CHAPTER 496: CHAPTER 409: ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

"Senior, we’re leaving now." Lin Yuxi waved.

"Okay."

After they left, Jiang Nian took the meal card from Li Hua’s hand.

"How did it go?"

"Sigh... didn’t do well, I stuttered a bit." Li Hua started acting again, trying not to laugh while keeping a straight face, looking like a big strong man.

"Wow, the junior girls seem really enthusiastic, huh?"

"Enthusiastic, my ass! Faker!" Jiang Nian laughed while eating, almost spitting out his meatballs, "Got anything else you want to ask?"

"Nope, what else is there to ask, darn it!" Li Hua waved it off, "But don’t get the wrong idea, we’re just friends, me and the junior girls."

....

"Alright, that’s it for today’s math class."

"Class rep, come over for a moment."

As soon as the third class ended, nearly half of the class emptied out instantly. Especially the boys, who rushed out hugging basketballs and soccer balls.

"Quick, grab the court!"

"Old Ma, get moving!"

"Move, you fool! Born as Li Hua!"

Zhang Ningzhi was still seated, showing no intention to get up. It looked like her "consideration" wasn’t over yet, she needed more time.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then curiously asked.

"Are you not feeling well today? If you can’t do intense exercise, then there’s no choice, I’ll have to..."

"You’re the one not feeling well!" Zhang Ningzhi interrupted him angrily, frowning at him, "What are you up to?"

Liar!

Jiang Nian, unfazed, admitted openly.

"I’ll have to go play soccer with Li Hua and the others. After all, they can’t do without me."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi felt a bit embarrassed.

She thought to herself that she misunderstood him, thinking he’d say he was playing badminton with the class monitor, causing her face to heat up unconsciously.

"Oh, I see."

"Why is your face red?" Jiang Nian teased with a smile.

"None of your business!" Zhizhi dashed off immediately to find Yao Beibei.

While talking to Yao Beibei, she glanced again in Jiang Nian’s direction. Finding him talking to the class monitor, her face turned red again.

It was too embarrassing to do anything else now.

"I’ll head down first to play a bit with Zhang Ningzhi." Jiang Nian chatted with the class monitor for a few moments, gave a nod, and prepared to leave.

Li Qingrong didn’t react much, just nodded.

"Okay."

After going downstairs, Jiang Nian met up with Zhang Ningzhi.

"Let’s play a bit before gathering."

Zhang Ningzhi made an "oh" sound and followed him down the stairs. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something, and asked Jiang Nian.

"You have a match during evening study, can you finish the chemistry paper today?"

As his desk mate, she knew Jiang Nian was busy trying to improve his chemistry grades lately.

"Can’t say for sure." Jiang Nian frowned slightly, "I’ll skip my nap at noon, squeeze out some time, and might be able to finish two pages."

"Should I... help you mark and correct them?" Zhang Ningzhi asked.

"You have the time?"

"Yes."

"Great, I’ll bring you a drink tonight." Jiang Nian smiled, "But let’s not talk about this now, I want to go play soccer for a bit after this."

"Okay, then." Zhang Ningzhi pursed her lips.

As usual, PE class involved the same old routine: gathering, running laps, and doing exercises. Before dispersing, Jiang Nian waved to Liu Yang and the others.

"I’ll play badminton for a bit, and I’ll be down in a while."

"Damn! You’re playing with the girls again!"

"You scoundrel, kick him off the team!"

"Hey, you can’t just say that." Li Hua jumped in to mediate, "It’s not like he won’t play soccer, he’ll probably just play a bit and then come."

As soon as Li Hua said that, Liu Yang, Ma Guojun, and Lin Dong all looked at him.

"Bastard, did you take a bribe?"

"You sly dog, definitely up to something shady!"

"Of course, it’s usually Li Hua who’s the most foul-mouthed. He must’ve gotten something good in return, let’s ’aruba’ him later."

After the class dispersed, Jiang Nian left amid Li Hua’s pig-like screams, carrying a badminton racket to find Zhang Ningzhi.

"It’s a bit noisy, huh."

Over there, Zhang Ningzhi saw him coming over. Her eyes immediately sparkled, and she ran over quickly.

