Chapter 291 It’s not about what you want, but what I have.

“Where should we eat?”

“That fried noodles place on North Gate Back Street, the five-yuan one.”

“Then let’s go quickly, it’ll get crowded soon.”

“Wait, are you bringing homework back to the dorm?”

The stairs after school were packed, the sound was noisy, mostly talk about late-night snacks and laughter.

“Hey, don’t push me,” Xu Qianqian complained, walking on the inner side of the stairs. “I’m almost pressed into the wall, if you push harder I’ll be flat.”

“You’re not round to begin with,” Jiang Nian said, but still made some space for her. “Did your teacher say we don’t have morning self-study on Saturday?”

“Mm, something about an adulthood ceremony,” Xu Qianqian pursed her lips.

There were too many people on the stairs, she didn’t want to talk much. She waited until they had completely descended the stairs and dispersed from the crowd before letting out a long sigh.

The cool night wind blew, dispelling all stuffiness.

Jiang Nian knew very well that both sets of parents wouldn’t attend the adulthood ceremony. One side was due to laziness; Uncle Xu’s reasons were more complex.

“So what time are you going to class on Saturday?”

“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Xu Qianqian hesitated for a moment, walking as she spoke. “If someone opens the door, then it’ll be the same as usual.”

Jiang Nian just asked casually; he still had some test papers to write when he got back.

He couldn’t take it anymore; five or six test papers in one night. No matter how he wrote them, he had to take extra time from sleeping to catch up, so he could only write a little more before bed at night.

The two passed a late-night snack stall emitting white steam and stopped in unison.

Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian exchanged glances, then she suddenly held out her hand.

“Rock, paper, scissors.”

She won and happily started ordering.

“Boss, four fish balls, two radishes, what’s this? Never mind, I’ll take a bit of that too. And that green vegetable, a bunch.”

“Can you finish it?” Jiang Nian stood behind her.

Zhennan Long Street stretched far, the night silent.

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian couldn’t help but turn her head and say,

“Don’t you have me?”

Before Jiang Nian could feel touched, the next sentence came.

“Pay the bill.”

“Seriously, Xu Qianqian,” Jiang Nian was speechless, scanning the QR code to pay.

“Are you having morning sickness? Then you definitely can’t eat fish balls,” Xu Qianqian placed her bag aside, her eyes curving into crescent moons as she smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to make do.”

Jiang Nian came over after paying, then ordered some more food. He held two pairs of disposable chopsticks and a small dish of cilantro.

Both of them were easy to feed, with no dietary restrictions.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Nian pulled out a math test paper.

Xu Qianqian immediately reacted, “Jiang Nian, that’s enough, you’re just trying to disgust people, aren’t you?”

Jiang Nian indeed wanted to annoy Xu Qianqian; after all, even a top student isn’t truly endlessly passionate about studying. Everyone’s human; sometimes they want to rest.

This is the weakness of human nature.

He forgot who wrote it, something like’several’.

“First, it’s Xu Qianqian, who committed the sin of envy. You can’t stand to see me improve, can you?” Jiang Nian suddenly became bashful, looking at her as he spoke.

“Could it be that you actually have *those* kinds of thoughts about me, and you’re afraid I’ll suddenly get smart and be harder for you to trick?”

Xu Qianqian’s words instantly caught in her throat, thoroughly stunned.

“How long have you been having this delusion?”

“Since middle school, I always felt you had ulterior motives for me.”

“I like watching idiots sing and dance. If I just pretend to listen intently, he’ll be encouraged and make even more jokes.”

Just then, the boss brought over the spicy hotpot.

“Xu Qianqian, your mouth is really venomous,” Jiang Nian pulled out a chair, making some room on the table.

“Hmph, likewise,” Xu Qianqian snapped open her disposable chopsticks and added, “However, I still hope you become a bit smarter.”

This was Xu Qianqian’s true thought; only truly idiotic people would be led around by a gold-digger like Zhou Yuting, and she couldn’t trick an idiot herself.

If Jiang Nian had been a bit smarter back then, he should have been reeled in by her.

Although both were ‘reeling in’, she would at least reel him into a first-tier university. So what could Zhou Yuting bring him? A special enrollment or a third-tier university?

Xu Qianqian remembered a couple in Class 4 where the girl used her grades to manipulate the boy. For every certain number of ranks he climbed, he could get kisses, foot play, and so on.

It was a bit disgusting, but she felt that if she were to do it, it wouldn’t be so disgusting.

She was being hypocritical, so what?

Jiang Nian didn’t respond, looking at the test paper under the scattered light.

He put on an appearance of forgetting food and sleep, then casually used his chopsticks to spear a fish ball. He blindly speared it accurately, bringing the fish ball straight to his mouth.

Suddenly, he heard Xu Qianqian say,

“How are things with you and that Zhou girl?”

“Cough cough, don’t talk about such nonsense,” Jiang Nian almost choked on the fish ball. After finally swallowing it, he said, “What kind of bullsh*t am I having?”

“Isn’t she in the same class as you? No rekindling of old flames?”

“If you can’t use words properly, don’t speak, okay? Your learning is all over the place,” Jiang Nian was a bit flustered but couldn’t show it. “Are you trying to chase me down with my dark history?”

“History, isn’t it always written by the victors?” Xu Qianqian lowered her head to eat her late-night snack, her tone casual. “So, will Zhou Yuting be the victor?”

“Absolutely not. Xu Qianqian, are you not over it?” Jiang Nian didn’t want to continue discussing meaningless topics.

“Are you flustered?” Xu Qianqian raised an eyebrow, glancing at him.

