69novels Chapter 67 Integration
Chapter 67 Integration
Chapter 67 Integration
It was already evening when Yu Chen got home.
The living room lights were off, with only sparse light filtering through the Jinhua Garden buildings outside the window, while the teaching buildings of Ruijun Middle School were hidden in the night in the distance.
Since he didn't have a computer at home, he made a special trip to an internet cafe in the afternoon to confirm the basic structure of this world.
2015 years.
Apart from the changes in personal and place names, the overall environment has remained almost unchanged.
He threw his schoolbag in the entryway and walked to the sofa in the dark, where he sat down.
This habit of silence when alone is something I developed in the last world.
In that world full of solar panels and reports, only when you empty your mind can you truly catch your breath.
Yu Chen got up, picked up the potted green ivy with two wilted leaves from the coffee table, and went to the kitchen to get some water.
I finished watering the pothos plant, and it was exactly midnight.
【Ding--】
The light curtain automatically opened in the darkness, casting a ghostly blue light on his profile, making him appear somewhat eerie.
The system shop has been refreshed.
[Random Item Today:]
1. Improved nighttime focus (passive)
You study your books very diligently between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Price: 50000 Achievement Points
2. 7 packets of specialty coffee
[Energy boost efficiency +15%]
Price: 3000 Achievement Points
【3. Skill - Chalk Dodge (Basic Passive)】
[Attribute: When a teacher throws chalk at a sleeping student in the back row, your chance of being accidentally hit is reduced by 12%. This applies only to chalk.]
Price: 500 Achievement Points
4. Item - A chair that will never get hot (permanently bound)
[Attribute: No matter how long you sit in the seat, the seat surface temperature will always be 2°C lower than the room temperature.]
Price: 150 Achievement Points
【5. College Entrance Examination Mathematics Mock Test】
Price: 200 Achievement Points
Yu Chen scanned it from top to bottom.
There was no learning gift package, no comprehensive knowledge enlightenment, and no academic genius possession.
He paused his finger on the screen for two seconds, then swiped it away.
It's all useless.
He woke up once in the middle of the night because someone's dog was barking outside the window, which was very annoying.
He stared at the ceiling, inexplicably remembering that the "Five-Year College Entrance Examination and Three-Year Simulation" book was still in his schoolbag, and he hadn't turned a single page today.
We'll talk about the academic underachievers later.
The next morning.
Yu Chen is still trying to integrate into school life.
I didn't pay much attention yesterday, but there was actually a boy sitting next to him named Li Rui.
Wearing thick black-rimmed glasses, his gaze never left his book, giving him the air of a studious genius who was oblivious to everything else.
Yu Chen only noticed it when he glanced over casually; the guy had a cell phone inside his book.
It's that kind of "high-tech" thing where you hollow out the middle of a book so you can fit your phone inside.
What a talent!
The second period is followed by a long break.
Cai Yingying seemed very interested in her new classmate, and kept trying to strike up a conversation with Yu Chen whenever she had a spare moment.
Turning around, Cai Yingying came to borrow correction tape again.
Seemingly sensing that Yu Chen was more interested in Xu Zhi, she lowered her voice and shared some information with him: "Hey, did you know that Xu Zhi's goal is to be in the top twenty of the grade?"
Yu Chen was looking at math problems, her pen still twirling: "Hmm."
"She's 47th in her grade now," Cai Yingying said with pride. "She was only 93rd at the end of last semester, but this semester she's skyrocketed. Others tutor her in chemistry, and she studies English on her own, getting up at 4:30 in the morning to memorize vocabulary."
"4:30?"
Yu Chen looked up.
At 4:30, I felt like I was still dreaming.
"Yeah, she said staying up too late at night is inefficient, so it's better to get up early." Cai Yingying clicked her tongue twice. "He's not called a dark horse for nothing."
Yu Chen didn't respond.
Xu Zhi, who sits in front of me, is working on her homework. The sleeves of her red and white school uniform are rolled up, revealing her slender yet strong wrists.
She wrote with great focus, her back straight, her ponytail hanging to one side, occasionally brushing away stray hairs with her left hand.
The school bell rang, and Cai Yingying turned back.
Yu Chen shifted his gaze from Xu Zhi's back to the question.
The question was very long; he read it twice, and only managed to understand it on the third read.
