Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 202 Freshman Registration
For the sake of breakfast.

Ye Qing simply punched Ai Liang on the shoulder, not taking it to heart that he had compared her to a country dog.

Ai Liang is a seasoned balancer.

They always manage to precisely control how much others like them, keeping it at a fixed level.

This is a skill I learned from Yang Xingyue.

Although the skill I learned failed to work on the person I was using, it was still quite useful for others.

After helping someone, you pretend to be oblivious and then make a sarcastic remark.

In junior high school, Ai Liang maintained her unique position in the class by using this method.

He can chat with anyone, but there's no one he's particularly close to. When good things happen, people don't think of him, but bad things also don't happen to him.

This is Ai Liang's ideal life.

However, this state of affairs did not last long before Yue Qihua and her group turned it into a complete mess...

After locking the door and going downstairs, Ai Liang and Ye Qing arrived at the bus stop opposite the residential building.

Ye Qing sat on the bench, pouting and complaining, "The delivery truck was delayed yesterday, arriving right around my work time. Aunt Wang took the day off, so I ended up carrying the whole truckload of goods by myself. It was exhausting."

She yawned frequently, rubbing her shoulders back and forth with both hands, her face looking very tired.

Just because someone is strong and has good stamina doesn't mean they won't get tired.

Even a strongman weighing over 200 pounds will still feel tired the next day after carrying bricks on a construction site all day. At most, he will be more adaptable and recover faster.

Ai Liang sat on the bench, looking in the direction the bus was coming from: "Why don't you call the warehouse staff?"

"...Well, it's quite complicated."

Ye Qing sighed with some hesitation: "Although the warehouse is not under my responsibility, everyone in the supermarket has always been very kind to me. I can't just let people leave their things there and then just leave."

"You can just wait for Aunt Wang to come to work today."

Ai Liang took out her phone to read the morning news.

"Aunt Wang's son was in a car accident. I heard he had two cuts, each over 20 centimeters long, on his body."

Ye Qing's eyes held a hint of helplessness: "Aunt Wang's family moved here from another place, and their financial situation isn't very good. When her son was in a car accident, her daughter-in-law was still at work, so the mother had to go to the hospital to take care of her son."

“When her daughter-in-law called yesterday, I was listening in. The first thing she said was a complaint: ‘I was in a car accident. Who will pick up my child from the tutoring class?’”
"How could someone get into a car accident while walking? I don't even know how they got there. I have other things to do here, you guys figure it out yourselves."

Ye Qing felt very uncomfortable at this point.

Ai Liang didn't reply, but just silently flipped through today's news.

"Whenever there's something in the warehouse that needs to be dealt with, Aunt Wang always leaves me a copy. She takes such good care of me, I can't just leave her with the mess.

"I already have enough to worry about at home. If I come back to work the next day and see a pile of stuff stacked up at the warehouse entrance, I'll probably be even more frustrated. That's why I spent the whole night moving things."

"Since you chose to do it yourself, what is there to complain about? Even if you recount the scene to me, I still can't imagine it."

Ai Liang suddenly interjected.

Boom!
Ye Qing punched Ai Liang's shoulder hard: "Why is your focus always so strange!"

She poked Ai Liang's arm with her fingertip, puffing out her cheeks: "Don't you have anything to say about this kind of thing?"

Ai Liang flicked her clothes, making no comment.

"What do you want me to say? Isn't this how ordinary people all go through it? My opinion is meaningless to the person involved."

Most people only care about the tragedy in front of them, and once the tragedy leaves their sight, they will forget it soon.

Ai Liang was the same; he didn't even care much about the tragedy before him.

He wanted to rediscover his feelings by experiencing kindness, not to watch a family drama that could be made into a 24-episode series.

If I had to give advice... well, since there's no love between them, just get a divorce.

"...Never mind, I shouldn't have discussed this with you. Every time we talk about this kind of topic, it's like a philosophical debate."

Ye Qing turned her head to look at the road: "Hey, stop looking at your phone, the bus is about to arrive."

"I know."

Ai Liang put away her phone, took the novel and the admission notice with her, and boarded the bus.

Ten minutes later, the two got off the bus near the school.

Qianhua Experimental Middle School covers a very large area, even larger than some third-rate universities.

There are as many as ten teaching buildings and student dormitories alone.

Each grade has two dormitory buildings, one teaching building, and the remaining building is for teachers' dormitories.

