As everyone knows, when people reminisce about high school, it’s rarely the exams they miss.
Wen Qianshu stared at the in-class quiz for a moment, then sighed. She began to write, the pen scratching against the paper. She flipped through the pages quickly, looking completely confident.
But in reality, she was saying to 2333, “Damn it, I don’t know this question either—maybe I’ll just put down C.”
2333 said, “Here’s the thing, to lighten the repairer’s burden, we can provide the correct answers for exams. But you need to increase your score gradually and pretend to be thinking hard. In short, just make it look realistic—”
Wen Qianshu sighed again. “That sounds like a lot of trouble.”
2333: “?”
Wen Qianshu said, “Ah, don’t worry about the details. I’ll just study it myself.”
2333: “…”
No, wait, wake up. Are you here to get a free education?
Student Wen might not have been there for a free education, but she certainly looked the part. Just as the teacher finished collecting the papers, the bell rang. She leaned back on her stool, one hand in her pocket and the other holding down her test paper, reviewing the mistakes from her last physics test. When she came across a few problems that needed to be recalculated, she casually pulled out a napkin to use as scratch paper.
2333: “…”
In contrast, Jiang Mingyue sat with her back perfectly straight, her posture impeccable. She wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses, giving her a scholarly air. Even the way she held her pen was so precise it could have been used as an illustration in an elementary school textbook.
In the sunlight, the girl’s face seemed to be coated in a layer of light. Perfectly arched eyebrows, followed by half-closed, quiet eyes with long, drooping lashes, exuded a kind of distant obedience. This always made Wen Qianshu think of things that were cold, exquisite, and sweet, like an elaborately designed, castle-shaped ice cream cake, with every rooftop dripping with the cool taste of chocolate.
2333 felt disheartened at the thought that the male and female protagonists hadn’t even met yet. It reminded Wen Qianshu, “The agreement you signed guarantees you’ll actively complete your missions. If you fail a mission, the world completion level will decrease by one. If it drops to -1, you’ll be sent back to your original world.”
“This is the first and easiest world. If you can’t even complete this one, the main system will determine that you lack the ability to be a World Line Repairer and send you back directly.”
“And in your original world, you’re already dead!”
Wen Qianshu scratched her hair and yawned. “Okay.”
2333: “…”
Wen Qianshu suddenly put down her pen and looked intently at Jiang Mingyue for a moment. Then she leaned over, rested her chin on the edge of the desk, and asked with a smile, “Hey, good deskmate, how do you solve this problem?”
2333 swore it saw Jiang Mingyue freeze for a second. It was hard to say if it was because Wen Qianshu was so close, or because of the “good deskmate.”
2333 was also stunned. It suspected Wen Qianshu was an idiot who only knew how to make awkward small talk.
“This is called an indirect strategy, ‘besieging Wei to rescue Zhao’—I’ll get close to Jiang Mingyue first, then get close to the male protagonist, then introduce him to the female protagonist, and then—biu, they’ll get together,” Wen Qianshu spouted nonsense to the system with a straight face.
The system wanted to reach out and slap the scratch-paper napkin onto her face—bullshit!
The tip of Jiang Mingyue’s pen paused for a moment as she lowered her eyes to look at her. She seemed to be trying to figure out what Wen Qianshu was up to, but after just a few seconds, she lifted her pen and pointed to a spot on her test paper. “Here.”
“So that’s how it is.” Wen Qianshu had a sudden realization, but the system heard her exclaim in admiration, “Her eyelashes are so long.”
The system: “…”
I don’t think this mission can be completed.
Failing the mission was impossible, absolutely impossible. Adhering to the system’s code, 2333 had to force Wen Qianshu to complete it, even if it meant dragging her. It scraped all the campus romance novels from the internet, compiled statistics on various meeting spots, and presented them to Wen Qianshu, determined to implement them one by one.
Coincidentally, there was a gym class that afternoon. The male protagonist was going to play basketball, so 2333 repeatedly urged Wen Qianshu to take Shen Ting to watch.
2333 said, “Listen to me, it’s guaranteed to succeed.”
