Chapter 78 Strange! Who told him to run like that!

At noon, Jiang Nian took some time to meet Song Xiyun.

It was still the stairwell with the locked roller shutter door. Looking at the walnut wood piggy bank, which was like a work of art, that he pulled out from behind him, Song Xiyun was first stunned, then shocked.

The poor girl said something that fit her persona.

“So expensive!”

She had originally thought Jiang Nian was just joking; after all, who would actually bring a piggy bank to school? Even if one did, a piggy bank wouldn’t be expensive.

Usually, thirty or forty yuan would be plenty, even ten or twenty.

Who would have thought he’d pull out a piggy bank that was more like a work of art? It could no longer be called a piggy bank; its aesthetic value clearly surpassed its practical use.

Only rich families would buy such a thing. It’s a novelty, isn’t it? Not an everyday item!

Actually, Jiang Nian initially chose a piggy bank around a hundred yuan. Later, he had a hundred yuan left from a 50,000 yuan limit that he couldn’t spend, so he simply bought one for over two hundred.

Anyway, to him, it was all found money.

Song Xiyun could only pull out four hundred twenty-five yuan, with change; it was this kind of exact amount that was most frightening.

“No, no!” Song Xiyun shook her head like a rattle-drum, her tone firm, “It’s too expensive, I can’t take it. I was just joking that day!”

“Hurry up and return it. Is there shipping insurance?”

“Oh, that, I forgot,” Jiang Nian said. “It’s custom-made, so it’s a hassle to return once received. If you don’t want it, I’ll just dispose of it.”

“Dispose of it? On Xianyu?” Song Xiyun said, looking practiced.

“Something like that.”

“You should list it for a good price on Xianyu, it’s practically new,” she began to return to her familiar Domain and perked up again. “Don’t price it too low.”

“…Usually, it’s free shipping by default. Subtract twenty yuan from the original price, and that’s your listed price. If no one buys it, then subtract another ten yuan, but don’t subtract too much.”

Even if it’s practically new, she’s only willing to lose ten yuan?

What strong life skills!

Jiang Nian nodded and said,

“I plan to give it to your mom. She should like these little trinkets.”

“Jiang Nian!” Song Xiyun’s fists clenched, and she glared at him through gritted teeth, “Are you trying to die?! You can’t give it to her! How much did you spend on it? I’ll give it to you!”

Jiang Nian stated a number, and Song Xiyun almost buckled at the knees.

“How much?”

After confirming again, the girl’s eyes lost their sparkle. A small piggy bank, yet it would take away more than half of her savings. It was just too…

But if she didn’t pay, this piggy bank would end up in her mom’s hands. Her mom would definitely happily accept it. Oh no! That kind of thing couldn’t happen!

Is Jiang Nian a devil?

Song Xiyun now really wanted to smash her head against him and die. Isn’t this moral blackmail?

No, how could he do this!

“I’ll take it! I’ll just pay you in installments!” Song Xiyun said the weakest words in the most assertive tone, “I can pay you back slowly, and I will pay it all back!”

She was almost crying. Could she really do it?

Would she go back and shed tears while writing a repayment diary?

“Whatever you want. I won’t accept repayments of more than one yuan a day.” Jiang Nian handed her the walnut wood piggy bank. “I’ll take that as you agreeing.”

“There are still one, two, three, seven, eight months left. Won’t I be paying until after the college entrance exam?” Song Xiyun was shocked, taking the piggy bank. Installments were too terrifying.

But it was really beautiful, the walnut wood piggy bank.

“That’s right, you’re not wrong,” Jiang Nian suddenly leaned closer, asking mischievously, “Good daughter, do you want to get rid of Dad so badly? Hmm?”

“You, you, you, you!!!” Song Xiyun frantically retreated four or five steps, her back hitting the white wall directly. “W-what… what do you mean?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t play dumb! You clearly said something outrageous just now!” Song Xiyun was a little frantic. “It’s like something a dark pervert would say in a TV show!”

