Chapter 26 Water Mist Her wickedness, ironically, became the capital for her wantonness. ...
After the National Day holiday, Jianglan Experimental School officially entered the intense mid-term exam preparation stage. Passing by each classroom, you can see through the glass windows that each student's desk has a thick stack of supplementary teaching materials and draft paper.
Over this period of time, Ning Jiu has become quite familiar with Jiangcheng's textbooks, attending classes and doing practice questions in a routine manner. Life seems to have become less boring because something has been added to it.
Half an hour after school, an autumn rain had just fallen outside the window, and the damp scent of grass seeped in quietly through the window cracks, carrying a hint of cool moisture.
Ning Jiu pulled back a corner of the curtain and discovered that the other side of the psychology classroom faced the small river outside the south gate. The fine raindrops had not yet stopped falling, and when they fell into the water, they created ripples that spread out in layers, like someone gently tapping on the heart.
My fingertips unconsciously touched the window, feeling the cool touch of raindrops sliding down the glass.
As she was lost in thought, she felt a gentle rub on the back of her neck and heard a boy's clear voice in her ear.
"You seem out of sorts today."
Ning Jiu snapped out of her daze, yawned softly, withdrew her fingertips, and mischievously rubbed her still-cool fingertips on his face.
Qiao Bolin was still holding her test paper in his hand, a pencil between his long, slender fingers. Sensing her movements, he neither dodged nor flinched, but even moved closer to her, letting her knead his cheeks.
The wickedness she concealed became, in his eyes, a source of unbridled freedom.
After Ning Jiu had finished pinching him, she stared at Qiao Bolin's reddened cheek for two seconds, then symbolically reached out to soothe him a few times, her tone soft and smiling.
"Spring drowsiness and autumn fatigue, plus the recent academic pressure, I didn't finish my homework until 1 a.m. yesterday," she withdrew her hand, brought her face closer, and asked him, "Do I have particularly bad dark circles under my eyes today?"
The two of them were extremely close. At such a distance, Qiao Bolin could even see the glimmer of water in Ning Jiu's eyes. She tilted her long, white neck back, her moist eyes shimmering like lake water, and a faint smile played on her lips, like the drizzle of autumn rain falling on the water's surface.
“Okay.” She heard Qiao Bolin say, “So we need to finish our homework quickly today and try to go to bed early.”
"......"
Seemingly surprised by his answer, Ning Jiu paused for a moment, and a hint of anxiety finally surfaced in her beautiful eyes.
"Ah, it really is that obvious—"
Before she could finish speaking, her eyes were covered by a warm palm.
Qiao Bolin's palm was warm, carrying the clean yet compelling temperature of a young man. The moment it covered her eyes, she even had the illusion that his breath was close to hers, gently brushing against her ear, making her feel a little itchy.
“I was just kidding,” he mimicked her tone, a hint of amusement in his voice, “Your eyes are beautiful, and the rest of you are beautiful too.”
"Keep studying."
Putting everything else aside, studying with Qiao Bolin was always incredibly efficient. He would finish all the schoolwork before school ended, and next to Ning Jiu, he would mostly be doing practice problems for competitions. Sometimes, after finishing all the competition problems, he would just have to read books.
She sat right next to him, so close that she could see his progress perfectly. While marveling at the vast differences between people, she focused on doing her exercises, which naturally accelerated her learning speed.
Ning Jiu has explained the situation to Yuan Liangjing and Ning Xuan in the past few days, saying that she will study at school for a few hours before coming back, and that they should not worry.
When she finished all her homework, she turned around and found the boy next to her reading Tagore's book again.
His posture was upright, honed from childhood. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his wrists were clearly defined, and his thumb occasionally flicked the paper. His eyes were slightly lowered, and his eyelashes cast a faint shadow. His features were refined and serene.
She stared for a while, and then his eyes suddenly lifted up, meeting her gaze.
"Is it done?"
Qiao Bolin closed his book, subconsciously reached out and took her test paper to help her check her homework.
Ning Jiu let him circle the marks with a pencil, her eyes casually sweeping over his fair and well-defined wrist, and asked casually.
"Oh right, what about the hair tie I gave you last time?" She hadn't expected Qiao Bolin to bring it to school, but was curious about what he did with it. "If you don't think it's useful, give it back to me. I still need it."
