Chapter 69: The Cringe Factor Is Off the Charts

Jiang Nian was somewhat absent-minded while taking a shower, until he finally blew dry his hair and lay down on the bed.

What was Xu Qianqian doing right now?

Crying? Probably not. She was probably taking a bath at this moment.

Damn it, the image just popped into his head. Now he was tossing and turning even more, completely unable to sleep.

He rolled over back and forth in bed, mentally cursing himself for being a creep. But then again, so many years had passed since that incident, leaving perhaps only a faint trace of sorrow.

Caring too much felt like it might reopen old wounds.

Clearly, she was just feeling a bit blue and wanted to be alone for a little while. And yet, you had to drop a low-EQ comment like, "This too shall pass," and boom, you ended up making her burst into tears.

Brilliant. The kitchen stove is on fire and you go turn it off.

That's a total disaster.

After thinking it over and over, Jiang Nian decided he still needed to say something.

It couldn't be too heavy, nor too detached. Let's see how those high-EQ guys on the internet talk to girls and find some inspiration.

...Let me see yours?

Damn it, how did I accidentally end up in the Tieba forum!

Jiang Nian quickly backed out, clicked into the True Love forum, and quietly exited three seconds later. A bunch of guys pretending to be pure romantics just to fish for something—what a joke!

After all that tossing and turning, seven minutes had already passed.

The forum was full of abstract nonsense; Jiang Nian decided to switch apps to look for material.

His nickname on RED was "nono," and people often mistook him for someone else, pulling him into random conversations. Therefore, his direct messages weren't that many—only twenty-something in total.

"God's mill grinds slow, but exceedingly fine."

Jiang Nian's face was covered in question marks; this didn't quite sound like a healing quote. Besides, whenever he saw Jesus, his mind immediately went to the rotten memes about priests and altar boys.

Forget it, I'll just improvise.

After hesitating for a long time, he finally sent one.

"Are you taking three days off?"

Five minutes later, Xu Qianqian replied with a simple "Mm."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and typed out his reply.

"Get some sleep early."

On the other end, Xu Qianqian didn't reply further. Jiang Nian guessed it was probably either a "Okay" or an "Mm." His emotional intelligence was running on empty, and his abstract humor was hit-or-miss.

The next day.

Jiang Nian didn't remember when he actually fell asleep; it seemed he just dozed off for a split second and the night was gone.

In reality, the schedule for senior year of high school was extremely tight, and there was never enough sleep. You either burned through your life expectancy by brute-forcing it, or you valued your dog life and went to bed early.

In the words of Jiang Nian's cousin, you simply couldn't afford to run your body down.

Otherwise, once you got to college, you'd catch a cold just from peeing in the winter.

He picked up his phone and checked. Xu Qianqian had replied at eleven-forty last night. Surprisingly, it wasn't an "Okay" or an "Mm"—she had actually transferred money to him.

"What the hell!"

Oh, right, three yuan for the steamed buns he bought her yesterday.

Scared the hell out of me, seriously.

Tap, tap, tap. He hammered out a line of text: "Don't go transferring money in the middle of the night, it's pretty creepy."

Xu Qianqian must have woken up too, as she sent a few question marks back.

"Then don't accept it."

"Ha, are you kidding? Call me Daddy and I'll refund it to you." Jiang Nian familiarly typed out the line, his mood greatly improving now that Xu Qianqian had returned to normal.

"In your dreams!"

After finishing his morning routine, Jiang Nian tossed the hairclip he bought as a gift to repay Zhang Ningzhi's favor into his bag.

His schoolbag was already full of books, and the piggy bank was too big to carry around, so he planned to bring it to Song Xiyun during the sports meeting tomorrow. As for Xu Qianqian's phone, his mom said now wasn't the right time to return it.

True enough, he would just have to wait for another opportunity.

In the morning, the two of them walked side by side to school, looking no different from usual. It was as if the heavy scene from the previous night had never happened at all.

Yet this kind of thing was a lot like being pregnant—even if you scrubbed yourself clean, you couldn't just pretend it had never happened.

He only had two events in the sports meeting, right? If he could manage to get a leave of absence... Jiang Nian thought to himself, and immediately put the plan into action by pulling out his phone.

