Chapter 2

Chapters 2-3

Chapter 2: Just goodbye

Su Can realized he could not tell the people around him what he had just experienced. Could it be that, as his self from eleven years later walked nostalgically down this street, reflecting on how everything had changed, his timeline had overlapped with that of his 1998 self? Had his consciousness from that time-or something like his soul-instantly traveled into his present body? Or had he been reborn into himself in this peculiar way!?

A moment ago, he had still been in the winter of 2009. Xiahai City lay in an inland basin in the west, with a temperate continental climate, four distinct seasons, and a considerable difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. It looked to be around six, when school let out. In the winter of 2009, with a cold front passing through and darkness falling early, the moon and scattered stars would already have been visible. Coupled with his mood back then, everything had seemed gloomy.

But now it was the summer of 1998. For middle school students like them, fresh out of school, six o'clock seemed to signal that the day had only just begun. In the inland west, summer skies generally did not darken until around eight, though even that was more like a dusk veiled in sunset clouds. At this moment, a red sun hung at a thirty-five-degree angle in the sky, bathing everything in gold and coating the buildings in warm colors. They were all buildings familiar from his memories, only they had ceased to exist later. Reflected now in his brown eyes, they looked especially real and dear.

Looking at the cluster of girls making fun of him outside the general store, he found them familiar no matter how he looked.

Then those far-too-youthful, vaguely familiar memories gradually surfaced in his mind. Before him stood his classmates from Class 09 in middle school, who were also the most prominent girls in their class back then.

As the group giggled upon hearing someone call him a "top student," two of the girls glanced indifferently at him before turning their attention back to the stationery displayed beside them. One was Cheng Yun, the other Cheng Lan. They were twins and had been celebrities throughout their year, not only because they were pretty, but because they looked so much alike that, standing together, it was difficult to tell the older twin from the younger. Their admirers had even included boys from the high school division.

Eleven years later, he had little contact with his middle school classmates. He had only heard that, of these two once-popular girls, one apparently worked at a telecommunications service center, while the other had married a junior white-collar worker in IT. Both led ordinary, unremarkable lives.

Another girl, who had not shown the same mocking expression as the others, was named Tang Wu. She had been their class monitor back then-oh, their current class monitor. Her grades were among the best, and she was delicately beautiful, but she was usually cold toward everyone. As class monitor, she was also responsible for spot-checking each group's homework every day, which left her classmates somewhat in awe of her. In secret, however, she was already the perfect little sweetheart of adolescent boys' dreams.

Of course, one final introduction had slipped his mind: Su Can's grades placed him among the lower-middle-ranking students dragging down the average, whether in his class or the entire school. At Xiahai No. 3 Middle School, a performance like that did not even merit mention across the city.

Looking at Tang Wu, who was only sixteen but already possessed such refined beauty that people hardly dared look directly at her, Su Can seemed to recall something very important. But the shock and sheer amount of information he was processing were too much. His heart was still racing, and for the moment, he could not remember what it was.

Tang Wu had reasons for not wanting to join the others in making fun of Su Can. First, she had always occupied an elevated position in class and disdained this sort of mockery. Second, although Su Can was usually one of the quieter students, his conduct in every respect was quite proper. With his slightly tousled, soft hair, his looks were just the type well-behaved girls liked best, and Tang Wu was no exception. Over their three years of middle school, she had developed some fondness for this inconspicuous boy. At the very least, she did not dislike him.

Besides, she had just been thinking about the approaching high school entrance examination. Students throughout the city would face a test that would divide their paths. With her grades, she would certainly attend City No. 1 High School, which was also a provincial key school-a world apart from Xiahai No. 3 Middle School, the second-tier city school before her.

As for Su Can, whose grades dragged down even his class average, his life would be swept downstream at this first dividing point.

The sixteen-year-old Tang Wu experienced a rare pang at life's unpredictability. How could she still think of mocking someone else?

Of course, Tang Wu did not know that, in the coming world of exploding information, employment pressures would become so severe that academic qualifications would gradually become secondary, while work experience became employers' focus.

What surprised her most was that Su Can was actually gazing straight at her. With her position in class and her beautiful appearance, how could boys only just entering adolescence in that era normally dare meet her eyes face-to-face without reservation? Some would immediately turn away when confronted with her gaze; others, feeling inferior, would simply blush. Accustomed to people avoiding her eyes, Tang Wu found herself somewhat at a loss when faced for the first time with such a calm, steady gaze.

Especially when that gaze belonged to Su Can, who usually lacked confidence in class.

Looking back, Su Can had to admit that he had harbored something of a secret crush on Tang Wu.

