Chapter 411 The Thief

The three afternoon classes passed in a blink of an eye.

It was self-study in the afternoon.

Jiang Nian didn’t sleep after class; he was full of energy, working on test papers. Yu Zhiyi passed by on her way to the restroom and curiously glanced at him.

How is this person not tired? Does he have eight kidneys?

“Are you done?” Zhang Ningzhi leaned over to look and couldn’t help but be surprised, “Wow, how did you write so fast?”

“It’s just practice,” Jiang Nian handed over the test paper.

This time, he didn’t touch her hand; it was quite proper.

“Oh.” Zhang Ningzhi couldn’t help but look at him again. After taking the test paper, she lay on the desk and corrected it for him against the answers.

Jiang Nian didn’t touch Zhang Ningzhi’s leg, nor did he plan to touch anyone else’s. He just felt that he had attracted too much trouble recently.

He was afraid of things getting out of hand and being ‘knifed’ by the little West Garden Temple.

He decided to be more well-behaved and focus his energy on his studies and life.

After school in the afternoon.

The classroom was bustling with people, almost all heading out the door.

Jiang Nian wasn’t in a hurry to go downstairs. He stayed in the classroom and did some homework for a while. Then, precisely on time, he sent Chen Yunyun and the others a location.

“I’ve got something good to show you.”

Chen Yunyun: “?”

Ten minutes later, Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe appeared under the plane trees in front of the teachers’ apartments.

The two had just finished getting hot water and hadn’t eaten yet.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Yunyun asked.

She had drunk some Xiao Chai Hu at noon and wasn’t feeling great. She planned to buy some medicine in the afternoon but decided to come over first after receiving Jiang Nian’s message.

“I’m so hungry, Jiang Nian.” Wang Yuhe complained, “You called us over, do you have something delicious?”

“No, but everyone gets a share.” Jiang Nian pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

“Keys?” Wang Yuhe took a black key, then turned to Chen Yunyun, “Two identical keys?”

“What are you ‘aba-aba-ing’ about?” Jiang Nian waved to them, signaling them to follow, “Come this way.”

The two girls exchanged glances and followed Jiang Nian into a semi-open small courtyard.

He pointed to one of the ground-floor utility rooms in that row and said to Wang Yuhe.

“Go open the door.”

“You rented a room?” Chen Yunyun looked shocked. She looked at Jiang Nian, “Rented… rented a room for what?”

Seeing that Wang Yuhe had already pushed the door open and gone in, Jiang Nian turned and smiled at Chen Yunyun.

“Guess?”

Chen Yunyun suddenly stood there, her breathing instantly stopping. Her heart felt as if it had been squeezed, abruptly suspended in the air, aching from the wind.

Outside the courtyard, a crisp bicycle bell rang from around the corner.

Her mind was blank, she didn’t know if it was because of the wind. Her body was stiff, completely unable to move.

“I…”

“Yunyun, come in quickly!” Wang Yuhe poked her head out of the doorway, excitedly saying, “There’s even a bed and a table inside!”

Jiang Nian: “?”

Chen Yunyun: “?”

The two walked in and joined the ‘elementary school student’ Wang Yuhe. The three standing in the room immediately made the space feel cramped.

“Damn, it’s a bit crowded.” Jiang Nian complained, then turned to the ‘elementary school student’ and said, “Wang Yuhe, you go out first.”

“Why should I!” Wang Yuhe looked up and glared at him.

“I rented it.”

“You!!” Wang Yuhe angrily punched him, genuinely about to leave, “Fine, I’ll go, give your key back!”

“Hey, hey, just kidding.” Jiang Nian pulled her back.

“Let go of me!”

Unexpectedly, Wang Yuhe was really angry, like a pig for Chinese New Year. Her strength was astonishing; he almost couldn’t hold her.

“No, don’t just shout.”

Fortunately, Wang Yuhe quieted down after a while, but she kept glaring at Jiang Nian.

Stare—

Jiang Nian glanced at her, then at the indifferent Chen Yunyun. A thought struck him, and he pretended to take off his clothes, “Huh?”

“Ah!! What are you doing?”

“Oh, scratching an itch.” Jiang Nian reached into his clothes and scratched, “There’s water and electricity here, don’t you have any ideas?”

Chen Yunyun’s Face was slightly warm, red all the way to her earlobes.

“What.

Wang Yuhe stroked her chin, looking around.

“You can charge phones.”

“Charge what? I found you a Holy Land for washing hair.” Jiang Nian pointed to the corner, “Plug it in, you can wash and blow dry your hair.”

“Really?” Wang Yuhe was a beat slow, then asked, “Wait, Jiang Nian, why did you suddenly become so kind?”

Jiang Nian glared at her and sneered.

“Hot tip: if you can’t speak properly, you can shut your mouth.”

“I won’t!”

At this moment, Chen Yunyun asked softly.

“How much did you rent it for?”

“Not much. This one is rented from a teacher’s family.” Jiang Nian waved his hand, “They gave me the lowest price in this area out of respect for my Face as an inspiring star.”

Chen Yunyun: “…Seriously.”

“My record is verifiable.”

In the end, Chen Yunyun couldn’t get a real price out of him.

Jiang Nian explained the purpose of the room; it might be used to store some things later, only occupying less than half the space.

Letting them use it was just a side thing.

Chen Yunyun didn’t believe him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. She could think whatever she wanted; anyway, since things were already like this, they should eat first.

If all else failed, he could touch her leg to settle the debt.

The shops on the street outside the school were packed with people. If they lingered, it would almost be time for evening self-study.

