[Mission Complete!]
[Over the past week, diligently study for a total of 24 hours. Current Progress: 24/24h. Reward: Memory Enhancement. (Completed)]
Shen Yuan looked at the math test paper in front of him.
His memory was already good, so he had no idea to what extent the system's "Memory Enhancement" would actually strengthen it.
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
Shen Yuan decided to take a shower first.
Shower, sleep, and tomorrow would be another day of waking up early to be a tryhard.
Hee hee.
Youth was the best time for grinding.
Eighteen was an age of boundless energy, and with the system's 'Vigorous and Full of Energy' reward on top of that, it was hard for Shen Yuan to sleep in even if he wanted to.
Of course, that was a different story when he actually wanted to stay in bed.
After his shower, he gave the cat a few pets, and then Shen Yuan went to bed.
The next morning, as Shen Yuan was putting on his shoes, he saw the door to Li Zhi's apartment open.
The two of them locked eyes.
Li Zhi frowned. "Tryhard."
"Coming from you, that word doesn't really have much credibility, does it?"
"I'm the King of Tryhards. I still classify as human," Li Zhi said, then squatted down to put on her shoes.
"Fuck, we're never going to get past this joke, are we?"
"Then go score a 600. When we're out, I'm too embarrassed to say you're my son."
Li Zhi looked up and was startled to find Shen Yuan suddenly right in front of her.
"Why are you so close!"
"I'm going to go hang myself in your room."
Shen Yuan said with a completely serious face, "I'll weave a rope from test papers, write my weekly test score on my face in red pen, and superglue the weekly test paper to my hands."
Li Zhi imagined the scene and felt her skin crawl.
"Okay, okay, okay! Stop talking! I won't bring it up again."
"And if you do?"
Li Zhi opened her mouth. "If I bring it up again, I'll treat you to a meal."
Shen Yuan snapped his fingers. "It's a deal."
They bought breakfast on the way, as usual.
Shen Yuan didn't get a savory crepe today; he opted for steamed buns instead.
Four steamed buns, each the size of the back of his hand. Two with vegetable filling, two with meat.
Plus a cup of savory tofu pudding.
Teenagers burn a lot of energy, so they eat a lot.
Li Zhi glanced at the breakfast in Shen Yuan's hands. She felt like she'd be doing well to eat even half of that.
"Can you finish all that?"
"Want some?" Shen Yuan held up the bag of buns.
Li Zhi stared at the buns in his hand, pursed her lips, but ultimately couldn't resist the temptation.
"Half of a vegetable one."
Shen Yuan quickly ate both ends of the bun he was holding, then tore it in half. After checking the amount of filling, he gave the half with more to Li Zhi.
"Careful, it's hot."
Li Zhi took the bun and started eating it in small bites.
"It tastes pretty good, but I still think the shop from our childhood was better."
"That's just your nostalgia goggles."
Human memory is selective. The brain tends to downplay painful experiences and amplify positive emotions.
The troubles of childhood are easily washed away by time, while the happy parts are recalled and reinforced over and over.
Li Zhi might have thought the childhood shop was delicious, but Shen Yuan didn't agree.
Because Shen Yuan had once argued with the owner of that shop.
The old coot overcharged him for one bun!
The price of one bun—one-fifty!
That was enough for three lollipops! Or if you got the ones that cost ten cents each, that was fifteen lollipops!
One-fifty could also buy three packs of latiao!
Damn it!
It still pisses me off just thinking about it!
Speaking of childhood shops, Li Zhi suggested, "Hey, want to go walk around the Old Street this weekend?"
Shen Yuan immediately shook his head. "What's there to see at the Old Street now? It's been completely changed and has none of its old charm."
"The old musty smell is gone, so now you don't like it, is that it?"
Shen Yuan couldn't quite put it into words.
In his memory, the old Old Street had always been associated with being dirty and messy. A few years ago, it was renovated. The overall environment did improve significantly, which was more in line with the area's development.
But Shen Yuan just felt that it wasn't the Old Street anymore.
Or rather, it wasn't *his* Old Street anymore.
Shen Yuan's Old Street should be the one where puddles formed on rainy days, the road was full of potholes, and electric scooters and bikes would send up splashes of water as they passed.
It was the Old Street with yellowed walls, traces of mold in the corners, and moss growing on the stones.
Admittedly, described like that, the Old Street didn't sound like a place anyone would want to visit.
But that was the place Shen Yuan had walked through as a child.
He had walked down every road and every alley of the Old Street, and he remembered them all with perfect clarity.
Hidden in those complicated alleyways were the childhoods of countless people.
"I'm craving some niangaozuo."
Shen Yuan shook his head. "Wait for the school holiday. That thing's a huge trend now, there's a line every day. If you go at 8 AM, it'll already be sold out."
Li Zhi sighed. "Never mind then. I'd rather sleep in on the weekend."
"Just ask a classmate from town to bring you one. It's not like we don't have any day students."
"What are you talking about? All the students from town in our class are boarders."
Shen Yuan shrugged. "Well, nothing to be done about it then."
Li Zhi frowned in dissatisfaction. "Can't you be a simp for once?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Li Zhi saw Shen Yuan lean in closer.
"Did you just... say 'dog'?"
"Simp! I said simp!"
Shen Yuan gave her a 'warning husky' glare. "A simp is still a dog. Treat me to lunch."
"You are really..."
Li Zhi suddenly clamped her mouth shut.
The expectant glimmer in Shen Yuan's eyes vanished.
"Hmph! I'm not talking to you anymore!" The beautiful girl flicked her ponytail and quickened her pace toward the school.
By the time they got back to the classroom, Shen Yuan had already finished his buns and tofu pudding.
He even felt like he could have eaten more.
"I shouldn't have given her that half a bun. I'm not fully satisfied," Shen Yuan grumbled, then lowered his head and started grinding away at his math problems.
The system's reward was called Memory Enhancement. It might not be a huge help for math, but it was better than nothing.
It should at least help Shen Yuan memorize a few more problem types.
Even a few extra points would be good.
He had been just three points shy of 600 on the last weekly test!!
It was already Thursday, and the weekly test would probably be tomorrow or the day after. Shen Yuan swore he would redeem himself!
...
"Redeem my ass."
It was Friday afternoon, and the weekly math test had just ended.
Old Zhou had specifically taken over the afternoon study hall to torture the students right before the end of the school day.
Shen Yuan was mentally and physically exhausted from the ordeal.
"I'm so stupid, really. I only knew I was bad at solid geometry; I didn't realize I sucked at functions too."
Hearing Shen Yuan's words, Zhou Shaojie chuckled.
Ah Jie patted Shen Yuan's shoulder and consoled him, "Yuan, there's still vectors."
Ah Ze in the front row also turned around to console Shen Yuan. "Yuan, there's still curves."
Ai Muyu also turned around with a smile to console him. "Yuan, there's still sequences."
Shen Yuan felt like he could just die. He had a feeling he was going to bomb the weekly test again.
Like, really bomb it.
Not the kind of 'bombing it' that those bastards who score 140+ talk about.
However, there were relatively few of those bastards in Class 15.
Emperor Li of Heaven's 'score tyranny' suppressed the entire Class 15.
'What good is being good at a single subject?'
Shen Yuan's English scores were among the top in the class, but wasn't he still just some stray?
'Want to resist?'
'Go ahead and outscore her first.'