Chapter 409: Chapter 409

Currently, apart from the Chinese language, all the results of the major exams have been released.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian glanced at Li Hua and retorted.

"How much did you get?"

In fact, Jiang Nian knew exactly what Li Hua’s total score was.

Before Li Hua could answer, he chimed in first.

"Math 145, English 82, Science 281, totaling 508. Am I right, bro? I even remembered it for you."

Li Hua’s breath grew heavier, "How much did you get?"

"514." Jiang Nian’s mouth curved to one side as he threw out the heart-stopping number, "Hua, you’d better pray that I went off-topic on my essay."

Upon hearing this, Li Hua suddenly realized that both of them were out of ammunition. Jiang Nian was ahead by 6 points, with only the Chinese exam left.

Their Chinese skills were about the same, making this a fiercely competitive showdown.

This meant that the "Li Hua line" in this major exam might stop at 610, with Jiang Nian racing past it.

In Class Three, only by scoring over 600 could one shed the stray dog identity. Consistently surpassing the "Li Hua line" meant being an excellent student.

"Will you go off-topic?" Li Hua struggled to ask at last.

"Hehe." Jiang Nian displayed a mysterious smile, "The next class is Chinese. Once Lao Liu explains the test paper, you’ll know."

In the second period in the afternoon, Chinese class.

Lao Liu started the class from the essay, and after explaining the topic, some in the class were delighted, others distressed, lamentation filled the air.

Off-topic, maximum score of 38.

Jiang Nian flicked his answer sheet, whistling.

"Didn’t go off-topic."

"Then I’m done for, wait..." Li Hua’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor, "What did you take for Science, for it to be 250?"

"Tsk, just a little breakthrough." Jiang Nian said, "Sometimes, luck is also a part of strength."

"Chi Shi Chi Shi!!!" Li Hua bit his sleeve in frustration, "How come there’s so many perverts in our group?"

Not to mention Fairy Zhizhi, who ascended from class promotion like a Lower Realm Sky Demon. With one ascension, the October major exam directly cut off the old Li Hua dog.

Adding Emperor Fangfang, who was already infinitely close to the Li Hua line.

Now Jiang Nian has directly surpassed the Li Hua line, even though the Chinese results haven’t come out, the outcome... is already destined.

During the second class break.

"Zhizhi, what’s your total score?" Jiang Nian went over to look at her answer sheet, "Adding up it’s... 514?"

With a slightly lower performance in Math at 126, a stable 138 in English, and also 250 in Science, both had the same score for the first time.

"Ah, why are you peeking?" Zhang Ningzhi hurriedly covered the score, somewhat embarrassed since the scores were identical.

The coincidence felt a bit too ambiguous.

It’s like how couples who’ve lived together a long time tend to adopt each other’s habits and even facial features, could the same be true for desk partners?

"Copycat?" Jiang Nian said in surprise.

"Ugh! You’re so annoying!" Zhang Ningzhi burst out, the pink bubble instantly vanished, "Don’t talk to me today!"

Jiang Nian didn’t expect her to puff up like a cat, he raised both hands in surrender.

Zhang Ningzhi, with a grumpy hum, lay down to take a nap, glaring at Jiang Nian before dozing off.

Jiang Nian didn’t react much, and just as he was about to solve a couple of problems, Nie Qiqi bounced out of the aisle.

She had barely laughed twice before Cai Xiaoqing dragged her away.

After the third-period Biology class ended.

Qingbao called Jiang Nian out and talked about the Motivational Star evaluation.

Jiang Nian’s biology grades had visibly improved over the past two months, and Qingbao was benefitting from it too.

"The Motivational Star evaluation involves student participation, but there’s also an evaluation on the teacher’s side, mostly about competing in progress among students."

Qingbao stood in the corridor, holding the test paper in one hand and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with the other, speaking calmly.

"I just happened to be chosen. Take a look if there’s anything among the prizes that you want."

Oh, offering some benefits.

