Chapter 165: The Hot Breath Amidst the Bell Ringing

Ring, ring, ring, the first Evening Self-Study ended.

Li Hua stood up impatiently, wanting to see where the grade sheet had been passed. He didn’t want to hog it; he just wanted to take it to the office, make a few copies, and save them to look at slowly.

So anxious, anxious enough to spiral into the heavens.

He wished he could hug the first-hand copy of the grade sheet, kiss it a few times, and spend three entire Evening Self-Studys intensely scrutinizing it. Doing nothing else but looking at everyone’s scores one by one.

Holy cow, just thinking about it was exhilarating.

Li Hua, having held it in for too long, shouted.

“Who has the registration form?”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian looked at the restless Li Hua with a pair of dead fish eyes. He really wanted to steal his science scores, even if Li Hua got a perfect score in English, it wouldn’t matter.

“Hua, I will quietly spy on you forever.”

In the Science Class, having mediocre math and physics scores was truly painful. It felt like an inability to perform, leaving him only to shrink into a damp, dark corner and intensely spy on Li Hua.

“So what?” Li Hua briefly mocked Jiang Nian’s catchphrase about pretending to be dead, saying with a crooked mouth, “Kid, can hatred make you strong?”

Jiang Nian propped his head up with his hand, yawned, and looked indifferent.

“If I spit on the English test paper, I still get seventy points.”

“Holy crap, you bastard.” Li Hua almost choked. He remembered Xi Bao had told him to score ninety points. “Damn it, I’m not playing with you anymore.”

“Hahaha.” Jiang Nian grinned.

Li Hua never learned his lesson and loved to show off every time. He’d cry out when his weak spot was hit, the kind of foolish child who would still drool even after being cured.

After Li Hua left, Zhang Ningzhi got up, seemingly preparing to go out. So Jiang Nian scooted forward, chair and all, to make room for her.

Suddenly, he felt no movement behind him and turned around in confusion.

“Aren’t you going out?”

Zhang Ningzhi seemed to be thinking. The next second, her small face tightened, and she said seriously.

“Beibei asked you to step outside.”

“Huh?” Jiang Nian was stunned.

Got it, you have a friend named Huang Beibei, right?

That tone sounded exactly like someone asking another person out for a duel.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a duel, but if it could be a duel with Zhizhi, the possibilities would be much wider. After all, it’s all for promoting reproduction. Wait, no, it’s all for promoting academic progress.

Jiang Nian didn’t know why Zhang Ningzhi was speaking in code, but he reacted within a second.

“Alright, I’ll go out first then.”

“Okay.” Zhang Ningzhi nodded and said solemnly, “Hurry up, Beibei said so.”

Actually, I have a substitute son named Li Hua who wants to say ‘message received.’

Jiang Nian walked out, thinking, Who are they trying to hide this from? They needed to use code within the same group; it must just be about discussing something outside the classroom.

Inside the group, everything was normal, except for Zeng You occasionally looking at a novel, his mouth curling up in a silly smile, and Wu Jungu studying desperately like the male lead in a painful youth literature novel.

That jerk Li Hua had already left, and Fangfang was silently working on problems. Zhizhi was the first to be excluded, so who did they need to hide it from? Me?

Unable to figure it out, he waited by the door for a while, then turned and saw Zhang Ningzhi come out. Just as he was about to go up and greet her, he noticed Zhang Ningzhi walking toward the end of the corridor.

Jiang Nian froze for a moment, then immediately followed.

The break during the Evening Self-Study was only ten minutes, and honestly, it wasn’t enough time. A third of it was already wasted, and he really wanted to hear what Zhi Bao wanted to say.

Could it be…

No need to say it, they were by the water dispenser in the corridor.

Zhang Ningzhi stood there for a moment, looked back at him, and then continued walking up the stairs.

Above was the Fifth Floor, where no one knew their Liberal Arts Class. Sometimes, there was no need to go somewhere deserted; finding a place where no one knew either of them was just as good.

In the Fifth Floor corridor, the two stood side by side. Half of the ten-minute break had already passed.

“Huang Beibei, what is it?”

Zhang Ningzhi choked on her words, her face flushing red.

“I’m not.”

Jiang Nian didn’t say anything like, 【”Since you called me out, you can say what you wanted to now, right?”】. That was too boring, so he changed his approach.

“You want to talk about that thing, right?”

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi was startled and blinked her eyes.

“Which thing?”

Did your mother agree to our marriage?

“So, are you going to cut off my supply of drinks?” Jiang Nian asked with deep distress. “I really need that, I’m willing to do anything.”

“It’s not because of that!” Zhang Ningzhi retorted, her face feeling hot.

Maybe she could take this opportunity to threaten him—no, no, she couldn’t do that! It was all his fault for saying weird things all the time; she was becoming strange herself.

“Oh, oh, tell me.” Jiang Nian became serious.

“You don’t need to be so serious, it’s just… I have something I want to say to you.” Zhang Ningzhi instinctively bit her lower lip, her face already starting to burn.

Jiang Nian patted his pocket. Damn it, he didn’t bring his ID card.

“Go ahead and speak.”

Although Zhang Ningzhi didn’t know why he suddenly looked dejected, she was highly nervous and could only follow the draft she had prepared beforehand.

“This exam was quite difficult. For the third year of high school review, it’s inherently like rowing upstream. If you don’t pay attention to other subjects, your scores will slowly drop.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Nian suddenly realized she was analyzing the exam results. “I didn’t pay too much attention to Chinese; scoring over a hundred points is already quite high.”

