Chapter 163: Li Qingrong: It’s a Gift for You

After school, the whole class shifted their desks back, leaving everything in a mess.

In the evening, in the hallway.

Jiang Nian and a few others leaned against the railing, watching the girls passing by downstairs and chatting aimlessly. Further away, the sky was dim, and only the faint outline of Green Wood Ridge was visible.

Li Hua was scratching his head, anxious and restless.

“Nian, what do you think Old Liu is waiting for? Why hasn’t he come yet?”

Ma Guojun took over the conversation, “Maybe he’s waiting for the results.”

“What results?”

“The Joint Exam results, of course. Chinese hasn’t been released yet; what can Old Liu do?” Jiang Nian said. “Once the results are out, Old Liu will have room to maneuver.”

“The Chinese answer sheets will probably be handed out before Evening Self-Study starts, or maybe during evening reading, right?” Li Hua asked.

“Maybe,” Jiang Nian said.

“Given Old Liu’s style, I think he might change classes,” Ma Guojun predicted. “Before, when Yu Zhiyi didn’t fit in, Old Liu changed her class.”

“That happened?” Jiang Nian asked curiously.

“They said she didn’t fit in, but I don’t know the specifics,” Ma Guojun said. “But after she changed classes, she seemed to be quite popular.”

“Changed to where? There are only four Olympiad classes for science, right?” Jiang Nian said.

“It can’t be Class Two anyway. The Homeroom Teacher of the class next door isn’t a trash collector,” Li Hua said. “I reckon Old Liu is probably negotiating with the Homeroom Teacher of Class One or Class Four.”

Class Four is the Olympiad Class Four, Xu Qianqian’s class… well… that’s hard to comment on.

“Tsk, it’s probably not Class Four,” Jiang Nian blurted out.

“Huh? Why?” Li Hua and Ma Guojun looked at Jiang Nian in unison. “Do you have some inside information?”

“It’s not really inside information. Their new Homeroom Teacher is a middle-aged woman with a bad temper,” Jiang Nian said casually. “She looks like she’s hard to talk to; I doubt she’ll pay any attention to Old Liu.”

Li Hua stroked his chin and frowned.

“Then if Old Liu wants to find someone to swap classes with, he can only go to Class One.”

“There are a lot of idiots in Class One,” Ma Guojun commented. “Before, someone from their class stole sodium from the chemistry lab and threw it into the ditch in the bathroom.”

“Damn, that was Olympiad Class One?” Jiang Nian remembered. “I heard a piece of sodium the size of a soybean burst the pipe, and the bathroom was full of white smoke.”

“Yeah, they thought a soybean-sized piece of sodium wouldn’t cause any trouble,” Li Hua said. “That stuff catches fire first, you know, and then it just exploded when it hit the flushing water.”

“Holy crap, don’t actually bring’Sodium Brother’ here,” Jiang Nian said, dumbfounded.

“Whoever gets swapped here definitely won’t be a normal person. If it’s a guy, he’s definitely going to be a weirdo,” Ma Guojun adjusted his glasses, but there was a smile on his face.

Another troll.

Jiang Nian didn’t really care; whoever came was the same. He hadn’t done anything anyway; it was that couple, Yuan Zhengchuan and Ji Jiayu, who caused their own trouble, arguing at the entrance of the Cafeteria.

He just pushed things along and went with the flow.

If they were truly in love, they would eventually have a happy ending. Getting into the same university, then getting married and having children, living a beautiful and happy life.

Love can overcome all difficulties except for the bride price! As for whether Yuan Zhengchuan can afford the bride price, that has nothing to do with Jiang Nian.

Anyway, this godforsaken place has many traditions, and old customs are greater than heaven.

Once you capture the heart of a girl from Location, you will find that she and her parents’ possessiveness over you will reach its Peak, including your money and the bride price.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Nian went to the bathroom by himself. When he came back, he found both of his “sons” were gone.

Suddenly, he realized something and rushed into the classroom.

Sure enough, the entire classroom’s desks were covered with white answer sheets. It was exactly as they had guessed; the Chinese answer sheets had been handed out early.

The strange thing was that Li Hua and Ma Guojun were not there.

Jiang Nian looked at his own score: 103 for Chinese. He opened the essay section and saw it was indeed 38.

Fortunately, all the subjects he worked hard on had feedback.

First, there was Math, which he practiced without fail during his lunch break every day; he finally broke 120 in the Joint Exam. There wasn’t much talent or technique involved; it was all thanks to practice making perfect.

Secondly, Biology, which hit 80; that was worth it for Teacher Qingbao.

Actually, if he were to review, adding up the points he shouldn’t have lost in Physics… No, no, that behavior is too “Li Hua.”

For example, adding up the points lost due to carelessness, then counting the missed points, and holding onto the luck-based points tightly. If he calculated it all, he could spiritually win 600 points.

How pathetic, what a Senior Year Ah Q.

He glanced around: Zhizhi had 118, Li Hua had 100 in Chinese. Emperor Fangfang had 110 in Chinese. Wu Jungu had 107, Zeng You had 99.

The Class Monitor had 126, which was a bit absurd.

But to be fair, you really couldn’t create that big of a gap in Chinese scores.

After looking, Jiang Nian was about to appreciate his total score when he suddenly noticed an extra answer sheet on his desk; it looked like a Comprehensive Science answer sheet.

Hmm. The Class Monitor’s Comprehensive Science answer sheet?

What’s going on?

Jiang Nian slapped his face, feeling a bit panicked. He didn’t remember when his “obsessive fan” attribute had exploded; how did he get the Class Monitor’s Comprehensive Science answer sheet?

