Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Lin Bei sat in the last row, still feeling the soreness from yesterday's ab workout. His laugh caused a tightening in his abdomen, and he couldn't help but let out a couple of soft laughs.

Chen Deming stood on the podium and waited until the laughter subsided before slowly speaking: "Alright, turn to page 98 of your textbook."

The sound of turning pages filled the classroom, interspersed with a few muffled laughs that hadn't been suppressed, like the last ripples on the surface of water, which swayed a couple of times before completely subsiding.

After lunch, Lin Bei went to a bank near the school and withdrew 1,500 yuan. The money from the ATM was still warm, a neat stack of new bills. He folded the money in half and stuffed it into the inside pocket of his school uniform.

As soon as the first class in the afternoon ended, Lin Bei closed his pen, put his textbook in his desk drawer, and then took out a stack of neatly folded, brand-new banknotes from his school uniform pocket.

Seeing that Chen Yutong had already left and walked to the corridor outside the classroom, Lin Bei stood up, crossed the corridor, and walked to Zhang Mingyuan's seat.

Zhang Mingyuan was drawing something on a draft paper with his head down when he heard footsteps. He looked up and his gaze first fell on Lin Bei's face, then moved down to the stack of money in Lin Bei's hand.

"What?" Zhang Mingyuan put down his pen and sat up straighter.

"Here, this is for you." Lin Bei placed the money in his hand. "Fifteen hundred. Combined with what you already had, it should be enough to buy two down jackets."

Zhang Mingyuan paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, but I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"You have to make me write an IOU."

Lin Bei turned her head to look at him: "Are you serious?"

"Seriously." Zhang Mingyuan turned his head as well, and their eyes met. "Paying back debts is a matter of course. I'll feel at ease if the IOU is clearly written."

Lin Bei looked at him, remained silent for two seconds, and then said, "Okay. Then you can write it."

Zhang Mingyuan pulled a blank sheet of paper from under his desk, picked up a pen, and wrote: "Borrowed 1,500 yuan from Lin Bei today, to be repaid within six months. Borrower: Zhang Mingyuan. 2012.12.13".

After he finished writing, he turned the paper around and pushed it towards him: "Take a look, is it okay?"

Lin Bei glanced down at the text; the handwriting was neat and each stroke was written with great force. "Okay."

Zhang Mingyuan handed the paper to Lin Bei, then folded the 1,500 yuan in half and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his school uniform.

"Brother Bei, where did you get this money from?"

"Royalties"

Zhang Mingyuan nodded, not pressing for further questions, the smile on his lips deepening slightly.

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome." Lin Bei patted his shoulder, then turned and walked back to his seat.

The last class was physical education.

Teacher Liu stood at the front of the line, her breath condensing into a white mist in the cold air. She raised her hand and waved: "Run a lap first, warm up."

The group responded sparsely, and some people hunched their shoulders and rubbed their hands together.

After running a lap, Lin Bei's breathing had just warmed up. He glanced at the team and saw Zhang Mingyuan taking off his jacket and draping it over the railing of the stands. Underneath, he was wearing a gray long-sleeved sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing his dark and muscular forearms.

He didn't walk towards the court, but instead walked towards Lin Bei, holding the rolled-up dark blue yoga mat in his hand.

"Brother Bei, let's keep working out your abs together."

Lin Bei was stretching his ankles when he heard this and looked up: "I can practice by myself."

"It's okay. Although I'm a bit addicted to ball, it's not too late to play after I finish practicing with you." Zhang Mingyuan spread the mat on the open ground next to the track and squatted down to flatten the four corners.

He spoke casually, but Lin Bei noticed a faint curve at the corner of his mouth.

Lin Bei didn't say much, and turned to go to the equipment room to get a jump rope.

The jump rope was still the same plastic-wrapped steel wire, with black anti-slip tape wrapped around the handles. Lin Bei stood on the open ground next to the mat, adjusted his breathing, and began to jump.

He jumped 300 times steadily in the first set. The sound of the rope cutting through the air was particularly clear in the cold air, and his landing rhythm was even and firm. In the second set, he started to speed up, and his breathing became a little heavier when he jumped 200 times, but he didn't lose his composure. Just as he was about to start the third set, Wang Jun arrived, wearing a bright orange cotton coat, squatting on the steps of the stands at a distance, holding a bottle of water in his hand.

"Brother Bei, how many sets have you done?" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Two groups."

"That's one more set." Wang Jun unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip. "After you finish jumping, I'll do some stretching, then I'll jump rope. My goal for today is... 130."

"Last time it was 120, are you adding 10 more this time?"

"Take it one step at a time. As my dad says, taking too big a step can easily lead to trouble. Although I'm fat, I still have my balls, so I can't let them crack before I even get started."

Zhang Mingyuan chuckled beside him, a short laugh as if he had been choked by a cold wind.

"Wang Jun, you're quite the talker."

"Of course," Wang Jun said matter-of-factly. "My silver tongue is hereditary. When my dad was courting my mom, he relied entirely on his smooth talk. Now, whenever my mom gets annoyed by him, she says, 'You really fooled me back then,' and my dad just casually chimes in, 'You've been fooling me for over twenty years, you should be used to it by now.'"

Lin Bei smiled, then finished the third set of jump ropes and stopped to catch his breath. Sweat streamed down his forehead, shimmering in the last rays of twilight. He wrapped the jump rope neatly and placed it on the edge of the mat, then walked to the mat Zhang Mingyuan had laid out and lay down.

The soreness in my abdomen is still there, but it's much less than it was two days ago. The feeling has changed from "pain so bad I wanted to curse" to "a pleasantly sore feeling."

"What are we doing today?" Lin Bei asked, lying on his back.

"No hard stuff today." Zhang Mingyuan squatted down next to him. "Do a few easy sets. Three sets of planks, three sets of crunches, and two sets of side planks. I guarantee you won't need to lean against the wall tomorrow, but you'll be able to feel your abs working."

"OK."

He'd been doing these exercises for several days now, and his body was starting to adapt. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, but he wasn't as anxious about being tired anymore. Before, he'd want to stop and catch his breath after the tenth crunch, but now he could do the fifteenth before he started to feel the heat.

He held the plank for one minute and forty seconds in the first set, about twenty seconds longer than the day before yesterday. The second set was one minute and fifty seconds, and the third set was two minutes and five seconds. In the last twenty seconds, his entire arm was trembling. He stared at the worn line on the edge of the mat and counted down the seconds until he passed.

He did three sets of twenty crunches each. The first set went smoothly, but by the fifteenth in the second set, his abs started to burn, and by the tenth in the third set, they were burning hot. He slowed down, but didn't stop, using his abdominal muscles to control the curling and lowering of each rep. The last few were almost a grind, and his abs were burning hot when he lay down.

I did side planks for one minute on each side. On the left side, my body started to sway in the last fifteen seconds, my center of gravity shifted slightly, and I had to forcefully pull myself back. The right side was a little better, but only a little; my entire side was shaking in the last five seconds.

Lin Bei gritted his teeth and endured those five seconds, then rolled back onto his back, arms outstretched, looking up at the dark blue sky above.