Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 138 Congratulations, Boy and Girl (Bonus Chapter for First Subscription, Please Vote)
It's already 13:00 PM, and there's only half an hour left until the scores are released.

Neither of them encountered the legendary "pre-recruitment".

It seems the top scorer has failed to make it.
It's a bit of a shame. Zhai Da had already prepared his boastful lines, such as when he received a phone call: "Hello, I'm an admissions officer from Tsinghua/Peking University. Come to our school. I'll agree to any conditions. We have special privileges, blah blah blah."

Then he said to himself, "I'm having a hard time dealing with these things, unless you arrange for me to live in the girls' dormitory."

Then the admissions officer said, "Arrange it! I'll put you in the female international student dormitory!"

Just kidding.
A genius who lives in a dormitory.
Zhai Da looked at the ceiling and said:

"Looks like neither of us are the top scorers. I don't know where this weirdo came from, he's even taller than you."

Lu Wei, sitting in the corner at the other end, put down her book, shook her head, and said, "Actually, it's okay."

Zhai Da raised his head slightly: "Really? No regrets at all?"

Lu Wei turned her head: "As long as we can go to the same university, that's fine."

Her life was shattered into pieces, and even the warmth of those pieces was gradually fading away.

From the very beginning, I never paid any attention to these things, not even which university I went to.

That's all I think and wish for; nothing else matters.

Zhai Da lay back down: "I do regret that I didn't become the top scholar, and the monster I trained also didn't become the top scholar."

Lu Wei tilted her head and said softly in a neutral voice, "Am I... a monster?"

Zhai Da was too lazy to explain and casually said, "A strangely cute little thing."

Lu Wei turned her head back.

It turned back a few seconds later:
Am I cute?

This direct approach left Zhai Da speechless.

But after thinking about it, she smiled and said, "Yes, you are very cute."

He's already a bit of a blockhead; praising someone in such a roundabout way only makes Lu Wei feel the kindness from the outside world.

Zhai Da sat up and counted on his fingers, "Cute-looking, cute personality, tall, and now she's gained a little weight."

Then, he watched Lu Wei's expression expectantly: "Hearing all this, do you feel like laughing?"

Lu Wei turned her head away expressionlessly: "My mother told me that I should be reserved at times like this."

Zhai Da:
Auntie is right!
After waiting a few more minutes, watching the clock on the wall ticking away, Zhai Da grew impatient and said after a moment's thought, "Let's go up to the rooftop and get some fresh air. I'm sweating buckets."

Lu Wei asked in confusion, "Aren't we going to wait for the scores to be checked?"

"We can connect to our home Wi-Fi even from the rooftop."

The two didn't pack much, just took a notebook and two popsicles, and went to the rooftop they hadn't been to in a long time.

The vast sky stretches as far as the eye can see, like white foam on a blue sea.

The sunlight was slightly dry, but the breeze cleared my mind.

Zhai Da was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. His calves already had obvious muscle lines. When he stretched, his abdomen was also completely free of fat, and he was getting closer and closer to having abs.

"Awesome. You said humans are social animals, so why is there a genetic predisposition to enjoy open spaces?"

Lu Wei stretched her arms behind her back, giving a girlish yawn, which her mother taught her.

Zhai Da wiped the temples of his glasses while glancing sideways.

Great, the weight gain from exercising together is quite good, and it seems to be going to the right places.

The two sat on the raised platform as before, and the sweat that kept pouring out of Zhai Da's body finally stopped, making him much drier.

Zhai Da opened his laptop and connected to the Wi-Fi, which had a decent signal. Nowadays, not every household has a home network, let alone an old neighborhood like Sanmao. It was quite novel to find that there was only one signal source in the Wi-Fi list.

After logging into the examination authority's preliminary page for checking exam results, Zhai Da realized he couldn't access it yet, so he put his laptop aside and waited. He was supposed to just enter his name and exam number, but he couldn't click on it right away.

There are ten minutes left.

"Have you thought about what we discussed yesterday?"

Lu Wei tore open the packaging bag and separated the popsicles that were stuck together.

It wasn't very uniform, so the larger one was given to Zhai Da: "Zhai Da, you always ask me the same question."

But her answer never changed.

Zhai Da took the popsicle: "Alright, I've figured it out now. With our abilities, we'll be set for life wherever we go."

"Isn't this word reversed?"

Zhai Dapi said, "Qingyun, you're wrong. It's the charm of language."

Anyway, Little Wooden Head wouldn't understand.

