Chapter 339 It’s Time to Forget Our Roots

In the pot, it was bubbling and steaming.

Green and white garlic sprouts were tossed in, and moderately thick, small yellow rice cakes were tightly packed together, making the soup a golden color.

“Is it ready?” Xu Qianqian poked her head in from outside the kitchen.

Her voice was gentle, completely unlike her usual self.

Xu Qianqian’s appearance interrupted Jiang Nian’s movement of reaching for his phone. He tossed his phone into his pocket and glanced at the cooking rice cakes.

“It’s ready.”

The vibrant green vegetable leaves tumbled in the pot.

The aroma, carried by the hot steam, instantly filled the back kitchen.

The soup, due to the rice cakes themselves, gradually became a thick, paste-like consistency. He sprinkled some chili powder, adjusted the seasoning, and then it was ready to serve.

After serving, the two sat opposite each other at the dining table.

The living room TV was playing idly, and the apartment’s soundproofing was excellent. Even if there was some noise at night, the neighbors most likely wouldn’t hear it.

“Thank you.” Xu Qianqian took the chopsticks, behaving very politely.

When a person is hungry, even their temper can change.

Jiang Nian didn’t have much of an appetite; he felt full after smelling the cooking in the kitchen. He held a small bowl and ate only a little before feeling satisfied.

“Is ‘thank you’ all you’re going to say?”

“Well, what else do you want?” Xu Qianqian took two bites, her taste buds greatly satisfied, and felt it was time to forget her manners.

“Say ‘Gege’ again, let me hear it.” Jiang Nian propped his head on his hand.

“Dream on, old man.” Xu Qianqian instantly forgot her manners.

In the living room, the lights were soft.

Lu Xuan stared at her phone, her brows furrowing involuntarily.

The other party’s delayed replies were not a one-time occurrence. Of course, the other party had no obligation, but she had put in effort.

No, how could he be so excessive!

A person shouldn’t, at the very least, not be so shameless! He had already seen all of her, and now he didn’t even bother to reply to a message.

Her brows were tightly furrowed as she paced the living room.

It wasn’t until her phone chimed that Lu Xuan suddenly turned around. She quickly walked to the table, swiped open her phone to check messages, wanting to see other people’s progress bars.

The last time she was this restless was when she stayed up all night searching for gossip about a couple from a reality dating show on Xiaohongshu.

Regardless of whether it was true or false, as long as it was good for dopamine, she would believe it first.

However, the message was from Sheng Zeyang.

“Did you ask?”

Lu Xuan glanced at it, thinking, ‘You’re a guy, and you’re still so gossipy.’ Just as she was about to turn off the screen, another message popped up from him.

“I have first-hand information, want it?”

Her finger paused in mid-air.

“What information?”

“I ran into him at KTV last night, and he seems to have a girlfriend,” Sheng Zeyang said. “She seems to keep a close eye on him, probably Li.”

“Impossible, I’ve seen her.” Lu Xuan immediately denied it. “It doesn’t seem like it, their relationship seems ordinary.”

“What if… they’re a secret couple?” Sheng Zeyang’s message popped up. “And, that Jiang Nian is also quite strange.”

Lu Xuan didn’t reply to the message. She didn’t care about what Sheng Zeyang said.

Believe first, then question.

Just before going to sleep, she finally received Jiang Nian’s reply.

A single question mark, which immediately broke her.

The next day.

Jiang Nian woke up, looking refreshed and invigorated.

He hadn’t done practice tests last night, and today was entirely dedicated to adjusting his state. He would do a small amount of practice to maintain his feel for it. Since the joint exam was tomorrow, he would basically be self-studying all day.

There were fifteen test papers in total for six subjects, and not a single one had been distributed. They were all held by the class representatives and would be given out after the exam this weekend.

Suddenly having free time left some people without a study plan feeling at a loss.

After getting stuck on a problem, Sun Zhicheng enthusiastically flipped through the “Science World” section at the bottom of his Physics Five-Three.

Lin Dong, on the other hand, was chatting on his phone while doing problems.

