There was more than one announcer. When the broadcast station's announcer switched to Jiang Chenhua, who continued reading the same cheering script for An Ning, Shu Xiaoshan curled her lips. "It's just a run. What's so impressive about that?"
The girl standing beside her overheard her words and gave her a once-over.
"Then why don't you go run?"
With that, she stepped away from her.
"You don't do anything yourself, yet you look down on classmates who are willing to put in the sweat."
"No wonder you used to spread rumors about An Ning."
Shu Xiaoshan's face flushed bright red. She tried to stand there as if nothing was wrong, but no matter how she stood, she felt uncomfortable, as if ants were crawling all over her.
She muttered to herself that she needed to go to the bathroom, and only when she was far from the crowd did she feel she could breathe freely again.
After the monthly exam results came out, Class Nine seemed to have become An Ning's world. Whether in the dormitory or the classroom, Shu Xiaoshan felt excluded from everyone around her.
There had been plenty of people who badmouthed An Ning with her before, but now everyone had taken An Ning's side, as if she were the only villain.
An Xin felt the same way as Shu Xiaoshan.
As a fellow announcer, hearing the person before her continuously reading cheering scripts for An Ning, she irritably pulled out all the scripts with An Ning's name on them from the desk and tossed them into the trash can.
Who would have thought that the next moment Jiang Chenhua would pick the scripts back out of the trash can, take over from the other announcer, and continue reading the scripts she had thrown away.
The speakers were on, so An Xin could only suppress her anger. Only when Jiang Chenhua stopped did she speak with reddened eyes: "What do you mean by this?"
The two of them had often run into each other in the broadcast room before, and she had developed a vague crush on him. Later, when she heard he liked An Ning, she became much more proactive.
During this period, they had gone to the library together, and she had watched him play basketball and brought him water.
She thought their relationship was already understood between them, just one step away from breaking through that final barrier.
But his behavior just now was clearly slapping her in the face in public—and slapping her face for An Ning's sake.
"Those cheering scripts were carefully written by the students. Because you threw them in the trash out of personal grudges, I don't think you're fit to stay in the broadcast station."
Jiang Chenhua finished speaking and walked downstairs without looking at An Xin's expression. By then, the long-distance run had already ended. Learning that An Ning had come in second place, Jiang Chenhua searched around the sports field and finally found her at the sand pit, cheering for Shi Jiayan.
The slender young girl wore a simple white t-shirt, the back soaked with sweat, faintly revealing the white undershirt beneath.
Just standing behind her, he could catch the faint fragrance emanating from her.
A wave of heat rushed to his cheeks. Jiang Chenhua reached out and poked her shoulder. "An Ning, Teacher Zhao is looking for you."
Turning around to see it was Jiang Chenhua, An Ning instinctively frowned. Hearing that Teacher Zhao was looking for her, she glanced over at Chu Hang beside her.
Chu Hang raised his water bottle and waved his arm. "Don't worry, Sister An. Once Shi Jiayan finishes throwing the shot put, I'll make sure she gets the highest level of service. Little Chu is on standby right here."
An Ning gave a slight nod and looked at Jiang Chenhua. "Where is Teacher Zhao?"
"The teachers' office."
The students were all gathered at the sports field, leaving the teaching building quiet and deserted.
Jiang Chenhua followed behind An Ning, and once they were far from the crowd, he opened his mouth: "I read quite a few of your cheering messages on the broadcast station. It's a pity I didn't get to see you run in person. I heard you got second place in the long-distance race—that's really impressive, An Ning. Congratulations."
An Ning casually hummed in acknowledgment.
"Just now at the broadcast station, An Xin threw your cheering messages into the trash can. I never knew she was that kind of person."
Jiang Chenhua quickened his pace and blocked An Ning's path, his gaze earnest with a hint of guilt. "An Ning, do you have some misunderstanding about me? I only occasionally run into An Xin at the broadcast station. I'm not familiar with her at all."
With the road blocked by Jiang Chenhua and seeing him like this, what else did An Ning need to understand?
Teacher Zhao looking for her was clearly just an excuse—it was him who wanted to see her.
Last time she rejected his advances, he hadn't spoken to her again.
After that, at school, she had seen him walking together with An Xin several times.
Connecting that with how his first words were to tattle on An Xin and distance himself from her, An Ning felt no joy of victory—only disgust and irritation.
The Jiang Chenhua of now was no different from the Jiang Chenhua of more than a decade later.
A textbook NPD personality—vain, arrogant, and self-centered.