Moreover, each building has a sizable garden next to it, perfect for relaxing.

Statues of sages stand in the grass of the garden, their bases inscribed with famous quotes—standard features of any school and need no further explanation.

In addition, there are two restaurants (one in front and one behind), two supermarkets, one laboratory building, one comprehensive office building, and a four-story student association building near the comprehensive office building.

Opposite the school's main gate is a huge synthetic track and field, which includes an indoor basketball court, an outdoor basketball court, and a massive gymnasium.

Ye Qing was very curious about everything at the Experimental Middle School.

Along the way, she glanced here and there, touching things here and there.

Finally, after being reminded by Ai Liang, they reluctantly returned to the notice board.

"We'll be staying here for three years, and then we'll have plenty of time to get to know the school."

Ai Liang, clutching her admission notice and novel, searched for the registration area for new students on the notice board.

Ye Qing argued, "I'm just getting familiar with the campus. The school is so big, what if I get lost later?"

“There are teachers to guide us to class, and we just follow others to the cafeteria during mealtimes. How could we possibly get lost?” Ai Liang replied.

The two chatted as they walked and soon arrived at the freshman registration area.

Although the notice stated that we could report in advance, there was not a soul in sight at the registration area except for a tent and two sets of tables and chairs.

It seems the school is not yet prepared.

Ye Qing touched her hair, feeling somewhat annoyed.

"Do we seem to have arrived a bit too early? I should have slept in a little longer."

But since we're already here, we can't just go home and go back to sleep just because there's no one at the freshman reception area.

Ye Qing looked into the distance and pointed to the teaching building not far away, saying, "Why don't we go over there and ask someone? Senior year started early, there should be teachers there."

The teaching building for new students is the innermost one, the middle one is for second-year students, and the one closest to the cafeteria and school gate is for third-year students.

As the two passed by the senior high school building, they saw someone reciting texts in a classroom.

Ai Liang glanced at the tables and chairs at the freshman registration area: "No need, the person in charge should only be away for a short while and will be back soon."

"How did you know?" Ye Qing asked.

There are water droplets on the table.

Ai Liang pointed to the water stains on the table: "It's been sunny lately, and the temperature is very high, so the water stains won't last long."

Just as Ai Liang had predicted, the two waited at the freshman registration area for a while, and soon a middle-aged teacher walked over, carrying a tote bag in his right hand and a thermos in his left.

"Are you freshmen? You're here so early?"

The middle-aged teacher had no airs of a teacher at all. When talking to Ai Liang and Ye Qing, he acted as if he were talking to a peer, and was very easygoing.

Ye Qing stepped forward and said with a smile, "Yes, I've long admired Experimental Middle School for a long time, so when I saw the notice that I could report early, I came here as soon as possible."

Ai Liang gave Ye Qing a disdainful look.

"No, you're complaining about the crowds and congestion during September registration, and besides, what you've been longing for isn't the school, but the scholarship."

"You're only interested in this school for the first few days of the semester. In six months, you'll probably treat the school like a prison," the teacher in charge of new student registration joked with a smile.

"Isn't our school supposed to be a relaxed educational institution? I heard there aren't even morning and evening self-study sessions."

Ye Qing asked curiously.

"It's true that education is more relaxed, but schools are still places where grades matter most. There are no morning self-study sessions, and if you don't want to skip evening self-study sessions, you have to produce good grades."

The teacher took the two students' admission notices and glanced at them: "You two are both in the honors class?"

"That's right, students in the honors class should be exempt from evening self-study, right?"

Ye Qing put her hands behind her back and asked with a grin.

To everyone's surprise, the teacher who received them was not surprised at all. Instead, she looked at the two of them with pity and said, "You're in the honors class, huh? Well, you can't skip this evening study session."

"why?"

Ye Qing raised her embroidered eyebrows, her eyes full of doubt.

The teacher who received us kept us in suspense and didn't give a direct answer to the question.

"Your homeroom teacher will talk about it during the class meeting after school starts, and you'll understand then."

After saying that, she took out two brochures from her handbag and handed them to the two of them.

"This is a map showing the layout of our school's buildings and a brief description of the facilities. It marks the location of each building. You can go to the automatic card issuing machine in the main building now and get your student cards in advance."

The school cafeteria and supermarket only accept student cards for payment. If you get your student card set up now, you can go directly to the supermarket to buy school supplies on September 1st.

It's okay if you don't want to apply. Your homeroom teacher will help you apply at the end of August and distribute the forms during the class meeting.

