Chapter 3: Choosing Another Attendant Student

Zheng Fa and Wang Chen finished their meal and went straight back to the classroom.

The classroom was very quiet; more than half of the seats were empty as commuting students had gone home to rest, and a small number of students were napping at their desks.

Wang Chen had also planned to take a nap, as it was normal for a third-year high school student to be sleep-deprived, especially when it came to attending early morning self-study at seven.

Moreover, after just having lunch, it made him feel even sleepier.

But just as he was about to lie down, he noticed that Zheng Fa, who was sitting behind him, had taken out a book and was mumbling the words with moving lips.

"Damn..." Wang Chen cursed softly, "Are you freaking studying again? You might as well memorize all the textbooks."

Having been classmates with Zheng Fa for so many years, Wang Chen had long been aware of Zheng Fa's peculiar habit—memorizing textbooks.

It would have been fine if it were just memory-based subjects like Chinese and English.

But Zheng Fa also intended to memorize subjects like mathematics and physics.

"Insane!" Thinking of this, Wang Chen couldn't help but curse again.

"I'm not memorizing textbooks."

"That's more human of you." Wang Chen lay down in relief, "Weren't you memorizing something just now?"

"I've finished memorizing."

Who the hell could still sleep after hearing that?

Wang Chen sat up, tremblingly stretched out his hand, and flipped through the book in Zheng Fa's hands:

"Conquering 300 Problems in Conic Sections"...

"You're really inhuman!"

Seeing his incredulous expression, Zheng Fa felt a bit embarrassed, "Well, I was just idle."

"Damn it!"

Zheng Fa watched as Wang Chen took out the test paper distributed in the morning and started to fervently work through it.

"Why aren't you sleeping now?"

Wang Chen glanced at him sideways, "Why do you think?"

...

After memorizing for a while, when Zheng Fa looked up again, Wang Chen in front of him had already fallen asleep on the test paper, sleeping sweetly...

He chuckled and put away the book in front of him.

To Zheng Fa, memorizing textbooks was a last resort—a foolish method.

When he first came to this world years ago, he arrived with nothing but an identity and an empty mind.

His knowledge base, by the standards of his previous world, would qualify him as a genuine illiterate, not to mention in this modern world.

As a middle school student, in terms of ability, he might not even qualify for a kindergarten diploma.

When he first transmigrated, his exam scores were in the single digits several times.

Fortunately, on one hand, teachers and students thought the reason for his drastic decline in performance was due to a major family crisis.

On the other hand, middle school was compulsory education, and one wouldn't be expelled as long as they wanted to learn.

Naturally, Zheng Fa wanted to improve his grades and keep up with the pace.

But he considered himself to be just above average at most and had fallen behind on too much basic knowledge. Ordinary methods were simply not enough to catch up.

Later, he resolutely started using the dumb method—rote memorization.

He began with elementary school textbooks, without caring whether he understood them or not, just reciting every single word until he had them all memorized!

He would memorize for seven days in this world, and then spend another seven days in his original world slowly recalling and attempting to understand them in his mind.

The sole advantage of this method might be that it allowed him to utilize twice the amount of time compared to others.

It suited his situation well.

Later, after learning some biology, he named this method "Rumination."

At first, the efficiency was not high.

His memory was not exceptionally strong to begin with, and initially, he could remember less than one-tenth of the information after seven days.

It was only later, when he learned some various methods like Memory Palace Skills, coupled with his gradual proficiency with this study technique, that his memory improved.

Now he wouldn't claim to have a photographic memory, but after reading a book two or three times, he could remember about eighty to ninety percent of it.

Compared to the study techniques of true geniuses, this method was really dumb and exhausting.

On the other hand, his foundation was laid out exceptionally well.

His grades also steadily improved, and getting into Qingshui High School might have been due to his parental legacy, but now he was consistently ranked among the top twenty in his class.

After all, others had studied for five years, while Zheng Fa had genuinely memorized textbooks for ten years.

The hardship and effort involved were beyond what could be conveyed to others.

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...