So Wen Qianshu obediently went, obediently brought Shen Ting along, and obediently stood outside the basketball court, only to discover—there wasn’t a single other girl there.
The adorable Shen Ting said weakly, “Qianqian, the sun is so strong.”
Wen Qianshu reported to the system, “She says the sun is too strong.”
2333 said, “This is illogical. Doesn’t anyone come to watch basketball?”
Wen Qianshu pondered for a moment and figured her female classmates were more likely to have gone to the nearby sports center to play badminton—it had courts, a roof, benches, and a snack shop. If you didn’t feel like exercising, sitting around and eating spicy strips wasn’t a bad option either.
This place was so much like her original world; even the brand of spicy strips was exactly the same.
Wen Qianshu comforted the little cutie, “We’ll just watch for a little while.”
The little cutie didn’t understand, but she was considerate. “Okay.”
So they watched for a while longer, during which Wen Qianshu got several mosquito bites. The sun was scorching. The heads of the brave basketball players were soaked with sweat, their hair plastered to their scalps, sticking wetly to their foreheads and temples.
The athletic atmosphere was great, but it wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as it would be on an overcast day.
2333 kept urging Wen Qianshu to say something, so Wen Qianshu’s gaze found Fang Wenyuan. Staring at his white T-shirt, she asked, “Do you think the guy in the white shirt is handsome when he plays?”
The school had grouped eight basketball courts together, and three classes had gym at the same time. So Shen Ting looked at the four or five boys in white shirts on the court, then at Wen Qianshu’s white T-shirt, and finally showed a puzzled expression. “Qianqian, don’t tell me you—?”
2333: “Oh no! She’s about to figure out our intentions. We can’t let the female protagonist misunderstand that you like the male protagonist right now—”
Shen Ting: “Want to play basketball?”
2333: “?”
Wen Qianshu thought for a moment and decided to play along. “Yeah.”
2333 was about to cry. It watched helplessly as Wen Qianshu took Shen Ting to get a basketball, strolled over to another court, found a hoop, and started shooting.
The system’s Plan A was declared a failure.
Under Shen Ting’s watchful gaze, Wen Qianshu “got her wish” and practiced shooting for the entire period, returning to class drenched in sweat.
The next class was math, and it was taught by their head teacher.
While wiping her sweat with a tissue, Wen Qianshu looked through her returned math homework—there weren’t many mistakes, which saved some face for her as a graduate. After all, math didn’t require much memorization; you could pick it back up pretty quickly.
2333 didn’t understand. “How did it turn out like this?”
2333 looked at other locations. “The cafeteria is impossible.”
Fang Wenyuan didn’t eat in the cafeteria.
“The library is impossible.”
No. 1 High School was strict about academics. The head teacher wasn’t the Chinese teacher, so “leisure books” from the library were forbidden. Whenever she felt like it, she would pull up the list to see if anyone in the class had borrowed books. That borrowing list was practically a death warrant.
“Art class? Music class? General studies? Computer class? Activity period?” 2333 despaired again, because Shen Ting was always by Wen Qianshu’s side. In classes with free seating, Wen Qianshu couldn’t just abandon her to go with someone else, could she?
Just as 2333 was despairing, the head teacher—Gu Fangfei—crossed her arms. She frowned as she surveyed the class, looking at the students slumped over their desks, panting and drinking water, or facing the air conditioner vent. “Do you know that math class is right after gym?”
Wen Qianshu: “Uh oh, this is bad.”
“Do you even know what you’re here for!” Teacher Gu slammed her hand on the desk, startling the classroom into immediate silence. “Play, play, play, all you think about is playing! How are you supposed to focus in the next class? How are you going to calm down? Then the air conditioner will blow on you, you’ll catch a cold, you’ll take a few days of sick leave, and how many classes will you miss? Then you’ll do poorly on the monthly exam, and what confidence will you have left to keep studying? It’s a vicious cycle…”
The students below were silent as cicadas in winter. By the time the class bell rang, Teacher Gu had already digressed to them failing to get into college after their senior year and even ending up begging on the streets.
