Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 271 - 270 still not praising me quickly!

June 21, Friday.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Li Zheng, dragging his suitcase, returned to his neighborhood, which he hadn’t seen for a few days.

Some children were already out of school, chasing each other around the yard in small groups.

The elderly who had picked up their grandchildren were chatting idly together, occasionally glancing around to keep an eye on their little ones to prevent them from wandering off.

However, this mundane scene underwent an abrupt transformation due to Li Zheng’s return.

It started with a chubby kid who zoomed up to Li Zheng on a two-wheeled scooter: "Are you Brother Li Zheng?"

"That’s me. What’s up?"

"Haha." With a laugh, the chubby kid made a turn and scooted back to his friends. "It’s him, it’s him, that’s Li Zheng!"

These kids also appeared to be elementary school students, but they weren’t as outgoing as the chubby kid, gawking from a distance without daring to approach.

"I told you it was him!"

"Doesn’t he have to go to school?"

"If he’s that good at studying, he probably doesn’t need to, right?"

Li Zheng just smiled upon hearing the children’s discussion.

But unconsciously, he became more mindful of his posture and appearance.

As a role model for the kids’ studies, he couldn’t help but feel the weight of being an idol.

Just as actors and singers must be suave and elegant, those who excel in studies must not lag behind.

Unbeknownst to himself, he had become a study idol.

Thinking of inspiring even more kids to dream of becoming study stars.

He felt an even greater burden on his shoulders.

Yes, the world needs study stars.

While adjusting his walking posture, an old neighbor, a familiar figure, waved at Li Zheng.

"Zheng Zheng is back."

"Hello, Grandpa."

The old man walked up to Li Zheng, his face blooming into a smile. "You won the championship, just waiting for you to compete in the International Olympiads, huh."

A regular old man naturally couldn’t utter something sophisticated like the International Olympiads.

But this particular community was somewhat special. As employee housing for Ning’er’s workplace, even the most ordinary elders started with a technical bachelor’s degree, and most of them knew a thing or two about competitions.

However, Li Zheng didn’t expect the old man to be so well-informed, especially because these physics competitions weren’t major news to the public and the old man wasn’t involved in physics.

Li Zheng didn’t have time to think more, and immediately shook his hand, saying, "It’s still early, Grandpa. I’ve got to get through the training selection to make it onto the national team."

"Eh, afraid you won’t make the national team after being number one in the country?"

"It happens occasionally."

"Haha, just like your mom, very talented, always playing her cards close to the chest," Grandpa said, patting Li Zheng. "Alright, it’s boiling hot, hurry home."

"Goodbye, Grandpa."

As Li Zheng made his way home, passing through the tunnel between buildings, he received congratulations from two neighbors, with even more pointing and smiling brightly at him from a distance, just like that grandpa.

And the number of kids trailing behind him continued to grow.

This was getting a bit too much...

It’s just a physics competition, why was it as if he had won the Nobel Prize?

Could it be that Dad bragged to everyone he met?

Sigh, Dad is too impetuous, can’t keep calm.

Nevertheless, things had come to this, and Li Zheng could only go with the flow. To encourage the kids to study harder, he decided to stride forth like a star idol, encircled by a halo.

However, as he turned a corner, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Parked outside his apartment building’s entrance was a glaringly bright princess-pink Beetle.

Two prominent banners were genuinely stretched across the car.

[Congratulations to Li Zheng (Unit 3) for Winning the Physics Competition Championship!]

[Brother Li’s beloved car is here, a heartfelt gift from Huang Lingqi.]

Li Zheng’s eyes bulged instantly, a thousand curse words from Zaun rushing to his throat, eventually compacting into one word.

"Fuck!"

He finally understood the meaning behind those smiles.

Without a second thought, Li Zheng dashed forward and ripped off the banners.

But now, the flashy body of the car stood out even more.

The kids behind him also gasped in awe.

Especially the girls.

"Brother, your car is so cute. Can I sit in it?"

"Such a beautiful car is only for princesses to ride!"

"Then we’re all princesses."

"Alright, then Brother Li Zheng is also a princess."

Just as they were about to swarm over, they were met with Li Zheng’s somber turn of the head.

"There are no princesses in our country, princesses are remnants of feudalism."

"The princess is just a tool used by Disney to make money off of you."

"Theoretically, you only have the potential to become a princess consort."

"To become a princess consort, you have to go abroad, go abroad to take the TOEFL and GRE, you have to study well."

"Done with your homework?"

"Why aren’t you studying!"

"Started on physics yet?"

