This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 84 Let's talk about it after you get first place in science.

At 6:15 p.m., when the sunset was in full bloom, Chen Shi'an and Wen Zhixia met at the intersection.

The new week begins with evening self-study.

Two hours ago, the two were both wearing regular clothes when they met, but now they have both changed into the same blue and white school uniform.

Chen Shi'an was a little while away. When he stood at the intersection and looked towards the alley, a girl in a blue and white school uniform was running towards him with a bag on her back and a schoolbag in her hand.

"Taoist priest! I saw your WeChat Moments. So you went up the mountain and got all these things today!"

"Yes, I saw you liked it."

Chen Shi'an took out his phone and looked at it. The post he made on WeChat Moments after returning from the mountain trip, titled "[Small harvest today (photos)]", already had more than 30 likes.

This was his first post on WeChat Moments, just something he posted casually for fun. After seeing so many of his classmates' posts last night, he decided to share his own life as well.

He only has about 30 or 40 friends on WeChat now, mostly classmates. It's mainly because it's new to him. After all, how would 17 or 18-year-old classmates know how to deal with mountain products? Most of his classmates gave him a like when they saw Daoye's post on WeChat Moments.

Wen Zhixia liked it, Li Wanyin liked it, Teacher Liang liked it, Uncle Lin also liked it...

Lin Mengqiu liked the post... then unliked it.

Chen Shi'an thought he was seeing things; the first like he received after posting on his WeChat Moments was from the class monitor.

But when I refreshed the page, the like was gone as if someone had eaten it.

Chen Shi'an found it amusing. He guessed that the class monitor probably didn't want other classmates to see her likes. Last night, when he was browsing other classmates' WeChat Moments, he noticed that likes and comments between mutual friends were visible to each other.

I've never seen Lin Mengqiu post on her WeChat Moments, nor have I seen her leave any trace in other classmates' posts.

"Are those grasses in the basket in your photo the medicinal herbs you said you were going to collect?"

To avoid spending time showering after returning from evening self-study, Wen Zhixia showered before attending the class.

As she stood beside Chen Shi'an, the breeze that had just jogged over carried the unique fragrance of a young girl after her bath into Chen Shi'an's nostrils.

It has a sweet, milky aroma. Although it's just a scent, when it wafts into your nose, it really does feel like milk, with a smooth, creamy texture. It also seems to have some refreshing green grape juice mixed in, creating a complex and intriguing flavor profile.

"Yes, they're all herbs. We've collected quite a few."

"Health tea~ Health tea?"

"Don't rush, I haven't mixed them yet. I'll give them to you when I've mixed them. I also picked a lot of pine nuts. I'll make some pine nut candy and give you some to try."

"Hehe, thank you, Taoist priest~"

Upon hearing that there was not only health-preserving tea but also pine nut candy, the girl's eyes lit up.

"What does pine nut candy look like? I've never tried it before."

"It's just sugar, made from maltose. When you bite into the sugar, the oily aroma of pine nuts will suddenly burst out. As you chew, the rich fragrance of pine nuts will gradually be released and fill your entire mouth."

"...It sounds delicious! Do you make your own candy?"

"Ah."

"Then remember to make some and bring it back for me to try."

"Okay. How do you think those wild mushrooms taste?"

Having been school buddies for so many days, the two now have a great understanding. Since they met, they haven't stopped walking and chatting.

Unlike the bright morning light, the orange-red sunset light fell on them, adding a touch of twilight gentleness.

"It's delicious! I've only eaten these mushrooms tonight. What about you? Did you eat the dumplings my mom gave you?"

"Not yet. Raw dumplings can be preserved. I put them in the refrigerator and will have them for breakfast tomorrow."

"It's delicious! Remember to eat it!"

"Don't worry, I'll eat it."

"Here——"

As she spoke, Wen Zhixia handed him the book bag she was carrying, saying, "Here, this is for you."

"what?"

“You’re trying to catch up on your junior high school foundation, right? These are my old junior high school physics, chemistry, and biology textbooks. I figured you probably didn’t have them anymore, so I found them when I got home yesterday and lent them to you.”

"When you got the dumplings just now, you didn't give them to me at the same time."

"You use it at school, so why would I give it to you, take it home, and then bring it back here? I might as well have brought it to you when I came to school."

