Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

"Old wine," Li Zhao looked at him very seriously, "tell me, does showing off make people happy?"

Chen Nian had never thought about the philosophy related to pretentiousness, and now, faced with such a question, he felt powerless to answer it.

"Alright, let's focus and prepare for the English exam."

Chen Nian thought that Li Zhao might have been blessed by some kind of master.

After all, during the winter break, he went to a temple with his parents, and his mother kept saying that if Chen Nian was successfully blessed by the master, he would have an epiphany, his grades would improve by leaps and bounds, and his personality would mature rapidly.

The sound of high heels came from outside the corridor, and the classroom immediately became quiet.

The English teacher, Huang Keyun, is very young and has a high level of education. She is a master's graduate from a 985 university. It is a bit of a waste of her talents to come here to teach primary school English. Moreover, she is only responsible for Li Zhao's sixth grade (1) class.

She was young and beautiful, and dressed fashionably. As soon as she entered the school, she was constantly criticized and tried her best to get rid of the "pretty face" label.

She was also very proud and always wanted to get some outstanding grades to prove herself, so that she would have some confidence to speak in front of those senior teachers.

This year's national competition is more challenging than in previous years, which should have been a great opportunity, but unfortunately, Li Zhao's class didn't perform well enough.

The students who usually scored well in exams were not outstanding in English. Only the class monitor, Ma Yingying, and the academic representative, Jiang Qi, were selected from the preliminary training class, but neither of them made it to the semi-finals.

So since the start of the new semester, she has always had a slight frown, lost her usual energy in class, and even the colors of her clothes have become much colder.

Even today, Huang Keyun walked into the classroom with the test papers, expressionless. After handing out the papers, she sat on the podium and flipped through "How to Reconcile with Your Life".

After trying out the curling, Li Zhao realized a problem—he had hearing loss.

The sound quality of the school's public address system in 08, which was being played in classrooms, was quite a challenge for Li Zhao's ears.

So, Li Zhao got a little nervous when the exam just started.

When Li Zhao heard the words coming out of the radio almost clearly one by one, he relaxed.

Li Zhao underestimated the impact his ears had had on his Indian friend's incredibly fast-paced speech.

Since regaining his hearing, Li Zhao has never been nervous.

Although grammar isn't that important in oral communication, it's more than enough to handle elementary school exams.

After finishing the translation, Li Zhao suddenly realized that he had used some vocabulary beyond the syllabus.

I have no concept of how advanced it is; I only know that it's definitely not something elementary school students can use.

He then recalled how "showing off" had somehow added three points to his happiness level, and suddenly fell into a philosophical thought:

Who determines happiness levels?

Since it is based on Li Zhao as the main subject, the standard of happiness should be Li Zhao's own inner thoughts, right?

He had to look inward.

Did you enjoy showing off while explaining math?

It felt good.

Even elementary school students feel great when they are being watched and see four shocked faces.

However, deliberately putting on an act is a poor choice; it should be done naturally and effortlessly.

For example, using vocabulary beyond the curriculum, deliberately showing off skills, is counterproductive.

It is pointless to deliberately hide it.

Teacher Huang, it's time to test your English proficiency as a 985 master's graduate.

The essay topic was "My Family," and some Chinese prompts were provided. It was essentially a semi-translation question, requiring only fifty words. You just needed to translate a few sentences according to the Chinese prompts and add some nouns to complete the essay.

It's at an elementary school level, after all.

Li Zhao restrained himself from using some advanced vocabulary, then put down his pen and looked out the window to his left again.

Including the ten or so minutes for the listening section, Li Zhao completed the test in a total of twenty-three minutes.

Chen Nian's eyes were already filled with terror as he glanced over.

He didn't even finish the second page of the four-page test!

Li Zhao seemed perfectly normal during the Chinese exam, but when he was writing the essay, he was frowning and almost didn't finish on time.

Yesterday it was math, today it's English, how come I suddenly became a quickie guy?

It must have been consecrated!

Amitabha.

In a classroom of sixty children, fifty-nine were engrossed in their exam papers, while Li Zhao stood out calmly, admiring the scenery. Logically, he should have been very conspicuous.

