Bald Qiang

In Class 20 of Senior Year Three, a bald, medium-built, slightly plump middle-aged man with a deadpan face and triangular eyes was holding forth grandly, spittle flying everywhere.

"Students, after ten years of studying by the cold window, one leap will carry you through the Dragon Gate. Whether you become dragons and phoenixes, or worms and leeches, will be clear in one month."

"Every one of you sitting here is the Empire's pride, its talent... Of course, except for those two dead fatasses!"

Hahahaha...

Of the forty-eight students in the class, forty-six laughed knowingly.

Feeling the teasing gazes cast his way by so many classmates, Wang Baoyuan wore a bitter expression on his pancake-like face, his hands clenched tightly into fists beneath the desk.

Did this Bald Qiang have to insult him twice a day or he couldn't live?

Unfortunately, Qiangzi was not here today. With no one to share the firepower, he had to shoulder the entire burden alone.

No, when Qiangzi got here, he had to make him treat him to a meal to soothe his wounded little heart.

Wang Baoyuan looked at the tube in his hand. Inside was bright red C-grade Blood Qi Powder. Drinking it could increase the strength of one's blood qi and thereby enhance the body's attributes.

This tiny tube had cost him a full fifty thousand huabi.

That was all the savings he had accumulated over so many years!

In a country where the average salary was three thousand yuan, it was an astronomical sum. Ordinary families simply could not afford it.

Many common families tightened their belts to buy Blood Qi Powder for their children, hoping to improve their physique and strengthen their blood qi so they could meet the standards for the Martial Arts Examination.

Once their children passed the Martial Arts Examination and became Martial Artists, they would truly be carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, entering an entirely different level of life.

Today was Hua Qiang's birthday. As both his best friend and deskmate, Wang Baoyuan had gritted his teeth and painfully taken out all his savings to buy this bottle of Blood Qi Powder as a birthday gift for Hua Qiang.

His parents had gotten him this stuff before, and he had taken it too, but the results had been minimal.

Even now, his blood qi value was only seventy-six, far below the Martial Arts Examination standard of one hundred.

Hua Qiang was a little better off than him. His blood qi value had reached eighty-seven, leaving him only thirteen points short of the Martial Arts Examination threshold.

He knew Hua Qiang's family situation. His parents did not earn much, life at home was rather tight, and they had no savings.

It was not very realistic for them to spare money to buy him Blood Qi Powder.

Yet his sister, Ye Bingxue, had exceptionally good aptitude. Her grades at First High School had always ranked among the top three.

Her blood qi value had even reached one hundred and twenty-eight, already far exceeding the Martial Arts Examination standard.

In this year's college entrance examinations, Ye Bingxue would definitely be a dazzling presence!

His best friend had never taken Blood Qi Powder before. If he was lucky and could absorb a high proportion of it, he might very well cross the Martial Arts Examination threshold and enter an academy for Martial Artists.

If that really happened, he would have to rely on Hua Qiang to look after him in the future.

With a Martial Artist brother, no one at Modu Base would dare bully him again.

Even if he took the academic examination and chose a clerical job in the future.

At work, as long as people knew he had a Martial Artist brother standing behind him, who would dare discriminate against him?

Or exclude him?

"Report!"

A somewhat soft voice rang out from outside the classroom.

Ling Daqiang's sweeping speech was interrupted. He frowned and looked angrily toward the doorway.

Hua Qiang, whom he had roared at over the phone earlier, now stood calmly at the door and actually dared to meet his gaze head-on.

Why did this kid seem a little different today?

The timid, submissive expression he usually wore seemed to be gone, replaced by composure and even a trace of indifference.

Damn it!

The anger in Ling Daqiang's heart immediately surged.

As the homeroom teacher of Senior Year Three, Class 20 at Eighth High School, when had a student ever dared look him straight in the eye like this?

There was even a hint of challenging his authority in it.

"Get in here and stand!"

Ling Daqiang spoke imperiously, his tone somewhat stiff, as he pointed at the corner by the wall just inside the door.

That was where Hua Qiang used to stand all the time.

Whenever he was late, failed to listen attentively in class, or Bald Qiang wanted to make trouble for him by deliberately throwing out one or two difficult questions he could not answer...

He would then have to stand in that corner for an entire class, or even half a day.

From his memories, Hua Qiang had learned that this man did not seem particularly friendly toward him.

The root cause was that he had never given him gifts, so the man had never gained anything from him.

A thing with no teacher's ethics had actually occupied this position.

Hua Qiang silently cursed in his heart, but his body honestly walked inside.

It seemed the original owner's lingering consciousness was still there, affecting his body!

"Where did you go? Why were you late for so long?"

"Don't you know the college entrance examinations are only a month away?"

"At such a crucial time, you're still this unmotivated. It seems this pile of mud really cannot be plastered onto a wall!"

Bald Qiang launched into shit-spewing mode again.

Hua Qiang frowned and looked at his homeroom teacher and mathematics teacher, Ling Daqiang.

"Teacher Li, something unexpected happened on the way, so I was late."

"Also, it seems I'm not the only one in class who hasn't arrived, am I?"

Hua Qiang looked toward the seat of the class beauty, Murong Qingya.

It was empty as well, which showed that after that woman left with that rich second-generation heir, she still had not returned.

What had they gone off to do?

A surge of bitter, indignant emotion exploded in his chest, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Brother, since you're already gone, rest in peace. I'll seek justice for every grievance you suffered afterward!"

Hua Qiang hurriedly consoled him in his heart, expressing his intentions in the hope that the original owner's lingering soul would stop causing trouble and stop affecting him.

Otherwise, with those negative emotions appearing from time to time to interfere with him, how was he supposed to live like this?

What was the point of his transmigration if he could not completely control this body?

He did not want to live under such restraints.

The negative emotion came quickly and went quickly. The discomfort in his body vanished in an instant.

Hua Qiang felt lingering fear. It seemed he would need to find a way to thoroughly eliminate it and gain complete control of this body.

Before Bald Qiang could even organize his words in response, a rhythmic series of footsteps sounded in the corridor.

A tall girl with exquisite features, a ponytail, and the Eighth High School uniform that could not conceal her voluptuous figure walked over.

The girl reached Hua Qiang's side without even glancing at him, then looked at Ling Daqiang and said, "Teacher Li, I'm a little late!"

The moment Ling Daqiang saw Murong Qingya, his originally furious face bloomed like a chrysanthemum.

"It's fine! Student Murong, hurry in and take your seat!"

Murong Qingya smiled and nodded, then sashayed toward her seat.

Hua Qiang's chest suddenly throbbed with pain, and a suffocating feeling filled his body once more.

Damn it!

That lingering soul was affecting him again.

"Brother, stop making trouble. Since you're dead, then leave completely!"

"I'll deal with this woman from now on. I'll definitely avenge you!"

Hua Qiang repeated those words fiercely in his heart three times before the pain and suffocating sensation finally disappeared.

Fuck, when would this ever end?