"So thoughtful."

Chen Shi'an casually pulled out a junior high school physics textbook from his bag and glanced at it.

It must be said that Wen Zhixia cherishes her books. After so many years, her textbooks are still well preserved, with many notes written on them. Her handwriting is small and cute, just like her personality. Although she is now studying humanities, it is clear that she also put in a lot of effort in science back then.

Chen Shi'an is currently using junior high school textbooks that Teacher Liang borrowed from his junior high school teacher friends. He hasn't been able to borrow textbooks for physics, chemistry, and biology yet. Originally, Chen Shi'an was planning to borrow textbooks from Lin Mengqiu after finishing the main subjects, but Xiao Zhi beat him to it and brought the textbooks for physics, chemistry, and biology to lend to him.

"Thank you, Xiaozhi."

"Hmph~ You're welcome~"

Wen Zhixia pulled on the backpack straps on both sides with a cheerful expression and said meaningfully, "Just tell me if you need anything, so you won't have to borrow from other people. Anyway, I have everything I need."

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an put his physics textbook back into his bag, thus completing his junior high school textbooks.

"Do you want the workbook?" Wen Zhixia asked again.

"I don't need physics, chemistry, and biology for now. I'll focus on my core subjects first, and we'll see if I need them later."

Do you have a math workbook?

"The class monitor lent it to me."

"..."

Wen Zhixia kicked the small pebble she was playing with away, and after a while, she replied, "Oh."

Something's definitely wrong with Lin Mengqiu!

When have I ever seen her be so friendly and proactive with her classmates?
Anyway, during the semester when Wen Zhixia was in the same class and sat next to her, she never saw her be so friendly and proactive to anyone. All she knew was that people never dared to borrow things from her, and she never lent anything to others.

"what happened?"

"It's alright. It's good that your class monitor lent you the workbook. The knowledge in the textbook is all input, so you still need to do more exercises to output, so that you can build a more solid foundation."

How were your grades in junior high school?

"Well, it was alright. I was basically first in seventh grade. Then I started learning physics in eighth grade, and I wasn't used to it at first. I would occasionally drop to second or third, but I eventually managed to stay in first place."

"so smart."

"Junior high school is all basic."

Are there any study tips?

Wen Zhixia tilted her head and thought for a moment, "There's no secret to it, just work harder and set learning goals for yourself in stages, like how much to learn this month or how many points to get next month. Oh right, do you set any small goals for yourself?" "Yes."

"What small goal?"

"Ranked first in science subjects."

"...Pfft! Hahaha!"

When Wen Zhixia saw Chen Shi'an say those words with a serious expression, she couldn't help but chuckle. It wasn't that she was laughing at his overestimation of himself, but when she heard that he wanted to get first place, she couldn't help but imagine Lin Mengqiu's expression when she got second place. It must have been quite a colorful one!
So, this girl, who's so competitive, lost to someone who failed the exam! She must be having an existential crisis!
Of course, as her strongest academic rival, no one knew better than Wen Zhixia how difficult Lin Mengqiu was to defeat and how competitive this woman was.

Don't be fooled by Lin Mengqiu's current score of just over 700. Keep in mind that she's only in her second year of high school and hasn't even entered the review phase yet.

Based on the results of the school's review in previous years, after entering the review stage, every student will improve their scores to varying degrees. Although the room for improvement of 700 points is not large, whether it is a few points or ten points, every point is an insurmountable barrier for the 'challenger'.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You're so arrogant! You want to get first place? Don't you even ask your class monitor if he agrees? Besides, I'm asking about your small goal."

"It's a small goal."

"..."

Chen Shi'an couldn't think of any smaller goal, and said, "I'm also thinking that after I get first place in science, if there's still time, I'll get first place in humanities as well."

"???"

Wen Zhixia, who had just been laughing happily, stopped laughing. She reached out and slapped him, saying fiercely, "No!"

"What, are you afraid I'll steal your top spot in the humanities?" Chen Shi'an turned his head and smiled teasingly.

"Tch... You're still learning middle school material! Who gets first place in both science and humanities? Let's see if you get first place in science first!"

"Then you have to work hard."

"Hey! That's what I should be saying to you!"

Wen Zhixia was speechless. Even though he said such arrogant things, she still felt that her position as the top liberal arts student was about to crumble, and her own answers seemed weak.

