Any jokes?
In 2006, houses bought in the magic city, even if left empty and unrented, just held without selling, would win praise for Chen Ru’s sharp eye and investment savvy a decade or two later!
Still, madly cramming summer homework truly put Wen Ying in the wrong.
Senior year had only just begun, yet Wen Ying already sensed the shift in study vibe around her.
Class 16, as Rong City’s provincial key school’s science experimental class, boasted Xie Qian, the super academic overlord, holding court, plus countless lesser academic tyrants scattered throughout.
If mapping students’ exam prowess to cultivation realms, Xie Qian would be the tribulation-crossing big shot.
Ascension timing? Up to his whim. Next year’s gaokao heavenly tribulation posed no threat to Xie big shot’s existence. He could face it or skip, worst case take the recommendation route for early admission.
Below tribulation-crossing, plenty of peak-merging lesser tyrants awaited next year’s tribulation test!
Wen Ying? She had escaped the dreg ranks, but her cultivation still trailed those peak-merging lesser tyrants, leaving her unable to face next year’s gaokao tribulation with ease.
She reckoned holding year-group rank 100 would do nicely.
Yet the deeper-cultivated peak-merging lesser tyrants were far from content.
First and second year, they learned while playing, scores unmarred, and joined all sorts of in-school events.
Li Mengjiao auditioned for stardom as an idol, Wen Ying wrote novels to become a writer; those two stood out, but the rest held their own.
Class 16 had piano virtuosos, string instrument masters. Talents in qin, chess, calligraphy, painting could fill a set. Each year, for the school’s talent show, Class 16 submitted acts only after internal PK.
Those who poured hobbies into arts, fine. The non-arts sorts lacked nothing either.
Coders.
Robotics buffs.
Contest grinders galore.
Academic tyrants’ pastimes sprawled thus, vast in span.
In such surrounds, Wen Ying could not help the illusion that with everyone learning so breezily, she need not push extra. That slack mindset, though, got snuffed by Xie Qian the moment it sprouted.
Xie Qian truly dragged her along the whole way, turning a post-rebirth foundation-lost dreg into a provincial key year-group 100 contender.
With Xie Qian there, Wen Ying never fretted over grades.
Year-group 100 sufficed, roughly.
So Wen Ying thought.
No matter how hard she tried, the gap to a true academic tyrant like Xie Qian stayed unbridgeable!
Wen Ying knew her limits clear. Xie Qian often vexed over this slacker-hamster mindset, forced to crack the whip harder.
Now, Class 16’s air had flipped!
Those who juggled study without skimping on personal pursuits, all tacitly cut back on hobby time, shunting most energy to learning.
Put plainer, the higher-cultivated lesser tyrants than Wen Ying had started grinding!
If Wen Ying slacked, she might not hold year-group 100. Realising this, anxiety finally hit her. She longed to howl skyward:
“Your scores are plenty good already. Why grind so?”
Seeing the hamster frown in woe, Xie Qian stayed cool as ice.
He had always been clear-headed. Two summer months in the magic city deepened his societal grasp further. “You think their scores fine, they deem them lacking. Not grinding now means regret later. Gaokao is the fairest arena yet. For many, this one exam shapes decades of life ahead.”
“Fair” weighed too heavy.
Exam education had flaws aplenty, but it strove to level the field for varied family backs.
Some experts, be they dim or ill-intent, kept yowling to scrap gaokao.
“Scrap gaokao” sounded feather-light, but the heft? Immense!
Take Li Mengjiao and Xu Mei.
Debuting from the same talent show, Li Mengjiao sailed smooth, Xu Mei hit bends galore.
Li Mengjiao had a crew shielding her, Xu Mei none. The gap was not just luck, but Li Mengjiao had a safety net. Xu Mei had aced into a magic city top uni, holding her “fair” entry ticket, yet ditched her lead lane for a narrower goat path. No stumbles? Fat chance!
Xie Qian’s “no regrets” made Wen Ying flush faintly. On the “writing” path, she had notched wins, but in study, a touch of slack crept in.
Li Mengjiao was a big star now, with arts exam as fallback, yet still ground at learning. Wen Ying truly had no slack leeway.
Rarely, Wen Ying volunteered to Xie Qian for worksheets. A glint of mirth flashed in his eyes:
“Plenty of those, sure. You lot do not call me the worksheet fiend behind my back?”
Wen Ying hopped in denial. “Who said that? I shall have their head!”
Who blabbed so loose?
Wen Ying pegged Wang Shuang!
Thinking of Wang Shuang, off to magic city uni, saddled unwitting with mortgage as house slave, Wen Ying opted for magnanimous pardon.
Wen Ying straightened her study resolve. Daily, she and Li Mengjiao rode Tianjiao’s driver to and from school. This left Yu Tianlin, itching for a chance to stir, quite passive.
After lingering in Rong City a spell, Yu Tianlin stood shocked to find Tianjiao’s folk had no downtime lives.
Wen Ying and Li Mengjiao: school, and more school.
Zhang Yangning now maxed on gigs and events, mostly out of town.
Yun Chen, idol male star? Forget cheating, clubbing, hookups. No dating even. Acting classes or gym, that was it!
Yuan Fenghui? Purest workaholic. Others clocked five days a week, she could do seven sans break, maybe six nights bunking at the firm.
No scandals.
No weak spots.
Sneaking close undetected? Maddeningly tough!
After watching a while, Yu Tianlin’s patience frayed. He chose to disguise and infiltrate Tianjiao.
Not to brag, but his getup could fool any pap. Slipping into a media firm? What risk?
Cautious still, Yu Tianlin picked morning rush. The building housed Tianjiao plus other firms. Peak entry flow, easy tail-in.
Poised, cocksure Yu Tianlin ate humble pie at Tianjiao’s door.
He scarce clocked where the figure sprang from before getting tackled from behind.
One arm locked his neck firm, thwarting his flails to rise.
The other wrenched his head up, baring his stubbled face. The foe held a photo beside, scrutinising close, tone brimming tenfold sureness:
“It is him. No mistake! This punk has loitered near the firm two days. Come on, pat him down then haul to Director Yuan!”
Yu Tianlin ached to curse. The other stuffed a rag wad in his mouth swift, then the pair lugged him left and right like a chick to the lift.
Yu Tianlin’s thrash drew odd stares. He muffled pleas for aid. A young guard smacked his noggin. “Stay put, eh? Stalking our firm’s stars daily. No warning, and you go full creep later!”
Oh, overzealous fan stalker?
Nothing to gawk at then. Tianjiao ran straight; guards would not stray.
