Chapter 139: Buddies Are Birds of the Same Forest, But When Disaster Strikes, They Step on Each Other

Zhang Ningzhi peeked out, meeting Li Qingrong’s gaze exactly, feeling a little embarrassed.

“What’s wrong?”

Li Qingrong was curious but didn’t know how to ask. While she was struggling, she subconsciously stared intently at the Sachet in Zhang Ningzhi’s hand.

Jiang Nian couldn’t stand it anymore and explained from the middle.

“It’s just a Talisman for blessing and calming the mind.”

“Yes, it’s super powerful,” Zhang Ningzhi added, stars shining in her eyes. “Jiang Nian said a Daoist Master consecrated it, and it can ward off disaster and misfortune.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian felt awkward.

Damn it, I never said that!

When Zhang Ningzhi and Li Qingrong both looked at Jiang Nian, casting questioning glances, he suddenly became serious, speaking as if possessed by Xiao Yang.

“That is correct.”

Seeing the brilliance erupting in Zhang Ningzhi’s eyes, Jiang Nian felt ashamed, thinking, ‘Fortunately, I managed to fool them.’

He turned his head and saw Li Qingrong looking at him, forcing an awkward smile.

‘Bro needs face, don’t expose me, okay.’

Li Qingrong said nothing; nothing happened.

Morning reading.

Li Hua was loudly singing again. Jiang Nian originally planned to follow suit to complete the Love Song Task.

Listening closely, he realized it was gigi the piggy, and immediately gave up.

To be honest, singing in public initially comes with a tiny bit of embarrassment.

But singing a few lines wasn’t as awkward as imagined; it was even a little exhilarating.

“The long lens pulls further and further away, after several years. At the concert we miss, a polite farewell kiss. You wrote for me, my very first song.”

When he sang 【You and I interlocked fingers】, the panel popped up.

Task complete.

He only sang for seven or eight seconds, and the System ruled it complete.

Li Hua was still singing loudly, completely immersed in his own world.

The groups in front and behind were all doing morning reading, and no one paid attention to Jiang Nian’s quiet, impromptu rendition of “Love Song.” They even found it normal, considering he was Li Hua’s deskmate.

After all, one who touches pitch shall be defiled; there is no blooming lotus in the mud.

When two abstract-minded boys gather, their intelligence falls into a Universe black hole. At the same time, the thickness of their skin becomes comparable to a city wall.

Jiang Nian casually closed the task panel and glanced at Zhang Ningzhi.

The young girl was leaning against the bookshelf memorizing vocabulary, looking serious during morning reading. She definitely heard it, otherwise the System wouldn’t have ruled the task complete.

Jiang Nian put down his pen, patted Li Hua to signal he was going out. Li Hua turned his head and looked at him in confusion.

“Where are you going?”

“To release water.”

“Fine, I’ll go too.” Li Hua immediately conceded, looking excited, and tossed his vocabulary book aside. “I’ll help hold it for you so you don’t pee crookedly.”

“Holy crap, you’re more disgusting than I am.” Jiang Nian looked disdainful, then shook his head, signaling, “Call Big Fatty Baby and see if he wants to go?”

“Hard to say, Old Ma is a total coward.”

Li Hua still leaned over and asked. Ma Guojun hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. He planned to go to the cafeteria for a bowl of Water Spinach Noodles after relieving himself, depending on the situation.

The two were in the first and second rows, and the English Class Representative by the aisle heard their conversation clearly.

He looked at Li Hua, then at Jiang Nian, his face serious.

“Where are you going?”

“To release water.” “Cafeteria.” “Cafeteria after releasing water.”

“Nonsense! This is English morning reading!” The class representative stepped forward and lowered his voice. “The teacher is next door, go the other way, and bring me a Pickled Vegetable Pancake.”

“Thanks, brothers. I’ll give you the money later.”

The three laughed loudly, made an OK gesture, and swaggered out right in front of the English Class Representative.

