Page 4

After saying that, she took out another thirty yuan and tucked it into the inner compartment of his schoolbag. "Buy yourself something good at school for lunch. A boxed meal or noodles, whatever. Don't eat from those roadside stalls outside the school. They're filthy."

She also put a thoroughly washed apple and banana into a plastic bag and slipped it into the small mesh pocket on the side of his schoolbag. "These are for you to eat between classes. They've both been washed, so remember to eat them."

After reminding Tang Shi a few more times to study hard and pay attention in class, she looked at the clock. It was nearly five-thirty already. She hurriedly said, "I have to go," then swept out like a gust of wind.

Tang Shi sat blankly on the bed for a while before remembering that Tang Mom had not opened a breakfast shop yet. At this time, she pushed a cart to set up a bun stall outside the district hospital every morning. Her buns were big, stuffed full, and delicious, making them popular with both medical staff and patients' families. The large buns sold for fifty cents each, and on a good day she could make over three hundred yuan. After costs, she could still clear more than two hundred. Tang Shi clearly remembered that during the second semester of his freshman year in college, his family had bought an apartment of over eighty square meters in the city with the money Tang Mom earned selling buns. Later, she used her savings to open Tang Family Porridge Shop, which became a well-regarded breakfast place in X City more than a decade later.

But that was all more than ten years in the future. Right now, Tang Mom was still a roadside vendor without even a decent stall. All she had was a tricycle with a tire that was always flat, carrying a gas tank, a dozen or so bamboo steamers of buns, a pot of thick and fragrant corn grits porridge, and a plastic box of pickles divided into many compartments.

Tang Shi rubbed his face, quickly got up and washed up, then returned to the living room. On the dining table were the milk and eggs he had eaten for more than ten years. The steaming milk had cooled to lukewarm after sitting out for a while, and the three eggs had been peeled, their tender white shells nestled in a porcelain bowl. This habit lasted until Tang Shi graduated from high school and went to college. Only then did he start peeling his own eggs.

So when outsiders said Tang Mom had spoiled Tang Shi rotten, they were not wrong.

Tang Shi sighed, wolfed down the eggs and milk, and saw that it was nearly six. In the past, he would have gone straight to school after eating, then taken a nap with his head on the desk before the seven o'clock morning study bell rang. But now, he grabbed his heavy schoolbag and left home, pedaling his bicycle out of the alley, across two streets, and to the entrance of the district hospital.

Tang Mom's little stall was already surrounded by medical staff, patients, and family members carrying lunch boxes for breakfast. From far away, Tang Shi could hear her shouting, "Don't push, don't push! One at a time!" He quickly plunged into the crowd, tossed his schoolbag onto the tricycle rack, took the change someone was holding out, then bent down and pulled a bamboo clip from the bamboo tube beside the tricycle. He used it to pick up six buns and handed them to the customer, shouting, "Don't all crowd around my mom. Come over here!"

Tang Mom darted a quick glance at him, but had no time to speak as she lowered her head to pack buns and porridge for another customer. Since Tang Shi had not done this kind of work in a long time, he was clumsy at it. He picked up buns slowly, and sometimes used the wrong amount of force and tore the skin, drawing complaints from customers. Fortunately, people in those days were simple and kind. Even when a bun's skin tore, few shouted that they did not want it. Instead, two elderly grandpas and grandmas smiled as they praised Tang Mom, saying Tang Shi was a good and filial son.

"Kids who help their parents work are rare these days."

They stayed busy for more than ten minutes before one wave of customers finally dispersed, leaving only scattered customers trickling in. Tang Mom let out a breath of relief and checked the time. It was already past six-thirty. She said to Tang Shi, "Hurry to school. Don't come tomorrow. You'd be better off spending this time studying."

Tang Shi smiled. "Morning study doesn't start until seven. There's no point in me getting there early. Starting tomorrow, I'll get up earlier and come sell buns with you. I'll head to school when it's time."

Tang Mom frowned. "If you have nothing better to do, sleep a little longer. Get enough rest so you can listen carefully in class. Don't waste your time on this nonsense."

