Chapter 295 Who gave you permission to start a fire by rubbing sticks together in the classroom?

Jiang Nian felt like he had eaten mushrooms, with a line of little people running across his vision.

Are they already dating?

No, they aren’t.

But the class monitor’s tone was very misleading. Fortunately, he had a clear conscience, and their relationship was pure. What if he hadn’t had a clear conscience?

Or next time, he could just call the class monitor ‘baby’.

How would she react then?

After all, Li Qingrong responded with the words “anything is fine,” which meant he had at least one right to call her whatever he wanted in private.

Speechless, typical male thinking.

It’s just a matter of address, is it necessary to make a big deal out of it?

Jiang Nian thought, yes, it was.

Actually, he could feel that both of them cared about how they addressed each other. This involved a question of relationship boundaries, almost like a test of conscience.

Are they mere acquaintances, or more than friends?

Now it seemed, at least a little beyond the realm of good friends.

As for how much beyond, Jiang Nian wasn’t sure. But it was a good thing overall; there wouldn’t be a situation where ‘I’m not my good friend’s good friend’.

That kind of thing is truly meaningless.

Of course, Jiang Nian certainly didn’t have such a dark history. He didn’t break down either, it was just that a good friend of his had experienced a friendship awkwardness in his first year of high school.

After that, he turned around and started hanging out with people who were more popular.

Evening self-study.

Jiang Nian’s gaze occasionally darted towards the first row of the classroom. He still couldn’t figure out why the class monitor had suddenly pulled him aside that afternoon. Perhaps it was because of awkwardness?

After he calmed down and pondered it back and forth, he only confirmed one thing.

His friendship Rank with the class monitor might already be on par with Cai Xiaoqing and them.

At least higher than Nie Qiqi; she’s an idiot. But this result still needed verification, he’d try again when there was a chance.

As soon as he came back to his senses, he looked up and saw several snowflake-like test papers being passed down from the front row, and his expression immediately changed.

“Didn’t we get test papers yesterday?”

Li Hua grinned, “Didn’t you eat yesterday too?”

“Can that be the same?”

“Because the Acquired-of-Age Ceremony is the day after tomorrow, this week’s test papers were distributed early,” Huang Fang turned around and explained patiently, looking serious.

“Oh, I see.” Jiang Nian nodded.

That’s why Fangfang is always reliable.

What kind of deoxyribose is Li Hua?

Jiang Nian sighed inwardly, thinking that these two days would be spent on test papers. What kind of specialized training could he do then? There was no time for private work.

There was one ruthless person in the class who didn’t follow the teacher’s pace and studied completely on his own.

However, his grades seemed average, and improving them was very difficult.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nian couldn’t help but hesitate. Would the goal of raising his score by twenty points and violently breaking the 610-point floor be too high?

Let’s aim for 601 points instead.

Hmm? Why isn’t 601 points considered above 600 points?

All things considered, he only needed to perform normally and improve by ten points. With a week and a half left, he could definitely plan it out.

Zhang Ningzhi was a bit sleepy and had been forcing herself to stay awake.

She had said in the morning that she wouldn’t talk to Jiang Nian, and indeed, she hadn’t spoken to him from noon until the afternoon. She had been sulking and hadn’t slept well at noon.

She was already a bit tired in the afternoon, but she stubbornly stayed awake because she was angry.

Between classes and test papers during the day, time flew by, and she didn’t feel tired. But as soon as evening self-study began, Zhang Ningzhi felt something was wrong.

Her eyelids were so heavy, she was so sleepy.

She really wanted to sleep.

But it was still evening self-study.

“Fishing here?”

A familiar voice startled her.

Zhang Ningzhi suddenly snapped back to reality, turned her head, and saw that the speaker was Jiang Nian. She quickly turned her head back, her voice muffled.

“You’re the one fishing.”

“If you’re tired, sleep for a bit, don’t force yourself.” Jiang Nian found it a bit amusing, “I’ve been watching you for two minutes, nodding like you’re fishing.”

“I’m not tired,” Zhang Ningzhi said stubbornly.

Jiang Nian looked around; no one in the class could see this corner. So he wrote a small note, rolled it up, and tucked it onto Zhang Ningzhi’s desk.

Zhang Ningzhi’s expression shifted, and she pursed her lips as she pulled the note over.

She opened it and saw just three words.

Sulking Branch.

Zhang Ningzhi’s cheeks instantly puffed out, and she became even angrier.

She hadn’t been angry for a long time, she was just occasionally sulking, it wasn’t like she was ignoring him. On the contrary, Jiang Nian was stranger in the afternoon, a bit distracted.

“No.”

“Alright, but do you want to sleep for a bit?” Jiang Nian asked.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi hesitated a little.

To be honest, she was indeed very sleepy right now and was tempted by Jiang Nian’s suggestion. But she was timid, a bit worried about getting caught, and wouldn’t sleep soundly.

“What if the teacher comes?”

Jiang Nian lowered his voice, “I’ll watch out for you.”

He didn’t know why Zhang Ningzhi was in a bad mood; perhaps it had nothing to do with him at all. Or perhaps it was her period. In any case, he’d try to coax her first.

After all, it was Zhizhi.

Zhang Ningzhi was indeed struggling to stay awake. She glanced around, then quietly turned her head and whispered.

“Oh, then remember to wake me up.”

“Okay.”

After some rustling, Zhang Ningzhi gently lay her head on the desk, preparing to sleep. Her head was facing Jiang Nian’s direction, and before closing her eyes, she saw him still working on problems.

Her eyelids were so heavy, as if filled with lead.

