Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 185 - 166 Keeping up with the Joneses

Chapter 185: Chapter 166: Keeping up with the Joneses

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

Chapter 185: Chapter 166: Keeping up with the Joneses

Ding Shuyan left the small garden with an indescribable feeling in her heart.

She took a few steps and suddenly wondered, could Jiang Ning have been testing her just now?

“Could it be, he needs to use me for something?”

With Ding Shuyan’s intelligence, it was hard not to think in that direction.

It was just that she didn’t know what Jiang Ning needed her for.

Li Shi was still waiting in the same place; she hadn’t left, partly because Ding Shuyan was her good friend and partly because she couldn’t figure out the reasoning.

One gesture from Jiang Ning getting a reaction from Ding Shuyan was somewhat absurd.

In Li Shi’s eyes, Ding Shuyan seemed calm. At her last birthday party, she would greet the arriving guests with a smile and a few words.

But in reality, Ding Shuyan had a barrier in her heart, isolating everything from the outside, and her politeness was merely to maintain basic interpersonal relationships.

Throughout the time Li Shi had known her, she could still feel a certain distance from Ding Shuyan.

How could such a proud girl have any interaction with a boy like Jiang Ning?

“Shuyan?” she asked tentatively.

“Mm,” Ding Shuyan didn’t elaborate, as this matter couldn’t be shared with outsiders.

Li Shi asked, “Do you know Jiang Ning?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Is he also from An City?” If that was the case, then it wouldn’t be so strange.

Ding Shuyan denied, “No, we just had some contact after arriving at the Fourth Middle School.”

She didn’t make excuses, and moreover, Jiang Ning would definitely not cooperate with her.

Hearing Ding Shuyan’s words made Li Shi even more curious.

The two girls walked towards the academic building, their outstanding appearances attracting frequent glances from the students they passed.

‘Ding Shuyan only came into contact with Jiang Ning after arriving at the Fourth Middle School, and their relationship is obviously not ordinary, at least to the extent of acquaintances.’

‘Did something happen during that period?’

Li Shi became somewhat interested; she suddenly decided to learn more about Jiang Ning, to understand what was so special about him that made Ding Shuyan take the initiative to approach him.

Even the equally impressive Zhuang Jianhui from An City probably couldn’t get such treatment from Ding Shuyan, could he?

Thinking of Zhuang Jianhui made Li Shi’s attractive mouth corners rise involuntarily, a boy truly dazzling to the point of shining.

When school first started in grade one, the sight of Zhuang Jianhui dunking the ball on the playground drew exclamations from countless girls.

In that moment, a good portion of the girls watching developed a liking for him.

Li Shi prided herself on having high standards, but she couldn’t completely escape the norm.

Due to coming from An City and having a very good family background, Yuzhou—a small city like this—had a ‘circle’ at the very top, and the families in it usually knew each other quite well.

The younger generation of kids also had contact with one another, and Li Shi happened to meet Zhuang Jianhui at an elder’s banquet. After getting to know him, she felt even more that he was exceptional, with achievements, eloquence, and insights far surpassing those of other boys his age.

What amazed her most was that Zhuang Jianhui not only had excellent basketball skills, but he also had considerable achievements in street dance and rock climbing.

Putting aside rock climbing, a niche sport.

In terms of basketball and street dance, there probably wasn’t another person in Yuzhou of the same age who could compete with him, could there be?

…

Class Eight’s classroom.

Ma Shicheng sat in his seat, horizontally holding his phone, playing a game.

His amazing gaming skills, however, had no audience.

Simply because Wang Longlong hadn’t come back yet.

Lately, Ma Shicheng was feeling a bit retro. He wasn’t playing Tiantian Kupao or Subway Surfers; instead, he had taken to playing Pocket Monsters.

His phone had a GBA emulator installed, and he was playing Pocket Monsters: Black Ghost. Ma Shicheng manipulated his character, constantly throwing Spirit Balls to capture Pocket Monsters.

If the capture failed, he would immediately revert to a previous save and try again, until he caught that rare-attribute Pocket Monster.

Ma Shicheng smiled in satisfaction, thinking, could it really escape the palm of his hand?

