This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 56 Anyone could do that! (Please subscribe!)

After this physical education class, everyone felt much more energetic.

Returning from the scorching heat of the outdoors to the air-conditioned classroom, the instant cool air washes over you, a truly refreshing sensation from your feet to the tips of your hair.

There are two standing air conditioners in the classroom, which are controlled and operated by the school. Right now, both air conditioners are crowded with boys, all of them sweating profusely, wishing they could shove their heads into the air conditioners to cool off.

"You stinky bastard, Zihan! Your sweat is all over me! And it's sticky!"

"Get lost! You talk as if you don't stink!"

"Can you boys please stop polluting the air?! The classroom smells like sweat!"

"You get used to it after a while. Didn't you learn about adaptability in biology?"

"Yue~!!"

Lin Mengqiu, who is a bit of a germaphobe, also looked fed up with this. She frowned, but didn't chase away the group of smelly boys. She just opened the window to let in some fresh air.

Luckily, Chen Shi'an didn't smell bad, otherwise she would definitely deduct forty points from him and then ask her dad to change his deskmate.

Of course Chen Shi'an didn't smell bad; he wasn't even sweating!

Even when he sweats, he doesn't smell bad. With his cultivation, his mind and body are pure. Only when he successfully entered the Dao and absorbed the spiritual essence of heaven and earth into his body did the filth expelled from his body truly smell bad.

Fei Mo fled to the back mountain. His master pinched his nose, grabbed him, and threw him into the pool to soak for half a day. Then he burned twenty catties of pine wood and used the ashes to scrub him clean before he was satisfied.

Perhaps it was because he was marinated so well that even now, Chen Shi'an always has a faint scent of herbs and pine on him.

Chen Shi'an had a keen sense of smell and an even keener sense of hearing. Just now, when Lin Mengqiu walked into her seat, he clearly heard the girl inhale as she passed by him.

What are you doing? Want to smell if I stink? The class monitor is really shameless!

Lin Mengqiu had returned to her usual self. Her hair, tied in a ponytail, was still in place. As she drank water, the high ponytail swayed gently, and the stray hairs at the back of her neck were blown by the wind outside the window, like loose cotton threads, lightly brushing against her long and slender neck.

She seemed to have forgotten the embarrassing memory of almost making a fool of herself during the physical test, and her face once again wore that aloof and proud expression.

However, it seems there's still one step away from completely 'forgetting' that embarrassing incident.

After she finished drinking her water, she glanced at Chen Shi'an out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was also drinking water, so she waited for him to finish before saying anything.

Chen Shi'an had just put down the water bottle when he heard a faint voice, almost like a hallucination, say, "Thank you."

"?"

The sudden "thank you" caught Chen Shi'an off guard. He turned to look at Lin Mengqiu, but the girl didn't even glance at him, continuing to prepare her textbook for the next class, as if she hadn't said those words herself.

"Squad leader, are you talking to me?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

This time, Lin Mengqiu raised her voice, but still didn't turn to look at him.

"...Ah? Oh—! Of course, you're welcome, hehe."

"…………"

Lin Mengqiu finally turned her head to look at him. When the embarrassing incident was brought up, her face turned slightly red with embarrassment. She glared at him fiercely and then ignored him.

She felt that if she continued to sit at the same table with him, she would eventually develop 'Oh-Oh Stress Syndrome'.

……

The last class is Chinese.

There's not much to say about Chinese. As one of the three main subjects, and taught by Teacher Liang himself, Chen Shi'an didn't study math or English in Chinese class. He just followed along with the class and learned diligently.

As a top-level teacher, Lao Liang is described as cheeky by other teachers, but his teaching skills are undeniable.

Teacher Liang mainly focused on test-taking skills and standardized procedures, which were exactly what Chen Shi'an lacked in the Chinese language exam.

In Teacher Liang's words, "All of you here are of similar literary talent. I don't expect any great writers to emerge from among you. Just use your limited literary skills to get the highest possible score."

If we're talking about literary talent, Chen Shi'an might be the highest in the class, but coincidentally, his test scores are currently the lowest.

In order to ensure that his test scores matched his literary knowledge, Chen Shi'an listened very attentively in Chinese class, since it was the only subject he could follow along with the teacher in high school.

Having Chinese class as the last period was a terrible thing. Chen Shi'an had heard about Teacher Liang's bad habit of extending class time.

Today I've truly experienced it.

Even though the bell had already rung, Lao Liang insisted on finishing the explanation, which was understandable... but,

Since we've already discussed the previous question, let's go over this one too!
Chen Shi'an's eyelids twitched.

……

Finally, get out of class ended, and the students rushed out in a swarm.

"Damn it! After dragging this out for so long, there's definitely no chance of them getting a venue!"

"How about we go eat?"

"Are you stupid? Go eat now, you'll be stuck in line forever!"

"Shall we go back to the dorm first?"

"...Damn it! Don't run so fast, you bastard! Let's shower together!"

Apart from Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu, all the other students in the class lived in the dormitory. They had to queue for meals and showers. In the blink of an eye, only Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu were left in the classroom.

Today is the two of them's turn to clean the classroom before they can leave.

"Sweep the floor, take out the trash, wipe the blackboard, and arrange the tables," Lin Mengqiu said.

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an got up from his seat and went to the back corner of the classroom to get a broom.

There were ten brooms, almost all of them were tattered and worn out. He had used the bamboo brooms he made at the Taoist temple for five years and they were still usable. It was hard to imagine how the brooms in the classroom could be so worn out...

Does everyone have to use brooms as swords?

Chen Shi'an picked out two of the better ones, one for himself and one for Lin Mengqiu.

Lin Mengqiu didn't come over, but she wasn't idle either; she went to the podium to wipe the blackboard.

