Chapter 138: The Strong Adapt to the Environment; The Old Ancestor Teaches You How to Change Your Fate.

Jiang Nian, having nothing better to do, stared at the Mission Panel for a while.

The prompt didn’t provide much information, but the reward was terrifyingly huge.

It was a full fifty thousand yuan! This instantly increased his assets by a quarter! It was equivalent to three-quarters of an En Yang Ceremony Gift! What is an En Yang Ceremony Gift? Just ask, it’s a custom.

However, Jiang Nian was slightly curious: what was this segment of Zhang Ningzhi’s memory?

Finally, Zhizhi replied.

It was a long essay. Too long; didn’t read.

Jiang Nian immediately read the beginning, the middle, and then the end. He then edited his message based on these three points, waiting a few minutes before sending it.

It wasn’t that he was being perfunctory; he just needed to reply from a high-level perspective.

The focus wasn’t on the essay or Zhang Ningzhi’s thoughts, but on her anxiety.

She was afraid of an accident happening on the day of the exam.

She was worried about herself and also about Jiang Nian.

Accidents could be many things, such as a sudden illness causing poor performance during the exam, or falling sick the day before and running a fever of thirty-nine degrees, making the words on the test paper blurry.

If one missed the exam or took it while sick, the outcome was obvious. The Academic Affairs Office wouldn’t make an exception, especially since this only concerned those moving up a grade.

This batch of students only numbered twenty or thirty; if something like this really happened, they could only blame bad luck.

In short, Zhang Ningzhi was afraid of things going wrong, just like Murphy’s Law states. The common explanation is: what you fear most is what happens.

The Western psychological solution is emotional regulation.

The Old Ancestor’s method is: fortune-telling, fate alteration, luck reversal, and requesting a Talismanic Incantation!

Jiang Nian thought about it, chose the latter, and typed his reply.

“You usually score over six hundred points, so even if you miss one subject, you’d still get over five hundred. Furthermore, the exam schedule mirrors the College Entrance Exam, so if something happens, there will be enough time to deal with it.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll give you a Talisman that has been blessed by a Daoist Temple.”

The worst-case scenario argument plus real-time analysis plus giving you a blessed Talisman—rather than changing yourself, change the environment.

It’s much more effective than emotional regulation.

“A Talisman?” Zhang Ningzhi was clearly a bit confused.

“Mhm, it’s very effective. When I was little…” Jiang Nian fabricated a half-truth.

The young girl, naive and confused, was thoroughly misled.

“Is that true?”

“How should I put it,” Jiang Nian typed back, “Guaranteed effective (thumbs up). I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.”

Half a minute later, Zhang Ningzhi sent a message.

“Then what about you?”

“Oh, this thing comes in a double set.” Jiang Nian climbed out of bed, stood up, pulled open a drawer, and took a photo. “【Image】 See? I didn’t lie to you, right?”

He really did have one. He had bought it randomly on the roadside during the New Year for ten yuan apiece. The family selling them had written an extra pair, so they gave him a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

It wasn’t technologically complex, but it looked realistic.

“Shouldn’t good things be unique?” Zhang Ningzhi’s message instantly popped up, accompanied by a confused emoji. “Why are there two?”

“Your thinking is a bit narrow. Whose good items only come in a single set?”

Zhang Ningzhi: “(Cute) Okay, thank you.”

“No problem. Go to sleep. Remember to bring me a drink tomorrow.” Jiang Nian sent a Minion emoji.

Zhang Ningzhi: “(Mhm mhm).”

After ending the chat, Jiang Nian let out a long breath.

Just as he put down his phone, Lin Dong sent him a long string of messages.

“Wu Jungu and Yu Zhiyi broke up.”

Jiang Nian was a bit sleepy. He rolled over and replied with drooping eyelids.

“Doesn’t that work out perfectly for you?”

Lin Dong: “Don’t talk nonsense, I’m not that kind of person. Besides, Yu Zhiyi broke up, so she’s single now! Do you know what this means?”

Jiang Nian didn’t open his eyes at all, only catching a glimpse of the last message which had a question mark.

So he pressed something, but he was too sleepy and only typed an abbreviation. The word “Shenme” (what) was a muscle memory word in chat software.

Jiang Nian was overly confident in his touch-typing skills, so he hit Enter immediately.

“.”

On the other side, Lin Dong froze for a full minute.

“?????”

“No, Brother Nian, something’s wrong with you!”

However, Jiang Nian didn’t reply.

He had fallen asleep.

Before morning reading, Yu Tongjie, who arrived forty minutes early, put down his school bag.

Seeing the nearly empty classroom, he immediately felt invigorated.

Today, he had won again.

In two more days, the Joint Exam would begin.

He felt that he had truly lived up to the word “effort” during this period. While others were fooling around, he was studying. While others were sleeping, he was also studying.

So, could six hundred points be far away?

Switching groups required meeting one condition: scoring over six hundred points in the major examination. The transfer must be voluntarily coordinated by the involved parties and must not disrupt the gender balance within the group.

The male-to-female ratio in Class Three’s groups had always been two-to-one. Under such harsh conditions, this meant that changing groups was nearly impossible.

Yu Tongjie was full of confidence regarding this; he only cared about the score.

The secondary condition was not a problem for him at all. He had specifically inquired about the preferences of the four boys in Li Qingrong’s group.

One of the boys came from a relatively poor family and loved playing basketball.

If he gave him a pair of sneakers worth over a thousand yuan, under the guise of friendship, could the other boy refuse? Sneakers that he could afford but wouldn’t specifically go out to buy.

