Chapter 189 Extra 2 (8)
Extra 2 (8)
The loose training uniform covered his body, leaving only his forearms exposed, with faint undulating muscles visible. Boys of this age were generally as thin as bean sprouts, but Gu Jiangkuo was strong and robust, like a lion with a mane grown early. His youthful and vigorous hormones spread with the sweat, winning applause from the whole room.
“197, 198, 199…200!!”
Everyone shouted out the final number in unison, accompanied by cheers that could have blown the roof off the teaching building. Gu Jiangkuo stood up, his forehead damp with sweat, but he said calmly, "It's done."
Instructor: “…”
This guy did 200 push-ups and looked like nothing happened! His stamina is incredible! Is he really a junior high student and not a new soldier?
The instructor suppressed his shock and said, "Passed."
Gu Jiangkuo asked again: "Can we take a break now?"
The instructor said numbly: "...Okay."
The students in Class 6 immediately cheered loudly because they had gained half an hour of precious rest time. They surrounded Gu Jiangkuo as if they were a hero. Students from other classes who were watching also came over, and several girls handed him water.
Gu Jiangkuo actually scanned the crowd, but didn't take the last bottle and ran out through the crowd.
The girls were a little disappointed, but didn't say anything. They were still excitedly discussing how awesome Gu Jiangkuo from Class 6 was. However, a boy from another class said sourly, "He's such a show-off."
"He doesn't want to take water from girls. What was the meaning of his pretending to look around just now?"
"I guess he was just trying to see which girl was pretty? He didn't like the last one."
"You're too picky! The one wearing makeup should be the most beautiful girl in class? You don't even like this?"
"To be fair, it seems he wasn't looking at the girls, but the water in their hands."
“???”
"?"
"How is that possible? Hahaha, what kind of stupid straight guy would that be?"
.
The silly straight man Gu Jiangkuo had already run to the third convenience store before he finally bought mineral water from the refrigerator.
The boss saw him in his military camouflage uniform and asked in shock, "From No. 1 Middle School?"
"Yeah." Gu Jiangkuo put two bottles of water on the counter and took out some change from his pocket.
The boss used a barcode scanner to scan the barcodes one by one, quoted a price, and then asked, "Aren't you guys in military training? Why did you run so far to buy water?"
"Several stores near the school don't have the brands he can drink." Gu Jiangkuo couldn't find any change, so he handed over a fifty-dollar bill and said casually.
The boss sighed inwardly. Are kids these days so picky about drinking such expensive water? They even look at the brand when drinking water? If they're really thirsty, they'll drink any water... I guess someone's willing to pamper them.
Boss: “Are you buying this for your girlfriend?”
Gu Jiangkuo was stunned: "No."
But after taking the change, he whispered, "More important than a girlfriend."
Gu Jiangkuo never thought about whether he would find a girlfriend, but in his heart, he had long tacitly accepted that Nuonuo was the person closest to him and he didn't want to be separated from her for the rest of his life.
.
When they rushed back to school, there were still more than ten minutes left during the break. Gu Jiangkuo unscrewed the bottle cap, handed it to Jiang Nuo, and asked, "Are you thirsty?"
Nuozai nodded listlessly, accepting his care naturally. He took the mineral water, took a sip, then a big gulp, and finally seemed to recover. He said, "Much better, Brother Dajiang. You finished doing push-ups and then ran out to buy water. Aren't you tired?"
How can I not be tired?
But Gu Jiangkuo, like a young peacock happy to show off its feathers, said disdainfully, "What's that?"
As expected, he received Nuozi's admiring starry eyes: "You are so awesome!"
"It's nothing." Gu Jiangkuo unscrewed his bottle of water, raised his neck and drank it all in one gulp.
.
Those 200 push-ups made Gu Jiangkuo a legend in one fell swoop. He not only captured the hearts of many girls, but also attracted many male fans.
After the military training, tall boys from other classes would often come over and ask Gu Jiangkuo to go out and play basketball.
After junior high school, everyone seemed to have grown up a lot overnight. Things like holding hands to go to the toilet and sitting together to chat seemed to be things that only little girls or classmates could do.
Because of their height, Nuozai, who was sitting in the second row, seemed to be physically separated from Gu Jiangkuo, who was sitting in the last row, by the gap between the rows.
