By the time everyone dispersed, it was already quite late. Streetlights stood dutifully at the intersections, and the late summer, early autumn night air carried a faint floral fragrance.

Several of the boys were already slightly drunk. Xu Fei still had cake frosting smeared on his face, and Chen Shushu pulled out a wet wipe from her small handbag and handed it to him.

During the earlier games, Jiang Ling had been called on several times. With more than half a bottle of alcohol in her system, her walking was unsteady.

“Let’s go, I’ll head back with Jiang Ling,” said Chen Shushu, who lived close to Jiang Ling. She took Jiang Ling from Shi Niannian’s hands. “Niannian, will someone come pick you up later?”

No one here lived in the same direction as her home.

“I’ll take her,” a voice sounded from behind.

Everyone around fell silent.

Earlier during the game when Jiang Wang had spoken, everyone had turned to look at Shi Niannian in unison—earlier that day, the school forum had been quite lively, and the meaning behind his words wasn’t difficult to guess.

Shi Niannian sat on the other side of the coffee table. Because of his ambiguous statement, her hand trembled slightly, and the fruit juice in her cup moistened her fingertips.

She looked up. Jiang Wang’s gaze fell softly on her, straightforward and candid, like a sharp blade cutting through all the ambiguity and unspoken words.

When Jiang Wang said he would take her, naturally no one fought him for it, nor did anyone dare to.

Jiang Ling sobered up a bit, glanced at Jiang Wang, then at Shi Niannian, and straightened up. “Um, Niannian, send me a message when you get home, okay? I’ll go to sleep after I receive it.”

Jiang Wang snorted out a laugh.

Shi Niannian nodded. “I’ll… take a… taxi… back.”

That was a rejection.

The others were stunned for a moment, not daring to look at Jiang Wang, but he didn’t seem to have any reaction, didn’t seem angry at being rejected, and just stood there casually with his hands in his pockets.

It was already late, so everyone quickly left in small groups.

Shi Niannian said goodbye to the birthday boy Xu Fei, added a final “happy birthday,” and then left by herself.

Jiang Wang raised his hand to Xu Fei: “I’m off.”

He followed her.

The taxi pickup point was up ahead.

The weather was still cool after nightfall. Shi Niannian wore a soft cotton dress, and the cool air crept in through her collar.

Jiang Wang quickened his pace and walked on her right side.

Shi Niannian vaguely felt that much of the night breeze that had been hitting her body was now blocked.

“Little one.” Jiang Wang poked her face and said lazily, “You know, you’re making me lose face like this.”

Shi Niannian was caught off guard when his fingertip touched her cheek. Her contact with the opposite sex was so rare it could almost be considered nonexistent. She frowned and turned her head to avoid his hand, looking somewhat annoyed.

Jiang Wang was tall; when Shi Niannian stood next to him, she only reached his shoulder, and even the light that originally fell on her face was mostly obscured.

The two walked together to the taxi pickup point.

Shi Niannian stood at the corner, and Jiang Wang squatted down beside her. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket but didn’t light it, just held it between his lips, looking rather nonchalant.

The roguish and fierce aura surrounding him was unique, and it was especially apparent when he squatted there expressionlessly.

His whole being radiated a frightening “stay away” quality.

Xu Ningqing was close to him, having grown up fighting with him, but Xu Ningqing didn’t have such an intimidating aura.

Yet his grades were so good; Shi Niannian hadn’t expected that.

She stood to the side, her eyes lowered, her gaze falling on his left ear. The light was too dim to see the thin hearing aid attached inside his ear canal.

Lost in thought, she didn’t notice when Jiang Wang looked up again.

Jiang Wang whistled. “What are you looking at?”

Shi Niannian shifted her gaze and took a step toward him.

She was standing while Jiang Wang was sitting, requiring her to look down. Shi Niannian bent over slightly, her ponytail sliding down from her shoulder.

“I can… go back… by myself.”

“I’ll take you home.” His voice was casual.

Shi Niannian pressed her lips together, her eyes like bright black grapes. Jiang Wang’s eyes flickered slightly, and sensing something, she straightened her back again and looked at the illuminated bus stop sign across the street.