After a while, Li Hua, who was sitting on the outermost side, stopped what he was doing. He turned to look at Jiang Nian, and the sleeping Zhang Ningzhi next to him.

“Did you two have a fight today?”

Jiang Nian looked bewildered, “My son, what makes you say that?”

“red stone, red stone!! You always take advantage of me!” Li Hua, after his anger, regained his composure, “No conflict? I saw you two didn’t talk all day.”

“We were busy, what the hell is there to talk about?” Jiang Nian brushed him off.

However, the speaker had no intention, but the listener did. He was indeed a little obsessed today. But he quickly forgave himself; it was all because the class monitor was too beautiful.

The class monitor was worth a hundred Zhou Yuting. Anyone would be obsessed for a while.

He couldn’t imagine if the class monitor asked him if he wanted to date, how many seconds he would hesitate.

As a normal young man from Chu Nan, it was normal to be a little obsessed; only eunuchs could remain calm.

“Hmph.” Li Hua was too lazy to bother with him and continued to rub sticks together to make fire.

Hm, huh?

Jiang Nian suddenly turned to look at Li Hua’s desk, almost thinking he was seeing things.

“Damn it, what are you doing?”

Li Hua was holding something that resembled a cross, but upon closer inspection, it was two disposable chopsticks. White thread was wrapped around the middle, and it had both a bow drill and a spindle.

Holy crap, a fire-starting tool!

“Can’t you tell? Rubbing sticks together to make fire.” Li Hua said with disdain, pulling a small wad of cotton from his padded jacket pocket, “So provincial, a bumpkin.”

“Huh?” Jiang Nian was dumbfounded.

He thought for a moment and quickly joined the group observing Li Hua trying to make fire. Ma Guojun at the end of the aisle had already stopped writing, and Wu Jun Gu in the front row occasionally looked back.

Under everyone’s expectant gaze, the bow drill started to spin.

“Can it light?” Ma Guojun asked.

“Hard to say.” Jiang Nian shook his head.

Li Hua focused intently, pulling the bow drill, and the sharpened disposable chopstick spun rapidly.

“Don’t doubt, just believe, we’ll win.”

The three of them stared for a few minutes, but didn’t even see any smoke. They all ‘tsk’ed and turned their heads back to whatever they were doing.

“Hua, you’re all show and no go.”

“Don’t mind him, he’s utterly useless.”

“Sigh.”

Li Hua listened to the mockery from those around him, his old face almost turning red with embarrassment. He thought, ‘Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. A bunch of dogs looking down on people.’

He had to make fire to show them up.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth, and the movements of his Qilin arm sped up.

Outside the corridor, Old Liu took a break from Class Two to get some fresh air.

He played on his phone for a while, saw the arrangements for the Acquired-of-Age Ceremony in the work group, and then listened carefully for a bit. Seeing no sound from the next classroom, he nodded.

Those rascals, at least they were disciplined.

In reality, it was not so.

Old Liu did the opposite; an ordinary class teacher would be relieved and smile at such a time. But he was an old teacher and knew how cunning students could be.

It was too quiet, which meant someone was up to something.

He went down to the third floor via the other side of the stairs, circled around, and appeared at the back door of the classroom. As per the grade group leaders’ request, the back doors of each class were not allowed to be closed.

Old Liu gently pushed, and a gap appeared in the back door.

He peered in and saw Zhang Ningzhi sleeping on her desk, and couldn’t help but frown. He thought, ‘It’s only the first period of evening self-study, and she’s already asleep?’

Just as Old Liu was about to have someone wake her up, he suddenly met Jiang Nian’s gaze.

Never mind, she’s probably tired from studying.

Old Liu usually advocated for grades and was always lenient with good students. Of course, there weren’t many students with really bad grades in this class, but their treatment varied.

He continued to push the door open and quietly walked in.

Suddenly, a smell of burning wafted over.

“Haha! I did it! I did it!” Li Hua stood up directly from his seat in the last row, excitedly saying, “Speak, haters!”

“Jiang Nian, why the hell aren’t you talking…”

Li Hua turned his head and found himself staring wide-eyed at Old Liu, who stood like a statue by the back door. As he turned, he revealed the smoking tools on his desk.

Even with Old Liu’s rich teaching experience, having taught several batches of third-year high school students,

At this moment, he couldn’t help but freeze in place.

“Li Hua! What are you doing?!” Old Liu couldn’t hold back either, slapping him on the back, “Who told you to rub sticks together to make fire in the classroom?!”

“What are you standing there for! Put out the fire!”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi instantly woke up and was startled to see the class teacher.

Everyone in the class also turned to look back.

No other reason, it was simply too explosive.

What kind of niche term is making fire by rubbing sticks together in class?

The class instantly burst into laughter, and some boys who were closer directly stood up to watch.

“Holy crap, awesome!”

“No, really, I thought something was burning.”

“Damn, real tools!”

Amidst the chatter, Li Hua, looking embarrassed, used his finger to extinguish the smoking sparks.

“Teacher, I was just curious…”

“Curious about what? Come to the office and tell me all about it.” Old Liu couldn’t hold back, dragging him out, “Bring your tools, let’s go.”

Jiang Nian, gloating, added a remark.

“A little inventor, huh?”

Another burst of laughter erupted around them.

Amidst this laughter, Jiang Nian turned his head, his gaze inexplicably piercing through the classroom, subconsciously looking towards the podium.

Li Qingrong was also looking at him, her gaze like a clear spring.

Their eyes met for an instant, then quickly broke apart.

Not feeling well due to a cold, I slept from afternoon until evening, waking up at nine. I can only make up the update tomorrow morning.

Three updates tomorrow.