Moreover, Nuozai didn't like sports very much, and he was even less interested in playing basketball, a sport that was only for giants over 180cm tall. Gu Jiangkuo called him several times but failed to get him out. The boys seemed to have no other reasonable way to communicate except playing together after class, so their communication during the day was significantly reduced. However, they would still go home together at night and take turns staying at each other's house most of the time, which was not much different from when they were children.
Nuozai didn't think there was anything wrong with it and really enjoyed this way of getting along.
His current deskmate is a little fat boy, who is said to be a top student who won the Mathematical Olympiad - in fact, in the entire Yanlin No. 1 Middle School, a small half of the students are top students, and the other majority are children who came here with sponsorship fees.
Nuozai got along well with his new deskmate, who even took the initiative to tell him that his former nickname was "Little Wall". Jiang Nuo guessed that the nickname might be related to his figure, but out of politeness, he did not ask in detail. However, Little Wall himself was very lively - it was the first time that Nuozai had seen such a lively academic master - not only did he like to talk in class, he was also very gossipy. In just half a month, he became friends with all the girls in the class. You could even see him chatting, laughing and playing with girls from other classes in the corridor during breaks, and some of them were very beautiful girls, even class beauties.
This made many boys in the class jealous, and they privately called Xiaoqiang "friend of women."
That day, Xiao Qiang came back with some snacks given by some girl. He generously put the snacks on the table and shared them with his deskmate Jiang Nuo.
"Look at how cocky he is," the boy in the back row couldn't help but scoff. "Why do girls like to play with him? What's so attractive about him? He's as fat as a ball, and even at this weight, he still eats snacks!"
Seeing Jiang Nuo take the snack from Xiao Qiang and take a bite, Gu Jiangkuo also complained along with the boys in the back row: "That snack must not taste good."
"Right! It doesn't look tasty!" The boys surrounded Gu Jiangkuo, "Come on, Brother Gu, let's go play basketball!"
Gu Jiangkuo deliberately walked around the empty space in the back row, holding the basketball in one hand, and stopped by Jiang Nuo's table and asked, "Want to play basketball?"
Jiang Nuo: “?”
Haven’t I said it a hundred times that I don’t want to play ball?
But Jiang Nuo still gave face and said in a gentle voice, "No."
"Brother Gu, let's go!" Several boys at the door urged loudly.
Gu Jiangkuo ignored them and continued to lean against Jiang Nuo's table. "What are you eating?"
Xiao Qiang quickly answered: "Wangwang Little Crispy Pastry! Brother Gu, would you like to try some?"
"Yeah." Gu Jiangkuo took away the whole bag of small crisps without any hesitation, leaving Xiaoqiang and Nuozai confused.
Xiao Qiang scratched his head: "Brother Gu really eats this stuff? I thought he was the cool guy who doesn't touch snacks."
Nuozai was also puzzled: "He never eats snacks at home."
Gu Jiangkuo, who had seized the small bag of crispy snacks, threw the whole bag to his companions. His companions didn't understand why, but since there was food, they didn't ask any questions. Several of them chased each other for the snacks and finished them in just a few bites.
Gu Jiangkuo arrived at the court, still a little absent-minded. He shot a three-pointer and called a timeout: "You guys go ahead and play. I have something to do."
"What's going on? Do you need any help?"
Gu Jiangkuo waved his hand behind his back to them, took a long step, and quickly left the playground.
Thinking of Nuonuo eating snacks given by others, he still felt a little bit unhappy. Gu Jiangkuo wanted to go to the small supermarket in the school, buy a bag of snacks in bulk, and feed them all to Nuonuo.
.
Since Xiao Qiang always brought snacks for Jiang Nuo, Jiang Nuo felt he should return the favor, so he took advantage of the break to wander over to the small supermarket. There were three or four small shops in No. 1 Middle School, but the only one big enough to be called a "supermarket" was near the small square that separated the middle school and high school sections. Students from both sides would come here to buy things during breaks, so business was quite good. It was well-organized, even with a shopping cart at the entrance, just like a real supermarket.
