Chapter 26 Lemon Branch

Two days flashed by, and it was the last day of September, the eve of the National Day holiday.

At ten o’clock, Jiang Nian’s parents sat on the sofa at home watching TV. Li Hongmei watched a soap opera, while Old Jiang played with his phone. The Jiang family was rarely so quiet and composed.

With a click, Jiang Nian, who had finished evening self-study, came out of the bathroom. He rubbed his hair as he walked forward, and the wet droplets flew forward like rain.

This scene made Li Hongmei furious, “You little brat! Three days without a beating, and you’re tearing down the roof!”

“Wait!” Jiang Nian instinctively jumped away, keeping his distance from his irritable mother, and interrupted her, saying, “Comrade Li Hongmei, you can’t hit me right now.”

Li Hongmei sneered, “Three seconds to explain.”

Old Jiang turned to look with interest, putting down his phone. He got up from the sofa, upholding the principle of a pleasure-seeker, ready to watch the excitement up close.

“Oh, you’re done for, a beating isn’t far away.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Jiang stumbled, leaning forward sharply as he lost his footing. With a ‘bang’, the glass kettle on the coffee table was knocked to the floor.

Boom! It shattered into pieces!

Seeing this, Jiang Nian’s face overflowed with wild joy. He immediately unleashed a Great Desolate Prison Sky Finger.

“Now it’s far.”

Sure enough, within seven steps, there must be an antidote. If he courted death, at most he’d get a scolding. Why did Old Jiang have to risk his life to save him?

Oh, his cigarette money for next month is probably gone.

Li Hongmei turned and glared at the stunned Old Jiang, who had an awkward expression. He cleared his throat, activated his backup hidden energy, and casually shifted the blame.

“By the way, Xiao Nian, your monthly exam results are out this week, right?”

Sure enough, Mother’s attention was diverted again, and she frowned, staring at Jiang Nian.

“Your father and I have been busy these past few days, and I almost forgot to ask you. What was your score on last week’s monthly exam? If you’ve fallen back too much, don’t blame me for not letting you play games.”

“Oh, Mother, just see for yourself.”

Jiang Nian took out his phone from his pocket, opened the photo album, and found a picture of his class’s transcript. He unhurriedly handed it to Li Hongmei, signaling her to look at the first row.

“573? That high?” Li Hongmei exclaimed.

“What?” Old Jiang no longer cared about cleaning up the broken glass kettle on the floor. He walked closer and took a look, “It really is first place. Is it photoshopped?”

“Photoshopped what? I’ve already been promoted to a new class. I’m in Olympiad Class Three now.” Jiang Nian took his phone back, “Next time there’s a parent-teacher conference, remember not to go to the wrong classroom.”

He finished his business, brushed his clothes, and hid his merits and fame.

“Hey, send me the picture!” Li Hongmei suddenly reacted, walked to her son’s door, and knocked, “Did you hear me, Nian!”

“Oh.”

Whoosh, as soon as the photo was sent, Li Hongmei immediately forwarded it to her colleagues’ group chat.

“This little rascal!” Li Hongmei muttered, then her expression changed dramatically. Holding her phone, she smiled brightly and said, “I’ll send it to those people in the office to see.”

In a small county unit, the group chat was full of relatives. They spent their workdays gossiping, and after work, the chat group was still about the same old women’s affairs.

Even the leaders dared not show their faces; if they did, they’d be instantly targeted. It perfectly illustrated the series where ‘my leader’s leader is not my leader, but my husband.’ In short, they were not to be offended.

Buzz!

In Jinxiu Tianfu Community, the loud-voiced Zhang Chunlan took out her phone with large fonts and glanced at the group chat. She saw Li Hongmei had sent a photo with a message.

“【Grinning】 【Smiling】 Everyone, help me see if this transcript was photoshopped by my son.”

This sentence immediately amused Zhang Chunlan. Someone even photoshops transcripts? Although she didn’t know the specific meaning of the letter ‘P’, she knew it meant falsifying information.

She clicked it open. Hongmei’s son’s name seemed to be Jiang Nian?

Not outside the top thirty, not outside the top twenty. This kid has some nerve, daring to put himself in the top ten with a mid-to-lower level? Top ten, huh?

How is it first place!

Zhang Chunlan’s eyes widened as she looked at the first-place score. She couldn’t help but burst out laughing. How dare Hongmei’s kid do this? How dare he?

He directly changed it to first place. Isn’t this clearly… Wait, let me look closer, so I don’t fall for these old women’s tricks, who are always finding ways to show off.

For example, a certain shameless old woman in the office would “accidentally” drop her gold bracelet into view, just waiting for others to ask if the gold bracelet was broken.

First place, Jiang Nian, 573 points. Second place, Zhou Yuting, only 527.

Is this reasonable? A gap of nearly fifty points? Too fake! This is clearly a forged transcript. Hongmei’s kid really dares to think and act.

Her own precious son was much more honest. He had just been promoted to a new class yesterday.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chunlan couldn’t help but shout into the room, “Old Yu, come here and see something funny.”

“What’s all this nonsense late at night?” A balding middle-aged man reluctantly emerged from the room, holding a cadre’s thermos cup.

“Hongmei’s kid forged his transcript, it’s hilarious.”

“Let me see.” The balding middle-aged man adjusted his glasses, leaned down, and the group messages were flashing non-stop. “There are also the words ‘class promotion’ after the score.”

“That’s even funnier. Didn’t our Xiao Jie just get promoted yesterday?” Zhang Chunlan laughed happily and sent a voice message to the group, “Hongmei, has your son been promoted to a new class?”

In the group, voice messages of three to four seconds, ten-odd seconds, and twenty to thirty seconds were flying everywhere. The old women who were on holiday from work and had nothing to do were all drawn out.

“Hongmei, your son’s score is too high. Wasn’t he always just over four hundred before?”

The young intern at the unit: “Auntie Li, your son’s doesn’t look like it’s photoshopped, it looks like it was reprinted.”

“Speaking of which, didn’t Chunlan’s son also score over five hundred? I heard he was promoted to the Olympiad class. Wouldn’t we know if we asked her son?”

Behind the screen, Zhang Chunlan looked delighted and replied with a voice message.

“How would I know? There are several Olympiad classes.”

The person concerned, Li Hongmei, sent a short voice message. From her tone, one couldn’t detect anger. On the contrary, she seemed somewhat calm, even with a hint of happiness.

“She said Olympiad Class Three.”

Class Three?

Zhang Chunlan on the sofa turned to look at her husband, “Old Yu, is Xiao Jie’s promoted class Olympiad Class Three?”

Click, the door opened right then, and a boy walked out holding clothes, preparing to take a shower.

“Hey, Xiao Jie, you’re here just in time.” Zhang Chunlan asked nervously, “Is there someone named Jiang Nian in your class?”

Hearing this, Yu Tongjie stopped, frowning.

“Yes, there is. His score is higher than mine.”

“Higher than yours? Are you sure?” Zhang Chunlan was so surprised she blurted out, “Is it possible he cheated to get in? Look, his mother even posted about it in the group.”

Yu Tongjie took the phone, listened to each voice message from beginning to end, and then returned it.

“It’s not fake, but cheating can’t be ruled out.”

Saying this, Yu Tongjie ignored his mother’s stunned expression and turned directly into the bathroom.

Putting down his clothes, he frowned and opened QQ. From the group chat list, he selected 【Zhang Ningzhi】 and chose to add her. He felt it was necessary to remind Zhang Ningzhi.