The more she thought about it, the more serious it became. Gym class was now linked to their entire lives; those forty-five minutes would lead to all future misfortunes.
Teacher Gu, wholeheartedly thinking of her students’ best interests, couldn’t waste math class time. So she paused her train of thought and focused her attack: “Everyone who played basketball last period, stand up!”
In the back, boys stood up in twos and threes. Those who had played badminton escaped the punishment and silently cursed on behalf of their comrades who had to stand.
Wen Qianshu sighed and also stood up. She heard a sound—the scraping of a chair from behind and to her side. Shen Ting must have stood up around the same time as her.
Teacher Gu glanced at the standing students and froze for a second when she saw the two of them. “You two played basketball too?”
Wen Qianshu: “That’s right.”
The class was also stunned. Jiang Mingyue, however, had no reaction. She didn’t even look up at her deskmate, continuing to read her math book. From Wen Qianshu’s angle, she could see a section of her snow-white neck.
Teacher Gu said, “All of you, go stand in the back! You’ll stand through this entire math class! We’ll see if you dare to play like this again!”
With the sound of chairs moving, Wen Qianshu grabbed her math book and notebook and left her seat with Shen Ting. Their seats were near the front, so by the time they reached the back, almost everyone was already standing, forming a crowded row, watching them.
Wen Qianshu said to 2333, “Yo, this formation looks like a military parade.”
2333 simply couldn’t comprehend this turn of events. “Wait, isn’t gym class meant for exercise?”
“Did you see the class hygiene rules up front?” Wen Qianshu explained to the AI. “It says on there—during the morning hygiene inspection, there can’t be any trash in the trash can.”
The artificial intelligence couldn’t understand. “Why? Isn’t a trash can for trash?”
Wen Qianshu shrugged. “See, these are human rules—I don’t know, and I can’t explain them.”
She pulled Shen Ting in front of the “guards,” located Fang Wenyuan’s position, had Shen Ting stand next to him, and sighed. “Oh man, this is so miserable.”
The brothers in misfortune over there immediately chimed in, “Yeah, Old-fashioned is really ruthless.”
Shen Ting asked, “Huh? Is that Teacher Gu’s nickname?”
Wen Qianshu laughed. “Hahahaha, Teacher Gu—Old-fashioned? Which one of you geniuses came up with that?”
At the front, the head teacher glanced at the seating chart on her desk and tapped the blackboard. “Wen Qianshu! Shen Ting! Fang Wenyuan! What are you whispering about! Stand properly!”
Having been called out, Shen Ting immediately blushed, the color spreading to her ears and neck. She lowered her head and stood obediently. Fang Wenyuan also quickly lowered his head, standing properly while flipping through his book.
Only Wen Qianshu replied in a clear voice, “Yes, Teacher!”
This shameless spirit successfully earned her a glare from the teacher.
2333: “…”
2333 felt like it was going crazy.
Wen Qianshu said, “Cheer up. Look, the objective has been achieved—the male and female protagonists now know each other.”
2333 couldn’t cheer up.
It was so angry it wanted to beat Wen Qianshu up. “In what book do the male and female protagonists meet by being punished to stand?”
Wen Qianshu said, “Well, don’t worry about the details.”
2333 retorted, “Details? If you want to die, just say so. I’m not going to waste my time with you!”
“Oh, 2333.” Wen Qianshu flipped through her book and listened to the lecture, taking notes. Even while standing, she still had a lazy air about her. “Books are books, and people are people.”
“Good encounters are all in books. For people—just getting to know each other is good enough.”
Author’s Notes:
The school setting is based on my high school, but with some changes. The characters are not based on real people.
Because I’m from Jiangsu Province, and it seems the Jiangsu Gaokao (college entrance exam) has been reformed again this year, I used the model from my time: the 3+2 with bonus points for the four minor subjects. It will be explained in the story—but then again, who really pays attention to the exams in a school-life novel~
Sigh, but I really was punished to stand back then because I impulsively decided to shoot hoops during gym class. And I didn’t even get to meet any handsome guys because of it, which was just miserable.