As the ancients said, within five steps, there must be an antidote.

Jiang Nian was indeed a bit flustered; any normal person would get flustered when their dark history was brought up. After all, not everyone is Emperor Zhaolie of Han; he just wants a little Face.

Not Chongqing noodles.

“I’m not flustered, I just feel like a black pot has fallen on me from the sky. This is clearly unreasonable; a good horse doesn’t eat old grass, and besides, I didn’t even get to eat it.”

“Didn’t get to eat it? So, you really wanted to eat it back then, huh?”

He really did want a bite back then, after all, Zhou Yuting’s ‘grass’ was quite tender.

However, during that summer vacation, he had already lost his rose-tinted glasses for Zhou Yuting. Even if the System hadn’t come later, he would have started working hard for a second-tier university.

“You’re just making baseless accusations; there’s no logic to it,” Jiang Nian didn’t bother to argue. “The innocent will prove themselves innocent. I’ve long lost any feelings for someone like her.”

“So that means you’ve found a new little Zhou Yuting now?” Xu Qianqian asked.

Jiang Nian fell silent, “What the hell am I looking for?”

“Your sexual orientation changed?”

Damn it, Jiang Nian really wanted to pick up Xu Qianqian.

How did her mouth get so venomous?

“Yes, yes, whatever you think it is, it is,” Jiang Nian gave up, burying his head in his late-night snack. “Anyway, the truth is, we’re at daggers drawn.”

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian’s lips curved slightly.

“Tsk.”

Jiang Nian felt a little uncomfortable now, but he still pretended to be calm, eating his late-night snack and looking at the test paper.

Ten minutes later.

After finishing their late-night snack, the two put on their backpacks and walked towards home.

Xu Qianqian glanced at him, “Why aren’t you talking? Want some quiet time?”

Jiang Nian shook his head, “No, not really. I’m calculating the scores for each subject, how much I need to get over 600 in this month’s six-city joint exam.”

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian remembered what Jiang Nian had said after the last joint exam: some people who like to save Face forcefully put pressure on themselves to get over 600 points.

“Oh, that. Well, you work hard.”

Jiang Nian almost broke down from her understated tone; everyone has their limits.

His limit was certainly not 590 points, but it was close. In the short term, it was highly likely that his scores would fluctuate within this range.

The so-called getting over 600 points wasn’t just scoring 601. It meant consistently scoring above 600, otherwise, it would still be self-deception in the end.

Reaching the alley entrance, Jiang Nian suddenly looked back at Xu Qianqian behind him.

“If I score 600, then what?”

“What ‘then what’?” Xu Qianqian looked bewildered.

“Aren’t we going to bet on something? Without a bet, I don’t have much motivation.” Jiang Nian actually wanted to erase his dark history, directly silencing the haters.

“But I don’t want anything.”

“You’re wrong, Xu Qianqian,” Jiang Nian suddenly leaned closer, his eyes staring down at her. “A bet isn’t about what you want, but what I have!”

“Ah, so what do you have to bet?”

“Good question. Let’s not do anything vulgar, let’s go for something fresh,” Jiang Nian thought for a moment. “I have a teddy bear on my bedside table, and you like dolls too.”

“Get lost, get lost, that bear on your bedside table is for propping up your feet!” Xu Qianqian said with a look of utter disdain.

After being ruthlessly exposed, Jiang Nian felt a little awkward.

“Then let’s talk about something vulgar. I’ll treat you and Song Xiyun to lunch and dinner for a week. If I lose, I’ll transfer the money directly. Five hundred yuan for lunch expenses should be enough, right?”

Xu Qianqian knew Jiang Nian had money, and five hundred yuan was quite suitable. It could both put pressure on Jiang Nian and secure some benefits for herself and Xiyun.

“Alright then, what should I give in return?”

“You have to promise me one condition.”

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian couldn’t help but take a step back, crossing her arms.

“What do you want to do?”

“That’s narrow-minded. Is that really my image in your eyes?” Jiang Nian was a bit speechless. “My point is, it would definitely be something you’d be willing to do.”

Xu Qianqian thought for a moment, then took another step back.

Jiang Nian: “????”

No, how did this conversation get more and more convoluted?

“Cough cough, I mean something you can easily do,” he added. “Something very normal, that doesn’t violate public order and good morals.”

Xu Qianqian hesitated for a while, then agreed for the sake of the lunch money.

“Alright then.”

Going upstairs, Jiang Nian was in a good mood.

First, get rid of the dark history, otherwise, being constantly subjected to Xu Qianqian’s Yin and Yang remarks wouldn’t do. This thing couldn’t be explained clearly, so it was better to solve it from the source.

Xu Qianqian glanced at him, not knowing why he was happy, so she spoke.

“When you think about seeing Zhou tomorrow—”

Before she could finish, Jiang Nian instantly pinched both sides of her cheeks.

“You’re not done, are you, Xu Qianqian!”

“Wuwu, let go!”

Jiang Nian even used a little force to rub them back and forth; Xu Qianqian’s Face was like dough. It felt quite soft when rubbed, he had thought it was as hard as her mouth.

“I’ve put up with you all the way!”

After breaking free, Xu Qianqian quickly changed her shoes and entered her home, glaring fiercely at Jiang Nian.

With a bang, the door slammed shut.

Jiang Nian looked indifferent, turned around, inserted his key into the lock, and went home to wash up.

“Serves you right.”

Around eleven at night.

Jiang Nian straightened his back from his desk in his room, having written most of the math test paper. He picked up his phone and glanced at the class group chat, finding 99+ messages.