The next day, Shi Niannian was awakened by her phone ringing.

As soon as she answered, it was Jiang Ling’s voice.

“Ahhhhhhh Niannian!!! Guess what I dreamed about!!! I dreamed that I went to Jiang Wang’s house with you!!” she shouted from the other end.

Shi Niannian was still not fully awake, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in bed: “Are you sober now?”

“I am! I’m not dizzy at all anymore.” Shi Niannian said halfway before realizing something wasn’t right. “Wait, that wasn’t my dream, did I really go to the big boss Jiang’s house?”

Shi Niannian amusingly responded with an “Mm.”

“Did Jiang Wang come with you yesterday?”

“Mm.”

“No.” Jiang Ling frowned slightly. “How would Jiang Wang come with you?”

Shi Niannian paused, bent her knees, placed her palm against her face, and said softly: “He and I are together now.”

“Huh??? Together?!” Jiang Ling was shocked. “When did this happen?”

“Just the day of the New Year’s Eve party.”

Jiang Ling was still in shock and hadn’t reacted. After a long while, she finally smiled: “Well done, Niannian! I can’t believe a good girl like you left the singles club without even giving us a heads up.”

The New Year’s holiday ended in the blink of an eye.

For the next two days, Shi Niannian didn’t go out with Jiang Wang. She stayed home to finish her homework and review for final exams.

As soon as she arrived at school, Jiang Ling pulled her aside and bombarded her with questions: “How is it? Have you held hands yet?”

Shi Niannian thought to herself, we’ve done more than just hold hands.

She avoided answering and only asked: “Teacher Xu…?”

Jiang Ling glanced around and then leaned over her desk: “I asked a first-year student about him. He gave up his chance for graduate school admission and is going to study abroad in England.”

“For how long?”

“Don’t know, but I checked, and that school seems to be a two-year program.”

“Do you still like him?”

“Of course.” Jiang Ling didn’t hesitate, slapped the desk, and said, “I’ve thought it through. There are benefits to him not teaching anymore. I need to prepare to confess to him!”

“Huh?”

Jiang Ling smiled and pinched her face: “You already have a boyfriend, I can’t fall behind by that much.”

“Shh.” She raised her index finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone else.”

Jiang Ling blinked: “You don’t want others to know?”

“Mm.” She still wasn’t comfortable being the center of attention.

“If I had a boyfriend like that, I’d announce it to the world. You don’t know how many girls at school like Jiang Wang. They just don’t dare to confess.” Jiang Ling thought for a moment and added, “But I don’t think you can keep it a secret. When the big boss dates, it’s bound to be something spectacular.”

“…”

Jiang Wang entered the classroom right as the morning self-study bell rang. He looked like he hadn’t slept well, with his hair slightly disheveled, carrying his backpack over one shoulder as he walked in through the back door.

Shi Niannian glanced at him and then turned back.

It was fine before, but now that they had defined their relationship, sitting in the same classroom made her feel increasingly self-conscious and awkward.

Jiang Wang tossed his backpack onto the chair and sat down, reaching out to ruffle Shi Niannian’s hair, leaning in intimately: “What are we doing for morning self-study?”

“Reciting classical poems.” Shi Niannian opened her Chinese textbook to show him.

Jiang Wang didn’t bother finding his book and simply moved hers to the middle of the desk, his shoulder touching hers, his voice lazy and relaxed: “These four poems?”

“Mm.”

Several people around them looked over, though they didn’t discuss anything. Still, just those glances made Shi Niannian feel uncomfortable, as if they were doing something wrong.

She pushed him and said with her head lowered: “Don’t stay so close to me.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Wang didn’t move, only opening his drowsy eyes a bit wider. “Why not?”

“Many people are watching,” she whispered.

Jiang Wang tilted his head, scanning the surroundings. The heads that had been observing them promptly turned away in unison.

“No one’s watching now.”

“…”

“No,” she still tried to reason with Jiang Wang. “If you act like this, everyone will think our relationship is different.”

“It is different,” he smiled, unabashedly.

He crossed his arms on the desk, turned his face to look at Shi Niannian, and after a while, asked: “Do you stutter less than before?”

“Ah? Recently, it seems so.”

This was something Shi Niannian had noticed herself. She had a habit of practicing in the morning, reading English, or reciting texts. Recently, she was indeed much more fluent than before.

Jiang Wang curved his lips: “That’s good.”

He didn’t care whether Shi Niannian stuttered when speaking; he had found it quite cute from the beginning. He only discovered later that she didn’t like to talk because of her stutter.

He liked hearing her speak.

After two classes, it was time for the Monday flag-raising ceremony. When the bell rang, everyone lined up in the corridor outside the classroom to go to the playground.