Jiang Nuo picked up a shopping basket and wandered aimlessly along the shelves, looking at nothing with a clear appetite. Even the school supermarket, no matter how luxurious, mostly sold affordable food that students could afford, and Nuozi's appetite had been pampered from a very early age.
But in order to fit in, he would still force himself to eat a few bites of the snacks his classmates gave him. Now, he followed his memory and bought the flavors they liked. As he was choosing, he suddenly heard a girl ask, "Hello, classmate, are you Jiang Nuo from the junior high school?"
Jiang Nuo looked over and found that he didn't know the girl. He said in confusion, "Yes, what can I do for you?"
"No, I just thought you looked familiar. I've seen your picture on Tieba." The girl said demurely, "You're even more handsome than in the picture!"
Jiang Nuo: “…Thank you.”
Jiang Nuo briefly wondered if he'd met his legendary love interest. He was even a little nervous, wondering if she'd ask for his contact information. But he didn't even have a phone—his mother forbade him from using any electronic gadgets.
As a result, the girl immediately said: "You're welcome, goodbye!"
Jiang Nuo: “…”
So was he overthinking it? And what was Tieba①? He'd heard there was one at school, but he'd never been there. Next time he went to Gu Jiangkuo's house, he could use his computer to go online.
Aunt Gu is really nice, she doesn’t restrict them from playing computer games.
Jiang Nuo was browsing, lost in thought, when she suddenly heard the excited chatter of girls on the other side of the shelf: "I saw that handsome boy from junior high! He's even better looking in person than in his pictures! Super cute, his skin is so smooth you can't even see his pores, and his eyelashes are so long!"
"Where is it?"
"Hey, don't go over there, you're scaring him again!"
"Do you want contact information?"
"Oh no! He's not even as tall as me, and he's still a little kid. I can't bring myself to harm the flowers of my motherland."
Flowers of the motherland...
The flower of the country...
Flowers...
Flowers...
Duo...
Jiang Nuo was struck by lightning. So, this was the reason he hadn't received any love letters from girls?! Was it because he was...short?! Jiang Nuo suddenly remembered that since military training, many girls had gathered around their formation, watching Gu Jiangkuo. Later, he heard that every time Gu Jiangkuo played basketball, girls would bring him water, and there was even a special group of girls waiting there.
Nuozai's mood suddenly became depressed.
It wasn't jealousy, nor was it entirely envy, but Jiang Nuo just felt very uncomfortable.
Those girls couldn't hold back and secretly glanced at Jiang Nuo from a distance, then walked out laughing and bumped into Ding Pingzhou from the same class.
"What are you talking about? You look so happy?" Ding Pingzhou asked casually as he stopped in front of the cold drink cabinet at the entrance of the supermarket.
"Do you know Jiang Nuo, the handsome boy from the junior high school?"
Ding Pingzhou paused while holding the drink and frowned slightly.
How long has it been since I last heard the name Jiang Nuo? The last time I interacted with him was when Nuozi was in elementary school. He was a little kid who was no taller than my waist. He would cry when he was bullied, but he was quite thoughtful.
Ding Pingzhou's impression of him ended there.
The Ding family and the Jiang family originally had a good relationship. They were business partners and the two fathers were good friends when they were young. However, they gradually drifted apart and now have basically no contact.
Unlike the Jiang Group, which is at its peak, the Ding family's business is getting smaller and smaller, and their shares have been diluted. The actual controller of the company has long been replaced, and the Ding family can now be considered a relatively well-off middle class at most.
It has long been impossible for him to climb up the Jiang family's ladder.
"That's him."
Just as he was distracted, Ding Pingzhou felt someone tug at his sleeve. A girl from his class pointed to the boy paying at the cashier and asked in a low voice, "Isn't he handsome?"
Ding Pingzhou looked over but didn't say anything for a long time. Only after watching Jiang Nuo leave the door did he murmur, "It looks good."
Ding Pingzhou is a sophomore in high school this year and will soon become an adult. He has long passed the stage of ignorance and has already determined his own orientation. He knows clearly that he is different from most people. He likes boys and has high standards. He likes slim and handsome boys.
In the past, he only knew that the gender he liked was "male", until today when he saw Jiang Nuo again, he suddenly had an epiphany: Isn't this my ideal type?
.