“—You.”

Jiang Wang dragged out the word. Because he was biting on the cigarette, his voice was muffled. “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

He asked.

The faint smell of alcohol on the young man was carried over by the wind. With his head raised, his sharp Adam’s apple stood out prominently, sliding up and down decisively. His voice, wrapped in a hint of alcohol, entangled itself around one’s heartstrings.

Shi Niannian blinked, turned her head, and stared straight at him.

Jiang Wang laughed dryly.

He had originally thought Shi Niannian would be too shy to even let her eyes wander, but instead, she looked directly at him without the slightest evasion, leaving him no way out.

Jiang Wang unconsciously straightened his back, his hand holding the cigarette dropping down.

The yellowish streetlight shone down from above, illuminating Shi Niannian’s face, casting the most delicate light.

Jiang Wang swallowed emptily, feeling uncharacteristically nervous.

But in the next second, he heard her ask.

“Are you… drunk?”

“…” Jiang Wang began to laugh, conceding, “Alright.”

After a moment’s pause, he said lazily, “Maybe a little.”

Cars streamed continuously on the road. A taxi with its roof light on approached from not far away. Jiang Wang stood up and raised his hand to hail it.

“You…”

Before he could finish, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a man on the inner side of the road, wearing an ordinary shirt and light brown pants, carrying an old briefcase.

Shi Niannian opened the car door, and the person who had just been beside her suddenly rushed away.

Before she could see clearly, Jiang Wang had already grabbed a man by the collar and dragged him out, his face gloomy, the veins on his neck suddenly prominent, the fierce anger on his normally indifferent face impossible to suppress.

The man was dragged directly to the inner side of the road and immediately received a punch to the nose.

“What are you doing here?”

Jiang Wang pointed at his face and asked hoarsely.

The man, his throat gripped, coughed with a red face, looking poor and pathetic. Shi Niannian held the car door, stunned.

The driver’s voice interrupted her: “Miss, what’s going on here? Are you still taking the cab or not?”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Shi Niannian bowed slightly. “Can you wait… for us?”

She ran over and grabbed Jiang Wang’s sleeve, looking up at him.

Jiang Wang’s chest heaved, his muscles taut in sharp lines. He turned to look at her, the viciousness in his eyes not yet dissipated.

The man took the opportunity to push him away. With a face full of blood, one hand on his knee catching his breath, he pointed at Jiang Wang with the other. “You, you have the guts to…”

Jiang Wang was easily provoked again. He turned and grabbed the man’s collar, slamming him hard against the railing.

Opposite was a river. The railing made a loud “bang” and shook several times. The man almost fell into the water.

Shi Niannian watched, stunned.

The man didn’t move, lying limply on the ground.

Jiang Wang, who had been in a rage just now, seemed to have calmed down, but the lingering ferocity around him was still hot enough to make her feel somewhat fearful.

Just now, he didn’t seem at all concerned whether that man would fall into the river.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you home,” said Jiang Wang.

“…Huh?”

Jiang Wang ignored her and walked ahead on his own.

Shi Niannian had no choice but to follow, turning back to look once more.

They didn’t speak until they got in the car.

As they approached a turn, Shi Niannian hesitantly asked, “That person… he’s not… dead, is he?”

Jiang Wang shook his wrist, glanced at her, and surprisingly replied quite seriously, “He’s probably dead.”

“…”

Shi Niannian looked back at the man who had already stood up in the distance and sighed in relief.

—

Xu Ningqing had chosen Finance as his college major and was very busy. With the start of school came a series of orientation and club activities. Even though he had rented an apartment across from the school, he was often too busy to return and simply slept in the dormitory.

Today, he finally had some free time. At noon, he had arranged to have a meal with Jiang Wang and Shi Niannian, and in the evening, he finally had time to go home.

However, after just a short while, he was hurried out by Mrs. Chen to find Shi Niannian.

Xu Ningqing took his car keys and, while walking down the front steps, called Shi Niannian.

