The Reincarnated Science Whiz

Chapter 6: Restlessness

“Are you going home after this exam?” Dai Yuqing asked, gently running her fingers through her long hair. Qin Yuanqing’s heart suddenly began to race; he felt a sudden flutter of excitement. Dai Yuqing was already quite pretty—with fair skin and a gentle demeanor—and the way she ran her fingers through her hair at that moment highlighted a unique charm, instantly adding ten points to her appeal. Qin Yuanqing quickly calmed the restlessness within him, silently repeating, “Emptiness is form; form is emptiness,” then hastily averted his gaze and looked away. Acting as if nothing were amiss, he said, “I don’t plan on going back. Are you going home this time?” They attended the same middle school and came from neighboring villages—Qinjia Village and Dai Village were right next to each other. However, relations between the two villages weren’t very good; families from Qinjia Village and Dai Village traditionally avoided intermarriage, and there were almost no relatives between them. Dai Village was the larger of the two, and since the middle school was located there, the people from Dai Village tended to be domineering and bully others; many of Qin Yuanqing’s classmates from his own village had been bullied. However, now that they were all attending Jinpu No. 1 High School together, they got along well. Sometimes when heading home, they’d arrange to charter a car together. After all, taking the public bus was slow, and once they reached town, they’d still have to take a motorcycle home—which was a hassle. Chartering a car, on the other hand, was faster and dropped them right at their doorsteps. “Mm, after the exam tomorrow morning, I’ll head straight home at noon,” Dai Yuqing said softly, then added that three of them had already agreed to go, and they were still missing one person. Qin Yuanqing couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart as he realized that, even though he’d been reborn a month ago, he still hadn’t gone back to see his parents. His mother had passed away from lung cancer two years into his career. He still remembered that when she was admitted to the hospital, it happened to coincide with the military parade on September 3, 2015. He had been with his parents in the hospital, watching the parade on a computer. Not long after National Day, his mother passed away. Qin Yuanqing had always blamed himself for his mother’s death, feeling it was entirely his fault. If he had taken her for a physical exam every year and the lung cancer had been detected earlier, it would never have spread to her brain, leaving her without even a chance for surgery. She had worked so hard her whole life, yet never enjoyed a moment of happiness. On her deathbed, her greatest concern was still for him, her youngest son, who hadn’t yet started a family or established a career. “Now that you mention it, I’d like to go back too. With me included, there’ll be four of us—just enough for a car!” Qin Yuanqing said. The fare from the county seat to their home was 25 yuan—slightly more expensive than the 15 yuan for the bus. But considering that taking the bus would actually cost an additional 10 yuan for motorcycle taxis at both ends, the total cost was essentially the same. Plus, a private car was clearly much more convenient. “That’s great!” Dai Yuqing grabbed Qin Yuanqing’s hand. Feeling its smooth softness, Qin Yuanqing’s heart fluttered involuntarily. What a beast, what a beast! How could he have entertained such wicked thoughts? Women are such troublesome creatures—he must steer clear of them. Didn’t Confucius say it himself: “There are only two kinds of people to be wary of—women and petty people! Dai Yuqing also realized her mistake and quickly let go, her face flushing crimson in an instant. Fortunately, Qin Yuanqing had a thick skin; he quickly changed the subject and started talking about the upcoming exam, which eased the tension—otherwise, the atmosphere would have become truly awkward. As night deepened and lights-out in the dorm approached, Dai Yuqing packed her books into her backpack and was about to leave. Qin Yuanqing offered to walk her back. “No need. You should hurry back—the campus gates are about to close. I can walk back to the dorm on my own; it’s just a few steps!” Dai Yuqing said quickly. “It’s fine—it won’t take more than a few minutes! Let’s go!” Qin Yuanqing said with a smile. The biggest change since his rebirth was that he’d become thick-skinned—thicker than a brick wall. Back in the day, he’d have blushed just talking to a girl, stammered through his words, and looked as scrawny as a monkey. Dai Yuqing, being more shy, had no choice but to go along with it. It was her first time being walked back to the dorm by a guy, and her cheeks flushed slightly. They crossed the playground and walked another fifty or sixty meters before reaching the dormitory building. There were only two dormitory buildings in total: the first one was the girls’ dorm, and the one across from it was the boys’ dorm. Back in their freshman year, Qin Yuanqing had lived in the dorms. At that time, some male students with impure motives would occasionally aim binoculars at the girls’ dormitory—and rumor had it they’d caught quite a few eye-catching sights. However, Qin Yuanqing didn’t really believe any of that. Whether it was the boys’ or girls’ dorms, clothes were always hanging out to dry in the hallways—how could anyone possibly see across to the other side? Besides, wouldn’t the girls in the girls’ dorm just close their doors? After watching Dai Yuqing return to her dorm, Qin Yuanqing finally left. He flashed a cheeky grin at the security guard and was allowed to exit the school gates. Back in his dorm, Qin Yuanqing took a shower, then picked up his English textbook, flipped to the vocabulary section at the back, and began silently memorizing the words. To master English, the first step is to memorize vocabulary, then identify whether each word is a verb or a noun. Next comes mastering grammar, combining it with common phrases and formulaic expressions, and finally distinguishing between the past, present, and future tenses. All of this requires hard work—there are no shortcuts; you have to take it one step at a time. The vocabulary for the two units—neither too much nor too little—combined with the key points in the textbook, left Qin Yuanqing with a slightly throbbing