Chapter 154: Do I Smell? (Thanks to Sect Master Xiuxian Aoye for the reward)

The next day, it was overcast.

Jiang Nian stood at his front door, agonizing over whether or not to bring an umbrella.

Adding a few hundred grams of umbrella to his backpack felt like an unbearable weight. More importantly, he wanted to take a gamble. That feeling of guessing correctly, hitting the mark perfectly, was incredibly satisfying.

Fighting against the heavens brings endless joy.

When he arrived at the classroom, there were only a few people inside.

Morning reading hadn’t started yet. Ma Guojun, the big fatty, came in from outside the classroom carrying a small bag. As soon as he entered and saw Jiang Nian, a lewd smile immediately appeared on his face.

“Hey, Jiang Nian.”

Ma Guojun put down his backpack and walked over to Jiang Nian’s desk.

“Do you know who took Yu Tongjie’s books yesterday?”

“Who?”

“Nobody took them; someone from a Liberal Arts class on the fifth floor threw them out the window.” Ma Guojun smiled like a blooming flower, pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, and burst out laughing again.

“I heard that person failed their exam, was in a bad mood, and then tripped over Yu Tongjie’s books. The auntie downstairs saw books falling from the sky, thought students didn’t want them, and picked them up.”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian looked up.

“Did he get all of them back?”

“How could he? It was like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, hahaha.” Ma Guojun was thoroughly amused. “I heard he only found some of them; the rest are nowhere to be found.”

Jiang Nian was amused too, but since the Comprehensive Science exam was scheduled for nine o’clock, he couldn’t laugh wholeheartedly.

“We’ll see.”

Listening to Jiang Nian’s steady, old-cadre-like words, Ma Guojun couldn’t extract the emotional feedback he expected. He felt like he had been blue-balled, left hanging awkwardly.

So the chubby baby returned to his seat, planning to share the story with Li Hua later.

Before long, Zhang Ningzhi arrived.

The two exchanged greetings, and then another carton of fruit-flavored milk appeared on Jiang Nian’s desk.

Jiang Nian stared blankly at the fruit-flavored milk for a moment, wondering if he had drunk too many of Zhang Ningzhi’s beverages. He needed to find a chance to return the favor, perhaps by treating her to a meal or something similar.

He wasn’t short on money now, only scores, as this was ultimately a classroom where ability reigned supreme.

After reviewing for a while, morning reading began.

Xi Bao entered the Class Three classroom with light steps, but retreated after just one second.

She stood by the classroom door, covering her nose as she spoke.

“Open the windows, open the windows! What is that smell in your class?”

Lin Dong felt a bit embarrassed. The clothes he washed yesterday had been air-dried indoors and had a faint stale water smell. It was all because the dorm balcony was enclosed, causing all the clothes to press against each other.

His roommates were also a bunch of pure slackers who didn’t bother collecting their dry clothes. This resulted in his own clothes not drying, nor his shorts. In a fit of annoyance, he simply didn’t change them.

It wouldn’t hurt to wear the same underwear for two extra days; nobody else would know anyway.

Compared to him, Zeng You was even more outrageous. That dog-man washed clothes by stomping on them with his feet. He’d pour in a little detergent and start stomping, all while reading a novel.

Furthermore, in the same dorm, Lin Dong vaguely remembered that Zeng You’s underwear hadn’t dried either. Perhaps at this very moment, Zeng You was going commando, wearing jeans and enjoying the breeze.

Ugh, what a turn-off.

Whoosh, all the windows were opened.

Xi Bao pinched her nose and came in, looking at the sparse group of students doing their morning reading. She was wearing a knit cardigan, and as she walked around the classroom, she instructed them.

“It’s not winter yet. Open the windows more often for ventilation.”

With the math exam over, half the pressure was gone, and Jiang Nian wasn’t as nervous as he had been yesterday.

He watched Xi Bao walk past, then turned to ask Zhang Ningzhi.

“Hey, do I smell?”

Hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi subconsciously leaned closer, only detecting the scent of laundry detergent.

“No.”

She kept a straight face, leaving half a sentence unspoken. Besides the detergent smell, there was a special fragrance—one that wasn’t perceived by the nose, but purely by feeling.

She couldn’t describe the scent. It was… pleasant.

“Haha.” Jiang Nian chuckled. “Then should I smell you?”

“No, no, no! Don’t!” Zhang Ningzhi blushed and instinctively moved away.

Jiang Nian was used to the intense back-and-forth skirmishes he had all day with Xu Qianqian. Once he was back in the classroom, he found his deskmate was like an AI opponent—terrifyingly weak.

Honestly, with someone like Zhang Ningzhi, Jiang Nian could trick her into having five children while keeping her innocent.

