Watching Shi Tiexin scribble away furiously, Gu Shaohuai's first thought was to report him—to say that he had disregarded school rules, conspiring against the state by sneaking into an area he had no business entering, and ought to be severely punished, preferably reported straight to the disciplinary office. But the problem was, how was he supposed to keep himself out of it? After all, by that logic, he was in exactly the same situation.
But after turning the thought over, Gu Shaohuai suppressed the urge to report him.
Shi Tiexin had already been demoted to the Trash Class. Reporting him or not made little difference. It could neither strike at his confidence again nor wear down his fighting spirit—just like how yelling curses at a vegetable would have any effect at all.
Therefore, Gu Shaohuai felt that the best course now was not to alert the snake in the grass, but to observe Shi Tiexin's situation instead. He had delivered himself right beneath his nose—if he did not investigate him properly, would that still be his style? If he discovered that this Scholar Stone showed signs of making a comeback, then, heh heh heh, he could not blame him, Gu Shaohuai, for being ruthless!
Today, he had vaguely heard that something had happened over in the Trash Class. It seemed several delinquent youths had gotten into an especially vicious fight. The Key Class students had not paid much attention to the specifics. In truth, the twists and turns of the Trash Class rarely drew the attention of students from the Key Class or Elite Class.
But Gu Shaohuai thought that was perfectly normal.
Hmph, Trash Class trash should be like this. They should rot into humus at the very bottom of society. But before they completely turned moldy, contributing a little strength to Lord Gu's grand plan could be considered their honor.
If this Scholar Stone truly intended to rise against the market trend and pull some useless-trash-turns-the-tables ghost trick—Gu Shaohuai secretly calculated the money he had on hand—it was enough to let Scholar Stone enjoy the full package!
So what exactly was this Scholar Stone doing? He looked awfully absorbed in his studies...
Gu Shaohuai looked around, pretending to go to the restroom as he rose from his seat and circled toward Shi Tiexin. To keep Shi Tiexin from noticing him, Gu Shaohuai observed him as he walked. Seeing that Shi Tiexin was entirely focused, without the slightest intention of looking up, he boldly moved closer.
Let's see what the hell you're up to!
Shi Tiexin happened to be seated at the edge. Gu Shaohuai crept to his rear side, stood on tiptoe, craned his neck, and looked over—then he could not help freezing, feeling that perhaps he had seen wrong. He rubbed his eyes, wiped his glasses, stood on tiptoe and craned his neck again—he had not seen wrong. It really was that thing.
An elementary school Mathematics textbook, the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division!
An absurd feeling rose in Gu Shaohuai's heart. What was going on? What exactly was this Scholar Stone doing? Why was he solving elementary school problems when he was perfectly fine? Was it some kind of smokescreen?
Gu Shaohuai no longer bothered hiding himself. He craned his neck again for a closer look and found Shi Tiexin's scratchpad densely packed with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. He truly was not putting on an act. Moreover, Shi Tiexin had just finished the third-grade second-semester Mathematics textbook, then pulled another workbook from his bag and continued.
In that instant, Gu Shaohuai's sharp eyes caught sight of more than ten books in the bag, all workbooks on the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations. He could clearly see the top one—it was some Little Genius something-or-other, with cartoon illustrations on its cover.
There was no mistaking it. This Scholar Stone really was studying elementary school Mathematics!
Having seen this, Gu Shaohuai no longer bothered pretending to use the restroom. He could barely resist snorting out a disdainful cold laugh. Turning around, he headed back to his seat.
This Shi Tiexin no longer needed any attention.
There was no need to investigate him further, nor any need to consider him. He was completely finished.
Instead of properly reviewing and preparing his lessons, he was wasting time learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It seemed this Scholar Stone could no longer bear the blow and had gone mentally deranged. Little Genius? More like Little Lunatic!
He could not even withstand such a tiny setback, yet he wanted to fight me? Bah!
As expected, the road before me, Gu Shaohuai, stretched out in full view.
Gu Shaohuai swayed his head smugly and left in high spirits.
Shi Tiexin did not notice any of this at all. He too was enjoying himself immensely, and this enjoyment was something he had no way of sharing with anyone else.
The questions in "Learn-Practice Integration" had been completely finished. The icon on the right was entirely filled with light, then flashed as a ray of light lit up, bursting five stars that flew toward the progress bar. Amid a crackling series of impacts, the progress bar extended by another twentieth, making Shi Tiexin exceedingly delighted.
It seemed that fully completing an entire set of exercises could provide additional progress toward mind-art cultivation. Of course, Shi Tiexin was not certain whether every Auxiliary Cultivation Manual worked this way, or whether it was a special effect unique to this set of top-grade mind-art manuals.
Whichever it was, Shi Tiexin did not care. If they all had it, even better. If not, it did not matter. He was currently advancing like bamboo splitting under a knife. The progress from five stars was quite good, but he could obtain the same amount with a little time.
He checked the time. It was past ten, yet not a single person had left the Elite Class study room.
As expected of a Sacred Land for mind arts—their cultivation was diligence!
Then I cannot fall behind either!
Shi Tiexin put down "Learn-Practice Integration" and took out a workbook. After considering it, he ultimately did not take out the high-quality workbook with the "High Difficulty" attribute. He decided to proceed steadily and begin from the basics.
After all, his current level had only just surpassed Good, and he was still far from Excellent. Although high-quality workbooks could increase cultivation speed—reflected in his vision as a greater number of stars obtained—the higher difficulty meant that his speed at solving each problem would correspondingly slow, while the chance of mistakes would increase. Taking everything into account, ordinary-quality workbooks were actually more suitable for him.
After all, he was only a novice who had just found the feeling for mind-art cultivation. He could not aim too high. Recognizing himself and moving forward steadily, one step at a time, was what mattered most.
Besides, the Auxiliary Cultivation Manual was in his hands. It would not grow legs and run away. What was the rush?
Charge, charge, charge—keep solving problems!
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The hands of the clock kept moving onward. Time flowed by; Shi Tiexin studied, and Gu Shaohuai investigated. Within the same span of time, both felt they had gained much, but the directions of their gains were entirely different.
At eleven, Gu Shaohuai packed up and left. He had other investigation targets and needed to observe the situation over at the Key Class. He deliberately passed by Shi Tiexin and found that Shi Tiexin truly had been doing elementary school Mathematics the whole time. He gave a proud, disdainful smile and strutted away like a rooster.
At eleven-thirty, people gradually began packing their things, taking a drink of water, using the restroom, or leaving in a hurried rush. Relying on his enormous bladder capacity, Shi Tiexin remained firmly seated, unmoving as Mount Tai.
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