Chapter 80 When the Fireworks Rise (Thanks to Alliance Leader Bai Xian for eating peanuts)

In Class A403 of Zhennan Middle School, the curtains were drawn and a movie was playing.

“The Chorus” was very healing, but Zhang Ningzhi was a bit distracted. She leaned on the small mountain of books, turning her head to look at the empty seat beside her.

On the desk, also piled high with books, a black gel pen lay horizontally in the empty space.

It seemed to have been casually tossed there by its owner in a hurry.

She lowered her head and glanced at her phone. QQ was still on the screen from ten minutes ago. She had asked him how many days of leave he had taken, but Jiang Nian hadn’t replied yet, and waiting always made her uneasy.

“Two days.”

Zhang Ningzhi looked down at her phone, and her apple cheeks immediately plumped up.

“Then did you take your homework with you?”

She had a good sense of boundaries and never inquired about personal matters. She always maintained a clear line with Jiang Nian, never asking intrusive questions.

For example, why he suddenly went back to his hometown. Well, if he was willing to tell her on his own, she would be very happy.

If he didn’t say anything, that was fine too; secrets were private.

“I forgot. I’ll copy yours.”

Zhang Ningzhi’s lips curled slightly, and her heart began to blossom again, like spring returning and orioles singing.

“No, you can’t.”

“Then I’ll copy someone else’s.”

“No!”

“Then I’ll just copy yours.”

Zhang Ningzhi was a bit speechless. He was so childish. Not knowing what to reply, she just sent a sweating emoji.

This was an emoji Yao Beibei had shared with her. She said it meant, “Dude, that’s enough.”

Or, “You’ve disappointed me again.”

Zhang Ningzhi felt it was more like a pause.

Putting down her phone, she suppressed the feelings in her heart, which felt like sour plum candy. She quietly took out her homework from her desk drawer, planning to write some of it using the faint light from her phone.

Before doing all this, she furtively glanced around.

She saw that the students in the class were clearly less engaged than yesterday; some were playing on their phones.

Some were even doing homework with small lights on, occasionally looking up at the movie.

With that, her conscience was clear.

Lin Dong was playing on his phone at his seat, feeling a bit down.

He was so excellent, both a math class representative and an athletic champion. No, he didn’t even have anyone who liked him. That wasn’t right, was it?

He could skip dating, but he couldn’t skip flirting.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe in his group were actually quite pretty, but they were too familiar. Everyone was a group member; a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its burrow.

Actually, if he was hungry, it wasn’t impossible.

After all, the early bird catches the worm.

Speaking of the moon, he couldn’t help but look in the direction of Zhang Ningzhi’s seat. He had originally thought that perhaps she didn’t know how excellent he was, which was why he hadn’t connected with her.

If he could find an opportunity to show off, he’d definitely win!

But who would have thought that Jiang Nian, that guy, would actually win both the long jump and long-distance running championships consecutively? He left right after finishing, letting the class monitor collect his awards and certificates for him.

Didn’t Old Liu say no one could take leave!

He listened to Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe in his group chatting softly, seemingly about things in the girls’ dormitory, while distractedly watching the movie projected on the blackboard.

Zhang Ningzhi was too far away, like the distant horizon.

Buzz, his phone vibrated.

Lin Dong looked down. A female netizen he had flirted with last month had replied to him.

She was also a student at Zhennan Middle School, a junior in the second year, with a sweet voice.

“It’s the sports meet today, and I wore a pretty dress.”

He immediately brightened, bringing his phone to his mouth, pressing the voice key while muffling his voice with his hand. A hoarse, bubbly voice, like a Siberian potato, rolled out.

“What kind of dress?”

The junior’s online name was ‘Pouring Out Three Thousand Watts of Glaze for You,’ which sounded like a soft, cute little sister.

Hehe, he really wanted to lick her from head to toe.

In this cold class, with stupid classmates, no one appreciated his talent.

Only Glaze, his cute little Glaze, could bring him warmth in this world.

She would flirt and act cute with him, praise his good grades, and even chat about certain things late at night.

Cough, cough, he wouldn’t tell anyone that he knew a junior who was ‘E-asygoing.’

Every day, he would spend a little time chatting with Glaze, either when he returned to the dorm after school in the afternoon, or after lights out, exchanging messages back and forth daily.

Glaze was a unique solace in his spiritual world, and also the motivation that supported his studies.

Lin Dong loved it most when Glaze called him “Scholar Brother.” In that moment, his vanity soared. The more they chatted, the more comfortable and compatible they felt.

Of course, he wasn’t stupid; he hadn’t shown his face or used his real name.

Even his QQ number was a secondary account.

Just as they were chatting happily, Sun Zhicheng suddenly rushed in through the back door of the classroom, looking panicked and bewildered, which left everyone in the group confused.

“What’s up, Sun Zhicheng?” Chen Yunyun turned and asked.

“Holy crap!” Sun Zhicheng unscrewed his water bottle on the desk and gulped down some water, then said in an exaggerated tone, “Damn it, you guys don’t know what I just—”

“Went into the wrong restroom?” Lin Dong looked up.

“No, guess what I ran into at the third-floor corner!” Sun Zhicheng lowered his voice, “You guys can’t even imagine, damn it!”

“Such a big, genuine ‘fat pillar’! Dark and grimy, holy cow! Its leg hair was as thick as my head hair, wearing a JK uniform, it scared me stiff on the spot!”

“Tch! I thought it was something else.” Chen Yunyun said with a look of disgust, turning away.

Lin Dong was also uninterested. Alas, little Glaze was still the best.

Jiang Nian blew away the dust from the bedside, then dabbed some water on a tissue and wiped it down.

No need to wipe too carefully; he was only sleeping for two nights.

