Chapter Summaries

Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian resumed walking home together and traded teasing messages after she apologized for leaving abruptly the previous day. The next morning, Jiang Nian’s unusually straight stick became a classroom sensation until Qianbao took it to show the neighboring class.

• Jiang Nian left evening study early, and Xu Qianqian watched him go before heading home alone.
• Jiang Nian caught up with Xu Qianqian at a convenience store, got her to pay for his cola, and walked home with her while they traded insults.
• Xu Qianqian drafted and deleted several messages before apologizing to Jiang Nian for leaving without an explanation the previous day.
• Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian messaged until midnight, and she asked him to wait outside her classroom after school the next evening.
• During morning reading, Jiang Nian’s classmates admired his perfectly straight stick, but Qianbao took it to show the neighboring class.

Li Qingrong let Jiang Nian and Zhang Ningzhi choose lockers before Yu Tongjie, and Jiang Nian teased Zhang Ningzhi as they moved their books. Through a grueling afternoon of science classes, Jiang Nian reflected on changing his future, while his classmates struggled with lessons and joked around.

• Li Qingrong showed Jiang Nian and Zhang Ningzhi the three newly cleared lockers, and Jiang Nian picked the middle one for Zhang Ningzhi and the top one for himself.
• Zhang Ningzhi blushed at Jiang Nian's suggestion that they share a locker, then put her books and a padlock in her chosen locker.
• Li Qingrong went to notify Yu Tongjie, whom Jiang Nian watched speaking to her with a reddening face.
• During math class, Jiang Nian admitted he understood none of the teacher's explanation, making the class laugh.
• Zhang Ningzhi fell asleep after math and later embarrassed herself by overturning Newton's third law while solving a physics problem, which Jiang Nian teased her about.
• Li Hua called his narrowed eye a Demon Eye, and Ma Guojun told him it was a stye.

Jiang Nian and Xu Qianqian traded teasing insults on their walk home, then Uncle Xu drove them to school through a torrential downpour the next morning. At school, Jiang Nian noticed Zhang Ningzhi looked unwell and stopped to ask what was wrong.

• Jiang Nian waited outside Xu Qianqian's classroom, and she explained that she had told a persistent admirer she was thirty-four and that Jiang Nian was her son.
• Xu Qianqian teased Jiang Nian by offering him a hug as his mother, and he pretended to accept before she dodged and ran from him.
• The next morning, Jiang Nian woke to a storm and reluctantly went to school with Xu Qianqian and Uncle Xu.
• In the car, Xu Qianqian pinned Jiang Nian down when he started to reveal what she had said, then hurried ahead of him after they arrived at school.
• Jiang Nian saw Zhang Ningzhi looking pale and asked what was wrong, and she said she might be cold from the rain.

Jiang Nian helped Zhang Ningzhi when she felt unwell, and she interpreted his small kindnesses as signs of growing affection. After she skipped lunch, he offered to bring her congee, leaving her flustered by his consideration.

• Jiang Nian offered to fetch Zhang Ningzhi water, then caught her cup when she bumped into the doorway and dropped it.
• Jiang Nian closed the classroom window, and Zhang Ningzhi realized he had done it because he knew she was cold.
• Zhang Ningzhi spent the day feeling increasingly grateful to Jiang Nian and found her heart racing whenever their eyes met.
• Jiang Nian returned from lunch and found Zhang Ningzhi still in class, so he offered to bring her hot water and congee.

Jiang Nian brought Zhang Ningzhi porridge and brown sugar water after she felt unwell, then shared Sprite with his classmates during physics. A conversation about a brawl at his former school nearly exposed Jiang Nian’s past, and Ma Guojun became suspicious.

• Lemon Branch sent Jiang Nian fifty yuan, so he bought Zhang Ningzhi porridge and brown sugar and brought them back to school.
• Zhang Ningzhi accepted the hot porridge, and later discovered that Jiang Nian had filled her insulated cup with brown sugar water.
• During physics class, Jiang Nian woke up and watched Li Hua drink medicated oil before sharing Sprite with him.
• Ma Guojun recalled a No. 2 High School student named Nian who won a basketball fight and threw the opponents’ shoes into a toilet.
• Jiang Nian denied that he was the student, but Ma Guojun said he would ask around, drawing puzzled looks from the class.

