Fang Shicheng can't remember the day he first visited Luzhou, but it was sometime in 2004. He arrived at Huazhong University of Science and Technology that day, carrying a lot of luggage, and he must have looked his usual rustic and dusty self.

Luzhou at that time did not leave a deep impression on him.

Luzhou was not as refined and grand as it is now. In 04, there were still many dilapidated two-story self-built houses. He took classes in the second teaching building of the East Campus of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. There were no buildings more than ten stories high. Looking out from the classroom, he could see many colorful roofs of varying heights.

The roofs are made of tiles, iron sheets, and the ugliest ones are flat concrete roofs.

In 2004, he spent his first winter in Luzhou. It snowed heavily. Shandong and Anhui provinces are not far apart, but the climates are vastly different. Having grown up by the sea, Fang Shicheng had seen snow before, but never this deep. He still remembers the snow coming up to his calves.

The snow was so thick that many iron roofs collapsed. When the snow stopped, it turned into black, dirty ice, making it very slippery to walk on.

That was his first year in Luzhou, and his first year away from the small county town of Qindao.

He was familiar with places like this, for he was imbued with the fishy smell of the sea breeze from the small coastal county, while Luzhou was filled with the fishy smell of mud. They were in the same world, hundreds of kilometers apart, yet they felt so familiar.

Fang Shicheng was familiar with this feeling. In his early adult life, Luzhou was just a large county town. He thought life would continue like this for a long time, until he found a job, got married, and had children...

The bus arrived, stopped in front of Fang Shicheng, and opened its doors. There was no sound, no smell of gasoline.

The buses in Luzhou have been pure electric for several years. The world's first pure electric bus line is in Luzhou. Fang Shicheng is not used to this feeling, even though he has been riding pure electric buses for several years.

The departure of the first bus, in a sense, signaled the city's awakening. Fang Shicheng, feeling dizzy from looking at his phone for a moment, glanced out the window. Newly opened residential buildings, tall and respectable, were everywhere, brimming with gleaming private cars, their horns blaring until his ears buzzed.

When did Luzhou become unfamiliar?

Fang Shicheng couldn't explain it, but his mind had been hazy since he started college. It was as if an invisible hand had pressed the accelerator at some point in time, and everything in Luzhou had rapidly become unfamiliar.

He knew that he was living in an era of burgeoning prosperity and flourishing flowers. This era was sweeping the ancient city of Luzhou forward in a direction he could not understand. It was a one-way train with no brakes, only the accelerator in the gearbox.

The familiar shacks he knew disappeared piece by piece like popped soap bubbles, creating a new crop of nouveau riche. Construction sites were everywhere around the school, and Fang Shicheng watched with his own eyes as tall buildings rose from the ground, and respectable roads were paved with asphalt everywhere.

The roads are becoming decent, the houses are becoming decent, and even the trees in the green belts are becoming decent. But as a passer-by in Luzhou, even though Luzhou is his second hometown, he does not belong here after all.

After more than an hour's journey, Fang Shicheng got off the train at Luzhou Railway Station. He rummaged through his pockets for a long time, took out his ID card from his wallet, and obediently went to the hall to queue up.

When he first came to Luzhou, he had to go to the counter to buy tickets, but now he uses an automatic ticket machine, which makes him feel uncomfortable.

In front of Fang Shicheng in the queue was a young woman, heavily perfumed. She was talking loudly on her phone, oblivious to the crowd. She was wearing shorts and a short shirt that exposed her navel. Her hair was dyed, a yellowish-brown chestnut. But Fang Shicheng preferred to describe it as "poop color," the color of healthy poop. Yellow might indicate intestinal disturbances, while black indicates gastrointestinal bleeding. The color of the woman's hair, then, was the color of the healthiest stool.

Fang Shicheng secretly looked at the woman's neck. There was a tattoo on it that he couldn't understand. It was a red paragraph of foreign language with a circle. But Fang Shicheng was an old-fashioned man. He didn't know what it was. He just thought it looked like a cooked swimming crab.

The woman in front was talking on the phone so loudly that Fang Shicheng's ears perked up.

