About Time
"Idiot!"
Saturday morning came, and Yang Xiaoman turned back to glare at the sleeping Xu Mang, suddenly pitying this poor excuse for a man. How could someone be this idiotic? What had happened to the burning determination and undying passion he had had yesterday? Did a dog come and eat it?
He had gone on and on about losing from the starting line, about how the meaning of life was to fight, about how learning was the best way to fight… but the next day came and his face was basically glued to his desk again, what gives!
"Sigh…"
"Why do I have to sit so close to someone like this?" Yang Xiaoman let out a heavy sigh and stared wistfully out of the classroom window, her mind drifting off to a storybook world where she sat in a lavish castle wearing a princess gown, waiting for the arrival of her knight in shining armor.
He's here!
He's finally here!
Dreamland Yang Xiaoman's heart was pounding in her chest, she could see the outline of what appeared to be a small army, but he wasn't coming to take her land, instead… he was coming to take her hand in marriage!
"Croak croak~"
"Hehe..."
"Your highness! The Frog Prince, Xu Mang, has arrived!"
Suddenly...
Yang Xiaoman jolted awake from her daydream. What had just happened!? Where was her knight in shining armor? Why was it a frog prince? Well, frog princes were a common fairy tale trope so it wasn't too out of the ordinary, but why was it Xu Mang of all people?!
Disgusting!
Inconceivable!
Insane!
He had not only ruined her real life, he had even tainted her imaginary one.
***
Recess.
It was finally lunch time.
Xu Mang stretched lazily and prepared to head off to the cafeteria when he was faced with Yang Xiaoman blocking off the classroom door, anger, and rage exuding off of her flat-chested self. Xu Mang was more than a little confused.
What was going on? Which unfortunate guy had made the poor decision to mess with her this time?
"Think about what you've done today!?" Yang Xiaoman questioned him angrily.
What?
What had he done?
Xu Mang sifted through his memory for a bit. He had done everything how he usually did, he had taken the bus to school, gotten off one stop early, bought three buns, and then… Wait, had she already figured out who the true culprit was?
No, that wasn't it...
'If she found out the drop of meat juice had come from my hands, I wouldn't still be standing here pondering the question.
'Whatever, I can't be bothered to think, she can do whatever the hell she wants!'
[Survival Instinct Skill detected, Survival Instinct Skill has been unlocked]
What's this?!
"Hey, could you like… give me ten minutes to think about it?" Xu Mang asked carefully.
"..."
"Fine!" Yang Xiaoman answered, crossing her arms.
Xu Mang stood still and entered Blank mode...
Survival Instinct +1
Survival Instinct +1
Survival Instinct +1
The limit has been reached.
"Hey, system… help me get Yang Xiaoman to let me go."
[System has detected, this woman isn't to be messed with.]
[Hint: Just give up.]
Xu Mang: :0
***
"Have you figured it out?" Yang Xiaoman was getting impatient.
"..."
"What do you think?"
Yang Xiaoman:(*￣︿￣)
***
In the afternoon, they had four Chinese classes in a row.
Their Chinese teacher, Ms. Wang, brought a stack of tests with her into the class. They were already in their last year of school and most of them had already gotten used to living and breathing tests, so they weren't too surprised.
The papers were quickly handed out to the students including Xu Mang, who was finding it very hard to open his eyes after Yang Xiaoman had punched them shut.
Chinese...
It was his bread and butter!
Xu Mang might not have had much confidence in his other classes, but that definitely wasn't the case for Chinese class. It was his best subject! He didn't do exceptionally well… only averaging about fifty or so during his exams, but compared to his other subjects, he was basically a Chinese prodigy.
"
What emotions?!
Wasn't the poem just about the sun, the moon, and the stars?
Um...
Xu Mang got it, quickly scribbling down his answer on his test sheet.
"Ans: It expresses the author's desire to become a famous ancient astrologist."
Done!
Next question!
Another poem?
Xu Mang was baffled… Anything that required him to memorize things had never been his strong suit. Xu Mang was much more adept at the understanding aspect of Chinese, so when he was faced with fill-in-the-blank questions like these, Xu Mang had no other choice but to leave it blank.
But of course, just for the sake of completion, Xu Mang copied down the previous two lines into the blanks, at least it looked complete now!
Xu Mang was on a roll, blazing past the remaining questions and finally getting to the essay question.
"Please write an essay with the theme of "Time", the essay must have no less than 800 words, no format is specified."
Time?
How should he write this?
The theme being "Time" was way too broad, and yet, the broader the topic, the easier it was for him to accidentally write something out of topic, missing the original point of the question setter. Those 800 words written down with sweat and tears wouldn't even be worth thirty marks.
Time...
Time...
Maybe I could write about the time travel paradox in the Theory of Relativity? But where would I even start?
"System… how many points for full marks on this essay?"
[System has detected, a Full-Mark Essay will require: 80 points (Chinese Skill)]
Kinda expensive...
But it was worth it!
Xu Mang grit his teeth and selected the pay option.
Suddenly, an essay about "Time" surfaced in Xu Mang's mind's eye, including its main argument and the lasting effects it would have on society.
Amazing!
How come I never thought of that!
Xu Mang briefly skimmed through what he had written. The essay pointed out a major problem people faced everyday, and through the main character's past experiences, uncovered a scam, subsequently warning all teens to not repeat those actions.
Words flowed from the tip of his pen.
"Your time holds indescribable value, welcome to the 'World of Warcraft'... Everyday, I find myself drawn to this game, and yet, I do not know what it is I am searching for in that virtual world, just as I do not know what path to take on the long journey that is life…"
***
It was done.
Halfway through their test, they were offered a ten minute break that was extremely hard to come by. Their class relaxed once again from the tense silence of the past hour, and there were those that compared answers, those who were already in tears, and those that were shouting their regrets...every type of post-exam syndrome could be found.
"What do you think?" Xu Mang rushed to Yang Xiaoman, his face full of concern. "Are you gonna pass?"
"Idiot…"
Yang Xiaoman didn't care enough to answer Xu Mang's stupid question. In her world, there was no passing or failing. It was only the question of was she going to get full marks, or was she going to almost get full marks.
Why… Why was she acquainted with a person like him?
Yang Xiaoman was fully distraught. She had held her head high and proud ever since birth, and she had thought that she was going to do so until the day she died. However, suddenly, this fusion of crazy and dumb had decided to enter her life...
She was going crazy!
When would this suffering be over… She couldn't wait any longer for them to enter university.
"You…"
Just as Yang Xiaoman wanted to tell Xu Mang to go away, she found that the guy's face was already stuck to his table and he was snoring… Was he the reincarnation of the God of Laziness or had the God of Sleep decided to inhabit his body? Just a second ago, he had been jumping around, talking and laughing, and yet at the very next moment, he was sleeping like the dead...
This was all this guy's life was going to amount to, huh?
No direction in life whatsoever, stumbling through the motions, following whichever way the wind blew…
...