"Haven’t started? Should I teach you in advance?"

"Wow!"

The little girls screamed and scattered like birds.

Only the chubby boy from the start remained, grinningly standing his ground.

"What’s so funny?" Li Zheng glared over, "Come here, I’ll teach you physics."

"Haha, I know physics, you don’t need to teach me." The chubby boy lifted his head in defiance.

"What’s Newton’s second law of motion?"

"F=ma!"

"The equation of relativity."

"E=mc²." The chubby boy grinned, "Bro, can’t you ask something hard?"

"Alright, alright, you’ve got spirit," Li Zheng beckoned, "How about the Navier-Stokes equations?"

"Uhh... huh?"

"Come on, let me teach you." Li Zheng took out a notebook from his bag and revealed one of the pages.

The chubby boy actually rolled over on his bike and looked at the half page of dense symbols, rubbing his eyes.

Li Zheng then flipped to a blank page, handing over the pen as well: "Learned it yet? Write."

"..."

"Alright, then take another look." Li Zheng flipped back, "Tell me when you’ve got it."

The chubby boy really did stare hard at the mess of equations, and after half a minute, he looked up at Li Zheng with a sniff: "Bro, I was wrong... I don’t know physics..."

"No problem, I’ll teach you." Li Zheng pointed at the notebook, "This is density, this is the coefficient of dynamic viscosity..."

The chubby boy tried to listen, his expression growing worse by the minute.

Finally, a tear slid out.

"Bro, I don’t want to learn anymore..."

"Gonna cause trouble again in the future?"

"But I wasn’t causing trouble..."

"Just answer me, will you cause trouble again?"

"No, big bro..."

"Still going to gawk at things?"

"No more..."

"Still going to laugh?"

"Not anymore..."

"Good, you can go. I remember you now, if I see you again..." Li Zheng flipped a hand, revealing two pages worth of ultimate formulas, "I’ll make you recite the Taylor expansion!"

Confronted with dozens of lines of equations, the chubby boy couldn’t hold back a "wah" as he burst into tears, pedaling away at full speed: "I dare not, bro, never again!"

Only then did Li Zheng snort, picking up the banners and heading for the trash can.

Meanwhile, the chubby boy had already run to his grandma’s side, pointing at Li Zheng while crying non-stop.

"Did he bully you?" Grandma got angry and glared at Li Zheng from a distance, "It’s just looking at a crowd, why is an adult picking on a child."

Then grandma took the chubby boy’s hand: "Where did he hit you? Grandma’s got your back."

The chubby boy, sobbing, shook his head, "He was teaching me..."

"... That’s it?"

"And he was teaching me formulas..."

"That’s quite good..." Grandma urged the chubby boy, "He’s a physics champion, it would cost a fortune to have him teach once, go on, go learn more from him."

"Waah!!!"

Li Zheng had no clue that he’d unlocked a new way to handle troublesome kids.

Study role model? Fake.

Nobody likes studying.

Study star? Doesn’t exist.

It’s only Study Tyrant.

...

When Li Zheng got home, he hadn’t even started to scold when someone came to him.

[Huang Lingqi: Do you like the style?]

[Li Zheng: Get rid of it within three hours, or I’m deleting you.]

[Huang Lingqi: Too much trouble, just throw it away then.]

[Li Zheng: I can’t throw it away myself.]

[Huang Lingqi: ...Don’t you guys have recyclers there?]

[Li Zheng: 2 hours and 58 minutes left.]

[Huang Lingqi: You don’t like it, you can give it to Lin Yujing.]

[Li Zheng: Another minute has passed.]

[Huang Lingqi: ...Um... I got it, you can go get your driver’s license with Lin Yujing. Look, you can do something romantic every day during summer vacation.]

[Li Zheng: Deleted.]

[Huang Lingqi: No no no! I’ll stop messing around and ask someone to move it.]

[Huang Lingqi: I was just trying to be nice, why the hard feelings.]

[Li Zheng: The projector is already heavy enough, accepting heavier gifts could cause trouble for my parents.]

[Huang Lingqi: I see, I didn’t think it through, I’ll get rid of it right now.]

[Huang Lingqi: But really, you can go get your driver’s license with Lin Yujing during the holiday, you’re welcome.]

Half an hour later, after showering, Li Zheng walked to the window and saw that the little pink car was gone, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Way too much fooling around.

Are rich people nowadays so bored they play such expensive jokes?

But...

It is indeed time to get a driver’s license.

Keep this charade up for a few more days then.

...

June 24, Monday.

