Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 275: The biggest insider

Senior Year Two, Class Four, Li Zheng walked in dragging two suitcases.

And the wheels sounded extremely heavy, the movement of the cases also noticeably slow.

Zhang Xiaoke was initially pestering Jiang Qinghua with complaints about not doing well on the exam, but upon seeing these two enormous suitcases, her whole demeanor became heavy.

Li Zheng dragged them all the way to his seat, then let the larger suitcase fall to the ground and tore open the zipper.

Wow!

An entire case full of practice exercises!

Li Zheng carefully extracted a bundle, holding it like a farmer proud of his harvest, his face brimming with satisfaction.

"This case is for Xiaoke, don’t slack off during the vacation."

Even the Study Demon Sect’s chief disciple couldn’t help feeling a bit frightened upon seeing them.

"Master... there’s only so much a person can take..." Zhang Xiaoke said with a tremble in her voice.

"Eh!" Li Zheng swung his arm, beginning to transfer stacks of exercises onto Zhang Xiaoke’s desk, "There are only dead oxen, no ruined fields, right?"

Zhang Xiaoke hugged herself and said, "But I am the ox."

"No, you’re the field." Li Zheng spoke, then gestured with his mouth towards Jiang Qinghua, "Take care of your own case, carry it outside."

"Sure thing." Jiang Qinghua swallowed hard and forced a smile at Zhang Xiaoke, "Didn’t you say you didn’t do well? Master Li has brought over some exercises, why not take advantage of the holiday to catch up, quickly thank Master Li!"

"I... I actually did okay..."

"You still need to strive for continual improvement." Jiang Qinghua said with a grin, nodding towards Li Zheng, "Right, Master Li?"

Li Zheng nodded approvingly, then looked at Zhang Xiaoke, who had grown a bit plumper, with a look full of disappointment, "Look at Qinghua, started later than you but has progressed faster and has a higher level of consciousness. I’m afraid you, as the senior disciple, may not last long."

Zhang Xiaoke pointed at Jiang Qinghua and blamed, "Hypocrite! Don’t you think Qinghua is really hypocritical, Master?"

"All heartfelt." Jiang Qinghua ran his fingers through his hair with a laugh, "I really need to study the whole vacation so I can spend the next one with Du Shitong."

Although his words sounded sweet, this gesture exposed a V-shaped receding hairline that emanated a midlife desolation.

"Qinghua..." Li Zheng looked uncomfortable and touched the sides of his own forehead, "After the college entrance exam, you could use technical means to have it filled in, otherwise, you still might not be able to spend time with Du Shitong."

"Uh..." Jiang Qinghua hurriedly ran his hand over his forehead again, covering it up, "I’ve asked around, it won’t cost much just to transplant these two spots."

"That’s good." Li Zheng imagined what Jiang Qinghua would look like after the hair transplant, which was quite pleasing, but upon a bit more thought, something felt off, "Wait... Qinghua, look here, hair loss doesn’t just stop, even if you transplant these two spots at the sides of your forehead, if the hairline continues to recede, won’t these two spots... become isolated islands?"

Jiang Qinghua paused, "Ah..."

Zhang Xiaoke quickly sketched out a drawing.

It was roughly a Mediterranean bald pattern, except only two clumps of hair grew on the sides of the forehead, waving in the wind.

"Is it like this?" Zhang Xiaoke raised her drawing, slapped it on the desk, and burst into laughter, "Haha, the Great King with Golden Horns!"

"Enough from you, I’ll periodically go for maintenance." Jiang Qinghua cursed, "Everyone has their flaws, you... you... you’ve turned into a big fatty, did I say anything?"

"I haven’t! It’s all muscle and bones."

"Oh? How about organizing a swimming event during the vacation?"

"Pervert! Baldy!"

"Alright." Li Zheng interjected to mediate, "I think organizing a swimming event is a good idea, but I can’t swim."

"Hmpf~ Neither can I." Zhang Xiaoke turned her head away.

"You don’t need to, do you?" Li Zheng looked carefully at Zhang Xiaoke’s belly, "Don’t you come with a built-in float?"

"Master!!!"

"Haha, just kidding." Li Zheng continued to move the practice exercises, "You’ve got to exercise more during vacation. Qinghua’s hair is beyond saving, but there’s still hope for your figure."

"That’s better." Zhang Xiaoke finally went over to help Li Zheng move the cases, not forgetting to look back at Jiang Qinghua with a raised chin, "See, Master still sides with me."

"Sides with you, sides with you." Jiang Qinghua couldn’t be bothered to argue, bent over to search for the zipper of his own case of questions, casually asking, "How about I borrow the cases to take home during the vacation? We can return them when we see each other again."