“If your composition hadn’t gone off-topic, you would be at six hundred points right now.” Zhang Ningzhi showed an expression that said, You’re so amazing. “You’ve improved so much.”

“What about you?”

“Me?” Zhang Ningzhi thought for a moment, hesitated, then looked up and said cautiously, “Did I score too high? I didn’t expect it, and I don’t want to be demoted to a lower class.”

“I was super nervous during the exam, and then…”

He nodded. “Teacher Zhizhi, is this your Secret Manual?”

“What? I’m not. Don’t use such a strange title.” Zhang Ningzhi’s face turned completely red, and the draft she had prepared was thrown into disarray by the four words “Teacher Zhizhi.”

She wished she could cover her face with both hands, but her shyness still overflowed through the gaps between her fingers.

Hmm? Why does this feel strange?

Never mind.

Jiang Nian nodded and said a meaningless, “Sure.”

That single sentence threw the pressure back onto her.

“If I really have to say it, the math this time was actually quite simple.” Zhang Ningzhi said something fitting her score, but before she could finish, the class bell rang.

Ring, ring, ring!!!

“I think next time, as long as I review properly and don’t neglect any subject!” Zhang Ningzhi stood on her tiptoes in the crowded Fifth Floor corridor and leaned close to him.

The scent on her body was a warm floral fragrance evaporated by her body heat, noticeable only when close.

Amidst the jarring bell, the stairwell was surging with people returning to their classrooms. A little further away from them was the brightly lit Liberal Arts Class corridor.

The girl’s breath was practically against his outer ear, hot and rapid.

“Next time, I definitely can score even higher!”

Back in the classroom, Jiang Nian glanced at his deskmate.

Zhang Ningzhi was buried in her work, writing problems, her face practically touching the desk. The stack of books completely obscured her face, revealing only a slightly red ear.

To be precise, only the shape of the outer ear slightly above the earlobe was visible.

Jiang Nian wasn’t embarrassed; rather, Zhang Ningzhi had embarrassed herself. After descending the Fifth Floor against the flow of people and returning to the classroom, she had maintained this posture the entire time.

Hmm. Where exactly did I put my ID card?

“Tsk tsk tsk!! Tao Ran got 137 in Chinese.” Li Hua held a copy of the grade registration form, whose warmth hadn’t faded, shaking his head and sighing with emotion.

“Nian, do you think a person can actually achieve a score like this? Could his ancestor really be Tao Yuanming?”

Jiang Nian glanced at him. This guy. He’s at it again.

The rest of the three Evening Self-Studys were predictable. First, he would look at the students with the highest scores in each subject and evaluate them one by one.

Then, he would look at his own scores and compare them.

Then, he would look at Brother B’s scores.

“Dong Wensong isn’t doing great either, 102 in English, yet he usually shouts so loudly about it.” Li Hua sharply commented, “Anyone who didn’t know would think we had a Little Xiba exchange student in class.”

“With that authentic accent, he must have gotten beaten up on the streets of Gwangju for three years.”

“Hey, Nian, wait a minute.” Li Hua patted Jiang Nian and pulled him closer. “Look at that idiot, how did he get 125 in English?”

Jiang Nian took a look. Squirtle’s English score was indeed a bit unusual. But glancing at the total score, 545, the overall result didn’t seem that strange.

Looking closely, 95 in Chinese—definitely bombed it.

Comprehensive Science Biology was only 60, Chemistry 85, Physics 55. That was even stranger. Chemistry was over eighty, but what kind of score was that for Physics?

“It is quite strange. Did he put all his time into Chemistry?” Jiang Nian asked.

Li Hua shook his head. “I’ll look again.”

On the other side.

In the third large group, Sun Zhicheng turned his head for the nth time.

“Seriously, why hasn’t it been passed over yet?”

His back deskmate glanced at him. “The grade registration form is with Yang Qiming. If you’re anxious, you can go get it directly.”

Sun Zhicheng: “…”

Huang Cailang’s test scores were mediocre, so he didn’t want to look at the grade sheet.

His deskmate Yang Qiming scored well and was savoring the original grade registration form. First, he looked at his own scores, then his former brother Lin Dong’s scores.

First, he felt wistful and missed the past.

Then he carefully looked at the scores of his other roommates, and at the people in the class he didn’t get along with. Specifically, Brother B Dong Wensong. Seeing that he had scored poorly,

Yang Qiming was suddenly overcome with an unexpected rush of ecstasy, feeling completely comfortable, as if reading a satisfying novel.

“Cailang, I calculated it. If I added back all the points I shouldn’t have lost… I could rank… Holy crap, I’d jump straight into the top five in the class.”

Sun Zhicheng waited for half a class period and finally got the grade registration form. Before he could look at it twice, he looked up and saw someone from the neighboring group casting their gaze over.

Although nothing was said, the meaning was self-evident.

Seeing this, Sun Zhicheng frowned.

He lowered his head and looked at the grade sheet he had finally obtained. Someone would definitely come to rush him in a few minutes. How could he hand it over when he hadn’t properly enjoyed it yet?

Gritting his teeth and hardening his resolve, he stood up and took the grade sheet to the restroom.

The second Evening Self-Study ended.

Li Hua the Detective Conan was still analyzing Squirtle’s scores, having dug out Yu Tongjie’s scores from when he moved up classes and his previous weekly tests, and copied them all down with a pen.

It was clear that Li Hua was genuinely bored and genuinely disliked Squirtle.

He was waiting to hear Li Hua’s analysis results. Just as he was about to lie down for a nap, someone shouted from the doorway.

“Jiang Nian, someone is looking for you.”