New book, just treat it as casual entertainment reading.
The author has no particular skills, just writing for fun.
Consider it a nostalgic rambling about the past, just for kicks.
(Main Text)——
1998, Longjiang Province, Shangbei No.1 High School, Examination Room 17.
Qi Lei stared blankly out the window, his gaze passing through the lush poplar grove and settling on a storefront across the street—ChaoLiu Audio-Visual Store.
Faintly, a powerful singing voice pierced through, filling his eardrums.
Listening carefully, he recognized it as Jacky Cheung’s “A Thousand Sad Reasons.”
“So trendy!”
Stiffly turning his head back, a desk came into view before him.
Well, this desk was even more impressive—made of solid wood without any joints. If it had a brand label and were placed in a high-end furniture store, just the tabletop alone would be worth eight hundred to a thousand yuan.
It was just a bit old, with peeling paint. Countless mathematical formulas, song lyrics, and famous quotes left by various “legends” were layered together.
Among them, there was also a crooked heartfelt confession: “Farewell, Xu Qian.”
Tch! Twenty years ago, Qi Lei would have found this refreshing. But now, like the majority of netizens, he’d say, “Simps end up with nothing!”
Shifting his gaze from the desk, he scanned every object in the classroom.
The chipboard blackboard with a broken corner felt just as dated as the desks.
The “hygiene corner” with its white tablecloth, the wooden lattice windows with their cracked and aged green paint.
And the youthful faces hurriedly passing by, taking their seats—so serious yet vibrant.
Of course, the neatly written characters on the blackboard were the most startling:
“1998 Shangbei City Junior High School Entrance Examination, Examination Room 17”
“Fake.”
Qi Lei looked at “Farewell, Xu Qian,” then at Examination Room 17. “This must be fake!”
Finally, he fixed his gaze on the short-haired girl at the next desk, full of youthful energy.
“Miss? Miss!”
“Miss?”
It took the short-haired girl a while to realize the boy next to her was calling her.
She turned and glared at Qi Lei, with at least seventy percent anger and no less than thirty percent disdain, throwing out a remark, “You’re crazy!”
In the north, you don’t call peers ‘miss’—that’s how elders address younger people.
“Hey!!”
Qi Lei was also quite displeased. This kid looked quite adorable, so why such a bad temper?
Controlling his patience, he said, “Miss, don’t misunderstand! Uncle just wanted to ask—”
Before he could finish, the girl exploded, “And I’m your aunt! You idiot!”
Defeated, Qi Lei turned back, staring at the “Xu Qian” on the desk and his own pale, delicate hands. Gradually, his expression sobered, and he stopped testing.
Instead, he began to feel inexplicably excited, exhilarated.
The current situation…
To put it poetically, it was a man in his nearly forty years of wasted life, weary and resentful, being thrown back in time.
To put it plainly—he had been reborn!
From an middle-aged man in the 21st century back to the summer over twenty years ago.
Whether it was a gift from God or an accident of overlapping timelines, it was enough to make Qi Lei rejoice.
The only slight regret might be that the timing of the transmigration was a bit off.
Why did it have to be during the high school entrance exam?
In Qi Lei’s previous student life, it hadn’t been pleasant at all.
Especially during middle school, he wasn’t the kind of diligent and studious well-behaved child; his mind was never focused on academics, leading to abysmal grades.
His high school entrance exam results could only be described as disastrous—with a total score of 600, he scored less than 200, missing the mark by just a few points.
And that included the 20 points from physical education.
Not only did he miss out on key high schools, but even regular high schools were unwilling to accept him. He could only attend a vocational high school to drift through his days.
Although he turned over a new leaf during vocational school and started putting his heart into studying, it was already too late.
One step behind meant being perpetually behind. The teaching quality, learning environment, and limited college majors available through vocational schools made it impossible for him to compete on a level playing field with his peers.
Qi Lei went from vocational high school to a third-tier college, then from college to a bachelor’s degree.
From one dead-end major to another in graduate school.
After graduating, he faced employment difficulties, life struggles, and marriage challenges—every step was exceptionally arduous.
While others put in 10 points of effort, he had to exert 20 points of hard work.
But who could he blame? He had sown the seeds himself and reaped a lifetime of hardship.
Qi Lei had fantasized more than once about how different the next twenty years would have been if he had worked harder back then, if he had performed better in the high school entrance exam—even if he hadn’t made it to a key high school, just a regular one would have sufficed.
At the very least, he would have had better scores and more choices during the college entrance exam.
But what the hell is this about putting me back in the high school entrance exam?
Twenty years ago, I didn’t even know what Newton said, and now, twenty years later, I can barely remember who he was. How am I supposed to take this exam?
Am I supposed to relive my life and go back to vocational school to learn how to set tables and carry plates?
After a brief moment of complaining, Qi Lei began to calm down. The soul of a middle-aged man gave him a composure far beyond that of a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy.
Upon reflection, it didn’t seem so bad—at least it was much better than over twenty years ago.
First, thank heavens, he still remembered the essay topic for the high school entrance exam—”My _____.”
Before the exam, Qi Lei’s grandfather had been diagnosed with colon cancer and had just undergone surgery. Fortunately, the surgery was successful, and the family had gone through an emotional rollercoaster from despair to relief.
Deeply moved by this experience, Qi Lei wrote his essay on “My Grandfather.”
Because of his personal connection and his natural talent for writing, that essay became the only highlight of his high school entrance exam.
Out of a full score of 50, he scored 40—a memory that remained vivid to this day.
Second, in his previous life, his combined scores for Chinese, English, Mathematics, Science, and Politics totaled less than 200 points, and that was after deducting the 40 points from his essay.
Five subjects, and only 200 points!