Li Zheng casually answered, "No, I’ll need them during the vacation."

Zhang Xiaoke narrowed her eyes, "Where are you going?"

"Going to..." Li Zheng’s eyes bulged.

Not good.

"I have to attend physics training camp." Li Zheng firmly answered.

"Isn’t the training camp schedule still not set?"

"That’s why I need to be ready with the suitcases at all times."

"Oh, oh, oh~~~" After a series of strange laughs, Zhang Xiaoke fell into melancholy, "Sigh... since you’re not taking me, I might as well study the whole vacation."

Seeing Li Zheng in a difficult spot, Jiang Qinghua quickly added, "No worries, I can teach you how to swim."

"Get lost, you perverted baldy!" Zhang Xiaoke grabbed her water bottle and strutted out.

"Phew..." Li Zheng finally placed the last stack of exercises and wiped off some sweat.

Then, looking at Jiang Qinghua, his eyes conveyed the silent understanding between men.

"Thanks for drawing the fire."

"We’re all men here, I get it." Jiang Qinghua laughed, "Make sure you use sunscreen though, otherwise if both of you get tanned over the vacation, it’ll be way too obvious."

"Um... this..."

"No need to answer, I understand."

...

Afterwards, Tang Zhifei came in to announce the results.

Everyone was still surprised by the twin 730 scores.

But Li Zheng and Lin Yujing remained unfazed.

Because high scores in Chinese are hard to get, based on their level, their scores would always be between 725—735. The probability of them having the same score was actually quite high, so there was nothing surprising about it.

"Third place, Zhang Xiaoke, with a total score of 650," Tang Zhifei looked up and said, "Also the third place in the entire grade."

Gurgle gurgle!!

The whole class stared at her.

In shock and anger.

Why was it always this person who went around saying they hadn’t done well!

And these gazes were precisely what Zhang Xiaoke liked the most.

"Oh dear, how lucky~~" Zhang Xiaoke, holding bundles of practice papers, waved and said, "I didn’t even try that hard~~"

Even Tang Zhifei couldn’t stand it anymore, he coughed and said, "Xiaoke, studying is important, but don’t neglect your health."

"!" Zhang Xiaoke’s face twisted in an instant as she glared at Tang Zhifei’s feet.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t say anything.

After all, studying wasn’t as agreeable as a master teacher...

She just couldn’t bring herself to talk back to a teacher.

"Fourth place is Jiang Qinghua, with 624 points, ranking eighth in the grade," Tang Zhifei said quite seriously, "Jiang Qinghua has always put in a lot of effort into managing our class. You can imagine how hard she must have worked to make such progress. It seems that next year, Qinghua probably won’t be able to serve as our class president anymore. But regardless, our entire class thanks you for all your dedication."

In the past, these were the moments when Jiang Qinghua would be the first to start clapping, but this time he just stood there, stunned.

Instead, it was Tang Zhifei who started the applause.

And the students clapped enthusiastically too.

"You’ve worked hard, Qinghua."

"When you get to the experimental class, don’t be class president anymore, save some time for yourself."

"That’s much stronger than someone who occupies the deputy position, doesn’t do any work and still pretends to have done poorly!"

"Don’t say that, the deputy class president is just pretending not to have done well... The class representatives are truly the ones not doing any work... Not only do they not work..."

Though it was all just polite talk, Jiang Qinghua was still moved.

"Thank you everyone, thank you so much..." Jiang Qinghua said, wiping his eyes, "Even if we’re not in the same class anymore, if you ever need anything, you’re still welcome to come to me."

Next was Liu Yuexuan in fifth place, the last one from their class to get into the honors class.

Before Tang Zhifei could say anything after announcing Liu Yuexuan’s score, Liu Yuexuan started crying.

"Hey, it’s okay, Yuexuan. We all have to graduate sooner or later," Tang Zhifei consoled, "If you write a good composition in the future, you can still come to me."

"Yes... I will..." Liu Yuexuan said through tears, "But... the class president, deputy class president, class representatives, student delegates... none stayed behind to accompany Teacher Tang..."

"Ah, this..." Tang Zhifei looked at his student delegate, feeling touched, but also finding it a bit inappropriate, like a secret thrill.

You guys got it wrong...

It’s still me next semester, haha!

It should be the other students who are saying their tearful goodbyes.

But such a secret thrill, of course, couldn’t be revealed.

First, because these arrangements were to be announced by the school.

Second, to consider the feelings of others.

Tang Zhifei just had to continue acting.

