Jingfu District, in the study.
On the table are freshly cut fruits and a cup of tea. He drank it, much better than the wilted leaves in Old Jiang’s study.
Jiang Nian is assembling a computer, with Li Qingrong helping unpack the delivery boxes on the side.
"Qingqing, did you choose the parts yourself?"
Li Qingrong: "I looked online for a bit and just bought them randomly."
"Oh, oh, still pretty reasonable." Jiang Nian carefully took out the CPU, "Are smart people just good at everything?"
Li Qingrong didn’t reply, instead handed him a piece of cantaloupe.
"Want so?"
Jiang Nian glanced at it and noticed the cantaloupe was pierced with a toothpick.
"I prefer to hold it with my hands."
Li Qingrong: "?"
After a while.
"Motherboard CUP, SSD, RAM..." Jiang Nian rambled, "Ugh, this cable managent is a hassle."
He did his best to tidy it up, but even he felt it looked a bit ssy.
"Qingqing, this cable managent..."
"It’s okay."
"Then I’m relieved."
After so fiddling, the computer assembly went smoothly, though the cable managent was quite subpar, thankfully the class monitor didn’t mind.
Plugging in the power, everything was ready. Pressing the power button, the computer boots up smoothly, followed by the system installation.
During the waiting interval, he turned and asked.
"Qingqing, you haven’t moved in yet, have you?"
"Yeah." Li Qingrong nodded, looked down, and said, "Just cleaning up a bit."
"Oh, oh."
Jiang Nian wasn’t interested in the class monitor’s household affairs, so he didn’t ask much. He just wanted to be like a quail and enjoy the peace.
After all, when gods fight, it’s the little demons who get squashed.
He certainly didn’t want to get caught up in the divine battle and inadvertently turn friendship into a "Zhen Nan small era."
"I’ll give you five million, leave my daughter!"
"Ew! Thank you, uncle!"
Holding the gift of fate, you can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.
But when it really cos to that point, it actually has nothing to do with him. No teenage romance, nothing of the sort, just purely good classmates.
What, you’re going to punish a thousand just to catch one, huh?
If it were other parents, they might truly react out of love for their child, but... the class monitor’s parents are hard to read.
"Alright, all done." Jiang Nian checked the ti, it was already past six, "Let’s play a ga first to test the computer..."
"Wait! No way! Class is starting soon!"
Li Qingrong saw him rushing to leave, first looked at him puzzled. Then, out of good intention, reminded him out loud.
"You’re already late."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian imdiately cald down.
"Oh, then let’s eat first."
He’s just like that; since he can’t make it in ti, why rush? Being late whether he hurries or not, might as well eat first.
Seeing him run to the door and then co back, Li Qingrong couldn’t help but find it amusing.
"Yeah."
The two walked out, and the sky had already turned dark. There were quite a few pedestrians on the Sunday streets, and a few middle school students zipped past on bicycles.
Under the neon signs, their shadows drifted by.
"What to eat?"
"Anything is fine."
Jiang Nian knew the class monitor would answer like this, so he took her to a wooden bucket rice place for a decent al.
Since she said anything was fine, he decided according to his own preference.
"Is it good?" he asked on purpose.
"Spicy."
"Hehe, you’ve got to practice." Jiang Nian shalessly asked, "Mine isn’t spicy, want to swap?"
Li Qingrong hesitated for a few seconds and shook her head in refusal.
"No."
Seeing he couldn’t tease the class monitor, Jiang Nian gave up accordingly. He just wanted to have a bit of fun, not to be thought of as an idiot.
...
In the classroom, while preparing for the weekly test.
Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong sneaked in amid the chaos, directly taking their seats for the weekly test, and no one seed to notice them.
Except for... Li Hua, the pale-faced gentleman.
He was sitting diagonally across from Jiang Nian, turned his head to glance at Jiang Nian, then at the class monitor, his face imdiately twisted.
"What were you doing this afternoon?"
"Studying, been at ho studying all afternoon." Jiang Nian spoke across the aisle, "And you, were you studying this afternoon?"
"Aow!!" Li Hua’s face turned pale instantly, clutching his head and letting out a piercing sound, "Chi Shi, I was at the internet cafe!"
"Tsk tsk." Jiang Nian intentionally provoked him, continuing to lie, "I didn’t even go to the bathroom, studied for over five hours."
"Damn you, are you even human!"
Hearing Li Hua’s curses, Jiang Nian felt quite pleased. Whether he studied or not wasn’t important; making Li Hua feel he studied was what mattered.
As for Ma Guojun, he couldn’t care less.
Who cares about studying in Egypt.
The weekly test still started with Chinese, and Tao Ran was distributing the answer sheets. Passing by Jiang Nian’s weekly test seat, he casually asked,
"Where’s my doll?"
"On the way."
Jiang Nian felt embarrassed; this Tao Ran was creepily obsessed. Though he seed gentle, inside he was purely a Great Demon King.
The Chinese test naturally gobbled up ti, and before you knew it, most of the evening self-study period had passed.
After finishing the test, as usual, he rested his head on his hand. He did nothing besides staring at the class monitor, simply watching made him happy.
Li Qingrong glanced at him, her eyes showing a bit of helplessness.
"Turn around."
