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

Chapter 64 That Year in the First Year of High School (Thanks to Yu Sheng, the Alliance Leader of the Family)
Chen Shi'an stood in a sparsely populated area on the first-floor corridor, curiously watching the workers repairing the artificial turf over the football field.

When he first enrolled, he thought it was a real lawn from a distance, but he realized it was fake lawn after looking closely.

In places like schools with high activity levels, artificial turf may not have the same texture as real turf, but it is obviously more durable.

"Taoist priest!"

"The cicadas are so fast?"

Chen Shi'an turned around upon hearing the sound, and Wen Zhixia was already standing prettily behind him.

"What are you looking at?"

"Watch the workers mending the lawn."

"You're so boring!"

"Waiting for someone is so boring."

"I was just worried you'd have to wait too long, so I came down quickly."

"No rush. If you take your time, I can learn how the workers do it."

"How can you see clearly from this far away?"

"I have good eyesight."

"Hurry up, hurry up, stop looking."

After coming out of the staircase, Wen Zhixia had never felt the space become so spacious and her breathing so easy.

Chen Shi'an is a very different person from Lin Mengqiu. He is someone she feels she can become good friends with at first glance. The feeling of being with him is also completely different from that with Lin Mengqiu. It is an unprecedented sense of relaxation.

The two walked side by side on the school path leading to the cafeteria. Wen Zhixia subconsciously searched for Lin Mengqiu's figure in the crowd, but at this moment, the figures in blue and white school uniforms were intermingling, and she had no idea where she had gone.

"What are you looking at?" Chen Shi'an asked.

"...It's nothing!"

Wen Zhixia shuddered. This stinky Taoist priest has sharp eyes!

"You look around as if you're looking for someone."

"...Find your class monitor."

"Huh? What do you want with your old deskmate?"

"..."

Wen Zhixia rolled her eyes at him. Looking at the mocking look in this stinky Taoist priest's eyes, it was clear that he had deliberately replaced the word "your class monitor" with "your old deskmate".

"I just ran into her on the stairs. When you were sitting at the same table, why didn't you ask her to eat with you?" Wen Zhixia asked curiously.

"I looked for it, but the class monitor said to take it back to the dorm to eat. You guys used to eat together when you were deskmates?"

"No, she doesn't eat with other people..."

Thinking of this, Wen Zhixia asked curiously, "So, who did you eat with when you were on duty yesterday?"

"Squad leader."

"..."

Upon hearing this, the girl's cheeks subtly puffed up.

You stinky food buddy! You stinky food buddy! I ate by myself yesterday!

Let's leave aside that strange feeling of bitterness in my heart for now.

Wen Zhixia was more surprised than anything else. After all, she didn't remember Lin Mengqiu ever eating with anyone else, but she never expected to eat with Chen Shi'an.

Was it because they were on duty together and happened to be passing by...? What a load of rubbish! Back then, she and Lin Mengqiu were also deskmates and did duty together, but I've never seen her ever eat together with them.

"what happened?"

"No!"

After secretly turning into a mosquito and biting him a hundred times, Wen Zhixia changed the subject and asked, "Is the school going to change morning exercises to Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade) from now on? Did your class fill out the survey?"

"I filled it out, but I don't know if it will be changed to Baduanjin."

"I bet it will!"

"You also know?"

"I've seen a lot of classmates in my class, and they all agree that we should do Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade). The original morning exercises are too boring, and other classes are probably similar."

Wen Zhixia then asked him, "So, will the school ask you to teach Baduanjin then? You're so good at it!"

"You also know?"

"Really!"

The girl was quite pleased with herself for guessing two things correctly in a row, and she also found the situation quite amusing.

"Haha, if you go and become a teacher, you'll probably be the only one in our school who can do it."

"It's not something very difficult, so there's no need to teach it."

"Besides the Eight Pieces of Brocade, do you know many other exercises?"

"Well, I know a little about the common Taoist health preservation methods."

"..."

Wen Zhixia stared at him incredulously. "You know health preservation methods, calligraphy, painting, medicine, martial arts—you know everything! Do you have superpowers? How can you learn so many things?!" The girl was speechless. Sometimes the difference between people can be so great that it makes comparison impossible. She knew Chen Shi'an had a good memory, but learning so many things was more than just a matter of having a good memory. Even if he only had a 'slight understanding,' it was still incredible...