He felt insulted by her, so he got close to An Xin. Now that he saw the shift in public opinion, he abandoned An Xin and tried to use this act to earn favor from her.
When she had looked through the materials before, she had wondered why Jiang Chenhua would create a warm, happy atmosphere for the original owner while secretly doing things that hurt her.
Later, after researching NPD personality, she understood.
Jiang Chenhua liked the original owner, but he loved himself more. So the sense of achievement he needed wasn't just winning the original owner—he also needed the original owner to submit to him.
Truly nauseating.
"I have no misunderstanding with you whatsoever. I simply find you annoying. Seeing you makes me feel sick. I hope we can remain strangers from now on and forever. There won't be a next time for something like today. If I keep seeing trash, I can't help but throw it into the incinerator."
An Ning looked straight at Jiang Chenhua.
In her past life, he was burned to death, and the original owner was sentenced to death—the grudges and debts between the two had already canceled each other out.
If he didn't come bothering her on his own, she wouldn't waste her energy on him. But if he kept pestering her, it would become a matter between her and him.
An Ning finished speaking and walked away, leaving Jiang Chenhua frozen in place, unable to snap out of it for a long while.
An Ning was the first girl he had ever liked when his heart first stirred.
He had poured all his fantasies about the opposite sex into her.
When she had fallen before, he could only hide that affection deep inside. Now that An Ning's presence at school was no longer out of place, he could express his feelings—yet both attempts at showing goodwill had been harshly shot down by her.
He even felt that An Ning faced him with more disgust than she did An Xin.
With her mood ruined by that filthy thing, An Ning went to wash her face before returning to the stadium.
Shi Jiayan had already finished throwing the shot put, taking third place in the second-year group, and was currently enjoying Little Chu's attentive service.
Chu Hang was twisting open bottle caps and handing over snacks.
When An Ning returned, the three of them went together to watch other classmates' events. When it was time to dismiss, Chu Hang, afraid of being abandoned by them, generously invited them to the cafeteria to gnaw on big goose legs.
"By the way, Ningning, what did Teacher Zhao want with you just now?"
Shi Jiayan thought about how An Ning had been called away and missed seeing her win third place, and couldn't help feeling that Teacher Zhao had picked the worst possible time to find her.
"If Teacher Zhao needed someone for the sports meet, she'd come to me. Clearly our class monitor was just making up an excuse to spend time alone with Sister An."
Chu Hang was biting into a chicken leg. Before An Ning could answer Shi Jiayan's question, he answered on her behalf.
After speaking, he didn't hear the two of them gasp in admiration. Chu Hang looked up and found both of them staring straight at him, scaring him so badly that the chicken leg fell from his hand back onto his plate.
"Why are you looking at me like that!"
Chu Hang squirmed and shifted his shoulders.
Shi Jiayan made a gagging sound and raised her hand to teach him a lesson, but seeing that his hair was soaked with sweat, she couldn't find a place to land a hit.
"I knew it—classmate Jiayan, you really do care about me."
"Get lost, you traitor! If you knew Jiang Chenhua was lying, why didn't you say anything? Why did you let him take Ningning away!"
"Isn't the class monitor a decent guy?"
Chu Hang only realized the two of them were genuinely upset when he said seriously, "Actually, all the boys in class know Jiang Chenhua has feelings for Sister An. Dong Da too, but he's too creepy—you did the right thing punching him, Sister An!"
"I didn't lay a hand on him."
An Ning didn't accept Chu Hang's flattery. "I find Jiang Chenhua disgusting, you understand?"
The two exchanged glances, and Chu Hang immediately caught on: "Ohhh, got it, got it."
If they weren't friends, there'd be no need to tell the other person who you dislike. Chu Hang responded with a grin, surprised that An Ning's personality was actually open to making friends that easily.
"From now on, I'm under Sister An's protection."
"Get over yourself!"
Shi Jiayan rolled her eyes. Ningning was just too nice, befriending all kinds of people.
The winter sports meet lasted two days, and the weekend followed right after.
An Ning found a new internet café through Chu Hang's recommendation. She went twice and didn't run into any strange people, so she decided to make that place her long-term base.
But as soon as the class meeting ended, she was called away by Teacher Zhao.
"There's an internet café near my home with a good environment—it'll be convenient for you to use a computer. Don't worry about space at my place—it's a self-built three-story house. It was originally designed to be rented out, so the building has two separate entrances. The room I've prepared for you isn't inside my main living area. You can just come over for meals, and otherwise we won't disturb each other."
