Is That Something a Human Would Say?

As the strongest advanced science class, Class Five had its own rules. For morning reading and evening study alone, students had to reach the classroom a full fifteen minutes earlier than the school required.

Chen Shi'an left home at six ten and arrived at the classroom at six twenty-seven, three minutes ahead of the deadline.

He had cut it pretty close. Most of his classmates had already been sitting in the classroom for a while.

Since morning reading had yet to officially begin, the room was a noisy jumble. Some students were chatting, some eating breakfast, some filling their water bottles, some rushing to finish worksheets, and others wandering around doing who knew what...

But the chaos came to an abrupt halt when Chen Shi'an "barged" into the classroom.

A flicker of startled uncertainty crossed the face of the first student to spot him. That expression spread like ripples across the other students' faces, sweeping through the entire class in moments.

Wait, dude, who are you?

Are you even in our class?!

Do you know where you've wandered into?!

People just stroll into other classes this openly now?!

Liang! Where's Liang? Come clean up this mess!

Wait! Hold on a second...! He looks so familiar! So familiar! Did we meet somewhere in a past life? What's your name...?

"Daoist Master!"

"Holy shit! It's the Daoist Master!"

When this strangely familiar stranger walked past the lectern and headed straight for the empty seat beside Lin Meng Qiu, everyone finally caught on-wasn't this Chen Shi'an, the transfer student who had joined them just yesterday? The "Daoist Master" from Pure Dust Temple, who had practiced Daoist arts since childhood and had the courtesy name Chen'an!

Forgive us, forgive us! With the Daoist Master wearing clothes... no, different clothes, we almost didn't recognize him!

Who could have guessed that putting on a school uniform and getting a haircut would change Chen Shi'an's appearance so much? They had only spent a short time with him during his introduction yesterday, and after just one night, he looked like a different person. No wonder everyone was shocked.

"Have you mastered the art of disguise, fellow Daoist?!"

"Oh no. My position as the most handsome guy in class is in danger."

"I suddenly understand why cultivation novels never have ugly men or women."

"What do you guys know? Personally, I think the Daoist Master's old look had more character..."

"Okay, okay, we get it. You have a thing for Daoist robes."

"Beauty is subjective, all right?"

"That's just something people tell themselves! If there were no shared standards, why do we all think the class monitor is pretty, while Zou Xiaokun looks like some sleazy paparazzo?"

"You're the fucking paparazzo! I'm a legitimate journalist!"

After that brief silence, the revelation of Chen Shi'an's identity sent the classroom buzzing with whispered chatter again.

Yet nobody came over to strike up a conversation with him.

They weren't afraid of incurring the Daoist Master's wrath. They were afraid of upsetting his desk mate-Lin Meng Qiu only had to sit down, without saying a word, and everyone within a certain radius automatically fell silent...

Beautiful but aloof, stern and unsmiling, she was not only the class monitor but also the principal's daughter. Rumor even had it that she kept a little notebook specifically for docking people's points. Who would dare provoke her?

Her presence was like a cell phone signal jammer. However noisy the rest of the classroom became, her little patch always stayed quiet.

Chen Shi'an noticed this desk mate's passive skill too, and he was happy to enjoy the peace.

Unlike him, who had arrived just before the deadline, Lin Meng Qiu was already sitting in her seat. He had no idea when she had arrived, but she was quietly working on problems.

She still wore her blue-and-white school uniform, her smooth black hair falling naturally down her back. Her emotionless expression was no different from when they had first met. Even her upright posture and the way she held her pen were exactly the same as before Chen Shi'an had left yesterday.

If Chen Shi'an hadn't glanced down and noticed that the sock edges showing above her delicate ankles were a different color from yesterday's, he might really have suspected that Lin Meng Qiu had spent the entire night sitting there.

Not bad. She can sit still and settle her mind. Chen Shi'an nodded inwardly, thinking that if she wanted to practice the Dao, he wouldn't mind taking her as his disciple.

When she heard the chair beside her being gently pulled out, Lin Meng Qiu didn't raise her head, but she couldn't resist stealing a downward glance from the corner of her eye.

What she saw was a brand-new pair of school uniform trousers, rather than the hem of yesterday's Daoist robe;

His shoes were no longer those Ten Directions Shoes either, but an ordinary pair of black canvas sneakers.

Only yesterday, she had suspected that Chen Shi'an wore Daoist robes to draw attention. Today, he had changed his entire outfit.

After looking at his lower half, Lin Meng Qiu finally let her gaze drift upward, settling on his brand-new short-sleeved uniform shirt before coming to rest on his face.

The girl's expression stayed unchanged, but her eyes seemed to brighten a little.

As it happened, Chen Shi'an looked over too and gave her an easy smile. "Morning."

"Morning."

Lin Meng Qiu answered in a flat tone, her voice so soft that even she wasn't sure whether her greeting had reached him.

By the time Chen Shi'an hung up his backpack and looked back at her, she had already returned to quietly working on her problems.

Unlike the others, she neither marveled at his transformation nor displayed any gossip-driven curiosity. The cool expression seemingly fixed to her pretty face remained utterly unchanged, giving no hint of her thoughts. All she lacked was a sign around her neck saying, "Studying. Do not disturb."

Chen Shi'an wasn't so bored that he would force a conversation when he had nothing to say. Seeing how quietly she was working, he left her alone.

He took the timetable Teacher Liang had given him yesterday out of his desk drawer and looked it over.

Compared with the mountain village primary school he had attended for a few days back then, Yunqi No. 1 High School had a very packed schedule.

