Chapter 36

Qin Heng's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice low and hoarse as he praised, "If Teacher Chi taught you, then you definitely can."

Chi Ning drew in a soft breath, inexplicably feeling a little tense.

Strange. Qin Heng seemed to be standing too close.

He lightly kicked Qin Heng's calf with the tip of his foot. "Hurry up and keep writing. I'm tired. I'm going home."

That kick nearly took half of Qin Heng's life. He took a long while to recover. Chi Ning was only wearing black cotton socks, and he had merely given him a light kick...

Damn it. There was definitely something wrong with him. Senior year passed by incredibly fast.

On the day the monthly exam rankings were announced, Chi Ning stood before the bulletin board for once.

Li Qiuhe found it strange. "God Chi, looking for your name?"

"Yeah." "You're looking from the wrong side. First place starts from the right." Li Qiuhe pointed at the highest, most conspicuous spot. "You're definitely there."

"I'm not looking at my own." As Chi Ning spoke, his eyes swept across the board rapidly.

Most people in Yangcheng had three-character names, while Qin Heng's name had only two, making it especially conspicuous among all the three-character names.

—928th place.

It was even higher than expected. There were a little over 1,050 seniors in this graduating class, and Qin Heng had leaped straight out of the bottom hundred.

It had only been less than a month. He had only finished learning the middle school material.

Qin Heng really was smart.

Chi Ning withdrew his gaze and met Qin Heng's eyes as he turned around.

Qin Heng smiled. "I thought I'd only move up fifty spots. You made it sound so serious back then."

"It's easier to improve at the start." Chi Ning gave Qin Heng a serious reminder not to get cocky or impatient. "It gets harder later."

He gave an example. "Look at me. I can't improve even a tiny bit now."

Qin Heng: ...

He was already first. Where else could he improve to?

After choking on his words for a while, he said, "Right."

Chi Ning pointed at him. "You can even agree with that? You have no principles at all."

After saying that, he laughed first, unable to stop himself from happily hopping a step forward.

No matter how high his own grades were, he had never been this happy.

Was this the sense of accomplishment that came from being a teacher?

Chi Ning turned back with a smile. "Keep working hard, Student Xiao Heng. I'm waiting to attend your teacher-appreciation banquet in July."

The colors of dusk and sunset reflected in the young man's eyes, like a lovely clear spring.

Qin Heng felt as though he were about to drown in them. He paused for a moment, then unconsciously raised a hand toward Chi Ning. Feeling it was inappropriate, he changed course midway and touched his ear instead.

He did his utmost to keep his voice steady. "Sure. I'll make a whole table of food then."

Thinking of that scene, Chi Ning smiled expectantly.

For a moment, he did not know whether he was looking forward more to the food or to Qin Heng getting into Gangnan.

Probably both.

"Qin Heng," Chi Ning called.

Qin Heng looked straight at him. "Yeah?"

Chi Ning blinked slyly. "I heard things on my dad's side have been going especially smoothly. I should also thank you for taking me to eavesdrop on my birthday, using the thing Boss Xu gave you..."

He dragged out the words. "A dealer's work equipment."

A dealer was a staff member at a casino.

Chi Ning waited leisurely for Qin Heng's reaction. He was not angry; he was simply curious why Qin Heng had kept this from him.

It did not seem like something that could not be discussed.

Qin Heng's back stiffened. So much time had passed.

How had Chi Ning found out? He seemed to especially hate being deceived. Did this count?

Probably not. He had merely withheld something at the time. He had not lied.

"I..." Qin Heng had just started to speak when Zhang Qiuwen sprang out from the side, hollering like a Mount Emei monkey.

"Bro, the S University teacher you hired is freaking amazing, bro! I got 950th place! If I keep studying like this, I might actually get into college, bro!"

"And little sis-in—"

Zhang Qiuwen's voice abruptly stopped when he met Chi Ning's gaze, and the words on the tip of his tongue suddenly changed direction.

"L-Little God Chi's notes are really awesome!"

Chi Ning's eyes shifted. His gaze traveled between Qin Heng and Zhang Qiuwen, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Oh?"

He recalled that burly, elite, suit-wearing thug. "You hired that teacher for Zhang Qiuwen?"

Zhang Qiuwen took a step back.

How had this happened?

Why was Chi Ning so good at picking out the key point?

He had hollered so much just now, even complimented them, yet Chi Ning had precisely seized upon the most important piece of information?

Under Qin Heng's murderous stare, Zhang Qiuwen swallowed. "Uh... Brother Qin thought I was kind of pitiful, s-so he hired a teacher for me."

What else could he say?

Was he supposed to tell Chi Ning: Brother Qin was afraid I'd steal your affection, so he deliberately hired a teacher to torment me?

Zhang Qiuwen added with difficulty, "One-on-one teaching makes it easier to absorb knowledge."

