Chapter 206: A Sleepless First Night

*Snap.*

As soon as the Light Keeper exercised her authority, the entire dormitory was plunged into darkness.

The only remaining source of light came from the balcony, dimly filtered through the curtains.

Faint as it was, it at least kept the room from becoming pitch black.

At this moment—

Lying in bed, Miss Jiang.

Though this wasn’t her first time living in a dorm, the memory of the earlier shower scene kept replaying in her mind.

She couldn’t help but feel a little hot on behalf of her “brothers.”

Snow-white skin.

The scent of soap.

And pink.

Those few keywords painted a vivid picture that had Miss Jiang tossing and turning.

Thinking about spending the next two years in such an environment…

Jiang Ning suddenly worried whether her body could keep up with the nutritional demands.

After taking several deep breaths, Miss Jiang reached under her pillow and pulled out her phone.

She powered it on, then covered it with her blanket, starting to go through the messages one by one.

The first was from her eldest cousin.

【Ning Ning, everything’s normal at the shop. Sales have been steady—doesn’t look like that news report had much of an impact.】

The report he was referring to had aired a few days ago on a show sponsored by the Hongsheng Group. Two hosts had taken veiled jabs at the dishes served at ‘Shi Ning Ji,’ implying they were cheap and low-quality.

The moment Miss Jiang heard about it, she filed a complaint against the two hosts with the TV station.

But it was too late—the episode had already aired.

So over the past few days, she and her cousin had been closely monitoring whether the shop was affected.

So far, it seemed like the fallout was minimal.

The second message was from Lin Ke. It was a brief update on recent progress and the current sales situation for the electric bicycles.

Miss Jiang glanced at it.

Hah.

Barely clinging to life.

Based on the current state of sales at the Electric Bicycle Factory, breaking even was already a blessing.

In the beginning, she’d even had to dip into her own pocket just to pay the workers.

It wasn’t until the past two months, when Yu Lingling’s team managed to open up some nearby city markets, that things finally started to improve.

The third message was from Wang Jianguo.

She reported an issue with the Delivery Team.

Apparently, many of the team members were rushing to complete more orders and ignoring traffic safety.

Several had already been injured this month.

Wang Jianguo felt that if this wasn’t brought under control, it could have serious consequences—not just for the Delivery Team, but also for ‘Shi Ning Ji,’ and even for Xiaoning Electric Bicycle.

Miss Jiang thought it over.

She completely agreed with Wang Jianguo’s assessment.

This girl was proving to be quite capable.

Of course—

If she could just kick her Little Tyrant addiction, she’d be even better.

The rest of the messages included a check-in from Li Mingwei, some teasing from Xu Suihe, and a payment reminder from 10086.

Miss Jiang skimmed through them.

They all seemed like heartfelt concern on the surface.

But in truth, they were a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

All troublemakers.

Just as Miss Jiang was about to reply to Li Mingyu’s message—

A soft cough nearly made her jump.

She turned to look.

Little Qi, hair loose and messy, was crouched beside her bed, gazing up at her with big, watery eyes full of helplessness.

“What are you doing?”

“You scared me!”

But Little Qi just pouted and murmured softly,

“Jiang Jiang…”

“I can’t sleep…”

“What should I do?”

Can’t sleep?

At that moment—

Miss Jiang suddenly realized.

For these young girls, this was probably their first time living away from home.

No longer in the comfort of their own beds, now sleeping in a shared dormitory…

Jiang Ning thought back.

Her first night in a dorm in her past life—she hadn’t been able to sleep either.

But that was from excitement.

She’d ended up staying up all night, bragging and laughing with the other idiots in her room.

The next day, they’d all looked like zombies—just thinking about it made her want to laugh.

But now—

Jiang Ning looked at Qi Wen.

Then glanced around at the other girls in the dorm.

Under the moonlight filtering through the window, she could easily make out the restless movements of the others.

Heh.

Looks like no one’s getting any sleep tonight.

After a moment of thought, Miss Jiang leaned toward Qi Wen and whispered,

“How about… I tell you a story?”

“Yes, please! But you…”

One minute later—

Miss Jiang and Little Qi were squeezed onto the same bed.

Though neither of them was particularly large, the bed was barely a meter wide.

With two people lying on it now, it was definitely cramped.

There was no helping it.

Miss Jiang had to turn sideways, brushing aside the hair under her arm.

Then, in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, she began:

“Once upon a time, there was a mountain. On that mountain, there was a temple…”

“Ew, I’ve heard this one before.”

“Shut up and let me finish.”

“Oh…”

Qi Xiaowen pouted and scooted forward a little.

Only to accidentally bump into a place she really shouldn’t have.

Miss Jiang nearly shot off the bed.

“What are you doing?! Are you trying to kill me?!”

“Ah! Sorry, sorry—ahahaha!”

“Stop it! Don’t—stop, I’m gonna—ahaha—!”

