Chapter Summaries

Lin Er forgot to return to school for evening study after visiting a martial arts master with her grandparents, then arrived late and took her monthly exams. Afterward, her class waited for exam results and a promised seat change that their homeroom teacher delayed.

• Lin Er learned that her apprenticeship ceremony would take place the following week, then realized she had forgotten evening study and hurried back with Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin.
• Grandma Lin scolded and smacked Lin Er for missing school, while Grandpa Lin explained that they had found her a martial arts master.
• Lin Er reached school late, apologized to Gao Bo, and returned to the dorm, where Shi Meng and Wang Juan asked why she had arrived so late.
• Lin Er took the monthly exams and estimated her total score at around 480 points across six subjects.
• The students waited for a seat change after the exams, but their homeroom teacher delayed it for another week because the results were not ready.

Lin Er balanced schoolwork and language lessons with her young pen pal while setting a goal of getting into First High. She began martial arts training as Master Li’s first outer disciple and learned the school’s etiquette from Li Qiang.

• Lin Er exchanged language recordings with her pen pal, improved her English, and resolved to study hard enough to aim for First High.
• Grandma Lin woke Lin Er early for her martial arts initiation after agreeing that the lessons could help her stay safe away from home.
• Lin Er traveled with her grandparents to Master Li’s home, completed the disciple ceremony, and became his first outer disciple.
• After her grandparents left, Li Qiang teased Lin Er and led her into the backyard for her first lesson.
• Master Li assigned Li Qiang to teach Lin Er etiquette and martial virtue, and Li Qiang demonstrated the fist-and-palm salute.

Lin Er began learning martial arts from Master Li and struggled to relax because of old family expectations that had taught her to suppress her energy. She committed to daily horse-stance practice while returning to her demanding school routine, though the bus ride down the mountain still made her pale.

• Lin Er struggled with martial arts postures until Li Qiang left her alone, after which she loosened up and performed the movements correctly.
• Li Chenghua explained to Li Qiang that Lin Er was thoughtful and driven, not naturally outgoing, and that she wanted to learn martial arts to prepare for the world.
• Li Qiang returned and found Lin Er practicing with correct movements and a fierce expression.
• Lin Er learned etiquette and the horse stance, then Master Li taught her school rules and precepts from an old handwritten book.
• Master Li let Lin Er take home writing supplies and set her a daily horse-stance practice routine, which she planned to fit around school.
• Lin Er rode the bus back to town and got off at the mountain pass feeling pale from the winter journey.

Lin Er balanced early-morning martial arts practice with school and her family's snail-cleaning work as her grades improved. After the school replaced its desks and chairs, she joined Shi Meng and her friends in a desirable seating group, where they invited her to celebrate after the midterms.

• Lin Er continued practicing horse stance before school and cleaning river snails for her family after evening study.
• Her classmates joked about Lin Er becoming an example used by another class's teacher, while their class took pride in its strong academic results.
• The school replaced its desks and chairs, and students chose new seats in rank order.
• Shi Meng invited Lin Er to sit near her and Yan Jingting, and Xu Wang joined their conversation.
• Shi Meng asked Lin Er whether she wanted to go into the city with the group after the midterms.

Lin Er began martial arts lessons and exchanged letters, food, and magical supplies with her young pen pal Prince and his mother. After Master Li warned her against using strengthening potions, Prince's mother traded Lin Er's gold for other remedies, while the two pen pals continued trying to communicate across their language barrier.

• Lin Er told her classmates she had started learning martial arts at the Li Family Martial Arts School, and Xu Wang showed interest in joining.
• The homeroom teacher asked Lin Er to make a seating chart, which she completed with Yan Jingting's help.
• Lin Er trained over the weekend while Prince's mother began helping Prince with food, and Lin Er agreed to exchange food for potions and magical supplies under a parchment agreement.
• Lin Er drank a strengthening potion from Prince's mother, but Master Li noticed something unusual and told her not to take medicine indiscriminately.
• Prince's mother exchanged Lin Er's gold for Dittany and an Improved Pepperup Potion after Master Li forbade her from using the strengthening potions.
• Lin Er and Prince continued studying Chinese and English and guessing at each other's words because they could not afford a magical translation solution.

