Chapter 1
"Do you know how much this Rolex costs? His dad brought it back from Europe, and you broke it after the kid had only worn it for a few days! What kind of attitude is that! You treat hiring a tutor like you're treating someone like a god, and you're a college student with this kind of manners..." This was followed by a string of vulgarities.
Before he even opened his eyes in the morning, Ji Zhixing couldn't help but recall the unpleasant events of yesterday. He shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off the replay of yesterday in his mind.
The effect was good; my brain stopped replaying the harsh insults. But the next moment, it randomly switched to another scene.
"Xiao Ji, you have to compensate someone for breaking your watch, right? Here's what we'll do: I won't take your commission. Isn't that fair?"
Ji Zhixing felt like his brain was a malfunctioning recording device; he tried to press the stop button, but it responded with random playback.
"The repair fee is clearly marked. I'm not trying to rip you off. If I charge you a penny less, I'll come to your university!" The sharp voice coiled around his thoughts like a venomous snake.
Ji Zhixing opened his eyes, sighed deeply. There was no point in thinking about it anymore, so he simply got up and cleaned the empty dormitory.
Summer vacation has been going on for a month now, and all of his roommates have gone home except for him, who stayed to work. He had hoped to earn enough for next semester's tuition and living expenses during the summer, but yesterday a dispute wiped out a month's worth of tutoring fees and his meager savings.
He actually suspected that he had been the victim of a staged accident.
He wasn't interested in the watch at the time, but the student mentioned it to him several times. He initially thought it was just a child showing off and dismissed it with a laugh. Later, the student insisted on taking the watch off to show him, shoving it at him without any regard for his refusal. Without thinking much of it, he reached out and touched the strap, and the watch fell to the ground.
Looking back, there were many suspicious points. However, he had no substantial evidence. The owner of the tutoring center, Mr. Yao, was a relative of that family and spoke on their behalf. In the end, he had no choice but to accept his bad luck.
Ji Zhixing took out his meal card and went to the cafeteria for lunch. Luckily, he still had thirty or forty yuan on the card. As long as the sky hadn't fallen, he still had to eat; ruining his health would be a greater loss.
Because it was summer vacation, only the second canteen was still open. Ji Zhixing arrived late, and the steamed buns he usually bought were already sold out.
After thinking for a moment, he turned and went upstairs to the second floor. The second floor consisted of small, privately-run stalls, offering a much wider variety of food and better taste than the large canteen on the first floor, though of course, the prices were also higher.
He rarely came up to the second floor, but today, he wanted to eat something juicy to lubricate his nearly malfunctioning brain circuits.
Ji Zhi walked to a stall and said, "Hello, Auntie, I'd like a bowl of braised pork rice."
"Alright, Xiao Ji, why don't you look too good?" The plump proprietress greeted her familiarly while deftly picking up a spoon to serve rice and meat.
Ji Zhixing smiled but didn't say anything.
The proprietress didn't ask any further questions, and kept piling the braised meat up until it was overflowing.
The portion of braised meat was almost three times that of a regular meal. Feeling the owner's kindness, Ji Zhixing felt a warmth in his heart: "Thank you, Auntie!"
"We're all from the same hometown, no need to be so polite!" The proprietress wiped her hands, looked at Ji Zhixing's back and sighed slightly. This kid has had a tough time.
Turning around, she saw her husband's resentful expression and gave him a light tap, saying irritably, "Do I have to worry about your reaction if I give you a couple more spoonfuls of meat?!"
The boss glanced at his wife again and again, then retreated to the inner door connecting to the kitchen, preparing to escape at any moment before daring to complain in a low voice: "Meat is so expensive these days..." This order not only won't make a profit, but will actually cost them money.
The proprietress glared at him, grabbed a rag, and slapped it across his large belly. Thinking of Xiao Ji's situation, she sighed before saying:
“This kid is my neighbor from my hometown. He lives with his grandfather. A few years ago, his grandfather was diagnosed with some kind of cancer. The doctors said there was no cure, but he refused to believe it. He sold the house to pay for his grandfather's treatment. The money ran out, and his grandfather still couldn't be saved. Now he's all alone. I don't know how he's managing.” The proprietress recalled while washing the rags. “Last time I came, I filled a whole basin like this for him. It's been more than two months since then, and this is only the second time. He's not the kind of person who likes to take advantage.”
"Hey, I didn't know... I thought you were just attracted to her good looks..." As he spoke, he felt another blow to his stomach. The shopkeeper rubbed his stomach and said with a forced smile, "You're a good kid, you can have another bowl of meat."
