The next day.
Chen Guiliang got up early and ran to the cafeteria for meat buns.
Three consecutive days of full meals, with meat at every meal, had left Chen Guiliang feeling full of strength.
Even his sunken cheeks seemed to be filling out.
After filling his stomach, Chen Guiliang went to the classroom, took out his geography textbook, and began reviewing.
He wasn't certain he would be recommended for admission, so he still had to study.
History, geography, and politics were the easiest subjects. He roughly remembered the basic points and only needed to make up for what he had forgotten.
No one supervised morning self-study, but two-thirds of the boarding students gradually came to the classroom of their own accord to study.
As regular classes drew near, more and more students arrived.
Bian Guanyue and Zheng Feng entered the classroom one after the other.
Zheng Feng was quite calculating. Since he lived relatively close to Bian Guanyue, he had deliberately gotten up early and walked one extra bus stop that day. At the stop where Bian Guanyue might board, he waited patiently while reading.
Bus after bus passed by, but Zheng Feng refused to get on.
After waiting more than forty minutes, he finally saw Bian Guanyue and got his wish of riding the same bus as the beauty.
Yet all the countless things Zheng Feng had prepared to say remained unspoken because he was too nervous and awkward.
Their entire conversation went like this:
"Morning, Bian."
"Morning."
"What a coincidence. You get on here too."
"Mm."
"Did you eat breakfast?"
Bian Guanyue closed her eyes and pretended to rest, saying nothing more until they got off the bus.
After getting off, they still did not speak.
Zheng Feng could only follow silently, pretending to walk alongside the beauty. But that alone satisfied him. On the way to the classroom, he kept feeling that many boys were looking at him enviously.
Especially when he entered the classroom together with Bian Guanyue, that pleasant illusion became even stronger.
It seemed as if the whole class was looking at him!
Bian Guanyue stuffed her schoolbag into her desk, sat down, and quietly waited for class to begin.
"Morning."
Without even lifting his head, Chen Guiliang continued reviewing geography, offering only a polite greeting.
"Morning."
Bian Guanyue replied blandly.
She had an excellent impression of Chen Guiliang. Aside from his teasing Li Jun last night, the main reason was that Chen Guiliang simply wasn't annoying.
Li Jun and Zheng Feng, on the other hand, annoyed her quite a bit.
After waiting a while, before class had officially begun, Bian Guanyue took the initiative to ask, "Where in the county town can I buy a bicycle?"
"I don't know." Chen Guiliang genuinely had no idea.
After Chen Guiliang and Bian Guanyue had both changed seats, Zheng Feng was now seated diagonally in front of them. He pricked up his ears and actually caught their conversation.
Zheng Feng rushed over in a few steps. "Bian, are you buying a bicycle? I know where they sell them. Actually, I want to buy one too. We could ride to and from school together."
Bian Guanyue responded coldly, "No need."
"I..."
Zheng Feng stopped himself.
His words had fallen to the floor, and there was no picking them back up.
The Chinese Language and Literature teacher entered the classroom, and the entire class quickly fell quiet.
Only then did Chen Guiliang put away his geography book and say to Bian Guanyue, "I'll ask around for you."
"Thank you," Bian Guanyue said.
Zheng Feng had been eavesdropping the whole time, and he felt terrible.
He was so handsome. Was he really inferior to Chen Guiliang?
Chen Guiliang might have been 1.8 meters tall, but he was skinny as a bamboo pole. There wasn't even any flesh on his face, his cheeks sunken like a skeleton's.
Besides, his academic performance wasn't much worse than Chen Guiliang's. In this midterm exam, he had even overtaken him.
Why wouldn't Bian Guanyue pay attention to him, yet was willing to accept Chen Guiliang's help?
He couldn't figure it out!
The Chinese Language and Literature teacher was named Li Runze. He was already in his fifties and a Distinguished Teacher.
He never lost his temper and had a rather laid-back attitude.
Li Runze did not call names one by one to hand out the papers. The moment he reached the podium, he called out, "Class representative, hand out the midterm papers."
Chen Guiliang was the Chinese Language and Literature class representative.
While Chen Guiliang handed out the papers, Li Runze unhurriedly opened his thermos and spent a long while blowing on the tea leaves floating inside. Without taking a sip, he put the lid back on.
After Chen Guiliang finished handing out the papers, he found that he had not received his own.
Li Runze took out a paper and said with a smile, "In this midterm exam, Chen Guiliang came first in Chinese Language and Literature again. He lost three points on reading comprehension and two on the essay, for a total score of 145."
"Wow!"
The students cried out in amazement.
Only Li Jun looked disdainful as he muttered, "What the hell is the use of being good at Chinese?"
Rather than immediately going over the midterm questions, Li Runze picked up the paper and said, "Chen Guiliang's essay is exceptionally good. I'll read it as a model essay, then break down section by section why it received such a high score..."
Chen Guiliang had been reborn during the math exam. By then, the Chinese Language and Literature exam had already passed.
At that moment, listening to his own high school essay, he did not feel particularly proud.
Instead, he felt awkward...
It was so damn cringeworthy. The entire thing was trying too hard to force melancholy into new verses.
How could he describe that embarrassment? It was like reaching middle age and then going back to read through his old QQ Zone posts.
Fuck me!
After reading the essay aloud, Li Runze began analyzing it in detail. "This essay's topic was 'Love,' with no restriction on the title. Some students wrote about familial love, some about friendship, and some about romantic love."
"Familial love, friendship, and romantic love are all different expressions of love. But Chen Guiliang stepped beyond these forms and directly explored the essence of love. Especially the ending, where he adapted a line by Li Yu into, 'Love is like spring grass: the farther one travels, the more it grows.' They say an essay needs a phoenix's head, a pig's belly, and a leopard's tail. This is a leopard's tail: concise and powerful, elegant and enduring, leaving one with endless afterthoughts..."