"He has to be able to cook and have a car, at least a Volkswagen. If he's a poor idiot driving a domestic car, don't let me meet him. It's a waste of my time. Let me make it clear up front, I'm picky about food, and I don't cook, and I can't help. He has to prepare my meals every day, and if they don't suit my taste, he has to redo them. He has to pick me up from get off work in the morning, noon, and evening, and he's not allowed to be late. I need ten hours of sleep every day, and being late is a waste of my sleep time. Oh, and you're not allowed to wake me up early in the morning. I'm grumpy when I wake up, so you can't speak to me loudly."

Fang Shicheng secretly turned on the recording on his phone, his face full of excitement. While recording, he also sent messages in the group chat "Chusheng Home".

"Lao Fang: Brothers, I met the best!"

"Lao Fang: Recording now, will post later, dying of laughter"

"Lao Fang: He's dressed like a street slicker, and the perfume on his body can kill mosquitoes."

"Mr. Pickle: If there is no picture, you are talking to your mother. Where is the picture?"

"Lao Fang: I'm behind her, I'll post it later, it's super exciting"

Fang Shicheng continued to listen to the "babatou" in front of him talking nonsense.

"I hate children and don't want them. I can't have any. If you want a child, ask his mother to have one. We won't provide any support here. Also, I have a bad temper. His parents have to tell me a week in advance before they come, otherwise I will smash things. I have a cat, but I don't like to clean up its poop. He changes the cat litter. We've agreed in advance that I won't do housework, I won't clean, I won't wash clothes or dishes. If you dare ask me to do these things, I will beat you. I like to buy things. The betrothal gift and my monthly salary will be handed over. My salary will not be used to supplement the family income. I can spend it all myself. I don't like uneducated people. If necessary, we have to discuss literature."

The more Fang Shicheng listened, the happier he felt. For some reason, he felt a strong sense of gloating.

"Babatou" wasn't lying. She must have thought so, because online trolls couldn't come up with something this pure. This had to be the true feelings of a new-age independent XX. He just loved watching these idiots spout nonsense. The rapid pace of development had its advantages. In the past, this kind of stuff would have sunk into oblivion. He never had the chance to enjoy it.

The old man walking in front of the woman had probably never seen anything like this before. He kept looking back, his lips trembling with anger. But when it was his turn at the ticket machine, he stepped forward to scan his ID. The woman, still talking, leaped over the one-meter line marked on the ground in front of the machine and slid right up to the old man, as if urging him to hurry up.

In order to record more clearly, Fang Shicheng also crossed the one-meter line, but the "babatou" in front of him suddenly shouted, scaring him so much that he almost lost his grip on the phone.

"Mom, I'm a feminist!"

"If you dare to talk back at me, I'll throw things. Let me make a deal first. I won't move out for the first few months. He can come over at dinner time to cook, and leave after dinner. Please don't stay at my house at other times. Don't bring anything here. Don't bring anything ugly. Don't be too tall or too short. Just 5 feet 4 inches tall. If he looks like Kim Soo Hyun, just ignore what I said."

"Babatou" was getting angry, and the old man in front was upset. He turned around and glared at "Babatou", and "Babatou" exploded all of a sudden.

"You coffin stuffing, glare at your mother! Your mother is letting you watch!"

  The old man was a little confused, but he quickly reacted and cursed back in a thick Jianghuai accent.

"I'm ready to vomit. You're such a nuisance. You're wearing a mink skin that's embarrassing. You're a nobody. Stop it, Huang Liang!"

"Babatou" didn't understand the local dialect, but she knew that the other party was definitely not praising her, so she screamed "Ah" and tried to grab the old man's hair, but she didn't expect it was a wig, so she pulled it off. The old man was not one to be bullied, so he punched "Babatou" in the face.

The "babatou" was stunned, probably because she didn't expect the other party to dare to hit her. The old man took advantage of her stunned opportunity to throw three straight punches and an uppercut, knocking the "feminist" to the ground. She hugged her face and screamed, but the old man refused to give in and continued to kick her head hard.