All he needed to do was switch groups, and he could have them immediately.

Sitting in his seat, Yu Tongjie revealed a determined smile.

He usually liked to accumulate good phrases and sentences in his notebook, partly for writing essays, and partly to motivate himself, unafraid of the long journey ahead.

Picking up his pen, he was filled with heroic spirit and wrote in his notebook:

【When a person strains on their tiptoes to reach the sun, the whole world cannot block their light.】

The only drawback was that his astonishing perseverance had no audience.

He had been busy studying recently and hadn’t made many friends. However, the atmosphere in this class was indeed poor; it was full of either “Nantong” or strange people.

After working on problems for a while, Yu Tongjie got up to fetch hot water.

At the end of October, the temperature dropped in the South.

He carried his cup down the corridor toward the classroom. A gust of wind blew past, causing him to tighten his jacket and sigh at the increasing temperature difference between morning and evening.

Turning his head, he saw Li Qingrong coming up the stairs, holding a cell phone.

“Huh?” Yu Tongjie was stunned.

In his memory, Li Qingrong rarely brought a phone to school. Maybe he remembered incorrectly? Or perhaps today wasn’t an ordinary day—School Anniversary, or…

He thought it over and decided it was his own mistake.

Sigh, he had studied too hard; his memory was getting messed up.

Maybe Li Qingrong always had her phone with her but just didn’t use it in the classroom. Why was he making such a fuss?

Shaking his head, Yu Tongjie slowly entered the classroom.

His gaze subconsciously sought out Li Qingrong. He glanced over and saw her sitting in her seat, just like before, seriously playing on her phone.

Huh???

Playing on her phone?

Yu Tongjie’s eyes instantly widened. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

Was this his problem?

Li Qingrong never played on her phone in the classroom. Was she… busy? Today was Wednesday; the last class at noon was Physical Education. There was nothing else going on.

He couldn’t help but feel curious, so as he walked past the aisle, he deliberately glanced back.

Was she using her phone to study? Recently, some people had bought online courses, squeezing in time after evening study hall to catch up on weak subjects, or watching online courses early in the morning in class.

Taking a closer look, it seemed to be the QQ chat interface.

Who was she chatting with so early in the morning?

“She sent a message so early in the morning; why does it look like she’s in the classroom?” Jiang Nian muttered to himself, passing the third floor and slowly walking up the stairs to the fourth floor.

Influenced by Xu Qianqian, Jiang Nian had also adopted the early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine of a senior high student.

There was hardly anyone on his way, and the corridor was empty upstairs too. He slowly walked toward the classroom, the Talisman he prepared for Zhang Ningzhi tucked into his pocket.

After entering the door, he indeed saw Li Qingrong.

There weren’t many people in the classroom, maybe seven or eight. She was sitting in her seat, openly holding up her phone and playing.

Jiang Nian broke out in a cold sweat. Wait, you—

Although Old Liu was indeed old and useless, and it was okay to occasionally take advantage of his weakness, the Class Monitor shouldn’t be this brazen, right?

Jiang Nian walked to his seat and casually said,

“Class Monitor, why are you playing on your phone in the classroom? Hand it over.”

Before he could put down his bag, a phone appeared in his sight. The screen was off. Judging by the model, it was the latest iPhone—the kind that definitely wouldn’t lag when playing Honor of Kings.

Holy crap, he had never used an iPhone in his life.

Wait, that wasn’t the point.

“Huh? Class Monitor, I was joking.” Jiang Nian felt awkward, extending his index finger to push Li Qingrong’s phone back. “Keep playing.”

Who would dare confiscate your phone? You’d give your buddy the cold shoulder later.

“Mhm.” Li Qingrong lowered her gaze.

Jiang Nian turned around and took the water bottle out of his school bag.

He generally didn’t take homework home; carrying a school bag was purely out of habit, and secondarily for convenience. Just as he was about to tidy the test papers on his desk, his back was poked.

He subconsciously turned around and looked at Li Qingrong in the seat behind him.

“Class Monitor, what’s wrong?”

Li Qingrong thought for a moment and pointed at the phone.

“Reply to the message.”

“Huh?” Jiang Nian looked bewildered, pulling his phone out of his pocket and glancing at it.

Li Qingrong had indeed sent him a message, but…

【Morning.】

Jiang Nian opened his mouth and looked again at Li Qingrong, who was right in front of him. He suddenly felt like he couldn’t understand the world anymore. Had the third year of high school driven everyone insane like this?

The last time he was speechless was the last time.

The Class Monitor’s antics were even more abstract than that rebellious kid Li Hua.

Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Li Qingrong just looked at him with a confused expression. Her curious eyes seemed to be asking, Did you see it? Aren’t you going to reply?

“Class Mo— never mind.” Jiang Nian lowered his head and replied with a 【Morning】.

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Ningzhi arrived. She carefully took a quaintly styled needlework pouch from Jiang Nian’s hand; the Talisman was inside.

Tensely, she whispered,

“Can I open it and look?”

“This, well. Generally, it’s not recommended,” Jiang Nian said. “But if you want to see it, open it for a quick look, and then close the pouch tightly immediately.”

“Oh.”

Zhang Ningzhi pursed her lips and carefully opened a corner. Upon seeing the Yellow Talisman dyed with Cinnabar, she instantly let out a gasp and quickly clutched the pouch tightly.

As if, the next second, this five-yuan trinket would leak Spiritual Qi.

Jiang Nian chuckled, turning his head to see the Class Monitor curiously watching the pouch.