"Weren’t you going to play soccer?"

"I got kicked out, so let’s play some badminton." Jiang Nian waved his racket, "I’ll beg them later to let me back on the team."

"Oh, how pitiful." Zhang Ningzhi’s eyes turned into crescent moons with laughter.

"Yeah, yeah." Jiang Nian stood to the side with his racket, standing there for a while, "It’s our turn, just hit however you want."

"Alright!"

The shuttlecock danced lightly in the air, not requiring much force.

No matter where Zhang Ningzhi hit the shuttlecock, Jiang Nian could easily receive it. He kept feeding the shuttlecock to areas she could hit back from.

After playing for a while, Jiang Nian gradually increased the intensity, causing Zhang Ningzhi to run around and come off the court panting for a break.

Standing nearby, Li Qingrong watched for a while. Seeing Zhang Ningzhi step off.

"Can I play?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Nian looked at Zhang Ningzhi. Zhang Ningzhi’s face flushed again, but thankfully the redness from exercising hid her shyness.

She remembered the scene from the morning class and felt so embarrassed that she wanted to hide.

Why’s he looking at me!

Does he think I’m being possessive or something? It’s not like I control him!

"Su... sure." Zhang Ningzhi finished, holding her thermos cup, standing on the side, awkwardly sipping hot water.

Jiang Nian exchanged a glance with Li Qingrong, and grinned.

"Wanna serve?"

Bam!

A sonic boom rang out on the court, with a strength unlike before, as the shuttlecock traced a silver arc in the air.

After a few exchanges, Li Qingrong jumped up for a smash.

Zhang Ningzhi stood aside, carefully watching while holding her thermos.

....

After school.

After a nonstop rotation through a PE class, Jiang Nian walked out of the school, the cool sunlight above, following the crowd off campus.

After playing a few rounds, he turned towards the sports field.

His classmates on the soccer team were hustling back on defense, practicing zealously. Only to soon notice a few girls from the class watching nearby.

Geez, these guys... so damn real.

Of course, once Jiang Nian joined the game, the intensity on the court immediately ramped up, leaving everyone panting heavily.

Thus, he received many blessings from his teammates.

Stepping outside the school gate, he asked around about a storeroom on the ground floor near the teachers’ apartments. Being inexpensive was no problem since it wouldn’t be occupied.

The first floor of the teachers’ apartments were storage rooms. Some teachers added water and electricity, and then rented them out to senior or extra-year students.

Like Luo Yong, who rented a middle-section apartment.

Luo Yong stood under the sparse wutong trees, scratching his face awkwardly.

Just last weekend, because he missed practice, he was promptly bumped from starting positions by Jiang Nian, straight to the bench.

Saying he’s not upset was not possible.

But after class three beat class one, Luo Yong was eager to play. After all, if you lose in love, you should win in battle.

During the PE class practice, he attended too.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Nian came to him looking for a place to rent. It piqued his interest, to discuss the starting position issue too.

"Brother Nian, what made you think of renting a place?"

He initially intended to use this opportunity to open up, but Jiang Nian’s response stopped him dead.

"To secretly guard the camp, what else?"

"Oh... okay." Luo Yong was speechless, thinking this was too blunt, but finally squeezed a response, "Well, it’s natural."

With nothing more to say, he took Jiang Nian to find a place.

"It’s already December, good places are rented out. What’s left are either sublets or not very good."

"I’m not living there, just need a place to watch videos." Jiang Nian said casually, "As long as it has water and electricity, a small space is fine too."

He remembered the system task from last time that returned a hundredfold on profits. It might require earning five or six hundred next time, or even a thousand.

A hundred is easy, he could complete that with the people around him.

If it’s bigger, it might involve stockpiling. Besides, with the aim to milk the system, even freebies were welcome.

Rent a storage room, just in case.

If it’s not needed, it’s no big loss, as the teacher’s apartment is near the senior building. It only takes two or three minutes from the basketball court’s side gate.

Conveniently solving the problem for Chen Yunyun and the others about washing and drying hair.

It’s not even troublesome, just buying a heater and two hairdryers, there’s no need to rush after class everyday.