Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 203 - 202 Handsome people are often foolish

January 3, morning.

Jinghua University, Building Six.

Streaks of morning light pierced through the geometric gaps of this building, casting spotlight-like illumination on the brick-red walls.

Unlike most buildings within Jinghua University, Building Six was new, its structure appearing as though it had been carved out with a giant knife, sharp and distinct in its edges.

This teaching building, which was steeped in modern geometric sensibilities, was also the largest and tallest within Jinghua University.

If Jinghua Gate represented the traditional heritage of Jinghua University.

Then Building Six symbolized Jinghua University’s determination to step into a new modern era.

Of course, it was also a prime spot for genuine photo enthusiasts.

At this moment, across the street, a girl in a brown long coat held up her phone with her back to the teaching building and smiled, tidying her exquisite medium-length hair.

Usually, she rarely smiled.

But in front of Building Six, she smiled.

She smiled, which student hasn’t once dreamed of being admitted to Jinghua University?

She smiled, yet how many have made it to the end?

The Yangtze River flows relentlessly to the east, its waves washing away the grand ambitions of scholars.

And she.

Remained consistent, the finish line now almost within sight.

As early as the summer vacation in ninth grade, she had started preparing for this year’s physics competition.

Unknowingly, two years had passed.

Now, she was just a step away.

Direct admission was naturally a bit challenging, but she was confident in reaching the national contest and signing with Jinghua.

Those 20 points, more precious than gold, would become her final boost towards Jinghua.

At this moment.

Even if she was usually aloof, she couldn’t help but want a photo with Building Six.

After posing for a long time and switching through many smiles, she finally pressed her thumb down.

Click, the selfie was taken.

She then looked down to check the photo.

No good, her face was too big.

So, she took another one.

No good, she smiled too goofily.

Another one.

This time it was almost right.

Looking at the photo, her normally aloof and sophisticated smile.

She herself laughed out loud like a silly husky, then quickly uploaded the photo to her social circle—

[Passed by Building Six, the morning light was beautiful]

After posting, she began to refresh eagerly.

One refresh per second.

After eight seconds, she saw a like from a boy in her class, the type who would just say hello when they bumped into each other on the street on weekends, with no further chat.

Yet she still smiled foolishly.

At the fourteenth second, the boy’s comment appeared.

[I was wondering why you hadn’t been at school, what are you doing at Jinghua?]

This time, she smiled composedly, quickly typed a reply but did not rush to send it.

A prompt reply would expose that she was eagerly refreshing her feed, anticipating responses.

That wouldn’t do.

Firstly, she was always reserved and aloof, needing to maintain a sense of mystery and superiority.

Secondly, she wanted to appear as if she was just passing by casually, without revealing her desire to attend Jinghua.

Thirdly, she liked others to speculate about her, to admire her, to look at her with the humble expression reserved for an idol.

She kept her foolish smile as she waited until seven or eight comments appeared, then replied to all at once, generously.

[There’s a competition enhancement class, my teacher asked me to come, see you all next week (smile face)]

Perfect.

This was how you do social media.

Just as she eagerly awaited everyone asking "What competition, so impressive!"

A naive voice suddenly came from her left side.

"Excuse me...are you...Peipei Duan?"

She quickly turned her head to look.

Wow, a handsome guy in a leather jacket.

Although he’s handsome...that outfit...

Makes him look like he’s not good at studying.

He doesn’t seem like a student from Jinghua, more like a broadcaster here for sightseeing and filming.

However, the problem is, the leather jacket guy’s backpack was quite proper, the kind that had been used for three or four years, covered with the marks of time and the wear of books.

"I am." The girl didn’t dare to look directly at this hunk, casually put away her phone, and said aloofly, "Do we know each other?"

Upon hearing this, the hunk’s eyes widened and he moved closer.

"I’m Li Zheng."

"Li Zheng?" The girl was confused for a moment, then tried hard to recall the name, it took a good three or four seconds before she vaguely remembered a face.

