Chapter 6: Has the Childhood Friend Awakened?
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Having a photographic memory—is that an experience?
Thanks for the invite, it feels great.
Just a glance at English words and they’re remembered; my mind has never been this clear before.
But there’s no need to memorize English slang—like “four generations under one roof” becoming family 4.0, “hot spring” turning into gulugulu water, or “third concubine” as three bitches.
Simple, effortless, and easy as pie.
Jiang Nian was glad he had the habit of bringing home the key textbooks for all subjects during holidays. Although he hadn’t opened a single page, it still gave him the feeling that he had been secretly working hard.
Now, it finally came in handy—awesome, indescribably wonderful.
All afternoon, Jiang Nian immersed himself in the ocean of learning. Those fragmented bits of knowledge were like enormous mayflies and shrimps, swallowed by a whale into the sea.
Next door, Xu Qianqian groggily woke from her nap, grinding her silver teeth.
“So noisy!”
No matter how she covered her ears, Jiang Nian’s excited sighs and heavy breathing kept slipping in. She was puzzled—what on earth was he so excited about?
Could it be the legendary male study temple?
Xu Qianqian’s father was a male specialist doctor, so she was well-informed. She just thought Jiang Nian was a bit crazy. Couldn’t he watch his shows more quietly? And why did he have to fiddle around for so long?
And it was broad daylight, with the lights off!
Jiang Nian had been overwhelmed by his morning studies, feeling his brain was overloaded. It wasn’t until the afternoon when he vaguely heard a knock on the door that he snapped back to reality.
“Hello, delivery!”
He remembered taking a package call in the morning. Opening the door, the delivery man tipped his cap and, pulling a small trolley, gave him a surprised glance.
“Mr. Jiang?”
“Yes.”
After signing, Jiang Nian tried on the shoes. The sports shoes had soft soles, costing two hundred yuan a pair. He spent a thousand to replace shoes for the whole family, which was quite cost-effective.
Hungry, he had no interest in continuing to check the shoes, just changed into a pair and went downstairs to eat.
If it were before, he might have endured the hunger to jump rope a few more minutes, but now there were still two thousand yuan coldly sitting in his account.
Two thousand yuan—why bother jumping more?
By evening, Jiang Nian was still tired but had to prepare for evening self-study at school.
Whether because of the breakfast delivery or some other reason, Xu Qianqian surprisingly did not leave first this time but instead sat in his living room waiting for him.
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The last time she did this was back in middle school.
Jiang Nian felt a bit flattered.
“Why are you willing to wait for me?”
Upon hearing this, Xu Qianqian stood up to leave.
“Hmph.”
“Hey, wait, heroine, forget I said anything.” Jiang Nian was packing his bag and hurried to stop her. “Please sit, just wait two minutes.”
Xu Qianqian glanced down at his hands but said nothing, sitting back on the sofa. She then looked up as Jiang Nian tossed aside his English vocabulary notebook and couldn’t help but ask,
“Jiang Nian, what did you tell me this morning?”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t even bring your vocabulary book! You said you’d memorize words in the morning but threw the book away in the afternoon?” Xu Qianqian was speechless, sneering at him.
“The college entrance exam only cares about the total score. Your English is so bad; if you improve by a few dozen points, you could get into a decent...”
She didn’t finish the sentence, realizing that Jiang Nian’s terrible grades were a cause of grief for his father and tears for his mother. Improving English by a few dozen points would only get him into a mediocre vocational college.
“Oh, it’s hard to explain right now.” Jiang Nian then tossed out little booklets for Chinese, biology, chemistry, and physics, making Xu Qianqian’s eyes go wide.
“You’re crazy, Jiang Nian! I’m telling Aunt Li!”
...
September evening, dusk blended with molten golden sunlight. The streets were brightly lit.
In the small county town’s old streets, five- or six-story self-built houses stood with tangled power lines crisscrossing. The alleys were narrow and dim, but the good thing was no buildings blocked the sunlight.
Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian emerged from a gloomy alley; not far away was Zhen Nan High School. Their families lived in an area resembling a shantytown.
They rarely walked together like this, making the atmosphere somewhat awkward.
Near the school gate, Xu Qianqian, a half-step behind Jiang Nian, nervously tugged at her backpack strap, frowned, and hesitated before saying,
“Stay away from Zhou Ting and her group in the future; they’re really no good.”
Jiang Nian wholeheartedly agreed.
Since Zhou Ting’s birthday party, he had seen through their true colors. They treated him like a clown, constantly stepping on him while fawning over Liu Feipeng.
There was no special reason—just because Liu Feipeng wanted to chase Zhou Yuting. If they couldn’t elevate themselves, they would pull others down, using comparisons to highlight their own steadiness.
Jiang Nian had no money and poor grades; he only had his physique and looks, which made him an easy target.
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Xu Qianqian only remembered the steamed lotus leaf chicken from yesterday and breakfast. Although she and Jiang Nian didn’t get along, food softens the toughest hearts. After all, they had grown up together.
Though her “poisonous childhood friend” was a bit slow-witted, he wasn’t ill-intentioned and was a decent cook. No matter what, nobody had the right to bully him.
In her eyes, Zhou Yuting was a manipulative green tea and a pure flirt. Only a straightforward guy like Jiang Nian would be caught like a sucker, endlessly played with by Zhou Yuting.
She had said similar things before but Jiang Nian always shot her down. Today, she was only saying it one last time and wouldn’t mention it again.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Nian turned around with his black hair and bright eyes, nodding solemnly.
“Yeah, I got it.”
Got it?
Xu Qianqian was stunned—when did he finally see the light?
She was still shocked and bewildered when she entered the classroom for evening self-study. The ancestral grave of the Jiang family must be smoking—the loyal dog had turned back?
The brightly lit classroom was so quiet that only the rustling of book pages and pen strokes could be heard.
“Qianqian, what’s wrong?” her deskmate Yang Man poked her pale arm softly. “You’ve been daydreaming for almost a whole class—what happened?”
“Ah?” Xu Qianqian snapped back to reality. “N-nothing.”
She shook her head, thinking about what she was doing—wasting an entire evening self-study session because of Jiang Nian! Taking a deep breath, she bent her head to tackle problems.
Jiang Nian was in the adjacent class—two classes side by side but worlds apart in level.
Zhen Nan High School’s students were divided into four tiers: Key Class (for special assistance), Parallel Class (regular), Olympiad, and Zero Class, ranked from lowest to highest.
The Key Classes were all on the first and second floors, near the main office, so it was easier to discipline them if noisy. The Olympiad and Zero Classes were mostly on the third and fourth floors—heaven’s chosen.
The Parallel Classes were the unfortunate ones, all shoved to the fifth and sixth floors.
Xu Qianqian’s class was the Olympiad science class, while Jiang Nian’s was the Parallel science class—luckily on the fourth floor, very close to her class.
The homeroom teacher joked that they were absorbing spiritual energy. Jiang Nian didn’t dare agree.
For convenience, the subject teachers for both classes were almost the same. After teaching the Olympiad class, they’d go back to teach the Parallel class using the same papers—did they expect good results?
The evening self-study was silent; Jiang Nian buried his head in practice problems.
The system’s rewards were effective—after an afternoon of memorization, he had thoroughly learned the 3,500 words required for the college entrance exam. Tackling English tests was now effortless.