Jiang Nian sighed internally at how thoughtful Qingbao was, thinking that they were pretty close already, so there was no need to be reserved. He gladly accepted.

They went downstairs to the office.

The Science office was empty, and on Qingbao’s desk, Jiang Nian saw the school’s prizes for the "Inspirational Teacher."

The best of the best, a box of navel oranges.

Jiang Nian couldn’t hold back a straight face at the sight of the 10-jin, yellow oranges, turning to look at Qingbao in astonishment.

"Teacher, these things better not be sour?"

"Don’t know, try one and you’ll find out." Qingbao sat down at her desk, "Take the whole box. I don’t eat them."

"Who knows if they’re ripe for picking, no way." Jiang Nian looked at the other prizes, "This towel... quite special, huh?"

Qingbao explained, "Safeguard soap, Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste, and this towel, choose one of the three. I chose the towel."

The towel was completely blue, probably specially picked by Qingbao.

"A bag of rice, cooking oil?" Jiang Nian was stunned, how to choose? "Seriously, the school is so down-to-earth?"

"Actually, you could also choose a live chicken." Qingbao nonchalantly dropped quite the bombshell, "I couldn’t find anyone to handle it, so I didn’t choose it."

"What else can I pick? I’ll take a towel then." Jiang Nian chose the blue towel, and pocketed two oranges on his way out.

As he was about to leave, he paused.

He looked at Qingbao, hesitated for a moment, and asked.

"Teacher, do you have a shopping card?"

Qingbao was momentarily puzzled, "Yes, I do, why?"

"I want to exchange it." Jiang Nian pulled out his phone, "I suddenly remembered a need for it, let me transfer money to you directly."

Qingbao glanced at him, "If you want me to lose my job, go ahead and transfer."

Carrying a box of towels, Jiang Nian went straight to the cafeteria for lunch, taking a short self-study period reasonably.

Meanwhile, in the classroom.

The class was in the middle of self-study, and Xie Zhihao had obtained a copy of the Class Three October exam results from a girl he sat next to.

The list was densely packed with names, and he could only recognize a few people.

Including a few pretty girls in the class and the surrounding "group members," and that Jiang Nian.

English 140, well, similar to my score.

Since he didn’t know the people, he stared at the results for a few minutes but eventually gave up.

Studying, to him, didn’t require too much effort.

Xie Zhihao thought that letting the Olympic class people see him putting in too much effort to score high wouldn’t really showcase his "smart" persona.

Sadly, after school, everyone around him had left.

His gaze searched through the remaining people in the classroom, especially avoiding Jiang Nian’s area; that guy looked unruly.

Breaking the ice by going over there didn’t make much sense.

After much contemplation, he finally settled on a certain Ting who was working hard on problems. It’s just that, studious girls were the most trustworthy.

Once Jiang Nian finished his meal and returned from the cafeteria, he went against the flow of people back upstairs.

Upon entering the classroom, he saw that only Zhang Ningzhi was left in his seating area. So, he took out the navel oranges to share with Zhizhi.

"Eh? Where did you get the navel oranges?" Zhang Ningzhi’s eyes widened, momentarily forgetting her earlier vow not to speak to someone.

However, Jiang Nian wasn’t petty enough to deliberately remind her.

"Hijacked from the Biology teacher. She said she couldn’t share with people who are always angry. So Zhizhi, are you someone who gets angry easily?"

In response was a playful punch.

"No, I have cold hands."

"Really? Then let me warm them up for you." Jiang Nian pretended to reach for her hand, which Zhang Ningzhi quickly avoided.

She slapped him lightly on the arm.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

Not far away, Xie Zhihao heard the playful commotion from Jiang Nian’s direction and immediately froze, forgetting what he was going to say.

She looked up, somewhat helplessly glancing at Xie Zhihao.

This person had suddenly come over, greeted her, and then started rambling a lot, leaving her a bit bewildered.

"I have a suggestion, why don’t you peel the orange?" Jiang Nian asked.