Cai Yucai was already waiting at the door. He glanced at Shi Niannian, then went to look at Jiang Wang in the back row, pointing at him and saying: “Jiang Wang, go put on your school uniform. There will be an award ceremony later.”

“What award?” someone nearby asked.

Cai Yucai smiled happily: “The physics competition from before! The results are out!”

Jiang Wang went back to the classroom to get his uniform. On the day of the ceremony, the stairways in the teaching building were congested with students from various classes. He fell behind and by the time he reached the playground, Wang Jianping was already standing at the podium with a microphone.

After a long pre-exam motivational speech about the final exams that nearly put everyone to sleep in the cold winter wind, they finally reached the physics competition award section.

“Last month, our school sent 24 students to participate in the physics competition, and they achieved excellent results!” Wang Jianping said enthusiastically.

Below, there was still silence, with no one showing much interest.

“First, congratulations to the two students who won first prize. Please come up to receive your award when your name is called. From Class 3, Grade 2, Jiang Wang!”

At these words, there was a moment of silence below, followed by an explosion of excited discussions.

Wang Jianping coughed once: “There’s another student who won first prize, also from Class 3, Grade 2, student Shi Niannian!”

“Damn, these two are amazing!”

“This kind of way to show off their relationship is something I’ll never have in my life!”

“These two look good together if you watch them for a while. I’ve already switched from the WangQing CP to the WangNian CP!”

“Don’t you know that Xu Ningqing is the academic god’s brother? I saw Xu Ningqing picking her up once, so the WangQing CP is a brother-in-law CP.”

“What?! So my WangQing ship has sunk?”

Shi Niannian emerged from the line and walked up to the award stage, accepting the certificate with both hands from Wang Jianping. Jiang Wang followed behind her and also received his certificate.

“Go over there and take a photo with your certificates,” Wang Jianping said.

Only the two of them won first prize in this physics competition, so naturally, they took the photo together.

Shi Niannian held her certificate, looking at the camera, with Jiang Wang standing next to her.

They wore the same school uniform jackets, like an alternative couple’s outfit. The sunshine was beautiful today, shining brightly on both their faces.

The school worked with extreme efficiency. Shortly after the award ceremony, bright red banners were hung up.

Shi Niannian and Jiang Ling returned to the classroom after lunch and saw a row of banners hanging at the front of the teaching building—an extremely long line of text:

“Warm congratulations to the 18 students of our school who achieved excellent results in the National Physics Competition, with Jiang Wang and Shi Niannian winning first prize!”

“…”

Jiang Ling laughed so hard she bent over: “The efficiency of our school! It’s simply incredible!”

A crowd of people surrounded the bulletin board.

Jiang Ling excitedly pulled Shi Niannian’s hand and squeezed through to look, pointing and turning back excitedly: “Niannian, look!”

When the people around heard Shi Niannian’s name, they all stopped their discussions and unconsciously made way, allowing Shi Niannian to successfully squeeze to the front.

The list of physics competition winners had already been posted on the bulletin board, along with two award photos.

One was a photo of her and Jiang Wang together, holding the red award certificates in front of their chests.

The other was a group photo of all 18 award-winning students.

That duo photo turned out quite well.

The young man slightly frowned in the sunlight, looking a bit impatient. His school uniform sleeves were rolled up to the middle, revealing a section of his forearm. His bony, slender fingers held the award certificate, making him look arrogant and unrestrained.

Jiang Ling tilted her head and looked for a while, saying, “The photography level this time is good, it looks nice.”

Shi Niannian: “Mm.”

“I’ll take a picture then.” Jiang Ling quietly took out her phone and photographed the picture. After pulling Shi Niannian out of the crowd, she whispered, “I’ll send it to you later.”

She smiled and said, “Okay.”

When they arrived at the classroom, everyone was already in their seats. With final exams approaching, everyone had started doing practice papers early.

Jiang Ling asked: “Where’s your boyfriend?”

Her voice was soft, but that term still made Shi Niannian’s ears burn.

“He had something to do, left first.”

“Niannian, you need to be more vigilant. Someone like Jiang Wang is coveted by many. You must develop a pair of eyes that can see through to the essence,” she said.

She held up two fingers, pointing back and forth at her eyes, “To identify the little bitches who hang around Jiang Wang with ulterior motives!”

“…”

Shi Niannian thought she was exaggerating.

Jiang Wang’s absence from school in the afternoon was because he had to go for training. Additionally, he had already taken all the grade two courses before, and with his speed and ability to grasp knowledge, whether he came to school or not didn’t make much difference.

The third period in the afternoon was physical education, but due to rain, it was changed to an indoor class. The PE representative brought various games like gomoku, checkers, and airplane chess for everyone to choose and play.

Half the class was doing homework, and half was playing board games.

Shi Niannian finished the last question of her comprehensive science paper, took out her phone from the desk drawer, thought for a moment, and sent him the photo Jiang Ling had taken during the day.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes passed.