Fang Shicheng's expression was exaggerated, and he wanted to laugh out loud but he was holding it back. Now he no longer records audio, but has switched to video, but he still doesn't dare to go too far.

Two policemen on duty came jogging over and tried to pull the old man away, but the old man continued to beat the "babatou" unilaterally. Perhaps he was tired of kicking, so he fell to the ground and groaned, pretending to have a heart attack. Seeing the police coming, the "babatou", who had been beaten all the time, quickly got up from the ground and rushed to the old man who fell to the ground pretending to be sick.

Fang Shicheng was tactful enough not to continue recording the video. He took advantage of the chaos, walked around the two men with his ID card, and went to get the ticket.

Anyway, the old man has legal mitigation, and as long as the woman isn't disabled, she'll probably just get a verbal lecture. And now it's clear the two of them are fighting each other, so it's likely they'll resort to the traditional Chinese practice of smoothing things over. After getting the ticket, Fang Shicheng rushed upstairs to the waiting area, leaning over the railing to continue watching. The view from upstairs was clearer, but unfortunately, he couldn't hear the two people's verbal abuse. Because of the noise downstairs, the waiting area near the railing on the first floor was also full of people.

Fang Shicheng clicked on the video and wanted to upload it to the group, but a prompt appeared on the phone interface that it would consume 165 megabytes of data. This made Fang Shicheng stunned for a moment. He endured the pain and spent 12 yuan to buy 1G of traffic before he uploaded the video and audio to the group.

"Old House: Live Video"

"Lao Fang: The police came, but I didn't take any more photos afterwards"

"Lao Fang: They were fighting each other. The old man pretended to be sick first, and the woman started to beat him up when she saw the police coming."

"Mr. Pickle: Lao Deng, use some strength. Mom is too old to swing her fists. Find a knife and use the red and white swords on the stinky girl. She can't handle it."

"Hunyuan Dachu: You also join"

"Lao Fang: I can't resist, now it's version T0 against version T0"

"Lao Fang: Damn! The woman went up and bit my ear."

"Lao Fang: Oh my god! There's so much blood!"

“Lao Fang: Damn! My phone can’t take clear pictures.”

When Fang Shicheng saw the old man bleeding, he directly pushed "Babatou" to the ground. The old man's ears were bleeding. Maybe his eyes were completely red after seeing the blood. He held the mobile phone in his hand, pressed on "Babatou" and hammered her face continuously. After a while, "Babatou" was also beaten with blood in the face.

"Hunyuan Dachu: Look at the ear biting"

"Hunyuan Dachu: What's the reason for the fight? Because of something against the will of heaven?"

"Hunyuan Dachu: Please identify the text, I don't have headphones on and I don't dare to listen"

"Hunyuan Datou: Old House"

"Lao Fang: I don't have that software, I don't understand how they fought, they just exchanged a few words and then started punching."

"Mr. Pickle: I guessed that the woman attacked first, and thought she wouldn't fight back, but ended up getting beaten up."

"Mr. Pickle: Power!"

"Lao Fang: Yes, it was the woman who started the fight first."

Two policemen each took charge of one and tried to pull them apart, but the two were entangled tightly together. The woman headbutted the old man, but she couldn't withstand the blow. The headbutt reminded the old man, and he headbutted her twice, knocking the woman unconscious. He himself couldn't hold on any longer, so the two were separated by the police.

This really made Fang Shicheng laugh, and he almost had a bag of melon seeds in his hand and ate them while watching.

"Lao Fang: It's over, both of them fainted"

"Lao Fang: It's a pity you weren't there. This is really fierce. Just beat him up without any fuss."

"Hunyuan Dachu: Too stupid! Does she think that no matter how exaggerated, stupid, or crazy she is, the whole society will still treat her like a baby?"

"Lao Fang: Both of them were seriously injured. The woman was bleeding from the nose and her nose bridge might be broken. How stupid! She was fine before, but she went up and bit the man's ear. Both of them are injured."

"Hunyuan Dachu: Serves you right. You're lucky you didn't die. Normal conversation could have resolved the issue, but you insisted on being aggressive. That's when you have to confront the underlying logic of order: the game of violence and the cost of inflicting violence."