"I won’t." Zhang Ningzhi was still a bit angry, "Why can’t you peel it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ningzhi obediently got up to wash her hands.

With downtime, Jiang Nian glanced at Zhou Yuting, who was being entangled by Xie Zhihao. Without much reaction, he squeezed in a math problem.

Soon, Zhang Ningzhi returned.

Jiang Nian, while working on problems, admired the pretty girl peeling the orange. Her fair hands were smooth and delicate, turning pink with exertion.

Just as they finished dividing an orange, Yao Beibei returned from outside.

She stared straight at the last orange, glancing at Jiang Nian and Zhang Ningzhi covertly snacking, and in a pinched voice asked.

"Can Beibei have a bite too?"

"Huang Beibei, damn, you eat everything." Jiang Nian exclaimed in exasperation, "Why don’t you ask whose orange this is?"

"Not asking, it’s Zhizhi’s now." Yao Beibei snipped, directly taking both Zhang Ningzhi and the orange away.

"Bye-bye, we’re off to eat."

Jiang Nian completed a problem in his seat, then also got up and left the classroom.

Zhou Yuting was uncharacteristically upset; her poor exam performance made her feel unworthy even sitting in the Olympic class.

She never forgot that this was her second time moving up as a replacement.

Though she wasn’t at risk of being moved down now, she still wanted to improve her grades to feel at ease.

Yet, the initially appealing Xie Zhihao, who’d transitioned from Class Zero, was persistently bothering her.

Xie Zhihao always loved to mention Class Zero, frequently going on about our past teachers and so forth, making Zhou Yuting uncomfortable.

It’s like being starving and you’re told the family cook’s ancestor once cooked for the Ming dynasty’s first emperor?

Xie Zhihao’s pretentious talk might work with other girls.

But Zhou Yuting had friends in Class Zero, finding his self-presentation slightly laughable.

"If you need, I know a few people." Xie Zhihao continued, his smile well-calibrated.

"Thank you." Zhou Yuting forced a smile.

Suddenly, Jiang Nian reappeared at the back door of the classroom.

Zhou Yuting and Xie Zhihao both noticed, turning towards the back door simultaneously.

Standing at the entrance, Jiang Nian said nothing, gestured towards Zhou Yuting, and then walked over to the railing to wait.

Swish, Zhou Yuting stood up.

In Xie Zhihao’s bewildered gaze, she slowly walked towards the back door. Afterwards, the two stood together at the railing, chatting.

He was dumbfounded, just like that, she was taken away.

More surprising was that just earlier in the classroom, Jiang Nian had been messing around openly with his female desk mate.

So, what exactly is their relationship?

"Thank you." Zhou Yuting cast a complicated look at Jiang Nian, "I didn’t expect you to get me out of that, I thought..."

"Get you out?" Jiang Nian was confused and waved his hand, "I just wanted to ask you something. Do you have a relative working as a doctor at the Second Hospital?"

She was silent for a moment, then asked.

"Weren’t you hoping?" Jiang Nian turned and asked back.

"No." Zhou Yuting’s emotions were mixed, all that remaining spirit gone, "What’s up, just tell me directly."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian clearly expressed his request.

He needed to take Song Xiyun for a comprehensive check-up without letting Xu Qianqian know, and more importantly, avoiding Old Xu.

Hence, he chose the Second Hospital.

This would require the doctor’s cooperation to declare the check-up free, pretending it was a lucky benefit, to conveniently fool Song Xiyun.

Such things were best handled through personal connections for a smooth win-win.

Confidentiality was crucial; Zhou Yuting didn’t get along with him, and spreading it around wouldn’t be credible. Though it involved spending some money, it saved trouble.

After all, seeking help couldn’t be done empty-handed. But openly accepting gifts was rare in Zhen Nan, and strangers wouldn’t be entertained.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuting was stunned.

"First, check if it can be done; here are some city shopping cards." Jiang Nian handed them to her, "Keep one for yourself."