In the classroom.
After seeing the message from [Wutong], Shen Qiushan instinctively frowned.
Come on, just say "good luck" if you mean it!
Why add an extra "oh" at the end!
Dude, quit acting cute like some foot-scratching uncle!
"Dad, stop playing on your phone during class."
Just as Shen Qiushan was complaining silently to himself, Shen Yixiao—who’d been watching for a while—whispered to him.
Huh?
Shen Qiushan turned to look at his son, only to see the kid staring straight ahead, all innocent like he was totally paying attention to the lesson.
But honestly, the brat was actually pretty good today, staying focused and reviewing the whole time.
So Shen Qiushan put his phone away right away.
A dad’s gotta be a role model, after all.
The first class in the afternoon was Chinese. The teacher for Senior Three, Class Five was a granny named Hao Hongmei, who’s got a few years left before retirement.
This Teacher Hao is considered a "junior teacher," so attending her classes can help boost the Scholar Index.
But right now the stuff Hao Hongmei was covering clashed a bit with Shen Qiushan’s own review plan, so he stuck to his schedule, cashed in a Memory Capsule, and started grinding through the math textbook, beginning from the first semester of Senior One.
With enough Scholar Index points, Shen Qiushan spent the entire afternoon and evening study sessions working at his own pace through the math books.
By the end of evening classes, he’d already finished all four math textbooks from Senior One and Senior Two, but he’d burned through 4,000 Scholar Index points doing it.
Just yesterday he was riding high as the "big spender"—today, broke again, and now barely 1,000 Scholar Index points left!
He kinda regretted exchanging for that "Replenishing Essence and Qi Pills" last night.
Sure, his body was back in top shape, but the only one enjoying that was his old lover.
He just got a few compliments for being "still got it" and that’s all.
Pride is deadly, man!
Turns out you’ve either got it or you don’t, don’t force it for the sake of saving face.
While Shen Qiushan was busy self-reflecting, his phone suddenly buzzed—a WeChat message from his old lover.
Teacher Chen: Coming over to review tonight?
Teacher Chen: It’s fine if you can’t make it, you looked wiped out at lunch.
Seeing the words "can’t make it" gave Shen Qiushan a weird sense of competitiveness.
Can’t make it?
Who says I can’t!
Half an hour later.
Shen Qiushan quietly lit up a cigarette: "I really have been a bit tired lately—this isn’t my usual form."
"Obviously I knew that."
Chen Xiangyu nodded understandingly: "I really do want to help you with your English. Your foundation’s already solid, but if I help you review a bit, maybe you can score over 140 on a 150-point test."
"Xiangyu, I really want to review!"
"How about this—next time you’re tutoring Xiaoxiao and Yanran, I’ll sit in and listen too."
With an Intermediate Teacher, you get 10 Scholar Index points per minute! No way was Shen Qiushan passing that up.
"Sure, no problem at all!"
Chen Xiangyu smiled and nodded. As long as Shen Qiushan kept coming over for lessons, this was no trouble at all.
Wangjiang Garden.
The Shen Family.
When Shen Yixiao and Shen Yanran got home, Aunt Shen Dehua had already made them a late-night snack.
Two dishes and a soup.
Braised pork ribs, eggs with wood-ear mushrooms, and kelp soup.
"Wow, smells amazing!"
"Honestly, nobody spoils you like Aunt does!"
Shen Yixiao tossed his backpack onto the sofa, sniffed his way over to the dinner table, and grabbed a rib with his hand, shoving it straight into his mouth.
"Go wash your hands first!"
Shen Dehua shot her nephew a glare, then asked, "Where’s your dad?"
"He said he’s got something to do."
"But Shen Yanran reckons he’s secretly delivering food."
Shen Yixiao mumbled between bites of rib.
"Yup, he snuck off to deliver takeout!"
"How else do you think we got the money for these smartwatches?"
Freshly hand-washed, Shen Yanran joined the table, showing off her shiny new children’s phone watch to Aunt Dehua.