After wiping the blackboard and the podium, he picked up a broom and swept the floor with Chen Shi'an.

Seeing that Chen Shi'an went to the first group first, she started sweeping from the fourth group.

When she wasn't speaking, Chen Shi'an also didn't speak.

In the large classroom, the only sounds were the clattering of their brooms against the desks and chairs, and the rustling of the brooms across the floor. Scattered scraps of paper, debris, and dust were swept up from under the desks and chairs and piled up in small heaps in the aisle. Occasionally, Lin Mengqiu would turn her head to look at him.

Chen Shi'an was very serious even when sweeping the floor. You couldn't tell from his expression that he was unhappy about cleaning; all you could see was meticulousness and seriousness.

He was very fast, and the old broom was exceptionally obedient in his hands. By the time he started sweeping the second set, Lin Mengqiu had only swept half of the fourth set.

"When you were on the mountain, were you alone with your master?"

The girl's voice suddenly rang out in the classroom, not loud, but loud enough for him to hear clearly.

"Yes, and there's a cat too."

"cat?"

"Hmm, a very fat black cat."

Chen Shi'an talked as he cleaned.

They'd been sitting at the same table for two days, and this was the first time Lin Mengqiu had asked him about life on the mountain.

"So, do you usually have to do a lot of... housework when you're up in the mountains?" Forgive her for not being able to think of a fitting adjective like 'housework' for the moment.

"Yes, but we usually call them 'errand boys'. I'm basically in charge of all the errand boys in the temple."

What does the errand boy/girl do?

“Every day when I wake up, I have to go to the spring to fetch water and fill the water tank. Then I prepare breakfast. There are chickens in the backyard of the Taoist temple. After breakfast, I have to feed the chickens. Before noon, I have to prepare lunch. In the afternoon, when I have free time, I have to sweep the courtyard of the Taoist temple, wipe the tables and chairs in the hall, clean the fruit plates and tea dishes, the tables and incense burners, and clear the weeds. Vegetables are also planted on the outer wall. Every evening, I have to water the vegetables, pick some of the best ones, and then I can prepare dinner. Then I boil water to take a bath.”

"...Are you that busy?"

"I'm not busy. Each task has a fixed time and schedule. Some things don't need to be done every day. Over time, they naturally become habits. When I see the water tank is empty, I think of filling it with water. When I see fallen leaves in the courtyard, I think of sweeping them up."

"Then do you still have time to cultivate Taoism?"

“Make a living first, then cultivate the Tao. Our Taoist temple was poor and dilapidated, but there was no one else to serve my master and me so we could concentrate on cultivating the Tao. My master also said that cultivating the Tao without making a living may not be the right path.”

"How old were you when you started doing these things?"

"From as far back as I can remember, I started doing whatever I could."

"...Isn't your master going to do it?"

“After I became sensible, my master stopped studying. He was only responsible for teaching me and maintaining the livelihood of the Taoist temple every day.”

"..."

Lin Mengqiu could hardly understand what Chen Shi'an was saying; she could only imagine such a life from these few words.

It really is... completely different from the life she knew.

While they were daydreaming, their brooms met in the middle of the third group.

Lin Mengqiu felt somewhat ashamed; Chen Shi'an had already scanned two and a half sets, while she had only scanned one and a half sets.

However, Chen Shi'an clearly didn't care about any of that. He went to get a dustpan, swept away the dust and trash, and then looked up at her and asked:

"Class monitor, can you do housework?"

"...I'm sure I will."

"What will it be?"

"Sweeping, mopping, wiping tables, and cleaning windows—anyone can do that, right?"

Despite saying that, the girl looked away somewhat embarrassedly. After all, knowing how to do something didn't mean she actually did it. She hadn't done any housework in a long time, and her father didn't ask her to do any either.

If we have to talk about housework, it's either something I actively sought out or something my dad assigned me. Compared to Chen Shi'an, who has 'doing odd jobs' ingrained in his bones and made it an instinctive habit, it's really far behind.

"So, class monitor, can you cook?"

"……Won't."

"Where's the rice cooker?"

"meeting."

"Where's the water boiling?"

"Anyone could do that!"

Lin Mengqiu raised her head, and her originally weak voice became quite confident.

So much so that Chen Shi'an thought she wasn't talking about 'knowing how to boil water,' but rather something as amazing as 'knowing how to build rockets.'

Ha ha……

It seems the class monitor and the little cicada are about the same, both at the level of 'boiling water'...

Chen Shi'an didn't know many girls, and compared to Wan Yin, who could do housework, cook, and make mung bean soup, she was on a completely different level.

……

After cleaning, the two of them carried the trash can downstairs to take out the trash, just like they did in the morning.

However, they were much more in sync this time than in the morning. At least on the way to the classroom door, the trash can didn't rush to bump into Chen Shi'an's heels anymore.

Well, it might also be because there's no one else in the class right now and we don't have to have morning reading sessions, so the girl seems more relaxed.

After taking out the trash and putting the trash can and broom away, my day's cleaning duty is over.

Chen Shi'an checked the time; it was already 5:35 PM, and there was still an hour before evening self-study.

He was still hungry.

Lin Mengqiu was still hungry and hadn't taken a bath.

There is always enough time.

"Squad leader, want to have lunch together?"

Chen Shi'an extended the invitation naturally.

Lin Mengqiu wiped her hands with a tissue, her expression calm, as if she hadn't heard him.

Just as Chen Shi'an was about to ask again, the girl spoke—

The sound was like a porcelain shard soaked in a clear spring, gently touching the air without causing the slightest ripple.

Aren't you going to eat with Wen Zhixia?

(End of this chapter)