The three could only grab a quick bite and hurried back to the classroom.

“Water heater, hairdryer, and so on…” Jiang Nian looked at the two, “I’m from three generations of poverty; I’m a bit helpless.”

“We’ll buy them ourselves.” Chen Yunyun said, then looked at him, “How about we split it? Is fifteen hundred enough?”

Jiang Nian: “…If you want to give me money, just say so.”

He thought to himself that he only spent nine hundred on rent, and Chen Yunyun immediately offered fifteen hundred. A quick flip would net him six hundred.

Why even study? He should just become a real estate agent!

“I really didn’t rent it specifically; it was just a side thing.” Jiang Nian took a deep breath, looked at her, and said, “If you mention money again, give me back the key.”

Chen Yunyun was speechless and could only lower her head.

After dinner, the two girls left first.

Jiang Nian, stealing some leisure time from his busy schedule, didn’t forget to bring Zhang Ningzhi a cup of room-temperature fruit tea. The moment the bell rang, he immediately sprinted away.

“Damn it, who moved the bell time forward!”

“Hand in your homework.”

Tao Ran roamed the classroom, collecting Chinese homework for a long time. Out of sixty or seventy people in the entire class, he only received twelve notebooks.

“Seriously, you should at least hand in half, right?”

Hearing this, the surrounding students complained one after another.

“There’s so much math homework, where do we have time to copy Chinese?”

D

“Exactly, exactly. I haven’t even written my physics homework. With this time, wouldn’t it be better to do science homework?”

“Writing Chinese homework is indeed cost-ineffective. I wrote homework for most of last month, and my scores actually dropped.” Lin Dong suddenly noticed a blind spot and stopped Tao Ran in the aisle.

“Wait, did you hand in your Chinese homework?”

Tao Ran looked at Lin Dong with a puzzled expression and said.

“I’m the class representative!”

Lin Dong chuckled, “That’s true.”

However, the next second, Tao Ran said with an air of self-satisfaction.

“I’m already the class representative, why would I write homework?”

“You damn…” Jiang Nian rummaged through his desk. He turned around and saw Tao Ran standing next to him, with an eerie, mysterious smile on her Face.

“What are you doing?”

“Weren’t you looking for your Chinese homework?” Tao Ran stood perfectly straight, smiling, “It’s fine, as long as it gets handed in.”

“Hand in what?” Jiang Nian couldn’t remember ever writing Chinese homework. He pulled out a chemistry test paper from his desk.

He turned to Tao Ran and said with an air of self-satisfaction.

“I’m already an inspiring star, why would I hand in homework?”

Tao Ran’s smile immediately vanished. Looking at the ‘beast’ in front of her, she felt the boomerang hit her hard. “You damn!”

Li Hua, with a fawning expression, came over to mediate.

“Nian, you too. Let me say something fair…”

“Wild dog, stop barking. What Rank are you?” Jiang Nian interrupted him, “If you can’t beat me in the exam, what the hell are you talking about?”

Li Hua was stimulated by Jiang Nian’s aggressive words and immediately went red stone.

“red stone, red stone!!”

Huang Fang shook her head, thinking that this class was becoming increasingly stratified by Rank. She slowly turned her head, looked at Li Hua, and said.

“It’s okay, group leader.”

“Although you have one less point than me, I wouldn’t say that to you.”

Zhang Ningzhi, hearing this, said adorably.

“The group leader’s score is so low.”

Li Hua was immediately speechless, unable to say a word.

“You people…” At this moment, Tao Ran patted his shoulder and asked.

“Did Brother Wild Dog write his Chinese homework?”

Li Hua looked at Tao Ran in shock, but then realized in despair. Even Tao Ran, that ‘furry-obsessed weirdo,’ had a much higher score than him.

For evening self-study, Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong left the classroom together.

“This crappy competition is tailor-made for those two ‘guinea pig’ classes. I just don’t know if there will be any shady dealings.”

Jiang Nian walked ahead, turning to Li Qingrong behind him.

“But no matter what, a competition with money as a prize is a good competition. Their appetite is too big; they can’t openly cheat.”

Li Qingrong nodded, “Mm.”

Jiang Nian hesitated to speak, then decided against it.

After all, the class monitor had never been poor, so it was hard for her to understand his desire for money.

Fortunately, Zhennan Middle School prioritized academic achievement. Whether it was a competition or an exam, if a reward was set, it was always money or cards.

Therefore, the strong remained strong.

Even… took everything.

On the stairs, Li Qingrong turned to look at him, pursing her lips and asking.

“That prize money… do you really want it?”

“Fifteen hundred yuan, who wouldn’t want it?” Jiang Nian smiled, his tone relaxed, “But whether I can get it depends on the situation.”

“Mm.”

The activity center on the second floor of Building D was a wide-open space, packed with people. Students from several familiar classes gathered, discussing in low voices.

“Damn it, it seems like there’s some shady business going on?”

“What shady business?”

“Logically, each class should only be able to send two people to compete, but I see some classes have, like, twenty-something people.”

“Damn it, what a bunch of bastards!”

“Which scumbag came up with these rules? This is so unfair. How about we few people go challenge it!”

“Forget it, there’s prize money.”

“Yeah, and more people doesn’t change the fact it’s still a pot-throwing game. It’s not like scores are calculated by class, and the prize money is given to individuals.”

Jiang Nian, who was listening to these people talk nearby, couldn’t help but chuckle. But he quickly composed himself, staying silent and acting cool.

Even so, his presence with Li Qingrong still attracted the attention of many passing third-year students.

Until Jiang Nian suddenly pulled out a test paper.