Chapter 87 The Unknown Admirer

At the back of the classroom.

The quiet Luo Zhongping witnessed the entire conversation between Jiang Nian and Chen Yunyun. He originally didn’t want to listen, but his ears had a mind of their own, catching every single word.

Honestly, he was quite envious of Jiang Nian, who could chat and laugh with Chen Yunyun.

His usual gaze towards Chen Yunyun was always indifferent, half out of inferiority, half out of affection.

That’s why he rarely read secret crush novels; he found them a bit fake.

True affection never dared to meet eyes; glances were stolen a thousand times.

Compared to her face, what he was truly familiar with was her back, only then could he gaze freely without pretense.

Like a country mouse in a courtyard well, gazing at the bright moon in the small square opening. Even if the moonlight never once shone upon him.

He knew Chen Yunyun had good relationships with the boys in their class, and she could even join a basketball game during PE. She was lively, outgoing, and her grades were excellent.

Even though they were both boarding students, her family lived in Yunmu Town.

He had visited Yunmu Town once, and his dad, who was with him, proudly told him how big Yunmu Town was and how good its economy was, then turned around and disparaged their own village.

What his dad didn’t know was that the girl he liked lived in Yunmu Town, where there was a supermarket right outside her door. Downstairs were not-so-clean streets, and streetlights covered the entire small town.

Yunmu was prosperous, second only to Zhennan County.

There were affordable bulk snack shops, both pirated and legitimate bubble tea shops. There were even a few roller skating rinks, which were rare even in the county seat, found only in the city.

Shops were abundant, and merchants countless.

A large bridge spanned across, connecting Zhennan County and Taiping County. People came and went like smoke, and even if young people in the town didn’t study, they could still inherit a family business.

He also didn’t plan to tell his dad about the person he liked; he didn’t want to put pressure on his dad.

He heard that his cousin got married last year, emptying his aunt’s family’s life savings and borrowing another 100,000 from relatives. All in all, it took 360,000 to get the wedding done.

Marrying a country girl was already like that; what about a town girl?

Luo Zhongping sighed, lowering his head. He had never been to a gym. His monthly living expenses were always tight, just enough to get by, not comparable to his dorm mates.

He didn’t dare to complain, knowing that it was money his parents had earned by toiling in the fields.

He didn’t know what a gym looked like. He just saw that Chen Yunyun seemed very interested. Perhaps if he had money, he could take her once or get her a membership card.

She would probably be very happy.

Thinking of this, Luo Zhongping pulled out his Redmi phone, its yellowed protective case gleaming with oil. He carefully turned it on, not to buy, but to find out how much a membership cost.

After a brief startup, he opened Baidu and searched for “Zhennan County gym membership prices.” After a search, he finally found the answer under a Douyin promotional video.

1388 yuan.

He silently put away his phone. That was two months of his living expenses.

Kids who grew up in the county were just different. Jiang Nian could easily get a gym membership card. Then, he could effortlessly get free vouchers to make girls happy.

Jiang Nian wanted to jump out and interrupt.

Dude, don’t be so cringe.

This is an exchange.

Not simping.

Honestly, Jiang Nian hadn’t paid much attention to Luo Zhongping at all, nor did he know who he liked.

Luo Zhongping’s troubles were also Jiang Nian’s troubles: high bride prices, all because of this stupid place Location!!

He chatted with Chen Yunyun for no other reason. It was purely because she was pretty and had a good personality; she looked like the kind of person you could be friends with. Who doesn’t like an eighteen-year-old girl?

He was currently wrestling with a math problem. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and an old math problem couldn’t be solved in a day either.

Can’t solve it, absolutely can’t solve it. Can’t finish, absolutely can’t finish.

He had been stuck on it for two hours, even thinking about the solution while going to the bathroom. He also said hello to Zhao Jie, asking her to save two vouchers, as someone would be coming to use them.

Zhao Jie replied: “OK! A friend?”

“A female classmate.”

“A girlfriend? (Curious) (Curious)”

Jiang Nian pulled up his pants and sent with one hand, “Just a normal friend, not as close as me and your daughter.”