"The conception of this essay is already loftier than that of ordinary compositions, and it skillfully quotes six allusions. Using allusions can also earn extra points, but they cannot be used carelessly. Some students did not handle this well..."
Chen Guiliang no longer cared. As long as he wasn't embarrassed, then the embarrassment belonged to everyone else.
Besides, no one actually found it embarrassing. The students listened with rapt attention.
Especially those students with good grades, who hoped to improve their future essay scores by studying Chen Guiliang's model composition.
Bian Guanyue could not help sneaking a glance at Chen Guiliang.
This new deskmate of hers was so good at writing. No wonder she had heard last night that he was entering the New Concept Competition.
For the entire Chinese Language and Literature class, the teacher talked only about essays. Using Chen Guiliang's essay as an example, he dissected it word by word and sentence by sentence, explaining writing techniques in detail.
"There are only a few minutes left before class ends."
Li Runze glanced at his watch. "Think carefully about what I just explained. Improving your essay scores is nothing more than reading more and writing more. Read ten thousand volumes, and your writing will flow like a god's inspiration. That is an eternal truth. Chen Guiliang has done very well in this regard. He even saved money from his meals to buy many extracurricular books to read."
Xu Haibo suddenly raised his hand. "Teacher, Chen Guiliang submitted an entry to New Concept this year!"
"Oh?"
Li Runze immediately nodded with a smile. "Entering New Concept is very good too. If you win first prize, you can be recommended for admission."
Holding up the laudatory manifesto as if presenting a treasure, Xu Haibo said, "Chen Guiliang's preliminary-round piece is especially good. I even copied it out myself."
"Bring it over and let me see," Li Runze said.
Xu Haibo eagerly delivered the article.
The more Li Runze read, the more he liked it. He praised it generously. "Chen Guiliang's writing is becoming increasingly seasoned. The sophistication of his thinking already surpasses that of most high school students. Let me read this piece to everyone..."
Here we go again!
Fortunately, this manifesto was not childish.
The dismissal bell finally rang, and Li Runze left carrying his thermos.
It was Monday. Since every grade took turns holding midterm exams, there were no exercises between classes or flag-raising ceremony.
Chen Guiliang's Chinese Language and Literature exam paper was eagerly passed around among the top students in the front rows.
That honor did not last long. Math class came next.
The math teacher was named Lin Song.
While handing out the papers, Lin Song said with an ugly expression, "Some students have an extremely poor attitude. Aside from the multiple-choice questions, their papers are completely blank! If they simply couldn't solve the questions, I wouldn't be this angry. But he can solve them. He only got one multiple-choice question wrong!"
Chen Guiliang sighed inwardly. Teacher, I really couldn't solve them.
"Chen Guiliang, stand up!"
Lin Song's tone was extremely stern.
Chen Guiliang, who had just been repeatedly praised by the Chinese Language and Literature teacher, once again became the center of the entire class's attention.
Bian Guanyue was curious as well. The contrast was far too great.
Lin Song asked, "Why did you only do the multiple-choice questions?"
"My stomach hurt," Chen Guiliang said.
"Bullshit!"
Lin Song exposed him on the spot. "Someone saw you hand in your paper early, then go set up a book stall by the bulletin board."
Li Jun looked smug. He was the one who had reported him.
A few minutes earlier, Li Jun had deliberately waited at the hallway entrance for the math teacher to appear.
He wanted revenge for the humiliation he had suffered last night.
After reprimanding him, Lin Song still had not vented his anger. "Take your paper. Stand there and listen to the lesson properly!"
Chen Guiliang sighed helplessly. After being reborn, he still had to be punished by standing.
The teacher began going over the math paper. Li Jun tilted his head toward Chen Guiliang, making faces at him. He even secretly raised his middle finger and mouthed, "Idiot."
"Teacher Lin." Chen Guiliang repaid grudges immediately.
Lin Song said impatiently, "What is it?"
"Li Jun is interfering with my listening, and he also made this gesture." Chen Guiliang made a circle with the thumb and index finger of his left hand, then repeatedly thrust the middle finger of his right hand through it.
That gesture naturally represented piston movement.
Li Jun hurriedly denied it. "Teacher, I didn't."
"You did."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I didn't."
"..."
Lin Song was getting annoyed from listening to them. At last, he said, "Stop arguing. Li Jun, you stand and listen too."
"Why? He's slandering me!" Li Jun slammed his desk in anger.
Lin Song already disliked troublemakers like Li Jun. Seeing him dare to slam the desk and argue back, he finally lost his temper too. "Stand up and don't speak! If you dare disrupt class again, I'll talk to your parents at this weekend's parent-teacher meeting."
Li Jun stood up furiously, glaring viciously at Chen Guiliang.
Chen Guiliang smiled back at him.
A few minutes later, the more Li Jun thought about it, the angrier he became. Suddenly, he thought of someone to take it out on.
"Teacher," Li Jun called out.
Lin Song frowned deeply. "What now?"
Li Jun pointed at his deskmate. "Guan Zhiqiang is reading a novel. He isn't listening while you go over the paper."
Guan Zhiqiang looked utterly baffled. You two are fighting. What does that have to do with me?
Lin Song said, "Guan Zhiqiang, stand and listen too."
The innocent Guan Zhiqiang stood up listlessly. He really wanted to beat Li Jun up.
Li Jun, however, wore a smile. For some reason, he felt much better.
Bian Guanyue looked from side to side, observing the three "phantom gods" standing there listening to class. This class seemed rather interesting.
(Keep sacrificing them. Strip away all their luck and forge my golden body from it. This is a reader's book: "2002: Starting with an Online Romance with a Rich, Beautiful Girl.")
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