Chapter 66: shuhaige.net

"Not yet, I'm saving them up to binge-read all at once during the sports day the day after tomorrow." Li Hua Nike's lips curled up again, "I didn't sign up for a single event, pretty smart, right?"

"Mm... hard to say." Jiang Nian rubbed the hair on the back of his head.

Oh no, he's getting a kick out of this.

"Don't worry, I'll still go cheer you on." Li Hua patted Jiang Nian's shoulder, "I'll let you in on a little secret—I bought the physical copy of Long Four."

Jiang Nian and Li Hua paired up, holding umbrellas in the rain to sweep up trash. They kept a small distance from the others, rainwater pooling into disc shapes on the deep green leaves.

"Haha, sports day is three days off, I can binge-read Long Three and Long Four in one go."

"I'm already looking forward to it now—Eri and the Loser still have such a long story ahead, I'll have a blast reading it all at once."

Jiang Nian didn't know what to say, and mumbled vaguely.

"Pretty much."

What a bunch of kids, Long Four bought for nothing.

Group Six, a whole crowd of people holding umbrellas in the rain, went through the motions of wandering around their assigned zone once, then headed back upstairs without touching a thing—on a rainy day, just putting on a show is enough.

Half-heartedly going through the motions once around counts as not letting our alma mater down.

The morning classes were pretty relaxed—Chinese, Chinese, math, music. In Jiang Nian's eyes, that was roughly: self-study, self-study, math, self-study.

Underneath the Chinese textbook was a stack of math review materials—whenever he had nothing to do, he'd knock out a couple of problems.

Shameless NTR!

No, he just treated everything equally—even in math class, when he had nothing to do, he liked to grind through a few small problems.

During the break after first period, Li Hua nudged Jiang Nian with his elbow and said in a low voice.

"Have you noticed that kid Yu Tongjie is unusually hyped up today? Like his mom fed him something, he was hollering his head off in first-period Chinese."

"He's being active in class, and that hurt you somehow?" Jiang Nian shot him a glance.

"Of course it did, it woke me up." Li Hua said with a perfectly serious face, then found it strange after he finished, "Hey, why aren't you sleepy today, kid? Usually first period in the morning..."

You already knew the answer.

You little punk.

Zhang Ningzhi lay on the desk catching up on sleep, seemingly at random, resting her head with her face turned toward Jiang Nian's side. A pretty profile was revealed, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

Jiang Nian didn't look her way, and said to Li Hua with a solemn face.

"Sleeping in class is a bad habit."

Li Hua: "???"

Before second-period Chinese class started, Li Hua heard Jiang Nian say to Zhang Ningzhi that if she fell asleep in class, she should wake him up with her hand, and couldn't help but cut in.

"Hey, let me wake you up."

Jiang Nian shot him a glance. "Don't need you, go play somewhere else."

"Ah, your mom!"

Zhang Ningzhi was amused by them, turned her head away, her shoulders trembling slightly.

After school let out at noon, Wu Jun Gu was the first to leave his seat. He slipped sideways past Huang Fang's chair by the aisle and jogged out of the classroom.

Jiang Nian wasn't in a rush to eat, but still looked up.

"Why's Wu geigei leaving so fast?"

"Waiting for his girlfriend, what else could it be." Li Hua was sour about it. "I mean, how does he get all the good stuff? Bro's really about to break."

Speaking of gossip, Huang Fang in the seat in front of Li Hua turned around too, with a mysterious look on her face.

"I've seen his girlfriend, she's from the class next door."

"Class Two? Is she pretty?" Li Hua asked.

Ceng You, who had been reading a novel by the window, also looked up, a playful smile surfacing on his detached face.

"Li Hua, why are you asking about someone else's girlfriend?"

Generally speaking, this topic would have to be roasted back and forth by now.

Jiang Nian cut in, "He's been feeling those spring vibes lately, wants to date someone too. Probably the type to put out a year-wide marriage ad—heavy price for a girlfriend, fifty thousand on the spot if you match."

"What the hell, isn't that just 'heavy price for a baby'!" Li Hua flew into a rage, then quickly calmed down, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"I don't want to date anyone from 3D anyway, my heart has already been stolen by Eri, maybe I won't ever feel joy or sorrow again in this life."

That's not exactly a good line, you poor kid.

You meme without reading Chainsaw Man, right?

Alright, alright, next time I'll recommend it to you as a pure love story.

Zhang Ningzhi didn't join their discussion, but she didn't leave either, listening with her ears perked up nearby. She worked on problems absent-mindedly, a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips.

In her previous class, she had never had such a relaxed group atmosphere.

No, it should be—without Jiang Nian.

...... A person like that.

He seemed to be born knowing how to handle group dynamics, effortlessly scattering topics that were hard to pick up, keeping Group Six in a relaxed yet united atmosphere the whole time.

Baby Zhizhi of course can't understand that.

That's how people who've been around the scene are—retired veterans with four golden nails. Used to deal with idiots day in and day out, then suddenly everyone around them is just a regular person.

A pure dimensionality-reduction strike.

In the afternoon, a cup of lemonade appeared on Jiang Nian's desk.

He sat down and glanced at Zhang Ningzhi. She had her head lowered, working on an English test paper, her gaze perfectly centered. The knuckles of the fingers gripping her pen were slightly pale, motionless.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then spoke up.

"You picked the wrong answer, this one's D."

Zhang Ningzhi instinctively tightened her grip, and a short scratch appeared on the test paper.

"Oh, oh, oh."

Reading comprehension—what do three "ohs" mean?

Li Hua arrived. The glutton seemed to pay no attention to the lemonade on Jiang Nian's desk. Now choosing to be selectively blind, he had barely sat down before feeling sour again.

No, could those pink bubbles please get further away from me, damn it!

Six people in one group, three of them fallen.

He hadn't been seated half a minute before Li Hua got up and went to Ma Guojun's place to grab a drink. He still needed iced black tea—the stuff packed a punch, could suppress whatever was on his mind.

But compared to Wu Jun Gu, who had a girlfriend, he actually wasn't that sour. Busy every day like a pilot, either arguing or giving the cold shoulder.

Three days of sun, three days of rain, three days of neither here nor there—really kills your grades.

The ones playing ambiguous—he was genuinely sour about those.

Enjoying the sweetness of love without having to suffer the bitterness of puppy love.

You really should drop dead, Jiang Nian!

Though it had been raining in the morning, by afternoon the sun had actually come out, and the rainwater on the outdoor track had mostly dried up.

Liu Yang stood on the podium after the third period ended and announced.

"I've already gotten the head teacher's approval. Everyone who signed up for the sports meet—you can skip next period's self-study and head to the track to practice."

"Especially those who signed up for sprints and long-distance runs—do some targeted practice."

The sports meet was the day after tomorrow; no matter how much they practiced, it was really just last-minute cramming. But for Class Three, not having to sit through self-study was enough.

Bliss.

Scattered and sparse, a dozen or so boys and girls stood up, Jiang Nian among them.

He didn't really want to run, but wanted to go down for a stroll and then head straight for the cafeteria.

Daddy hungry.

Just as he stood up, he lowered his head and his gaze happened to meet his left-side deskmate Zhang Ningzhi's. The little girl quietly clenched her fist, cheeks flushed, and silently mouthed a "good luck."

Jiang Nian nodded with a solemn expression.

Mm—go-fuel-up good luck!

Li Hua turned his head and saw Jiang Nian just leaving the classroom, and skillfully fished out a blue meal card from his pocket. Instantly his fist hardened.

Born lucky, huh!