As Jiang Nuo walked out of the door, he saw Gu Jiangkuo rushing over. "Brother Dajiang? You're here to buy something too."
Gu Jiangkuo, who had wanted to buy snacks but saw Nuozai carrying a large bag of snacks, said: "...No, I'm not buying anything. I'm just browsing around. Why did you buy so many snacks? You don't like to eat them."
"I bought this for Xiao Qiang and the others." Jiang Nuo took out another bottle of sports drink. "I also brought you some water."
"You brought it for me? I'm not thirsty." Gu Jiangkuo refused with a sour face, but still took the big bag from Nuozai's hand and helped him carry the heavy things naturally. "Why are you buying food for Xiaoqiang?"
"He always treats me. It makes me feel bad."
So is this a return of favor? Gu Jiangkuo calmed down a bit, and then he heard Jiang Nuo continue, "I thought you went to play basketball and you must be thirsty when you come back, so I bought you a sports drink to replenish electrolytes."
Bought it specifically?
One was "specially," the other was "returning a favor." Gu Jiangkuo's uneasy heart finally calmed down, and he even felt a little excited. He happily took out the drink, unscrewed it, and took a big gulp. "You bought it just in time! I was thirsty. It's delicious! How did you know I like this flavor?"
"..." Jiang Nuo almost rolled his eyes to the sky, "That's too fake, Gu Dajiang."
You just said you weren’t thirsty!
Gu Jiangkuo smiled ingratiatingly: "Really, the water that Nuonuo bought is especially delicious. You are the one who buys things. You are so good at shopping."
Jiang Nuo, however, didn't buy his story and said a little depressedly, "You must have drunk something on the court just now, and then a girl brought you water, right?"
Jiang Nuo felt depressed when she thought that Gu Jiangkuo was so popular, while she herself was praised as "cute" by girls because of her height and was even called the flower of the motherland.
From childhood to adulthood, Nuozi had never spoken to him in such a sarcastic tone. Gu Jiangkuo was stunned, "A girl brought me water, are you jealous?"
Jealous?
Who are you jealous of?
Before Jiang Nuo could react, he denied it with his mouth: "No!"
Gu Jiangkuo was quite happy, "Don't listen to their nonsense. A girl brought me water, but I didn't drink a single sip! Lao Xie and Brother D can both testify to that!"
Jiang Nuo had always felt that the reason she was unhappy was that "some girls brought water to Gu Jiangkuo, but no girl showed interest in her own side." However, after hearing Gu Jiangkuo's explanation that seemed to distance himself from the matter, she unexpectedly became happy and suddenly didn't mind the girls' attitude towards her anymore.
Gu Jiangkuo added, "I only drink the water you give me."
Jiang Nuo was even happier, and said modestly, "I'm quite good at shopping. I even looked at the ingredient list before buying water."
"Of course, it's scientific and healthy!" Gu Jiangkuo followed closely with flattery.
.
A few days later, Jiang Nuo finally had the opportunity to stay at Gu Jiangkuo's house. Gu's mother was indeed very easy to talk to. After the two half-grown children finished their homework, she allowed them to play on the computer.
I just reminded them "Don't play too late" and brought them some cut fruit once, and then I never entered the room again, letting them play however they wanted.
Jiang Nuo found the forum of Yanlin No. 1 Middle School and tried to search for keywords. He soon found posts about himself. Gu Jiangkuo pulled up a chair and followed him like a big tail, squeezing in and browsing the web with Jiang Nuo.
There are several photos posted on the main building, some of which are group photos and some are candid photos.
During military training, a whole row of students stood at attention. Among them, Jiang Nuo was dazzlingly white, with a huge color difference from those in front, behind, left and right. There was also an enlarged close-up of his face, which was obviously a candid shot. The title was "The Novel's Male Protagonist Enters Reality."
There were a lot of replies, some praised the beauty, some asked who this was, some dug out Jiang Nuo's identity, and many of them were clamoring for the handsome guy's contact information.
Gu Jiangkuo watched while biting the wax apple with a crunching sound.
It seemed that those were not fruits, but those coquettish and slutty girls who were clamoring for Nuonuo's contact information.
Fortunately, there are some other voices in almost every post: This is a kid in the first grade of junior high school, probably less than 1.6 meters tall.
