Chapter 2
The knowledge from junior high school was not difficult for Lin Li at all. Looking at the teacher on the podium, who was speaking animatedly and with great enthusiasm, he felt a pang of nostalgia.
In his previous life, he had very poor grades in junior high school, and it wasn't until high school that he suddenly realized his mistakes and started to work hard. His teachers and parents at the time were amazed and praised him for his "great stamina".
He performed exceptionally well in the high school entrance exam, scoring over a hundred points above the cutoff for regular high schools. His family was overjoyed and sent him to a private high school in the provincial capital.
Looking back on her three years of junior high, Lin Li couldn't help but feel regretful, as she spent most of her precious time either engrossed in novels or sleeping soundly in class. If only she had studied harder back then, perhaps... she could have attended the same high school as Tong Yao.
He recalled that this year, the admission score for the provincial capital's experimental high school was among the top 100 in the city. He ranked around 500th in the high school entrance exam. If it weren't for his disastrous performance in physics—he only scored 28 out of 100—the outcome might have been very different.
Ironically, he chose science in high school, and physics became a nightmare that haunted him throughout his adolescence.
Lin Li tried hard to recall his college entrance exam score, but his memory was a blur. Since he couldn't remember, he stopped worrying about it and focused on continuing to listen to the lesson.
As soon as the school bell rang, Lin Li picked up her schoolbag and left.
Home, of course, was still that familiar home. He expertly pulled his phone out from under his pillow.
September 28, 2022.
Lin Li lay on his back on the bed, staring at the snow-white ceiling. Unbelievable! He had not only been reborn, but he had become a boy!
Just then, the urge to urinate that he had forcibly suppressed surged back. He rushed into the bathroom in three strides.
Two minutes later, the sound of water pumping began. Lin Li walked out, shaking the water droplets off her hands, her expression slightly complicated.
I had just turned off the bathroom light when I heard the sound of a key turning in the entryway. I looked up and saw my mother had returned. She looked much younger than I remembered.
"Mom," Lin Li called out, then tried to slip back to her room.
The next second, the mother's furious roar echoed throughout the living room: "Lin Li!!"
His heart tightened, and he rushed out: "What's wrong?"
"You didn't cook?"
Clang! Lin Li's heart skipped a beat. That's right, back in junior high, his mother worked late, and he was always the one who got home first to start cooking. But he'd completely forgotten about it!
His mother was too lazy to listen to his excuses and waved her hand, saying, "Fine, we'll have noodles tonight."
The mother and son finished their noodles quietly. Lin Li then took the initiative to clear the dishes and chopsticks, and then took her change of clothes into the bathroom.
He took off his shirt, and the mirror reflected the boy's bare upper body.
She's too thin.
In later parlance, he was a pure "skinny dog." Lin Li still thought a physique with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a bit of thin muscle looked better. It seemed like it was time to put training on the agenda.
---
the next day.
As expected, Lin Li slept until eight o'clock in the morning.
How did he wake up? A barrage of phone calls from his homeroom teacher and mother finally dragged him out of his dream.
"Get to school within ten minutes!"
He yawned incessantly the whole way. When he passed the savory pancake shop near the school gate, Lin Li paused and went inside. He remembered that Tong Yao loved this, and he hadn't had it in a long time, so he decided to buy some for breakfast.
The school gate was already closed, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask the gatekeeper to open it. Naturally, he was teased: "Hey kid, did you oversleep? Hurry up and go in!"
When I arrived at the classroom door, the homeroom teacher, Liu Hongli, was reading something from a notebook. Then, the students got up and carried their desks and chairs out.
"Tang Yue?"
The first girl to come out was Tang Yue, his childhood friend, and the one who had revealed Tong Yao's information to Lin Li in their past life. Lin Li grabbed her: "Hey, Tang Yue, what are you doing?"
Tang Yue first mocked him, then asked in surprise, "Changing seats! They change every Friday, didn't you forget?"
Her mention reminded Lin Li. Every Friday, the class would rotate seats according to conduct scores, with those having higher scores getting to choose first. In his past life, because Cheng Yu always remembered his name, he was always relegated to the last row, sitting next to the trash can.
But this time, things were different. The boy's memories came flooding back—because of the joint entrance exam results, the homeroom teacher had implemented a "support program" that put students with poor grades together with those with good grades.
It's just unknown who his "beneficial recipient" will be.