For a moment—

Their movements grew so frantic that even the bed creaked under them.

The sound startled both Miss Jiang and Qi Wen into silence.

Everything went still.

The two finally let out a small sigh of relief.

“Alright, alright, let’s stop messing around.”

Qi Wen was worried their antics would wake the other roommates.

So she firmly put an end to the play-fighting.

There was no other choice.

Miss Jiang had to rack her brains and start telling a story.

“Once upon a time, there was a mountain. On that mountain, there was a temple. The temple was called the Cloud Mist Sect…”

“One day…”

“A three-year promise…”

“A broken… engagement…”

“Zzzzz…”

Watching Miss Jiang fall asleep mid-story, Qi Wen stared at her pretty face for a long while.

As if something suddenly came to mind.

Her cheeks flushed with heat.

Then she reached out and gave Miss Jiang a hard pinch on the upper arm.

But Miss Jiang only waved her hand weakly, turned over, and drifted off again.

Seeing this,

Qi Wen patted her chest lightly.

Then snuggled up against Miss Jiang’s back.

And before she knew it, she too had fallen asleep…

…

The next morning.

Jiang Ning was jolted awake by a shrill “beep-beep” sound.

She opened her eyes groggily.

A pale blue mosquito net, an empty bed, and her own disheveled clothes…

In that instant,

Miss Jiang was startled awake by the sight of her own exposed stomach.

She immediately sat up in bed.

And that’s when—

Jiang Ning suddenly realized this wasn’t her bed.

Only then did the hazy memories start to return.

Just then,

Qi Wen, dressed in pajamas with little bears on them, walked over.

She picked up a small alarm clock from the bedside table and switched it off.

Then looked at Miss Jiang with a smile in her eyes.

“You’re awake?”

This scene.

This dialogue.

Why did it feel so incredibly familiar?!

——————

After morning reading period.

Guo Ming returned to the Second-Year Faculty Office with a teacher’s handbook in hand.

Once inside,

He found his desk,

Tossed the handbook onto it, and tugged at the collar of his little suit jacket.

His expression was a mix of frustration and resignation.

“Teacher Yang, I finally understand now why you always looked like you had a headache whenever you saw that Jiang Ning girl.”

Hearing his voice,

Yang Mei turned around, pushed up her glasses, and asked with a smile:

“What happened, Teacher Guo?”

“That little troublemaker acting up again?”

“More than just acting up!” Guo Ming took a deep breath.

“Five minutes into morning reading, and she already pissed off Ye Na enough to make her storm out.”

“What?! Ye Na?!”

At the mention of that name,

Another teacher in the office stopped what she was doing and looked over at Guo Ming with great interest.

She was the English teacher, and had taught Ye Na’s class back in their first year.

So she knew full well—

What kind of person that Problematic Girl was.

And now,

Someone had managed to drive that girl away?

Her curiosity was instantly piqued.

“Teacher Guo, come on, tell us—how did that little demon manage it?”

At that,

Guo Ming let out a soft sigh.

“She didn’t say anything particularly outrageous.”

“No matter what Ye Na said to her, she just kept smiling and replying with, ‘Oh? And then?’”

“Even when Ye Na started cursing at her, she just kept saying the same thing.”

“Teacher Chen, tell me, how is that something to get so worked up over?”

Faced with Guo Ming’s confusion,

The English teacher’s eyes glinted as she pushed up her glasses.

“Oh? And then?”

“What do you mean, ‘and then’?” Guo Ming responded instinctively.

“And then Ye Na ditched class!”

“Oh? And then?”

“I…”

Guo Ming opened his mouth, and realization suddenly dawned on his face.

He couldn’t help but laugh and curse.

“That damn girl!”

At that moment,

Yang Mei suddenly chimed in.

“Teacher Guo, if it’s just that, you wouldn’t be this upset, right?”

Hearing this,

Guo Ming gave Yang Mei a thumbs-up.

“No wonder you were her homeroom teacher for a whole year.”

“You really know her inside and out.”

“That’s right.”

“She asked for leave.”

“First day of school, first period—she skipped it.”

“What? What was her excuse?” Yang Mei asked instinctively, but then something clicked.

She smacked her own forehead.

“I remember now.”

“That girl never gives a proper reason when she asks for leave.”

“Probably the same this time, huh?”

To that question,

Guo Ming didn’t respond directly.

He just looked gloomy and said,

“If I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve never agreed to take over as her homeroom teacher from Teacher Zhao.”

………

Honestly, Miss Jiang hadn’t expected it either—just one morning in, and she’d already managed to earn such deep resentment from her new homeroom teacher.

As for the Ye Na incident, let’s not even talk about it.

That girl was just too emotionally fragile.

Not her fault.

And as for asking for leave—

Miss Jiang really had no choice.

After all, today was an auspicious day for groundbreaking ceremonies.

(End of this chapter)