The desk, the bedside table—these unused items didn’t need wiping at all. The straw mat was clean; it wasn’t yet winter, so a blanket at night would be enough.

Opening the wardrobe, the smell of camphor balls and dust wafted out.

Alas, he’d make do with the blanket.

Buzz! His phone on the bed vibrated. Xu Qianqian had replied.

Ten minutes ago, he had sent a message: the classic opening, “What are you doing?” It was a safe bet, as Jiang Nian wasn’t sure if Old Xu knew he had arrived.

The two families didn’t live far apart, separated by a few acres of rice paddies. From the rooftops, you could see both families’ houses.

Late at night, a few dog barks came from outside the courtyard.

Xu Qianqian only replied with a small yellow-faced emoji, “【Even small ones are cute】.”

Stop insulting Han, Xu Qianqian!

“I just arrived at my hometown. Go to the rooftop; the one with the lights on is me. Given that you might be busy shedding little pearls right now, you’re allowed not to go to the rooftop.”

Xu Qianqian was indeed shedding little pearls, or more accurately, she had finished shedding them.

Since returning to her hometown yesterday, she had cleaned her mother’s grave with Old Xu in the morning. She also burned some paper money stained with chicken blood, but the yellow paper didn’t burn completely.

She had to squat on the ground, poking at it with a tree branch to keep it burning.

Her mother had passed away five or six years ago, so pure sadness was less common. Crying couldn’t solve problems; instead of shedding tears, she hoped her mother would receive more money.

So during the day, she burned it extra carefully, perhaps not noticing, and got smoked. When she left, Old Xu told her to walk forward and not look back.

Her eyes had been uncomfortable since the afternoon, and she had even gotten medicine from the clinic.

“Are you crazy? Why are you here?”

“To burn some money for Auntie, what’s wrong?” Jiang Nian replied righteously, “Didn’t Auntie tell you I’m her most beloved darling?”

“Get lost!” Xu Qianqian suddenly had the illusion that her mother hadn’t left, and her lips unconsciously curved into a smile. She replied again, “Get lost, man, stay away from me.”

The two of them went back and forth, bickering for nearly seven or eight minutes, their attacks becoming increasingly vicious.

“Dude, I’m not bragging, I’m a double champion in one day, easily done.”

“Heh heh, did you use some underhanded tactics?”

“Holy crap, you like me that much? Are you watching me?” Jiang Nian replied seriously, “Baby, stop your peeping, don’t love me too much.”

Xu Qianqian: “. You were banned last year.”

“Hey, hey, bringing that up is no fun.” Jiang Nian sent a sweating emoji, which he had stolen from Branch Branch Baby.

Among friends, isn’t stealing emojis normal?

Add to favorites.

Xu Qianqian couldn’t be bothered with Jiang Nian; he was the kind of boring person who, if you asked him what his dreams were, would only reply that he wanted to be your dad. The more you humored him, the more he’d get carried away.

Her eyes were stinging, so she simply closed them.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, her phone vibrated continuously.

She really didn’t want to bother with Jiang Nian, but she couldn’t ignore the phone vibrating more than ten times. She couldn’t figure out what Jiang Nian had sent that could warrant more than ten messages in a row.

If it was an emoji spam attack, then he was dead meat!

She opened her eyes.

Her phone was filled with messages from Jiang Nian, mostly one picture and one sentence. Mixed with someone’s strange verbal tic, it seemed unusually neurotic.

“【Image】, I found fireworks that weren’t set off, holy crap.”

“Don’t know when they were left over, probably before the New Year. There are even sparklers. No, how do you light these? Can’t find a lighter.”

“【Image】.”

“I found a lighter, 【Image】, awesome, it’s even windproof!”

“Xu Qianqian, want to hear a bang? I heard that wishing on a shooting star can make wishes come true. Just make do with it, mainly help me make a few.”

Xu Qianqian read through each message until she saw that he had really moved the fireworks to the third-floor rooftop. She couldn’t help but bite her lower lip as she typed her reply.

“Are you crazy? Playing with fireworks in the middle of the night!”

“Aren’t you afraid the neighbors will scold you!”

As soon as the message was sent, Jiang Nian’s call came through. She was startled, hurriedly turned down the volume, and her heart thumped like a drum twice.

Fortunately, Old Xu in the other room didn’t react, seemingly asleep.

“Are you trying to kill me, Jiang Nian!” she gritted her teeth.

She finally answered, covering the receiver and lowering her voice.

“What are you doing!”

“Come out, come out! Look out the window!” Jiang Nian’s slightly neurotic, cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone, along with the faint sound of the night wind whistling.

The dog barks outside the window, weakly mixed with the synchronized dog barks from the phone, all reminded her that they weren’t far apart.

“I’m not looking, it’s boring.”

“It won’t kill you to look. I’m really going to light them.” Jiang Nian’s voice was cheerful, urging, “Hurry, hurry!”

Xu Qianqian said she wouldn’t look, but she still opened the door to the second-floor hallway, gazing into the dark night.

“Where is it?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a burst of fireworks let out a sharp bang in the darkness. It trailed a yellow streak as it ascended, then burst open with a pop against the night sky.

The sparks cascaded down, like a beard studded with stars.

Under the murky night, fireworks exploded one after another. Like a fire tree and silver flowers cast into the darkness, they illuminated her face, and her previously quiet heart suddenly came alive.

With Jiang Nian’s arrival, the atmosphere was gone.

His voice came from the other end of the phone, synchronized with the fireworks.

“Is it pretty, Xu Qianqian?”

“Mm.” She looked up at the fireworks in the night sky and said sincerely, “Jiang Nian, when the neighbors hit you, remember not to give me away.”

Supplement: I stayed up until six, will update when I wake up.