Picking An Ning up on the weekend to stay at her home was something Zhao Wen had planned long ago.
Since she'd decided to support An Ning, she couldn't just cover tuition. For now, An Ning could stay at school on weekends, but when school closed for holidays, there was no way she'd let a minor rent a place on her own.
With that in mind, Zhao Wen mulled it over for a few days, making sure to block every possible excuse An Ning might come up with before she even opened her mouth.
An Ning hadn't planned to refuse anyway. Her attention was completely on something else Teacher Zhao had said.
"Teacher, you mean you have a house near here? A three-story one?"
"It's not exactly close—about a twenty-minute bike ride. I'll take you on my bike."
An Ning thought about the property prices in this area ten-plus years from now, then quickly packed a change of clothes and sat on the back of Teacher Zhao's bike.
When they arrived at Teacher Zhao's home, she discovered that the self-built house included a storefront in the front and a large courtyard in the back.
An Ning let out a "wow" at the sight of the house, never expecting that Teacher Zhao was secretly wealthy.
Zhao Wen rarely saw An Ning act so childishly. She looked up at her own house—an old brick building covered in wisteria—and had to admit it was indeed pleasing to the eye.
"Like houses with a courtyard?"
Seeing An Ning's mood growing lighter and lighter, Zhao Wen asked with a guess.
An Ning nodded. "Teacher, don't sell this house for the next twenty years. In this location, the land value will only go up every year."
"You know about this stuff?"
Zhao Wen found it amusing. Jiangcheng was developing quickly, with residential buildings shooting up one after another, the newest already reaching over forty stories.
Everyone took pride in living in commercial apartment buildings, yet here was this young girl, An Ning, beaming at an old house and thinking it would be worth a fortune.
"Teacher, you should trust your student's financial acumen." An Ning curved her lips and continued, "I was actually worried that eating too much would be a burden on you, but now that I think about how you'll be a millionaire in the future, I feel at ease."
An Ning placed her schoolbag in the room Teacher Zhao had prepared for her.
The room was about twenty square meters, with a private bathroom inside. The bed was covered with a small floral-print bedsheet, and there was a desk and a wardrobe.
The items weren't new, but it was clear they were well-preserved pieces.
"Well, I'll take your word for it. When I become a millionaire, I'll buy you a computer."
Zhao Wen looked at the large desk in the room and felt something was missing. Knowing that An Ning needed a computer, she had looked into it—even a secondhand one wasn't cheap, so she could only keep that in mind for now.
"Wow!"
An Ning's eyes lit up. She sat on the chair, smiling at Teacher Zhao. Perhaps because they were away from school, the two of them felt much more relaxed and at ease with each other.
"Come eat! This must be Xiao An, right? What a pretty girl—you can tell at a glance she's a bright one."
An Ning exchanged a few words with Teacher Zhao, and then Teacher Zhao's family came to call them for dinner.
"Hello, Grandma."
An Ning stood up straight and greeted her.
On the way over, Teacher Zhao had told her about the family structure.
Teacher Zhao's family was simple—five members in total. Besides her and her husband, there was her husband's mother and a son and a daughter.
"Hello to you too."
Grandma Xu had fair skin, a slightly plump figure, and few wrinkles on her face. Just by looking at her, one could tell she was good-natured.
An Ning helped set out the bowls and chopsticks. Teacher Zhao's eldest son had already graduated from university and was working at a foreign company—he was away on a business trip—while her daughter was attending university in the capital.
So at the table were only herself, Grandma Xu, Teacher Zhao, and Teacher Zhao's husband.
Teacher Zhao's husband was a taxi driver who didn't talk much. He greeted An Ning, told her to make herself at home, and quietly focused on his meal.
Picking up her bowl and chopsticks, An Ning's attention fell entirely on the food.
Braised pork, oil-blasted shrimp, garlic stir-fried water spinach, and taro pork rib soup.
Rich and savory with a hint of sweetness.
Grandma Xu was an excellent cook.
An Ning felt like she was dining at a restaurant—every dish was delicious.
After eating, An Ning volunteered for the dishwashing duty. By the time she finished cleaning up, her stomach was still stuffed, so she could only rub her belly as she walked toward the internet café.
When she arrived, she discovered there was a night market there. Bustling crowds converged from all directions, and after browsing through all the stalls, she realized she had found her part-time job for the winter break.
If it weren't so unscientific, she'd think that every time she made people she hated eat dirt, her luck multiplied exponentially.
If that were the case, she'd go all out infuriating An Xin and Jiang Chenhua.