Chapter 12 Entrance Examination

Nanling, Jiangsu Province.

Qin Zhixin returned from dinner, chatting and laughing with Yang Qichao. Entering the classroom, she saw Zhang Wei sitting on the podium, staring at her. A chill instantly ran down her spine. She instinctively tried to pull her neck back, a subconscious reaction she'd picked up from Tang Yuyu's beatings. Tang Yuyu would pull her ears when she was angry, and pulling her neck back was a silent form of resistance.

But she realized she wasn't home, and instantly felt more confident. She trotted back to her seat, her plump breasts jiggling playfully with her steps, her small, lotus-colored shirt barely covering them, drawing the attention of many classmates.

Zhang Wanbai was sniffling in her seat, and when she saw Qin Zhixin arrive, she hunched over and stood up. Qin Zhixin saw her eyes were red, and she didn't know why, but they weren't close, and Qin Zhixin wasn't shameless enough to go up to her and comfort her.

Zhang Wei was still sitting in the chair behind the podium, looking quite composed. He waited until the entire class had arrived before standing up. He coughed and then spoke.

"Let's not waste time at noon. First, we'll decide on the class leaders. We'll assign them based on the acting class leaders from the summer make-up classes. Liu Qinxiong will be the monitor, Lu Zude will be the study committee member, Deng Lanying will be the organization committee member, and Feng Yizhong will be the physical education committee member. The class representatives for each subject will be chosen by the teachers."

Zhang Wei directly appointed the class leaders, but high school class leaders really don't play a big role; almost everything is handled by the monitor. The study committee member's job is simply to demonstrate that a class has a study committee member. The physical education and organization committee members, on the other hand, are even more insignificant. With only a few physical education classes a week and few activities throughout the year, they're arguably even more dispensable than the study committee members.

Zhang Wei is still talking.

"We won't have a class representative for math. Liu Qinxiong is the monitor, so you'll help out and take on more responsibilities like collecting homework and sending notices. Deng Lanying, you'll take care of the class fees. Each person will pay ten yuan upfront, and you can pay it after the exam. Everyone, move your desks apart now. There won't be a self-study session at noon. We'll start with the entrance exam so I can check your foundation."

Zhang Wei's words were lighthearted, but what he said still caused the class to whisper. Qin Zhixin poked her head out from behind the pile of books and gasped when she heard that there was going to be a test.

[Oh my god, are you in such a hurry? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate?]

"It's just the entrance exam. Haven't you already studied? You had a blast playing games over the summer, you could learn them in just a few glances. Now you're scared?"

Qin Zhixin shrank her head back, took out the photocopied key points from her bag, and quickly flipped through them. The system didn't even bother to scold her. What was the point of suddenly getting anxious right before the exam?

[How am I a coward! How am I a coward! You are the one who is a coward. I am watching you right now!]

Qin Zhixin became anxious all of a sudden, like a dog whose tail was stepped on, while Zhang Wei was still speaking on the podium.

"The key classes will take their own exams, while the regular classes will have a unified exam. The key classes will have their own exams. Don't dwell on what you learned over the summer; it won't mean much. The questions on this exam, whether it's the fill-in-the-blanks or the big questions, were all specially selected by me. Let me remind you, every big question is a must-answer. Even for the rocket class, aside from the first and second place finishers, it's impossible for the top ten to answer all of them. Your poor level isn't normal, so don't rush the exam; take your time. If anyone can't answer a question, don't raise your hand and cry like a woman, and don't cry out loud. I don't care about your mental health or your psychological well-being."

Looking at the nervous expressions of the students below the stage, Zhang Wei felt a little excited. He took out the printed test papers and distributed them, observing the students' expressions as he did so.

He had carefully selected the questions for this exam; not only were they computationally demanding, but the solutions were also challenging. The average score for his class, Class 2, was already the lowest among the four key classes. He didn't expect any of the math prodigies in the class to score a perfect score, and estimated the highest possible score would be a staggering 130.

Given the difficulty of this test paper, the average score will definitely be below the passing line.