“Ah, that’s going too far. Be careful, I might send you a lawyer’s letter.” Jiang Nian stretched. “There’s a competition this afternoon, I’m going back to the classroom to sleep first.”

The corridor was rather shady. Since the roller shutter door downstairs was locked, not many people usually walked this way. Plus, with the sports meet today, there was an extra-long lunch break.

The teaching building was empty and quiet. Sunlight couldn’t directly reach the corridor; only a little natural light filtered in through the windows.

Song Xiyun nervously watched him take two steps up the stairs, then suddenly turn back. His expression seemed to be contemplating something important, and he asked from above,

“If I were to threaten you with two hundred yuan right now, could I do anything I wanted?”

“Go to hell, you dark pervert!”

After being scornfully cursed by the beautiful girl, Jiang Nian left, satisfied.

That was the taste.

Afternoon.

The senior boys’ 3000-meter group race. Because there were too many people, they were split into two batches to run simultaneously.

Although there was no distinction between arts and science students, nor between regular students and sports students, to save Face for the top students, those with good stamina were generally grouped in the first batch.

This meant that sports students and those who usually excelled in physical education were mostly assigned to the first batch. This ensured both a good viewing experience and fairness, while also saving Face for the students in the later batch.

This also meant that after the first batch finished, there was basically nothing left for the second batch.

Of course, it was impossible to be so comprehensive; there were always one or two students who weren’t very athletic but were included in the first batch.

“What!”

“Did they make a mistake?! I’m in the first group?”

Yu Tongjie looked at the group race list in disbelief, his eyes scanning the paper. He didn’t move until he saw his name next to Jiang Nian’s, both in the first group.

His hanging heart finally died, and he slumped back into a chair in the rest area, powerless.

“How could this happen?”

Damn it, he was going to be blown away by the sports students!

He imagined himself being overtaken by two or three laps, struggling on the track like a dead dog. His chest was like an old, worn-out bellows, making the hoarse sounds of a zombie.

It’s over! The image he had worked so hard to build in front of Li Qingrong! It was all going to be ruined!

He occasionally looked up and heard someone in the class discussing Jiang Nian. Beep, beep, beep, the keyword alarm instantly went off, and he involuntarily perked up his ears to listen.

“Jiang Nian got first in long jump?”

“Really?”

“How could it be fake? I heard he did a somersault and jumped over, and he fell pretty badly.”

“What the heck? No way, what’s he risking his life for?”

Hearing this, Yu Tongjie remembered the scene of Li Qingrong running with Jiang Nian.

He didn’t know why, but a ridiculous thought sprouted in his mind. No way, it shouldn’t be. That kind of thing…

Pure Love Jie couldn’t take it anymore. He took a deep breath and muttered,

“It’s nothing, I’m overthinking.”

“You look so pathetic being so suspicious, pull yourself together. Li Qingrong is the class monitor. Maybe there’s nothing going on at all. Besides, even if there is, so what?”

“She’s the class monitor, it’s normal for her to think about the class, ha~”

In the shade.

Jiang Nian looked up in confusion, “Why are you here?”

“What? Don’t you welcome your teacher?” Xi Bao, wearing a tracksuit, spoke to Jiang Nian while busy taking selfies and editing photos. “Come on, help teacher take a picture.”

“Teacher, I’m an athlete!” Jiang Nian couldn’t hold back. “Why don’t you ask the referee to take your picture and borrow the starting pistol for a pose?”

“So what?” Xi Bao launched a magic attack.

Damn it, the country saved you! Fortunately, this is a Chinese campus!

So what? I have dirt on you! You childish teacher!

Jiang Nian reluctantly took the phone. As soon as he finished taking one picture, students swarmed over, surrounding the super popular Xi Bao, chattering away.

Zhang Ningzhi and Yao Beibei also came over from a distance, but they didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.

Ha, probably didn’t sleep well at the milk tea shop.

Jiang Nian slept for a full hour and a half in the classroom at noon, and even managed to do half a test paper in his spare time. The time was ridiculously long, as the competition didn’t start until 3 PM.

Li Qingrong also came over, without any special attire.