"Your dad bought that for you?"
Shen Dehua asked, surprised.
"Yeah, gave it to us today."
"One for me, one for Shen Yixiao."
Yanran nodded.
"This is the same watch your little cousin got for her birthday—your uncle paid over two thousand for it!"
Shen Dehua wrinkled her brow, "Is your dad getting reckless with cash now that he’s got some?"
"Maybe he just wants to keep in touch, but doesn’t want us carrying phones."
Yanran said while serving herself a bowl of rice.
"Sis, get me a bowl too!"
Yixiao, on his way to wash up, shouted.
"Tch!"
"Suddenly remembering to call me ’sis’ when you need something!"
Yanran smirked, but filled a big bowl for her brother anyway.
Just then, Old Shen came out of his room, hearing the commotion in the living room.
Isn’t he supposed to have a security job now?
Today was his first day, and for someone who’s worked hard his whole life in factories, being a security guard was an absolute breeze.
He mostly spent the day in the security booth watching short videos, checking out pretty dancers, and chatting with a middle-aged woman selling crepes by the gate.
When his shift ended, he honestly felt like he wanted to stay longer!
So, Old Shen was in an extra good mood tonight.
"Xiaoxiao, Yanran, you two just focus on your studies!"
"If you get into college, I’ll reward each of you with a brand-new phone!"
Old Shen had crunched the numbers—if the grandkids get into college, they won’t start till September, so he’s got about six months.
Even with five months’ salary, that’s over 10,000 yuan—extra income besides his pension.
So he’s set on buying his grandchildren a phone each with that 10k plus!
"Grandpa, you’re rolling in cash now!"
Yixiao teased.
"Not really rolling!"
"Just your grandpa picked up a job!"
"It’s really chill!"
Old Shen chuckled.
"Grandpa, save up some more!"
"I want the newest triple-fold phone!"
"If you can get into college, forget triple-fold—five-fold, eight-fold, whatever you want!"
Old Shen waved a mighty hand.
"Grandpa, don’t listen to Yixiao’s nonsense."
"Triple-fold phones cost a fortune!"
Yanran took a sip of kelp soup and looked up.
"If you two can get into college."
"So what if the phones are pricey—whatever it costs, Grandpa’s got it!"
With his new job, Old Shen was feeling extra confident.
Dehua couldn’t help herself. She rolled her eyes, "Dad, the triple-fold phone Yixiao’s talking about costs over 20,000!"
"How much???"
Old Shen’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
"Over 20,000!"
Dehua repeated.
"Grandpa, you’re not going to back out, are you?"
Yixiao jumped in to stir the pot.
Old Shen glared at his grandson, "Back out of what?"
"I never promised that!"
"You two just study hard. If you get into college, let your grandpa buy you a new phone each!"
"Fold it as many times as you want..."
After their late-night snack.
Shen Yixiao and Shen Yanran headed to their rooms to burn the midnight oil.
Usually, Yanran studies till around midnight before switching off the lights.
As for Yixiao’s room, his lights are on till roughly midnight, but doing what, who knows.
But tonight, Yixiao wasn’t slacking. He was grinding English vocab hard.
All the other sports students were on the same page—whenever they had time, they’d cram English vocab, too.
The reason, obviously, was to try and win Monday’s English vocabulary PK contest against Shen Qiushan, defending the honor of the sports students!
Actually, at the start, Gao Bin, Xu Zhishuai, and the others just got fired up because the stuff on the school forum was way too harsh, but as it snowballed, it went totally viral in the school.
Now basically the whole student body knows that next Monday the sports students will face Shen Qiushan in an English vocab PK showdown in the school canteen.
If they lose, man, the sports students’ pride is toast!
They probably won’t be able to lift their heads all the way to graduation, and odds are the story will be retold year after year.
So, Yixiao and the sports kids just cannot afford to lose—nobody wants to be nailed to the school’s wall of shame.
...