Qiao Bolin answered naturally.
“Useful.”
Ning Jiu's interest was piqued by his question: "What use is it to you?"
"It is useful."
Qiao Bolin chuckled softly and subtly changed the subject.
“This exam paper is from last year’s midterm exam, and the difficulty level this year will likely fluctuate slightly within the same range,” he said. “With your current speed and accuracy, as long as you maintain your form, getting into the top ten in English shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ning Jiu's attention was indeed diverted: "Oh right, the midterm exams are next week."
Her gaze suddenly fell on Qiao Bolin.
"So, what rank do you think I'll get this time?"
He stopped what he was doing.
With his thin eyelids pressing out two nice creases, Qiao Bolin looked up at Ning Jiu.
What place do you hope to achieve?
"Of course I hope to be number one," Ning Jiu said with a smile, without any hesitation. "A soldier who doesn't want to be a general isn't a good soldier, and besides, my grades have improved these past few days."
He also smiled slightly and nodded in agreement.
"There has indeed been progress."
"If I come in first place this time, can you grant me one request?" She pressed her advantage, pushing her luck further.
Qiao Bolin finally realized where Ning Jiu had dug the pit.
"What are the requirements?"
"I won't tell you now. I'll tell you when I get first place."
Splash.
The autumn rain pattered against the window, and a chill crept up and enveloped the two of them.
His gaze followed the coolness, moving from her slightly provocative eyes down to her slightly parted lips.
pause.
“Actually, it doesn’t have to be like this,” he told her. “You know it’s not an easy thing.”
There was not a trace of arrogance in his attitude or tone, because this was an objective and universally acknowledged fact.
"We could change it to, if we both make a little progress, then we'll agree to each other's requests."
The rule of granting her every request as soon as she makes a little progress is probably designed to make things easier for her. Is there any room for improvement in Jobelin's approach?
Ning Jiu's smile slowly faded, and she responded to him with a serious expression.
“I know it’s difficult, but I believe that day will come,” she raised an eyebrow slightly, making no attempt to hide her ambition. “Even if it’s not this time, it will be next time, and the time after that. As long as the possibility isn’t zero, anything is possible, isn’t it?”
Even if you don't get the highest total score, getting the highest score in a single subject still counts as being number one.
Besides, there are still more than 500 days until the college entrance examination. Who knows what changes might happen?
As for her demands...
Ning Jiu asked, "But are you sure you'll agree to any request?"
"Yes, either is fine."
"What if it's really excessive?"
She leaned forward, their bodies slightly pressed together. The girl's breath, like mist, brushed against his neck, and her soft fingertips gently pressed against the most sensitive skin behind his ear—
Qiao Bolin felt a delicate, tingling sensation slide down his spine, stirring up an indescribable, secret pleasure.
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he felt her warmth brush against the skin of his neck, stirring a subtle restlessness within him.
Ning Jiu laughed and said, "Don't regret it later."
-
As soon as the bell rang for the last class of the midterm exams, the entire teaching building was unlocked.
After a brief silence in the classroom, the emotions that had been suppressed all day finally found an outlet, and several light cheers rose and fell.
Gao Hexin slammed his hand on the table, completely relieved: "Finally, it's over."
Ning Jiu crumpled up the last draft of the question and threw it into the trash can, then took a water cup to the water dispenser to get some water.
As expected, a group of boys gathered at the back of the classroom to compare answers. She could vaguely hear them arguing fiercely over several questions. Cai Liming said that the answer to the last multiple-choice question in math was D, while Li Mingyuan insisted that the answer was B. The two were arguing incessantly.
“I’m 100% sure I’ll choose D, or I’ll eat shit,” Cai Liming said indignantly. “That question was clearly asking you to judge the trend of the image change. B is floating upwards, which doesn’t fit at all.”
“You’re the one who’s getting cocky,” Li Mingyuan said with absolute certainty. “That question was B. I was even telling the teacher in my mind that I was grateful for the easy question. Trust me, B is a guaranteed 80.”
"Where's your bottom line of 80 points?" someone nearby teased.
"Mindset." Li Mingyuan chuckled. "Even if you're wrong, you can be wrong with a clear conscience."
The autumn sun slanted in through the window, warming the spirited young men and women.