Forget it, I won't mention it to her just yet.

I'll see if the leave gets approved first; otherwise, things would get super messy if it fell through. Given his personality, he might just end up skipping school entirely, which would inevitably lead to a trial by the trinity of authorities.

Knowing his mom's temperament, puppy love? She'd slap you right into next week!

Oh, right, puppy love with Xu Qianqian? Well... let's think about that later.

Just kidding, neither he nor Xu Qianqian had any intentions of entering a relationship. What kind of buff did high school romance give to your studies anyway? It didn't seem to have any point.

Still, there was a fair amount of ambiguity between them—it wasn't entirely innocent.

Both families were single-child households, and the adults had always maintained a very good relationship. Naturally, they hoped Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian would end up together as a couple, though things didn't turn out that way in the end.

As for why their relationship had ranged from poor to mediocre during middle school and the early part of high school, it was hard to put into words.

Rebelliousness, vanity... general brainlessness, they had a bit of all of it.

Once they reached high school, however, they suddenly realized that this relationship beyond mere friendship was actually quite precious. Out of nowhere, it hit them: oh~ childhood sweethearts were actually a rare commodity after all.

The main point was that she looked good, and the vibe was set.

Teenagers don't think too far into the future; at seventeen or eighteen, they feel invincible. They just go with the flow and enjoy the moment, rather than playing house and calling each other husband and wife.

The future?

What on earth is that?

Morning self-study.

Li Hua let out a yawn. Tomorrow was the day of the sports meeting. Having looked forward to it for so long, the day was finally here, and he wished he could fast-forward straight to it.

With that thought, he patted Jiang Nian on the shoulder.

"What's first period?"

Jiang Nian turned his head to look at little Zhizhi, who immediately began frantically flipping through her schedule. Her oversized school uniform jacket couldn't conceal her well-proportioned figure, her slightly flushed face, and her fair swan-like neck.

Whoever invented the concept of a young maiden was an absolute genius; it was simply too wonderful for words.

Sometimes during class, Jiang Nian would catch a faint, lingering fragrance drifting over from the desk beside him. He would barely manage to hold back from blurting out some shameless remark: Babe, can I have a lick?

If he actually said that, he'd be completely done for! Orochimaru of Class 3, Grade 12—Jiang Nian!

"First period... is English," Zhang Ningzhi said in a fluster, tucking a stray lock of hair that had fallen forward behind her ear as she straightened up. "After that is English, math, and P.E."

"Oh, the English teacher's class," Jiang Nian thought to himself, time to go begging for food again.

Little Xi's snacks were actually quite tasty, and the best part was that her desk was like a treasure chest. It was always fully stocked every day, and Little Xi never hoarded them; he managed to plunder a little bit every single time.

Goblin mode activated, cast Gluttony Card!

After morning self-study, a large group of students immediately slumped across their desks, including Zhang Ningzhi. She adjusted her arms, trying to find a comfortable angle to rest her head.

Suddenly, her arm was poked.

Startled, she didn't sit up from the desk, but instead turned her head to reveal just a pair of eyes, blinking rapidly.

She saw Jiang Nian holding something in his hand, stealthily reaching it out toward her desk cubby while making sure no one was looking.

His five fingers unspooled like a blossoming lotus flower, revealing a blue rabbit hairclip.

Zhang Ningzhi froze, staring at the rabbit hairclip with her mind completely blank. Two or three seconds later, her heart leaped into her throat. What... what is this?

"Huh?" Seeing that she wasn't reacting, Jiang Nian simply shoved it straight into the wide pocket of her school uniform jacket.

Can a single rabbit hairclip really lag your brain out for this long?

I have an immature idea.

A warm, tingling sensation instantly welled up in Zhang Ningzhi's heart. All ten of her fingers curled up unconsciously, and she buried her face deeply into the crook of her arm, which was wrapped in the sleeves of her thermal shirt and school uniform jacket.

Her face turned completely red, leaving her without even the strength to say thank you, while the thumping of her heart felt exceptionally intense.

Outside the window, the sunlight seemed to grow thick and syrupy at that very moment.