Zhao Jie: “(Punching)!”

Jiang Nian laughed. This mom, you’re much cuter than your daughter.

Speaking of Song Xiyun, Jiang Nian had to make her pay the one-yuan protection fee for these two days. There had to be give and take to have an excuse for the next treat, otherwise, it would seem too abrupt.

However, his good relationship with Song Xiyun was partly due to Zhao Qiuxue. She clearly seemed to be from a big city, and no matter what, being on good terms was always the right thing to do.

Back in the classroom, Chen Yunyun waved at him, and Wang Yuhe also looked up at him.

Jiang Nian didn’t go over, just gave an OK gesture.

My part is done.

It’s up to you guys now.

The sky gradually darkened, and with a click, the classroom lights came on brightly.

Zhang Ningzhi arrived around 5:20, just in time to see Jiang Nian hunched over his desk, writing a test paper. So she held her breath, quickly walked past him, and entered through the narrow aisle along the wall.

Jiang Nian heard the sound, looked up.

Branch Branch Baby’s waist is so slender! She can actually walk through such a narrow aisle. However… if she squatted down, she probably couldn’t, her chest would get stuck.

“You’re back?” Zhang Ningzhi asked softly.

She had no idea what that cringe-worthy guy was just thinking. He should be thrown out and dog-executed, a cringe-worthy anomaly among the Location men.

“Yeah, I came to the classroom around four this afternoon.” Jiang Nian rested his head on his hand, watching her take things out of her backpack one by one, a mysterious smile on his face.

Zhang Ningzhi couldn’t stand his gaze, her ears turning red.

“What are you looking at?”

“Mmm, seeing if you’ll pull out snacks from your bag.” Jiang Nian looked like he “loves to eat handouts,” waiting for his deskmate to feed him.

“Only yogurt and toast left, bought from the new bakery outside school.” Zhang Ningzhi pulled out a box of yogurt and a bag of warm toast.

As expected of Branch Branch Baby, who buys toast?

For most students, toast was just that kind of bread with no filling. No stuffing either, just a softer, more expensive, slightly better-tasting bread.

A piece of bread for this price?

So, only one small shop specializing in toast survived around the school. Girls liked to eat a little in the afternoon or to tide themselves over at noon.

“Forget it, it’s just one bag, you eat it.”

“Ah, I’m not hungry.” Zhang Ningzhi didn’t dare to look at him, saying softly, “I… I ate when I came.”

“You ate? Who bought these things?” Jiang Nian directly exposed her lie. “You’ll put pressure on me like this. What if someone reports me for campus bullying?”

“Huh?” Zhang Ningzhi was bewildered.

“I’m just giving an example. Anyway, I have ways to get food.” Jiang Nian got up, patted her on the shoulder, “I’ll ‘rob’ Ma Guojun a little, he probably bought biscuits.”

Zhang Ningzhi said “Oh” and didn’t say anything more.

Jiang Nian left his seat and indeed headed straight for Ma Guojun. He wasn’t there, so Jiang Nian took a pack of Oreo cookies from his desk and left a note on it.

“Brother Ma, borrowing a bag of your cookies — Li Hua.”

Then he immediately tore open the bag and enjoyed them. When he returned to his seat, he found half a bag of toast on his desk. Looking at his deskmate, she was already hunched over her desk, writing a test paper.

She looked like she was oblivious to everything around her, except her ears were a little red.

Jiang Nian didn’t know what to say for a moment. Just as he sat down, Chen Yunyun walked over, holding a stack of his review materials. She walked to Li Hua’s empty seat and handed them to Jiang Nian.

“I’ve copied everything, remember what you said.”

“OKOK.” Jiang Nian made a gesture. “Just tell me when you guys are free to go, and I’ll contact them to give them directly to you.”

“Hehe, okay, thank you, boss.” Chen Yunyun left happily, with her hands behind her back.

Jiang Nian smiled, looking through the copied answers. Suddenly, he felt something was off again. He turned his head and found Zhang Ningzhi staring at him with a faint gaze.

Huh?