When Li Zheng arrived at the school gate, he once again saw a familiar banner.

[Congratulations to our students Li Zheng and Lin Yujing for winning the first and second places in the National High School Physics Competition!]

This time, the feeling was completely different.

Normally, he was very resistant to these banners.

But this one, it felt good no matter how he looked at it.

Clear subject and predicate.

Obvious hierarchy.

Liu Xiaodong is really emotionally intelligent and knows how to handle things.

Entering the school gate, Li Zheng nodded amicably to the duty students and casually acknowledged Sun Xiubin as well.

Sun Xiubin was flustered and honored by the attention.

"Congratulations... Li Zheng, another championship..."

Li Zheng gave a faint smile, watching his long-unseen vitality value plummet without panic, even feeling nostalgic.

The second year of senior high was about to end, some things had changed, some people hadn’t.

Suddenly, a buzz-cut duty student walked over with wide eyes.

"Brother Li, a real hero!"

Li Zheng was momentarily puzzled, then slapped his forehead, "You’re that... Lei something..."

"Lei Tong."

"Right, right, right, you insisted on me coaching you, how’s your prep for the Chem Competitions?"

"Just waiting for the preliminaries," Lei Tong asked, "I read online that thanks to you the physics competition has regained its fairness, is that true?"

"No such thing," Li Zheng said, waving him off as he headed off.

"Hey, don’t be modest, they say it’s also your doing that the rules for the Chem Competitions were changed this year?"

"Who said that?"

"Just lots of people are saying."

"Don’t mind them, just focus on your studies."

"Sure, sure." Lei Tong smiled and returned to his post, excitedly telling those around him about what he had seen.

"You guys don’t know about my idol’s big achievement?"

"Oh, it’s a long story. This year, all the physics competition students only recognize God Zheng, Lin Yujing doesn’t even come close."

"First, let’s start with Huihu Middle School... You see, on the banks of Zhejiang Creek..."

Li Zheng smiled helplessly, unable to scold him anymore and just proceeded into the school.

Although he didn’t like this method.

But actually, there are still people who like to study.

In their eyes, a study idol really exists.

...

As soon as Li Zheng entered the classroom, Zhang Xiaoke came sobbing over.

"Master, I lost my number."

"???"

"It’s all your fault!"

"What do you mean?"

"You owe me one, anyway."

"Crazy..." Li Zheng dropped his bag and took his seat, glancing at Zhang Xiaoke, "I don’t know about the rest, but at least you’ve gained weight, you’ve put on... what, five pounds?"

Zhang Xiaoke cursed, "Not that much, just 2.347 kilograms."

"Did you measure with weights on a scale or what..." Li Zheng said before turning back, and upon seeing Jiang Qinghua’s thinning hair, he ultimately refrained from speaking.

"Welcome home," Jiang Qinghua said without looking up, "Everyone’s busy with final exams right now, so the welcome isn’t as warm, sorry about that."

While she was speaking, Liu Xin rushed back into the classroom with a basketball.

"Brother Li, I’ve missed you like crazy!" Liu Xin dropped the basketball and barreled over, "Damn it, everyone’s either graduated or studying, and no one’s left to play ball with me."

Li Zheng, with nowhere to dodge, endured the bump before rubbing his shoulder and cursing, "You could study too, you know."

"Hey, it’s all for nothing even if I study," Liu Xin laughed and shook his head as he sat back down, joyfully picking at his nails. "Might as well enjoy life a bit more."

Li Zheng wanted to argue but seeing how Liu Xin was lost in concentration and bliss,

he found himself agreeing that there was some truth to it.

"Nowadays, no one’s keen on taking over their parents’ businesses, Qinghua," Jiang Qinghua said as she kicked Liu Xin’s shin. "At least get an associate degree, learn a skill. Picking at your nails doesn’t count, and with your attitude, no one would dare visit if you opened a nail salon."

"Nah, picking at nails is just a hobby," Liu Xin replied with a grin. "Simple and pure joy, you just don’t get it... To be honest, I don’t even want to go to college. Driving like my dad is pretty good."

"It’s not that driving is bad," Jiang Qinghua shook her head. "But a higher education gives you more options in the future. Otherwise, when there’s an opportunity, a goal in sight, and your education holds you back, that’d really suck."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Liu Xin nodded vigorously. "So, let’s start by not repeating any grades this year; otherwise, I won’t be here next year."

"Even without repeating, we won’t see you," Jiang Qinghua sighed lightly. "Don’t you remember? They’re reshuffling the classes after the final exams."