But Huang Keyun was so engrossed in reconciling with her own life that she didn't pay much attention.

The elementary school desks were quite old, covered with messy words and patterns, and the edges were worn and uneven from being scratched.

There are four old-fashioned fans overhead, but they're not turned on yet.

When Li Zhao was a child, he always fantasized about a fan falling down and causing a bloody scene. Only when he grew up did he realize that he had many kindred spirits.

But now, what he cares about is that there's a lot of dust on the fan, and it seems the school won't hire anyone to clean it in the summer.

In 08, none of this mattered. Even if some dust fell down, it was just everyone's toy.

The sun was shining brightly outside the window, with blue skies and white clouds. The sixth-grade classroom was on the sixth floor, and only the tops of the two big trees in the school were visible.

The only sounds in the classroom were the rustling of test papers being flipped and the scratching of answers being written.

Time passed very slowly, so slowly that Li Zhao's chaotic thoughts began to settle down.

As a result, I felt sleepy.

When Li Zhao was shaken awake by Chen Nian again, Huang Keyun was already standing beside him.

With one minute left in the exam, everyone was flipping through their papers. Some were pondering ambiguous questions, while others were simply checking if they had filled in their names.

Li Zhao got up, revealing the exam paper that had been under him. Huang Keyun, looking helpless, was stunned for a moment when she saw the essay that was filled with writing.

Before she could take a closer look, the bell rang, and the group leaders consciously got up to collect the papers. Huang Keyun then returned to the podium.

But he silently memorized Li Zhao's name.

She wanted to see how many points she could get on a test that she finished so quickly.

As always, after the exam papers were collected, the whole classroom erupted in groans and wailing.

Those who actually did poorly on the test really wail; those who don't know how they did join in the wailing to accumulate good karma; and those who don't care at all about their results just join in the wailing for fun.

Those who scored 96 points at the top of the class were considered to have failed the exam, and they joined in the lamenting just to show off.

"Ah Zhao," Chen Nian lowered his head mysteriously, as if afraid of being overheard, "Tell me honestly, did you go to Kaiyuan Temple during winter break?"

"No, what do you mean?"

"How did you finish this test paper so quickly again? I suspect you were blessed by a master."

"This is the result of hard work and accumulation," Li Zhao said solemnly.

It has been accumulated over twenty years.

This exam paper is over twenty years old. I wonder if Teacher Huang can handle it?

The statement, which was too accurate, made Chen Nian a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and said sorry, then silently took out his English textbook.

How did you translate "the park is picturesque"?

A familiar voice rang out from behind; it was Zhao Pengwei, with his signature high-pitched voice.

"As expected, you also resemble a painting. It seems like everyone uses this."

The sound was getting closer.

A moment later, Zhao Pengwei, a tall, thin boy with long hair, walked up to Li Zhao. "The top students in our class are all like a painting. I used 'as beautiful as a picture,' which is... you know what I mean?"

These words made Li Zhao's eyes light up.

As expected, Jiahao is not a product of the new era. It's a pity about Zhao Pengwei. If the internet were more developed now, he would have changed "You're so generous" to "You're so great".

"Li Zhao, how did you translate it? Like or as?"

"Picturesque."

"Huh?" Zhao Pengwei thought Li Zhao had uttered an onomatopoeic word. "What?"

"The park is picturesque." This phrase means "as beautiful as a painting."

Zhao Pengwei immediately realized that his initiative to come over had been used as material for showing off, so while saying "What the hell?" he quickly pretended to be looking for a classmate and walked out of the classroom.

Li Zhao regretted it as soon as he said it.

This isn't anything particularly remarkable.

Then he saw He Shuyao quickly extend her thumb towards him.

Li Zhao chuckled softly, feeling somewhat comfortable.

and many more……

Maybe we shouldn't add happiness this time, it would make me, Li Zhao, look like I'm arguing with a child...

[Suppressed that idiot everyone hates, and incidentally showed off a bit. Happiness +1, total 18]

What's wrong with arguing with a child?

It's so much fun!