But that went without saying. Which boy in their class could honestly claim never to have entertained thoughts of Tang Wu? Everyone, however, understood the gulf between a bird in flight and a fish in the water. In particular, after their middle school graduation entrance examination, Tang Wu had, without question, entered the city's key No. 1 High School with excellent grades. Reportedly, even their homeroom teacher had deeply regretted losing such an outstanding student from the class and school. Moreover, the highest-scoring students in their year had flocked to City No. 1 High School in batches, leaving No. 3 Middle School a nursery cultivating talent for someone else. For a time, many veteran teachers had lost heart. Afterward, each successive cohort at No. 3 Middle School had been worse than the last, and its high school division had deteriorated completely. Before long, it had fallen to the level of a third-rate school in the city's educational community.

Su Can, who had returned from 2009, might have possessed a sixteen-year-old's youthful appearance, but his mind had gained a full eleven years of maturity. Those eleven years had also been an age of exploding information, when information and knowledge from around the world could be found through search engines-even military secrets sealed away many years before.

With that experience, Su Can was already an adult in terms of mental age. There was simply no possibility of him acting shy before young Tang Wu.

For Tang Wu, however, it was a different matter. Su Can's gaze was steady and tranquil, like a deep, clear pool, without awkwardness or immaturity. A faint arc of light brushed his brown eyes, making them unexpectedly beautiful. Instead, it stirred a strange feeling within her, with a faintly bittersweet edge. Her heart involuntarily quickened, bringing color to her face, and, for the first time, she turned her head aside.

The haughty twins, Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan, were adept at reading expressions. Seeing the change in Tang Wu, they looked at Su Can with considerably more surprise.

"Oh, Wu, there you are! You disappeared the moment school let out. I thought I wouldn't catch you! I'm having trouble with this problem and wanted you to explain it properly. How about I buy you something to drink? A new Taiwanese Pearl Milk Tea place opened nearby. It's really good!"

A somewhat pretty-looking boy with crisp, short hair and a backpack slung diagonally across his body appeared at the store entrance, looking at Tang Wu with delighted surprise.

Chapter 3: A manual for cultivation gone awry

"Pearl milk tea!?" As the twins Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan exclaimed in surprise beside Tang Wu, Su Can quickly recalled who the newcomer was.

He had been-well, currently was-their middle school class's deputy monitor, Dong Qingyun. Back then, Dong Qingyun had flourished in class, a textbook example of budding bureaucratism. Relying on his title as deputy monitor, he had made himself someone no one dared offend. This was especially true of several classmates who had no interest in studying and later became street hoodlums. Their rebellious urge to become hoodlums had not yet fully emerged then, and to get Dong Qingyun to cover for their unfinished daily homework, they had virtually become his personal muscle and lackeys.

This had made Dong Qingyun even more untouchable, and he had been quite well known throughout their year. Su Can remembered that Dong Qingyun had begun aggressively pursuing Tang Wu in middle school. Whether he had ultimately succeeded, Su Can did not know; he had lost track after the two of them passed their high school entrance examination.

Although milk tea would become passé many years later, never regaining its former glory, at present it was still a new and relatively upscale product for students. In particular, the words "Taiwanese Pearl Milk Tea" coming from Dong Qingyun's mouth greatly tempted both Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan.

Tang Wu clearly had little interest in Dong Qingyun, but out of consideration for his position as deputy monitor, she frowned and said, "Oh, I forgot. Which problem couldn't you do? Tomorrow's the last day before the break anyway. Can I explain it to you at school tomorrow?"

Dong Qingyun spread out the test paper in his hand, then drew it back a little at her words. "That works too, I suppose."

Then he glanced at Su Can beside them and said, seemingly deliberately, "Right, tomorrow's the last day anyway, and after that we'll have two days to revise on our own. How about I come find you and we study together? You can explain the problems you know to me, and I might have some ideas about the ones you have trouble with."

Dong Qingyun's words were an indirect challenge to Su Can. He had certainly noticed Tang Wu blush and turn away under Su Can's gaze. What's gotten into this kid today? He's spent three years hiding in a corner like a turtle. Is he planning to go wild before graduation and pursue Tang Wu, the school beauty?

In particular, the rare blush on Tang Wu's face had left Dong Qingyun staring, while filling him with tremendous hostility toward Su Can. His words, however, explicitly established that he and Tang Wu belonged to the class's highest-achieving ranks. Only she could stand on the same level as him. As for a nobody like Su Can, he was the sort who would soon be swallowed by the flood.

Tang Wu was clearly a little tempted. Though her grades were excellent, she was not conceited. It was perfectly normal for there to be middle school problems she could not solve. Dong Qingyun's suggestion was reasonable. For the two days before the entrance examination, she had already planned to spend one reviewing and the other resting. If she could use her review day to identify and remedy gaps alongside Dong Qingyun, whose grades rivaled hers, it would be very helpful.

Naturally, Dong Qingyun's deliberate maneuver did not escape the present Su Can, who found his jealousy amusing. Without commenting either way, Su Can happened to glance at the test paper in Dong Qingyun's hand. "Um, could I have a look?"