After just a few steps, he heard a phone ring not far away. Xu Ningqing looked over.

Under a row of straight streetlights, Jiang Wang and Shi Niannian were walking toward him.

Shi Niannian was about to answer the call but hung up and looked up.

Xu Ningqing stood in front of them, his index finger twirling the car key ring, the corner of his mouth turning up in a subtle arc as he calmly raised an eyebrow.

“Brother.” She ran a few quick steps to Xu Ningqing’s side. “How come… you’re back?”

Xu Ningqing proudly lifted his chin at Jiang Wang.

Jiang Wang made a “tsk” sound.

Xu Ningqing said with a lazy smile, “I came back for a bit. You should head home now; your aunt is starting to imagine all sorts of things.”

“Then I’ll… go back. Goodbye, brother.”

Shi Niannian waved, walked a few steps forward, then turned back to look at Jiang Wang once more before quickly running off.

After she left, Xu Ningqing put his arm around Jiang Wang’s shoulders, smiling in an extremely annoying way: “So, brother-in-law, are you upset that she didn’t even say goodbye to you?”

Jiang Wang glanced at him impatiently. “Get lost.”

“Brother-in-law! Brother-in-law, wait! Don’t go, brother-in-law!” Xu Ningqing kept calling him “brother-in-law,” laughing with schadenfreude. “Come on, let your little brother-in-law drive you home.”

He caught up with Jiang Wang and only then noticed the bloodstains on the hem of his white shirt. “What’s this… what’s going on? Where did the blood come from?”

Jiang Wang said flatly: “Gao Sheng.”

The smile on Xu Ningqing’s face suddenly disappeared as he frowned. “That animal came looking for you again? Are you okay? How did the blood get there?”

Met him on the way. The blood is his.”

“You…” Xu Ningqing stopped in his tracks.

Jiang Wang snorted with laughter. “Didn’t bring a knife, didn’t stab anyone this time, and Shi Niannian was there anyway.”

“Was that girl too scared by you beating someone up to even say goodbye? That doesn’t seem right; she’s not afraid of that kind of thing.”

“Indeed, she’s not afraid.” Jiang Wang laughed softly. “She immediately asked if he was dead or not.”

He hadn’t expected Shi Niannian’s reaction. Usually, girls would either stay far away from such situations, or if they couldn’t escape, they’d scream and cry. But Shi Niannian just stood there as if stunned, not even trying to avoid it.

Her first words were “He’s not dead, is he?”

Like someone who had seen it all.

—

What Jiang Wang said in the KTV room was somehow recorded on video and directly thrown onto the school forum, once again building a skyscraper of comments overnight, becoming the highest post at No. 1 High School.

In the dimly lit video, the young man in a white shirt, with his slender fingers lifting a wine glass and tapping it on the coffee table, his voice casual and alluring: “This is also the girl I like.”

The video ended with the camera shaking, showing Shi Niannian lowering her head.

It instantly captivated the hearts of all the female students at No. 1 High School.

Today, as soon as Shi Niannian walked through the school gate, she felt something was wrong. She wasn’t the type to attract attention, and because of her stutter, she was given fewer tasks that required public exposure—things like student representative speeches would never be assigned to her.

But today, as soon as she entered the school gate, she noticed people’s scrutinizing gazes turning towards her.

Her shoes, pants, and clothes all seemed fine.

Shi Niannian tugged at the strap of her backpack and walked up to the third floor. Just outside the stairwell was the posted grade rankings, surrounded by a crowd of people.

Red background with black text, very eye-catching.

Photos were attached to the two people who scored above 700 points.

Side by side, the photos were taken when entering high school as freshmen. Jiang Wang’s photo, counting it up, was already three years old, though not much different from now.

His skin wasn’t as fair as it is now, his expression indifferent, with a touch of youthfulness and asceticism.

“Hey, looking at it this way, it kind of feels like a wedding photo.”

“Hahahahaha, it does!”

Hearing these comments, Shi Niannian quickened her pace and returned to the classroom.

Surprisingly, Jiang Wang was already there today, sleeping with his head on the desk.