head by midnight. He turned off the light, pressed play on his MP4, and listened to the downloaded “Mars English” to practice his listening skills. He wasn’t sure if this method would work, but it was better than doing nothing at all. At some point, the sound faded from his ears, and Qin Yuanqing drifted off to sleep. He dreamed that he and Dai Yuqing were walking hand in hand, chatting and laughing as they strolled around West Lake and climbed Jingang Mountain... “Ring-ring~~~” The alarm rang. Qin Yuanqing opened his eyes to find that it was already broad daylight; he set his alarm for 7:00 a. m. every day. “What the—” Qin Yuanqing felt something unusual down below—a peculiar odor—and his underwear was damp. He instantly realized what had happened and shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t want to think about it, but his body was being all too honest. At an age when hormones run wild, it can sometimes be truly helpless. Thinking about how he’d once indulged recklessly, leaving his body severely depleted—even if he watched adult movies before bed and had countless wild encounters in his dreams, he’d never have ended up in a situation like this. Qin Yuanqing honestly couldn’t remember the last time something like this had happened. “Women really do cause a lot of trouble!” Qin Yuanqing couldn’t help but smile wryly. The essence of his body was his vital energy—it might take ten days of replenishment just to recover from a single night like this. And then there was Dai Yuqing—she wasn’t exactly a goddess of beauty, and without makeup, she wasn’t particularly alluring. Yet the moment she brushed her hair back, she took his breath away. He was such a weakling—how could he have let his mind wander like that? With no other choice, Qin Yuanqing took a shower, changed into a clean pair of underwear, and had some bread and milk for breakfast before heading out for school. He lived very close to school—just a three- to five-minute walk—and since there was still some time before the exam, Qin Yuanqing picked up his English textbook and began reading. Huaxia University’s educational system had a very unique characteristic: strict admission standards but lenient graduation requirements. “Long live 60 points!” —basically, as long as you scored 60 on an exam, the teacher’s grading for coursework wouldn’t be too harsh, and you’d generally pass. Even if you scored only 50 on the exam, if you buttered up the teacher with a few kind words, they’d give you full credit for coursework, and you’d still pass. As a result, with the exception of top-tier universities, the academic pressure at other colleges is actually far less intense than in high school. High school coursework is extremely demanding; if you do your homework diligently but aren’t particularly fast, you’ll likely never finish it all. One test per subject per day—tell me, isn’t that daunting? Once all courses wrap up and the review phase begins, the pace picks up even more. On top of the daily practice tests, the school organizes monthly exams, mock exams, and so on. So, if you can survive all that, working a 996 schedule after college graduation will feel like nothing more than a return to high school life. The first subject of the morning exam was English, which, as always, began with the listening section. Qin Yuanqing remembered that during the college entrance exam, he was at an internet café checking for updates on *Pan Long*; he arrived just a little late and ended up missing the listening section. In English, his weakness lay in the listening section, not in the other parts. Qin Yuanqing listened intently and answered the questions one by one. Once the listening section ended, he moved on to the multiple-choice questions—a section where he rarely lost points. After completing the entire exam, Qin Yuanqing realized that his biggest weakness was still the listening section—he wasn’t even sure if he’d score 20 points on it. As for the English essay, as long as the handwriting is neat, there are no spelling mistakes, and the sentences flow smoothly, he could generally expect a high score. After all, the native language in Huaxia is Mandarin, not English. With Huaxia’s exam-oriented education system and the fact that the vast majority of people never go abroad, this has led to a situation where many people speak “mute English.” Qin Yuanqing estimated that he would score around 130 to 135 on the English exam—likely his best performance since high school began. His recent efforts had certainly paid off. After the English exam, the biology exam followed. Biology could be said to carry the least weight among the science subjects; of the three subjects in the comprehensive science exam, Qin Yuanqing was relatively weaker in biology, though it certainly wasn’t his weakest subject. The saying that “math, physics, and chemistry are inseparable” makes a lot of sense in a certain sense. The logical thinking involved is similar, and even some reactions in biology use chemical reaction formulas. When Qin Yuanqing turned in his exam, there were still twenty minutes left. After leaving the classroom, Qin Yuanqing didn’t head back to the dorm. For boys, going home was simple—they could just go empty-handed, without needing to carry bags and packages like the girls did. While waiting, Qin Yuanqing grabbed lunch nearby. He’d decided to go home on a whim the night before and hadn’t called his family yet—he planned to make a surprise visit and give his parents a pleasant surprise. At 12:30, Qin Yuanqing finally spotted Dai Yuqing and her two friends. They all attended the same school, and Qin Yuanqing knew them all. They exchanged greetings. Seeing that the three girls were each carrying a suitcase, along with milk and bread, Qin Yuanqing realized they hadn’t packed the night before; they’d only returned to their dorms after the exam to gather their things in a rush. He didn’t say anything—this was perfectly normal. Some didn’t even buy milk or bread—they just went straight home, planning to eat and drink to their hearts’ content once they got there. After waiting for about ten minutes, the private car finally arrived. Qin Yuanqing helped load their luggage into the trunk one by one, then took his seat in the front passenger seat without being asked. He was the only man in the back seat; while being flanked by women on both sides might seem nice, it wasn’t exactly appropriate.