His persona was that of a depressed high schooler, with gambling parents and a sick sister. Since he had no sister, he boasted boldly.

And, his broken self.

“I’m in class, can’t answer the phone.”

“Try answering it, my boyfriend wants to see what your depression looks like. (Laugh-cry)”

Lin Dong: “(Smile) You motherf—.”

He casually deleted the person, took a deep breath, and moved on to the next person.

The morning passed.

Approaching dismissal, Jiang Nian finally looked up. He turned his head and glanced around; Li Hua was picking at pimples, and Zeng You was reading a novel.

He turned again and saw Zhang Ningzhi putting in eye drops.

He immediately found it novel, so he kept staring. This made her feel immense pressure, and she failed several times to get the drops in.

Zhang Ningzhi: “…Why are you looking at me?”

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, “I can help you with eye drops. You keep missing, and I, though unworthy, have a special skill.”

The precision of the groove, still pursuing.

It must be said, this skill was quite practical.

He felt he should be a doctor, not… forget it. The risk was too high; precision alone wasn’t enough without talent.

Zhang Ningzhi thought about it; giving him a chance wasn’t out of the question.

Mainly, her eyes were indeed a bit dry, and if he kept bothering her like this, there would be no point in putting them in after school.

She deliberated for a moment, then nodded.

“Okay, then… then hurry up. I… I’m a bit ticklish, and this posture is very strange.”

Sister, you’re talking strangely too.

There were so many people in the classroom.

Jiang Nian coughed once and took the eye drops from her hand.

This procedure actually had no technical content; just find the position, squeeze, and drop. A few people needed to hold their eyelids.

After all, the eyes have a self-protection mechanism and will instinctively close.

Zhang Ningzhi was already preparing to manually hold her eyelids open, but Jiang Nian stopped her. He gestured for her to just tilt her head back and not worry about anything else.

“Are you sure?”

“Believe first, then question. Tilt your head back.” Jiang Nian finished speaking, then quickly acted, cleanly and precisely dropping the medicine into her clear eyes.

Afterward, Zhang Ningzhi was stunned and suddenly discovered another function of Jiang Nian.

“So amazing.”

Noon.

Jiang Nian had just returned from the cafeteria, holding a test paper and standing in the corridor, enjoying the breeze.

It was a cloudy day, with thin mist shrouding Qingmu Ridge.

“What are you looking at?” Chen Yunyun walked over from a distance, asking curiously, “I saw you standing here from downstairs.”

Jiang Nian turned his head and answered quite honestly, “Seventy percent thinking about problems, forty percent thinking about lewd things.”

“Huh? Doesn’t that add up to one hundred and ten percent?” Chen Yunyun was confused.

He nodded, “That’s right. Why don’t you ask what the remaining eight hundred ninety percent is?”

“…What is it?”

“Lewd things,” Jiang Nian said truthfully.

Chen Yunyun: “…”

She didn’t refute Jiang Nian’s lewdness, even agreeing with it, after all, he was occasionally… quite perverted.

For example, if she were to pretend to lean against the railing because it was a bit hot, and then pull open her collar, a certain person would keep staring.

However, doing that would be entrapment and not a reliable reference.

“Where’s the other person?” Jiang Nian asked.

Chen Yunyun knew that the “other person” he referred to was Wang Yuhe, so she explained.

“She heard there was some gossip and went to ask around.”

“Why didn’t you go?” Jiang Nian asked.

“I don’t like listening to gossip, and I’m not interested in it,” Chen Yunyun said without blinking an eye.

In the past, gossip was her favorite thing to listen to.

It was just that preferences varied, and her mind was naturally not on gossip. She didn’t need gossip to pass the time, which was why she went upstairs.

The two chatted for a while, waiting for Wang Yuhe to appear from the stairwell.

After about a few minutes, Wang Yuhe ran upstairs, panting heavily as she crossed the corridor, stopping in front of them.

“Something… something big happened!”

“What is it?” Jiang Nian had already anticipated it in his heart, just waiting for the answer to emerge.