"Don’t be like that, Yuexuan..." Tang Zhifei covered his face and said, "The teacher... doesn’t want to cry in front of everyone..."

"Huh?" Li Zheng suddenly looked at his phone and raised his hand, "Principal Liu informed me last night that next semester you’re not..."

"Ah!!!" Tang Zhifei suddenly slammed the desk, "I just remembered, Director Sun is looking for you."

"Ah?"

"Go on, hurry!"

"Oh..."

As Li Zheng was walking out, a murmur came from beside the window.

"Looks like I received it too..." Lin Yujing suddenly looked at her phone and said, "Teacher Tang next semester..."

"Ah!!!" Tang Zhifei again slammed the desk fiercely, "Director Sun is looking for you, too!"

"Hmm..."

Watching the two leave, Tang Zhifei was at a loss for words.

"Thank you for your hard work, Director Sun. You must support my work."

...

It was only after they left the classroom that they started to murmur.

Lin Yujing, "What’s going on?"

Li Zheng, "Don’t know, why has Director Sun suddenly become so bold?"

Lin Yujing, "Did we do something wrong?"

Li Zheng, "...Did we?"

Lin Yujing, "Hmm, no."

With that, the two hurried to the director’s office and knocked on the door to enter.

Before they could explain their visit, they first saw an old man holding a thermos cup, arrogantly sitting on the guest sofa.

Instantly, all three parties felt awkward.

"Call the principal." Sun Xiubin stood up anxiously.

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing both widened their eyes in surprise.

"Hahaha," the old man laughed heartily, looking up, "I didn’t expect to meet here..."

But Li Zheng and Lin Yujing were whispering to each other.

"Is this that irresponsible principal?"

"So creepy, disguising himself as a librarian..."

"What are you two muttering about?" Sun Xiubin looked impatient.

"Nothing, nothing," the old man said casually. "Well, Sun, you go report to Xiao Dong first. I’ll have a chat with them."

...

Sun Xiubin’s face twitched, "Principal... they..."

"I know, I know everything," the old man said with a smile, waving him off.

Deflated, Sun Xiubin could hardly bear to look at the two and walked straight out.

Found it.

They had found the root of the problem.

After so many years of hard work.

It turned out that the police chief.

Was the biggest mole.

This job was undoable!

Once Sun Xiubin had left, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing finally sat down.

Only now did Li Zheng realize that each time the old man had made a grand exit, he wasn’t going to the bathroom.

"I’m truly retiring in a few days. Starting next semester, Liu Xiaodong will officially be the principal," the old man said while fondling his thermos cup and at the same time pulled out a keychain and pushed it towards the two. "The librarian who will take over might not be as free as me. When it’s time to get off work, they will get off work. Here are the keys for you; make sure you return them when you borrow them."

The news caught Li Zheng and Lin Yujing completely off-guard.

"You’ll still come back to visit after retirement, right?" asked Li Zheng.

"Let’s talk about it at the school anniversary," the old man said, looking out the window with a smile. "I’ll try to live a few more years and see you all at the 60th anniversary."

"Not just that," Lin Yujing nodded vigorously. "100 years, 150 years, we should still meet up."

"Haha, I’m counting on your good words," said the old man.

He looked at the two and then glanced around, after a moment of contemplation, he finally spoke.

"Actually, I wouldn’t recommend you guys staying here any longer."

"If you have a goal, you could go to the university and sit in on some classes."

"If you’re interested, you could go develop some hobbies."

"Even if you have nothing at all, you could spend a year traveling up and down the great rivers and mountains."

"In the decades to come, there won’t be time for this."

"Don’t end up like me, finally having the time, but barely able to move."

The two listened and both kept their heads down, saying nothing.

They knew, of course, it was hard to gain anything more from the school, it was more like a place to study on a regular schedule.

But still, they were reluctant to leave.

How could they just let go of two years of life?

"When I was young, I saw foreigners surfing in foreign videotapes and my heart longed to do the same... For those few years, all I thought about was surfing once, to ride the waves, a real wave-tamer," the old man clapped his hands and laughed. "But in this lifetime, I never even touched a surfboard. Now if I wanted to go surfing and pay a coach, they wouldn’t even dare to take the money, haha."

Speaking of this, the old man winked at the two, "You see, everyone else is cramming for college entrance exams. You two got recommended and were given one year for free, which is a year of being 18. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to play, don’t leave any regrets."

"Hmm..." Li Zheng pondered for a moment before finally nodding, "After thinking it over, I still want to study."

"..." The old man’s face looked like he had just swallowed something disgusting, so he had no choice but to turn to Lin Yujing, "Xiao Lin, what about you?"