"I learn things quickly."

"...This doesn't even go beyond the realm of speed; it's definitely a superpower!"

"You didn't believe me when I said I had magical powers, but you believe me when I say I have superpowers?"

"Who would believe in magic power?!"

Chen Shi'an found it amusing and asked in return, "So, do you have any superpowers?"

"I can sleep a lot. During holidays, I can sleep from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next day."

"...Wen Xiaozhu is indeed amazing."

You're the pig!

Wen Zhixia playfully punched him, then pinched her chin and pondered for a moment before her mind lit up and she said, "If superpowers really exist, would being good at judging people count as a superpower?"

Chen Shi'an became interested: "You can read faces?"

"It's not the kind of face reading you're talking about. It's more like... I can tell whether someone is a good person or not just by looking at them, and whether I can become friends with them."

"...Is this considered a superpower? Isn't it just about chemistry?"

"I'm very accurate! If I feel that we can become good friends, we definitely will become good friends."

"What if it's someone you feel you can't be good friends with?"

"Then I'll just ignore it."

Chen Shi'an chuckled.

This laugh made Wen Zhixia a little unconvinced: "What are you laughing at?"

"No, I just remembered seeing a news interview about the Spring Festival travel rush. The reporter asked the passengers on the train, 'Have you bought tickets?' The passengers all said, 'Yes.' Then the reporter concluded that tickets were easy to get this year, and everyone had bought a ticket."

"I know, that's called survivor bias."

“Survivorship bias…that’s an interesting term.” Chen Shi’an nodded, feeling like he had learned a new term.

What do you want to say?

"I want to say that first impressions aren't always accurate. Even I, who's a fortune teller, don't have as much confidence as you."

"Hmph, anyway, I've never made a mistake~"

Wen Zhixia has always been confident in her judgment; to give an extreme example—

Could Lin Mengqiu, who is so strong and aloof in her eyes, really be a crybaby?

How is that possible!
That woman's competitiveness and willpower were so strong that she almost gave up during that academic competition back then...

Wen Zhixia would rather study for a whole year in her senior year than go back to study for a single semester in her freshman year; it was truly a battle that was so intense it felt like the world was collapsing.

"I can tell which auntie serves the most food!"

"Can this be seen?"

"Let's go!"

……

Sometimes the relationships between people are truly amazing.

Some people know that the other person has many flaws, but they can still become good friends, while others know that the other person is excellent in every way, but they just can't get along.

It seems that someone's existence is defined by being born to be their rival.

Lin Mengqiu would occasionally think about this question.

Her personality is completely different from Wen Zhixia's, and their survival strategies are also completely opposite.

Wen Zhixia lives more like a mirror image of her, walking the path of life that she had long abandoned.

The only thing they had in common was that she was proud, and Wen Zhixia was proud in her own way.

At sixteen, with their youthful ambition and broadened horizons, they fought each other for an entire semester, each trying to prove that their own life logic was correct.

It seems that if you lose just once, everything the other person has done will be proven wrong.

Even when she enters her senior year of high school, Lin Mengqiu feels that it won't be as tiring as the first semester of her freshman year...

It wasn't until later, when they were divided into different departments, that she and Wen Zhixia each took half the spotlight and the competition ended.

Unfortunately, the final exam didn't produce a clear winner.

When Lin Mengqiu learned that Chen Shi'an's study partner and dining partner was Wen Zhixia, she was quite shocked and felt a strange sense of destiny.

Of course, since they are not on the same level, the two of them do not necessarily have to compete with each other in everything. For example, Lin Mengqiu would not be so bored as to compete with her to be Chen Shi'an's dining companion, and Wen Zhixia would not be so bored as to compete with her to be Chen Shi'an's deskmate.

Only when they're on the same level, like both being Chen Shi'an's study partners—one teaching math, the other English—does that inexplicable competitive spirit of not wanting to lose to the other arise...

Lin Mengqiu hoped that the stinky Taoist priest wouldn't do worse in math than in English, otherwise she felt she would really strangle him to death!
……

When Chen Shi'an suddenly sneezed, he was a little stunned.

I haven't sneezed in years.

How inconsiderate! Who's cursing me?
(Thank you Yu Sheng, leader of the clan! Long time no see, Yu Sheng! Boss, you're so generous! May you prosper! Thank you so much for your support!)
(End of this chapter)