Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 253 Exam
Four months have passed in the blink of an eye, and Xuan Chong has begun to adapt to life after his "rebirth".

As I focused more and more on my studies, the absurd fantasies gradually faded from my mind.

Because he was reborn, he possessed the robust mental capacity of a teenager, and occasionally Xuan Chong would still fantasize about "taking a trip to another world." However, Xuan Chong was now obsessed with his grand project of "accumulating points" on his junior high school report card. From 70 to 80, from 80 to 90; Xuan Chong himself shut off the occasional "swirling" distracting thoughts. Only when he opened "The Fierce Soldier" did he suddenly realize that he seemed to have once deeply fantasized about entering a certain world.

Xuan Chong always felt he hadn't finished reading the novel "The Fierce Soldier" and wanted to find time to read it carefully; however, every time he opened it and read a few pages, he would hastily close the book because of the urgency of classes and assignments. So for the entire semester, the book was kept at the bottom of his backpack, and he would go to the library every two weeks to renew it.

Winter has arrived in the blink of an eye. Light snow is falling from the sky, and as cars drive over the streets, the snow turns into a wet mixture of ice and water.

As dawn broke, Xuanchong's parents hurriedly prepared for work, heating up a hamburger in the microwave and giving him two yuan. While packing his schoolbag, Xuanchong listened to his mother nagging, "You have an exam today. Have you brought your compass, ruler, pencil, eraser, scratch paper, and everything else?"

The father emphasized, "At school, you still need to get along well with your classmates."

Xuan Chong agreed as he stuffed his math textbook into his schoolbag.

He stuffed the math book into his bag so he could review those last few example problems before the exam; it wasn't about "cramming at the last minute," but about getting back into the swing of things. But when he opened the door, a gust of cold wind made Xuan Chong realize he didn't need to touch the cold math book anymore; he could just review the chapters in his head.

The bus swayed from side to side, and the commuters and students inside were also swayed. Everyone's eyes were lifeless. With the swaying of the bus, Xuan Chong swayed along with it, bobbing from left to right. After accidentally stepping on someone, Xuan Chong quickly apologized. However, the person opposite simply pulled their foot back without saying a word.

Everyone is in their own world. Although we are on the same bus, it feels like we are in another world.

And so, Xuan Chong followed the same path he had taken over the past few months and entered the campus; while everyone else outside the campus also went to their respective workstations.

Last night, Xuanchong saw a news report on TV about a woman who was forced to bankrupt her family in her pursuit of a celebrity. His mother commented, "That's insane! She's immersed in a fake world and can't see her own reality."

…Normal people don't neglect "real" life, but not everyone lives solely in reality…

"Ding-dong, ding-dong," the exam bell, unlike the usual school bell, rang out in the school.

This was a diagnostic test for the entire grade, and the teachers repeatedly emphasized that the test was extremely important.

The sharp voice of the female homeroom teacher next door reprimanded the students: "This will determine whether you can get into a good high school when you go to college! If your grades are not good enough, you can only go to a vocational school, and you will have to enter society early and suffer the hardships!"

Xuan Chong rubbed his face, which was red from the cold, and then rubbed his frozen ears. After a while, his earlobes warmed up, and the warmth lessened the impact of any sarcastic remarks.

The teacher began reading out the exam rules. Few students listened attentively—the good students weren't interested, and the less capable students weren't bothered.

The underachieving students sitting in the back row seemed to still be discussing the items dropped in the game last night. And those games they were talking about would be considered nothing more than online "browser games" a decade or so later.

…Our fates are all different, but here we are sitting together…

Xuan Chong sat down at his desk, took a deep breath, opened his pencil case, took out a pen, and wrote the formula in his palm.

I've memorized all the formulas and theorems, but as someone who used to be a poor student, I still lack confidence. This is my first major exam after studying hard since my rebirth.

When the proctor, Teacher Gao, came over, Xuan Chong started rubbing his hands together like a fly. The writing on his palms disappeared and turned into mud, which he then scattered on the ground.

"Tap tap tap," the sound of leather shoes treading in the classroom circled around and returned.

The exam papers, sealed in kraft paper, were torn open on the podium. They were then tossed from the front to the back, landing on every desk.

As the exam papers were handed out to the front row, when they reached Xuan Chong, the sound of the papers being flipped back and forth filled the classroom. However, after ten seconds, this sound stopped and was replaced by the swishing of answers.

Xuan Chong quickly flipped through the questions, front and back, and scanned the question types. He found that he had done them all before. Moreover, because he knew "how much time he would spend to understand each question type", he even estimated how many students in the class would be eliminated by certain question types, and how much his ranking could improve!

Xuan Chong, having been a poor student himself, knew very well that the reason he "couldn't" solve certain problems wasn't because he lacked intelligence, but because he hadn't set aside several consecutive days to learn them. Exams don't test theoretical intelligence; they test character. At least, that's what this exam was testing for him.

