Yang Rui

Biodata

Background / History

Previous life

Yang Rui attended an ordinary second-tier university, where he was reassigned to biology. Unable to find employment after graduation, he pursued graduate studies, only to face unemployment again after completing them. Although he had once hoped to become a full-time researcher, he struggled to find a genuine research position 1 4.

He eventually found success at a tutoring school. More than a dozen students in one class entered elite universities, establishing his reputation as a star instructor. He later left with two colleagues to start their own tutoring school. While advertising its classes on a school wall, he fled a pursuing gatekeeper and was struck by a BMW 1.

Transmigration and family circumstances

Yang Rui awoke in 1982 in the body of a handsome young man who had failed the college entrance examination. After slipping, striking his head, and losing consciousness again, he acquired his predecessor’s memories. His new mother suggested abandoning the examination and joining the army, but he insisted on attending university 1.

His new family possessed considerable local influence despite having relatively few assets. His grandfather, Yang Shan, had been Party secretary of Xizhaizi Commune, while his father, Yang Feng, served as Xizhaizi Township’s Party secretary. Both generations practiced strict self-denial and donated resources to disadvantaged residents. His maternal uncle Duan Hua regularly supplemented the family’s diet with meat and discounted factory goods 13.

With a year remaining before the 1983 examination, Yang Rui decided to resume tutoring. He wanted to cultivate students who could eventually hold influential positions, while building a lifelong network of pupils and allies 3.

Appearance

Yang Rui’s new body contrasts sharply with the overweight physique of his previous life 1.

• Build: Tall, slim, and long-legged; he estimates his height at over 1.8 meters 1.
• Face: Deep-set eyes, a finely shaped nose, fair skin, rosy lips, and a slightly feminine appearance 1.
• Physical development: Regular running and weight training give him a stronger, visibly muscular physique 17 27.
• Bearing: Despite ordinary clothing, he develops sharp, bright eyes and a commanding presence through leading the Rui Study Group 44.

Personality

Yang Rui is ambitious, confident in his professional expertise, and strongly attached to planning. Whether conducting experiments or tutoring, he prefers an organized course of action; when circumstances change, he replaces one plan with another rather than proceeding without direction 3 5.

His educational idealism has practical consequences. He uses the study group’s proceeds to improve meals, extend evening lighting, compensate student workers, and fund scholarships. He recognizes that financial hardship can end a student’s education regardless of ability, and considers relieving that burden more valuable than additional lessons alone 27 36.

He is also politically calculating and willing to use coercion. He invokes family connections against threats, publicly humiliates an opponent during the piracy dispute, and pressures education officials into supporting school improvements. Although he presents the group’s printing proposal as a democratic decision, he subsequently orders his allies to identify and expel opponents of the proposal 6 31 41 49.

His attitude toward health changes after transmigration. Previously disinclined to exercise, he becomes determined not to waste his healthy new body, prioritizing exercise and protein-rich meals even above earning manuscript fees 2 16 17.

Abilities & Skills

Enhanced Recall

After transmigrating, Yang Rui discovers that books he previously read—even those he only briefly examined—can be recalled in extensive detail 2.

• Retrieves long passages from biology textbooks and college entrance examination workbooks 2.
• Accesses remembered research papers while considering technical problems 4 13.
• Reproduces articles from his previous life that have not yet appeared in 1982 11.
• Writes out a complete copy of New Concept English for distribution to the study group 47.

Examination Solving and Tutoring

His previous career required him to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology to students of widely differing abilities 2 3.

• Demonstrated results: Scores 120 points in mathematics, earns a perfect physics score, and receives 87 in English; his perfect chemistry performance is also subsequently reported 10 34.
• Speed: Completes the placement mathematics paper in under thirty minutes, physics in about thirty minutes, and chemistry in twenty minutes 5 7.
• Difficult problems: Solves Hu Yanshan’s challenging function problem publicly and answers every mathematics question correctly in Feng Yun’s unusually difficult assessment 10 26.
• Individual instruction: Allocates study time according to each student’s weaknesses and the subjects in which improvement is most achievable 12.
• Classroom management: Draws on experience teaching both individual students and classes exceeding two hundred people 36.

Scientific and Technical Knowledge

Yang Rui retains the biology training, experimental experience, and exposure to university–industry research from his previous life 4 22.

• Identifies the production sequence for canned pork ribs and proposes four approaches to a canning defect 13.
• Helps improve the cannery’s sterilization process and product acceptance rate, earning recognition from Engineer Shao 34.
• Designs straightforward production-line procedures and quality controls for the group’s printed papers 23.
• Recognizes that effective chemistry instruction requires equipment, reagents, and conceptual understanding rather than memorization alone 7.

Publishing and Organization

Yang Rui combines remembered material with original observations developed during his tutoring career 11 24.

• Produces categorized exercises and six-subject examination series for junior and senior high school students 15 36.
• Organizes stencil cutting, mimeographing, paid student labor, accounts, and distribution 21 27.
• Uses manuscript fees to purchase printing equipment and promises to cover the group’s losses himself 21.
• Adopts individual student files as a means of maintaining relationships after members graduate 47.

Limitations

• English: Stronger in specialist reading and biological terminology than grammar, everyday conversation, or English-teaching methods 8 47.
• Chinese and politics: Requires revision; his placement Chinese paper is weakened by textbook-specific questions 2 4.
• Resources: Scientific knowledge does not immediately provide laboratory equipment or funding, which he must obtain separately 7 21.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Establishing the Rui Study Group

• Recruits his deskmate Wang Guohua as his first student, beginning with trigonometry and representative practice problems 3.
• Responds to Liu Shan’s criticism by deciding to establish his credibility through examination results 4.
• Defends Wang Guohua against Yan San, using the threat of an injury examination and criminal proceedings to prevent a fight 6.
• Uses his exceptional scores and public problem-solving demonstration to attract applicants 10.
• Organizes eighteen prospective members under individualized plans and a daily schedule running from six in the morning until midnight 12.
• Expands the group to thirty-two members, including provisional members, and later to more than fifty 21 36.