Gao Hexin, who was standing next to her, also came to the back row, opened his locker and rummaged through his things, while muttering complaints to Ning Jiu in a low voice.
"Are these people crazy? They started this mental battle right after the exam, meticulously analyzing the answers to each question. What if they both end up choosing C? Won't that be incredibly awkward for both of them?"
She rolled her eyes slightly, then suddenly remembered something, nudged Ning Jiu's arm with her elbow, and gave a mischievous laugh.
“You said you haven’t been leaving the school gate with me lately, could it be that—” she paused and laughed, “you haven’t been secretly going to get extra lessons on your own, have you?”
The second year of high school is the most intensive and competitive stage for tutoring in all subjects. Moreover, Jianglan Experimental High School is a key high school in a province with a large number of college entrance examination candidates. Tutoring has become the norm for students. Some students even take their vocabulary books with them when they go to the bathroom.
Ning Jiu thought about it carefully. During this period, although she hadn't attended any tutoring classes, she had indeed been by someone's side and experienced a lot of crushing and torment that was even deeper than tutoring.
Thinking of this, she nodded very honestly.
“This school is too competitive,” Ning Jiu said. “I have no choice but to keep up with your pace.”
Gao Hexin sighed softly, looked at her sympathetically, patted Ning Jiu on the shoulder, and gave her an understanding look.
“Jiangcheng has always been like this. My mom always says it’ll be better after the college entrance exam, and that’s the only way I can comfort myself,” she suddenly remembered something, her expression becoming excited. “Luckily, the sports meet is coming up soon after the midterm exams. I just saw the sports committee member going to the PE teacher to get the registration forms. Tianjiu, have you decided what event you want to sign up for at the sports meet?
"Hey, Li Mingyuan, remember to come over after you get your water bottle. We've saved you a spot for the 100-meter dash!"
Gao Hexin fell silent halfway through his sentence.
Li Mingyuan readily agreed and quickly ran to the storage cabinet to get the water glass on the top shelf. The water glass was placed very high, so he had to stand on tiptoe to reach it over Gao Hexin. His chest accidentally touched Gao Hexin's back before he realized it and jokingly greeted him.
"Hey, what's with that expression? You're not saying anything bad about me, are you?"
You were absolutely right.
Gao Hexin took a slightly stiff step forward, unusually not immediately arguing with him. Only after Li Mingyuan grabbed his water cup and quickly ran to the last row to look at the registration form did Gao Hexin mutter a curse under his breath.
"...He's really sick."
As Ning Jiu and Gao Hexin finished packing their bags and were about to leave, the group of boys were still discussing which events to sign up for at the sports meet. Someone asked, "Who will sign up for the 1000 meters?" There was a moment of silence around them. A boy who had just passed by leaned closer to take a look and suddenly said...
"I'll do it."
Upon hearing this, Qi Ruiheng and Li Mingyuan both turned to look at Qiao Bolin, who happened to be passing by.
Qi Ruiheng put his arm around his shoulder: "Weren't you in Beijing for the national finals of the math competition those few days?"
“It’s a flight that takes place on the last day of the Games,” Qiao Bailin looked up. “Isn’t the 1000 meters on the first day of the Games?”
Too.
Qi Ruiheng believes in Qiao Bolin's abilities, after all, he was the one who won the sprint gold medal in the last full marathon.
The section for boys was filled up almost immediately, and several layers of people surrounded the registration forms. Many girls also smiled and came forward to watch the excitement. Ning Jiu knew that she had never been good at sports, so she just symbolically accompanied Gao Hexin for a glance.
Qiao Bolin filled in three events: 1000 meters, boys' relay, and mixed relay. Almost all of them are the most physically demanding events. Among the girls, Chen Poyao filled in the most events. In addition to the girls' and mixed relays, she also signed up for sit-ups and beanbag throwing.
"Wow, Yaoyao, how are you so talented?"
A few laughs and compliments came from the corner. Chen Poyao had just finished signing the last item, looked up and smiled: "Just trying it out. Filling out more doesn't mean you can do better."
Gao Hexin was also drawn in by the atmosphere, and only after she finished filling out the forms did she belatedly realize that she might have filled out too many.
"Oh my god, I shouldn't have filled in the 800-meter race," she slapped her forehead and took a half step back. "Remember to help me back to the classroom later, I'm afraid I'll be carried away on a stretcher after the race."
