Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

"I..." He Shuyao clenched her slender fingers into a fist, "But, in this English exam... I only got 94 points because I wanted to use some more accurate expressions, and I misspelled words and made mistakes in sentence structure."

Li Zhao looked at her.

He Shuyao slowly lowered her head again, "The gap between us is still too big."

Ok?

Why the sudden change of direction?

"Are you treating me as a potential enemy?" Li Zhao asked.

"..." He Shuyao glanced at him. "Boring."

Before Li Zhao could think of anything to say, the girl stretched out her legs again, rested her chin on her hands, and said, "It will still be a blow to your confidence to some extent. Didn't Teacher He say today that you are special and that everyone should not try to learn your way of thinking because it is impossible to do so?"

It turned out to be the case.

"I can learn the approach," Li Zhao replied straightforwardly. "It's just that my knowledge base is relatively large, so don't force yourself to use it when your knowledge base isn't on the same level. For example, in your English essay this time, using more accurate words and phrases is correct, and it will be very helpful for your future learning. But don't use words you're not confident about, as that requires more time to learn."

He Shuyao's eyes lit up again.

"Moreover, the entrance exam for junior high school is quite difficult. If you continue to study like this, I believe you can achieve unexpectedly good results."

He Shuyao jumped up from the stone pier, her cute and delicate face blooming like a flower in front of Li Zhao.

That's a bit too close! Seriously, even elementary school students should be careful!

"Then, can I still ask you questions in the future?"

Li Zhao nodded. "Of course you can. Also, why do you think I can't ask you questions just because I didn't do well on one exam?"

"Pinky promise."

Honestly, when faced with a difficult question, they just change the subject.

Li Zhao extended his little finger, "Pinky promise, a hundred years from now, no take-backs."

He was the only one who recited the words, while He Shuyao kept her eyes closed and her lips moved slightly.

Are you chanting a spell?

"What are you talking about?"

"...Keep it a secret."

"Alright," Li Zhao smiled and shook his head, "Then, shall we go back to the classroom to rest?"

"it is good."

As is customary, He Shuyao would always ask Li Zhao questions while they were going up the stairs.

Li Zhao silently counted down the numbers in his mind. When he got to "ten," He Shuyao turned around as expected. "Li Zhao, when exactly did you learn so many things?"

I learned it during winter break.

He Shuyao rolled her eyes at him. "Cold."

Alright, the three pieces of the boring, dull, and indifferent set have finally been completed.

"I need to go to the office. You go to the classroom first."

He Shuyao stopped and blinked at Li Zhao.

"What's wrong?"

"...Can I come with you?"

"Huh?" Li Zhao was taken aback.

"Okay, bye-bye, that's all." He Shuyao tossed her long ponytail and left.

Li Zhao stood at the office door, shrugged, and watched He Shuyao's departing figure for a long time.

As soon as I turned around, I saw Huang Keyun standing at the door holding a mug.

"Hey, Teacher Huang."

"Chatting with Shuyao again?"

"What do you mean by 'again'..." Li Zhao suddenly remembered that Huang Keyun had caught them talking about the methodology of happiness and even ate her bread.

"What were you talking about?"

"My English grades have slipped since the exams."

A smile appeared on Huang Keyun's lips. "Comforting her?"

"I guess so. It's rare to see Teacher Huang leave her seat at this time."

"It's too noisy inside. If you need to use the computer, go inside. I'll just stay outside and get some fresh air."

The teacher and student have become friends.

As soon as Li Zhao entered the office, he heard a familiar voice.

It's still the same trio of Chinese teachers, no, this time we've added Ms. Hao, the English teacher, and the math teacher who always sleeps in the corner.

"Look at their perspective! They're focusing directly on the personal safety of ordinary people!" Teacher Wu seemed very excited.

"I still hold the same view," the male math teacher said loudly, "His article is purely politically correct, there's nothing wrong with it, but in reality it's about prioritizing development. How can you expect to have everything and get everything?"