In short, from arriving at six thirty in the morning until leaving at nine forty-five at night, he had to stay on campus the entire time.

Chen Shi'an frowned slightly.

No wonder he so often saw people online complaining about how miserable high school life was. Even excluding the scattered breaks, they still spent at least ten hours in the classroom.

That was harder than practicing the Dao on the mountain! Back there, only his mornings had been particularly busy. After lunch, he would take a nap, wake around three or four, then catch fish in the mountain streams, pick mushrooms, water the vegetables, and start pondering what to eat for dinner...

It's just studying. Does it really need to take up so much time...? Stop, stop. Stay humble.

Whatever he thought, he was a student now, so he still had to follow the school rules properly.

Besides, he had a lot of missing foundations to make up for. Even if he didn't find studying difficult, he would certainly have to devote more time to it for a good while.

Morning reading began, and the classroom's scattered chatter gradually gave way to voices reading aloud.

Unlike primary school, where everyone read and recited in unison, students had more freedom to read and recite on their own.

The subject was still prescribed, though. Today's morning reading was Chinese.

Chen Shi'an pulled his first-year Chinese textbook from his desk.

Lin Meng Qiu glanced at the textbook he took out.

But she said nothing.

Her father had called last night and briefly explained Chen Shi'an's situation. When she heard that he had never attended school, Lin Meng Qiu had been too stunned to speak for a long time...

As for her father's request that she help teach Chen Shi'an, Lin Meng Qiu didn't think she had that ability... How was she supposed to teach someone who had never been to school?

Still, judging by things now... he did seem able to read.

But this was high school. Was simply knowing how to read really enough? She had no idea where her father's tremendous confidence in him came from. Even she thought the whole thing sounded utterly implausible.

Maybe he's just come down from the mountain to experience everyday life? Then... as long as he and Dad are happy.

Chen Shi'an had no idea what Lin Meng Qiu was thinking. He had already opened the book to the sixth text and begun reading-he had read the first six at home earlier. He wouldn't claim to have a photographic memory, but he remembered most of them. One more read would fix them firmly in his mind.

Most people were reading aloud. Chen Shi'an wasn't; he simply read silently. More precisely, he was memorizing-reading aloud would slow him down. Reading and committing the material to memory at the same time was the most efficient method for him.

Beside him, Lin Meng Qiu wasn't reading aloud either. What she held wasn't a textbook, however, but a bound stack of printed materials containing all the essential high school Chinese content that had to be memorized for exams.

Chen Shi'an noticed that the classmates around them seemed to have similar materials. Almost nobody was memorizing the textbook passages directly like he was.

"Are there some pieces in the book that we don't have to memorize?" Chen Shi'an asked his young desk mate.

"Yes." Lin Meng Qiu answered promptly.

"Which ones do we need to memorize, and which ones don't we?"

"..."

This time, Lin Meng Qiu was slower to answer. She wasn't deliberately ignoring him; she simply couldn't explain it in a single sentence.

So the efficiency-minded Lin Meng Qiu asked a question instead. "Didn't Teacher Liang give you the Chinese memorization materials?"

"You mean the ones you're holding?"

"Yes."

"No."

"...I'll help you photocopy a set later. Use these for now."

Without waiting to see whether Chen Shi'an wanted them, Lin Meng Qiu placed her memorization materials on his desk.

Chen Shi'an blinked. Uncle Lin had been right after all. Meng Qiu was cold on the outside but warm within. Her words were icy, but her actions were kind.

He picked up the materials Lin Meng Qiu had given him. She had marked many important words and sentences in red pen, with small handwritten explanations beside points that needed attention. Her handwriting was good, much like her-delicate, with a touch of sharpness.

After a quick scan, Chen Shi'an noticed that many of the passages came from pieces he had already more or less memorized. He turned to her curiously and asked:

"Are all these memorization materials taken from the Chinese textbook?"

"Yes."

After giving him her Chinese memorization materials, Lin Meng Qiu had taken out her English ones. Whether she was supposed to study English during today's morning reading didn't matter for a top student among top students like her. Even if she kept working on her math problems, the teacher wouldn't interfere.

"I thought some of it might be from outside the textbook..."

Chen Shi'an smiled and, under Lin Meng Qiu's puzzled gaze, handed the memorization materials back to her.

"Thank you. Since it's all in the textbook, I'll just memorize the texts directly. Otherwise, if you give me your materials, you won't have anything to read yourself."

"..."

Since Chen Shi'an had returned the materials, Lin Meng Qiu said nothing more. She just couldn't understand it. With so many gaps in his foundations and so little time left, wouldn't memorizing these extracted exam essentials get him much better results for less effort? Why take the long way around and memorize the full texts?

Could it be his teenage pride acting up? Was he trying to look cool again?

He really wasn't.

The main reason was that Chen Shi'an's attitude toward studying was fundamentally different from that of the vast majority of his classmates.

He wasn't studying solely for exams. Even with the entire Class Five steeped in an exam-oriented atmosphere, he approached it as he had practiced Daoist arts and studied teachings in the mountains. If he was going to learn something, he wanted to understand it thoroughly and genuinely gain something from it. That was his true intent.

Admittedly, memorizing the materials directly was more efficient for exam preparation. But those isolated words and sentences, stripped of their beginnings and endings, simply couldn't offer him what reading a complete piece could.

He wanted to understand each piece as a whole, to experience the author's state of mind when those words were written, rather than merely think, This sentence will be on the exam. I have to memorize it.

It's only... a couple more reads, anyway. Memorizing all of it isn't hard.

Now that was not something a human would say.

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