Chapter Thirty-Six: A Lesson (Fourth Update)

Such peaceful days were certainly not meant for Song Nianqiang and his companion. During the day, they napped in the classroom; at night, they delved into various Taoist arts. Their routines were thoroughly disrupted.

High school teachers have a particular quirk: they love administering tests. At any moment, for the flimsiest of reasons, they could spring an exam, and so, much to their dismay, Song Nianqiang and his friend faced the monthly test. In the past month, they’d learned nothing at all—how were they supposed to take an exam?

But a teacher’s word was law, and even though Song Nianqiang was thoroughly unwilling, he was still assigned a place in the exam hall. The last student in the grade was seated right next to the top student, and Song Nianqiang, by sheer luck, found himself sitting with Jiang Ningzhi—the perfect opportunity.

This delighted Song Nianqiang immensely. He and his chubby friend had originally planned to skip the test, but the first paper was mathematics, and since Song Nianqiang did have some grasp of that subject, he couldn’t bring himself to disappoint his math teacher. Reluctantly, he showed up for the exam.

Finding his seat in the exam hall, Song Nianqiang perked up. With some time left before the test started, he feigned surprise and said to Jiang Ningzhi, “What a coincidence! Fate really keeps bringing us together!”

“You’ve got some nerve,” Jiang Ningzhi shot him a glance, “My seat number is first. As for yours—” She rolled her eyes and returned to her book. Reviewing the textbook before a test was a good student’s habit, though plenty of boys disdained it. The boy seated behind Jiang Ningzhi was fair-skinned and delicate, the picture of a privileged family’s son.

Seeing Song Nianqiang, the young lord behind Jiang Ningzhi snorted, muttering something under his breath. Song Nianqiang didn’t catch it all, but he heard three words: “Swan meat!” The meaning was clear enough.

Normally, Song Nianqiang’s temper would have flared, but just then the invigilator walked in—it was, unfortunately, his own math teacher. Song Nianqiang had to swallow his anger for the moment, though he vowed inwardly, “I’ll deal with you after the test.”

The interminable ninety minutes dragged on. Song Nianqiang was hopeless at math—beyond a few familiar formulas, he could only guess at the multiple-choice questions, then lay his head on the desk and watched Jiang Ningzhi work. She was quite pretty when she was focused—her brows softly furrowed, sometimes biting the tip of her pen, scratching her head when stumped by a tough problem.

Jiang Ningzhi finished the paper in just forty-five minutes, far ahead of the allotted time. Satisfied, she dotted the final mark, glanced over at Song Nianqiang, and caught him staring vacantly at her. She blushed a little and wrinkled her nose at him before resuming her review.

“Sir, the boy in front is copying Jiang Ningzhi’s answers!”

A jarring, supremely irritating voice called out from behind. The male invigilator, who had been deep in conversation with Song Nianqiang’s math teacher, was interrupted. He frowned, glanced at the boy, then walked over to Song Nianqiang, took his paper, scanned it, and set it down again.

“Sit down and answer your own paper properly!”

The teacher rebuked the boy behind. After all, Song Nianqiang’s randomly guessed answers—if he managed to get three out of twelve correct, it would be a miracle. The rest was a sea of blanks. To claim he’d copied someone else was simply laughable.

“Damn it!” Song Nianqiang clenched his fists and muttered, but even in a low voice, Jiang Ningzhi heard him. She tore a small slip from her scratch paper, scribbled a few words, and, while the teacher wasn’t looking, slid it over to him.

“Don’t fight!!!!!!”

Just three words, but with six exclamation marks. Song Nianqiang grinned at her, then swiftly wrote two large characters and pushed the note back. She read it, smiled in relief, and went back to checking her answers.

Song Nianqiang’s note was simple—“Promise!!!!!!!!!!”—punctuated with ten exclamation marks, the determination clear. What exactly he was promising, only he knew.

The bell rang to collect the papers. The teachers gathered them and left. Song Nianqiang nudged Jiang Ningzhi, asking, “How’d it go? Was it smooth?”

“It was all right. The last question was tricky, but with the square root formula and a cubic inequality, it fell into place,” she replied, dimples appearing as she smiled.

“Heh, you top students are something else. My head aches just looking at the paper,” Song Nianqiang said honestly. This had always been his problem—since his earliest days, he’d felt an urge to tear up his test sheets. As his uncle used to say, “It’s in the genes. No one in the Liu family is cut out for studying!”

“If you buckle down, maybe you’ll be a top student too,” Jiang Ningzhi replied cheerfully. She didn’t have the airs of a model student at all and chatted happily with Song Nianqiang.

After the test, there was a thirty-minute break. The boy who’d sat behind Jiang Ningzhi came over and asked, “Ningzhi, how did you do?”

“Damn it! That brat dares to call her Ningzhi? Looks like he needs a lesson,” Song Nianqiang thought. Just then, the chubby friend came over to join him. The other boy, catching sight of them, shot Song Nianqiang a smug look that said, “Do you really think you can compete with me for Jiang Ningzhi? You’re not even in the running!”

Seeing the look, Song Nianqiang snorted and shook his head. At that moment, Jiang Ningzhi’s good friend, Si Na, came to fetch her for the restroom. Before leaving, Jiang Ningzhi glanced at Song Nianqiang, warning him silently with her lips—“Don’t fight!”—and even clenched her small fist for emphasis.

“Listen, I don’t care who you are. You’d better stay away from Jiang Ningzhi from now on, or I’ll beat you till you can’t control your bladder!” With that, the boy strode off toward the restroom. Song Nianqiang exchanged a look with the chubby friend, who burst out laughing, “Qiangzi, he’s threatening you? You’d better be careful not to wet yourself!”

“Shell, come here!” Song Nianqiang beckoned to someone at the door. The one he called Shell hurried over. “Boss Qiang, what’s up?”

Ever since Song Nianqiang had put Zhou Tong in his place, his name had spread through the lower-tier classes. But the honors students like Jiang Ningzhi only cared about their studies—they’d never even heard of him.

“Did that brat just head to the restroom?” Song Nianqiang asked, pointing at the now vacant seat behind him. Shell nodded. “All right, you’re done here.”

Grinning slyly, Song Nianqiang stood and headed for the restroom, the chubby friend and Shell in tow. Being in their company made Shell feel pretty important—after all, Song Nianqiang and his friend were legends in the lower classes. Not only were they good fighters, but they also had a habit of disappearing for days or even a week at a time. The school’s rules stated that unexplained absences longer than a day would be severely punished, yet somehow, they were never disciplined.

When Song Nianqiang and his group reached the restroom, they bumped right into the boy as he was coming out. Song Nianqiang grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back inside, while Shell smartly began shooing everyone else away. “Clear out, clear out! Use the other restroom—this one’s occupied!”

The school’s troublemakers, seeing Song Nianqiang inside, left without a word. Even the top students knew better than to cross these notorious delinquents. Soon, only Song Nianqiang, the chubby friend, and the boy from behind Jiang Ningzhi remained in the restroom.