She had changed out of the white skirt from the morning and into a pair of loose pants suitable for running. Yu Tongjie followed behind her; he and Jiang Nian were the only ones in the class who signed up for the men’s 3000-meter race.

Sure enough, Li Qingrong walked up to Jiang Nian. Without any small talk, she immediately started talking about pacing, asking the two of them to pay attention to her position.

Pacing doesn’t mean running the entire race, but rather helping athletes regulate their rhythm. This prevents them from being maliciously misled, starting too fast, and ultimately collapsing from exhaustion on the track.

Rhythm is something that’s hard for beginners to perceive unless they run for a long time. They usually rely on opponents to judge whether they’re running too fast or too slow.

Li Qingrong’s role was to serve as a reference speed.

Yu Tongjie listened attentively, nodding frequently.

Jiang Nian suddenly looked up and asked, “Class Monitor, if someone disrupts the rhythm, will the consequences be severe?”

Hearing this, Li Qingrong nodded.

“Yes, it’s very troublesome. You might get a stitch. 3000 meters isn’t too bad, but if it’s 5000 meters or 10 kilometers, you might even have blood in your urine, so it’s best not to let anyone mess with your rhythm.”

“Oh, and also, don’t run first and be the one breaking the wind.”

“Okay, I understand,” Jiang Nian nodded.

Li Qingrong frowned slightly, looking as if she wanted to say more but held back.

Did he really understand?

When she was speaking just now, he was mostly distracted. Forget it, she’d talk about it after the race, especially since he got first place this morning.

Athletes entered the field.

Jiang Nian casually glanced, intending to look for Li Qingrong’s position. Instead, he saw two people in the crowd of spectators on the track: one was Song Xiyun.

A daughter cheering for her father is only natural; there’s nothing to it.

The other was Zhou Yuting.

She looked a bit haggard. Had something bad happened to her? Oh, how terrible for you, baby.

Pop the champagne! Pop the champagne!

“Jiang Nian!”

On the track, someone suddenly called out to him.

Jiang Nian was momentarily confused, standing on the track. A boy from the parallel class before him greeted him. He then remembered that the person used to be the sports committee member.

“You signed up for this too?”

“Yeah, just follow behind me later,” the sports committee member said generously. “The Olympiad Class must be tough; you probably don’t have time to exercise.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian suddenly felt a bit guilty.

“Oh, oh, okay, thanks.”

“Everyone, start signing in!” the referee shouted, interrupting their conversation.

Minutes later, all the senior boys in the 3000-meter track and field event were in their ready positions. Everyone was tense, nervously awaiting the sound of the starting gun.

“Beep, beep, beep—!!!”

A clear whistle cut through the air of the sports field, and the burly sports teacher roared,

“On your marks! Get set~!”

“Bang!!”

The starting gun was deafening, emitting a puff of white smoke.

“Go! Go!”

From the moment the starting gun fired, the cheers around the sports field were deafening. The athletes’ names echoed in the air, and after half a lap, they changed to…

“Jiang Nian! Go!!”

Li Qingrong, running in the inner lane, heard the sound and couldn’t help but turn her head to look, her pupils suddenly widening.

Jiang Nian directly accelerated to the first position after half a lap, leading the race while also bearing most of the wind resistance. What… what was he doing?

A sprint shouldn’t be at this time, right?

The sports student in second place was clearly experienced, running almost directly behind Jiang Nian. He was using him to block the wind, waiting for Jiang Nian to exhaust his stamina after half a lap or a full lap…

Suddenly, Jiang Nian accelerated again!

Another gasp came from the stands, and Li Qingrong stopped directly. With Jiang Nian’s sudden move, her purpose of pacing had completely disappeared.

She stood in the middle of the track, watching Jiang Nian constantly accelerate and decelerate. He slowly pulled out an empty zone behind him, and some people had already lost their rhythm and stopped.

Jiang Nian’s earlier question echoed in her ears.

“Class Monitor, if someone disrupts the rhythm, will the consequences be severe?”

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Thanks to the boss, for good waist and good kidneys.