Forget it, should he lick it first?

Nie Qiqi had possessed him.

After the panic, Jiang Nian calmed down. Wouldn’t it be better to just put it back? Anyway, the Class Monitor’s seat was right behind his; it was easy to just put it back.

Suddenly, Nie Qiqi walked in from outside the classroom and glanced at him.

“Jiang Nian, what’s your Chinese score?”

Gulp. Jiang Nian swallowed nervously.

“Not… not much.”

Holy crap, why did it happen just as he said it?

In his panic, he directly covered Li Qingrong’s Comprehensive Science answer sheet with his Chinese answer sheet.

No joke, who is this? Who put the answer sheet on his desk? Who is this? Trying to frame him on purpose!! He hadn’t even licked it once!

Do you admit this is your desk?

Damn it, they were really going to film “In the Name of Class Three.” He would be the first one caught, charged with being too much of an obsessive fan, collecting the Class Monitor’s answer sheets.

Damn, don’t mock each other among classmates; help a guy out.

“Still shy? Let me see,” Nie Qiqi said, familiar with him, leaning over to look. “103, that’s okay. A low score is actually quite cute.”

Cute your mom! Your whole family is cute! red stone, red stone, red stone!

Jiang Nian was about to break down. Did everyone in this class have issues? This unhealthy trend of comparing scores and mocking classmates—when would it ever stop?

“Ha, yeah, not as high as yours.”

“That’s right, my Chinese has never been lower than 110,” Nie Qiqi, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, said triumphantly. “I’m warning you, don’t touch the Class Monitor’s things, you hear me?”

“I didn’t touch anything.”

Nie Qiqi hummed twice, or maybe she was addicted to showing off, and added.

“Don’t look at me being short; actually, I’m a smiling tiger. I look innocent, beautiful, and simple on the surface, but once you touch my bottom line, I will!!”

She was halfway through when she caught a glimpse of the Class Monitor, Li Qingrong, and Nickname entering from the door, and her tone changed instantly.

“…I will lower my bottom line, because I am a rather cowardly smiling tiger. Don’t tell the Class Monitor about what I just said; just pretend I was never here.”

Nie Qiqi scurried away and obediently returned to her seat.

Jiang Nian was confused. He turned his head and saw the main character arriving. He also saw the serious-looking Nickname (Right Minister) beside Li Qingrong, and he was scared out of his wits.

This… how was he supposed to put it back secretly? Should he pretend he picked it up from the floor?

Hey, good idea.

Jiang Nian stared at the answer sheet and heard the sound of someone entering the seat behind him. He was just about to go for it, turn around, and say the lie he had concocted.

Speechless, this time he was truly innocent.

Three, two, one!

Just as he was about to turn around, he was poked in the back.

“Hmm?” Jiang Nian had already turned around, the words he had prepared stuck in his throat; for a moment, he actually forgot his lines. “You…”

Li Qingrong looked at him and spoke first.

“Did you see the answer sheet?”

“Saw it, I from…” Jiang Nian organized his language, intending to launch a new round of offense.

Unexpectedly, Li Qingrong nodded.

“It’s a gift for you.”

Gift… Jiang Nian swallowed the words that had just reached his lips again. What was this situation? Why would she give him such a strange thing as an answer sheet?

“You don’t like it?” Li Qingrong asked suspiciously.

“That’s not it,” Jiang Nian said from his heart. “Are you really giving it to me?”

No, what’s the use of an answer sheet? Don’t be so pathetic. Be a little more reserved; he wasn’t a brainless obsessive fan like Nie Qiqi!

“Hmm,” Li Qingrong nodded. “Giving it to you.”

Jiang Nian looked at the clarity in the Class Monitor’s eyes and felt like confessing.

Having played with abstraction for so long, he had picked up a bit of a perverted habit; this damn collecting habit. It wasn’t impossible to accept the answer sheet; after all, it wouldn’t be good to decline the Class Monitor’s kindness.

Forget it, just go with the flow.

“Alright, thank you, Class Monitor.” Jiang Nian finally accepted it. He didn’t have a test paper box, so he used clips to clip them one by one, and incidentally clipped it together with his own.

Li Qingrong stared straight at him, watching him “treasure” the answer sheet she had given him. Although there was no expression on her face, her eyes became visibly brighter.

By the time Jiang Nian turned his head, she was already looking down, writing on her test paper.

Approaching evening reading.

People in the class returned to the classroom one after another. Yu Tongjie returned to his seat and saw the Chinese answer sheet on his desk. He was stunned for a moment, followed by a burst of ecstasy.

It was finally here. He didn’t need 600 points; lowering the standard, he only needed a total of 570.

As long as his Chinese test paper broke 120, his total score could easily cross the 570 line. At that time, he would go directly to Old Liu and change groups in the name of studying.

Hehehe.

“120, 120, my essay can contribute over 50 points,” Yu Tongjie muttered softly, rubbing his hands together, ready to witness a miracle.

The essay topic this time was super simple, a line of poetry by Qu Yuan: 【The road ahead is long and has no ending; yet high and low I’ll search with my will unbending.】

To solve the topic and establish the theme, isn’t it just persistence?

What he understood best was persistence. Ever since he moved up a class, he had experienced all kinds of hardships and obstacles, crying that he couldn’t take it while persisting in studying.

This AV-like life! Would he win this time?

He opened the Chinese answer sheet, and the glaring number 95 met his eyes.

Yu Tongjie froze, and the smile on his face disappeared instantly. He looked at the name—it was his—and the student ID was correct. He flipped to the back, and the essay was 38.