Chapter 22: The Struggling Student Has Many Stationery

In this latest battle, Jiang Mingzhi won again.

Pei Jinyang had his sub-card suspended, and the monthly allowance that he would have received was now given to Jiang Mingzhi.

The next day, Jiang Mingzhi woke up feeling refreshed. She looked in the mirror and found that the marks on her neck had almost healed completely, with only a small spot where the skin had slightly broken. The wound was tiny and almost negligible.

At noon, Pei Jinyang didn’t come downstairs for lunch, and the nanny said he was still sleeping.

Jiang Mingzhi guessed that he had stayed up all night playing games. When he was in a bad mood, he liked to play games. If he won, it was fine, but if he lost, he would get even more worked up, playing game after game without stopping.

She had lunch with Uncle Pei and her mother. There was no sign of that face she disliked at the table, so her appetite was unusually good, and she ate an extra half bowl of rice.

After the meal, Pei Zhaohua asked if she wanted to join them for a round of golf.

In their circle, it was common for families to organize gatherings focused on health, where they could discuss parenting tips while allowing the children to get to know each other.

Building relationships from a young age was definitely more effective than arranging a marriage later on.

The reality was that outstanding kids didn’t even need to wait until university before some adults had already taken an interest in them. Of course, they would never directly reveal this intention in front of the children but had an unspoken understanding.

If things worked out as they hoped, that was great. If the younger generation didn’t get along, there was nothing they could do about it.

Ultimately, resources only circulated within this circle.

Jiang Mingzhi shook her head, looking regretful. “Ah, but I’ve already made plans with some classmates to buy study materials. Maybe next time, Uncle Pei.”

“Alright.” Pei Zhaohua responded with a smile.

Jiang Mingzhi rested in her room during the afternoon. When she woke up, she found that Pei Zhaohua and Qiu Tang had already left, while Pei Jinyang’s room door was still tightly shut.

She washed some fruit for herself and planned to bring it to her room to eat while doing some exercises.

After the rain, the sky cleared up. Jiang Mingzhi looked out the window at the plants glowing green in the sunlight and felt in high spirits, humming a tune as she leisurely went upstairs.

By chance, she ran into Pei Jinyang on the stairs.

He looked like he had just woken up, with slightly swollen eyelids and messy hair. His hand was in the pocket of his pajama pants.

Jiang Mingzhi completely ignored him and walked past, only to hear him call out for the nanny to make him some noodles a few seconds later.

After reaching her room, Jiang Mingzhi worked through a math test. Noticing that it was almost time to leave, she changed her clothes and went downstairs.

After looking around the house and not finding a driver, she called Sister Fang and found out that the driver had taken Pei Jinyang out half an hour ago.

While waiting for the driver to come and deciding whether to take a taxi or the subway, Jiang Mingzhi opted for the subway.

It took her about ten minutes to walk from home to the subway station. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining today, so she quickened her pace a little.

When she arrived at the agreed meeting spot, she saw that Guan Jingxu and Zhuang Heyang were already there.

About two meters away, Lin Wan stood behind a billboard, eagerly waiting.

When Lin Wan saw Jiang Mingzhi, it was as if she had seen a savior.

Jiang Mingzhi had contacted her the previous night. Hearing that Guan Jingxu would be there, Lin Wan had agreed without thinking.

Not for any other reason, but just to get closer to the genius and absorb some of his exam luck.

She didn’t expect Jiang Mingzhi to be late, even arriving two minutes after the scheduled time, which made her a bit embarrassed, as she knew Guan Jingxu, but he didn’t know her.

“Sorry, I missed the last subway,” Jiang Mingzhi apologized.

Zhuang Heyang reassured her, “It’s fine, Meng Yuanyuan hasn’t arrived yet.”

Jiang Mingzhi pointed to a milk tea shop by the side of the road. “How about we grab a drink?”

The four of them ordered drinks, and Jiang Mingzhi sent a message to Meng Yuanyuan to ask what she wanted to drink and ordered it for her.