This wasn’t just a case of poor academic performance—it was the kind of score only someone cursed by misfortune could achieve.
Even if he had to guess the answers again, he’d probably do better than before, right?
Finally, in his later years, to gain more confidence in job hunting and social situations, he had studied English intensively during college and graduate school and even passed the TOEFL. Even if there were some differences from middle school English, it shouldn’t be too far off.
So, all things considered, scoring over 100 points again should be harder than getting into a key high school.
His expectations weren’t high—just passing the regular high school cutoff would suffice. If he put in a bit more effort, he might even have a slim chance of reaching the cutoff for key high schools’ fee-paying students.
Of course, it was a long shot, and he shouldn’t get his hopes up too much.
As someone who had lived through it, he knew that for a small-town youth, especially in the north, education was almost the only path forward—unless one had an “exceptional father.”
The high school entrance exam was the first major crossroads in life.
The gap between vocational high schools, regular high schools, and key high schools was as vast as the heavens. Even the slightest chance was worth fighting for.
Thinking this, Qi Lei grew solemn and glanced at the exam schedule on the side of the blackboard.
The exams spanned two days. The first session this morning was comprehensive mathematics, followed by politics, with Chinese in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning featured only the science comprehensive exam, and English in the afternoon.
Five subjects in two days—considering the need for students to adjust their focus, the schedule was tight. For Qi Lei, it felt exceptionally rushed.
And just then, the invigilator entered the classroom with a stack of exam papers. Qi Lei’s first challenge since his rebirth had officially begun, with no time to ease into it.
Comprehensive mathematics—covering algebra and geometry—was a two-hour paper.
Upon receiving the test, Qi Lei first filled in his name and school, then copied his exam number from the admission ticket pasted on the corner of his desk.
He began answering immediately—or rather, he began searching for which questions he had any connection with.
After all, over twenty years had passed. Even a top student reborn would have forgotten most of it, let alone a struggling student—and a humanities-oriented one at that. It was futile to expect much. For him, even graduate entrance exams were over a decade ago. Though middle school math wasn’t particularly difficult, it felt almost entirely unfamiliar.
Nevertheless, Qi Lei carefully examined every fill-in-the-blank, true/false, and multiple-choice question.
A few questions were still manageable—for instance, those he could deduce using high school or college knowledge.
Though his high school and college studies were hazy in his memory, he had at least studied them seriously and retained some impressions, which now came in handy.
Besides these, there were also some straightforward “gimme” questions.
No matter how poor a student he was, he still knew the Pythagorean theorem, right? He could solve quadratic equations in one variable, couldn’t he? And then there were equation operations, substitution, and elimination methods—all of which he could handle.
He aimed to secure every easy point, ensuring he didn’t lose marks due to carelessness.
But such questions were ultimately few. After quickly scanning most of the paper—excluding the major problems—he found only about a dozen he could attempt. The rest were truly beyond him.
Still, it didn’t matter. Only about ten minutes had passed since the exam started. All the other candidates were buried in thought, while Qi Lei slowly craned his neck.
His sharp 8.0-vision eyes drifted toward the neighboring desk, where sat a strikingly pretty but rather temperamental female classmate.
He had no choice—every extra point counted, even if it meant copying.
Admittedly, though the double-seat desks were occupied by only one person each and separated by an aisle, Qi Lei managed to catch glimpses of several answers—until the girl noticed.
Due to their earlier unpleasant encounter, the short-haired girl already had a poor impression of him. She immediately shot him a fierce glare and used her fair, slender arm to shield her test paper completely.
“So fair!” Qi Lei silently admired.
Indeed, whether at sixteen or thirty-six, men always appreciated sixteen-year-old girls!
He offered the short-haired girl an apologetic smile and refrained from further intrusion.
One advantage of a middle-aged soul was knowing where to draw the line. The invigilator at the front, who had been on the verge of issuing a warning, swallowed his words.
She had noticed long ago that Qi Lei wasn’t being entirely honest. But unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t issue a warning, let alone exercise her proctoring authority to expel a test-taker.
After all, these children might not understand, but she knew exactly what the high school entrance exam meant to students.
It meant educational resources would no longer be distributed equally, that a good school represented a solid starting point in life.
With no one left to copy from, Qi Lei scanned the test paper and found he had managed to fill in over half of it—excluding the major essay questions—though he had no idea if his answers were correct.
But he knew this was his limit!
He randomly filled in the remaining blanks, multiple-choice, and true/false questions, then… submitted his paper.
Yes, he outright abandoned the essay questions without even attempting them. There was no point.
When he stood up, the short-haired girl shot him a surprised look. “He’s turning in his paper already?”
The proctor also frowned slightly. “Can’t even be bothered to copy? Just giving up completely?” She couldn’t help shaking her head slightly.
As an experienced teacher, she didn’t mind struggling students—what worried her was when students gave up on themselves. Someone like this who willingly degraded himself by submitting after just twenty minutes was worse than those who dared to cheat, since the latter at least understood the importance of every extra point.
Yet Qi Lei’s next move surprised the proctor even more.
He brought his test paper to her, then flashed a genuinely sunny smile. Standing straight, he gave a slight nod—utterly sincere and unhurried: “Sorry for the trouble.”
Only then did he stride out of the examination hall.
Staring blankly at Qi Lei’s retreating figure, the proctor needed a moment to process what had happened.
Sorry for the trouble?
Could he have known she’d caught him cheating? And still behaved like this?
She chuckled wryly.
There weren’t many junior high students this perceptive. This kid was clearly something special. To be so composed and socially aware at fifteen or sixteen—based on her over twenty years of teaching experience, he was genuinely remarkable.
Well, this proctor changed her attitude faster than flipping a page.