Chapter 7: The Wind Rises from the Tips of the Reeds

Wang Donglai opened his eyes the moment the wake-up bell rang.

Although he still felt sleepy, Wang Donglai sat up, took out the "Refreshing Pill" he had obtained last night, and without hesitation, opened it and swallowed one.

It melted the moment it touched his tongue, and an indescribable sour and bitter sensation rushed straight to his brain.

It felt more like a hole had been opened in the top of his head, with cold wind blowing straight inside.

In an instant, Wang Donglai’s sleepiness vanished completely.

Quietly putting on his clothes and tidying up, Wang Donglai left the dormitory.

When Wang Donglai arrived at the classroom, he was not the first one there; a girl was already sitting at her desk, reciting English vocabulary.

Seeing Wang Donglai appear, a hint of surprise flashed across Guo Xing’s expression, as if she were surprised by his presence.

However, this trace of surprise vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she returned to her calm state, continuing to recite her words.

Wang Donglai had no intention of greeting her. Instead, he sat at his own desk, pulled a set of test papers from the mountain-like pile of books, and began to work.

This was because Wang Donglai had suddenly thought of something.

Since he had been reborn, he had no idea how much of his past life’s memories he had forgotten.

It would be perfect to do a set of papers to see how much he could still remember and to get an estimate of his scores.

By the way, he could also test what scores the subject levels on his system panel corresponded to.

Thinking of it, he did it; Wang Donglai did not procrastinate.

He pulled out a Chinese test paper and started working on it.

Because of the academic situation in Class 14, the subject teachers usually only lectured from the podium.

As long as the students below were seated, there were no empty seats, and no one was chatting or disrupting the order of the class, the teachers rarely interfered.

This provided convenience for Wang Donglai’s actions.

There were six sets of papers in total, and Wang Donglai worked on them from morning reading until before the evening self-study session.

Throughout the day, other than going out to eat and use the restroom, Wang Donglai never stood up.

Huang Cheng, who sat next to Wang Donglai, had noticed this all day.

After Wang Donglai finished the papers, he spoke up immediately: "What are you doing? What kind of papers are those?"

"Oh, just the mock exam papers that came with the reference books I bought."

Wang Donglai had no intention of hiding it and told Huang Cheng.

"Then why are you doing these? I watched you all day; it seems like you did one for every subject, right?" Huang Cheng remembered it very clearly, but it was precisely because of that that he felt it was somewhat abnormal.

"Yeah!"

At this point, Wang Donglai didn't have the heart to chat with Huang Cheng.

He took out the answer keys for these test papers and began to grade them.

With the answers for comparison, the grading speed was fast.

After tallying the scores for all subjects, although Wang Donglai had expected it, he was still shocked.

The scores were as follows: Chinese 87, Math 16, English 46, Politics 51, History 47, Geography 34.

A total score of 281—not even three hundred.

This score was nearly a hundred points lower than his past life.

Just as Wang Donglai was tallying the scores, Huang Cheng leaned over as if unintentionally, glanced at the results, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"No way, is this set of papers that hard?"

"Your score is almost catching up to mine; that shouldn't be!"

"Could it be that your previous exam scores were all cheated, and this is your real level?"

For some reason, upon hearing these two sentences from Huang Cheng, the irritation in Wang Donglai’s heart dissipated instantly, replaced by a sense of amusement.

He hadn't expected his deskmate to have this side to him—it had quite the flair of a "green tea bitch" from his later life.

Too bad he was just a pimply fat guy.

"Yeah, yeah, you caught me!"

Wang Donglai couldn't be bothered to waste words with Huang Cheng. He gave a perfunctory reply and began to study his results.

He still had some foundation in Chinese, so he could barely reach the passing line; he didn't need to worry too much for now.

The same went for English; as long as he cleared the vocabulary hurdle and reviewed the grammar, passing shouldn't be difficult.

Politics, History, and Geography were the same—they all required a large amount of memorization.

