"Huh? What do you mean?" Kong Haochen asked in confusion.
"You're only good enough to get into a second-tier university. These days, graduates from those schools only make four or five thousand a month, less than you'd earn working in a factory," Shen Heng said calmly.
"Heh, that's them. I just don't feel like studying. Once I get serious, even I scare myself!" Kong Haochen said dismissively. "Once I enter society, it'll be just like they say: how could golden scales belong in a mere pond? Once wind and clouds gather, they transform into a dragon!"
"..."
His slightly pretentious, somewhat chuunibyou tone left Shen Heng speechless for a moment. He nodded and said:
"Good luck!"
Watching Kong Haochen walk away, Yan Sheng said indignantly to Shen Heng:
"These guys, seriously! Back when you had money, Brother Heng, they were all calling you Brother Heng every other breath. Now that you're broke, they act like this. They don't even think about how much you spent treating them before!"
"We only came together because of benefits in the first place. Now that there aren't any, it's perfectly normal to drift apart!" Shen Heng said calmly.
Groups held together by benefits were the most stable kind apart from those centered on faith, but all of that depended on having benefits to hold the group together.
With Shen Heng broke and potentially bringing trouble down on them, it was perfectly normal for them to scatter.
"But even if they split up, they shouldn't come back to mock you!" Yan Sheng still couldn't swallow this insult.
"Some people are just like that. There's no need to get angry." Shen Heng's tone was even, his gaze wandering out the window.
Hearing Shen Heng say this, Yan Sheng could only nod helplessly, though he still felt indignant.
Then, as if remembering something, he turned to Shen Heng and asked:
"By the way, Brother Heng, was what you just told Kong Haochen true? That going straight into a factory pays more than getting a job after studying?"
"..."
Good grief. He didn't believe me when I told him, but you did!
Well, that really is how it is, though!
"Don't worry about that. Just focus on studying. Your starting salary after university might be a little lower than factory pay, but you'll have far more room to grow than if you went straight into a factory," Shen Heng advised patiently.
"All right." Yan Sheng nodded with some regret. He had been thinking that if factory work really offered better prospects, he might as well go straight into a factory.
Looking at Shen Heng, who had turned back toward the window, Yan Sheng asked in puzzlement:
"Brother Heng, why do I feel like you've been a little different since you came back from being sick?"
"Maybe I've grown up."
"Huh? Getting sick can do that?"
Yan Sheng looked utterly astonished, then said expectantly,
"Brother Heng, what illness did you have? Can you tell me about it? My parents always say I'm not mature enough too. If possible, I'd like to get sick and grow up a little!"
"..."
You're not immature. You're missing a screw! ...Shen Heng said helplessly:
"It had nothing to do with being sick. I just figured a few things out!"
"What did you figure out, then?" Yan Sheng persisted.
Helpless, Shen Heng turned his gaze toward him and asked, "Do you know about the Dao?"
"The Dao?" Yan Sheng looked completely blank.
"Mm." Shen Heng nodded.
"What about the Dao?" Yan Sheng asked next.
Shen Heng said, "The Dao can only be grasped, not conveyed in words. When it's time for you to understand, you'll naturally understand; when it isn't, asking more questions won't help."
Frowning, Yan Sheng nodded thoughtfully, then looked up again and asked:
"So, Brother Heng, what exactly did you understand?"
"..."
Shen Heng said, "Let's drop that. Has anything big happened at school lately?"
"No. What big things could happen at school?"
That was what Yan Sheng said at first, but then he seemed to remember something and said:
"Oh, right. Nothing happened at our school, but something happened right next to it!"
"Next to school? What happened?" Shen Heng turned his gaze to Yan Sheng and asked curiously.
Yan Sheng said, "Last Friday night, a dog was eating someone next to our school. That person's still in the hospital!"
"..."
And here I thought it was something! ...Shen Heng looked away.
Yan Sheng continued, "Brother Heng, when you didn't come on Saturday, I thought you'd been eaten by that dog!"
"..."
I did almost get eaten!
Shen Heng picked up his water and took a sip, then chatted on and off with Yan Sheng.
Soon, the bell for the first class rang, and a teacher entered the classroom.
Shen Heng glanced at the teacher walking up to the podium, and his memories instantly supplied a match. This was their English teacher!
Recalling the rule circulated online in his previous life-that if your English teacher was a woman, she would be the best-looking of all your teachers-Shen Heng instinctively gave her a few more looks.
Hmm... she was just a very ordinary woman, neither good-looking nor ugly. She didn't even have a name.
"Sure enough, that stuff about all English teachers being good-looking is nonsense!"
Shen Heng bent forward and rummaged through his desk compartment for his English textbook.
He had slept for a few hours last night, so he wasn't planning to start sleeping now. Besides, returning to high school after so long and experiencing what being a high school student felt like was pretty nice too.
Without much effort, he found his English textbook and pulled it out.
As he pulled out the book, a slip of paper came out with it.
"What's this?"
Shen Heng muttered to himself. After his gaze lingered briefly on the slip, he set his English textbook on the desk, then picked up the paper and slowly unfolded it.
The next instant, the writing on the slip came into Shen Heng's view.
"Sorry, you're a good person, but we're not right for each other!"
"..."
Seriously, enough already. You owed a pile of debt and still had the mind to go looking for romance!
Shen Heng silently folded up the slip, then tucked it into his pocket.
He planned to throw it away outside after school. Tossing it somewhere at school would be a little dangerous.
Shen Heng rested his hand on the book on his desk and looked up at the English teacher on the podium.
"All right, let's begin. Everyone, take out last week's test paper!"
"..."
Shen Heng silently put his textbook away again. He suddenly felt there wasn't much need to experience high school life after all.
Of course, even if the teacher really were teaching a lesson, he would only listen for a little while at most. He was here for the experience, not to actually attend class!
He lay on his desk, listening for a while to the assorted sounds of teaching and the whispered conversations.
Then he rested the tip of his tongue lightly against his palate and silently began practicing the Heavenly Cycle Breathing Technique.
Toward evening.
Shen Heng slowly sat up in his seat, then turned to leave school and head to the Supervision Bureau.
"Brother Heng, are you really not going to try a little harder?" Yan Sheng couldn't help urging him again.
"No. Just focus on your own studies!"
Shen Heng waved a hand and left school under Yan Sheng's gaze.