Ji Zhixing carried the braised pork rice back to the first floor. Outside the window of the first-floor cafeteria was a large soup pot, which served free seaweed and egg drop soup every day. Of course, some students joked that it didn't deserve to be called soup, and could only be considered seaweed and egg drop water at best.
However, Ji Zhixing has always been unmatched in the cafeteria with his superb soup-scooping skills, and this time was no exception. He skillfully picked up the large soup ladle, moved it to the side, scooped it up gently and slowly, and scooped out a full spoonful of seaweed flakes and broken egg flowers from the crystal-clear soup pot.
A free bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup and a bowl of braised pork rice costing 9 yuan were enough for him to have a good meal. Ji Zhixing ate to his heart's content.
Back in his dorm, Ji Zhixing took out the clothes he had changed out of yesterday to wash. As he washed them, he couldn't help but think about the unpleasant things that had happened yesterday. He was holding back his anger and accidentally used too much force with his hands.
With a ripping sound, damn it! My pants ripped!
This sudden hole made things even worse for the already struggling family; he only had three pairs of pants! Frowning, he pulled the pants out of the water to check them. Hmm... it's okay, just a hole in the pocket, still wearable.
A colorful little card slipped out of the torn pocket. Ji Zhixing picked it up and looked at it. Oh, it was that business card. He had forgotten to throw it away.
Yesterday, after dealing with that dispute at the tutoring center, it was quite late when I returned to school. On the way, I was stopped by a flashy-looking man who claimed to be the manager of a high-end club. He tried to persuade me to make good use of my good looks and work part-time at the club.
Ji Zhixing refused immediately, but the hem of his shirt was firmly held in someone's hand and he couldn't escape—this short-sleeved T-shirt had been in service in his house for six or seven years and was almost completely washed until it was practically decomposed; if he tried to break free, it would have to be retired on the spot.
Later, the manager saw that he was completely unmoved by money and wealth, and besides, it was a society governed by law after all, so he had no choice but to let this respectable young man go with a heavy heart. Before leaving, he still couldn't resist slipping a business card into his pocket.
Ji Zhixing threw the business card into the trash can; he would rather starve than do such a thing. Perhaps because he was ridiculed for not having parents since childhood, he was more competitive than most of his peers. Even after he learned to use his fists to shut up those who mocked him, this competitive spirit remained unchanged.
Of course, some people secretly laughed at him, saying he was so poor he only had a pitiful amount of self-respect left.
But what about tuition, accommodation, and living expenses for next semester? He only has a little over a hundred yuan left, including his meal card.
Tutoring is the highest-paying job he can find right now, but when he left the tutoring center yesterday, Boss Yao implied that he wouldn't be introducing him to any more tutoring jobs. This Boss Yao is said to have considerable influence; he practically monopolizes the tutoring industry in Guangling City. If Ji Zhixing wants to find another tutoring job, he simply can't avoid Boss Yao's tutoring center. But he can't bring himself to grovel before Boss Yao. What should he do?
[Our ancestors!]
Huh? Ji Zhixing looked around. Who was speaking?
[Ancestor! The system has finally found you!]
This time, Ji Zhixing realized that the voice was ringing in his head.
"Who are you?" he asked softly.
After some discussion, Ji Zhixing finally understood that this sudden system was a gift from his great-grandchildren—no, it was filial piety.
It is said that more than a hundred years later, some of his great-great-grandchildren became accomplished scientists. After learning from his diary that their ancestor had endured considerable hardship in his early years, the great-great-grandchildren wept bitterly. After some discussion, they decided to send a system, which is now widely used in later generations, to try to travel through time and help their impoverished ancestor.
The trans-temporal transmission system was an innovation pioneered by later generations. After the system was sent into the time tunnel, it lost contact with the future. It relied entirely on artificial intelligence to autonomously search for imprecise time coordinates. It can be said that it went through countless difficulties and a series of failed attempts before finally finding his ancestor when he was 20 years old.
Ji Zhixing's feelings were somewhat complicated. Since his grandfather's death, he had been all alone. Suddenly learning of the existence of so many relatives, even though they were far away in the future and he had never met them, he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.
What's more, these children are showing such concern for him, this old... cough, um... ancestor they've never met before...
[Ancestor...]
Ji Zhixing quickly interrupted, "Can you change how you address me?" He was still a fine young man in his early twenties, and this way of addressing him made his skin crawl.
