Jiang Nian burst out laughing and stuffed a backpack into her arms.
"Alright, help me carry the backpack."
Saying this, he stuffed an empty backpack containing twenty thousand yuan into her arms. Then he took her backpack off and weighed it in his hand, clicking his tongue.
"Did you pack bricks in here to take home? Planning to not sleep tonight?"
Xu Qianqian was speechless, but didn't refute. She simply held Jiang Nian's backpack in front of her chest and went downstairs. However, as she walked, something felt off, and she couldn't help but ask curiously.
"What did you pack in your bag, just a vocabulary book?"
"Money."
"Are you sick?" Xu Qianqian said, carrying the backpack forward. She caught a whiff of the sweaty smell coming from the backpack and her face turned white, "Jiang Nian, how long has it been since you washed your backpack?"
"I just washed it last week, just picked up some of my sweat smell." He leaned in, pulling at his white T-shirt, "Hey, if you don't believe me, take a sniff."
"Gross!" The girl tossed her head, putting some distance between them.
On the way home, in the spots where there were no people, Xu Qianqian couldn't help but start a conversation.
"Hey, I heard the class placement list is out."
"Hmm."
"Which class are you in?"
"Oh, don't mention it, I got placed in the third Olympic competition class, 403."
Hearing his regretful tone, the girl's lips couldn't help but curl up. It was as if she was saying, "You really want to be in the same class as me," but when she thought it through, she couldn't be happy about it.
Not being in the same class did feel a little bit disappointing.
"Well, it's a good thing you didn't end up here, I'm actually quite happy."
Back home, going upstairs, they had already swapped back their backpacks.
Jiang Nian entered and happened to see his parents weren't asleep yet. They were in the living room calculating something, with Old Jiang specially wearing glasses, muttering softly.
Li Hongmei didn't even look at Jiang Nian, directly saying, "Shower and get to bed early."
Jiang Nian didn't respond, instead he walked to the center of the living room, standing in front of his parents. The couple turned their heads, looking at their son with puzzlement.
Li Hongmei immediately frowned, "Go shower, you already smell."
"It's not that I don't want to shower, it's just not the right time yet." Jiang Nian said his boldest words without the slightest fear of a harsh reprimand, "Ahem, Comrade Li Hongmei, Comrade Old Jiang, I have an announcement."
Old Jiang looked puzzled, Li Hongmei snorted, thinking of getting up to grab the feather duster.
Suddenly, she saw her son take out a booklet from the backpack. Not a booklet, it seemed to be.... money? Neatly stacked together, two fingers thick.
Li Hongmei's face turned white immediately, jumping up in a flash.
"Did you rob a bank! Return it quickly!"
Old Jiang was calmer, recalling Jiang Nian's reaction that morning, seemingly thinking of something. He looked at the money on the table, then at his son.
"Did you earn this?"
"Yeah, this is just what I've earned so far." Jiang Nian spread his hands, "As for the future, who knows, but you guys can spend freely, no need to save."
Li Hongmei was moved by the words about not needing to save, but still muttered for Jiang Nian to deposit the money back, nagging him.
"What if there's nowhere to spend money in the future? You think you'll never be hungry tomorrow because you're full today? There's your dad and me for the household affairs, you don't need to worry about it."
Jiang Nian chuckled, leaving the words that the bank wasn't taking deposits today, the limit was reached. Without waiting for Li Hongmei to react, he left the pile of money on the table and dashed into his room.
Click, the door locked.
Leaving mom and dad in the living room, unable to decide whether to laugh or cry, wondering who this child takes after with his stubbornness.
The next day, Thursday.
"National Day is coming up soon, how many days do you think the school will give off?" Jiang Nian walked along the road, eating breakfast as he went, "If they only give three days, I'll be satisfied."
"I don't know, National Day is the day after tomorrow, right?" Xu Qianqian's lips, lightly pink, were tightly pressed together, nibbling on a soy milk straw, her eyes half-squinted, making one really want to kiss her.
Jiang Nian's throat bobbed, reprimanding himself harshly in his mind for such an outrageous thought.
Darn it, even rabbits don't eat the grass at the edge of their burrow!
I don't know what's been up lately, maybe being single for so long made even Xu Qianqian look pretty and radiant. Sometimes, in dreams, when I dream about her, I accidentally punch her into a cream puff.
Outrageous, truly outrageous.
Jiang Nian vaguely classified this as adolescent syndrome, shook his head, and continued walking forward.
Just as they were about to part ways at the staircase, Xu Qianqian called out.
"What's up?" Jiang Nian thought she was going to bring up the milk tea again, "I'll treat you at lunch, who drinks milk tea first thing in the morning, are you naturally a water bucket?"
"Who cares!" Xu Qianqian spat, handing him an item.
Jiang Nian looked down to see a pack of "Rising Success" pen refills, the red packaging looked festive. Looking up, the girl had already walked away, turning back at the classroom door.
Their eyes met, Jiang Nian tilted his head to express his confusion, Xu Qianqian gave him the middle finger (huff).
During the morning break, the class teacher burst in suddenly.
"Jiang Nian, time to move the desks."
Hearing this, Jiang Nian acted a bit coy, "Teacher, I must say, I'll miss this place."
The teacher looked at his cheeky expression, slightly speechless, "Do you want to stay? I'll file a report for a special case."
"Ha, just kidding." Jiang Nian laughed awkwardly.
The class burst into a roar of laughter, the joyful atmosphere filling the break.
"Off you go, study hard, don't embarrass our class." The teacher waved his hand, "Upstairs 403, move your desk, chairs, and books over now."
Jiang Nian found two friends to help him, unexpectedly, Le Zhi showed up too.
"Uh, thanks."
"No problem, just lending a hand." Le Zhi had been somewhat silent these days, since the exam he had kept to himself and even surprisingly started reading books.
They arrived early, the others had gone for exercise drills, Le Zhi just skipped it. He didn't seem to have any intention to leave, standing at the 403 classroom doorway chatting with Jiang Nian.
"A couple of days ago, I had a falling out with them."
"Uh, why?" Jiang Nian felt a bit awkward too.
Le Zhi leaned on the corridor wall, the sunlight scattered around as he recounted the event from the day of the exam.
"I felt that hanging out with that group, one would eventually turn into a fool. I think the teacher was right, after slogging through high school, you should at least get into a good university."
After chatting a bit, Le Zhi left.
Jiang Nian felt no ripples in his heart, after all, his intention for moving classes was to avoid getting tangled with Zhou Yuting's group. Whether they truly fell out had nothing to do with him.
Due to the exercise drills, the school building was mostly empty when, suddenly, he heard the sound of desks and chairs being moved at the stairway.
Jiang Nian turned and saw a familiar face.
Zhang Ningzhi?
Hmm? She seemed to be heading in his direction. The only person helping her move desks was another girl, who appeared to be struggling, Zhang Ningzhi's small face flushed red.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Jiang Nian walked over to help.
"We meet again, you're..."
"Oh, it's you." Zhang Ningzhi blinked and seemed a bit shy, softly calling his name, "Jiang Nian... I moved up, to 403."