Usually, he either didn’t come at all or he’d saunter in through the back door after several classes had already passed.

By this time, most of the students were already in the classroom, much earlier than usual.

Half the class had attended Xu Fei’s birthday party yesterday, and now they were all yawning while finishing their homework. As soon as Shi Niannian walked over, she was stopped by Jiang Ling, who asked for the homework to take home.

She took it out of her backpack and handed it to him.

On the other side, Jiang Wang heard the sound and got up from his seat to let Shi Niannian sit.

She thanked him softly and sat down.

Chen Shushu leaned forward across the aisle and tilted her head over: “Niannian, let me copy your answer for the last math problem!”

Jiang Ling laughed and shook the test paper in his hand: “Line up, line up, ah, wait until I’m done copying.”

“Well, hurry up then.”

From the other side, Xu Fei waved: “Hey! Chen Shushu! I’ve done it, I’ll let you copy mine!”

Chen Shushu turned her head and rolled her eyes: “No way, your accuracy rate makes copying pointless.”

“I have the answer key for this set of problems, I guarantee they’re all correct!”

Only then did Chen Shushu reach out to take Xu Fei’s test paper.

“By the way,” Xu Fei limped over to Jiang Wang’s side and poked his shoulder. “Jiang Wang.”

Jiang Wang didn’t respond and continued sleeping.

“Brother Wang.”

“…”

“Hey, Brother Wang.”

“…”

“Jiang…”

Jiang Wang suddenly sat up, looking cold, his hair a bit messy, eyelids drooping, showing impatience and indifference. His voice was hoarse: “Speak.”

Xu Fei couldn’t help but shrink his neck. “…Well, well, the school is about to have a basketball tournament. I was originally our class captain, but my foot won’t heal for a while. Could you take my place?”

“Not playing.”

“Come on.”

As a sports committee member who professionally persuaded everyone to sign up for the sports meet, Xu Fei knew exactly how to be precise and effective in persuading people. He glanced at Shi Niannian and said, “We’ll organize everyone to watch, you know. Shi Niannian will go too, and we might even select cheerleaders from the class, with uniforms and everything!”

As he finished, Chen Shushu slapped the test paper on his back: “Xu Fei, aren’t you disgusting.”

Jiang Wang snorted out an ambiguous laugh, turning his head to look at Shi Niannian from the bottom up: “Uniforms… let’s forget about that.”

At least his attitude wasn’t as terrifying as when he had just been woken up.

“So will you play or not?”

Jiang Wang pushed his hair back and asked, “What position do you play?”

“Guard.”

“I’m a forward, can’t do it.”

“That’s no problem! Everyone else can coordinate with you!” Xu Fei looked at him eagerly.

“Who are the teammates?”

“Those who’ve played with you before, like Huang Hao and the others.” Xu Fei’s eyes were almost sparkling with little stars. “Will you play? Will you?”

Jiang Wang wasn’t interested in playing ball with a bunch of people he wasn’t particularly familiar with, especially in a competition. He had played a few times in P.E. class before, but their skill level wasn’t that great, and they certainly couldn’t compare to the coordination and tacit understanding he had with Xu Ningqing’s group.

Perhaps because of his previous competitive sports training, Jiang Wang only wanted to win first place in competitions.

“We’ll see.”

“That’s good, that’s good. Then in the afternoon P.E. class, you can try playing with them, alright?”

The bell for class rang, and Cai Yucai came in with a textbook. Xu Fei had no choice but to return to his seat.

This class was to go over the math test papers. Shi Niannian’s 148-point test paper only had half a fill-in-the-blank question wrong, which had already been neatly corrected with a red pen.

She wasn’t listening to the lecture either; she already knew all the content that Cai Yucai was teaching, and was focusing on a scratch paper, staring at the last problem.

At that time, she suddenly had her period and hadn’t considered whether there was a better approach. She planned to use this time to think about it.

Halfway through writing, her test paper was pulled away by the person next to her.

“Hey.”

Jiang Wang propped his head up on his hand, his face turned to the side. “Will you come watch the basketball game?”