He brought his Pocket Monster to a lower-level area, encountered a wild Pocket Monster, and threw a Spirit Ball, releasing his own Pocket Monster to fight and farm experience.

A few girls were chatting up ahead, one of them was Yu Wen; she apparently found a new EXO fan and had rarely come to the back to chat.

Ma Shicheng glanced at the girls with disdain in his heart, calling them mindless fans.

He and the mindless fans had irreconcilable differences, but since they didn’t bother him, Ma Shicheng usually wouldn’t strike out, focusing on his game instead.

“Qiqi, your boyfriend is really handsome, and I heard that he’s even an upperclassman in grade two,” Yu Wen praised.

The Qiqi she was talking about was Lu Qiqi, a girl from Class Eight, with above-average looks and forward fashion sense—dressed sparingly even in the dead of winter.

Beauty before warmth.

It seemed that every high school class had one or two girls like this, not only mature in style but emotionally advanced, having boyfriends early on in life.

Lu Qiqi admired her freshly done nails, “Initially, I agreed to him because he was handsome; otherwise, I wouldn’t have said yes.”

Ma Shicheng found Lu Qiqi’s voice grating, with a forced tone that made his skin crawl.

Ma Shicheng pulled out a pair of earphones from his pocket, intending to put them on.

He had spent fifteen yuan on these ‘high-quality’ earphones from an outside store, and the noise isolation was really quite good.

The earphone cord was tangled, Ma Shicheng fiddled with it but couldn’t untangle it and figured it would be too much trouble to really sort out.

Ma Shicheng simply put the earphones away and continued playing his game of Pocket Monsters.

Yu Wen went on, “The last guy who chased me was the same type as your boyfriend, just a bit taller than him.”

“Yanan even met him last time.”

A trace of triumph appeared on her face.

Lu Qiqi felt uneasy and naturally said, “My boyfriend is one meter seventy-eight, how tall is the guy who chased you?”

Yu Wen had the edge, “He’s one meter eighty.”

The simple comparison in height left Lu Qiqi’s boyfriend at a disadvantage.

Lu Qiqi wanted to say that the guy was only pursuing you and wasn’t your boyfriend yet, but what if Yu Wen agreed? Wouldn’t that prove her boyfriend was inferior to Yu Wen’s boyfriend?

Who would want to be outdone?

During high school, girls’ competitive nature was certainly no less than the boys’, and sometimes they would even vie over a skincare product, going to the point of snubbing each other’s tastes.

Furthermore, Lu Qiqi considered herself prettier than Yu Wen and had always felt a sense of superiority in front of her.

Now, a girl who seemed inferior had attracted an excellent admirer, and of course, Lu Qiqi was not pleased.

From another angle, she made her move, “Do you have a photo of the guy who’s pursuing you?”

If there was no photo, Lu Qiqi wouldn’t believe it; seeing is believing.

“Of course, take a look,” Yu Wen immediately opened her photo album, showing it off.

Lu Qiqi took a closer look and had to admit, the boy was quite handsome.

Yu Wen said, “He’s handsomer than most of the guys in our class, isn’t he?”

When she said this, Yu Wen wasn’t particularly avoiding anyone. Only Ma Shicheng was playing games in the back row, and she didn’t care about his feelings.

The gaming Ma Shicheng paused for a moment, caught off guard by the conversation.

With her attack proving ineffective, Lu Qiqi changed tactics, “How about his grades? My guy teaches me studies, stuff I don’t understand in math he had already learned last year.”

She was building up her boyfriend’s image as an excellent student.

Yu Wen nonchalantly remarked, “He’s from the Second Middle School.”

Lu Qiqi clammed up; in the eyes of students from other schools, Yu Zhou Second Middle School was synonymous with good grades.

Even though the grades of Xue Yuantong from their class surpassed everyone in the city, the long-established prestige of Second Middle School remained unshaken.

Seeing Lu Qiqi’s demeanor, Yu Wen felt smug and victorious.

Unwilling to concede, Lu Qiqi’s jealousy flared, fanned by a growing aggravation.

