Some people even posted photos and videos of Chen Zhao memorizing the Great English-Chinese Dictionary online. To everyone's surprise, they went a little viral.
Most netizens looked down on Chen Zhao for doing this:
"Heh, memorizing a dictionary? Does he really think he's Superman?"
"He's already a senior in high school and still this stupid. He'll be repeating senior year next year!"
"His grades must be so awful that he's become obsessed with this, unable to handle the pressure and going off the deep end."
"A dictionary has over a thousand pages. By the time he's finished memorizing it, he won't have time to do anything else for the rest of his life."
"He's just an idiot. Give him ten years and he still won't be able to memorize it!"
But soon, someone posted Chen Zhao's results from his last exam online. His total score was an astonishing 703 points. Apart from his relatively low 110 in English, he'd gotten full marks or nearly full marks in every other subject.
The people who'd previously trashed Chen Zhao online were stunned:
"Holy crap! He may not be Superman, but he's a god of studying!"
"Damn, he's a future Tsinghua or Peking University student!"
"I'd just said this kid had gone off the deep end, and then his report card comes along and slaps me in the face... But I still can't understand why he'd memorize a dictionary. Maybe gods of studying are just impossible to understand."
"I have a feeling... Memorizing a dictionary would be stupid for anyone else, but this kid might actually manage to memorize some of it..."
Chen Zhao himself had no idea any of this was happening. There was always something new on the internet, and before long, netizens had forgotten the photos of him memorizing the dictionary.
On Monday afternoon, Chen Zhao received a notice that the payment had arrived in his bank account: 8,848 yuan in writing fees from the Baicheng Times. It was a sweet deal, and it strengthened his resolve to write articles for money. In his previous life, Chen Zhao had memorized plenty of classical poems and essays. Since they didn't exist in this world, they were now treasures known only to him. They weren't his own original work, but if he could make money from them, he wasn't going to worry about that.
Besides, when he thought of all those exquisite poems from his previous life, it seemed like a major loss to the literary world for them to disappear. By bringing them back to life in this world, Chen Zhao could at least contribute to its culture.
But he couldn't start writing just yet. The system's task for him was to become a popular streamer first.
As for what counted as a popular streamer, or how popular he had to be, Chen Zhao wasn't sure. He figured he just needed to keep streaming.
Every night, Chen Zhao went home and streamed one to three matches. Most of the time, he teamed up with Little Bamboo Shoot. She'd latched onto him as her carry, waiting for him every night and sending him a party invite as soon as he logged on.
After streaming for a week, Chen Zhao's follower count rose rapidly, surpassing one hundred thousand. He was also making over a thousand yuan a day from streaming. That was what he earned on an ordinary day, of course; sometimes a rich viewer got excited and tipped him several thousand yuan all at once!
Chen Zhao was no longer short on money. He sent his family ten thousand yuan, saying it was the writing fee he'd received for publishing an article in the newspaper.
He also paid his rent to Deng Zixin, who reminded him to study hard. Chen Zhao nodded obediently.
Before long, the weekend arrived, bringing another weekly exam.
This time, Chen Zhao got to take the exam in the first classroom. He was first in his grade, so naturally he sat in the first seat by the classroom door. Everyone entering the room took a special look at him. Chen Zhao had been completely unknown before, and the top students didn't know who he was. Now, some eccentric who was suddenly first in the grade and spent all day memorizing the Great English-Chinese Dictionary had appeared out of nowhere. Of course they wanted to see what he looked like.
When Zhao Xiaobai saw Chen Zhao sitting by the door, she was delighted and held out her fair little hand.
Chen Zhao paused, then shook her hand.
"Congratulations on becoming number one!" Zhao Xiaobai said with a grin.
"Thanks!" Chen Zhao smiled, thinking that Zhao Xiaobai was pretty cute.
The top students nearby were surprised. They couldn't understand why Zhao Xiaobai and Chen Zhao seemed so familiar with each other. So many people had tried to strike up a conversation with Zhao Xiaobai and failed, yet she was so friendly with Chen Zhao. It never occurred to them that the two of them had even eaten together before.
The first exam was math, and it was as easy as ever. Chen Zhao finished in just an hour, checked his answers twice, and confirmed he could get full marks this time. Then he handed in his paper.
The top students in the room were stunned again. They'd only just reached the second major problem. As expected of the top student in the grade—his speed was an overwhelming victory!
The second exam was Chinese. This time, the paper was clearly much harder than the last one. Maybe the teachers who'd written it had been embarrassed by the full marks someone got last time, so they'd cranked up the difficulty like crazy. Even Chen Zhao started stumbling as he worked through it.
The essay was an argumentative piece about people who kept their heads down over their phones. There weren't any classical writings he could borrow ideas from this time. Phones hadn't exactly been popular in ancient times, after all, so no ancient writers had written about people glued to their screens. With no other option, Chen Zhao gritted his teeth and wrote it himself, drawing on the perfect-score essays he'd read before and letting his ideas flow.
As he kept writing, Chen Zhao felt himself going off track. When he finished, he read the whole thing over and let out a long sigh. He'd messed up the essay this time!
After the exams, I'll have to write a few essays to practice and improve my writing.
Today was the day he'd arranged to meet Deng Tiejun. After the exam, Chen Zhao hurried home, took a shower, and changed into his most presentable outfit... a fake Adidas tracksuit. Then he messaged Deng Zixin.
"When are we going to meet your father? I'm ready."
A few seconds later, Deng Zixin replied, "Come up."
Nervous, Chen Zhao went upstairs and knocked on the door to Deng Zixin's apartment. Every other apartment on the floor had an old-fashioned security door, but hers had a brand-new redwood door with a fingerprint lock. It had an air of wealth about it. A landlord's home really was something else—even the front door was grand!
Chen Zhao knocked politely, three even knocks.
The door clicked open from the inside, and Chen Zhao froze.
Deng Zixin had just finished bathing. She stood in the doorway wrapped in a white bathrobe, her wet hair still dripping. Her face was flushed from the hot water, and her fair neck was long and graceful as a swan's. Droplets of water still clung to her stunning cheeks. A fragrance wafted over to Chen Zhao, making his heart flutter. No wonder the perfume market brought in hundreds of billions every year. A woman's scent really could make your throat tighten...
"Wait on the sofa. I'll change, then we can go. My dad's been waiting for ages." Deng Zixin turned toward the bedroom. "Come in and close the door."
Chen Zhao entered and shut the door. Deng Zixin's home was on an entirely different level from the place he rented. The decor was exquisite, and even the grain of the wooden floor looked expensive. The TV on the wall was enormous, maybe a hundred inches. Chen Zhao sat properly on the soft leather sofa and waited. There were lychees, mangoes, and pears on the coffee table, all looking fresh. He really wanted some, but grabbing fruit as soon as he sat down seemed a little shameless, so he held back.
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