Just as Yu Chen finished drawing the auxiliary lines for that problem, the school bell rang.
The classroom instantly erupted in chaos, with the screeching of desks and chairs scraping against the floor.
"Hey, Ms. Zhi, wanna come? That snail rice noodle place by the back gate has extra spicy and extra stinky flavors, wanna take the challenge?"
Cai Yingying was straddling an empty chair next to her, twirling her car keys in her hand, and looking at Xu Zhi with a mischievous grin.
Xu Zhi was screwing the pen caps back onto the pens one by one when she heard this. She looked up, her ponytail swinging deftly with the movement, and a smile curved her lips: "What kind of skill is adding stench? Come on, let's scare the boss to tears."
As the two were preparing to "go into battle," Xu Zhi's gaze inadvertently swept over the table behind her.
Yu Chen was tidying up his draft paper with his head down, his movements unhurried and unhurried, as if the surrounding noise had nothing to do with him.
Xu Zhi paused in her steps.
Remembering that this boy had lent her a pen yesterday and still hadn't integrated into the class, she decided to help him.
"Yu Chen, are you going home for lunch? I'll treat you to snail rice noodles, the one at the back gate, the extra spicy and extra stinky, as a thank you for lending me the pen yesterday."
Xu Zhi has a clear voice and smiling eyes, and she looks very energetic, without any of the dullness of someone buried in studying.
Cai Yingying noticed Xu Zhi giving her a wink, then quickly realized what she meant and chimed in, "Yeah, Yu Chen, how about having lunch with us two beauties?"
Yu Chen was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "Sure, I'll try the amazing snail rice noodles you guys are talking about."
Xu Zhi was surprised that this somewhat aloof boy was so easy to talk to. She nodded and pulled Cai Yingying outside.
The three walked out of the classroom side by side. The midday sun made the asphalt road steam, and the camphor tree leaves rustled in the wind.
Cai Yingying walked in the middle, chattering away. She talked about how the snail rice noodle shop owner's pickled bamboo shoots were homemade, and how someone was caught climbing over the wall at Qingyi Middle School last week. Her mouth never stopped.
Xu Zhi occasionally chimed in with a sarcastic remark, sharp and accurate, making Cai Yingying laugh so hard she bent over. Yu Chen, standing beside them, listened to their banter, a smile unconsciously playing on his lips.
The surrounding noise didn't bother me at all; instead, it exuded a vibrant youthful energy.
When we arrived at the snail rice noodle shop, the small shop was packed with students wearing the same school uniform.
The tangy and spicy heat, along with the aroma of cooking, hits you in the face.
Xu Zhi patted the counter with practiced ease: "Boss, three bowls, top-of-the-line! Extra spicy and extra pungent, extra tofu skin and peanuts, less noodles and more soup!"
The boss responded.
Xu Zhi's nose turned slightly red from the steam, and she looked at Yu Chenchong, raising an eyebrow at him: "Don't be afraid, can you handle spicy food? If you can't, tell me now and we can make it mild. Don't make yourself cry from the spiciness and embarrass yourself."
"Don't worry, I've never eaten noodles that were so spicy they made me cry," Yu Chen retorted.
Cai Yingying chimed in from the side, "Oh, is this a competition? Whoever drinks water first loses!"
Three bowls of snail rice noodles were served, with red oil floating on the surface and pickled bamboo shoots and tofu skin piled up like a small mountain, the spiciness hitting your nose directly.
Cai Yingying was the first to pick up her chopsticks and slurp up a big mouthful, hissing and gasping for breath from the spiciness, but still forcing herself to continue: "Awesome! This is what snail rice noodles should be like!"
Xu Zhi picked up a noodle, blew on it, and put it in her mouth. Her eyebrows curved into crescent moons, and after finishing, she didn't forget to tease Cai Yingying:
'
Look at you, so spineless! You're so spicy and you're still being stubborn.
He picked up a bottle of mineral water, took a sip, and then pushed it to Yu Chen, saying, "Keep this handy, or you might snatch it from me later."
Yu Chen smiled, picked up his chopsticks and took a bite. The spiciness shot from the tip of his tongue to his throat, but it was incredibly satisfying.
He didn't drink water, but forced himself to eat with the two of them, which made Xu Zhi praise him: "Not bad, you have some skills, much better than that coward Cai Yingying."