Lin Er and Yan Jingting discovered that they and Ying Yuecheng and Ying Yuechi were all attending the same relative’s birthday banquet. At the banquet, Lin Er and the brothers ate separately from the other relatives, and Ying Yuecheng brought Yan Jingting to join them.

• Lin Er and Yan Jingting met while asking for leave and realized they were attending the same birthday banquet as Ying Yuecheng and Ying Yuechi.
• The four students told their teachers they were relatives, and Lin Er explained to Yan Jingting why she was not close to her cousins.
• Lin Er and the brothers left school together and arrived at the banquet, where Yan Jingting joined her family and Lin Er sat with her cousins.
• Ying Yuecheng led Lin Er and Ying Yuechi to the kitchen to eat separately, avoiding the relatives’ comments about Ying Yuechi.
• Ying Yuecheng found Yan Jingting and brought her to the kitchen table to eat with them.

Lin Er shared a feast and exchanged food with her young pen pal through the magic book, while she and her classmates stopped at an internet cafe to harvest crops. At school, Lin Er heard that her overly sweet cake had helped Wang Juan sleep and learned more about the varied romantic lives of her classmates.

• Lin Er realized her family had remembered her fondness for softshell turtle and packed a portion to share with her pen pal.
• Ying Yuechi, Ying Yuecheng, Yan Jingting, and Lin Er stopped at an internet cafe to steal crops before rushing back to class.
• Lin Er exchanged softshell turtle and strawberry cream cake with her young pen pal through the magic book, then sent him a gift bag of snacks and milk.
• Wang Juan told Lin Er that the cake had helped her fall asleep, and Lin Er kept quiet about having cast Stupefy on her.
• Xu Chao asked Lin Er to find out where the cake came from, then blushed and destroyed her reply when she exposed him.
• Yan Jingting asked Lin Er about the notes from her desk mates, and Lin Er warned her not to spread gossip that could reach their homeroom teacher.

Lin Er received an improvement certificate and a beauty potion from her young pen pal, which inspired her to make money through magical fishing. At school, her classmates noticed her lighter complexion, while her magical belongings continued to attract attention.

• Lin Er ranked eighty-eighth in the school midterms and received an improvement certificate.
• Her young pen pal ventured to Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, so Lin Er took back the wizard set she had lent him.
• Lin Er drank the beauty potion her young pen pal had sent and found that it permanently lightened her skin.
• Lin Er grew enthusiastic about making money through nighttime fishing, and Prince's mother began sending her Potions in exchange for her catch.
• Yan Jingting noticed Lin Er's lighter complexion, and Lin Er attributed her thick hair and good skin to her family.
• Lin Er recalled that her classmates had asked about her wand after watching Kiki's Delivery Service, and she had claimed a relative gave it to her.

Lin Er balanced school life, chores, and studying while agreeing to compete in the winter sports meet. The chapter ended with her classmates teasing her for repeatedly interpreting literature as expressing longing for home.

• Lin Er collected unwanted milk, cooked simple meals, and downloaded anime for her young pen pal.
• Shi Meng took over bringing Lin Er hot water, while Lin Er carried cold water to their dormitory.
• Lin Er agreed to run the girls' 1,000 meters but refused the shot put, and she joined Shi Meng and Yan Jingting to exercise after evening study.
• Lin Er received another Chinese test score in the seventies, and Yan Jingting and Shi Meng teased her for answering that poems expressed longing for home.

After the class finished writing essays, Lin Er and her friends escaped the homeroom teacher’s punishment laps, then joined the winter sports meet. Lin Er wrote several anonymous cheering messages, and the broadcast grew increasingly provocative as the first-year classes joined in.

• The homeroom teacher made students who had not finished their essays run laps, and Lin Er and her three friends slipped away when he was on the far side of the track.
• Wang Juan told the others how the homeroom teacher chased and kicked the students, including throwing a shoe at Wu You.
• The first-year classes marched in the sports meet opening ceremony, and the athletes searched for their events afterward.
• When the first-year announcer rallied students to send cheering messages, Lin Er was assigned three despite having two events.
• Lin Er and her friends wrote anonymous messages, and the broadcast began airing cheers for Year One, Class One alongside messages from the older students.
• The cheering messages grew so brazen that students from a neighboring class wondered if they were picking a fight, while the four friends kept their authorship secret.