"I know them all!" Xuan Chong's heart leaped with joy. — In the most painful activity of taking an exam, the greatest joy is knowing that you've done the questions on the test paper before; it's like the joy of a fisherman catching a big fish.

Xuan Chong quickly picked up his pen, aimed the tip at the parentheses, and began filling in the blanks one by one. He filled in the simpler calculations first, and after finishing, he checked the time. He still had ten minutes left for the fill-in-the-blank questions, so he immediately moved on to the ones that required a little more calculation, "slowly and confidently calculating."

After filling in the answers that I was confident and accurate, my pen tip was trembling.

When he got to the final big question and identified the relevant test points, Xuan Chong automatically searched his mind for the "similar" problem-solving steps in the example questions he had done over the past few months.

The last three major questions, in theory, involve more steps than the last one.

There was a time when I was a poor student and couldn't see that the question setter would set up so many difficult questions in order to filter out enough students.

Now, Xuan Chong fully understands the "good intentions" of the question setter.

Knowing how much practice I spent before class to become proficient, and how I can now solve those challenging problems with lightning speed, I realize how much I can leave others behind.

Xuan Chong rummaged through his pencil case, pulled out a ruler and a protractor, and began working on geometry problems. He glanced at the problems and immediately knew where to draw the "auxiliary lines."

After solving these "difficult problems", Xuan Chong felt a great sense of satisfaction.

Thirty minutes into the exam, students who didn't usually pay attention in class started handing in their papers, and then gradually most of them did too.

The clock hands are ticking away in class, and there are ten minutes left in the exam.

In the examination room, Teacher Gao walked over to Xuan Chong, glanced at the exam paper, and then stood to the side with his back to Xuan Chong, continuing to proctor the exam. Teacher Gao's voice echoed throughout the classroom: "Pay attention to the time."

Tick-tock, tick-tock. After walking around, Teacher Gao clearly saw from the exam papers who had strong "aptitude" and who had weak "aptitude" over the past few months.

"This is the simplest math problem, it's not even calculus, even a dog could do it!" This was Teacher Gao's usual catchphrase.

Clearly, the "aptitude" that Teacher Gao was referring to wasn't the students' mathematical talent, but rather their ability to endure the tediousness of measurement and calculation. Xuan Chong, on the other hand, finished all the calculations in the last ten minutes. He then flipped to the front of the paper, quickly reviewed the calculations he had completed several tens of minutes earlier, starting with the fill-in-the-blank questions, and then quickly did a mental arithmetic once more.

After resolving the last question, my eyes felt a little sore, so I rubbed them. But after I put my hands down, everything changed.

…a spatial-temporal isolation appeared around the desks…

A dimensional well appeared, and Xuan Chong fell in. From the perspective of the other students taking the exam, Xuan Chong was staring intently at the exam paper, clearly absorbed in the test. His state was similar to that of the passengers on the bus that morning, lost in thought.

Of course, Xie Ming was also staring intently at the exam paper. He had already finished five minutes earlier and was now checking his personal information on the paper.

Outside the exam hall, students who had handed in their papers early were huddled in the corner of the corridor; some students who played games were gathered together with their game consoles, seemingly busy discussing how to maximize their attributes.

…The math exam has begun with the last question…

Xuan Chong felt his eyes stinging. Opening them, he looked into the small room before him. He was sitting on a traditional Chinese canopy bed, with a writing desk placed beside it. Then, Xuan Chong sensed something was wrong—where was his pen, and where was the chilly classroom?
Xuan Chong: "Am I hallucinating from the exam?" He then pinched himself and realized that his thigh was not the hem of his down jacket, but his lower body was under the covers.

Suddenly, a flood of memories rushed into his mind, including memories of this world and the "Da Yao" transmigration memories that he had long forgotten.

Of course, Da Yao's memory wasn't exhaustive. He couldn't recall the names of the individuals, but the training methods, the connections between various systems and the soldiers' motivation, were pouring into his little brain like a waterfall.

Xuan Chong felt a terrible headache and needed to rest, but he couldn't fall asleep in his anxiety. So he struggled to get up and realized he was wearing a silk nightgown.

The design of the canopy bed is complex, and the overall layout of this type of bed creates an environment that is like a small house inside a room.

The canopy bed had a floor beneath it, complete with a door and railings, creating a sense of "a bed within a bed, a canopy within a canopy." In modern times, it has clearly undergone modernization; beside the bed is a row of twelve metal animal heads representing the Chinese zodiac, which, upon touch, reveal a plumbing connection. There is also a wooden drawer; pulling it out reveals a small electric lamp. The lamp's casing is made of red and black lacquer, adorned with gold-threaded dragon patterns.