Seems like a middle school classmate...

Sat in the back, wasn’t very sociable, always studying...

As for his academic performance.

She had actually forgotten.

Or rather, she had never remembered it at all.

Simply because no one from that middle school had grades worth her remembering.

Except for herself.

Now that was truly a pitiful school.

So pitiful that she hardly dared mention it to her high school classmates.

Her middle school classmates were also too ordinary.

So ordinary that she didn’t even feel the urge to brag about them on social media.

But...

People don’t necessarily have to realize themselves through studying.

The Li Zheng before her obviously found that no matter how much he studied it was useless, so he simply gave up trying, dressed up, and took the handsome route.

Hmm...

Given his current handsomeness.

This choice was correct.

Forget it, forget it~

I’ll give you a spot as a friend~

Thinking this, Peipei Duan turned her head and looked directly at Li Zheng.

It took just half a second before she turned back.

It won’t do...he’s too handsome...

"Cough...I remember now, yes, Li Zheng." She used a light cough to cover her embarrassment and casually asked, "Did you go on to attend high school afterward?"

Li Zheng was momentarily stunned.

That question was somewhat belittling, wasn’t it...

But coming from Peipei Duan, it somehow made sense.

In the middle school Li Zheng attended, Peipei Duan was quite the standout, always leading the second place by more than 20 points, and leading Li Zheng by over 80 points.

Considering the total scores of middle school exams were lower, that gap was actually quite significant.

But Li Zheng was never one to be discouraged.

Since the first year of middle school, he had regarded Peipei Duan as a role model and target.

In the three years of effort, he successfully reduced the 80-point gap to 35 points.

Today, Li Zheng had no need to compete for superiority.

More so, he felt thankful because having a shining beacon like Peipei Duan allowed him to traverse the vast ocean of middle school.

Therefore, faced with the question of "whether he went to high school or not", Li Zheng was not the least bit upset.

"I went to Lake Ying Middle School afterward, close to home," Li Zheng replied with a genial smile.

"Oh, Lake Ying, that’s quite good too." Peipei Duan smiled faintly, her voice trailing off there.

She was giving Li Zheng a chance to ask "which high school did you attend?"

That way, she could casually drop the name of that prestigious school.

One could imagine that next, Li Zheng would surely be surprised, his mouth agape, showing that absolute admiration only seen when gazing at a goddess.

If he reacted like that, she would proactively offer him a spot as a friend~

However, Peipei Duan truly didn’t understand Li Zheng, never had.

As the sound of a cellphone alarm rang, Li Zheng shuddered and suddenly turned around, "Ah, it’s time for class, let’s talk later."

"Class?" Duan Peipei instantly became alert, turned around to catch up half a step and asked in surprise, "Where are you going to class?"

"The notice said Building Six, so it must be here," Li Zheng gestured towards the building across the street with his lips.

"Which floor?"

"I think it’s the fifth floor," Li Zheng turned back bewildered, "What’s up?"

"Academic competition... an enhancement class?" Duan Peipei stared at Li Zheng, held her breath for a long time, and finally managed to ask.

"Yeah, are you in this class too?" Li Zheng got excited again, "Great, someone as strong as you is also in this class, I really made the right choice."

"..." Duan Peipei’s face fell, her feelings completely the opposite of Li Zheng’s.

Did I sign up for the wrong class...

But this is indeed Jinghua University...

And it’s indeed hosted by the Department of Physics...

There was even a remote test before enrollment, you had to score in the top 30% of all applicants to join, usually there are about 40 people in one session.

Li Zheng always looked like the type who didn’t want to put in the effort, and he was from a school like Lake Ying; how could he possibly reach this level?

As Duan Peipei pondered, Li Zheng couldn’t wait any longer and waved his hand vigorously, "Come on, we’re almost late."

"Oh." Duan Peipei reluctantly followed, and as they crossed the street together, after some thought, she said, "The entrance test for this class is quite tough, you know."

