The Will of Fire Sold Out to Fund Three Kingdoms Kill

While Xia Yanchun was napping on her desk during the lunch break, Shen Nian had already finished writing his speech.

It was mostly rambling; he didn't even end up using the AI he originally planned to.

Not that it was all nonsense, of course. After all, the high scores he could get were entirely due to his indomitable willpower, perseverance, and hard work.

Fumu was still alive and well, and the whole family was healthy, hehe.

There was a double period of English class in the afternoon, and Yan Yuzhu once again praised Shen Nian.

Well, going from being at the bottom in English to scoring over 135 was definitely something worth bragging about.

Teacher Yan really knew how to do it, her praise almost made Shen Nian feel like he was reverting to an embryo state. Loved it. With an English teacher like her, Shen Nian would be willing to stay even if he lived in a mansion and had a 175cm tall blonde beauty as his deskmate.

The last period was self-study. Su Kexi came in to hold another brief meeting, properly arranging the matters for the parent-teacher conference the next day.

Evening.

Pink and purple clouds hung on the horizon. The classroom lights flickered on one by one. The evening breeze rustled the camphor leaves, brewing the campus dusk into a quiet poem.

Chen Qiuyu, resting her cheek on her hand, leaned against the window on Shen Nian's side, enjoying the view and the breeze. A cool gust would often blow through, scattering her hair and wafting out the scent of her shampoo.

The melting golden light was perfect for taking photos.

Shen Nian had just returned from the school store when he saw this scene. He had to admit, it was quite picturesque.

When Chen Qiuyu wasn't acting crazy, she could definitely be considered a pretty girl.

Shen Nian placed his mineral water bottle on the pile of books. "What are you doing at my spot?"

"Hehe, just killing time, looking at the scenery."

Evening, early winter, campus—it was truly the perfect time and place for someone to act unhinged. Shen Nian curled his lip and glanced at Chen Qiuyu's grades. Hmm... Math, 105.

"Three digits in math, that's progress. Permission to act crazy granted."

"What the heck!"

Chen Qiuyu never understood; she was a perfectly normal girl, okay? How did she become a lunatic in Shen Nian's eyes?

She couldn't help rolling her eyes several times. Just as she was about to leave, Shen Nian spoke up again.

"By the way, who's coming for you tomorrow?"

"My dad, why? The one over there when you were fishing."

"Nothing, nothing, go on back." Shen Nian waved his hand.

Haven't seen Fishing Uncle in a long time. Haji Uncle probably still thinks I'm trying to chase Chen Qiuyu.

Haji Uncle: Is he going to pursue my daughter?

Shen Nian: Once a teacher, always a father figure.

Who could keep a straight face at that? Too funny, man.

During evening self-study, a scent of aromatherapy filled the classroom. The blackboard already had the words "Welcome, Parents" written on it in chalk.

Some students needed to contact their parents in advance tomorrow. Halfway through the last class, following the teacher's instructions, Xia Yanchun had already started calling people up to the podium to retrieve their confiscated phones.

Actually, most of them were backup phones or dummy phones. Dummy phones these days were advanced enough to light up the screen, which was naturally sufficient to fool the school.

Not just boys who loved playing games like Ma Mingfan and Chen Dong, but even goody-two-shoes honor students like that little loli secretly had a phone stashed away, squatting in the bathroom every noon to play on it sneakily.

After retrieving her phone, Li Shiyan peeked furtively at the classroom door, then stuffed the retrieved phone back into her small backpack and pulled out a similar-looking phone, her eyes curving into happy crescents as she hid behind a pile of books to play secretly.

They were handing out the phones openly now, yet this girl's courage was still so small.

Startling her from behind would probably make her jump out of her skin.

Noticing Shen Nian looking at her, Li Shiyan blinked and pretended not to see, burying her head behind Xia Yanchun's book pile like a little turtle.

Ma Mingfan, having gotten his phone, was already updating the Naruto mobile game.

You could tell, this was true love.

"Is this crappy game really that fun?"

Shen Nian had already quit. Now, watching Ma Mingfan play so intently, he felt completely indifferent.

"Those without the Will of Fire are not worthy of speaking to me. Where is your Will of Fire?"

"Sold it to top up in Three Kingdoms Kill."

"Whoa, so you're a player of that game!" Ma Mingfan said with newfound respect. "I forgive you on behalf of the village."

Shen Nian chuckled, raised his hand and gave Ma Mingfan a punch. Because the feedback felt lacking, he followed up with a slap. That felt better.

"Speaking of which, who's coming for you tomorrow?" Shen Nian asked again.

"My home's far away. Neither of my parents are coming. It's better they don't. If they saw how much you've improved while I'm still stuck with these crappy scores, they'd just nag me again."

"All because you're not working hard enough. Weren't you training your willpower? What did you use your willpower for?"

"Ahem, noisy." Ma Mingfan straightened his back, turned around, raised a finger, and said conspiratorially, "I'm challenging myself to quit lust for a month."

"Feels like challenging yourself to reach first place in the grade in two months would be easier."

"Last week my willpower was rock solid. Counting today, it's already the thirteenth day."

"Impressive!"

Shen Nian couldn't help but applaud, giving him a big thumbs-up.

Seems like watching those bizarre things really had a significant effect on training willpower.

Shen Nian patted Ma Mingfan approvingly. "I've got another batch here that can train willpower. Want to see?"

"What? You'd better not send me square dancing from the park."

Shen Nian was taken aback, laughing awkwardly. "Uh, haha, I changed phones. Didn't save it. Won't send it to you for now."

Ma Mingfan pointed an accusing finger. "Dammit, I knew it! You sent some during National Day and now you're trying to mess with me again, right? The people in your videos were as pale as if they'd been dead for ten days."

He was walking the path of unorthodox cultivation anyway. He just wanted to train his willpower, not shorten his lifespan.

Shen Nian was out of options. After all, the aunties and grannies wouldn't let him film unless the beauty filters were maxed out.

"Speaking of which, you changed phones? What about the old one?"

"Put it up on Xianyu."

Ma Mingfan: "?"

Where's my combo?

There's a cuckold here!

Ma Mingfan hated cuckolds and disdained to associate with Shen Nian. He turned around to play Naruto, figuring he could still start a match before class ended.

Shen Nian tidied up his desk, putting things in order so that when his mom came tomorrow, she wouldn't see a messy drawer and give him an earful.

This really highlighted the advantage of having two desks to oneself.

As for bits of trash and scraps, of course, he ruthlessly exploited the little loli.

The girls liked to pin a small plastic bag between the two desks for garbage. Shen Nian reluctantly let them handle his trash too.

The tiny plastic bag was half-filled by Shen Nian. Li Shiyan could only watch with wide, helpless eyes, not daring to voice her anger. She would obediently take it out to empty when class was over.

The dismissal bell rang. Xia Yanchun twinkled her way down from the podium, packed her small backpack. Her water cup was empty, but someone was still at the water dispenser. After a moment's thought, without a word, she placed her cup on Shen Nian's desk.

"See, see." Shen Nian was speechless. How could she be so good at bossing people around?

Couldn't be bothered to complain.

"Last time."

"How many 'last times' have there been already?"

"It really is the last time. Next time I won't ask you to fill it for me."

Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato requesting over three million daily visits causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended that you use sources from other big shots.