Lin Li entered the classroom and moved out her desk and chair. Next, the teacher called people in by group.
"Xu Feng! Yang Yue."
"Yuan Hao, Zhou Ming."
"Li Jiahao, Tang Yue."
"Li Wei, Cheng Yu."
To be honest, after so many years, Lin Li's memories of most of his classmates were already hazy. In his previous life, he spent his days either sleeping or reading novels, and had almost no contact with these people.
While he was waiting, someone patted him on the shoulder.
"Li Jiahao?"
Lin Li had a pretty deep impression of this kid. They were deskmates for a long time in junior high and occasionally played games together. Compared to her previous life, their relationship seemed even stronger in this life; they had become good buddies.
Why are you so late?
"I overslept."
Li Jiahao, with his sharp eyes, saw the savory pancake in Lin Li's hand and tried to snatch it. Lin Li quickly protected it:
"Get out of my way! You're trying to steal what I've already eaten? How disgusting!"
"Hehe, I don't mind."
"Get lost, I despise you."
In the end, Lin Li managed to keep breakfast, but at the cost of receiving a new reputation for being a "food hog".
"Tong Yao!"
Upon hearing this name, Lin Li immediately fell silent.
Who could be sitting next to her?
Then, he heard his own name called.
"Lin Li!"
Yes! Lin Li was overjoyed. He clenched his fist and quickly picked up the tables and chairs and followed him inside.
Tong Yao's seat was in the first row near the door. Lin Li followed suit and placed the table next to her.
Today, Tong Yao was still wearing her red and white school uniform, with her hair in a low ponytail, and she was writing something with her head down, seemingly not caring at all about who her new deskmate was.
"Good morning?" Lin Li initiated the conversation.
Tong Yao paused for a moment, gave a very soft "hmm," and then fell silent.
Lin Li was immediately embarrassed, her mind racing: Quick, think of what to say next?
Whenever he was with Tong Yao, he would inexplicably run out of words, only able to stare at her and grin foolishly. This habit, even after a lifetime, remained unchanged.
In a moment of desperation, he caught sight of the savory pancake in his hand.
"Do you want some?"
"..."
Tong Yao put down her pen, glanced at him, and said, "Thank you, but I won't eat it. I don't like it."
"It's okay, I haven't touched it yet!"
As he spoke, he skewered a piece of cake with a bamboo stick and handed it to Tong Yao without saying a word.
Tong Yao looked down at the pancake that had suddenly been stuffed into her hand. After a moment of silence, she finally gave a soft sigh as if in resignation, took two symbolic bites, and then returned it to him.
Tong Yao is like that—quiet and reserved, but not aloof. On the contrary, she is gentle and easy to talk to, and rarely gets angry unless she is truly provoked.
If there truly is such a thing as a "white moonlight" in this world, then for Lin Li, it must be Tong Yao—gentle, beautiful, and intelligent. Who wouldn't like someone like that?
---
"Lin Li! You dare to sleep in the front row?"
Liu Hongli was making her routine classroom rounds when she unexpectedly spotted Lin Li fast asleep, unable to be woken up no matter what she did. Her face grew increasingly dark as she looked out the window.
"Tong Yao, wake him up. Have him come to my office after class." After saying that, she turned to the female teacher on the podium and forced a smile: "Teacher Xu, please continue, haha."
Tong Yao obediently poked Lin Li with her finger. Seeing that he didn't react, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Teacher Liu wants you to go to her office after class."
Lin Li's consciousness gradually returned.
Why is he asleep again? In the office?
Yesterday he was lamenting how he had wasted his junior high school years, and today he was fast asleep in class! He angrily pinched his thigh to force himself to listen attentively.
Ms. Xu, the physics teacher, was reviewing the joint exam papers. Lin Li searched through her desk for a long time and then rummaged through her schoolbag, but still couldn't find her own paper.
It's okay to skip class, but it's really embarrassing to have something that everyone else has and you don't, especially since you're sitting in the front row.
"Stop looking."
Seeing Lin Li still rummaging through drawers and cabinets, with piles of clutter on the table that looked like they were about to be dug up, Tong Yao couldn't help but frown.
She reached under her workbook and pulled out her test paper, gently pushing it in front of him, her tone flat:
"Watch me."
Lin Li didn't stand on ceremony. She stuffed all the clutter back into the table, then spread out Tong Yao's test paper and deliberately moved it closer to her, placing it between the two of them.