"Ah? There’s a test?" Li Zheng became completely befuddled, "I just signed up the day before yesterday, I didn’t hear anything about a test?"

"Phew..." Duan Peipei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, I didn’t join the wrong class.

Clearly, a high-demand training class like this, with Li Zheng’s level, he wouldn’t possibly get in, he must have pulled some strings.

Duan Peipei really detested it when people used connections to get into high-level training classes, it was a waste of valuable resources.

People who pulled strings would not understand what was being taught, wasting money and time.

Moreover, they also wasted the teacher’s energy, classroom seats, and the classroom’s oxygen.

It was undoubtedly a lose-lose situation.

Not to mention, this was Jinghua’s competition training class, and even meddling here was just too disruptive.

Indeed.

The handsome ones are often foolish.

The two entered the teaching building, and Duan Peipei finally explained the proper way to join this class to Li Zheng.

Li Zheng felt quite embarrassed.

"I guess I got in through the back door, it feels so awkward," Li Zheng scratched his head as he entered the elevator, "I hope I didn’t bump anyone out."

Duan Peipei chuckled softly and walked into the elevator.

The attitude is not bad after all.

Then I might just give you a few tips.

"The class is mainly taught by associate professors from Jinghua’s Department of Physics, all very high-level, and most of the students aiming for the provincial team, at the very least to rank in the province," Duan Peipei casually mentioned as she gazed at the elevator doors, "Just a friendly reminder, if you find it too difficult from day one, you can apply to drop out and get some of your tuition back."

"That sounds good," Li Zheng nodded naively, "I’ll try attending two classes and quit if it doesn’t work out."

Duan Peipei laughed again.

She smiled a lot today, probably used up a whole semester’s worth of smiles, her face felt a bit tired.

But Li Zheng was so straightforward and cute, being brave enough to face his shortcomings, that he really deserved a smile.

"Hehe, don’t be so unconfident," Duan Peipei, feeling exceptionally good, smiled generously again and gestured with her hand, "I’ll sit with you and try to help you as much as I can."

In the past, she never felt like helping others; it was only because Li Zheng was handsome, cute, and straightforward.

The two chatted their way into an auditorium classroom, only to find that the front rows were already full.

"Strange, this class never had more than 50 people in previous years," Duan Peipei furrowed her brows.

"There must be almost 100 people now," Li Zheng craned his neck as he moved towards an empty seat, "Isn’t this a class targeting the provincial team, anyway? How many slots are there in the provincial team again?"

Duan Peipei bit her lip and followed him, answering coldly, "Fourteen."

"Then there are quite a lot of talented ones this year, haha," as Li Zheng walked, he looked around to see if he recognized anyone.

He didn’t find anyone.

Who knows, maybe there are one or two from the Dragon Pearl Group undercover.

As they sat down, Duan Peipei still couldn’t relax and spoke in a low voice, "Indeed, most here are aiming for the provincial team, but not everyone capable of making it to the provincial team comes to this place."

"Oh?" Li Zheng showed immediate interest, "Isn’t that just set theory plus logic proposition?"

Upon hearing that, Duan Peipei instantly lost interest.

Even if she were bored to death, she wouldn’t discuss studies with someone from Lake Ying Middle School.

Looking back, her willingness to sit next to Li Zheng and take care of him was simply because he was handsome, cute, and straightforward.

As long as they didn’t talk about studies, they could still be good friends.

Li Zheng saw that Duan Peipei was not interested in chatting more, so he lowered his head to unlock his phone and started scrolling through the Dragon Pearl Group.

[Shaolin · Xuzhu: Anyone here for the physics competition training class at Jinghua?]

No one responded; they seemed to be in class.

Actually, they must definitely have been in class.

Except for some who had been accepted through special admissions.

[Xiaoyao Sect’s Wu Yaizi (Ou Xingzhuo): That class is okay.]

[Yue Nu Ah Qing (Wu Shu): You can go for experiments, the technical college’s lab is not bad.]

