"Ouch!" Qianqian took a sharp breath, "Be gentle."
"Well, that's what you get for not watching where you're going upstairs." Jiang Nian focused on massaging the ankle, faintly seeing the blue veins under the fair skin.
A random thought popped into his head: if she were wearing white stockings...
No, no, it's Qianqian.
Jiang Nian shook his head, dispelling the distracting thoughts in his mind. Qing Mei wasn't impossible, but he didn't expect Qianqian to have a girlish vibe too.
"Can you blame me? I said... there was a mouse." She pouted, her gaze dropping.
The air was filled with a strong smell of herbal medicinal wine, the boy's back who was massaging her foot was as straight as a young white poplar, shoulders level, hair thick and black.
A random thought popped into her head: should I watch him play basketball next time?
No, no, what am I doing? This is Jiang Nian!
The most annoying Jiang Nian!
"What's wrong with mice, mice life... sigh." Jiang Nian changed the topic, "Have you estimated your score? How much do you think you got this time?"
"Um... about 630."
"That's insane, why aren't you in the top class?" Jiang Nian was shocked, his hands massaging faster, the sprained area heating up.
Qianqian thought for a moment, "I don't want to move, I'm used to it."
After applying the medicine, Jiang Nian went back to his house next door to sleep. After he left, Qianqian drowsily fell asleep on the sofa, and the sound of keys came from the door.
Xu Zewen, exhausted from work, pushed open the door, sniffed, and then saw his daughter asleep on the sofa.
"Dad?" Qianqian woke up groggily, rubbing her eyes, "You're home?"
She was about to get up when Director Xu stopped her.
"What happened to your foot?"
"Twisted it going upstairs, I've already applied medicine." Qianqian stood up limping, forcing a smile, "See, I'm fine."
Director Xu nodded, reminding her to continue applying medicine the next day.
The next day.
Jiang Nian, as usual, got up early to buy breakfast. Before going upstairs, he saw Old Xu driving off early to work. His parents weren't awake yet, so he put the breakfast on the table and went next door to apply medicine for Qianqian.
By 7:30 a.m. there was morning self-study. Qianqian, with her sprained foot, had already gotten washed and ready.
"Feeling better?" He put the breakfast down and squatted to find the herbal medicine, "Why is Uncle Xu going to work so early?"
"There's a project in their department; they've been busy." Qianqian's eyes dimmed for a moment.
"Oh~ it's okay if your dad is busy, your other dad will apply the medicine for you."
"You're dead!"
Qianqian kicked him with her uninjured foot, and they bickered, making the atmosphere lively again.
Downstairs.
Qianqian, carrying her backpack, looked in surprise at Jiang Nian riding a small electric scooter.
"If you ride that, how is Aunt Li getting to work?"
"Get on, stop nagging." Jiang Nian braked, impatient, "Old Jiang isn't working today; he's driving my mom to her office."
"You're the one who's nagging!" Qianqian got on the back seat, still not satisfied.
Thinking it over, she opened the chat box on Jiang Nian's WeChat and changed his nickname from "Annoying Ghost" to "Nagging Annoying Ghost."
As they just got out of the alley, Jiang Nian braked sharply.
Qianqian wasn't prepared, slamming directly into his back, the soft ridge compressing. Her pupils shrank, and her face turned visibly red.
"Jiang Nian, are you crazy!"
"Wait a minute, I'm thinking." Jiang Nian opened a panel only he could see, puzzled by the words 'Task Complete.'
[Task: Defeat strong rival Zhou Haifei, making him give up on Qianqian. Reward: 5000 RMB (Completed).]
The phone buzzed, and his bank balance changed from 2131 to 7131 RMB.
Looking around, the streets were filled with students rushing to morning self-study. On Mondays, there's a flag-raising ceremony, which requires wearing uniforms, so all he saw were the white summer uniforms.
Jiang Nian thought about it but couldn't figure it out, so he simply ignored it.
"Did you do that on purpose just now?" Qianqian asked in a ghostly voice from the back seat.
"No, there was a mouse in front of the scooter, it startled me." Jiang Nian absentmindedly made up a story, "I was afraid of running over it, making the red and white explode together..."
"Ugh!" Qianqian punched him angrily, "Stop talking!"
....
After the flag-raising ends, the first Chinese lesson begins with distributing test papers.
Jiang Nian lay on the desk, still puzzled. The bespectacled Aluminum Copper girl had given up just like that; he hadn't even had the chance to get to her.
So young, yet already disheartened with love.
Oh well, brilliant.
Jiang Nian's understanding of love was also rather shallow, a person destined to get divorced in the future. Instead of pursuing love, he thought it better to earn more money and have more girls.
Poor when one keeps to oneself, prosperous when one helps the world.
On the platform, the Chinese teacher was distributing papers, calling out scores above passing.
"Zhou Yuting 90, Ren Dong 104, Chen Lili 117....."
Suddenly, he paused, "Jiang Nian 110."
At these words, the class was abuzz, with the earlier ones being frequent high scorers in Chinese. But Jiang Nian, who usually scored around 80, got a 110?
Uh, actually, it was only the students around Jiang Nian who stirred.
"Really, Jiang Nian, you filled in the father's ID number, didn't you?"
"It's over, Jiang Nian skyrocketed after a summer break."
"Damn, this hurts more than being killed! Please, just tear up the paper, man, or I'll down a pound of Oreos if you admit you cheated?"
Joking to hide a preference, coming here just for food and drink, huh?
The classmates were just teasing, as you couldn't really cheat in Chinese; the more you copied, the fewer points you got.
When Jiang Nian went to the platform to get the paper, he looked calm, though inside he was thrilled. He scored ten points higher than estimated in Chinese—a good start.
The Chinese teacher continued scolding from the platform, "Chinese is getting harder and harder? What's hard about it? Sometimes, find the problems within yourself, okay, has your score improved over time?"
"Have you been diligently practicing, well, Chinese has always had this difficulty, I really don't know how to teach you anymore."
In the classroom, Zhou Yuting shifted her gaze from Jiang Nian, slightly frowning.
How did he score so high?
But she didn't think much of it, as Chinese is a subject where luck sometimes plays a role, and sometimes you just fumble.
Periods three and four were math classes.
The papers were handed out; the math teacher was a young teacher with a bit of a temper. After a round of venting, the papers started being distributed; each student went up to get theirs.
When it was Jiang Nian's turn, the math teacher nodded.
"112, not bad, a lot of progress."
The math class had too many top students, so Jiang Nian's 112 didn't make much of a stir.
Only Zhou Yuting's frown deepened, sensing something ominous.
By noon, Jiang Nian found Qianqian, applying medicine for her in a secluded spot. Her classmate Song Xiyun followed closely, eyes sparkling, a shy smile on her face.
Damn, what's wrong with her?
In the afternoon, the scores for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology came out one after another.
Jiang Nian's combined science score was precisely 210, similar to his estimated score.