"I won’t."
Li Qingrong: "...."
After collecting the papers, everyone in the class returned to their seats.
The last evening self-study session.
A new week ant new seats, and naturally, a new spot. Group six returned to their loyal corner by the trash can.
"Damn it, who threw spicy strips in the trash?"
Zeng You couldn’t hold back and stood up. Sitting in the front row corner, it was a spot where running away wasn’t an option.
"Who!"
"Is that even a question? It’s the spicy strip prince, Lin Dong." Li Hua jumped to conclusions, "He’s always eating spicy strips in the classroom."
"Damn!" Zeng You said, "He still owes an apple!"
At the ntion of apples, Zhang Ningzhi’s eyes sparkled with interest.
"Are you guys that close?"
Wu Jungu raised his head, frowning slightly. He silently cursed Lin Dong for being indiscriminate, wanting to hook up not just with people’s exes but even steal bros?
If that’s true, he really needs to be controlled!
"Nah, he asked if I wanted to buy an apple." Zeng You said, "I told him to give one, and he kind of agreed."
The abstract version of Zeng You was a bit too advanced for Zhizhi.
Zhang Ningzhi thought for a mont, then fell silent.
"Alright."
"Speaking of apples, isn’t Christmas Eve coming up soon?" Li Hua wiggled around, "Damn, I’m really looking forward to it!"
"Huh? Hua." Jiang Nian was puzzled, "What are you looking forward to? Christmas Eve isn’t a holiday, there are no days off."
"What do you know!" Li Hua snorted, then grinned, "Nian, imagine, on the night of Christmas Eve."
"Wouldn’t it be sothing if a girl confessed to while I was munching on an apple, saying she’s been so tired lately and wants a dependable man to rely on?"
At these words, people around couldn’t hold back.
Jiang Nian chuckled, "How is your apple even hallucinogenic? Have you been eating soybeans on Christmas Eve?"
"Chi Shi!"
Zeng You was even more sarcastic, "You’re dreaming already, yet you give yourself qualities like dependable and reliable?"
"Chi Shi, Chi Shi!!"
"Li Hua, co Christmas Eve, a quarreling couple might punch you, the apple-muncher, out of their way; that’s more likely."
The mocking ca from all directions, unstoppable.
"Ji Ming passes by, not arresting couples. Lifting you by the collar to the office, giving you derits."
"Such is fate, gifting apples only to be tossed back by your crush, dazing you. Just a little daydream in a dizzy spell."
"No one gifts you apples, bury your head in studies during self-study. The trash can stinks you out, the final visions before you pass out."
The toxic remarks poured down like a torrential rain.
"Chi Shi! I’m not listening, not listening!"
Jiang Nian was still laughing when he suddenly felt a poke at his waist. He instinctively turned to look at Zhang Ningzhi and casually asked.
"What’s up?"
Zhang Ningzhi pursed her lips and quietly asked.
"You... in a few days, will you give anyone an apple? I don’t an anything by it, just curious."
Without thinking, Jiang Nian answered, "Nah, I’m a traditionalist, I never celebrate foreign holidays."
Zhang Ningzhi pouted, "Oh."
"If you want, I can give you an apple separately." Jiang Nian added, "Because you’re my desk mate."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Suddenly, Li Hua leaned in.
"Bro, what about ?"
"You... I’ll hit up the market for so soybeans for you." Jiang Nian rubbed his chin, "You’re more suited to eating those."
"You damn punk, seriously... ew!" Li Hua pointed at him, stubbornly saying, "Co that day, soone will gift ."
In the back row.
Li Qingrong glanced at Jiang Nian, with a thoughtful expression on her face.
Apples....
After evening dismissal.
The "going ho team" had one more mber, making it a bit livelier.
The night was deep, the darkness like a blanket.
Xu Qianqian and Song Xiyun walked ahead, arm in arm, chatting and giggling nonstop.
Jiang Nian was the lone outsider, walking a bit apart from the two girls.
The three of them passed the school gate, heading towards the residential area. As the streetlights flickered, their shadows overlapped.
"Jiang Nian!"
"Hm?"
The voice sounded, the shadows scattered like a stone thrown into water, breaking into pieces.
"Do you want apples on Christmas Eve?" Xu Qianqian turned her head to ask, "If you do, we’ll include you in the count."
"What’s there to eat in apples?" Jiang Nian was indifferent.
"It’s a tasty apple, with a sugary heart." Song Xiyun spoke up, "They sell them in supermarkets, you’ll know once you try."
Jiang Nian glanced at Song Xiyun, nodding.
"Alright."
After he spoke, he asked out of curiosity.
"In your budget, how many people are you planning to give to?"
"Including you, about five or six, all close friends." Xu Qianqian said, "Girls really care about rituals."
"I don’t care."
"Of course you don’t, you’re not a girl." Xu Qianqian was speechless, "We actually don’t want to give any, but after discussing, we decided to anyway."
"Why’s that?"
"Because it’s our last Christmas Eve in high school." Song Xiyun explained, "After this, we can only give them to college classmates."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian thought it made sense.
"I’m not giving you guys anything, though."
"Tch, don’t give then." Xu Qianqian glanced at him, "So stingy, acting like anyone cares?"
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