NOVPUB"If we don’t go eat them now, we’ll have to wait until next year. It’s fine to eat mushrooms, but we can’t let our studies fall behind. Last week we learned four ancient poems; recite them for me. If you can do that, you can go eat mushrooms whenever you want in the future,"
Wu Yanchun paused, then swiftly changed the subject, "But if you can’t recite them, then sit in class and study honestly. As students, you should act like students. Waiting until the summer vacation to eat mushrooms is not too late!"
Even though she’d heard gossip from the other teachers in the office about these kids having a powerful background, Wu Yanchun taught for the peace of mind. If she saw students in her class who didn’t listen and were completely out of control, and she couldn’t manage them, how stifling that would be!
As for those who passed the exam to become official teachers, as long as they didn’t have aspirations for promotion and salary increases, and didn’t self-destruct like Shan Fengtao, then Wu Yanchun was invincible within the system.
"Alright, teach, that’s what you said!" Xu Qingfan promptly agreed as soon as she finished speaking, and then he started reciting the first poem immediately, "Viewing the Boundless Sea; Cao Cao; facing the Jieshi Mountains... How fortunate I am, to express my ambition in song!"
Xu Qingfan recited "Viewing the Boundless Sea" fluently, then without any pause, continued, "The willow flowers fall, the oriole cries... I send my sorrowful heart to the bright moon... The sea at daybreak, the remainder of the night; the spring river flows into the last year... The setting sun in the west, the heartbroken linger at the end of the earth."
He recited the four ancient poems smoothly, like flowing clouds and water. After Xu Qingfan’s silent reading ended, the classroom fell into silence.
It took almost a dozen seconds before Wu Yanchun nodded and said, "Very good, no wonder you dared to skip a week of classes to eat mushrooms. You truly deserve to be the student who scored full marks on your primary-to-junior high entrance exam. Class, how about a round of applause for Xu Qingfan?"
The language teacher led the applause, and the classmates followed suit.
There was no need to ask; after this class, Xu Qingfan’s legend at this school would have one more tale added to it.
...
The morning classes ended quickly, and school was dismissed at eleven forty in the morning.
When the bell rang, the six of them picked up their backpacks, took their spare uniforms, and walked out of the school.
It only took five minutes to walk from Class 76 to the home they shared, so they didn’t need to ride bikes or take the bus like most commuting students.
"What’s for lunch? Taros steamed with spareribs and what else?" Xia Xiaoxiao walked and asked.
"There’s also lettuce, baked fish head, and borscht!" Wu Lingyu, who was in the kitchen last night helping Xu Qingfan prepare the next day’s meal, heard Xia Xiaoxiao’s question and replied.
"I kind of feel like having Luosifen!" Lin Wanning looked at the huge Wei Qian Ramen advertisement on the wall outside Gualv Square and said.
"Luosifen is so delicious! Why doesn’t anyone sell it in Li City? It’s so tasty!" Xiao Ruawen recalled the deluxe version of Luosifen she ate in Liuzhou last time, her eyes sparkling.
"If it’s that delicious, why don’t you drop out and open a shop? You’d make a killing!" Xu Qingfan said jokingly with a laugh.
"Get out of here, my dad would kill me if I dropped out of school!" Xiao Ruawen pushed Xu Qingfan away as everyone burst into laughter.
As they approached their courtyard, Little White couldn’t wait and stood on its hind legs, tugging on the leash to greet their return.
After each taking turns petting the dog’s head, they swapped their shoes at the doorway and entered the house.
Xu Qingfan and Wu Lingyu conscientiously took off their backpacks and headed into the kitchen to prepare lunch, while the other four girls started unpacking the uniforms, ready to wash them in the washing machine.
"Rinse the uniform a few times with tap water before putting it in the washing machine; they’re very dirty," Xu Qingfan poked his head out of the kitchen and said.
"Got it!"
Wu Lingyu was supposed to let Xu Qingfan wash the breakfast dishes, but once she entered the kitchen, she spontaneously turned on the tap and started washing them.
Seeing this, Xu Qingfan could only pat the girl’s head and then took the rice cooker to start cooking rice.
The amount of one cup of rice was about the size of a cock bowl; five cups were enough for the six of them.
Xu Qingfan reached in and scrubbed the rice in the water until it no longer turned white, and while he was cooking the rice, he conveniently put the taro on the top of the rice cooker to steam for a while.