"A look? Can you even understand it?" Dong Qingyun raised his eyebrows and handed Su Can the paper, making no attempt to conceal his disdain.

Su Can saw that the paper had no heading; it was a set of questions separately produced in the school's printing room. The strong smell of ink had not yet faded from the mimeographed sheets. It carried an indescribable nostalgia as it reached his nose, and he felt a faint sting, an urge to cry. These memories of the past were so precious.

Of course, Su Can could not reveal his true feelings. Otherwise, seeing him weep over an object, all these people would probably think he had gone mad, or was expressing grief over his uncertain future.

Seeing him frown over the paper, the others paid little attention. They quietly discussed girls' topics among themselves, including a fair amount of sadness over their approaching graduation.

The set had no heading and began immediately with the first question. Whether multiple-choice, geometry proofs, or calculations, there were no blank lines between questions, all the way through question one hundred. Taking Dong Qingyun's earlier attitude into account, Su Can understood that these were internally distributed practice questions. Generally, teachers would give relatively difficult problems for the current stage to the highest-achieving students in class as internal reference material, allowing them one final improvement before their last fine battle.

Such materials were usually available in only a few copies and distributed only to top students like Dong Qingyun and Tang Wu. Students like Su Can almost never received them.

This was not because the teachers were playing favorites or harboring some sinister intent. Rather, these problems lay on the fringes of the syllabus, with difficulty at the highest level for middle school. Giving average students such difficult exercises as revision material before an examination could not possibly help them; on the contrary, it could do harm. For top students, these exercises could reinforce and review their entire framework of knowledge, but for ordinary students, they could only disrupt their normal thought processes and produce terrible consequences.

Looking at these problems, Su Can could not solve every one at a glance, but at least what he had studied in high school and university had been called "advanced mathematics." All of it rested on an understanding of middle school mathematics. Just as a high school student looking back at middle school exercises might not be able to solve everything, he could at least feel confident about eighty percent. Besides, after repeated setbacks later in life, Su Can had put real effort into studying, but his foundation had been so poor that his grades never improved.

It was like a person in a martial arts novel who had been sickly and underdeveloped from childhood. However hard he worked afterward, unless he encountered a miracle such as falling off a cliff and finding a treasure, he could never become an exceptional master with profound internal strength.

Now heaven seemed to have given him a chance to rebuild his foundation.

These exercises now looked incredibly familiar, their overall structure clear at a glance. For some of them, Su Can believed that, with a sheet of paper and a pen, he could reason out the answers.

If Dong Qingyun and Tang Wu, who had not yet fully mastered this set of exercises supposedly encompassing every middle school concept and pitfall, had known how confident Su Can felt at that moment, their jaws would probably have dropped.

Su Can understood that, if this was not a dream, his inexplicable return to eleven years earlier was an unalterable fact. Everything before him, whether in sight or sensation, was so clear and real. If rebirth had truly happened to him, then, to prevent the tragedies of his future from repeating themselves, Su Can knew that the first boss he had to defeat was the approaching junior secondary school graduation examination. Otherwise, he would merely live through a life of suffering once again.

As everyone chatted, the twins Cheng Yun and Cheng Lan were the first to let their bored gazes settle on Su Can. He had stood there staring blankly at that test paper for almost five minutes. What, Su Can, have you really gotten engrossed in these internal exercises? Look at those grades of yours. Can you compare with Tang Wu? Can you understand these questions?

Su Can came back to himself and saw everyone looking at him strangely. He gave an apologetic smile. "Well, it's getting late. You should all head home. Don't make your families worry. But, Dong Qingyun, could you let me photocopy this paper to take home?"

Dong Qingyun had never imagined that the usually timid Su Can could suddenly become so calm and natural, or address him directly by name. Hearing his own name spoken like that felt strange, as though his older brother were speaking down to him.

Everyone around them froze. This Su Can really had the nerve to ask! Looking at him now, Tang Wu's expression softened slightly. A moment earlier, she had been sighing over life because she had imagined his lower-middle-ranking future. Who would have thought that Su Can would now show such drive to improve? It brought a trace of comfort to the melancholy graduation had stirred in her.

But Tang Wu naturally knew that, even if a person could reverse their fate through a last-minute effort, the final three days before the high school entrance examination were rather too late.

"Can you manage it?" In the end, the glacially aloof Tang Wu voiced an unprecedented note of concern for Su Can.

"Sure! You can make a copy." Dong Qingyun suppressed the anger that briefly surfaced before he buried it again, agreeing with an outward show of generosity while already calculating inwardly. Since Su Can's asking for trouble, he can't blame me! The teacher had given these internal exercises only to students like them precisely because only their current abilities and ways of thinking allowed them to use the questions to break through to the highest level and reach the pinnacle of middle school achievement.

For people like Su Can, however, these questions were nothing more than a manual that would send their cultivation awry. They could only scramble their minds completely and ultimately lead to failure.

Dong Qingyun might as well oblige him.