Chapter 2: The Eighteen-Year-Old High School Boy

In the blink of an eye, the last self-study period of the afternoon was more than halfway over.

On the podium, Wang Qingtao glanced at the time and, with ten minutes left before class ended, called for the papers to be collected.

“Don’t keep yourselves from eating. Hand in your papers.”

The moment he said this, the previously quiet classroom erupted in cheers.

Xu Ming's thoughts were interrupted by the noise. He paused flipping through his book and looked up toward the podium.

Wang Qingtao looked quite young. Though not very tall, he had none of the usual problems of poor eyesight or presbyopia. As the most popular math teacher in the school, he left a deep impression.

Lost in these thoughts, Xu Ming suddenly heard someone calling him.

“Turn in your paper, Xu Ming.”

He glanced sideways to see a face framed by glasses.

He quickly recognized it as Li Wenhui, his class monitor, who was nicknamed “Little Class” for his mature looks and thick beard.

Thinking about the exam, he had only answered a few multiple-choice questions, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

He shyly pulled his paper out from under his book and asked, “I don’t have to hand in a blank paper, right?”

“That’s not allowed,” Li Wenhui said firmly, taking the paper away.

Nearby, Qian Hong stared in disbelief. He had worked hard to fill his exam paper, and now Xu Ming dared to hand in a blank sheet?

After a brief pause of about two seconds, Qian Hong gave a thumbs-up.

Xu Ming shot him a sarcastic eye-roll.

He didn’t really mind. After all, it wasn’t like he gained nothing.

Looking at the math subject panel, which now showed 35 experience points, he felt a surge of motivation.

“Stop dawdling. If you don’t hurry, you’ll have to fight the underclassmen for food.”

He stood up and reminded Qian Hong, waving the stainless steel lunchbox he had just taken from his desk.

According to school tradition, the senior year classrooms and dormitories were moved to the first floor to avoid stairs, and meals were staggered ten minutes earlier.

But since senior students had limited lunch time, if they were late, they’d have to compete with younger students for food, often going hungry through several evening self-study sessions. So from the moment they left the classroom, it was a hundred-meter dash for both boys and girls.

It was a way to compensate for the lack of morning exercise in senior year.

Xu Ming couldn’t recall the last time he had run, but at this moment, he felt youth was truly precious.

“Youth is priceless!”

Feeling the vitality of life returning through his body, the campus scenery rapidly receded behind him.

Familiar yet strange.

Among everything in sight, the most eye-catching were the banners about the college entrance exam plastered on the teaching building’s walls.

He glanced briefly and then looked away, but paused as he passed the grooming mirror in the corridor of the comprehensive building.

The reflection showed a bright, handsome high school boy, with thick hair uncut for nearly two months, which brought him a deep sense of comfort.

No need for glasses.

No uneven shoulders.

Standing about 1.7 meters tall, he would grow a few more centimeters in college.

Xu Ming wasn’t vain, but under these circumstances, he couldn’t help but smirk.

“A bit thin,” he muttered to himself.

Just as he was about to step away, his peripheral vision caught the digital perpetual calendar hanging in the upper right corner of the mirror.

February 24, 2006, Friday.

102 days left until the college entrance exam.

Dongping No.1 High School’s focus was entirely on the exam. Neither teachers nor students participated in the annual five major academic competitions. To steadily increase the undergraduate admission rate, the school’s teaching philosophy evolved from the initial hundred-day sprint to a 300-day countdown to the exam, even promoting this approach to other top high schools in the city.

Recalling the origin of the information screen, Xu Ming felt a stir in his heart.

“Just over three months left?”

He whispered softly, not lingering on the thought, treating it as a mere passing detail.

Qian Hong went to the cafeteria with Xu Ming and didn’t find it strange to see him admiring himself. After all, every boy in the class had a small mirror.

But when Xu Ming suddenly turned and started walking away, Qian Hong’s face filled with confusion.

He hurried after him and asked, “Aren’t you waiting for Zhang Yingxin?”

“What for?” Xu Ming kept walking, casually replying.

Qian Hong’s expression grew gossipy. “Wait, did you two break up?”

“We were never together,” Xu Ming stopped and turned sharply, clarifying with unwavering tone.

Before the arts and sciences were separated in the first year, Zhang Yingxin was his desk mate. She was pretty and mature, well-liked by the boys. Perhaps because of proximity, she often showed affection toward him, even suggesting she wanted to consider him her little brother.

This spread through the class, causing many boys to feel jealous behind their backs.

However, when Xu Ming finally expressed his feelings and tried to define their relationship, Zhang Yingxin refused, citing the school’s policy against dating.

She said they should wait until graduation.

He chose to support her decision.

Since then, as ordinary classmates, he often helped her get food and wash dishes, showing his devotion.

Even after the arts and sciences split, this didn’t change.

This made his monthly living allowance of 150 yuan stretch tight.

His grades slipped to mid-class level after being placed in the regular science class.

After the college entrance exam, to attend the same university as Zhang Yingxin, he defied his parents’ wishes and gave up a second-tier university to choose the private third-tier school she had applied to.

But the result was that just after the freshman military training, Zhang Yingxin changed her QQ status to:

“Glad to have met you. Time is long, and I wish to walk through it with you.”

Soon after, she and a city-based male classmate both took leaves of absence.

They married because of pregnancy.

Since then, he sealed his heart with cement, focusing all his energy on studies. He earned the school scholarship, had his expensive tuition waived, and successfully entered graduate school at Yanjing University, majoring in Materials Science.

Thinking about those foolish things from his past life, Xu Ming felt like slapping himself.

Shaking his head to calm down, he quickened his pace toward the cafeteria.

…

Dongping No.1 High School’s cafeteria had two floors, and students needed to bring their own utensils.

Unfortunately, there were no tables or chairs inside, so after getting their meals, students had to find a spot to squat and eat.

Some seniors even ate while walking to save time.

Thanks to Wang Qingtao collecting papers promptly, when Xu Ming and Qian Hong arrived at the cafeteria, there weren’t many people lining up.

They quickly joined the queue, spending 30 cents on steamed buns and 1 yuan on vegetables to share.

Along with a 50-cent bowl of porridge.

Before the arts and sciences split, Qian Hong had been Xu Ming’s deskmate and had seen everything Xu Ming did for Zhang Yingxin.

Naturally, he was surprised when Xu Ming took the initiative to call him to eat today.

As they found a place to squat after getting their food, Qian Hong immediately spoke out of concern for his good friend.

“What’s going on?”

“You handed in a blank paper for the math practice test, and you broke up with Zhang Yingxin? When did you get this tough?”

“What happened to trigger this?”

Xu Ming bit into a bun calmly.

“Nothing much. I just want to focus on studying for the remaining time and work hard to improve my grades.”