"Huh?" Xu Qianqian glanced at him skeptically, "Really?"
"Of course it's true, but I turned it down," Jiang Nian lied without blushing, "I don't plan to date in senior year, I just want to study."
This was Zhou Yuting's original words, shamelessly plagiarized by Jiang Nian.
"Hmm, it's good that you think this way." Xu Qianqian walked ahead, speaking earnestly, "You'll have more choices in college, no need to limit yourself to a small town."
"Oh, it sounds like you know a lot?" Jiang Nian clicked his tongue.
Xu Qianqian's face flushed, "My cousin told me."
"Oh, has your cousin found a boyfriend yet?"
"No..." Xu Qianqian's voice got lower and lower, explaining with a lack of confidence, "My cousin is different, her goal is graduate school."
Then came some hard-to-understand words, like "modern independent women" and "upward choices," filling the air with joy on their way home from evening study.
6, I'm from Dunhuang, a glance can be real, cheese snow leopard, that's the mural.
Jiang Nian laughed heartily and spoke mysteriously.
"Hey, you know? The old granny at our village entrance is single at 80, guess what. Just as she was about to pass away, the ground suddenly cracked open, and out walked an Immortal Monarch."
"The Immortal Monarch fed the granny an Immortal Pill, and she instantly returned to 18. In the end, they went home hand in hand as a godly couple."
"What a scene, purple energy came from the east, red flags fluttering, crowds of people. Everyone for miles around envied this pair. So you tell your cousin to hang in there, she'll definitely find her true love."
"Don't talk about my cousin like that..." Xu Qianqian was very embarrassed.
Jiang Nian casually said, "Xu Qianqian, your cousin is a bit off, interact with her less."
"Oh."
.....
After returning home, Jiang Nian again heard the sound of his parents sighing coming from the room.
Seeing as it was already late, it wasn't appropriate to knock on the door, so he directly made a phone call. Mom's voice came through the door, yelling with full spirit.
"Jiang Nian, are you itching for a spanking? Not sleeping at night, calling for what!"
"Uh, I was just curious, you've been sighing for two nights." Jiang Nian said, "Oh yeah, mom, I forgot to tell you, this time I scored...."
"Don't add to the chaos, go to sleep!"
"Oh, oh." Jiang Nian was sweating profusely.
It seems there's really something going on, otherwise, after exams, they would typically ask in detail about the results. Now they're so busy they forgot, probably dealing with something tricky.
However, Jiang Nian didn't dwell on it. He wasn't going to worry blindly about his parents' matters. If it was a lack of money, he could help out, but otherwise, he couldn't do much.
As Li Hongmei put it, getting good grades counts as being filial.
Jiang Nian thought, after the class placement is finalized in a couple of days, he'd talk about it with them. But better yet, ask Old Jiang about it tomorrow, just to know.
The next morning.
Click, the old lock of Jiang Family's door made a key sound. With a creak, a ray of morning light shot into the dim living room as Jiang Nian returned after buying breakfast.
Just in time to see his dad, Old Jiang, getting up early to go to the toilet, Jiang Nian blocked him to ask questions.
"Why are you, a kid, asking so much?" Old Jiang looked puzzled, with a stern face, trying to regain the authority of a stern father, "Don't meddle in adult matters."
"Comrade Old Jiang, I am already an adult."
"Still a kid."
"As a family member, I am also earning money." Jiang Nian shook the buns in his hand, "Handling one of three meals at home, it's not unreasonable to have some right to know, right?"
Even a biological son is no exception to the rule of eating someone's food makes you soft, taking someone's hand makes you short. Old Jiang was at a loss for words, furrowed his brows for a while, and eventually told him the truth.
"It's nothing, the old family shrine needs money for renovation."
"Pool money?"
"Pretty much, it's not decided yet." Old Jiang waved his hand broadly, "Alright, now you know, go to school."
"Oh." Jiang Nian felt somewhat awkward, even if he guessed the result, he asked tentatively, "Is the budget tight? How about I chip in?"
Old Jiang was too lazy to reply, waved his hand, and went into the toilet.
Sigh, alliance of fatherly woes.
Jiang Nian put the morning's events behind as soon as he left the house, he was insignificant anyway. When it comes to money issues, they definitely won't let him get involved, so whatever.
Salt, rice, oil, and vinegar — worst-case scenario, he can subsidize the household from elsewhere in the future.
Not sure if it was bad luck to leave without checking the almanac, but just after separating from Xu Qianqian, he turned a corner at the classroom door and bumped into Zhou Yuting.
"Jiang Nian." Zhou Yuting's eyes were still a bit red; for once, she took the initiative to greet him.
"Uh, actually, I have severe myopia in my left eye," Jiang Nian moved aside to the right, "Deaf in my left ear by 80%, classmate, who are you?"
Zhou Yuting: ".... I know you're still mad at me."
Bi Yang's evening mood made Jiang Nian unable to tell if she was serious or fishing sarcastically.
Seeing her red eyes, he momentarily felt a bit soft-hearted. Were his words last night too harsh? She was a girl, after all.
Sigh, girls, can't even compare to beasts.
Seeing there was no one in the classroom watching them, Jiang Nian swiftly leaned closer to Zhou Yuting, gently whispering with a bubbly tone.
"Baby, I'm not mad, I advanced in class."
Zhou Yuting was stunned, and then blood rushed to her head, she was almost about to faint.
"You!"
In the first afternoon class, the preliminary list for class advancement came out. Sure enough, only Jiang Nian from their class made it, his name was among the sixteenth line of the list.
His assigned class was Science Olympic Competition Class 3, also known as A403. Xu Qianqian's class was on the third floor, Science Olympic Competition Class 4, A304, unfortunately not in the same class.
During evening study, he again went to ask the homeroom teacher for leave.
"Jiang Nian, I remember you just asked for leave the day before yesterday? Why again?"
"It's like this, my illness relapsed."
"Relapsed?"
"Yes."
The homeroom teacher looked at the leave request, then looked at his soon-to-be-promoted disobedient student, his heart already played the Actor BGM on auto-loop.
Your fake illness is too superficial, like an actor with no talent... Byd, now you're not even pretending, are you!
He twitched his eyelid repeatedly but eventually nodded.
"Alright, be safe."
Taking advantage of the night, Jiang Nian gleefully exited the school gate, pulled out his phone by the roadside, and made a call.
"Sister Zhao, yes, it's me."
"Mm-hmm, I'm by the side of the county road, can you come and pick me up? Mm, yes, during class."
Spending four thousand wasn't entirely wasted, at least there was a pickup service. Jiang Nian stood on the roadside with his arms crossed, planning to complete the task today.
When you have no money, you don't feel lacking. Once you have money, holes are everywhere.
In a small town, there aren't many cars; the dim streetlights illuminated the entire road, like laying a golden yellow carpet.
Fifteen minutes later, a lady's motorcycle stopped by the roadside. Zhao Qiuxue removed her helmet, smiled at Jiang Nian by the road, and tilted her head.
"Jiang, my handsome guy, hop on."