New Year

Author's Note: Mini skit—

Wei Xiaogong: "I absolutely will not sell my body!!! (Sorry, what was the key word? The wind was too loud, I couldn't hear it clearly.)"

In order to pass the entrance exams half a year later, Lu Heng decided to study hard and improve every day. With the experience of living sixteen extra years, plus the perseverance to burn the midnight oil memorizing questions, he would surely be able to raise his grades in all nine subjects above the passing line by the final exams—

That was what Lu Heng thought, but reality liked slapping people in the face even more than novels did!

It seemed that intelligence really had nothing to do with age!

During the fourth-period study hall that afternoon, Lu Heng stared fixedly at the geography test paper in front of him. He had spent forty-five minutes flipping through books and answering the open-book questions, then compared his answers to the correct ones... Damn it, what was the deal with 59.5 points?

Perhaps noticing the grievance and frustration practically spilling from Lu Heng's pores, his deskmate leaned over. He glanced at the big red crosses on the paper and said with a smile, "Oh, this kind of question is actually pretty simple. You just need to wrap your head around it. First, you need to know how to read the map. The farther east you go, the larger the longitude, that's east longitude; the farther west you go, the larger it gets, that's west longitude. The boundary between the eastern and western hemispheres... So Point A is at... Point B is at... Every fifteen degrees is one hour. Given the time at Point A, to find the time at Point B, you just @##$$%%^^&&, then $$%^&*^& because you add in the east and subtract in the west..."

Wait, wait a second! What had he just said? Was that a tongue twister? Why couldn't he understand a single word?

Lu Heng stared blankly at his deskmate. The chubby boy gestured over the test paper with his ballpoint pen as he explained the questions, talking until his mouth was dry. When he looked up, he saw Lu Heng's increasingly vacant, bewildered little eyes.

Deskmate: "..."

Lu Heng: QAQ

After a long while, his deskmate cautiously asked, as though afraid of hurting something, "You... didn't understand?"

Lu Heng nodded.

His deskmate blinked, then stretched out a chubby paw and flipped through the exercise papers on Lu Heng's desk. He found that aside from the rote-memorization subjects like Chinese, English, history, and politics, Lu Heng's scores in math, physics, and chemistry were simply too dreadful to look at.

The chubby deskmate smacked his lips and said with a sigh, "Your foundation..." It wasn't just a little bad!

Lu Heng, who had dropped out of school for sixteen years before his rebirth: QAQ

The chubby deskmate scratched his head and could not help saying, "I think... with your situation, if you want to catch up, you'll have to start with the first-year middle school curriculum. Doing these practice papers now is useless."

Yanjing University Affiliated High School was one of the country's top schools, so its pace and difficulty were naturally far greater than ordinary middle schools. Its usual practice papers also contained many advanced competition questions. Yanjing University Affiliated High School students were accustomed to papers of this difficulty. But for Lu Heng, who had not attended school for sixteen years in his previous life and had little studying experience in this one, they were extraordinarily difficult!

The chubby deskmate secretly glanced at Lu Heng's large build, which made him look much bigger than his peers, and could not help shaking his head. Huaxia's ancient sayings were truly insightful. "Well-developed limbs," and all that... Sure enough, his brain, ahem!

But his memory was quite good!

The chubby deskmate tore a sheet from his notebook, scribbled down the names of several books with his ballpoint pen, and handed it to Lu Heng. "These are some pretty good study guides I used before. I also have notes from my first and second years of middle school. I'll bring them to you tomorrow."

As he said this, the chubby deskmate patted Lu Heng on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Deskmate, this is all I can do for you."

Lu Heng accepted the book list with both hands and thanked him eagerly. Then someone suddenly called from the doorway, "Lu Heng, someone's looking for you."

Lu Heng turned his head and saw Wei Linxuan, dressed in the high school division's uniform, standing outside the door.

Wei Linxuan looked Lu Heng over in astonishment. Lu Heng had shot up all over and looked much thinner than before. Wei Linxuan asked indignantly, "You actually went and lost weight behind my back?"

"No." Lu Heng shook his head, even his hair seeming limp as he said, "Studying wore me out."

Wei Linxuan: "..." There were way too many things wrong with that sentence. Where was he even supposed to start?

Wei Linxuan simply ignored it. "Come on. I'm treating you to dinner tonight."

Lu Heng shook his head. "No need. I'll just grab something from the cafeteria tonight." He still had to come back and memorize questions after eating!

Wei Linxuan practically sneered. He gave Lu Heng a deeply distrustful look. "I heard that if teenagers diet, they won't grow taller later!"

Lu Heng: "?"

Wei Linxuan simply said, "Anyway, get out here. Starting today, I'm going to keep an eye on you while you eat!"

Lu Heng weakly clarified, "I'm not dieting. Studying really wore me out."

Even so, he could not outstubborn Wei Linxuan and was dragged to a private restaurant near the school.

Crispy tea shrimp, lotus-leaf sticky rice chicken, boiled fish, and crab casserole—Wei Linxuan ordered several dishes according to Lu Heng's tastes.

Once all the dishes were served, Wei Linxuan casually peeled a shrimp for Lu Heng and asked with a smile, "How have things been lately?"

Not great. He was already studying so hard he wanted to burn the midnight oil, yet he was still far from the passing mark.

"My foundations in the sciences are just too weak. Math, physics, chemistry... Do you think I should hire a tutor?"

Lu Heng now felt that even signing up for cram school would not make up for the enormous gap in his grades. Only by following his deskmate's advice and relearning middle school material from the beginning might he still have a chance of being saved.

"How about I tutor you?" Wei Linxuan volunteered.

"You?" Lu Heng looked doubtful. Didn't someone's grades seem no better than his?

"What kind of expression is that?" Wei Linxuan raised a brow. "You should know that after three days apart, you must look at someone with new eyes. Your boss is omnipotent."

"Then it's settled. Starting tomorrow, I'll help you with your studies." And keep an eye on you while you eat.

Wei Linxuan did what he said. Sure enough, starting the next day, he kept watch over Lu Heng's studying.