[Well... host, your great-grandchildren are worried that directly offering you money might make you complacent and indulge in pleasure, so they've set up the system as a learning system. They've also set up many personalized learning tasks. Only the points you earn from completing these tasks can be exchanged for money, or the system can purchase various items on your behalf.]
Oh, this care is so thoughtful and meticulous. But isn't this making the children spend money? The children are willing to care for him, so he, as their ancestor, should also have a compassionate heart towards them. Ji Zhixing gradually got into the mood and silently shouldered the burden of being an elder.
[Host need not worry. Your great-grandchildren have pre-deposited a large sum of money into the system. Since it is impossible to contact the future generations, a refund is not possible even if you do not withdraw the money.]
"Oh, I see..." Ji Zhixing's heart pounded with emotion, mixed with a touch of smug joy at the unexpected windfall. It was as if the White Snake Lady had gained a top scholar son the moment she left Leifeng Pagoda. Now he didn't have to worry about anything, skipping the father stage where he was driven to the brink of a heart attack by tutoring homework, and also skipping the grandfather stage where he had to pick up and drop off his grandchildren at school. He had gone straight to the stage of being an ancestor with no obligations and only the enjoyment of benefits.
What defines a winner in life? This is him!
[In addition, as requested by your great-grandchildren, the system has ordered a gift for your visit, which will be delivered shortly.]
There was also a gift to give as a greeting. Ji Zhixing daydreamed for a while, but in the end, he remained composed, reserved, and befitting an elder, and didn't ask what it was. As long as it wasn't a shroud or a coffin, he would happily accept it. It was just a bit of a pity that he couldn't reciprocate, leaving his ancestor's kind heart with nowhere to be expressed.
After understanding the general situation, Ji Zhixing, who was so poor he was practically selling his pants, couldn't wait to start the task.
The system readily complied and unfolded a semi-transparent screen.
This system aims to cultivate the host's comprehensive learning ability, with the following branches:
1. Attention;
2. Memory;
3. Comprehension;
4. Creativity 5. Coordination
Seeing these "forces", Ji Zhixing was a little surprised: "I thought they would be classified by subject, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry or something."
To do something well, you must first have the right tools. Mastering any subject requires the application of these comprehensive learning abilities. Improving learning abilities is fundamentally crucial for significantly increasing the efficiency of mastering subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Of course, the improvement of various abilities is also partly based on the learning of knowledge from those subjects.
Ji Zhixing nodded, accepting this reasonable explanation, and then asked, "What does 'integration power' mean?" The first four are easy to understand at a glance.
"Integrative ability" refers to the brain's and body's ability to interact and coordinate; it is the outward manifestation of all integrated abilities. In the initial stage, the main task is to train physical fitness.
Oh, I see.
[In the first stage, the host can choose any one task from five branches each day, and earn 1 point for each completed task. The tasks for the first stage are as follows:]
Ji Zhixing opened the taskbar and saw corresponding tasks under each learning ability list. He glanced at it and found that some tasks were easy to understand, such as meditation, physical exercise, memorizing subject knowledge, and reading professional books. Others, such as Schulte Grid, visual tracking, and elimination training, were not yet clear to him.
Ji Zhixing felt that even if there was no reward for completing the task, he would still be willing to do it, since improving his learning ability would only benefit him. This form of assistance could be described as both "teaching him how to fish" and "giving him fish," truly considering his future development and allowing him to focus on his studies without any worries.
On the system screen, there was a line of bold red capital letters that read "1 point can be exchanged for 100 yuan". If he could complete the five branch tasks well every day, he could get 5 points, which meant he could earn 500 yuan a day! That's 15,000 yuan a month! And the tuition and accommodation fees for the next semester that had just been giving him a headache could be taken care of in just one week!
This is the first time in twenty years that Ji Zhixing has felt the power of learning so profoundly!
A note from the author:
① When the protagonist is in a weak position, they are more likely to encounter difficult characters. Therefore, in addition to studying hard, the beginning also involves slapping these difficult characters in the face. If you don't want to read melodramatic plots, you can start from Chapter 14.
② Many people have asked why there's a story about a grandson in a story without a romantic pairing. Here's an explanation: A story without a romantic pairing requires no romantic subplot. This story, from the main text to the epilogue, will not contain any descriptions of romantic relationships between men and women (nor will it include male-male or female-female relationships). The origins of the grandson involve spoilers, so I won't explain them here.
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