Chi Ning said, "Oh." He turned to Qin Heng. "You hired Zhang Qiuwen a proper teacher, but used five years of bayberry juice to trade for tutoring from a classmate?"

Qin Heng reacted extremely quickly. "A teacher you pay for might not be as good as one you trade bayberry juice for. Look, Zhang Qiuwen didn't score as high as I did this time."

That was indeed true.

Chi Ning withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and spoke casually. "Fine. What about the dealer's equipment?"

Zhang Qiuwen quietly backed away two steps. Seeing that Chi Ning did not react, he immediately dashed off.

Hey! Chi Ning had been smiling when he asked. He was not angry at all; he was just teasing Brother Qin.

Why would Zhang Qiuwen stay here any longer? Making a fool of himself did not have to be this humiliating.

The moment Zhang Qiuwen left, Chi Ning suddenly felt the atmosphere between himself and Qin Heng turn sticky, as if someone had added syrup to it.

He suddenly felt a little embarrassed to ask.

Why was he asking about this? They were only ordinary friends to begin with. Questioning him like this made him seem like he had no sense of boundaries.

Chi Ning gave a light cough. "It's fine, I—"

Qin Heng cut him off immediately. "Boss Xu said before that his main businesses were real estate development and gambling, with most of his operations overseas."

"At the time, you thought gambling meant lotteries. Lotteries are indeed one form of gambling, but the biggest moneymakers in that industry are casinos, sports betting, horse racing, and similar activities."

Qin Heng spoke quickly, not daring to look Chi Ning in the eyes. "Boss Xu has cleared out quite a few of his businesses. He mainly focuses on real estate and investment now."

He could not figure out what Chi Ning thought of that industry. Yangcheng's economy had developed quickly, but...

Qin Heng said quietly, "Most people who grew up in Yangcheng are conservative. I was afraid you'd think I was a bastard after finding out."

Chi Ning could not understand it at all. "How could that be? Did you scam anyone, or break the law?"

Qin Heng replied quickly, "Neither."

Chi Ning said, "Then what's the problem?"

He knew about legal casinos overseas. You had to prove your assets before entering, and borrowing money was not allowed inside, so legal venues generally did not have situations where people went in fully dressed and came out without even their underwear.

Since Xu Jiahao dared to return to the country to develop his business, it proved that his operations were already very clean.

After all, the country had begun seriously cracking down on crime and gangs in recent years. Ordinary people might not have received the news, but could a major capitalist like Xu Jiahao possibly not know?

If he dared to return and establish himself in the country at a time like this, then he had enough respectable backing and confidence.

"There's nothing bad about saying it." Chi Ning considered it, suddenly feeling that the still-growing Qin Heng did not seem as confident as he would be in the future.

The older Qin Heng possessed immense capital. No matter how gentle and refined he acted, he still carried an aura of supreme dominance around him.

"You don't need to care too much about what other people think. Just do what you believe is right."

Chi Ning reached out and patted Qin Heng on the shoulder, his tone light. "Of course, you can't break the law."

"Mm." Qin Heng responded quietly, feeling the spot Chi Ning had touched grow scorching hot.

How could Chi Ning be so sweet?

Like a translucent hard candy with a mint-flavored shell and peach filling hidden inside.

"Alright." Chi Ning's comforting session swiftly came to an end. "Go back to the classroom and pack up. I need to go home and process data. I don't even know whether the bacteria in the constant-temperature shaker are dead."

After all, anything kept in a laboratory could die for all kinds of reasons.

A temperature difference of 0.5 degrees was enough to kill it.

It was hard not to worry.

The sweetness in Qin Heng's mouth abruptly vanished, and he hurriedly followed Chi Ning to hail a cab home.

Fortunately, the bacterial cultures and cells in the shaker were alive and well, full of vitality.

Chi Ning breathed a sigh of relief.

He was not as poor as when he had first returned, but the little money he had was only just enough for a private laboratory.

If the cultures kept dying every now and then, he would sooner or later go broke.

Thankfully, thankfully.

Everything he was doing now was reproducing papers and research findings that had already been published in his previous life. As long as nothing went wrong with the experiments, nothing else would go wrong either.

After Chi Ning tidied up the laboratory, checked the temperature controls on all the equipment, helped Qin Heng with some new knowledge points, and took a cab home, he successfully fell asleep before eleven-thirty.

No staying up late, the ultimate health regimen, healthy and happy.

Home, school, laboratory.

His life along those three points was far too fulfilling.

So fulfilling that Chi Ning only realized another month had passed when the next monthly exam ended.

At the class meeting after the second monthly exam, Wang Quan braced himself against the desk and said, "Everyone, pay attention. Starting this time, students from Classes One and Two will no longer receive monthly exam difficulty survey questionnaires."

Led by Li Qiuhe, the entire class went, "Huh?"

That single syllable twisted and turned through the classroom twice.