Chapter 42 Li Qingrong

At noon, during the first break, class monitor Li Qingrong suddenly found Zhang Ningzhi and Jiang Nian.

“Come pick out your lockers.”

“Alright.” Jiang Nian was uncharacteristically normal, pulling back his chair and standing up, reaching out to pat Zhang Ningzhi’s shoulder in the front seat, “Hey, the class monitor wants us to pick lockers.”

Zhang Ningzhi shrunk her neck, letting out a confused “Oh.”

The third-year building had a special feature: wall-mounted bookshelves. Simply put, it was a row of metal lockers, cast together with cement and the mottled wall near the classroom door.

The drab, grey lockers, when opened, revealed a rectangular space inside, big enough to hold about half a desk’s worth of items.

“Although you moved up before the National Day holiday, the previous students’ things hadn’t been taken down,” Li Qingrong, naturally aloof, explained from the side.

“They only finished clearing everything out yesterday. There are three spots in total, you can choose first.”

There were three locker compartments in total, and he and Zhang Ningzhi would choose first. The meaning was clear: Li Qingrong had not informed Yu Tongjie, but planned to tell him after the two of them had chosen.

No one mentioned what happened that day again, but it wasn’t without its effects.

Yu Tongjie just happened to have a good father who worked in the county party committee office. He was one of the ‘Three Great Families’ in Zhennan County’s power structure, but had no connection to Jiang Nian.

Children of the ‘Three Great Families,’ unless their grades were truly embarrassingly bad, would be sent to key high schools for further education if they had any talent at all; they wouldn’t be left unchecked.

The county’s network of connections was intricate, and which local resident didn’t have wealthy relatives? What needed to be done still had to be done.

Besides, if you couldn’t rely on your father, couldn’t you rely on your father-in-law? Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, don’t bully a young man for being poor; marrying a Nalan Yanran could crush the Jia Lie Clan.

Alas, the topic has come full circle again: if your grades are bad, you can’t even get a sugar mommy.

Jiang Nian took a quick look. Of the three lockers, one was on the top floor, one on the very bottom. Only one was in the middle, so he directly made the decision for Zhang Ningzhi.

“You pick the middle one, I’ll use the top one.”

Zhang Ningzhi let out an “Ah,” “Won’t it be inconvenient for you to get things?”

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then said seriously, “It will. How about we both squeeze into one locker?”

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi’s face immediately turned red, and she lowered her head, saying nothing.

She obediently went to her seat to move her books, stuffed them into the locker, and incidentally pulled out a small lock from her desk drawer.

Li Qingrong watched the entire process from the side, then calmly turned to inform Yu Tongjie.

As for whether he wanted the bottom locker, that was not something Li Qingrong needed to consider. Someone who spreads rumors about classmates, having a locker is enough; why ask for a bicycle?

Jiang Nian propped his head up, looking at the first group. Yu Tongjie seemed to know Li Qingrong. He whispered something to her, his face flushing red again and again.

He couldn’t help but laugh, silently cursing him as a son of a bitch.

The three classes in the afternoon were Math, Physics, and Chemistry—a schedule that sounded suffocating just by its name.

After the lunch break, the class was listless; Hell lay ahead.

Jiang Nian’s Math scores were average, just like his overall Science scores were mediocre. However, Science focused on building a network of knowledge, which, to put it plainly, was about understanding and memorization.

He had already completed the memorization; the rest relied on a systematic connection, and his analysis of exam questions also indirectly strengthened his Science scores.

But Math was truly impossible to improve. Even with formulas memorized, if he didn’t understand, he still wouldn’t understand.

When a person is desperate, they can do anything, except Math. After trying hard for half the exam, only to find out Xiao Ming’s age is -3.6 years, he’d want to stand up and slap himself a few times.

His deskmate Li Hua looked utterly exhausted, but his Math score was 145. Ma Guojun was extremely sleazy, but his Math score was 120+. Yao Beibei spouted vulgarities all day, but her Math score was 130+.

Zhang Ningzhi’s Math score was 120+. In their small group, Jiang Nian had the worst Math score.

Bad Math scores meant he was destined to slack off in college.

Taking advantage of a moment to zone out during Math class, Jiang Nian glanced out the window. The stuffy, hot afternoon in high school, the sun so bright it was hard to open his eyes, red flags fluttering in the distance.

This was the most authentic Chinese dreamcore of a county high school: day after day of struggle, with no end in sight.

Jiang Nian suddenly thought of the System, and what his future might truly look like.

Many things had already changed. If he got into a good university in the future, would the outcome still be divorce?

Or simply not get married? Or go straight for Xu Qianqian?

Did the ending of the story have anything to do with whom he pursued? He would definitely argue with Xu Qianqian, who was as difficult as the Shu Dao, and his outcome would probably be even more miserable.

Ningzhi Baby was also good; beautiful, kind-hearted, and good at academics.

The root cause should be within himself. The thirty-eight-year-old Jiang Nian needed to make a comeback. And the eighteen-year-old Jiang Nian needed to change himself from the inside out, to reverse the future.

He was a pragmatic person, only caring about what he could get his hands on right now. The System, to him, was like a constantly running cheat code, a free deep blue.

What he had now was 57,000 in savings in his bank account. A not-so-wealthy family, a childhood sweetheart, a group of normal friends, a mountain of books and questions—that was all.

He still had to be down-to-earth.

Towards the end of Math class, the Math teacher walked over to Li Hua. Their communication was almost telepathic, with only a few interjections throughout.

Li Hua: Ah?

Math teacher: Hmm?

Li Hua: Uh…

Then, Jiang Nian watched as the Math teacher pointed to a certain step in the solution.

“This.”

“Oh, I get it.”

No, buddy, what the Hell did you get?

Jiang Nian watched the entire exchange, looked at the question and then at the solution steps for the third part of the major question, utterly confused.

What are you guys doing to me? Is this even China?

The Math teacher looked at the bewildered Jiang Nian, “Did you understand?”

Jiang Nian pretended to be profound and nodded, “I completely don’t understand.”

At this, the whole class burst into laughter.

Ring, ring, ring. Just as the bell for class dismissal rang, the Math teacher didn’t have time to say much more. He tossed out a “Ask your deskmate” and then hurried away with his lesson plan.

So sleepy. As soon as the Math teacher left, the whole class collapsed onto their desks.

Jiang Nian and Li Hua both slumped onto their desks. Zhang Ningzhi, in front of them, wasn’t much better. She put down her pen, rubbed her eyes, and quietly lay her head on the desk, falling asleep instantly.

No one made a sound, because the next class was Physics.

During the second break, Jiang Nian learned that Zhang Ningzhi had overturned Newton’s Third Law of Physics while doing problems.

Seeing her embarrassed expression, Jiang Nian couldn’t help but laugh out loud impolitely.

“Amazing, amazing.”

Chemistry was the ‘little humanities’ of the sciences, with a large number of equations and various fragmented bits of knowledge. At first glance, it was quite interesting, but when it came to reaction principles, it became serious.

During the last self-study session of the afternoon, Jiang Nian noticed his deskmate Li Hua always squinting one eye, and couldn’t help but ask,

“Are you aiming?”

Li Hua shook his head, “No, this is a demonic eye. If I open it, all living things will be plunged into misery.”

Ma Guojun happened to be passing by to turn in homework, and immediately couldn’t hold back. In the classroom bathed in the setting sun, the big Ma Guojun’s smile was extremely lewd. He patted Li Hua’s shoulder.

“You foolish kid, this is a stye.”