However, in Location, topics like marriage and having children weren’t of much interest.

Due to certain traditional customs.

Around eight fifteen, the class began to stir.

Jiang Nian stood up to gather his things. He looked at Zhang Ningzhi, and Zhi Bao was also tidying up.

He had originally planned to ask her out for a meal after the exam, but he was afraid of affecting her concentration for today’s test. After thinking it over, he decided to postpone it until after the afternoon exam.

The Class Monitor had already left a long time ago; Jiang Nian hadn’t even noticed when she slipped out of the classroom.

Since the Comprehensive Science exam was also very important, he didn’t wander to other testing centers as usual. Instead, he stayed honestly in his assigned room, quietly recalling the problems he had reviewed last night.

Ding-a-ling, the exam was over.

The moment he put down his pen, Jiang Nian let out a long sigh of relief. Although the Joint Exam still had the final English subject remaining, for him at this moment, the testing was essentially done.

He had completed everything he could on the Comprehensive Science paper, though he didn’t know what his score would be.

He felt he had performed well and might score over two hundred twenty. This goal was a bit low for a Top Student, but for him, it was an ambitious aspiration.

When the exam ended and the students dispersed, he didn’t see Li Qingrong on the way out; he was too busy rushing off to eat.

He was truly hungry.

He could skip looking at beautiful girls, but he absolutely could not skip eating.

He had been rushing constantly during the Comprehensive Science exam, almost burning out his brain. His desperate appearance of frequently checking the clock while solving problems made him look exactly like an old man suffering from frequent and urgent urination.

During the lunch break, Jiang Nian had nothing left to review, so he stood in the corridor playing with his phone.

“Hey!” Chen Yunyun randomly refreshed (appeared).

“You scared me to death! Where did you pop out from?” Jiang Nian patted his chest with lingering fear, though he felt he should have been swatting the culprit instead.

“I came from the corridor. I saw you playing so seriously, so I couldn’t resist scaring you.” Chen Yunyun asked with a giggle, her hands clasped behind her back.

“I didn’t ask yesterday because I was afraid of disturbing your studying, so… how did you do on the exams?”

Jiang Nian’s initial impression of her was that she was a cheerful, beautiful girl, but not the stunning type; she had a delicate, classic beauty.

Upon closer inspection now, he realized Chen Yunyun was indeed quite pleasant to look at.

A typical Southern girl, with an oval face, delicate features, and clear eyes. Her nose was small, her lips were slightly thin and a healthy pale pink, and her eyes carried a hint of Spiritual Qi.

Chen Yunyun felt a little embarrassed by his gaze and couldn’t help but turn her head away.

“Why are you… staring at me?”

“What, does looking at you twice cost money?” Jiang Nian glanced at her. “The exams went alright. The experience I accumulated from a month of practice problems was emptied out in two days.”

Chen Yunyun: “…What kind of expression is that? ‘Accumulated and emptied out’ sounds strange.”

There were too many things to critique; for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

“Of course it costs money. Did you pay today’s friend fee? Venmo me fifty.”

Beep beep, Chen Yunyun’s phone vibrated.

“Wait, you actually sent it!”

Her face flushed red, and she quickly refunded the money to Jiang Nian, whispering.

“I was joking.”

“I know. It’s for buying you milk tea.” Jiang Nian looked at her. “Thanks to the forty or fifty sets of math problems you lent me, I saw some original questions on the math exam.”

“No need, it’s the result of your own hard work.” Chen Yunyun waved her hand, refusing.

“That won’t do. One thing is one thing. How about I just treat you to a milk tea shop next time?” Jiang Nian said. “You can bring a few people, play cards, whatever.”

Chen Yunyun hesitated. “That’s too expensive.”

“Fine, then I’ll just treat you alone.”

“Alone? Alone? Alone?” She immediately became nervous. Wouldn’t that be a date? How strange. “Just the two of us? Wouldn’t that…”

“Don’t worry, nothing weird will happen, unless you try to tempt me.”

“Huh?!!” Chen Yunyun was baffled.

Jiang Nian’s expression was normal. “Like inviting me to play Honor of Kings or something. I just quit not long ago.”

Chen Yunyun was speechless. She felt like Jiang Nian was wrapping her around his finger. She had always thought she was quite talkative and could chat with anyone.

Now she realized she had just never met a social terrorist before.

Someone like Jiang Nian… was difficult to evaluate.

Before the English exam in the afternoon, Jiang Nian casually strolled over to Li Qingrong’s testing center.

Yu Tongjie hadn’t shown up.

Squirtle was probably still immersed in the pain of losing half his books; half of his textbooks and review materials were gone before he’d even read halfway through them.

“Class Monitor.” Jiang Nian sat down.

Li Qingrong glanced at him, her expression cold.