Zhang Ningzhi secretly caught a glimpse of Jiang Nian and his companions leaving the classroom, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Slowly, she buried her face in her book, her heart pounding rapidly.

He seemed to have been singing just now—a little off-key, standard high school male level.

That kind of unprofessional, unskilled, and emotionless plain voice. The only advantage was probably that his voice sounded pleasant.

Her aggressiveness wasn’t this strong before; only after sitting next to Jiang Nian did she slowly develop a slight edge, occasionally showing it off.

That’s not the point.

The seafood restaurant she and Jiang Nian went to two afternoons ago on the weekend was playing “Love Song.” Hearing him suddenly sing it made her feel a little embarrassed.

Just as the three of them—Jiang Nian and the others—slipped out, they ran straight into Xi Bao walking out of the classroom next door.

The three boys’ expressions changed, and the atmosphere instantly froze.

Li Hua was standing toward the back, half-hidden by Ma Guojun. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately turned and ran. If he ran fast enough, perhaps…

Suddenly, Li Hua felt his arm being grabbed. Before he could react, a massive force yanked him backward, and as he retreated, he saw Jiang Nian’s face.

“Make way for your dad.”

“Jiang Nian! You!!” Li Hua despaired. Watching Jiang Nian use his momentum to run forward, his heart filled with sorrow.

Buddies are birds of the same class, yet when disaster strikes, they still step on me!

Forget it, if they manage to escape…

Wouldn’t I have lived in vain!!!

Li Hua lunged forward, directly wrapping his arms around Jiang Nian’s waist.

“You beast! Let’s die together!”

“Holy crap, you motherf**ker!”

Ma Guojun tried to sneak away but was grabbed simultaneously on the arm by Li Hua and Jiang Nian.

“Old Ma, stop hiding. Your features are so obvious, Xi Bao will definitely catch you!”

“Fatty Baby, if we die, we die together!”

Ma Guojun looked terrified, unable to shake off the two of them.

“Are you guys this underhanded?! You scumbags!”

In the hallway, Xi Bao watched her three students wrestling while hugging each other. A huge question mark involuntarily popped up on her forehead. Were they always this idiotic?

“Where are you three going?”

Li Hua couldn’t find an excuse, so he could only lower his head and tell the truth.

“To the restroom.”

“Teacher, Li Hua was singing during morning reading and his spit splashed on my face,” Jiang Nian said, selling him out without batting an eye. “I’m going to the restroom to wash my face.”

Hearing this, Li Hua was utterly shocked!

“Teacher! Me too!” Ma Guojun was not eloquent, but he quickly followed suit.

“Huh?” Li Hua, collectively stabbed in the back by his friends, was astonished. He pointed a trembling finger at the two of them. “You guys… Hey! Was that really necessary?”

“Li Hua!” Xi Bao sternly frowned at him. “I’ve caught you singing several times during morning reading, and it’s always the cartoon my daughter likes to watch.”

After Xi Bao finished speaking, several heads poked out from both classrooms to watch the fun.

“Hahaha, Li Hua is an idiot!”

“Teacher, I report that Li Hua sang gigi the piggy right at the start of morning reading!”

Xi Bao rubbed her forehead and scolded the crowd watching the spectacle.

“Get back to your morning reading!”

The spectators at the classroom doors retreated.

Jiang Nian stood at the very back and said in a pinched voice.

“What’s wrong with singing?”

Xi Bao was furious and glared at Li Hua.

“How dare you talk back? What did you score on the weekly English test?”

“No! I didn’t say that!” Li Hua had underestimated Jiang Nian’s lack of moral bottom line and regretted not attacking first. “Teacher, Jiang Nian is framing me!”

“You, come here!”

Li Hua was dragged away. Jiang Nian and Ma Guojun exchanged glances in the hallway.

“Are we safe now?”

