Cheng Xing found himself speechless, still trying to process the scene before him. He could easily imagine the impression he had left on others, In his past life.
To him, Jiang Luxi was an enigma, a figure wrapped in mystery. Her true self remained hidden, shrouded by a veil no one had ever managed to lift. Throughout her high school years, she had been elusive, almost unreachable, as though cloaked in an impenetrable fog. Ironically, Cheng Xing himself was seen in much the same way by many top students at No. 1 High School.
They hardly interacted with him, but they knew of his reputation: those who often bullied them were intimidated into silence in Cheng Xing's presence. The fear was palpable. To many, this made Cheng Xing seem even more arrogant and overbearing. Naturally, most people were afraid of him.
It was why Gao Hai had been so shocked to see Jiang Luxi walk past him so calmly the previous day. In their class, even the bravest would tend to avoid walking near Gao Hai. That brief moment had only ended when Zhang Huan, the student in charge of the keys, arrived.
"Why did it take you so long? I've been waiting here for twenty minutes!" Cheng Xing, still simmering with frustration from his rebuff by Jiang Luxi, vented his anger at Zhang Huan, the newly appointed dorm head of Class 3.
"Brother Cheng, it's only 5:50. Morning self-study doesn't start until 6:20. I came as quickly as I could. Besides, I didn't know you'd be here this early today!" Zhang Huan responded, his tone tinged with grievance.
"Or maybe, Brother Cheng, you should talk to the homeroom teacher and ask him to assign someone else to manage the keys. I don't want to deal with them anymore. In my first year, I could sleep a few more minutes every day, but now, in my second year, I haven't had a single good night's sleep," Zhang Huan added with a sigh.
"Alright, alright, stop complaining and open the door," Cheng Xing urged, his patience worn thin. Zhang Huan took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door.
At No. 1 High School, school keys were usually entrusted to boarding students to avoid the hassle of day students forgetting theirs or needing to leave urgently. Boarding students, even if they lost their keys, could always retrieve them from the dormitory. And in high school, boarding students often arrived first. Zhang Huan wasn't late, and by that time, only a few scattered students had arrived. No one from Classes Two or Four had shown up yet.
Cheng Xing entered the classroom and took a seat. He opened Zhou Yuan's Chinese textbook from the drawer and began to work through the poems and articles he had forgotten. After all, he hadn't regressed all the way to elementary or middle school. With less than a year before the college entrance exams, it would be a huge challenge for Cheng Xing to catch up on all the course material from previous years and gain admission to a top-tier university.
Chinese wasn't too difficult, but for math, physics, and chemistry, he needed to catch up on not just high school courses but also middle school material—and perhaps even some concepts from elementary school—because he didn't fully grasp them. He had just one year to make up for six years' worth of material.
There were a few things Cheng Xing regretted deeply, though they seemed trivial now. Missing out on university, and the whirlwind of college romance. Those weren't just his regrets, but likely the regrets of anyone who had ended their education before college.
By mid-morning, Cheng Xing began to feel the weight of his boredom. He had nearly finished going through all of Zhou Yuan's textbooks.
During the third-period math class, Cheng Xing glanced at Zhou Yuan. On top of his math book was a thick novel, nearly as thick as several textbooks stacked together. Curious, Cheng Xing reached over and grabbed it. The book was titled The Supreme Young Master, a pirated underworld novel that had gained popularity in the current generation. The protagonist, Ye Wudao, was well-known in the genre. While the title itself might not have been familiar, the author's other work, Snow Eagle Lord, was likely more recognizable.
But this particular novel was unfinished. Ten years ago, before the stricter regulations on online literature, the industry had been rife with stories about the underworld, officialdom, and even more explicit content. Though Cheng Xing had become famous for his traditional literature, he was no stranger to online novels. While many online novels lacked the rigor of traditional literature and often suffered from weak writing, they offered fast-paced stories that readers devoured for the thrill. They didn't need to be particularly refined in terms of plot or logic.
Even in his early years, Cheng Xing would occasionally read some online novels when he had a moment to spare. In a time when mobile phones could only handle simple games like Solitaire, online novels provided much-needed entertainment for many students.
"Brother Cheng, look, I'm reading it on my phone." Zhou Yuan pulled out a flip phone from his drawer, stacked his books in front of him, and began reading an online novel.
Cheng Xing skimmed through the pages. While it seemed boring from the perspective of a later generation, he had no choice but to read it to pass the time while trying to decipher the symbols on the blackboard.
When the morning classes ended, Cheng Xing took a taxi to a Xinhua Bookstore in the city.
"Boss, do you still have high school textbooks?" Cheng Xing asked.
"No, they're all sold out," the owner replied.
"When will you have more in stock?" Cheng Xing pressed.
"Probably not for the next couple of days. You'll need to come back on Saturday. With so many high school seniors preparing for the college entrance exams, many students have lost their old books, so the demand has been huge. Everything sold out a few days ago," the owner explained.
"What about other bookstores?" Cheng Xing inquired.
"Same situation everywhere," the owner shrugged.
Cheng Xing didn't give up, heading to several more bookstores around the city. As expected, all the high school textbooks were gone. Not only that, many junior high books had also been sold out as middle school students rushed to prepare for their entrance exams. The only remaining stock was in subjects like geography and biology.
It seemed he would have to return on Saturday. Since the junior high books weren't of much use to him at the moment, Cheng Xing ended up buying two math books from the fifth and sixth grades of elementary school.