The heavy basket of books landed on the floor. Jiang Nian straightened up and wiped away sweat that wasn't there.
Zhang Ningzhi handed him a tissue, and he stuffed it straight into his pocket. The move left her dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open without a word coming out.
In a good mood, Jiang Nian said, "Oh, I'm saving it to wipe down my desk later. I've been promoted to Class 403 too."
"Really?" Zhang Ningzhi sounded delighted. Being dropped into an unfamiliar group was always easier with someone you knew. "Just come to me whenever you need tissues."
At school, tissues were hard currency.
Zhang Ningzhi really was happy. The promotion list only showed students from her own class. She hadn't known that the boy who sat behind her in the exam room had been promoted too.
As she spoke, she rummaged around inside her desk, produced an entire pack of tissues, and handed it to Jiang Nian.
Since he'd already given her a carton of milk with fruit bits, accepting something from Zhang Ningzhi felt perfectly natural. A little back-and-forth like this brought them closer.
Before long, another boy arrived outside Class 403. He wore glasses and seemed rather quiet. Noticing that he'd carried his desk up alone, Jiang Nian went over to lend a hand.
"Hey, man, were you promoted too?"
"Yeah. I'm Yu Tongjie."
"Jiang Nian. And this pretty young lady is Zhang Ningzhi." He greeted him and introduced Zhang Ningzhi at the same time. "Not many people got promoted to 403. It's probably just the three of us."
Zhang Ningzhi spoke softly, and Yu Tongjie was a man of few words. After a brief exchange, silence settled over the corridor again.
Jiang Nian gave up too, resting his hands on the corridor railing and gazing into the distance.
Zhen'nan County Middle School stood right in the center of the county town's old streets, its old campus occupying the busiest district. Outside ran a main road lined with shops catering to every daily need.
There were two large supermarkets and the People's Hospital's first and second branches. Around the bend at the end stood the Zhen'nan County government offices. The education bureau was diagonally across from the school, with several roads stretching beyond it and all sorts of government offices scattered throughout.
The agriculture bureau, maternal and child healthcare center, epidemic prevention station, tax bureau-a whole collection of agencies surrounded Zhen'nan County Middle School like stars around the moon. There weren't any tall buildings nearby at all.
Only a kilometer farther out did the low-rise old residential complexes come into view. Beyond those lay the upscale South River Bay development, where even an unfinished apartment cost over eight hundred thousand.
Farther still lay the riverbank. A branch of the South River flowed into Zhen'nan County, forming an alluvial plain.
The county government had built South River Park along the bank. The Zhen Nan Bridge connected to Greenwood Ridge in the distant hills, one of the county town's best-known spots for hiking and watching the sunrise.
A rising buzz of voices came from the stairwell. The group run was over.
The Olympiad Class's top students were baaack.
Compared with the Parallel Classes, the Olympiad Classes were like outer-sect disciples. Zero Class held the inner-sect disciples, the pride and joy of the year group and the reserve talent for Tsinghua, Peking University, and other Double First-Class universities.
The atmosphere in the Olympiad Classes was fairly relaxed, much like in the Parallel Classes. A group of boys came upstairs laughing, shouting, and chasing one another, while the girls walked in twos and threes like a flock of buoyant white gulls.
Before entering the classroom, they glanced curiously at the three students who'd brought their desks and chairs upstairs. They more or less understood that these were the three students being promoted.
Whether they would truly become classmates was another question. After all, there were two promotion exams: one at the end of September and one at the end of October. September's was a placement test; October's was a joint exam across eighteen counties.
November brought a joint exam across six cities, and at the end of the year came a province-wide exam organized by the provincial education department.
Every homeroom teacher had explained these arrangements clearly. Promotion opportunities only came in September and October, though they didn't really disrupt the stability of the classes.
It was hard for students in the lower classes to move up, and just as hard for those in the Olympiad Classes to move down. Most of the movement involved the newly promoted students. Those who couldn't adapt or whose scores didn't reflect their real ability would be sent back down.