Seven days later, when Zheng Fa returned to the Xuanwei Realm, not only had he gained weight, but his head was also filled with knowledge.

Even when listening to Mrs. Zheng speak, his reaction was half a beat slower.

It was his little sister's loud cheers that brought him back to reality.

"Did the lady really decide not to let Wang Gui return as an Attendant Student?"

Zheng Fa was stunned; this was no small matter.

Although it seemed to be just the position of an Attendant Student, for the tenant farmers in the village, it was also a kind of class elevation.

"Yes, I heard Manager Wang has been asking everyone to speak well of him these past few days, but the lady has already said she wants to select another Attendant Student, excluding his family," Mrs. Zheng recounted the rumor that was circulating in the village today.

The village was small to begin with, and Manager Wang's past glories had aroused envy in others.

Even more so because Wang Gui's return to the Zhao Family was not a trivial matter.

This had been the gossip of the village for the past two days.

Zheng Fa thought more deeply than his mother and sister.

In his view, Manager Wang was a very ambitious and clever person.

In just five years, he had not only become the manager of the estate but had also caught the eye of the lady, and his son had become an Attendant Student to the young master.

This was no small feat.

It wasn't impossible that in the future he could become a confidant of the lady and the young master.

Now, losing the position of Attendant Student was a minor issue compared to incurring the lady's displeasure, which was what Manager Wang and his family truly feared.

"The lady must have realized that Wang Gui is a big villain!"

Younger sister Zheng Shan was definitely the happiest among them.

"Yes, the lady is a good person. When Dad left, she even gave us ten silver pieces," said Mrs. Zheng with gratitude in her voice.

"The lady is a good person! A very good person!" Zheng Shan repeated, nodding her little head in agreement.

Zheng Fa watched them, their expressions filled with a bit of reverence, and couldn't help but recall a saying from another world by a sage:

"...the times when people were firm in their slavery and the times when they struggled to be slaves but could not."

This sentence was accurate, heart-wrenching, and revolting, yet irrefutable.

He nodded along with his sister's words as if he too was excited by the lady's "rectifying chaos."

After all, voicing certain things brought no benefit, and could even harm those close to him.

It was his younger sister who began to daydream: "If only the lady would ask Brother to be an Attendant Student!"

"Then I'd like to see if Wang Gui would still dare to bully us!"

"I heard Wang Gui say that there's a monthly allowance!"

"And you can learn martial arts with the Protectors!"

"Then Brother would be the most awesome person in the village!"

As she spoke, Zheng Shan's eyes lit up: "If the lady lets Brother be an Attendant Student, she would be the number one best person in the world!"

However, Mrs. Zheng, who was sitting on the side, gave Zheng Fa a look and stroked her younger daughter's head: "Even if Brother isn't an Attendant Student, would that mean he's not amazing?"

Little sister clung onto Zheng Fa's hand and said obediently, "Brother is already the most amazing, but he can become even more amazing!"

After his sister fell asleep, Mrs. Zheng came to the doorway of Zheng Fa's room.

"Your sister is young and doesn't understand. Don't overthink it..."

"Mother?" Zheng Fa looked at his mother.

"All this talk of Attendant Students, we don't dare to expect. When Wang Gui came back, he was so weak he couldn't leave his bed. If you... turn out like that, I don't know how your sister and I could go on living."

"I understand."

Watching his mother leave, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

An Attendant Student, huh?

He had to admit, even though his mother disapproved, the idea had tempted him.

Could he be unaware of the benefits that even his little sister saw?

With a monthly allowance, the family wouldn't have to ration meat by the slice.

He wouldn't have to face people's disdain in the village anymore.

And then there was something Zheng Fa anticipated and was curious about in this world—the chance to practice martial arts, even to cultivate to immortality.

Striving to be a slave but failing...

The next morning, as Mrs. Zheng was washing dirty laundry at the front door, a familiar peasant ran over: "Zheng family! Zheng family! Great joyous news!"

"What joyous news?"

"The lady wants to select an Attendant Student, this time she said she prefers someone older and more stable, and your Fa is just right for it!"

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