Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

"Ah Zhao, are you serious?"

After school, Chen Nian stood at the entrance of the convenience store, his face full of disbelief.

Li Zhao actually took the initiative to pull him over to buy grilled sausages.

It's one thing to bring him over, but what's wrong with He Shuyao?

He Shuyao didn't really understand either. Li Zhao asked her whether she went home by herself or her parents picked her up after school. She said she went home by herself, and then Li Zhao pulled her here and said he wanted to treat her to grilled sausages.

"Of course I'm serious," Li Zhao said with a smile. "I want to eat, and I'll treat you two to some too."

"Where did you get the money?"

You gave it to me.

"I made it to the national competition, so my mom gave me some pocket money. Boss, one sausage and one egg tart for everyone."

When Li Zhao mentioned giving them some pocket money, Chen Nian and He Shuyao almost simultaneously started waving their hands and shaking their heads in preparation to refuse. However, their eyes lit up when they heard that each of them would receive an egg tart.

Chen Nian immediately gave in, "My sausage, extra spicy, boss."

He Shuyao persisted, "I...don't eat snacks."

I don't believe you.

"Do you want your grilled sausage spicy?" Li Zhao asked directly, completely ignoring her reaction.

"Add extra cumin, no chili."

He Shuyao was stunned after she finished speaking.

Chen Nian couldn't help but burst out laughing, then immediately covered his mouth and turned away.

He Shuyao's ears turned slightly red as she bit her lip and looked at Li Zhao.

"Boss, the other two sausages are all plain with extra cumin."

"Ah Zhao, I didn't expect your mom to actually give you pocket money." The three of them were walking on the pedestrian street when Chen Nian said while eating a grilled sausage, "You treated us to something, so I'll go buy you drinks."

"No need," Li Zhao called out to Chen Nian, then pointed to an alleyway, "Go over there."

There's a fresh fruit juice shop there, and it's a high-end version with extra toppings.

In 08, milk tea was generally made from solid powder, and fruit tea had not yet become popular on the streets. For elementary school students, dessert shops that offered freshly squeezed fruit juice were already considered top-notch.

Look at Chen Nian's dumbfounded expression.

"Please have some fruit juice."

"Ah Zhao, you didn't steal money from home, did you?"

Li Zhao pulled out a wad of change. "If you keep worrying about this and that, I'll just treat Shuyao to a drink."

So on their way home from school that day, the three elementary school students were drinking juice and eating grilled sausages and egg tarts, their faces beaming with happy smiles.

Chen Nian is happy because of the delicious food; He Shuyao is happy because Li Zhao treats her to delicious food; Li Zhao…

[In elementary school, treating your best friend to a meal earns you admiring glances, happiness +3, total 10]

Huh? There aren't any rewards available to redeem with 10 points of happiness anymore?

The 1 yuan isn't a permanent reward; it's just a one-time thing, right?

With the money-making task settled, Li Zhao, whose mindset had changed, was able to focus more on his elementary school life—there were only three months left, and there would be a lot of extra lessons to learn in junior high school. It wouldn't be easy to effortlessly dominate like he was now.

So he was diligently reviewing for the national English competition.

Huang Keyun was so excited by what she saw.

Li Zhao was certainly not lacking in confidence, but he wanted to get a perfect score.

You should be able to put in a lot of effort to make your essay stand out, but you can't make the same mistake of "getting used to simplification and making mistakes instead".

Familiarize yourself with the question types and get into exam mode.

Finally, after studying all day, Li Zhao took a deep breath and said that this national primary school competition was far too easy.

Huang Keyun's excitement lasted only one day.

April 4th, 2008, was the first Qingming Festival holiday after the national statutory holiday standards were revised.

Which genius in the world scheduled the finals of the National English Competition for the Qingming Festival holiday?

So on April 3rd, the last workday of the week, the children were full of anticipation for their first Qingming Festival holiday. They kept discussing in class, "Do you want to go pay respects to your ancestors?" and soon the topic turned into "Whose elder has passed away?"