"Thank you, teacher."

Ye Qing took the flyer and handed one to Ai Liang: "That automatic card dispenser? How do I use it?"

"It's very simple. Just insert your citizen card and enter the number on the notification letter."

"Oh, I understand, thank you, teacher."

Ye Qing nodded her thanks, and then pulled Ai Liang along to head to the main building.

The teacher who was receiving us smiled and said, "Yes, if there's anything you don't understand, you can come back and ask me again. Anyway, there aren't many people at the school right now."

Ye Qing waved to the teacher who was greeting her: "Okay, goodbye teacher!"

Ai Liang bowed slightly and remained silent.

………………

"The teachers at Experimental Middle School are really different; they're much better than those at our junior high school."

Holding the brochure, Ye Qing chatted with Ai Liang as she searched for the main building.

As the saying goes, "Comparison is the thief of joy," Ye Qing sighed as she recalled the embarrassing situation she faced when she first reported to school in junior high.

"I remember when I went to register at junior high school, the teacher who greeted me just yelled at me. When I asked him questions, he had a sour face and spoke very aggressively, as if his mouth was full of gunpowder."

"Fortunately, our homeroom teacher was a responsible and good teacher. He was very dedicated to his students. However, he would often go off-topic when giving an example, and would often tell us a whole lesson's worth of stories... What was your middle school teacher like?"

Ye Qing talked about her junior high school the whole way, but as she talked, she threw the question to Ai Liang.

Ai Liang stared at the flyer in her hand without looking up: "My junior high school homeroom teacher?"

"Hmm, what kind of person was your junior high school homeroom teacher?" Ye Qing blinked and looked at Ai Liang with great curiosity.

"Him? He's a complete scumbag."

Ai Liang summarized her impression of her homeroom teacher in a short sentence.

"Uh, you really hate your homeroom teacher that much... You have such good grades, so you don't think he'd treat you that badly, right?"

Ye Qing never expected that Ai Liang would have this kind of impression of her homeroom teacher.

Teachers generally prefer students with good grades, and top students like Ai Liang are absolutely indulged.

She had considered this point to avoid making a mistake, which is why she asked Ai Liang for his opinion of her homeroom teacher. However, this guy completely deviated from the expected approach.

Ai Liang responded indifferently, "Being good to me doesn't change the fact that I think he's a scumbag."

What was Nevada City like before?
That's the promised land that criminals seek out, a place flowing with blood and brains.

In a place where throwing a firecracker into the street could expose two death row inmates.

How many good people are there?

Not to mention that at that time, the Asian Union had just begun to rectify the social atmosphere in Nevada, and had been cracking down on organized crime for several years.

Many corrupt officials in public institutions have not yet been investigated.

As the saying goes, good people are only good to a limited extent, while scoundrels are often well-rounded.

Ai Liang's homeroom teacher, while not a particularly evil person, was a well-rounded individual who indulged in all sorts of vices, including drinking, gambling, and womanizing.

Beating up underachieving students, substituting for students during self-study sessions, and embezzling class funds were all commonplace occurrences.

Lectures are either question-and-answer sessions or self-study sessions; students are left to grow on their own.

This inevitably raises suspicions that he obtained his teaching certificate at a driving school.

If it weren't for Ai Liang and the other top students in the grade, who were among the top ten in their class, our class would definitely be at the bottom every time in the rankings.

Ai Liang briefly described the actions of her junior high school homeroom teacher, which immediately drew a series of complicated looks.

Ye Qing patted Ai Liang on the shoulder: "Your life... is really tough."

"Otherwise, why do you think I came to Qianhua City to study?"

The two walked around half of the main building and found the automatic card dispenser near the side entrance.

Ai Liang reached out and pulled open the sliding door, and the sound of a heated argument came out with the opening of the door.

"I have no problem living at school by myself! It would be more troublesome to commute to and from school every day as a day student!"

A young girl with a cane stared defiantly at the man before her.

“It’s no trouble at all, I can drive you to and from school every day,” the man tried to reassure her.

“I told you, I don’t want to commute! I’m not…”

The girl couldn't help but raise her voice, but just then, she noticed Ai Liang at the door.

I'll go to the hospital tomorrow and have the doctor give me an IV drip; taking medicine is too slow...

What used to take four or five hours to type now takes six or seven hours...

I'm trying my best to recover as quickly as possible...

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(End of this chapter)