[Dali Cobalt’s Duan Yu (Cobalt God): Training classes are trash, why bother, I’ll just take the tests directly!]

[Li Zheng: Shi Yang, what are you messing about...]

[Duan Yu: Answering the call of Zhou Chenghuan, not wasting this time, just messing around for the heck of it, I’m good at physics too.]

[Li Zheng: Alright... if anyone else is in this class, @ me, we’ll meet up offline and sort things out.]

On Duan Peipei’s end, seeing Li Zheng actively buzzing away on QQ, she couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

It seemed that someone like Li Zheng, with insufficient skills, would inevitably turn to the internet seeking shortcuts, joining all sorts of random competition groups, likely getting misled along the way.

"These groups are pointless," Duan Peipei said flatly as she looked straight ahead, "The only competition group worth joining in the Jijing Area is really tough to get into, I haven’t even managed it yet."

"Oh?" Li Zheng asked while scrolling through the groups, "Which group?"

"Ah... what am I even talking about?" Duan Peipei laughed self-deprecatingly, rubbing her forehead, "Forget it, why am I telling you this?"

As the scrolling continued, three teachers walked into the large classroom, and the students instinctively quieted down.

The leader was a short-haired lady about 50, her expression somewhat stiff but her movements brisk, walking straight toward the podium after entering the classroom.

The two other standard university lecturer-looking teachers took their seats at the corner of the classroom.

The lady reached the podium, tapped the microphone to check the sound, then faced forward and began speaking.

"Good morning, students."

"I am Zhang Tao from the Department of Physics at Jinghua University’s College of Sciences, Center for Experimental Physics Teaching."

"Welcome everyone to the 2019 Physics Competition Advanced Training Class."

"Over the next week, you will spend time with 11 lecturers, associate professors, and professors from the Department of Physics."

"As everyone has seen, this year’s situation is a bit unusual—"

"There are particularly many participants in the training, aren’t there?" Zhang Tao asked with a smile.

At this remark, all the students chuckled, and Li Zheng’s laughter was the most naïve of all.

Zhang Tao successfully relaxed the atmosphere before continuing.

"Indeed, this year’s atmosphere for the physics competition is very intense, and participants are very eager."

"We can predict that this year will definitely be a major year for physics competitions."

"A major year means brutal competition."

"From the preliminaries to the provincial team, it will be extremely tough."

"Some students, who could have easily won provincial awards in past years, might not even make it to the next round this year."

"As for those present, I believe a large portion of you are aiming for the provincial team, and experimental training has always been a focus of this class."

"Now you can see that the number of people with this goal is only more, not less, than the total present."

"Additionally, some students joined later."

"Specifically, those who enrolled after December last year."

"No need to raise hands, just be aware of it."

"In summary, the current outcome is, we planned for about 40 people in the training, but ended up with 90."

"For this reason, we added a few key teachers and arranged new labs, but it’s still not enough."

"To ensure every student can improve, after discussions, this year we decided to adopt the AB class teaching approach."

"That is, based on everyone’s theoretical exam level, we’ll divide into a theory class and an experimental class."

"The theory class will reduce the proportion of experimental teaching, aiming to achieve good results in the next round."

"The experimental class will almost stop lecturing on theory and focus on the provincial team and obtaining a position within the province as teaching priorities."

At this point, the classroom started to buzz with murmurs.

"To each according to his need, brilliant," Li Zheng nodded repeatedly.

Next to him, Duan Peipei just shook her head and sighed.

Straightforwardly put, it was because there were too many people like Li Zheng who used backdoors to enter, resulting in uneven levels among the students.

Therefore, yet another exam had to be conducted to select those who truly had a chance to be among the top few dozen in the city to focus on intensive experiments.

After all, only they qualified for the experimental tests; without attaining this ranking, learning experiments would be in vain.

Thus, it seemed they would soon part ways with Li Zheng.

And there was actually a tiny bit of reluctance about that.