgrade once before—to upgrade his phone case—but since he could've just bought one, he'd forgotten about it.

After all, cash power was also a kind of superpower.

But now...

Jiang Nian glanced at the brand-new, forty-yuan, thick-framed Heaven Umbrella in his hand and fell into thought.

Upgrade... no, it should be this prompt. He'd triggered the upgrade by default, so this must be a new skill.

He opened his skill panel. The upgrade option had vanished. In its place was a purple skill.

【Identify】.

Jiang Nian stepped into the rain and nodded silently.

So, eliminating all impossibilities, only one answer remained: 【Upgrade】 had upgraded 【Upgrade】?

Damn, is this skill that abstract?

Self-evolution?

Jiang Nian nearly cracked under the absurdity, holding the umbrella as he walked out of the alley. He glanced at the steamed bun shop and suddenly felt like buying some.

The owner, seeing it was Jiang Nian, just stayed silent.

Jiang Nian said nothing either, standing under his umbrella in front of the stall, staring at the owner with an utterly ridiculous expression.

Finally, the owner broke.

"What kind of buns do you want?"

Jiang Nian blinked, then looked up hesitantly.

"Don't you sell mantou?"

The owner:

He thought to himself: You better buy something. If you don't buy anything at all... I'll... forget it, customers are hard to deal with.

"We sell them."

"Oh, okay—I want two each of meat buns, radish buns, dried plum vegetable buns, and green vegetable buns."

Through the plastic bags, the buns were hot to the touch.

【Four bags of mediocre-tasting buns】

The street was nearly empty in the early morning. The owner casually asked, "Buying breakfast for a classmate?"

Jiang Nian gave a forlorn look. "I'm eating it myself."

The owner chuckled awkwardly, but then heard him ask again.

"Do you sell huajuan?"

The owner: "... We sell everything."

"Do you sell steamer baskets?" He reached out and touched one—then a line of text appeared: 【One clean steamer basket.】

Fuck, that's actually decent.

The owner:

In the end, Jiang Nian bought two huajuan. Honestly, eating eight buns and huajuan in one sitting—

Even a Douyin food blogger would find it a serious challenge.

Except...

But he didn't plan to eat them all. He wandered around near the Book-Reading Red Pavilion until he found Zhou Haifei.

"Have you had breakfast?"

Zhou Haifei's gaze dropped, and she stammered.

"I... I ate."

Jiang Nian, almost out of habit, asked one more question.

"What did you eat?"

Zhou Haifei cautiously held up two fingers. "Two... mantou."

Two steamed buns — for a girl with a smaller appetite, that really is enough to last the whole morning.

But this is Zhou Haifei, so she probably only ate one.

Jiang Nian couldn't even be bothered to listen, shoved both buns over to her, and said, "Here, two greens for you, to get some vitamins."

With that, he walked off, umbrella in hand.

Zhou Haifei froze, the buns warm against her palm. She wanted to say something, but he was already far away.

"…Thank you."

She tore open the plastic bag and nibbled at the bun in small bites. The white flour skin was fluffy; she gently bit open a little gap.

A faintly sweet, floury fragrance rose with the steam, bringing out the scent of diced shiitake. It spread across her tongue, the fresh greens seeping with an oily fragrance.

With every bite she took, her heart filled a little more.

When her grandfather was still alive, the old man often took her to the market fair. He would wet his finger with a bit of saliva and count out the change with his rough fingers.

He'd buy a freshly steamed date cake and kindly hold it up to her mouth. One bite, sweet and syrupy, enough to make one's heart sway.

"Want some, Fangfang?"

"No need, I've already eaten." Huang Fang declined politely, a little shocked. "You eat this much?"

"What about it?" Jiang Nian asked.

"Boys can really eat." Huang Fang said, then propped her chin and gazed at the rain outside the classroom window. "It's raining today."

"Mm."

Jiang Nian was wrestling with his last flower roll, relying on a little hot water Fangfang had shared to force it down.

Huang Fang said, "How nice — it reminds me of when I was little. On rainy days my dad would ride me to school on his motorcycle."

"I'd hide under the rain cape and guess where we were. Every so often I'd lift the rain cape and check, one by one."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian gave a thumbs-up.

"Not bad, Fangfang."

"Huh?"

"Very childlike."

Huang Fang, hearing that—

Jiang Nian said, "When I was little, whenever I saw something I wanted to eat, I'd immediately start pretending to be weak and malnourished."

"Unless my mom bought it for me, I'd just collapse on the ground and play dead."

Huang Fang couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Didn't you get a beating?"