Cai Yingying retorted, "You two are ganging up on me, aren't you? I'm not eating anymore, I'll just watch you eat!" As she spoke, her hand honestly picked up another piece of dried bean curd with her chopsticks.
After finishing their noodles, the three of them walked back under the June sun.
Cai Yingying walked in the middle, clutching her stomach with her left hand and fanning herself with her right: "Oh no, I ate too much. I feel like that bowl of tofu skin is stuck in my throat. Even my burps taste like sour bamboo shoots."
"Then don't hit me." Xu Zhi glanced at her. "If you hit me, I'll dump you on the side of the road."
"How cruel you are!" Cai Yingying wailed, turning to Yu Chen for judgment, "Yu Chen, tell me, isn't she going too far?"
Yu Chen thought about it seriously for two seconds: "I think what she said makes sense."
Cai Yingying's eyes widened: "—You're finished, you've been assimilated by her."
Xu Zhi smiled so hard her eyes crinkled, and her ponytail swayed over her shoulder.
When they reached the school gate, Cai Yingying said she was going to the convenience store to buy iced water and asked if they wanted some.
"No," Xu Zhi waved her hand, "I just drank it."
"And you?" Cai Yingying asked Yu Chen.
Yu Chen shook his head.
Cai Yingying looked at the two of them suspiciously, her eyes darting around. "Fine, I'll go by myself. You two go back to the classroom first, and don't secretly study while I'm gone."
Xu Zhi raised her foot as if to kick her, but Cai Yingying had already run away.
There were only two people left at the school gate.
The shadow of the camphor tree spread across the ground, and the chirping of cicadas fell from above, making one's head ache.
Xu Zhi stood at the edge of the tree shade, shuffling back and forth along the line of the shadow with one foot.
After lunch, Xu Zhi could clearly feel that Yu Chen's aloofness had faded considerably.
"Is your math really that bad? I've noticed you're basically on airplanes during math class."
Xu Zhi put her hands behind her back and tilted her head to ask him.
Yu Chen paused for a moment.
"----good."
"What level is 'okay'?"
Yu Chen thought about the wording he used when approving his employees' year-end summaries in his previous life.
"Exactly, there's still a lot of room for improvement."
Xu Zhi looked at him with a half-smile.
"That's rotten."
Yu Chen did not refute.
Xu Zhi pulled back the foot that was stepping on the shadow and patted off the non-existent dust on her leg.
"It's okay." Xu Zhi's tone was as if she were announcing what she would be having for lunch. "It's fine if it's bad. If you need me to tutor you, I can teach you."
Yu Chen looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Although they had eaten together, he didn't think Xu Zhi would be such a proactive person.
Xu Zhi cleared her throat and continued, "But there are conditions."
"What are the conditions?"
Xu Zhi did not answer immediately.
She took one step forward, then another, stepping into the sunlight, and turned to look at him.
The sunlight made half of her face look white, and she squinted, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"If you want to teach me physics, you have to get me into the top 30 of the grade."
Yu Chen was stunned for a moment.
Nobody knows that I'm good at physics.
Are you sure you want me to teach you?
"You left school early yesterday," Xu Zhi interrupted him, her tone flat. "Teacher Li said that electromagnetic induction problem was of competition difficulty, and told everyone to go back and look up information before we talked about it today. When I left, there were five sheets of scratch paper on your desk; you had finished all five problems."
Yu Chen didn't say anything.
Xu Zhi tilted her head, and her ponytail slid to one side.
Yu Chen looked at her face, which was so beautiful and captivating under the sunlight.
"So you————"
"So you have to pull me forward." Xu Zhi said matter-of-factly, "If you pull me into the top twenty, you'll have exceeded your target; if you pull me into the top ten, I'll give you a banner."
"—What does it say on the banner?"
Xu Zhi thought about it carefully.
"Xu Zhi's exclusive partner, the father of modern physics."
Yu Chen couldn't hold back.
Xu Zhi laughed, flicked her ponytail, and turned to walk towards the teaching building.
"I'm off. I have Lao Zhou's class this afternoon. If I'm late, I'll have to stand as punishment."
Yu Chen stood there, watching her figure disappear through the side door.
The cicadas are still chirping.
He suddenly felt that the June sun wasn't so strong anymore.