"Teacher Chen, you're wrong. Si Kou Dao already said before that he doesn't support the blind expansion of cities."

"Development does not mean expansion..."

Very well, they've started arguing.

Arguing generates traffic.

Every person who holds reservations or even opposes an article is, in fact, a diffuser of its influence.

As we all know, an article with only positive reviews indicates a lack of influence, and those who read it are those who already agree with the viewpoint; if you start to hear dissenting opinions, it proves that the article has spread to people who shouldn't have seen it.

People who regularly read newspapers are generally interested in current affairs, such as these three language arts teachers, but math teachers who usually choose to rest are definitely not the target audience.

He came over to say a few words, and his opinions were certainly relatively one-sided and extreme, but what Li Zhao's article aimed to do was to change the mindset of this group of people.

Li Zhao opened the official website of South China Weekly, found his article, and his eyes lit up immediately.

14 comments.

It may not seem like much, but this is only the second day, and you can compare it side-by-side. The front-page news in the same newspaper only has 5 comments, and the most popular livelihood issue only has 16 comments.

In a longitudinal comparison, the editorials published by Li Zhao on popular issues usually garner no more than 50 comments per week.

This level of popularity is quite impressive for a professional urban planning commentary.

However, the content made him frown.

Six comments were unrelated to the article and discussed the author, "Four Knives"; five comments criticized the author's declining skill level and emphasized that development should be the priority; the remaining three comments were dry and useless praise: "Keep it up," "Good article," "Amazing."

He searched the article title again and found that several media outlets had published comments on the article. Unfortunately, they either focused on Linjiang or broadened the discussion to the disaster prevention capabilities of cities across the country.

Not many people are talking about earthquake preparedness.

"Hey Liu, didn't you say before that the New Taipei City Planning Institute invited Four Knives? What happened?" Teacher Wu's words reached Li Zhao's ears again.

"Oh, don't even mention it. They don't appreciate it at all." Liu Zu waved his hand.

"Last time you said it might be the CEO of some design company?"

"No." Liu continued waving his hand. "Tadokoro has already gone to investigate, and they are also curious about who the Four Knives are."

I don't think so either.

"How so?"

Teacher Wu picked up the newspaper. "Look at this sentence: 'The author has conducted field surveys in mountainous towns in Sichuan. I feel he's a scholar of considerable caliber. In our Linjiang planning system, would anyone go to Sichuan for field surveys? And look at the points he raised—it's practically making demands on the government!'"

Teacher Wu has good taste.

"Anyway, we'll have no answer as to who this is until he comes forward." Liu shook his head. "Maybe he's some expert from out of town who recently came to Linjiang and wrote some articles."

"I saw it last time," Teacher Hao suddenly said, "that someone named Linjiang Guancheng posted an analysis of this article on the Haijiao Forum. It was quite well written, and you can take a look too."

Ok?

Li Zhao immediately logged into his account and was immediately surprised by the "46 new messages" notification.

The flowers are blooming right here!

Although most of the comments and replies were not very informative, one piece of news particularly excited him.

"I'm from Sichuan, and to be honest, this article really resonated with me. The author doesn't seem to be from Sichuan, but it's rare to see someone so concerned about us. I've actually raised the issue of earthquake resistance a few times, but I haven't been persistent. This article has given me some confidence. Just as the main post said, if the hardware can't keep up, we can't neglect the software."

Li Zhao clicked on his homepage, and his eyes widened immediately.

One post documented his mental journey after being transferred to a town in Sichuan.

In just over a day, it was able to spread to grassroots leaders in the corresponding regions, perhaps...

This article does have some effect.

[Article's impact exceeded expectations, Happiness score +1, Total 25]

[You can exchange 25 Happiness Points for a reward: 3 RMB in cash or a 10x increase in the influence of a designated article]

Li Zhao was completely stunned.