"It’s all set up." Lin Yujing smiled and gestured, "In August, Yellow River-2, zoom!"

"Ah, that’s good, that’s good." The old man then turned to Li Zheng, "You should go too."

"We’ll see…" Li Zheng scratched his face.

"See? Still looking? Look until it kills you." The old man scolded and then took a deep breath before saying, "Even if you’re not interested in anything, don’t just stay at school during your senior year. Go to Ji University. Whatever major you’re interested in, go and listen to some classes. You have the makings for interdisciplinary research. Since you can spend three times more time studying than others, you might as well study three majors, and try to reach the pinnacle of all three. Very few people have the energy for that these days. If you can do it, your vision and achievements won’t just be triple – they’ll be much more than that."

"On point…" Li Zheng exclaimed in admiration, "Your advice is spot on."

"As for Yu Jing…" the old man turned his head, "just do what you like. There’s no point in doing something you don’t love, and your success will be tied to the level of your interest. May there always be something in the world that fascinates you. Remember, never give up hope, no matter what."

"I won’t, Teacher," Lin Yujing fanned her arms and gestured, "The universe is so vast, I could never explore it all in a lifetime, how could I ever give up hope?"

"It’s not despair over the objective world, but despair over people," the old man stood up, leaning on the desk and sighed, "The road ahead, the people you’ll meet, they won’t be as pure as in high school. There aren’t many who can preserve their sincerity; ahead lies a world filled with vanity and self-serving interests. Whether to remain isolated or to accept reality, to be incorruptible or flexible, these are the choices you have to face. All I can say is, don’t despair. If you do find something insurmountable, just look up at your favorite starry sky. Those photons have traveled for billions of light years and made it here. Nothing is too great to overcome."

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing nodded, though their hearts hadn’t fully grasped everything yet.

They had already encountered some of these issues in reality.

And it turned out, it wasn’t so terrifying.

After all, there was a long way to go in the future.

If you’re good at studying, you can do whatever you want.

After leaving the office and seeing off the old man, they bumped into Zhu Hongbo.

Zhu Hongbo no longer hid the truth; his move to the Normal University Affiliated School was the result of over six months of effort. He had kept it from the school and students until now, only discussing it with the school leaders once things were settled.

He, of course, also hoped to earn the title of a coach for the number one Maths Olympiad students.

But he knew that Li Zheng and Lin Yujing no longer needed him.

The two of them respected Zhu Hongbo’s choices, just as they had chosen Ji University, Zhu Hongbo had his reasons to pursue a better school.

Compared to them, the successful Yu Hong chose to stay put, enjoying his independent office where he could freely indulge in hot pot.

As for Tao Feifei, rumors said that a renowned private high school was trying to poach her with an offer of a million-year salary.

But she seemed unmoved, being smart enough to realize that they were interested in her champion tutor halo, not her actual abilities. Once the halo faded, she would likely be discarded, so she preferred to gain more experience in the public education system instead.

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing strolled through the small garden, feeling that the school was drifting further and further away from them.

"The old man was right," Li Zheng said, gently caressing a cherry tree as they walked, "Next term I’ll probably spend more time at Ji University, listening to a variety of classes. If there are classes at the School of Physics, we can go together."

"We’ll see…" Lin Yujing sighed, "I have to learn all this in the future anyway, listening to it now sounds so boring... I’d rather visit my mom’s school to learn more about engineering content."

"You mean you want to see how telescopes and rockets are made, right?"

"I need to understand a little to know how to operate them."

"All right, call me when you go."

"Sure, we might even run into Mengxi there."

"Has she decided to apply for Ji Hang?"

"Yep, she applied yesterday."

"That’s great." Li Zheng laughed, "We can continue calling her Teacher Mengxi in the future."

...

July, summer vacation arrived.

Li Zheng, didn’t keep his word.

Most of the time, he wasn’t studying.

He was learning to drive!

And he was fully committed to learning how to drive.

And within a month, he got his driver’s license.

The rush for it was due to his aunt saying that she had leased a car in Wenhai but didn’t have time to drive it. If Li Zheng had a license, he could borrow it.

A thought immediately popped into Li Zheng’s mind.

Take Lin Yujing for a drive.

To make her puke!

"Please go slower, I’m so scared."

"Please, Brother Zheng!"

"It’s too fast, too fast, I have no choice but to hold on to you."

"I was wrong, you lead the way, you lead the way."

"I’ll listen to you, you’re too powerful!"

Hahahaha.

The moment Li Zheng got his driver’s license, he burst out laughing like he was lifting a barbell.