Chapter 37: Who Called Out "Dou Force, Third Stage"?

"Zhizhi, why is your face so red?" Yao Beibei asked curiously.

"It's... it's nothing." Zhang Ningzhi fanned herself with her hand. "It's just too hot after running laps."

"True, I'd give anything to go home and sit in the AC right now," Yao Beibei said, living up to her reputation as the pride of yellow-skinned women. "Baby, do you... not sweat at all?"

Zhang Ningzhi wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground. She never wore clothes that highlighted her figure, but Yao Beibei’s relentless curiosity had led her to find out Zhang’s size within just a few days.

"Beibei, stop it, I don't know what you're talking about."

Finally, it was almost Class 3's turn.

Jiang Nian was still chatting with Li Hua and Ma Guojun. They had been talking about games, but someone had brought up which websites were good, and the conversation had taken a sudden, crooked turn.

"Ugh, I can't access many websites on my iPhone," Ma Guojun sighed, turning to Jiang Nian. "Hey, do you use an iPhone?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and nodded. "I keep to myself and follow the rules."

Ma Guojun: "..."

"Stop with the lame memes, kid. It's draining." The chubby boy was speechless. "Brother, can you be a bit more stoic and less abstract? Wasting such a handsome face on these constant memes is a real shame."

He found Jiang Nian too devious, and capable of being even worse.

When it was time for Class 3 to disperse and return to the classroom, the crowd straggled toward the exit. Students from three different classes merged on the stairs, looking like a dense swarm from afar.

The Science Olympiad classes were close by; Xu Qianqian's class was just ahead of Jiang Nian's.

As the two groups converged, Xu Qianqian was walking hand-in-hand with Song Xiyun. Suddenly, she felt a light tap on her head. Instinctively turning around, she saw a familiar face.

The budding stirrings of youth spread across the stairwell, lined with creeping ivy, until...

Jiang Nian: "Croak!"

Xu Qianqian’s defenses shattered at light speed, her face flushing red. "Get lost!"

"Croak!" Jiang Nian chuckled and walked away. "Croak."

Song Xiyun had become completely desensitized to Jiang Nian. During the National Day holiday, she had spent two hours helping him copy his English homework until her hand went numb, yet she still found herself unable to resist his whims.

"Qianqian, what were you two talking about?"

Since this inside joke belonged only to the two of them, and to avoid further embarrassment, Xu Qianqian quickly regained her composure and made up a random excuse.

"Don't mind him, his brain was fried when he was little. Whenever he has an episode, he runs around calling me 'Mom.' I couldn't stand it, so I caught a frog and shoved it in his mouth. Now he's got this lingering side effect."

"He stopped calling me 'Mom' and switched to 'Croak' instead."

Song Xiyun didn't understand, but she was deeply shocked. *Wait... did you guys play so perversely when you were kids?*

Before entering the classroom, Jiang Nian tapped Zhang Ningzhi on the shoulder. "Lend me your math review book to copy later."

Almost instantly, a panel popped up with a ding: [Task: Re-establish contact with your long-lost ex-girlfriend, Zhang Ningzhi. Reward: 300 RMB (Completed).]

"Sure, but isn't the next class English?" Zhang Ningzhi asked curiously.

"What does that matter?" Jiang Nian felt no pressure at all, asking instead with a look of confusion, "There's so much homework, isn't it expected?"

There was so much math homework, and he had already memorized all the English material; a little "NTR" against the English teacher wouldn't be a problem at all.

During English class, fate had its own plans. As the saying goes, if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes are bound to get wet.

"Jiang Nian! Come up to the podium and translate this reading comprehension exercise." The English teacher remained expressionless, her gaze scrutinizing him.

*You brat, trying to pull a fast one on me, are you?*

*Reading comprehension? Where? In the book, on the test paper, or some obscure workbook?* Jiang Nian was bewildered, instinctively looking at his desk-mate, Li Hua.

*Oh, it’s from "Dragon Raja III: Black Moon Tide," we are all little monsters... can't hide that smirk, can you? Laugh all you want, but you won't be laughing when you're at the Red Well, sharing a snake-kiss with Herzog.*

Li Hua was no help.

As Jiang Nian stood up slowly, he glanced back and saw Ma Guojun tucking away his chemistry homework. *Fine, fine, you're all pillars of society.*

*Even the top students in the Olympiad class are like this; it's a real eye-opener.*

*Every break is just people stacking up and making strange noises. While they’re busy having fun, they’re constantly inviting new members into their harem.*

*The "Emotional Intelligence" guy is reading Dragon Raja, the "Low-Quality" guy is doing chemistry—great, just great. If the Olympiad Class 3 lost you lot, it would be no different than the sports world losing Stephen Hawking.*

He only had one choice left.

*Zhizhi baby, you wouldn't want the English teacher to find out I'm copying your math review book, would you? A public spectacle in front of the whole class—a journey of total shame.*

He looked at Zhang Ningzhi. She had already shifted her position, revealing her completed English reading comprehension test, Part B. He immediately recognized it.

It was a small quiz the English teacher had handed out yesterday. She had likely Ctrl+T’d the four reading comprehension passages from somewhere. Once he knew the source, it was easy.

He rummaged through his desk—ha, he hadn't written a single word.

"Come up here! What are you standing there for?" The English teacher kept a straight face, thinking to herself, *I'm a pure-love advocate; I hate NTR the most. And he actually dared to do other homework right in front of me.*

Zhuang Wenqian was wearing a pale yellow dress. She was quite young, twenty-eight, and had a child—a cute little girl who had even been brought to the classroom during evening study hall.

Because she had a good temper, no one in the class was afraid of her; they nicknamed her "Qian-bao."

Jiang Nian shuffled out, but as soon as he reached the podium, Qian-bao noticed his paper was blank. She was instantly furious, her delicate brows furrowing, though she didn't explode right away.

"Why haven't you done the test?"

"Teacher, I couldn't find my paper," Jiang Nian said, unperturbed. "This is my desk-mate Li Hua's. He tried to hide it, but I managed to dig it out."

Down below, Li Hua couldn't sit still. "Slander! He's slandering me!"

Qian-bao put her hands on her hips. "Then where is your paper?"

At this, Li Hua’s face went rigid. *If only I could go back in time...*

His paper was also blank.

Last night, he had asked Jiang Nian if he was going to do it. Jiang Nian had looked at him with contempt. "Foreigners go to hell! Who does that stuff? Are you going to do it? I’m definitely not."

Li Hua had agreed wholeheartedly.

*My buddy has been writing essays for the UN and all sorts of foreign friends since elementary school; why would I bother with a tiny English assignment? Better to read about Erii.*

*Right, I’m not doing it either.*

The scene turned awkward, and Qian-bao became even angrier.

"Look at you all! Is this acceptable?"

In the first row, Yu Tongjie looked up at Jiang Nian on the podium. Almost out of the blue, he suddenly asked his female desk-mate beside him.

"Do you know what Jiang Nian scored on the English placement test?"

The girl was startled. She and Yu Tongjie had almost nothing to talk about. She was used to him answering questions loudly in class and sitting in silence reading books during breaks.

Facing the sudden conversational opening, she didn't know how to respond.

Seeing she didn't say anything, Yu Tongjie didn't mind. He suddenly started stirring the pot.

"Teacher, Jiang Nian scored 141 on his last exam. Even if he doesn't do the work, he should be able to wing it."

As his words fell, the classroom went silent. The girl sitting next to him was completely stunned.

*Wait, everyone was just watching cute Qian-bao get angry.*

*You’re shouting "Dou Power, Third Stage" out of nowhere?*