Ultimately, October's joint exam had no impact on the existing Olympiad Class students. It was simply a quality check on the handful who'd been promoted, as well as the lower classes' last chance to move up.
Under everyone's scrutiny, Zhang Ningzhi lowered her head and instinctively ducked behind Jiang Nian, hiding herself like a little ostrich.
Jiang Nian felt like laughing at the sight and asked out of curiosity,
"What did you score this time?"
Zhang Ningzhi looked up at his question and quietly gave him a number. "609."
Holy shit, she's the real final boss! A student from a Parallel Class scored high enough for a key university!
It was only a placement test, and the questions hadn't been particularly difficult. Her score wouldn't even put her near the top in an Olympiad Class, but in a Parallel Class, she was unquestionably first by a huge margin.
"What about you?" Zhang Ningzhi asked.
"Lower than you. 573." Jiang Nian smiled.
"Oh, 573." Zhang Ningzhi didn't seem very good at comforting people. She said softly, "It's okay. 573 is really high too."
Sumimasen, Ningzhi-chan. Sorry I couldn't give you a proper challenge.
Jiang Nian didn't feel particularly strongly about his grades. Maintaining a middle-of-the-pack ranking would be enough. The material was already imprinted in his mind; adding a little understanding would be sufficient to handle the exams.
As for making a push for the very top, he had no such plans for now.
Are you kidding? Me, fight Sukuna?
Before long, Class 403's homeroom teacher arrived. He was short and scrawny, with thinning hair and black-framed glasses. He introduced himself as Liu Liangsong, the Chinese teacher.
Liu Liangsong told the three of them to wait, then went inside to make a few announcements. He found several students to help the three who'd been demoted carry their desks and chairs downstairs, offering them a few words of encouragement before they left.
One boy was taking it very well. "Mr. Liu, good thing I never joined your support group. If I had, wouldn't all your work have been wasted? Will we ever meet again, Mr. Liu?"
"When we meet again, you've got to be happy, okay, Mr. Liu?"
Mr. Liu was speechless. "Study properly, stop doing these stupid bits, and get your grades up."
Finally, Mr. Liu sighed and turned to the three newcomers. He asked each of them for their name, presumably to match their names to their scores.
"Go on in. Zhang Ningzhi and Jiang Nian, take the empty spots in the third row. Yu Tongjie, the first row."
Someone was already poking their head out of the classroom's back door to look around curiously.
Jiang Nian glanced at Zhang Ningzhi and offered,
"We're both in the third row. How about I carry your things in first?"
"Okay."
Liu Liangsong had been about to call over a few class officers to help, but changed his mind after hearing Jiang Nian. It was only moving a desk, nothing particularly troublesome.
And so, with everyone watching, Jiang Nian carried Zhang Ningzhi's desk inside first. Zhang Ningzhi then followed him back out to help carry his stool.
Meanwhile, Yu Tongjie had also moved his desk and chair inside and taken a seat by the wall in the first row.
The English teacher arrived. With an apologetic smile, homeroom teacher Liu Liangsong borrowed a few minutes of class time and asked Jiang Nian and the other two to come up in turn and intro-
duce themselves.
Jiang Nian was the first to step up. "My name is Jiang Nian. I'm from Class 303 downstairs..."
With his example to follow, Yu Tongjie went up second and essentially copied Jiang Nian's template. The introductions were simple: their names, which classes they came from, and where they lived.
After all, it wasn't October yet, so they couldn't quite be considered classmates. Covering a few key points was enough.
Zhang Ningzhi was a little timid. She went up last and stammered through a few sentences.
"M-my name is Zhang Ningzhi. I used to be in Class 307, and I live over by South River Bay."
Thanks to Coastal Sunset for the 100 Qidian coins, to Mingtao Among the Cherry Blossoms for one monthly ticket, to Bloodthirsty October for two monthly tickets, to Luo Shijie for one monthly ticket, and to It's Xizi for two monthly tickets.
(End of chapter)
Before you continue