Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

During evening self-study, Jiang Ning could still overhear people discussing Zhuang Jianhui. The girl in front of her, Geng Lu, who had a bit of baby fat on her face, was talking to her deskmate:

"Zhuang Jianhui used to attend the experimental middle school in the provincial capital. He was famous on their school's forum back then, and you can still find some posts about him."

"Wow, he's from the provincial capital!" another girl exclaimed.

There is a chasmic gap between Hui Province's capital and other cities within the province, which gives cities within the province a peculiar sentiment towards the capital. Those who like it think it's great and are proud of it, but those who hate it outright deny it's the capital.

At first, Ma Shicheng thought Zhuang Jianhui was impressive, but as more and more girls discussed him, he gradually began to resent the name. Smiling slyly, he said,

"So he's from the provincial capital, huh? Then why did he come to our Fourth Middle School? Could it be he didn't get into a high school there?"

Geng Lu turned her head to look at him and said,

"His middle school exam score was over 700. He could have gone to Second Middle School easily. He came to Fourth Middle School because it's close to his home."

"Now that's willful. He could have gone to a better school, but he chose a high school based on his mood. He really is cool. It's no wonder he comes from a capital city middle school."

It's undoubtedly extremely easy to provoke anger when a girl, looking rather attractive herself, praises another boy in front of a boy.

Ma Shicheng said sourly, "I think the capital is just so-so. Compared to Nan City, which is closer to us, isn't it still the little brother?"

"Why don't you compare yourself to the students from Nan City's key high schools?"

Seeing that Ma Shicheng's tone was unfriendly, Geng Lu also got heated up, as she was never the soft or weak type:

"He can dunk. Can you? And he's handsome, too."

Ma Shicheng indeed couldn't dunk; he couldn't even touch the backboard. When it came to being handsome, though, he was disliked. The day before yesterday, when he had bragged about his looks, Geng Lu had scoffed at him. Now, with old resentment and new grudges surfacing, he attacked directly:

"I don't think he's much handsomer than I am. Everyone around me says I'm handsome."

"Wang Longlong, who do you think is handsomer, me or Zhuang Jianhui?"

Wang Longlong, with an honest face, said, "I think Brother Ma is handsome!"

Ma Shicheng then looked triumphantly at Guo Kunnan, "Who's handsomer?"

Guo Kunnan was very supportive, "In terms of handsomeness, my Brother Ma beats Zhuang Jianhui in a second."

Now it was Ma Shicheng's turn to look disdainfully at Geng Lu:

"It's just your taste that's bad."

Geng Lu was speechless. She knew some boys were narcissistic, but this was the first time she had seen someone so conceited. It was simply ignorant.

She quoted a few lines of ancient prose: "Zou Ji was over eight feet tall and strikingly handsome." When she couldn't remember the lines that followed, she skipped ahead to:

"Who can compete in looks with Master Xu of the northern city?... How could Master Xu compare to you?"

Anyone who could get into Fourth Middle School had a solid middle school foundation, so they naturally understood the meaning of this text.

Geng Lu asked, "Get it?"

Ma Shicheng's face looked unpleasant, yet he said in a weird tone,

"Cultured person, such a cultured person!"

Seeing him like this, Geng Lu knew he was beyond help and turned her head back around.

Seeing Geng Lu back off, Ma Shicheng laughed smugly, completely overestimating himself.

He took out some Eclipse chewing gum he had bought and distributed one to each of the boys who had supported him.

During self-study, Dan Qingrong announced news:

"On the last day of military training, September 9th, there will be a competition of training achievements. It will be by class, and the experimental class will also participate. The three classes with the best performance will be awarded an honor banner."

Upon hearing this, the students below instantly showed eagerness to try. At the high school stage, there's still a strong sense of class honor, unlike university students, who could not care less whether their class is good or bad.

"I see a lot of students playing with their phones often!" Dan Qingrong said with a smiling grin, eyes sweeping across several students.

Seeing this, the students' eyes suddenly narrowed, and they dared not meet his gaze.