The girl looked up at him, the light of the sunset reflecting on his sharply defined profile. His expression showed no hint of joking; it was as calm and composed as ever.

The mouth wanted to say that he was overestimating himself, but the eyes found him very charming.

Her heart pounded a few times, and she looked away.

"You know that we'll be having weekly tests starting this week during evening study sessions?"

"Weekly test?"

Chen Shi'an asked curiously, "I heard from Teacher Liang that there are monthly exams, but weekly exams too?"

"Yes, but weekly tests are different from monthly tests. Starting this week, there will be weekly tests every evening during self-study. Tonight should be the Chinese test, and after that we can study freely. Then tomorrow night we should have the math test, and the day after tomorrow the English test... Anyway, we'll have one test every day, six days a week, which is just the weekly test."

"So that's how it is. There are rankings too?"

"No need for that, it's just a test, and it will usually test what you've learned recently."

Wen Zhixia wasn't particularly interested in the exam since it didn't require ranking, but she was still very curious about how Chen Shi'an would do in his 'first exam'.

How's your Chinese language learning going?

"Fortunately, I've been listening to the lectures the whole time."

"How far have you gotten in math?"

"We just finished the seventh-grade curriculum, and this week we're going to start the eighth-grade curriculum."

What about English?

"We've reached the halfway point of the ninth-grade textbook."

How many words have you memorized?

"About 1964."

"..."

With a mix of whole and odd numbers of words, he memorized more than 1,900 words in just four or five days of study.

Wen Zhixia usually focuses on Chen Shi'an's English. Besides his rapid improvement in spoken English, she also knows that Chen Shi'an memorizes words along with the textbook.

To be honest, even though she herself had attended junior high school, she didn't know exactly how many words appeared in junior high school English; she only knew about the "2200 essential junior high school English words."

But Chen Shi'an could clearly tell her that, apart from proper place names and personal nouns, there were 289 words in the first semester of seventh grade, 492 words in the second semester, 425 words in the first semester of eighth grade, and so on...

The entire textbook contains a total of 2525 words, but only 90% of them are required to be mastered.

But Chen Shi'an didn't care about any of that; he swept through the area and didn't just memorize it.

Perhaps it was precisely because of his terrifyingly fast learning speed that Wen Zhixia was so speechless when she heard him utter those 'arrogant' words...

Haha, I feel a little sorry for Lin Mengqiu, who teaches math!

If this stinky Taoist priest keeps studying like this, will he one day actually steal this woman's top science score?

Hey, that's great!

Wen Zhixia nodded happily: "Hmm, you have almost two thousand words in your vocabulary, so it seems you can do quite a few questions on the weekly English tests now. But as for math... you might have to hand in a blank paper for now."

"Yes, we really need to speed up our math progress."

"...Don't neglect English either! It's so easy to improve your English score, it would be a shame if you didn't get a high score!"

"Did Teacher Ye tell me last time that there are only about three thousand words to master in high school?"

"Yes, but those are all basic words, enough to barely help you understand the exam paper."

English is Wen Zhixia's forte, and she says it with great familiarity: "Three thousand five hundred basic words, three thousand extended words, one thousand five hundred miscellaneous words... In short, you need to master at least eight thousand words so that you won't have any reading difficulties when doing tests. Otherwise, you will have to guess the meaning of many words from the context, which can easily lead to misjudgment."

After thinking for a moment, Wen Zhixia said, "Next time I'll lend you some English magazines or English extracurricular books. Anyway, you memorize the whole article. Compared to memorizing words one by one, this way of memorizing English is more helpful for your reading comprehension and writing."

"Okay, thank you, Xiaozhi."

With the rapid accumulation of his vocabulary, Chen Shi'an can no longer call memorizing words "memorizing". He can basically remember unfamiliar words after just one glance. After mastering the pronunciation rules, he can even know how to pronounce words without a reading pen.

Chen Shi'an's English learning progressed faster and faster. He estimated that he would be able to memorize all the English textbooks for junior high and high school in one or two weeks at most.

From now on, just accumulate more experience and practice more.

I really need to work on my math...

Yes, and there's also the combined science exam.

"Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about the combined science subjects."

"..."

The smile in the girl's eyes grew even stronger.

(End of this chapter)