Only Math was different; remembering formulas wasn't very useful—one had to understand them and be able to apply them freely.

Thanks to his work experience in his later life, it only took a few minutes for Wang Donglai to identify the points he needed to focus on.

There was a mock test this weekend, which was also the first weekly exam. If Wang Donglai scored too low this time, it wouldn't be conducive to a rapid rise in scores later.

Therefore, no matter what, he had to restore his grades to his previous level this time.

In other words, within a few days, Wang Donglai needed to improve his score by sixty or seventy points.

On average, about ten points a day.

His gaze swept over the six subjects as he pondered where to place his hopes.

After only a moment, Wang Donglai made his decision.

Comprehensive Arts!

Combined with the reading system he possessed, he could quickly improve his scores in these three subjects through intensive reading in a short period.

...

Girls' Dormitory 507.

"Hey, Guo Xing, why are you back so early today?"

Chen Mengni asked with curious confusion as she saw Guo Xing push the door open and walk in.

After saying that, she took out her phone to check the time. "It’s not even eleven o'clock yet!"

Hearing this, Guo Xing rolled her eyes slightly and said irritably, "My 'aunt' is visiting; I need to get some good rest tonight."

Before Chen Mengni could reply, Guo Xing’s eyes darted around, and she spoke again: "By the way, can I ask you something?"

The other four girls in Dorm 507 quietly stopped what they were doing and pricked up their ears.

Chen Mengni didn't mind and waved her hand, saying, "Go ahead."

"Are you and Wang Donglai together?" As soon as Guo Xing said this, the other four girls became excited.

"Why do you ask that?"

Chen Mengni didn't rush to answer yes or no, but asked back instead.

"It's simple. Wang Donglai’s behavior these past two days is completely different from before. Last night he was the last one to leave, and this morning he was the first boy to arrive."

"If you weren't dating and had agreed to go to college together, why would he be working so hard at his books?"

"Tell us, where are you two planning to go to college?"

By the time Guo Xing finished, she was looking at Chen Mengni with a glimmer of curiosity and excitement.

"Yeah, Wang Donglai has been glued to his chair these past two days, not moving at all, just reading books."

"The power of love is truly great!"

"Tell us, how did you two make the agreement, and when did you officially become a couple?"

The four girls nearby swarmed around Chen Mengni, chattering away with questions.

Chen Mengni felt a headache coming on and said repeatedly, "That's not it!"

"Wang Donglai and I are perfectly innocent; there is nothing between us. We are just classmates. We aren't dating, and we haven't made any agreements about schools!"

"Him studying hard these past two days has nothing to do with me. Don't spread rumors!"

As soon as these words were out, they immediately drew rebuttals from the four girls.

"Oh, come on, who in our class doesn't know Wang Donglai has a thing for you!"

"Exactly, we thought he wouldn't confess to you, but we didn't expect him to do it during this final stretch."

"We're all in the same dorm; you can tell us, we won't tell anyone else."

"Come on, tell us, Mengni!"

Chen Mengni felt immense regret; she shouldn't have teased Guo Xing.

She had wanted to poke fun at Guo Xing, but she hadn't expected to set herself on fire.

"Sisters, stop spreading rumors. We're all in the same dorm, we even eat together—when would I have time to date? You can all see it, so please stop talking about this."

"With the time we have left, we should prioritize our studies. There are only 97 days until the college entrance exam, and we have exams this week."

As Chen Mengni said this, the four girls surrounding her dispersed one by one.

It wasn't because Chen Mengni mentioned the countdown to the college entrance exam, but because they could all tell that Wang Donglai’s changes really had nothing to do with Chen Mengni.

Since there was no gossip to hear and no drama to watch, they went back to their own business.

Guo Xing was also a bit surprised, but it passed in an instant.

However, a sense of competitiveness grew in Guo Xing’s heart, and she silently decided to get up early tomorrow morning to study as well.

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(End of chapter)