Wang Yuhe took a deep breath and said, “I heard that someone organized cheating in the last joint exam of the eighteen counties, and students even sold the answers.”

“Really?” Chen Yunyun seemed slightly surprised.

But it was only slight surprise, after all, Jiang Nian’s promotion exam was last month, and the three of them present had no connection to the previous joint exam.

“Yes, so many people were punished.” Wang Yuhe chattered on and on, beaming and speaking in a light, cheerful tone.

The news came out before the lunch break, and the disciplinary notices were posted on the wall outside the academic affairs office after the lunch break.

Jiang Nian took a look while using the restroom; officially, only a few students who led the selling of answers were given probation.

He looked around and saw Liu Feipeng’s name at the bottom. In addition to probation, he was also given two months of reflection at home.

Logically, Liu Feipeng didn’t lack the money. But he did sell answers, which only goes to show how truly complex and contradictory people are.

Afternoon.

The cheating incident in the joint exam spread like wildfire in the class.

As it spread, some baseless speculations about Zhou Yuting subtly emerged. But because her weekly test scores were quite stable, people gradually stopped talking about it.

“Help me put them in, everyone says you’re quite professional.” Yao Beibei said.

Jiang Nian was a bit speechless, completely unable to hold back.

“Who started that rumor?”

Due to his incredibly precise eye-drop technique that morning, Li Hua and a few others became very curious and all wanted to try it.

Originally, Jiang Nian had only been acting on the idea that he was idle anyway.

But somehow, several people came seeking him out. Huang Beibei was just one of them; most of the others were boys.

If it were normal times, they wouldn’t be so idle. But today was the day before a major exam, a rare day of leisure.

“What’s the big deal?” Jiang Nian was a bit speechless. “Can’t you put them in yourselves? Open your eyes and insert the eye drops.”

“Damn it, stop talking.” Yao Beibei thought of the scene and immediately felt her teeth ache. “Jiang Nian, you’re really disgusting.”

“Hey, scram, scram.” Jiang Nian was quite ungentlemanly.

“Hmph, fine if you won’t.” Yao Beibei pouted, “It’s not like I’m not doing it because you’re precise. I’ll figure it out myself.”

Jiang Nian was already used to Yao Beibei’s counter-accusations.

If it were someone else, she definitely wouldn’t talk like that. But with a good buddy, she would just keep exploiting their remaining value.

It was like being an expert in infighting.

“Ah, it’s truly red stone,” Li Hua complained. “The morning was so boring. Will the afternoon still be self-study?”

The entire morning was basically self-study.

In fact, since the first round of review began, today was almost the most leisurely day. Teachers didn’t lecture or hand out papers.

They just walked around the classroom, answering students’ questions.

Slacking off was impossible; the pressure of completing the first round of lessons was there. It could only be said that the teachers truly valued this six-city joint exam.

The three afternoon classes were Chinese, Chemistry, and Chemistry respectively.

As soon as Old Liu entered the classroom, he said with a slap, “Ah, you all review by yourselves this class. You can ask if you don’t understand anything. Also, I have a few things to say. The first thing is the exam room arrangement…” Old Liu rattled on, first talking about the exam room arrangements, then also mentioning the academic affairs office’s report on cheating.

“Ah, I’ll reiterate the issue of exam room discipline. If cheating is caught in the joint exam, you’ll go home for a month of reflection. Ah, there’s nothing more to say, just sent home.”

By the second chemistry class.

The chemistry teacher was older and also chatted about the gossip of exam cheating, sharing a few things the students didn’t know.

“I heard… it’s just a rumor, that the test papers have been changed this time. The difficulty of the paper is relatively high, so all students must read the questions carefully during the exam.”

“Ah?!”

The classroom erupted in wails, with only Li Hua showing a cold smile. The corners of his mouth slowly turned upward, gradually forming the shape of an inverted hook.

“Oh no, he’s going to show off.” Jiang Nian gasped, saying to Ma Guojun across the aisle, “Quick, tear his mouth apart!”

Li Hua laughed heartily, arrogantly saying,

“Three hundred points is only the limit of the paper, not my limit.”