【015】 Provincial No. 1 in Science
With the Gaokao over, Gu Juan had one less major concern. He called Gu Yinyin to check on her. She felt she had done well and planned to find a job to help pay for her tuition. Both knew that even if Gu Yinyin managed to get into a good university, Gu Xiangfu and Liu Guofang would be unlikely to spend much money on her.
Gu Juan has the financial ability to help Gu Yinyin, but as the saying goes, "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish." It is a good thing that Gu Yinyin is willing to grow up as soon as possible. Moreover, Gu Yinyin is very clear about Gu Juan's family conditions. It would be difficult to explain if he gave her tens of thousands of dollars at once. Therefore, Gu Juan only told Gu Yinyin to be careful and call him if there is anything, and then he entered the space for seclusion.
The rich spiritual energy slowly entered Gu Juan's body from the top of his head, first circulating in the form of a small circle, then in the form of a large circle, and finally gathered in his dantian, and was refined into true energy, which truly belonged to him and was for his use.
Three days later, Gu Juan awoke from his trance. His cultivation hadn't advanced, but his realm had become more stable. Any movement within a one-mile radius escaped his spiritual awareness. His sharp, perceptive eyes discerned the dense, fine sand at the riverbed. The fragrance of flowers in his nose unerringly guided his gaze to the blossoming silver osmanthus tree. His ears easily caught the rustling of distant bamboo leaves in the wind. The world around him seemed magnified, appearing before him with unparalleled clarity.
Gu Juan leaped up, bounded out of the courtyard, and casually slapped his palm. A rock larger than a basketball on the riverbank instantly shattered into dust, sending a cloud of dust silently falling into the stream. He muttered to himself with satisfaction, "This is going very smoothly. As long as I raise my state of mind and retreat a few more times, I'll be able to break through."
He caught a large fish in the river, picked two purple eggplants and a handful of leeks from the vegetable garden, and cooked three dishes. His cooking skills were mediocre, and he could only cook the dishes. Fortunately, the ingredients in the space were of high quality, which made up for his poor cooking skills to a certain extent, and the dishes were not too bad.
After eating and drinking, he turned on the TV to make the room more lively and picked up his phone to check his emails.
Xi Lang has already sent the video. There is only one attachment in the email, and no other words.
He replied casually, "I'll treat him to a meal after the scores come out." He wanted to seize the time to cultivate, and it would be best if he could improve his cultivation to the middle stage of Kaiguang before school started.
After receiving Xi Lang's reply, Gu Juan said "OK" and entered the space again to study the art of refining talismans.
Gu Juan had given serious thought to his future path. Since cultivators truly existed, he was undoubtedly not the only one in the vast universe. He might encounter other cultivators in the future. Where there were people, there were conflicts. Mastering more skills meant more ways to survive. Since his master had left him so many valuable things, it would be a shame if he didn't put them to good use.
Both refining weapons and refining elixirs require alchemy fire, but his current cultivation level is too low to meet this requirement. However, refining talismans does not require a high level of cultivation. Generally speaking, anyone who can gather spiritual energy can learn the art. Talismans are portable, instantaneous, and can store spiritual energy. Simply put, refining talismans involves using talismans with different functions to store spiritual energy in a medium, allowing it to be used in a timely manner. For example, a flying talisman can be created by engraving two talismans, one for wind-binding and one for wind-controlling, and then compressing and infusing spiritual energy into the medium. Until the spiritual energy within the talisman is depleted, the user can soar into the wind. Of course, this "medium" isn't ordinary talisman paper, as ordinary talisman paper simply can't withstand the spiritual energy. It's usually made of refined gold, mithril, precious jade, spiritual stone, or exotic wood.
After Gu Juan had mastered the art of talisman refining, he took the mithril and precious jade from the treasure room and devoted himself to practicing it. The heat and noise outside the space had nothing to do with him.
Gu Yinyin had already started working. The day after the college entrance examination, Gu Xiangfu urged her to go out and find a job. There were still about three months before the university started, and she couldn't just sit at home idle all the time.
Gu Yinyin didn't need his urging. After a day of rest at home to relax her tense nerves, she went out to look for a job. After eating Gu Juan's fruits for a few months, her appearance changed day by day. She lost weight two months ago. She was 168cm tall and 55kg in weight. Her hair was black and smooth, her skin was much whiter, and her acne had disappeared long ago. Her appearance was quite good. The owner of a coffee shop was very satisfied with her appearance. After a day of trial, he hired her as a waitress in the coffee shop and generously offered her a monthly salary of 2,600 yuan. For a temporary worker, it was not low. When Liu Guofang asked about it when they got home, Gu Yinyin said that the salary was only 1,200. Liu Guofang didn't doubt it. As a temporary worker, the salary couldn't be that high.