Zhang Wei has his own quirks, and to some extent, he's very similar to Ge Jun. All his teaching is geared towards serving the top students in the class. Those who understand should continue listening, while those who don't should figure it out on their own. This is Nanshi High School, not just any other high school. Since you've been selected to get in, you must possess abilities that surpass the average student.

Qin Zhixin had a bitter face. After hearing that the rocket class might not be able to finish it, she simply gave up. She threw the key points that Yang Qichao had given her into the drawer, and held the pen tightly in her little hand, as if she was a death row prisoner waiting for the verdict.

Math is over, and the afternoon is filled with Chinese and English. There's no lunch break. Forget it, I'll just finish early. I came in last! As long as I'm not last, I'll be a success.

Qin Zhixin relaxed, a silly smile on her face.

[As long as you're not last in the class, you must have done so well on the high school entrance exam to get into the key class. Point out anyone here who's worse than you. Others are taking extra classes during the summer, but you're just hanging out, playing games until your fingers cramp. And you still want to be last in the class? You're just wishful thinking.]

The system was furious when it thought of the girl's performance before school started, especially recently when she played Civilization 5 every day. She would play a game all night long, slept only five or six hours a day, and started playing games when she woke up. When she was tired, she would go to the group to brag. She didn't go to bed until one or two in the morning for several days in a row, and she had dark circles under her eyes from playing so much.

If Tang Yuyu hadn't had to come back in the early morning, she would definitely have played all night long.

While the beauty's "lazy, draped silk robe, swaying gracefully like a willow" look was quite captivating, the System, after spending so much time with her, had come to regard her as incredibly demanding. What infuriated him most was that this damned girl wasn't just playing games; she was also harassing him while lying in bed.

Anyway, he couldn't see the point of this crappy game. He would rather spend his time chatting with some good sisters he just met online.

The test paper was passed to her from the front. Qin Zhixin took a quick look at it. Even the first few fill-in-the-blank questions had four lines of text facing upwards. The confidence of a certain female ghost in "keeping the second place and fighting for the third place" was not enough again.

Qin Zhixin tried to complete all the questions she knew, but she stumbled throughout the process. She gave different answers to several questions, so she simply randomly picked the one that looked best to her. The entire paper was covered in scratches, barely recognizable as a draft. But she remained calm; after all, her goal wasn't to win the prize.

And Zhang Wei also gave her confidence.

This guy was running around the classroom, and when he came to a student, he would bend down to see that student's answer. He didn't say anything, just sighed and made "tsk" sounds.

Qin Zhixin knew this guy was deliberately playing tricks on the students. If he'd only sighed beside a few students, she'd have assumed they were writing poorly. But Zhang Wei treated every student like this, so it could only be explained as a ruthless attempt at stress testing.

Zhang Wei approached Zhang Wanbai, looked down, and sighed for a few seconds. Zhang Wanbai, already emotionally disturbed by Deng Lanying's harassment, couldn't contain her emotions anymore after Zhang Wei's actions, and she began to sob softly. Qin Zhixin glanced sideways, her tongue clenched.

[Oh my god, system, look, this old man is really playing dirty!]

[System, can you teach me three questions? I think no matter how I calculate, I can only get 90 points at most. Please help me!]

Hearing Zhang Wanbai's sobs, even though Qin Zhixin was kind-hearted, she was also panicked.

[System, help! System, I can't do it! System, two questions are fine, are you bargaining? Speak! One question is fine, seriously!]

But the system ignored her.

Zhang Wei had already come around to her from behind, bending over her desk to examine her paper. Qin Zhixin raised her head cautiously, offering a fawning smile, like a lackey. Zhang Wei didn't respond, only letting out a long sigh. This sigh was exceptionally loud and prolonged, and after sighing, Zhang Wei even "tsk tsk tsk tsk" four times before continuing on his way.

Now even Zhang Wanbai stopped crying. She turned to look at Qin Zhixin, her eyes red behind her glasses.

Qin Zhixin's face was also red at this time.

[Damn! What does he mean? ]

[It means that your answer is terrible. What else can you say? Do you feel ashamed? ]

"Then at least show some respect! How can I be ashamed if I don't show any respect at all?"

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