As she spoke, she grabbed Tang Shi's hands, reddened by the steam from the bamboo steamers, and examined them carefully. "These are obviously not working hands. Does it hurt? Do you need to put some medicine on them?"

Tang Shi chuckled and pulled his hands back. "I'm not that delicate. I just got steamed a little. I'll rinse them with cold water when I get back."

Then he waved to Tang Mom and said with a smile, "I'm off to school. Bye-bye."

No. 1 High School was not far from Tang Shi's home. Riding quickly, he could get there in a little over ten minutes. After Tang Shi was admitted to No. 1 High School, Tang Mom had specifically given up their old place and rented a new one nearby, just so he could sleep a little longer in the morning and get home earlier at night, without wasting time commuting.

Unfortunately, Tang Mom's painstaking efforts had not meant much to Tang Shi, as was perfectly clear from his later college entrance exam results.

Across from the gates of No. 1 High School was a shabby book-rental shop. Tang Shi entered the shop first with his schoolbag on his back. Several students in uniforms were already standing around inside in twos and threes. Tang Shi walked up to the counter, took the extracurricular books from his bag, and handed them to the owner. "Boss, I'm returning these."

The owner was a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six, tall and thin, with pale skin. In later terms, he was a textbook shut-in. Seeing Tang Shi returning books, he smiled and waved the book in his hand. "A batch of new books just came in. Aren't you going to pick some out?"

Tang Shi shook his head. "The midterm results came out. I didn't do well, so my mom won't let me read extracurricular books anymore."

The owner let out a regretful "Oh" and did not try to persuade Tang Shi to borrow more books. He lowered his head, picked up a large green ledger from the desk, and asked, "When did you borrow them?"

How could Tang Shi remember such trivial details? He immediately shook his head. The owner could only flip back several pages based on memory. At last, he found the rental record, crossed it out with a ballpoint pen, returned Tang Shi's remaining twenty-yuan deposit, and said, "Your mom is right. Studying is more important. You can read these leisure books anytime."

Tang Shi smiled faintly without responding. He accepted the money from the owner and turned to leave the shop.

After all that running around, it was already seven. The morning study bell inside the school rang loud enough to shake the ears, and the students outside the gate immediately rushed into the school like ants on drugs. Tang Shi was among them. By the time he hurriedly found his classroom, Old Yu, the homeroom teacher, was already standing at the lectern. The English class representative was leading everyone in morning reading. When Old Yu saw Tang Shi panting at the doorway, he frowned unhappily. There was no other reason—every teacher hated students who were not active in class, did not work hard, and performed poorly on exams.

Fortunately, the country was promoting quality education at the time and repeatedly discouraged teachers from physically punishing students. Tang Shi thus escaped the misfortune of being made to stand as punishment for being late. Under Old Yu's cold stare, he carried his schoolbag into the classroom sheepishly and took his seat.

His deskmate, Lu Hengzhi, shook the English textbook in his hand and said quietly, "Page 24, second paragraph."

Tang Shi turned his head and looked at Lu Hengzhi's face, suddenly more than ten years younger, and felt a moment of daze.

Seeing Tang Shi stare at him without blinking, Lu Hengzhi swallowed nervously. His eyes flickered as he looked away, secretly thinking, He couldn't have guessed what I'm about to say, could he?

At the front of the classroom, Old Yu stood with his arms folded, frowning at the student in the back row who had arrived late, was sneakily not following the morning reading, and was even distracting his deskmate. His face was filled with misery. He endured it for a while, but when Tang Shi still did not react, he had no choice but to raise his voice. "It's morning study. Stop daydreaming."

Tang Shi came back to himself and immediately noticed Old Yu's burning gaze fixed on him. Lacking confidence, he shrank his neck and opened his English textbook, obediently reading along.

Chapter 5

Old Yu, the homeroom teacher, taught Chinese. Since he had first-period class, he could not stay in the classroom watching the students during morning study. Like a lion on patrol, he paced through the classroom twice. Seeing that basically no one was slacking off, he nodded with slight satisfaction and left.