Li Zhao's heart pounded with anxiety upon hearing this.

Before school ended, Huang Keyun made a point of keeping Li Zhao there.

He then gave me a detailed explanation of the important points to note when taking the exam on Sunday.

"Understood. We need to meet at school at 7:30 in the morning and take a minibus to New Taipei First Senior High School together. We will follow the teachers' instructions, collect our admission tickets and stationery, and then line up as required and follow the teachers into the examination room."

"Great!"

Li Zhao was helpless. After all, they were just elementary school students, so he could understand that the organization and arrangements were a bit more meticulous and complicated.

"Actually, the teacher was quite happy to see you reviewing for the national competition, but is it okay if you only watched for one day?"

Huang Keyun was still very anxious.

Li Zhao was her gamble.

"Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is wasteful; sharpening the sledgehammer as a sign of respect is enough."

One sentence silenced Huang Keyun.

Well, let this kid do whatever he wants.

This Qingming Festival, because Li Zhao was protected by the national competition, he didn't need to help with any of the ancestral worship-related matters, so it was quite easy for him.

However, instead of researching the national competition, his attention was drawn to a newspaper.

A special edition of the Linjiang Weekly: A Chronicle of Major Events in Linjiang.

There is a significant article above, authored by Tsao Yung, the director of the New Taipei City Planning Institute.

My Views on Urban Development Issues in New Taipei City

This person... Li Zhao had never dealt with him before. He was quite old; he had already retired when Li Zhao started working.

It took up an entire newspaper page, covering four issues and four solutions related to the development of New Taipei City, making it a fairly professional popular science article.

It was supposed to be a good thing, but then there was this one sentence in it:

"I have also noticed that more and more people are paying attention to urban planning issues. For example, the author 'Sikoudao' has written two good articles. I warmly welcome insightful authors to participate in the academic exchange activities organized by our institute and to discuss issues from different perspectives, both professional and public. We welcome new ideas."

Oh.

Professionals versus the masses?

You New Taipei City Planning Institute are professionals, while I, Sikoudao, am just a layman?

It seems that Tadokoro's resentment at being targeted wasn't just something he couldn't swallow.

Dean Cao probably used his connections to ask around and confirmed that Si Kou Dao was not an industry insider.

That being the case...

Before the exam, Li Zhao stayed in his room writing diligently, which pleased his parents greatly, little knowing that he hadn't looked at a single English word.

Li Zhao finally finished writing the article before going to bed on Saturday night.

Seven Key Issues in New Urban Planning Logic – A Case Study of Xinbei City, Linjiang Province

A magnificent essay of eight thousand characters.

Since his rebirth, Li Zhao rarely felt sleepy due to mental exertion, and he slept soundly that night.

Even the next day, while sitting in the bread cart, Li Zhao kept yawning.

Huang Keyun, who was standing nearby, laughed and said, "Why did you come so early? You look so sleepy."

"Don't the teachers arrive early too?"

"...You silly child."

Students boarded the bus one after another, and everyone's demeanor and expressions were almost identical.

One part pride in participating in the competition, two parts novelty of taking the bus to New Taipei First Senior High School, and seven parts anxiety about "what to do when the exam is coming up".

In the end, eight students participated.

There are 5 classes in one grade at Xinbei No. 6 Elementary School. If Li Zhao hadn't joined the class halfway through, there would have been exactly 2 students per class after removing Class 1 of Grade 6.

No wonder Huang Keyun was so anxious...

When Liu Yiting got on the bus, she spotted Li Zhao immediately and ran over excitedly. Then she noticed Huang Keyun standing next to her, so she awkwardly sat down behind Li Zhao.

After the car started, everyone began chatting excitedly.

Li Zhao chose to close his eyes and rest.

Until the boy's voice on the right rang out:

"Li Zhao, your teachers at Experimental Primary School said that Teacher Huang wrote your test paper for you. Did you know that?"

The whole car fell silent.