The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

Having regained his confidence, Zhao Shi'an looked at the melons he had eaten more than a dozen of, along with a few tomatoes and cucumbers. He felt it would be a waste to just throw them away, but considering the season, he couldn't give them to his younger siblings.

So he put all the munched fruits and vegetables into the house in the small courtyard, where time was frozen and they wouldn't spoil.

Besides the fruits and vegetables he had eaten, there were also many other ripe vegetables in the house, such as the chives he had harvested several times before.

Upon arriving at the small courtyard, Zhao Shi'an drank several mouthfuls of the spring water in the yard, then used his mind to remove the smell from his body, only feeling relieved after confirming that there was no smell left.

People these days have very sensitive noses. They can even tell if something is good just from the lingering smell. Last time I bought college entrance exam papers, I ate some sesame seed cakes and went back to school, and my deskmate could smell it.

He just ate a lot of cantaloupe, tomatoes, and cucumbers. If he walked into the classroom so openly without paying attention, someone might ask him questions.

Rather than being questioned, he decided to eliminate the problem at its source. He first drank several handfuls of spring water and then let the wind blow away the smell from his body to ensure that nothing went wrong.

After doing all this, Zhao Shi'an was about to leave the space when his gaze fell on his dark cotton-padded coat. He paused, especially when he saw the patches of matted cotton wool scattered around him. Remembering the scene of "summoning wind and rain" just now, he had a sudden thought, and the matted cotton-padded coat instantly became light and breathable, and he felt much warmer.

Early April in Beijing is quite cold, both in this era and more than seventy years later; it's even colder in this era.

When he was a child, he wouldn't dare take off his thick clothes until after May Day. In this era, cotton-padded jackets were worn for even longer periods.

Using your mind to fluff up the hardened cotton, similar to re-fluffing old cotton, greatly improves its warmth retention.

He had just transferred to a new class yesterday, and his senior classmates didn't know him well. His cotton-padded coat had become a bit fluffy, and his new classmates wouldn't notice the change. Worried about encountering observant people, Zhao Shi'an pressed the fluffy cotton down a bit more. So, from the outside, there wasn't much of a change. Unless you looked closely at his coat, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

After being compacted, the cotton-padded jacket's warmth retention was slightly reduced, but it was still much better than before.

After doing all this, Zhao Shi'an pondered for a long time to make sure there were no oversights before observing the outside world. When no one was around, he stepped out of the space.

It seemed like we spent a long time in the space, but the space has a ten-fold flow rate, so at most ten or twenty minutes passed in reality. If we hadn't been delayed in the small courtyard in the space at the end, the time would definitely have been shorter!

After leaving the space, Zhao Shi'an went straight to the classroom to start reviewing the textbook.

In the afternoon, the students arrived at school one after another. Zhang Haitao came to the classroom and looked at Zhao Shi'an, who was studying attentively. He was full of admiration. However, when he thought about the exam tomorrow, he was also a little curious about what kind of results this student who had just skipped a grade could achieve.

"Zhao Shi'an, you have an exam tomorrow! Are you nervous?"

Zhang Haitao tapped on the table in front of Zhao Shi'an and asked a question.

"It's alright! After studying for so many years and taking so many exams, what's there to be nervous about?"

Zhao Shi'an casually remarked, "Exam anxiety? That's simply not an issue for him! How could a student be afraid of exams?"

He loves taking exams, especially in his senior year of high school. He's usually exhausted, but monthly exams and mock exams are the perfect time to relax.

When there are no exams, I have to go to school at five or six o'clock every day to memorize texts and vocabulary, and I don't get back to the dormitory until eleven or twelve o'clock at night.

During the exams, they don't start until 8 or 9 o'clock, especially during the "first, second, and third mock exams" in the second semester of senior year. The exam times and order of these mock exams are all aligned with the actual college entrance exam.

The exam isn't until 9 a.m., so he can sleep a few more hours.

Although the monthly exam starts at eight o'clock, there is no need for morning reading. Once you finish, you can hand in your paper early and even go to the internet cafe to play a few rounds of Dota during the noon or afternoon exam.

Looking back on his high school days, he doesn't know where he got so much energy back then.

"Students are certainly not afraid of exams; this is the time to test our learning outcomes."

"You've only been in this class for one day and you're already taking the exam with us? Aren't you worried about your grades?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Haitao pressed for more details.

"What's there to worry about? You guys are the ones who should be worried! I didn't do as well as you because I just transferred from a high school. The teacher will definitely understand. If I did do better than you, wouldn't that make me look even more amazing? Just think what the teacher would say!"

Zhao Shi'an responded, looking at Zhang Haitao with a mocking expression.

"Hey! You really are! Okay, buddy, you've said all the right things! This time I'd better behave myself, or my Chinese teacher won't let me off the hook!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Haitao gave Zhao Shi'an a thumbs up. Remembering the requirements his Chinese teacher had set for him, he immediately took out his notebook and started looking at good words and phrases, hoping to use more of them in his compositions and improve his writing score.

"Then you'd better work hard!"

Zhao Shi'an glanced at the contents of the notebook but didn't pay much attention. He had a similar notebook when he was in high school, and his essays were very ornate, which often drew criticism from teachers who said they were just writing nonsense. However, judging from Zhang Haitao's notebook, most of the entries were characteristic of the times, so he figured the teacher wouldn't use such words to describe it.

Before long, the school bell rang, and Zhao Shi'an took out his textbook to prepare for class.

After school, he continued studying as planned. In the two days since the start of the senior year, he had attended most of the classes. The courses were much simpler than he had expected, and he was quite curious about tomorrow's exam.

When he got home in the evening, his father gave him a small bowl of dumplings, and his younger brother and sister each got a few. The family ate dinner happily and went to bed early.

The next day, knowing that her eldest son had an exam that day, Liu Guiying specially boiled an egg for him when making breakfast.

"Hey boss, have an egg, and do your best on the exam!"

During the meal, Liu Guiying handed the boiled eggs to her eldest son.

"Mother, I will!"

As he spoke, Zhao Shi'an took the egg, peeled it, and ate it with pickled vegetables.

Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie glanced at it and then looked away. They had just eaten dumplings yesterday, so they weren't that eager for their older brother's eggs.

After breakfast, Zhao Shi'an went to school to prepare for the exam.

Upon arriving at the classroom, I saw that the students were sitting in alternating positions, one sitting upright and the other sitting backward, to ensure that the students could not see the contents of the test paper, thereby reducing the possibility of cheating.

The exam begins at 8:00 AM.

The first subject was Chinese. After receiving the test paper, Zhao Shi'an checked for errors and omissions, listened to the teacher read the questions aloud, filled in the missing questions, and then began to answer the questions formally.

At 10 o'clock, the Chinese exam ended, and after a 20-minute break, we continued with the next exam.

Zhao Shi'an was somewhat surprised to see the exam schedule. Chinese was only two hours long, while history and chemistry were only forty minutes long, which was much shorter than the modern college entrance examination.

Fortunately, there weren't many questions, and they were relatively simple. Remembering his plan, Zhao Shi'an simply followed the steps and handed in his paper after most others had done so.

He needs to portray himself as a student who improves rapidly, not someone who stands out from the start. With more than four months until the college entrance examination, gradually improving through several monthly or mock exams will allow people to see his growth trajectory!