She continued promoting her boyfriend, “My boyfriend plays the guitar really well. Last time for my birthday, we set up a table outside the school and invited classmates. To look out for me, he not only bought a big cake but also played the guitar, and everyone praised him.”

Yu Wen replied, “The guy pursuing me has talents too. He even sang a song for me on QQ, that EXO song.”

“He said he’d take me to an EXO concert when they come to our country, and I’ve heard the tickets are quite expensive.”

“I didn’t want him to spend the money and rejected him outright, especially since I haven’t agreed to date him yet. It’s really bothersome,” Yu Wen said with a smile.

Lu Qiqi consistently came out on the bottom, feeling suffocated by waves of frustration and suddenly thinking less of her own boyfriend.

She remembered that she had asked her boyfriend to buy Bluetooth headphones, but he kept dragging his feet about it.

No matter what, Lu Qiqi wouldn’t admit defeat, gearing up to boast about her boyfriend again.

Ma Shicheng spoke up.

He had been listening for a while and found the conversation ludicrous. He said,

“I’m honestly entertained. The way you’re going on is hilarious, reminds me of the game I’m playing right now. Your boyfriends and my Pocket Monsters are similar, face an enemy, throw out a Spirit Ball, and let ’em show off a bit.”

Ma Shicheng chuckled, thumping the desk.

Yu Wen and Lu Qiqi’s faces changed color, a mix of green and red.

“None of your damn business!” Yu Wen cursed.

In an instant, Ma Shicheng retorted, “I’m talking about Pocket Monsters, what’s it to you?”

Yu Wen grabbed her textbook and threw it at Ma Shicheng’s arm.

Ma Shicheng shifted to avoid the book’s edge, letting her hit him a couple of times without any real pain.

Yu Wen cursed at him with words like “You’re really disgusting” and stormed off to the front of the class.

…

Ma Shicheng wasn’t bothered; he typically didn’t fuss over minor conflicts with girls—let them hit him if they wanted to.

As long as it wasn’t someone like Pang Jiao, girls’ punches usually weren’t that strong.

He continued to focus on his mobile game, now imagining that instead of Pocket Monsters, he was throwing out some girls’ boyfriends, which made things even more amusing for him.

At the classroom’s back door, Guo Kunnan returned, sweaty.

Turning his head, Ma Shicheng noticed Guo Kunnan’s strange expression, a mixture of six parts smile and four parts complexity.

A bittersweet, peculiar look.

“Brother Nan, what’s up with you? Which spirit has hexed you?” Ma Shicheng joked.

Guo Kunnan exhaled despondently, not hexed, but having stumbled upon great fortune.

He had been asked for his QQ on the basketball court.

Indeed, after playing basketball today, Guo Kunnan had been asked for his QQ again.

The last time he gave out his QQ, he thought it was the start of a sweet romance, only to be bitterly disappointed and profoundly wounded.

This time, Guo Kunnan felt a little shadowed, fearful that his hopeful expectations would once again turn into disappointment.

He was still a high school boy, after all, not equipped to handle such a blow.

Yet, he couldn’t help feeling a stealthy thrill.

This time, he played basketball with his own classmates: Wu Xiaoqi, Hu Jun, Huang Zhongfei, Wang Yong together.

There were no students from other classes.

Moreover, while playing basketball, he swore he didn’t bump into anyone. Ever since the last incident where he collided with somebody and got warned by the girl who added him on QQ, Guo Kunnan had been much more cautious, playing conservatively.

And the girl who added him didn’t do it in front of everyone but approached him quietly to ask for his QQ.

In that context, Guo Kunnan figured there was a high chance she was interested in him.

But he was also apprehensive.

Ma Shicheng had always been influential, somewhat of a spiritual leader in the back row.

If Guo Kunnan’s trust in Jiang Ning was a 10, for Ma Shicheng, it was at least an 8.

High school students are relatively naïve; it’s normal for them to seek advice from those they’re close to, even to an absurd degree, asking others to devise strategies and teach them how to chat with girls.

So Guo Kunnan turned to Ma Shicheng, explaining the situation, “Brother Ma, I was playing basketball on the sports field and a girl added me on QQ. Can you help me?”