Manuscript Income and Educational Publishing

Feng Yun seeks to recruit him for a provincially commissioned textbook compilation team before learning that he is a repeat-year student. The misunderstanding becomes sensitive because Feng has already described him to Huang Weiping as an educator who had continued researching while awaiting rehabilitation 24.

Test-Paper Piracy Dispute

• Learns that Huo Laosi and the Thirteen Wolves are copying and selling his papers 27 30.
• Rejects both a partnership proposal and an offer to divide sales territory 30 31.
• Works with Duan Hang to detain Leopard, then publicly displays him bound and covered in dye with mocking signs 30 31.
• Seeks Yang Feng’s support on the grounds that the proceeds fund students rather than personal profit. His father summons the township militia to protect the school’s collective property 31.
• Initially plans to provoke an attack and obtain conclusive evidence; Yang Feng instead acts more aggressively against the gang 33.

Scholarships and School Improvements

• Secures approval to use printing surpluses for evening lighting, cafeteria subsidies, and paid student printing work 27.
• Receives authority over supplies donated by Xibao Meat Processing Plant in recognition of his technical assistance 34.
• Establishes scholarship categories for academic achievement, substantial improvement, and participation in social practice 36.
• Announces a first award fund of 1,350 yuan, accompanied by sixty cans of meat and sixty-five cans of fruit 39.
• Arranges paid grading and additional checks on examination results 38.
• Introduces student evaluations of teachers and organizes public appreciation visits, including a presentation to Li Xiumei as the students’ most popular female teacher 38 41 45.
• Uses his family’s connection to Deputy County Head Luo to obtain promises for two wells and an open drainage channel; replacement of the pit latrines with flush toilets remains a request for further follow-up 40 41 43.

Shao Liang’s Tutoring

Yang Rui agrees to tutor Engineer Shao’s son, Shao Liang, while insisting that he observe the study group’s normal rules. When Shao Liang attempts to avoid studying by offering expensive clothing, Yang Rui refuses and adopts a deliberately firm approach, regarding the arrangement as a promise to Engineer Shao and assistance to Duan Hua 34 45 46.

*New Concept English* Vote

• Plans a larger printing run after learning that students are paying premiums for copies of Book One 48.
• Gives full and reserve members equal votes on whether the group should borrow money for the project 49.
• Accepts the formal result: 34 in favor, 39 against, and 3 abstentions. The group will not finance the printing 49.
• Declares that he will pay personally, then privately instructs Huang Ren, Wang Guohua, and Cao Baoming to compare handwriting on the ballots, promote supporters, and expel identifiable opponents 49.

Equipment / Items

• Fountain pen — A black-bodied pen with a dark blue clip, given by Duan Hua to support his examination preparation 13.
• Red-covered notebook — Used to record students he considers worth cultivating, including Li Xuegong 9.
• Mimeograph machine and supplies — Purchased with manuscript income to produce the study group’s exercise booklets 21.
• Weight-training equipment — Recovered school weight plates, supplemented by a barbell rack and flat bench made with help from the agricultural machinery station 17.

Relationships

• Yang Feng — Father and Xizhaizi Township Party secretary. Supports the collective printing venture and mobilizes militia protection during the piracy dispute 13 31.
• Yang Shan — Grandfather and former Xizhaizi Commune Party secretary. His wartime service and former colleagues form part of the family’s wider network 13 30.
• Mother — Initially urges him to join the army, then supports further examination attempts. Her familiar endearment helps him emotionally accept his new family 1 2.
• Duan Hua — Eldest maternal uncle and cannery official. Supports his education; Yang Rui’s technical advice helps address the production crisis threatening his position 13 34.
• Duan Hang — Eldest cousin and police connection. Assists with the piracy dispute and agrees to protect Yang Rui and Shi Gui 6 30.
• Wang Guohua — Close friend, deskmate, and first recruited student. Becomes a trusted organizer and supporter of Yang Rui’s leadership 2 3 15 49.
• Huang Ren and Cao Baoming — Key assistants in printing, scholarship administration, and group management; both participate in the private discussion about identifying opposing voters 15 36 38 49.
• Liu Shan — Class monitor who initially challenges his tutoring. Later organizes membership applications and student files; his teacher-appreciation initiative improves her opinion of him 4 47.
• Zhao Dannian — Principal of Xibao Middle School. Initially questions his sudden improvement, later approves group-funded improvements, and warns him to preserve unity with teachers and students 12 27 43.
• Teacher Lu — Homeroom teacher who scrutinizes his examination results and later helps organize paid grading 8 10 38.
• Engineer Shao — Recognizes his technical contribution, delivers the plant’s donation letter, and entrusts Shao Liang’s tutoring to him 34.
• Wu Qian — Childhood acquaintance and post office employee who helps process his manuscript remittance and frequently teases him 20.
• Huo Laosi — Leader of the gang pirating the study group’s test papers; Yang Rui refuses to share the market with him 30 31.
• Qi Yuan and Section Chief Xiong — Attempt to claim influence over the group’s resources. Yang Rui counters with political connections and pressures Xiong into promising school infrastructure improvements 40 41.

Notable Quotes

“I’m going to university!” 1

“Someone who wasn’t afraid of anything wouldn’t be human. I’m doing this so our fellow students can get a better education too.” 42