As soon as Old Yu left, a low buzzing filled the classroom. The English class representative tried twice to maintain order, to no avail, and her face turned a little pale with anger. Lu Hengzhi propped his English book upright on the desk and whispered to Tang Shi, "Why did you come so late? I even went to your house this morning to walk to school with you. You weren't home, so I came alone."

Tang Shi felt a little embarrassed. "I went to help my mom sell buns this morning."

Lu Hengzhi looked Tang Shi over in surprise. In his memory, this childhood friend of his was even lazier than he was. Yet he had actually been willing to give up his warm bed to help Aunt Tang with her stall...

Lu Hengzhi thought it over, then nodded in understanding. With a knowing look, he asked, "Aunt Tang beat you yesterday, didn't she? Does it hurt?"

Tang Shi shot Lu Hengzhi an irritated look. He knew nothing good ever came out of this guy's mouth.

"My mom is so gentle. How could she bear to hit me? I felt bad seeing how tired she was, so I volunteered to help her, okay?"

Lu Hengzhi nodded. He and Tang Shi had been neighbors since childhood. Their household registrations put them in the same school district, so they had attended the same elementary and middle schools. They had even tested into the same high school and, by sheer luck, ended up in the same class after class assignments. They were especially close, so Lu Hengzhi knew Tang Shi's family situation inside out. Hearing this, Lu Hengzhi patted Tang Shi on the shoulder like a little adult and said earnestly, "You've finally grown up."

"Get lost!" Tang Shi had barely spoken when the English class representative at the front called out, "Students in the back, read properly. Stop whispering."

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi exchanged a smile and stopped chatting.

The first class after morning study was English. The young teacher, who had just graduated from college, taught grammar according to her lesson plan. Some students below listened attentively, while others diligently slacked off. In the sunlight streaming through the windows, the chalk dust scattering whenever the eraser touched the blackboard was clearly visible. Tang Shi, learning it all for the second time, suddenly discovered that this familiar knowledge was completely unfamiliar, while the after-class exercises drove him mad. Especially after last night's homework had been handed back, and he saw pages nearly covered in red Xs, Tang Shi had to regretfully conclude that passing Level Four in college and understanding his foreign supervisor's scoldings at work did not necessarily mean he could do well on a high school English test.

What was with the uses of "in" and "on," the key points of the subjunctive mood, and all that? When he had studied this stuff before, how had he never realized it was so troublesome?

At this rate, forget getting into a good university through the college entrance exams. Whether he could even get into the third-rate junior college from his previous life was a question.

Where was the promised golden finger? Where was the promise of dominating the world after reincarnation?

How could this be so cold, so heartless, so unreasonable?

After English came math, physics, and politics. By the end of the morning's classes, Tang Shi's head was spinning from being crammed full of information. Feeling sick, he clawed at his hair and sprawled limply over his desk, with no appetite even for lunch. Lu Hengzhi reached over and gave him a shove. "What's wrong with you? Feeling sick? What do you want for lunch? Want me to buy it for you?"

Tang Shi shook his head and said as if life held no meaning, "No. I don't want to eat."

Damn it, with such terrible foundations, he still wanted good grades and a good university? What a beautiful load of crap!

Why had heaven not let him reincarnate in kindergarten? He would have scored perfect marks every day and become a little prodigy!

Pretending not to hear him, Lu Hengzhi continued with a smile, "Let's go get beef noodles. Didn't you say last time that you wanted California Beef Noodles? My treat."

Tang Shi gave Lu Hengzhi a strange look. In his memory, Lu Hengzhi was good in every way except for being a bit eccentric. As the only son of the chairman of the famed Northern Wasteland Group in Northern Province—though at this time, Northern Wasteland Group was still merely a bumpkin township enterprise that did whatever made money, taking random shots in every direction without any resource integration, from real estate development to grain and oil shops, practically covering everything; even the flour and pork Tang Mom used for her buns came from Lu Hengzhi's father—Lu Hengzhi had been influenced by his grandparents from childhood and had never developed the fine virtue of "spending money like dirt" common among other nouveau riche second-generation heirs.