Jiang Nian denied his notorious school-fight past while enduring teasing from his classmates and an awkward misunderstanding over Zhang Ningzhi’s fruit milk. During evening self-study, he caught class monitor Li Qingrong watching him and wondered why her gaze felt so intimidating.

• Jiang Nian’s classmates teased him about a past fight and throwing his opponents’ shoes into a bathroom, but he denied being responsible.
• Jiang Nian attended Zhong Qing’s biology lesson while Li Hua and several other boys stood at the back to get the teacher’s attention.
• After afternoon classes, Zhang Ningzhi left fruit milk on Jiang Nian’s desk, but he told Ma Guojun he had found it, upsetting her.
• Jiang Nian struggled through evening self-study and considered his prospects for the college entrance exam.
• Jiang Nian repeatedly noticed Li Qingrong looking toward him, then concluded she had probably been looking out the window.

Jiang Nian tried to take studying more seriously, but a system quest distracted him during math class and left him lost. He got Li Hua to explain the problem during PE, then headed upstairs to do homework because a girl was there.

• On their walk home, Jiang Nian teased Xu Qianqian and asked her about a math problem after she urged him to study harder.
• Jiang Nian slept through two English periods, then learned that Xu Qianqian had let him sleep while she taught.
• A system quest about spending money appeared during math class, distracting Jiang Nian from the lesson.
• Jiang Nian grabbed Li Hua after class and forced him to explain the third sub-question by challenging him on the basketball court.
• After understanding the solution, Jiang Nian let Li Hua return to basketball and went upstairs, saying there was a girl there.

Jiang Nian chose to prioritize lunch over studying and unexpectedly walked to the cafeteria with Li Qingrong. Their classmates saw them together and were stunned when Li Qingrong smiled at him.

• Jiang Nian reflected that the system was only a tool and that he still needed to study and shape his own future.
• When his alarm rang, Jiang Nian left for lunch and ran into Li Qingrong, who said she was going to the cafeteria too.
• Li Qingrong followed Jiang Nian downstairs after he warned her that the cafeteria might run out of food.
• Li Hua and the other boys spotted Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong walking together and reacted with disbelief.
• The boys were further shocked when Li Hua saw Li Qingrong smile at Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian ate with Li Qingrong in the crowded cafeteria while Yu Tongjie watched their interaction and struggled to find a seat. Yu Tongjie left feeling humiliated after overhearing the first-year girl mock him for giving up his seat.

• Jiang Nian and Li Qingrong entered the cafeteria as students rushed to reserve seats with books, then sat together at a window table.
• Yu Tongjie studied vocabulary after school, went to the cafeteria, and gave his seat to a first-year girl who called him handsome.
• Yu Tongjie spotted Li Qingrong eating with Jiang Nian and overheard Jiang Nian claim that phone separation triggered anxiety.
• Jiang Nian recognized Yu Tongjie, who sat at their table and endured an uncomfortable meal.
• Yu Tongjie heard the first-year girl call him an ugly old third-year toad, and everything went black before his eyes.

Jiang Nian examined a spending mission that could turn his remaining 57,000 yuan into 171,000 yuan in cashback, and planned how to spend it without wasting his seed money. He borrowed money from Xu Qianqian while teasing Li Hua about his crush on the class monitor, then walked home with Xu Qianqian as they traded insults.

• Jiang Nian bought Li Qingrong a carton of fruit milk and later worked out that spending his remaining 57,000 yuan would earn him 171,000 yuan in cashback.
• Jiang Nian made a list of planned purchases, including clothes for his family and household expenses, and decided to rely on Xu Qianqian for a few days.
• Li Hua asked Jiang Nian about his relationship with the class monitor, and Jiang Nian realized he could use Li Hua's secret crush to get a meal from him.
• Yu Tongjie saw Jiang Nian talking with Xu Qianqian outside the Olympiad Class and brooded over how others viewed him.
• Jiang Nian asked Xu Qianqian for a hundred yuan and claimed he needed money to buy winter clothes for his family.
• Xu Qianqian said she had 826 yuan and 30 cents left for the month, refused to lend more, and traded insults with Jiang Nian as they left school.