Shan Qingrong said, "Here's the deal, if our Class 8 gets the pennant this time, I'll install a power strip in the class for everyone to easily charge their devices."

At these words, the students got excited, especially the boarders. Their dorms didn't have power strips, and they didn't dare charge their devices in class; they had to go to the small supermarket outside to charge, where it cost 1 yuan each time, which was a total rip-off.

If Shan Qingrong actually installed a power strip for everyone, that would be incredibly convenient.

"Teacher Shan, we'll definitely bring you back a first place!" A few boarders cheered him on, determined to win a top-three ranking to charge their devices openly in the classroom.

After Shan Qingrong left, some boarding students, spurred by the incentive, quickly mobilized. Guo Kun Nan found several boys one after another, instructing them to take the military training seriously.

When he got to Jiang Ning, Guo Kun Nan glanced at him and then promptly skipped to other students. When it came to the standard of military posture, Jiang Ning was definitely the best in their formation, having been praised by Instructor Li several times.

Who else to take seriously, if not Jiang Ning?

Initially, the classmates couldn't stand Jiang Ning, but now, knowing the evaluation was coming, they started seeing him in a more favorable light.

So much so that at this moment, Jiang Ning received several friendly glances, which made him chuckle.

While the boarders were passionately spreading the word, they met a tough nut to crack.

Song Sheng threw cold water on their enthusiasm, "It's just a power strip. You guys are acting like it's a big deal. With twelve classes in the grade, why should we get into the top three, not to mention the advanced classes?"

"You don't care because it's not your problem, you commute, so you don't need a power strip, but we do!" Guo Kun Nan said, annoyed.

"Yeah, I don't need it, so what's it to me?" Song Sheng said coldly.

To his side, Dan Kaiquan mocked, "What a dumbass, didn't you embarrass yourself enough the other day?"

He was also a boarder and couldn't stand people like Song Sheng.

"Say that one more time?" Song Sheng stood up and pointed at him.

Dan Kaiquan wasn't afraid at all. As Song Sheng stood up, several boarders also got to their feet, leading to a standoff that instantly made the classroom tense.

Bai Yuxia, sitting in the front, frowned and said, "The homeroom teacher just left, what are you all doing?"

"Take it outside if you want to fight."

Seeing the prettiest girl in class attempting to quell the dispute, Dan Kaiquan didn't push things further with Song Sheng but dropped a hard line, "I'm letting you off this time, fatty."

Song Sheng was already seething inside, and being called fat pig, what he hated most, on top of yesterday's humiliation, caused the anger suppressed in his heart to explode suddenly.

He charged forward "bam" knocking over several desks, fists raised, striking at Dan Kaiquan.

Song Sheng's sudden outburst startled the classmates; a few became unintended victims due to his charge.

Xue Yuantong, who had been sitting tranquilly, got grazed, not only did the desk fall, but his arm was also hit by the corner of the desk, paining him to rub continuously, his little face filled with grievance.

Dan Kaiquan hadn't reacted in time; he raised his arms in a hurry, and Song Sheng's punch hit them, making them both numb and sore. Just as he thought about resisting, Song Sheng immediately followed with another punch, hitting him on the shoulder.

The surrounding students came to their senses and rushed to break up the fight, with Guo Kun Nan holding Song Sheng from behind, giving Dan Kaiquan a meaningful look.

Dan Kaiquan landed a kick on Song Sheng's stomach, and before the second one could follow, Guo Kun Nan got thrown aside.

Song Sheng raised his fists to strike Dan Kaiquan, and more boys surrounded them, pulling the two apart.

Song Sheng's eyes filled with darkness, "Loser."

Dan Kaiquan cursed internally at Song Sheng as a madman. To get into a fight so early in the term, was he not afraid of being disciplined by the school?

What's key was that the guy was incredibly strong; punched once, his shoulder turned numb and sore.

After a few more verbal exchanges, they didn't fight anymore, and Song Sheng, his face grim, walked back to his seat.

At this time, a drawling voice echoed in the classroom, "You've knocked everyone's desks over, wouldn't it be fair to apologize?"