As soon as he approached, a scent carrying the fresh fragrance of laundry detergent and a faint aroma of savory biscuits wafted over. Tong Yao's eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and she unconsciously pursed her lips, but her pen did not stop; she continued to work out physics formulas on the draft paper.
Just a few seconds later, she spoke again, her voice still calm, yet carrying an undeniable firmness:
"See for yourself. I don't need it."
"Alright!"
Lin Li picked up the test paper and glanced at it. Suddenly, she remembered that Tong Yao had gotten a perfect score on the physics joint exam, and she usually didn't listen to these review sessions.
His gaze lingered on the last question.
This was a bonus question. It wasn't difficult for a high school student, but if he was limited to solving it using middle school knowledge, he wouldn't be able to figure it out for a while. Unexpectedly, Tong Yao actually solved it, although she only completed the first part.
He looked at Tong Yao with admiration, then pulled a pencil from his pencil case, tore off a page of homework paper, and tried to solve the problem.
Tong Yao caught a glimpse of him scribbling and drawing, but didn't look closely, continuing to work on her own problems.
Just as the bell rang, Lin Li had calculated the answer to the last question: 3653/4. What a strange number.
If you were to ask Lin Li, a middle school student, where she hated going most, the answer would undoubtedly be the teachers' office. It wasn't a teacher's private space; it was often shared by teachers from the entire grade or multiple subjects. Sometimes, after the homeroom teacher finished lecturing, the other teachers would think, "We're already here..."
They took turns. Although Lin Li had never personally experienced the "relay battle," she had witnessed teachers getting so emotional from scolding their students that they wiped away tears and eventually had to call their parents in.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Li knocked on the office door.
"Report."
"Enter."
Fortunately, most of the teachers hadn't returned yet; only the homeroom teacher, Liu Hongli, was there. Lin Li tiptoed over, expecting a harsh scolding, but to her surprise, the teacher calmly asked:
What time did you go to bed last night?
Lin Li naturally wouldn't dare say she stayed up until 2 a.m., so she carefully gave a number that was half true and half false: "11 p.m."
But I didn't expect that I would still say too much.
Liu Hongli's unquestionable voice rang out: "From today onwards, you must be in bed before 10 p.m. every night. I will tell your mother to supervise you. If I catch you sleeping in class again, you know the consequences."
The consequences? Nothing more than having their parents called in. Lin Li thought to herself, but on the surface she pretended to be honest and agreed repeatedly.
Teacher Xu usually stays a little longer during breaks to allow students to ask questions. When Lin Li reached the door, she saw her standing next to Tong Yao's desk, smiling with satisfaction.
Teacher Xu's gaze fell on a piece of draft paper covered with calculations on the table next to her. She picked it up curiously and looked at it, nodding from time to time.
"Tong Yao, not bad! You've already started previewing high school material? Keep up the good work!" With that, she put the draft paper back on Tong Yao's desk, glanced at the time, and hurried off to the next class in her high heels.
"High school?" Tong Yao stopped writing and picked up the paper to examine it closely. When her gaze fell on the final answer, her eyes flickered slightly.
Just then, the school bell rang, and Lin Li rushed into the classroom as the bell rang.
Tong Yao closed the exercise book without changing her expression, carefully clipped the draft paper, and put it into her desk drawer.
After school, the homeroom teacher assigned cleaning duties. Because of her appalling conduct score (-80 points), Lin Li had to stay behind to sweep the floor this semester.
Oh no! He suddenly remembered that he had apparently skipped his cleaning duty yesterday!
"Tong Yao, it's your group's turn to be on duty this week. You'll also be in charge of supervising Lin Li's sweeping. He skipped his duty yesterday, so keep a close eye on him this time."
"Okay, Teacher Liu."
After Teacher Liu left, Tong Yao turned around to look for Lin Li. Seeing him take a mop and go out, she looked at the rag in her hand, thought for a moment, and followed him.
Lin Li, carrying a mop, was unaware that Tong Yao was in charge this week, and was still mentally "torturing" the culprit, Cheng Yu.
Lost in thought, he unconsciously stopped at the entrance of the women's restroom. Just as he was about to turn around and go in, a figure squeezed past him, carrying a rag, and walked in without looking back.
This is the women's restroom.
The sound wasn't loud, but it reached Lin Li's ears clearly. He looked up at the sign and realized, oh no, he almost went to the wrong place again.
But he still insisted, "I know, I was just passing by."
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