Chapter 17: What the Heck, No, Sis, Why Are You Such a Hothead?

Page 1/3

The daydreams of a subject-skewed underdog: poor at English but a math whiz. Revered by thousands, favored by teachers, adored by the class belle.
In reality, he was neither good at English nor math.
Even though the English teacher had given him some attention last semester, this semester his score of 140 made it impossible to match the expectation—he felt like a ghost, utterly invisible.
Returning to his seat, classmates all around glanced back at him.
Jiang Nian felt a bit embarrassed, cleared his throat, spread out his test paper, and pretended nothing had happened.
Though the English teacher repeatedly forbade chatting, it couldn’t stop the enthusiasm of his classmates. They all looked at Jiang Nian with wide eyes, disbelief written all over their faces.
“No way, you really memorized all 3,500 words?”
“Yeah, just pick any random one.”
“Jiang Nian, can I borrow your test paper? I want to see how you wrote your essay,” a shy girl in the front row asked.
“Sure.”
Nearby, Zhou Yuting gripped the corner of her English test paper, sinking into despair. Jiang Nian scored 573? That was over forty points above her—was there still hope for her to get promoted to the advanced class?
In principle, only the best survive; passing the cutoff gave hope, but in practice, only one student per parallel class usually made it.
The reason was simple: all the top students had already been sent out. The class’s level dropped from the top of the parallel classes to the bottom. What kind of homeroom teacher would want to keep such a struggling class?
Thus, homeroom teachers generally adopted conservative promotion policies. If a student was truly outstanding and parents insisted, it was easier to just let them go.
If a student only had a chance to be promoted, the teacher usually would have a gentle talk.
“Are you sure you want to go? Young man, the path ahead is hell!”
“You drive a Mazda—what are you doing crashing a party full of Mercedes and Rolls-Royces? You won’t keep up the pace and might get sent back.”
At this point, most students would back down.
There were two more big exams after promotion; if grades fluctuated too much, the student would be advised to quit. Nobody cared if you cheated or just had a bad day—everyone got kicked out.
Moving desks to join the Olympiad training class was glorious—but moving them back to the original class was humiliating.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yuting clenched her fists tightly. Her pale fingers curled involuntarily, knuckles white, trembling slightly.
One English test had shattered her Olympiad dreams.
A new class, a new persona, new suck-ups… Just the thought of those bespectacled, rigid top students unable to grovel at her feet made Zhou Yuting grit her teeth.
Jiang Nian! It’s all his fault!
...
“What do you want from me?”

Page 2/3

At noon, in the shade of lush trees by the basketball court.
Jiang Nian held a red bean popsicle, peeled the wrapper and took a lick, then looked up curiously at Song Xiyun, who had forcibly dragged him out.
“You’ve been secretive, now can you tell me?”
He hadn’t interacted much with Song Xiyun before, but through Xu Qianqian and their recent frequent test preparations, they had become somewhat familiar.
“What did you do last night?” Song Xiyun looked uneasy.
Jiang Nian glanced at her suspiciously, thinking she looked like someone who caught her rich husband cheating and was torn between confrontation and divorce… What was going on?
A new drama? Pinru’s wardrobe?
“Sis, we’re innocent, okay?”
Song Xiyun wore a loose white summer uniform shirt and light pants. She looked like a cute and modestly dressed beauty, with a rating above 80.
“No way, can’t do that.”
“Nothing much, I was studying in the classroom for evening self-study,” he said, licking his popsicle.
“Lying!” Song Xiyun blushed, “You weren’t in the classroom; you clearly went out!”
He really wasn’t on Shenyang Street—those wild days were over...
Jiang Nian licked his popsicle and started making up answers, “How do you know I scored 573?”
“Who asked you?”
Because a father knows his daughter best.
“Wait, you scored 573?” Song Xiyun looked shocked, then asked, “Duoshao? You scored Duoshao?”
Jiang Nian grinned, licked the popsicle.
“Since you’re sincerely asking, I’ll tell you...”
Song Xiyun calculated quickly, “That means you’re going to be promoted. The cutoff won’t be above 550, so your score places you in the middle ranks of the science Olympiad class.”
“Yes.” Jiang Nian licked.
Song Xiyun was speechless, “Can you put down your popsicle? You’re making me feel sick.”
“Want a taste?” he offered.
“No thanks,” Song Xiyun steadied herself, recalled her purpose, took a deep breath, and asked, “Did you sign up for a gym membership last night?”
“Whoa, are you stalking me?” Jiang Nian was startled, “Addicted to a secret crush?”
“Stop being so narcissistic!” Song Xiyun couldn’t keep up with his jokes and started to feel sorry for Xu Qianqian wondering how her bestie could tolerate him.

Page 3/3

Anyway, she couldn’t stand it and felt like vomiting.
“How did you know I signed up for the gym membership?” Jiang Nian seemed to return to normal, squinting at the hot playground under the blue sky and white clouds.
Warm breeze, mood lifted.
“Aren’t you curious how I knew about your membership?” she countered.
“Why?” Jiang Nian was distracted.
“Because you got the card through my mom.”
“Oh, huh?” Jiang Nian looked up, “So that’s your mom. No wonder she looked familiar. But your mom’s temperament is much better than yours.”
Song Xiyun blushed, “I just wanted to ask why you suddenly signed up and spent so much money on classes?”
“Working out, who knew it was your mom?”
“How do you explain the classes? You don’t even have time to attend, right?” Song Xiyun pursed her lips, “And with your build, being on the basketball team, what’s the point of working out?”
“There’s no rule against basketball players working out...” Jiang Nian stopped mid-sentence, looked at Song Xiyun’s cautious and doubtful eyes.
At that moment, he seemed to realize something.
“Wait, sis, you don’t actually think I’m interested in your mom, do you? Damn, are you that naive?”
“What?” Song Xiyun was caught off guard, her face flushed, “No, that’s not what I meant, just... I happened to know.”
“My mom was worried you wouldn’t have time for classes and that the money would be wasted. Well... I think the same. Your money didn’t grow on trees. If you want to cancel classes...”
“No need, don’t worry about me,” Jiang Nian waved his hand, “I was going to sign up and buy classes anyway. If not from your mom, it’d be someone else.”
“Really?” Song Xiyun asked.
“Yeah, yeah, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be off.”
“Hmph.” Song Xiyun finally relaxed, “Hehe, I’m off then—I have to tell Qianqian you scored 573.”
Watching Song Xiyun’s departing figure, Jiang Nian thought to himself:
This girl is a little dirty-minded.
*Ding!* [At thirty-eight years old, on your first day signing up for a gym membership, you bought classes and saw initial results, deciding to add sixty more sessions.
Task: Repurchase sixty classes. Reward: 30,000 RMB.]