Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

I've reached 20 points and haven't received the reward yet. It seems I need to reach 25 points to trigger it.

No, that's not important.

Li Zhao is experiencing a very strange feeling. He is living in the present "elementary school student" era, but he doesn't remember what he was like in his real elementary school days. Instead, he has to learn about it from Chen Nian.

Li Zhao probably started exercising regularly in high school. At first, it was just long-distance running. In order to adjust his mental state and release all sorts of inexplicable emotions during adolescence, he liked to wear headphones and run slowly on the playground.

As I ran, my physical fitness improved, so I started playing badminton again and gradually improved my skills. I joined the college badminton team in college, but I didn't put in much effort; I just used it as a place to exercise.

Once he started working, the long hours and overtime work actually gave him a reason to exercise, so he began to participate in the company's ball games once a week.

This is also part of the work-related social scene. Li Zhao, whose skill level has always been between amateur and amateur experts, is not good enough to participate in high-level casual games, but he is more than capable of playing in company games.

It's exactly the kind of situation where you can compete with a capable leader, going toe-to-toe without deliberately letting them win.

Later, as Li Zhao's position continued to rise, his subordinates and peers often praised him for his love of sports. After being praised so much, Li Zhao's memory did indeed become distorted.

He genuinely believed that he had always been a person who loved sports and enjoyed playing badminton.

When asked, the answer is always "I've loved playing since elementary school," earning the comment, "No wonder he's so good, he's been practicing since childhood."

The perspective travels back in time with the rebirth, landing once again on the self from elementary school.

Considering this body that gets out of breath after climbing eight floors, and the life of being stuck at home during holidays, how could Li Zhao have loved sports since elementary school?

On the contrary, due to his weak physique, he consistently performed poorly in physical education classes, which led him to abstain from sports for a time.

A real-life elementary school student, Li Zhao, is being formed in the heart of Li Zhao, who is now an elementary school student.

He remembered that in elementary school physical education class, during a race, Li Zhao couldn't run fast and didn't even know how to run properly. His posture looked a bit strange. During the relay race, he heard a girl on the other side say, "What kind of posture is that?" Li Zhao's movements immediately froze.

Later, when he entered junior high school, he became less enthusiastic about physical education classes.

Sprint, long-distance running, long jump, high jump...

Because he wasn't good at it, he deliberately pretended not to have tried his best, so that he wouldn't lose so badly.

Adolescence is a fragile, sensitive, and immature time.

This is how a vicious cycle is formed: the more you worry about making a fool of yourself, the less you want to do anything; and the less you do anything, the more likely you are to make a fool of yourself.

Therefore, throughout Li Zhao's student years, physical education classes had little to do with him. He was always a silent bystander in basketball and badminton competitions and school sports meets.

So, is he truly indifferent, or is he forced to keep this expectation hidden in his heart?

The latter is definitely the better choice.

Who wouldn't want to be an athlete and attract envious glances from those around them?

Li Zhao disliked physical education class, but he often watched sports competitions, including basketball, football, and all kinds of sports.

He will be a loyal viewer of the Olympics during the upcoming summer of 08.

A voice inside me said: This is the real you in elementary school.

Li Zhao accepted it quite naturally.

"Ah Zhao?" Chen Nian waved his hand.

"what……"

"You get so easily lost in thought these days."

"I think about things a lot."

"What are you thinking about now?"

"I was thinking..." Li Zhao paused for a moment as he spoke.

This was his catchphrase during his student days, but it rarely appeared after he started working and became more serious, speaking in a more adult manner.

He Shuyao once teased me about it during high school.

"Why are you spacing out again?" Chen Nian frowned.

"Well, I was thinking, maybe I should sign up for badminton lessons during the summer vacation."

"Huh?" Chen Nian was dumbfounded.

Isn't the change a bit too drastic?

"Why?"

"We're still young, so learning to play now can be a good start for us."

Developing your physical abilities as early as possible can be a way to make up for any regrets.

Then go on to dominate in junior and senior high school.

Chen Nian didn't understand. "Learning to play ball must be expensive, right?"

"We can afford a summer training camp," Li Zhao said confidently.

"..." Chen Nian hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"What?"

"I lent you all my pocket money."

"I'll double the price in May; a few hundred yuan should be enough for a summer intensive training program."

"Really doubled?" Chen Nian was stunned.

Li Zhao was a little taken aback. "Otherwise? Didn't you lend me the money because you believed I could double it?"

"I lent you the money because I trusted you; I thought you needed it urgently. No, you're really doubling the amount?"

A warm feeling washed over Li Zhao.

[I feel trusted by my friend again, Happiness +1, Total 21]

"You'll find out when the time comes," Li Zhao said solemnly, patting Chen Nian on the shoulder.

The next two days were uneventful, just like a normal school day for a primary school student.

Everyone was studying diligently, and troublemakers like Cai Chao didn't dare to cause any trouble. The top students came over to ask Li Zhao questions in an orderly fashion, although Li Zhao felt that many of the questions were simply brought to him by someone just to have a few words with him...

Jiang Qi, the class's study committee member, was specifically criticized for asking mostly pointless questions. Her rapid-fire answers made it seem like she was being tested by someone special.

Special praise to He Shuyao, whose questions are becoming increasingly beyond the scope of the curriculum and are gradually shifting towards "learning methods".

Li Zhao wouldn't be surprised if she pulled out a "learning methodology" one day.

Class monitor Ma Yingying completely quieted down and had virtually no interaction with Li Zhao.

He might be saving his strength to defend his first place in the class during Friday's exam, thus subtly opposing Li Zhao.

On Friday, April 11th, the sixth grade of Xinbei No. 4 Elementary School held its second major exam of the second semester.

Li Zhao scored in math in a flash, and Lin Wenjuan smiled as she looked at the test paper on the spot, nodding with great satisfaction.

A perfect score needs no further explanation.

Then he swiftly scored on the English paper, which is nothing new to everyone. It would be strange if someone who can hand in their paper early in the national competition finals and become a legend couldn't get a perfect score on this kind of paper.

Huang Keyun didn't even bother to look at Li Zhao's exam paper.

After finishing both exams, Li Zhao immediately wrote the outline of the subsequent articles on his composition book, which the teacher ignored.

Chen Nian wasn't too bothered this time. He had fully accepted that his deskmate was an exceptionally high-achieving elementary school student, and he was more focused than in any previous exam.

When it came to the Chinese exam, Li Zhao was actually a little nervous.

There's no other reason than that he genuinely dislikes memorizing texts, and once you dislike something, it's not easy to learn it well...

Fortunately, after taking a look, I found that the questions in the memorization section were mostly classical poems, which I could easily remember at a glance.

Li Zhao was so anxious that he immediately wrote down the content of the dictation, worried that he would suddenly forget it later.

Then turn it over to the back; the essay topic is—

Me, Twenty Years Later.

Twenty years from now, you'll have grown up, graduated from university, shone brightly in your career, and started a family. What kind of happiness and troubles will you experience then, and what will you say to your present self?

Please use your imagination to write an essay of no less than 400 words.

Li Zhao stood there dumbfounded.