Ning Jiu recalled the scene when Gao Hexin lay on the ground and wanted to call the police after running three laps around the track last time. She was thinking about how to comfort her when she suddenly noticed that another form for the girls' 800-meter race had also been filled out.
She narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the girl in front of her with thick bangs; it was Duan Chu, the class monitor.
Gao Hexin always said that Duan Chu's grades were good and he was also the kind of person who was good-looking. However, he was usually quiet and did a lot of practice problems in class and after class. Once school was over, he would leave alone and never give anyone a chance to talk.
Ning Jiu watched as this petite girl silently completed the 800-meter race, her backpack almost completely covering her. Her gaze followed her for a moment, and then she heard Gao Hexin's lowered voice.
“When I went home last weekend, I happened to run into Duan Chu coming out of the dormitory building.”
There weren't many students living in Class 8 of the second year of high school. Duan Chu was one of them, living in the girls' dormitory on the sixth floor of the dormitory building.
Gao Hexin said, "Her father seems to be quite young, only in his thirties, and he's dressed quite well. You can't tell from her at all; she's quite low-key."
The tone was simply gossip among classmates, and Ning Jiu responded softly without saying anything more.
-
After the midterm exam results were graded in the city, they were quickly uploaded to the school system. Qi Ruiheng was the first to walk out of Lao Qin's office, carrying a large stack of freshly graded Chinese language teaching materials. When the students in the class saw that it wasn't the exam papers, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Before the atmosphere could even relax, Qiao Bolin followed closely behind and came out of the office, holding a stack of scanned, white test papers.
The classroom instantly went from quiet to deathly still, and everyone reflexively sat up straight.
Qiao Bolin placed the test paper on the podium, glanced around the classroom, and without distributing the papers, walked straight to the row by the window.
Ning Jiu was doing English reading comprehension exercises when she felt the surroundings suddenly become as quiet as a chicken's nest. She looked up in confusion and happened to fall into a pair of pure black pupils that were filled with a smile.
"Ning wine".
In class, she and Qiao Bolin were a few rows apart, and they hardly interacted during their school years. He had never walked directly to her seat like this without any warning.
She blinked at him, puzzled, not quite understanding what he meant.
Instead of looking away, Qiao Bolin took another step toward her.
The two were now separated only by a small corner of a table.
The boy was already tall and slender. Just by standing by the window, his figure cast a light-colored silhouette that blended with the swirling clouds outside, dragging his outline into the interplay of light and shadow.
Gao Hexin was complaining to Li Mingyuan and Qi Ruiheng about how abstract the English essay topic was when he suddenly noticed that everyone's eyes were on them. Following their gazes, he couldn't help but mutter "Wow!"
Ning Jiu felt a warm touch on her forehead. Qiao Bolin skillfully withdrew his hand, his thumb still bearing the ink stains she had accidentally gotten on her temple while doing her homework.
Despite the many eyes around him, his gaze remained fixed on her, his dark eyes bright as if sunlight had filtered through glass.
"Teacher Qin wants you to go to his office."
His good mood was visibly evident.
Even after learning that he had made it to the national finals, Ning Jiu had never seen him show such an expression.
After returning from lunch, Lao Qin began the roll call as usual after the exam.
First it was Qiao Bolin, then Duan Chu, and she is the third.
She vaguely guessed something and looked at Qiao Bolin as if to confirm it, but the latter just smiled and didn't say anything.
When she arrived at Lao Qin's office, Duan Chu happened to come out. The two almost touched hands. The petite and quiet girl reflexively pulled away, realizing that she had overreacted. She glanced at Ning Jiu apologetically and left.
Ning Jiu's gaze lingered on her turtleneck sweater for a moment. After opening the door to the teachers' office, she saw Lao Qin sitting in the corner chatting with the teacher next door.
When he saw Ning Jiu arrive, he quickly asked her to sit down next to him. He didn't say anything immediately, but he couldn't hide his joy. His face was full of wrinkles as he smiled, like an old man who had won the lottery.
Before she could even speak, Old Qin swiftly put down his teacup and blurted out—
"Berlin has already told you, hasn't he?"
-----------------------
Author's Note: A really outrageous request is coming! [doge emoji]
Please try to arrive at the right time for the next chapter, you know what I mean. [heart emojis]
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