Xuan Chong got out of bed and looked at himself in the mirror. A chubby, plump boy of thirteen or fourteen years old appeared in the mirror. He looked like he had eaten too much meat and was overnourished. But his features were very regular, with a high nose and a pair of big eyes staring at him in the mirror.

Key information such as "time, place, who I am, why I am here now, and what I did yesterday" quickly flooded my mind like a table of contents.

After a long time, Xuan Chong confirmed that he had transmigrated again, and his name was now Liu Haoxing. It was now the year 2102 of the Han calendar. He was in the Eastern Lands, and was twelve years old.

The houses outside the window looked somewhat like tenement buildings, but their roofs were traditional Eastern-style black tile roofs, and in the distance, there were continuous pine forests covering the mountains. The view from my room was exceptionally good, overlooking a large part of the city.

Xuan Chong glanced around his room. It was large and tastefully decorated, except for his bed. There were no visible iron radiators, but warmth permeated the room. After a careful search, he realized that the iron painting of a roc hunting whales at sea on the east side of the room was actually the radiator. The roc's feathers in the relief were incredibly lifelike, and its wings protruded half an inch from the wall.

On the opposite west wall, there is a fish tank large enough to fit a person. The fish's palm-sized light bulb eyes are swinging wildly in the water. The fish tank is sealed, clearly not allowing anyone to mess around.

Soon, Xuan Chong discovered the key. Hanging next to the fish tank was a geomantic map of the entire "Eastern Region." Ah, Xuan Chong recognized it; this place was called "Sakhalin" in his previous life.

Xuan Chong got out of bed and walked to the window. After taking a few steps, he noticed that his belly fat was swaying. This unsteady feeling made him rub his chubby face.

As you get closer to the window, more and more of the scenery outside is revealed.

Modern productivity, with its oriental-style brick buildings, is evident in the city's architecture, stacked like building blocks. Vehicles crisscross the streets: old-fashioned cars and horse-drawn carriages pulled by large horses. Everyone wears thick overcoats, reminiscent of the overcoats worn by Northern Army soldiers in the 1980s. The colors are predominantly gray and brown, reminiscent of the dark colors of wolves and bears in the jungle.

Before the time travel, in winter, you could see brightly colored down jackets like blue and bright red everywhere you looked on the street. This was thanks to advancements in dyeing and printing technology. Now, however, who wants to see a bright color on the street?
Xuan Chong glanced down and noticed that some of the women downstairs were wearing white fur coats on their heads.

With current production capacity, there is no artificial fur; this color of fur is either mink or fox fur.

"Uh, what's going on in my house?" Xuan Chong realized what was happening and continued to observe the room. So he went to the side window.

From here, Xuanchong sees a lighthouse built along the coast, and factories with numerous chimneys deployed downwind on the city's edge. There are also cramped worker quarters, much like the Kowloon Walled City. This is a city where at least half a million people live together.

And through the window, he could see all of this, taking in almost the entire city's key points! His building occupied the best view in the city.

So, Xuan Chong looked up at the corridor and courtyard outside the room and gradually remembered that his surname was Liu and that he was the heir of this land.

On the land of China, after the four previous dynasties of Yuan Han, Heng Han, Li Han, and Zhen Han, this dynasty is the fifth rise of the Han Dynasty, officially called "Qian Han," and has been established for four hundred years. However, the common people refer to this dynasty as "Xian Han."

Just as Xuan Chong was absorbing this knowledge, he suddenly glanced at the corner of the room, then stared intently at the corner of the wall.

There was his "backpack" in the corner, which was the "backpack" he had just used for his exam.

Xuan rushed over and opened the "schoolbag." Inside were a ruler, compass, eraser, pen, and the novel "The Fierce Soldier." Oh, and a watch too.

The time on the watch has stopped.

"Wait!" Xuan Chong sensed something was wrong and glanced at his watch again. Although the watch looked the same as before, he felt that there was a year mark on the watch.

Xuan Chong glanced at the calendar; it was December 23rd.
"Dong~" A loud bell rang out, and the downstairs door opened, clearly indicating that someone was specifically there to keep watch.

…each has their own task…

This is in the New World. The Star of Bethlehem hangs atop the trees to celebrate the festival. Below the Star of Bethlehem is the number 1900.

Inside the metal-framed factory on a brick and tile base, several steam engines were turning. A boy stood behind a window, surrounded by people of both Han and Yi ethnicities.

Xie Ming also time-traveled, and as a sixteen-year-old boy, he was also packing his schoolbag. However, judging from his composure, this was clearly not the first time.

As the young master of a large factory owner, Xie Ming said, "Oh, it seems to be a 'Marvel-style superhero universe'." He took out a cell phone from his pocket to check the time.

(End of this chapter)