“…”
Jiang Nuo was so angry that he almost dropped his mouse: "I'm already 5'65! I'll be 5'66 soon! Are these people blind?"
Gu Jiangkuo stroked his fur: "They are all blind! They must be some ugly bastards that no girl likes, and they are jealous of you!"
Jiang Nuo felt a little better. "I want to post this to prove that I'll be 5 feet 4 inches tall soon! I'm not short!"
"Hey, why bother with them?" Gu Jiangkuo tried his best to stop him. "A dog bites you, and you bite the dog back? It's so cheap to argue with those ugly guys."
If the post becomes popular, won’t Nuozai get more attention?
"Just listen to me, grow taller quietly, and then you'll stun them all." Gu Jiangkuo said righteously, "How could I harm you?"
What bad intentions could Brother Dajiang have? He's just petty and doesn't want his son Nuozai to be too popular.
"..." Jiang Nuo said reluctantly, "I'm still a little angry."
"Don't read it." Gu Jiangkuo closed the post. "Let's play for a while, play some online games. Aunt Jiang finally stopped paying attention to us, why don't we hurry up?"
"Oh, that's right." Nuozai was easy to coax. After closing the page, he started playing the game eagerly.
Gu Jiangkuo: "Wait a minute, I'll bring the laptop over!"
In that year, laptop computers were still a rare thing and far less popular than desktop computers. However, Mrs. Gu and Mr. Gu had several computers for office use. This one didn't have much data stored on it, so Gu Jiangkuo often took it to play with.
The two young boys logged into their respective accounts and started playing enthusiastically. This is a very popular game recently. Gu Jiangkuo is more of a technical player, with stylish positioning and excellent operation. However, Nuozai has shown an amazing business acumen since he was a child. He is not willing to spend too much time on account training, but is very willing to study the free trading market in the game interface. He has created the miracle of "trading canned food for airplanes" many times, and has quickly cultivated an account with super combat effectiveness with the least amount of money.
After a night of fun, Nuozai's mood had almost recovered. After taking a shower, he lay on the bed and reviewed tonight's copy with relish. Gu Jiangkuo reviewed it with him and they were so excited that they didn't sleep until midnight.
——Anyway, Mrs. Gu wouldn’t bang on the door and urge them to shut up and go to sleep.
Finally, Nuozai was so sleepy that he fell asleep on Gu Jiangkuo's pillow. Gu Jiangkuo was afraid of waking him up, so he tiptoed to the edge and closed his eyes.
However, after falling asleep, she habitually reached out and scooped up Nuozai into her arms like a pillow, letting out a comfortable murmur in her sleep.
.
Nuozai still didn't give up. On the weekend, he begged Mother Jiang to take him to the hospital secretly to see if he had any disease and why he was not growing taller.
Mother Jiang had long wanted to take her son to measure his bone age, and the mother and son hit it off immediately.
The results showed: the bone line had not closed. The doctor said, "He's still young, why rush? Based on his current developmental level, his height is definitely normal. Don't worry. Drink more milk, get more calcium, and participate in more sports."
The Jiang family mother and son took this reassurance and put their minds at ease.
When Jiang Nuo went to school again on Monday, he received another surprise.
.
"Nuozi, here you go!" Xiao Qiang took out a letter from his pocket and put it on Jiang Nuo's desk.
The envelope is very beautiful, and the handwriting is neat and elegant, and it can be seen that a lot of care was put into it.
"What the hell is this?" The person who asked the question was not Jiang Nuo, but Gu Jiangkuo who came over from the back row.
"Of course it's a love letter written by a girl!" Xiao Qiang pushed up his glasses. "It's so obvious, Brother Gu. Smell it, it even has a fragrance."
Jiang Nuo was about to take a look at the "love letter" written to her, but when she reached out her hand, she found nothing. Gu Jiangkuo actually picked up the envelope, put it under his nose and sniffed it, then frowned and said, "What a cheap perfume! Nuo Nuo will be allergic to it."
Xiao Qiang: "Ah? It smells quite high-end to me, like the cologne hidden in my dad's drawer—"
"It was confiscated." Gu Jiangkuo interrupted him, took the "love letter" and ran away without saying anything.
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