"Ah," Liu Xin exclaimed in surprise. After pondering for a moment, he smiled in resignation, "Well, if we won’t be in the same class anyway, it doesn’t matter if I repeat."

Jiang Qinghua, in despair, clutched her head: "Your excuse for falling into corruption is way too casual."

"Hey, hey, hey, Qinghua, your way of thinking is too old-fashioned," Zhang Xiaoke waved and laughed. "From Liu Xin’s perspective, he would gain more from putting his energy into anything other than studying. Anyone trying to convince him to study is actually harming him."

"Listen to that," Liu Xin suddenly got excited. "Xiaoke sees it so clearly, let’s see who else dares to urge me to study!"

"Fuck…" Jiang Qinghua finally couldn’t help but swear, "Xiaoke... you’ve got to try and save the situation, right?"

"NONONO, you’re all too naive."

Zhang Xiaoke shook her finger confidently.

"Leave it to your Sister Xiaoke to enlighten you all."

"It’s not just Liu Xin, but you too, Qinghua."

"Li Zheng is probably the most amazing person we’ll ever meet in our lives."

"And we have only one year left with him."

"Instead of studying hard by ourselves…"

"Why not spend the time getting along with Li Zheng?"

"Take you, for example, Liu Xin," Zhang Xiaoke gestured. "Even when driving, it matters who you drive for. Someone like Brother Li will definitely need a driver in the future."

"Damn!" Liu Xin slapped his thigh. "To be Brother Li’s driver... That’d be so freaking cool."

"So…"

"Brother Li," Liu Xin had an epiphany and snatched a tissue from Jiang Qinghua’s desk, then rushed over to wipe Li Zheng’s desk. "I’ll make sure to clean it as if it’s waxed."

"Get lost," Li Zheng scolded. "That will just make me dislike you."

"...Then... what should I do?"

"Study hard," Li Zheng snorted. "Even drivers are required to have an associate degree these days."

"...Brother Li, cut me some slack, we’re buddies, right?"

"Do you see me as the type to cut slack based on my face?"

"I think you look like you would." Jiang Qinghua suddenly proffered a thermos. "Li Zheng, drink some hot water."

"...Why are you doing this now?"

Jiang Qinghua joked, "It’s tough to find a job these days, just making early preparations."

"But by the time you’re job hunting, I’ll probably still be pursuing my master’s or doctorate."

"Now that you mention it… right," Jiang Qinghua then took back the thermos. "If you want hot water, get it yourself."

Li Zheng turned around smiling, then resumed a stern expression as he scolded Zhang Xiaoke, "Talk nonsense again and I’ll banish you from my discipleship."

"Tch…" Zhang Xiaoke sulked. "Foiled again…"

"What?"

"You don’t know, but Qinghua’s grades have improved so quickly lately…" Zhang Xiaoke hugged her head nervously. "If this keeps up, she’ll surpass me... I need to distract her."

"So that’s your angle?" Li Zheng scolded. "That’s enough, my discipleship can’t tolerate you."

"Cut it out," Zhang Xiaoke chuckled. "As if I don’t know how you won the championship?"

"Fair and square," Li Zheng replied.

"Ha, ha, ha," Zhang Xiaoke let out a cold laugh and firmly placed her Chinese textbook on the table. "Jingjing told me all about it, how she couldn’t sleep at all the night before the re-exam."

"???" Li Zheng was stunned.

Could it be the slow calculations,

the exhaustion during the marathon of the college entrance exam…

Were all because of that night?

"Master, if the upper beam isn’t straight, the lower one will be crooked," Zhang Xiaoke patted Li Zheng. "Scum."

Just then, a muffled sound came from the front.

"Not scum, it’s Scum Chap, I’ve been upgraded."

"Jingjing!" Zhang Xiaoke leaped excitedly and threw herself at her, more thrilled than when she saw Li Zheng, like two overjoyed huskies. "I’ve missed you so much!"

"Get off, get off," Lin Yujing laughed as she dodged left and right. "Class is about to start."

"I couldn’t wait to tell you!" Zhang Xiaoke seized the moment to hug her, wrapping an arm around Lin Yujing’s waist and winking, "Didn’t you say if the master didn’t have a destination in mind he’d give up on the summer travel plans? It’s okay, I’ve figured it out—let’s go watch a rocket launch at Wenhai together!"

Lin Yujing instantly froze.

Even Li Zheng became still.

That was a lot to take in; he needed time to process.

Zhang Xiaoke, on the other hand, was nimble and even gave a knowing look to her master.

Look at what I’ve done!

Aren’t you going to praise me?

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