Jiang Wang didn’t reply.

She stared at the phone screen for a while, and when there was no reply, she felt slightly deflated, resting her chin on the edge of the desk a couple of times before pulling out her English homework book to continue working.

By the time PE class was almost over, Jiang Ling, who had been playing airplane chess with her deskmate, suddenly turned around.

“Niannian!” She put her phone on her desk. “Look at this quickly!”

Shocking!! The poster just went out to get takeout and passed by the bulletin board, and the photo of Boss Jiang and the academic god is gone?!!!

1L: Is it the loss of humanity or the collapse of morality? Who exactly is the photo thief on our No. 1 Middle School campus?!!! I saw the academic god and her good friend go to the bulletin board at noon. Could it be the academic goddess herself??? Is the academic god’s image about to collapse???

Shi Niannian: “…”

Jiang Ling indignantly said: “It must be one of Jiang Wang’s little fangirls, how despicable! Coveting our Niannian’s boyfriend!”

2L: I don’t think the academic god seems like someone who would steal photos. It should be some girl who likes Jiang Wang.

Jiang Ling slapped the desk: “See! She thinks just like me!”

3L: I was previously in the same physics competition class as these two academic gods. To be honest, Shi Niannian doesn’t need to steal photos. If she wanted one, Jiang Wang would let her take as many as she wants. The boss spoils his little deskmate so much!

4L: Hahahahaha I think comrade 3L is right! I still firmly believe that the boss’s journey to pursue his wife is long, and he probably hasn’t caught our Shi academic god yet.

5L: But honestly, Jiang Wang looks so handsome in that photo!!! I was just joking with my friend about going to steal it, and someone has already taken it!!!

6L: Shouldn’t the school be able to find out by checking the surveillance?

7L: Wanted to steal it but was beaten to it, count me in.

…

39L: The poster is so fast. I was just about to make a post when I saw someone had already posted. As a chicken witness who observed the entire photo-stealing process, let me reveal the truth after I take a sip of water.

40L: Ahhhhh selling sunflower seeds, mineral water, and small bread in the front row, waiting for 39’s revelation!!!

41L: Give me a bag of Panpan small bread.

42L: I want sunflower seeds! Cracking seeds waiting for the revelation!!!

79L: I’m back from drinking water, everyone’s posting so damn fast!

80L: Stop wasting words!! Quickly! Reveal! The! Truth!

81L: [Picture]

Jiang Ling opened the picture and looked: “What the hell?”

The picture captured the photo thief in the act of removing that photo from the bulletin board, with irrefutable evidence that couldn’t be denied.

Except that the face was too familiar.

It was Jiang Wang himself.

82L: Hahahahahahahahaha lol, so this is the kind of school bully you are???

83L: What is this beautiful love story???

84L: Hahahahahahahaha I admit I’m envious of the academic god!

Meanwhile, Jiang Wang had just finished a round of training, completely unaware of the heat he had once again generated on the school forum.

He was quite calm when taking the photo, not worried about being seen or discovered. It was just that with the forum poster’s framing, it looked like a sneaky act.

After training, he had a quick dinner and returned to school.

When he reached the classroom, evening self-study had already begun, but as soon as he walked in, everyone’s eyes turned to him in unison, followed by a wave of suppressed laughter.

“…”

He walked to his seat and sat down. Jiang Ling, who sat diagonally in front, was already lying on her desk, looking like she was about to suffocate from holding in her laughter.

“Did something happen while I was away this afternoon?” Jiang Wang tilted his head to ask Shi Niannian.

Shi Niannian gave him a meaningful look and briefly wrote what happened on the forum in the afternoon on a draft paper for him to see.

Jiang Wang: “…”

Fine.

He took out that photo from his pocket to show her.

Shi Niannian amusingly curled the corners of her lips: “Why did you take this down?”

“It looks good,” he answered righteously, not feeling embarrassed at all about the forum incident. He leaned back in his chair, held up the photo to look at it for a while, and then put it away again.

“I sent you a message this afternoon,” Shi Niannian said.

“Hmm?” Jiang Wang raised his eyebrows. “What did you send? My phone ran out of battery, I didn’t see it.”

She took out her phone to show him.

They hadn’t chatted much since getting together, and even less before that, so there probably weren’t many chat records.

The latest message was the picture Shi Niannian sent, the one Jiang Ling had taken.

Jiang Wang’s gaze shifted, he pressed his tongue against his upper palate and exhaled.

It was the look he had when he was angry.

Shi Niannian was taken aback and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

He remained silent for a while, then laughed angrily: “I’m so good to you, and you’re this heartless?”

Shi Niannian was confused and looked at her phone again, only understanding the reason for Jiang Wang’s anger when she saw the contact name at the top.

— Class 3, Grade 2, male, Jiang Wang.