"Not at first, but once later on. I saw some byt sitting on the counter at the pharmacy and thought it was candy."

"Hehehe." Huang Fang's face flushed a little, but she also wanted to laugh. "Then you really deserved that beating."

"Tch." Jiang Nian pulled out his thermos and got up to go get hot water — when Baby Zhizhi arrived later, there'd be hot water to drink.

Gotta learn from Lü Bu — only be a slave to love, never a friend of alcohol.

Morning self-study was approaching, and the classroom was gradually filling up.

"Shit, put the umbrella outside."

"The whole aisle's wet."

"Where is it wet? Let me wipe it for you."

"You perv!!"

Jiang Nian glanced sideways, watching Li Hua and Ma Guojun being disgusting over there. He couldn't help but shake his head, thinking he really couldn't take it.

"Sissy."

"Eat shit!!" Li Hua turned and looked at him, then sidled over with a cheeky grin. "Got something to tell you."

"What?"

"Last night I saw on the local feed, someone livestreaming a fight scene." Li Hua flashed a you-know-what smile.

"Male or female?"

"What do you think?"

"Send it over — hoarding the good stuff, huh?" Jiang Nian jabbed a finger at him.

"What are you guys eating?" Just as the two were tugging back and forth, Zhang Ningzhi arrived. "Hello hello."

"Morning, big star."

Zhang Ningzhi pouted, looking unhappy. "I told you not to yell that stuff. One more time and I'll smack you."

Jiang Nian looked completely indifferent — lately he'd been itching for a fight anyway.

"Science comprehensive exam this morning?"

"Yep."

Rustle rustle — they all pulled out their test papers and began silently reviewing. After all, even a last-minute grind shines a little.

Jiang Nian didn't grind; he reached over and felt Zhang Ningzhi's thigh.

Hm? No info popped up.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Ningzhi turned her head, glaring at him unhappily. "If you do that again, I'm really gonna smack you."

Damn, she's actually upgraded her torment method?

"Zhizhi, you're a little s, you know that?" Jiang Nian pointed at her, but he didn't want to test the law himself, because…,

The class monitor had arrived.

Li Qingrong stepped into the classroom right on time. The moment she sat down, she caught Jiang Nian looking restless, and a puzzled expression crossed her face.

"What's up?"

"Nothing — let me borrow your test paper to look at." Jiang Nian reached for the paper and, along the way, brushed her little hand.

The monitor's small hand was cold, soft, and cool.

Yet, no prompt popped up.

It seemed that so far, only touching objects triggered a prompt. To peek at a person, you needed the blue bar marker.

Li Qingrong: "

She had been touched first thing in the morning, yet her expression remained unchanged.

The instant Jiang Nian picked up the exam paper, a line of small text popped up: 【A perfect math exam paper】.

"Huh?"

He froze, turning his head instinctively.

"You got a perfect score in math?"

Li Hua, who had been boasting at his seat, was struck dumb the moment he stood up.

"What?!"

Li Qingrong: "?"

She lowered her gaze to the exam paper, thought for a moment, then lifted her eyes to stare at him and spoke slowly.

"One multiple-choice question—I wasn't one hundred percent sure."

"You got it right." Jiang Nian's tone was certain; he couldn't help adding, "Really a perfect score."

To say he wasn't envious was impossible.

"Cough cough." Li Hua patted him. "Big son, lend me the monitor's exam paper to check answers?"

Jiang Nian turned his head and glanced at Li Hua's exam paper.

"Let me see."

Hearing this, Li Hua flashed a smug grin.

Really, kid.

Gotta show off, huh?

I get it—you wanna show off in front of the monitor—but how the hell are you gonna fake math if you don't even understand it?

"Hehe, go ahead." Li Hua handed over the paper, then asked, "How many do you think I got?"

Jiang Nian touched it, and a prompt popped up: 【An exam paper with 145 points】.

"145."

"What?!" Li Hua refused to believe it. "You didn't even look! If I really got 145, I'll eat two jin of red stone!"

"No need," Jiang Nian said. "Just record a video and post it online. I admit I'm outclassed by you, Jiang Dad."

"I'll never bark again—I'll be a good son."

"Fuck!"

"I won't even calculate it!"

"Red stone!! Fine, let's go!" Li Hua snatched Li Qingrong's exam paper and began checking each answer carefully.

Zhang Ningzhi watched the whole scene, glancing at Jiang Nian, then curiously at the group leader's expression.

"Correct?"

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Li Hua raised an eyebrow. "Red stone! I got every question right! Haha, Jiang Nian, you're done!"

Jiang Nian remained calm, sipping hot water.

"Oh."

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