Guan Jingxu quickly paid for the drinks, and everyone tacitly didn’t fight over the bill, knowing they could pay him back later.

Before the drinks were ready, Meng Yuanyuan arrived.

Meng Yuanyuan and Guan Jingxu weren’t talkative, but with Lin Wan and Zhuang Heyang chattering away, Jiang Mingzhi played the role of the foil, and the atmosphere between them was lively.

As soon as they entered the bookstore, everyone deliberately lowered their voices to speak.

The group hurried to the study area, and Jiang Mingzhi casually picked up a yellow-and-white textbook. Just then, she heard Guan Jingxu’s voice behind her, saying, “This one is pretty basic.”

Jiang Mingzhi flipped it open, glanced at the table of contents and example questions, then put the book back on the shelf.

It wasn’t quite right for her.

Guan Jingxu came over and stood beside her in front of the shelf. “Are you looking for practice questions or doing advanced training? Depending on the goal, there are different options.”

Jiang Mingzhi paused for a moment, then replied, “Both are needed. What about you, Yuanyuan?”

Meng Yuanyuan sent a message: “I’m about the same, I want to learn problem-solving techniques and expand my thinking.”

Guan Jingxu scanned the rows of new books and pulled out three. “These are okay, medium difficulty.”

He then pulled out another one. “This one’s a bit harder, most of the problems inside are competition questions and specialized topics.”

Jiang Mingzhi and Meng Yuanyuan exchanged a glance and tacitly picked up a book to browse.

Guan Jingxu continued explaining, “But the advantage of difficulty is that it really helps with improving problem-solving techniques.”

When it came to math problems, Guan Jingxu seemed to speak more.

Following his recommendation, Jiang Mingzhi bought three books, and Meng Yuanyuan bought two. In the end, Jiang Mingzhi, somewhat shyly, asked Guan Jingxu to recommend some high school-level study books for Lin Wan.

Lin Wan promised that she would definitely study them carefully.

Not everyone had the opportunity to have their study materials personally selected by Guan Jingxu.

After leaving the bookstore, everyone had a few more books in their bags, and no one had come empty-handed.

Jiang Mingzhi took a sip from her drink and pointed across the street at a stationery shop. “Let’s go check it out.”

No girl could resist beautiful stationery, elegant notebooks, and fancy pens.

As soon as they entered, the three girls were dazzled by the variety. Meng Yuanyuan was a stationery enthusiast, passionate about collecting all sorts of pretty pens. She bought ten in one go—English pens, lined pens, and notebooks for notes.

Jiang Mingzhi also bought two notebooks and picked out a few highlighters for marking important points.

The two boys looked around briefly and ended up with two simple black pens and a box of replacement ink cartridges to check out.

When they returned after paying, they saw that the three girls were still selecting items, and their baskets were already nearly full.

Zhuang Heyang was surprised. “Buying so much, planning to use it for senior year?”

Meng Yuanyuan replied, “No, not really.”

Zhuang Heyang continued, “Could this be the legendary…”

Students with a lot of stationery?

He didn’t finish the last five words, knowing that they weren’t exactly bad students.

But they did have a lot of stationery.

He hadn’t realized that girls in the class had so many different types of pens just for writing.

Wasn’t it just black and red pens?

By the time they left the stationery store, it was already past five. Jiang Mingzhi checked her phone and suggested, “Are you all going home for dinner? I know a great barbecue place nearby, want to try it?”

Meng Yuanyuan and Zhuang Heyang were already tired of the school cafeteria, so when the chance to eat barbecue came up, they immediately raised their hands in agreement. “Let’s go, go, go.”

Lin Wan called her mom to ask for permission.

Jiang Mingzhi sent a message to Qiu Tang saying she wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Qiu Tang replied with a voice message, asking who she was eating with, what they were eating, when they would finish, and if he should come pick her up.

Jiang Mingzhi replied honestly.

“Then enjoy yourself with your friends. Coincidentally, your Uncle Pei and I are also eating out.”