The taro and spareribs require different cooking times; when the spareribs are just done, the taro is still hard, and if the taro is steamed until soft, the spareribs would be overcooked. Therefore, steaming the taro to seventy percent doneness is the best option.
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The kitchen was equipped with a steam oven, a baking oven, a clay pot, and other essentials. Both valves on the stove were open, one burner cooking borscht, and another ready to bake the taro in a clay pot.
Preparing borscht was quite simple: first, chop and fry the peeled tomatoes in the pot. Once the tomatoes softens, add two liters of water. After the water boils, pour in the potatoes cut into chunks and cook until they’re tender. Then add the marinated beef and heat for a few more seconds before taking it off the stove.
Since Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi were picky eaters who wouldn’t touch carrots, and Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t eat onions, his version was clearly a simplified borscht.
With three things going on at once, the rice was ready by the time all the dishes were prepared.
At twelve twenty, the six of them sat down at the dining table to have lunch.
Although lunch wasn’t lavish, since it was their first time cooking at home after school, everyone felt a sense of novelty and ended up eating an extra half bowl of rice unconsciously.
They had to go back to school at two in the afternoon, so right after lunch, the five girls busily started to clear the table, wash dishes, and take out the trash.
The school uniforms tossed into the washing machine were also ready, and Xu Qingfan went upstairs to the balcony to hang them to dry.
In Li City, the September sun was fiercely hot, enough to dry uniforms hung outside in half a day; barring any surprises, they should be able to collect them when they returned home in the evening.
Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi held hands while taking out the trash together, and when they saw Xu Qingfan watching them from the second floor, they waved to greet him.
"Brother!"
"Brother Qing Fan, can you turn on the air conditioner in the room for us!" Lin Wanning, holding the dog in her left hand, shouted up to him.
"Got it!" Xu Qingfan shouted back with a smile after hanging up the last piece of clothing and watched the two girls, with their dog, walk away before heading back to his room.
After turning on the air conditioner in the master bedroom for them, he went back to his own room and turned his on as well—the time was nearing one o’clock.
Xu Qingfan went downstairs to wash his face and feet. The three girls had finished cleaning the kitchen, and once Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi came back, they locked the living room door and went upstairs for a nap.
This would probably be one of countless peaceful post-school afternoons over the next three years, a life that was worlds apart from Xu Qingfan’s past life.
The dormitories at Licheng Middle School accommodated ten people in a room, with creaky wooden beds older than their parents and two old-fashioned, dusty fans that buzzed during the summer. The balcony of about seven or eight square meters was equipped with two toilets and a shower room.
The time before and after the midday rest was the peak period for using the toilets, and the well-ventilated dorms could stink bad enough to make one’s eyes water. The toilet was also prone to blockages, sometimes causing sewage to back up, and the stench was simply nauseating—Xu Qingfan had lived and studied in such an environment for three years in his previous life.
Despite such harsh living conditions, countless parents were desperately trying to get their children into the school as if enduring such extreme hardships would guarantee their children would rise above others.
But in reality, if you’re only exposed to hardship, then an endless amount of hardship awaits you.
Anyway, Xu Qingfan, who was reliving his life, wasn’t about to go through that again. Now, living with five beautiful girls, this was probably a dream that countless adolescent boys during their rebellious phase could only wish for and never obtain.
My youth romantic comedy is wrong, as I expected. A teenage rom-com snafu doesn’t dream of bunny girl senpai, and countless youth pain literature pieces aspire to present a vivid and colorful youth to their readers, who finish them with yearning fascination.
But in reality, how many ordinary people go through such bizarre experiences? The crush of increasing schoolwork, a face full of acne from hormonal imbalances, the constant nagging of parents and older relatives, the nervousness that grips you at the center of a crowd, and the regret that follows each ’last time’ of masturbation...
The story of Lu Mingfei is so captivating perhaps because it resonates with thousands of ordinary people’s experiences.
So what about him? He could have used his memories from his past life to become an unparalleled prodigy, but he willingly chose to stay by the side of the five girls, bearing witness to their growth.
Could he also be fulfilling a dream he had in his previous life?
[At least, I really like days like these, don’t I?] Xu Qingfan lay quietly on the bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, as he silently answered his own question.
...
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