On the athletic field, Yu Shao was listening to his classmate deliver a heartfelt declaration about his broken heart.
"Love is bullshit!"
It all started after they entered high school. His classmate felt that his girlfriend, whom he had been dating since middle school, had suddenly become hot and cold toward him.
An experienced man would have told him that if the water turned hot and cold while you were showering, then someone was definitely sharing your water supply.
But this classmate clearly didn't understand that principle. So he found a middle-school classmate who was now attending the same high school as his girlfriend and asked about her recent situation.
Then, just as he wished, he learned that his girlfriend seemed to be flirting with a muscular athlete from their school. Furious, he immediately picked up his phone and began interrogating her.
In the end, he successfully heard a farewell as firm as iron from his girlfriend's own lips. In the gloom, he felt as if the scorching sun were burning him alive.
Taking advantage of the break-time exercises, he began pouring out his woes to the male students around him, declaring that he had now become a mature man who had tasted the bitterness of love.
"Women are just like that."
"They love you to death at first, then turn around and find someone new. When you ask them about it, they say they still love you, but you hurt their heart. Basically, they make sure the one at fault isn't them."
"It's fine. There are so many pretty girls at our school. Find one prettier than her, then show her off on your social media!"
"What's so great about dating? We're not going to suffer for love."
A group of sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys began holding forth about women and love, each of them trying to console their classmate who had been hurt by love.
Yu Shao didn't say a word. He simply watched from the side with great interest, quietly enjoying the spectacle and finding it rather entertaining.
"Ding-a-ling!"
Just then, the class bell suddenly rang. One of the boys jolted and cried out, "Holy crap, we have Li Kang's math class next!"
At those words, the boys all suddenly came to their senses and ran toward the teaching building as fast as their legs could carry them. The heartbroken classmate instantly forgot all about his sorrow and ran the fastest of them all.
Li Kang was their math teacher as well as their homeroom teacher. His favorite saying was, "Stand up and listen to the lesson." Being late to his class usually ended badly.
When the boys reached the corridor, they saw Li Kang walking toward the classroom with his thermos in hand. Noticing that they still hadn't entered the room, he raised his head and shot them a sharp look.
The boys' scalps went numb. They all quickened their pace and rushed into the classroom like they were flying, making it inside just before Li Kang arrived.
"Class!"
"Stand!"
"Good morning, teacher!"
Li Kang unscrewed the lid of his thermos, took a sip to wet his throat, and began teaching. Today's math lesson was on algebra and functions.
Below the podium, Yu Shao listened absentmindedly. Then he suddenly thought of his classmate's heartbreak and the mad dash they had made to avoid being late for class, and an inexplicable smile appeared on his face.
"This is youth..."
It was strange for a high school student to sigh over youth, but Yu Shao was genuinely reminiscing about these innocent years. After all, this bittersweet, bewildered period of life should no longer have belonged to him.
No one could possess both youth and the experience of youth at the same time—unless they had been reborn.
Therefore, Yu Shao was a reborn person.
In his previous life, he had been a professional Go Player. He had represented his country in numerous Go championships and won many honors. Although his Go strength had not been at the absolute pinnacle in his previous life, he had still ranked among the top five.
When he woke up, he discovered that he had transmigrated into this parallel world and become a first-year high school student named "Yu Shao."
Having returned to the age of sixteen, Yu Shao still hadn't figured out what he wanted to do. For now, he only wanted to properly enjoy this reckless and exuberant period of youth.
After all, in his previous life, he had started learning Go as a child. By the time he was sixteen or seventeen, he had already become a professional Go Player, spending every day reviewing game records and playing matches.
By the time he had achieved success and fame, he looked back only to find that his youth had quietly slipped through his fingers.
When romance novelists said that youth had quietly slipped through their fingers, they were highlighting their literary flair and creating an atmosphere, describing youth as something like flowing sand. When people writing risqué material said it, they might have been making some sort of veiled reference.
But when a Go player said that youth had quietly slipped through his fingers, it really meant that youth had slipped through his fingers.
After class, Li Kang had only just left the classroom with his thermos when several boys rushed out right behind him. The classroom instantly grew noisy and bustling.
"Yu Shao, want to go to the bathroom together?"
Someone called Yu Shao to go to the bathroom with him. For some reason, boys in their student days always went to the bathroom in groups, as if they couldn't pee unless someone accompanied them.
"No. I'm afraid I'd deal you too great a blow."
Yu Shao shook his head and declined his classmate's invitation to challenge the heavens.
The boy was a little confused. Once he understood, he was just about to explode in anger when, in the next moment, he seemed to suddenly see something. His mouth snapped shut, and he stared fixedly out the window.
He wasn't the only one. The voices of all the boys in the classroom abruptly dropped several levels, and every one of them began sneaking glances toward the corridor outside.
In the corridor beyond the window, a pretty girl in a blue-and-white school uniform walked gracefully past the windows of Class Seven, Grade One, carrying a thick stack of exercise books.
Her skin was incredibly fair. Even the small section of her arm exposed beneath the books was as white as snow. Her long black hair was tied into the low ponytail common among high school girls, and her delicate features seemed to brighten the entire Class Seven classroom.
The girl stood against the light, her profile and strands of hair seemingly edged with golden threads. She looked quiet and holy.
There was a type of girl who was born to make men suffer for love. The moment you saw her, your heart would stir, yet you would also know perfectly well that there was no possibility between you.
Clearly, the girl carrying the exercise books was that kind of girl.
Only after the girl's figure had disappeared did the boys reluctantly pull their gazes back.
"Softly she came, softly she left, just as softly as she came."
The boy who had just invited Yu Shao to the bathroom was suddenly overcome with poetic inspiration and recited the line in a rather melancholy tone.
"Aren't you going to the bathroom anymore?"
Yu Shao gave him a sidelong look.
The boy shook his head and said, "It's done."
Yu Shao was startled. He hurriedly glanced at the boy's crotch. "What did you say?!"
"You misunderstood."
The boy shook his head and said with a deeply affectionate expression, "I meant that Xu Ziqin... has no urine spots."
Yu Shao was stunned. He felt as if a high school student had just taught him a lesson. Perhaps he had still underestimated the unique vulgarity of high school students—they could actually say something that left even him shaken.
Xu Ziqin was the girl who had just walked past the window. She was the math representative of Class Six, Grade One, next door. She had countless secret admirers at school, but very few people truly dared to pursue her.
After all, Xu Ziqin wasn't merely beautiful; she also had excellent grades. It was even said that her family was quite well-off. That alone was enough to make most of her admirers feel inferior and retreat.
In Yu Shao's memories, the previous owner of this body seemed to have been one of Xu Ziqin's many secret admirers.
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