The coffee shop is air-conditioned and the environment is comfortable, so Gu Yinyin is happy with her work.
Gu Haojie lived a more comfortable life than she did. He played games until after 2 a.m. every day and slept until after 11 a.m., then ate lunch and continued playing games. If a classmate invited him out for dinner, Gu Xiangfu and Liu Guofang would give him money without stacking it up. Five hundred yuan was never too little, and one thousand yuan was never too much. Grandma Gu would occasionally give him a red bill or two.
Gu Yinyin knew it, but she would never feel envious like before.
Time is the most ruthless. No matter whether humans are happy, sad, or confused, it is already late June and the scores from all over the country have come out one after another.
Gu Xiangfu turned on the TV and when he heard the news that the college entrance examination scores of his province were out, he almost burned his hand with the cigarette. He urged Liu Guofang loudly, "Guofang, the scores are out, quickly wake up Haojie and let him check." The ceiling fan above his head was whirring, but his forehead was still covered with sweat.
Gu Yinyin was folding the quilt in the room. When she heard his shout, she paused and continued to tidy up the room.
Liu Guofang opened her son's door and saw him fast asleep on the bed. She picked up the air conditioner and turned up the temperature by two degrees. She then tiptoed out and said, "Haojie is sleeping soundly. Let him get some more sleep. Where's his admission ticket? Let me check."
"It's in the bedside table, right?" Gu Xiangfu said as he stood up and walked over.
The couple tiptoed into their son's room. One of them looked in the bedside table while the other rummaged through the desk drawer. After searching for a long time without finding anything, they had to wake up Gu Haojie.
"Can I check my scores now?" Gu Haojie sat up from the bed with a start, "Dad, go turn on the computer." He turned over and got out of bed, taking out his admission ticket from the file bag on the bookshelf.
The only computer in the house was in Gu Haojie's room. After Gu Xiangfu turned on the computer, he gave his seat to Gu Haojie and Liu Guofang surrounded him on either side.
Gu Haojie logged onto the Admissions Examination Center website. Thinking that Gu Juan's true identity would soon be exposed, he smiled maliciously and said to Gu Xiangfu and Liu Guofang, "I'll check Gu Juan's scores later. I want to see how high he can get."
Liu Guofang also laughed and said, "I should be able to get into a second-tier university."
"What do you care about? Check it out." Gu Xiangfu's hands were shaking as he simply threw the cigarette into the trash can. Noticing that the trash can was mostly filled with toilet paper, he couldn't help but shake his head.
Gu Yinyin came out of the room with her bag, hesitated for a moment, and then walked over.
Gu Haojie entered his personal information quickly. His heart suddenly started pounding and his cheeks felt inexplicably hot. He paused and clicked "OK".
The white webpage jumped, and a few lines of large characters appeared:
Name: Gu Haojie
Admission ticket number: 123456789
Candidate number: 121110987654321
Chinese: 111
Mathematics: 140
English: 119
Comprehensive Science: 275
Total score: 645
Liu Guofang unconsciously read out: "Total score... 645?"
Gu Yinyin was stunned.
"Impossible!" Gu Haojie's face turned pale.
Liu Guofang hurriedly held his shoulder and said with a firm tone, "Son, check again, there must be someone with the same name as you."
Gu Haojie threw his mouse down and stood up with a jerk. The chair legs scraped against the floor with a sharp, piercing sound. With red eyes, he growled at Liu Guofang, "Same name? If the names are the same, then can the admission ticket number and the candidate number also be exactly the same?"
Liu Guofang was a little at a loss, "Son..."
645 points was not a high score. Gu Xiangfu was very disappointed, but worried that his son would get hurt, he quickly and gently comforted him, "Haojie, don't think too much. 645 points is not a small number, you will have no problem getting into a top university!"
Liu Guofang agreed repeatedly, "Yes, your father is right!"
Gu Haojie wiped his face, sat back down with force, and said in a rough voice: "This test paper is still quite difficult. Gu Juan must have done worse than me. Let me check..."
Before he finished speaking, the sweet voice of a female announcer came from the TV, "Our province's top scorer in the college entrance examination has just been announced. Gu Juan, a student from the science class of Congzhou No. 2 Middle School, won the provincial science championship with a high score of 743..."
Gu Haojie's face turned pale and he roared, "Impossible, impossible! He must have cheated, for sure!"
Gu Yinyin quietly left the room and quickly ran downstairs. Apparently, there was no place for her in the house, so she could use the coffee shop's computer to check her scores.
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