Feeling a bit lazy from the sun, Zhai Da simply lay back:
"After consulting a lot of materials during this period, I have gained a deeper understanding of 'undergraduate education' and my insights have changed. In the end, I only knew that Tsinghua and Peking University were awesome, but I didn't know why they were awesome. In the end, I found that they are indeed awesome."

"I prefer that university for some personal reasons."

“Zhai Da,” Lu Wei interrupted him.

"Ok?"

"The same question again."

"Okay, then I won't say anything more."

He was just rambling to himself. It would be a lie to say he had no obsessions. After all, isn't the point of living a second life to enjoy yourself?
Lu Wei hugged her knees, held up the popsicle stick she had just finished eating, and examined it against the sunlight.

It has a simple smiley face printed on it, with two dots and an arc.

A gentle breeze stirred, ruffling the girl's long hair and tugging at the corners of her mouth. It was very faint, almost imperceptible.

Perhaps the simplest form of a smile is happiness.

Perhaps a warm sun and a gentle breeze are also happiness.

Perhaps eating a popsicle next to someone is happiness.

Time was up, and Zhai Da got up to check the computer.

13:31 minutes.

"Should we check yours first or mine?"

Lu Wei: "Yours."

"Okay, I'll check yours first."

Zhai Da entered Lu Wei's admission ticket number and name, took a deep breath, and clicked the "Search" button.

3, 2, 1!

"This page cannot be opened"

Very well, it collapsed as expected.

Zhai Da clicked "Back" and prepared to enter it again.

This is even better; the previous page can't be opened either.

Zhai Da:
"Tch! I knew it. Let's go back home; the internet there is stronger."

Lu Wei nodded, and the two got up and walked towards the stairwell.

As I passed the edge of the rooftop, I heard someone shouting at the top of their lungs below.

"Excuse me! Are you Zhai Da and Lu Wei?"

Zhai Da looked down and saw six or seven people standing under the building entrance, led by a security guard, seemingly preparing to go upstairs. He then saw the two people on the rooftop.

"What is wrong with me?"

The leader below beamed with joy and immediately said:
"Congratulations, Zhai! Lu! I'm an admissions officer from Tsinghua University. Have you checked your scores yet?"

Zhai Dayang waved the laptop in his hand: "The system crashed."

Both of them had very loud voices, and some neighbors leaned out of their balconies to look over, while people from surrounding buildings also joined in the fun.

In an instant, more than a dozen heads turned to look.

Admissions officers at Tsinghua University?

Zhai Da probably guessed what was going on and asked, "Which of us is the top scholar?"

A dozen or so onlookers scoffed in unison, thinking, "Has this kid gone mad from the sun?"
Why would a Tsinghua University professor come to your door to recruit students? Students should be begging to go there. He's probably a scammer.

Scammers are really rampant these days!

The person downstairs laughed heartily and said loudly:

"Congratulations on creating a remarkable achievement. You two tied for first place in the provincial science exam, both scoring 455 (A+)."

Zhai Da and Lu Wei exchanged a glance and whispered, "Did I hear that right? We're tied for first place?"

Lu Wei nodded: "I think I heard correctly."

"A score of 455 (A+)?"

"I didn't mishear that either."

Zhai Da found it hard to believe.

Years later, the young man, through his own good fortune, was given a second chance at life and received a legendary honor that he could only achieve once.
A year later, the girl, with her own good fortune by her side, rallied and revealed her amazing talent.

In a daze, Lu Wei stretched out a small hand.

To his surprise, Zhai Da also extended a large hand.

Palms, backs of hands, fists facing each other, fists facing each other from bottom to top.

Lu Wei: "Gong"

Before the girl could finish speaking, the boy stepped forward, picked her up, and spun her around.

"Awesome! We're awesome!"

Sometimes, bad writers run out of words, and so do good writers.

The admissions officer below quickly shouted, "Watch out! Watch out!"

That's a rooftop! If someone falls from there, wouldn't it be on the news for three days straight?!

He regretted impulsively shouting at this particular moment; he should have waited until they sat down to talk.

After the initial excitement subsided, the person realized the danger and put Lu Wei down. The little wooden boy wasn't scared, but his face turned slightly red.

Zhai Da poked his head out.

"Thank you for coming all this way to tell us this good news."

The admissions officer chuckled and said, "It's nothing, it's what we should do. Let's talk about it here, I'll tell you all about applying to Tsinghua University."

Zhai Da grinned, showing his big teeth: "No need for that, we won't apply to Tsinghua University."

Admissions Officer:
The sky is falling!
　As the year draws to a close, Xiao Xin is eating cornbread while enduring the frost, and each year brings more sorrow than the last.
　　Please vote with some monthly tickets, I need to keep warm by sticking my arm around myself.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)