“We’re safe. Hua Ge took all the heat alone.” Jiang Nian shook his head and sighed. “The departed has ridden the Yellow Crane away. Remember Li Hua.”

“Let’s go relieve ourselves. What are you going to eat at the cafeteria later?” Ma Guojun asked.

“I’ll get a Pickled Vegetable Pancake.” Jiang Nian said.

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

It wasn’t until morning reading was almost over that Li Hua returned, looking dejected.

Xi Bao set a goal for him: he must pass the major joint examination in two days. Otherwise, she would tell Old Liu about him singing during morning reading and skipping class for breakfast.

How miserable.

The root of all this suffering came from that bastard!

Morning reading was over. After sitting down, both boys were uncharacteristically sitting upright.

Li Hua was seriously looking at vocabulary, reciting softly, occasionally looking up at the sky. Jiang Nian was diligently working on problems, occasionally glancing back at Li Hua.

“Why are you looking at me?” Li Hua frowned, still reciting vocabulary.

Jiang Nian instinctively felt something was strange but didn’t dwell on it. After being wary of Li Hua for a while and confirming he wouldn’t retaliate physically, he slowly leaned onto his desk.

He lay down, then suddenly shot back up.

Li Hua maintained the same look, even giving him a puzzled glance, as if saying he was being ridiculous.

Jiang Nian relaxed, preparing to take a short nap during these few minutes.

The moment he closed his eyes, he was instantly startled awake by a huge movement. Just as he managed to turn his head, Li Hua lunged directly at him, his face flushed with rage, gritting his teeth!

“Die! You who sells your father for glory!”

“Stop!! Don’t choke me, I was wrong, Hua Ge,” Jiang Nian quickly begged for mercy. “I’ll treat you to a Pickled Vegetable Pancake. Ma Guojun bought you Yogurt Drink. Your sacrifice was meaningful.”

“What the hell is meaningful!” Li Hua was furious, but upon thinking of the Pickled Vegetable Pancake, he let him go. “Hand it over. It won’t have been in vain that I was lectured for a whole morning reading session.”

Jiang Nian took the Pickled Vegetable Pancake and Yogurt Drink out from under the desk and added a superfluous comment as he handed them over.

“Xi Bao is also doing it for your own good; why else would she only target you?”

“Ugh, I know, I know,” Li Hua replied vaguely. “Aren’t I memorizing vocabulary now? I’ll try hard for the major joint examination and see if I can hit eighty.”

Jiang Nian lay back down on the desk, completely losing his drowsiness after Li Hua’s antics.

But as he lay there, he actually fell asleep.

—

Is it a dream?

Under a giant white curtain, Jiang Nian realized he was dreaming. However, he was looking at a vast, white space, white everywhere—above, below, front, back, left, and right.

He had dreamed before, but it was only a change of perspective, and he couldn’t think at all. It was like watching a game in spectator mode, with 360p resolution and censored.

Now, it was high-definition and real.

Jiang Nian could feel his thoughts flowing smoothly, completely unlike being in a dream.

So, is this a System reward?

Is this a fragment of Zhang Ningzhi’s memory? If it’s presented through a dream, that’s quite interesting. The question is, where is Zhang Ningzhi?

As if to answer his confusion, there were two knocks.

The door knocked.

Jiang Nian looked around the empty surroundings. ‘Where the hell is the door?’

The white space slowly faded, dissipating like thin mist. The outline of a room gradually appeared, and the sound of a door lock being turned came through.

Jiang Nian saw her. More accurately, he saw Zhang Ningzhi’s mother within Zhang Ningzhi’s memory.

She’s so young. She looks like she’s only in her twenties, right?

Wait, she really does look like she’s in her twenties. The woman had fair skin and a beautiful face, her lips like congealed fat. The style of clothes she wore was popular in the past. She was carrying a plate of fruit.

“Zhi Bao, were you happy at Kindergarten today?”

Kindergarten?

Jiang Nian was stunned. ‘Where the hell did this bring me?’