Study Monster Cultivation System-Chapter 349: Where on earth did the 348 sandbags go?

Just after two o’clock in the afternoon, the entrance to Normal University Affiliated School was packed with people.

The upcoming math test, undeniably, could widen the score gap—making it a crucial subject in the college entrance exams.

No matter how fierce parents were on other days, at this moment, they all turned into angels.

"Son, believe in yourself, you will be fine."

"Shi Chao, don’t overthink it, play however you want."

"It’s already this moment, forget about Meiqi. Once you get into a good university, you’ll definitely meet someone better."

"You will, just perform well, anything is possible. You will definitely do better than Dad in the future and marry someone better than Mom... What? You don’t really believe in the nonsense that ’your mom is the best wife in the world,’ do you..."

"Han Han, don’t worry, once you are in university, you can date whoever you want. Can’t you download Momo? No, you are not allowed to use Momo in your lifetime... How do you meet boys without Momo? Once you’re in a good university, you’ll naturally meet them."

However, amidst the parents’ encouragement,

a boy and a girl walked by holding hands.

And they were interlocking their fingers.

With an exceptionally serene stride and an aura of scholarship.

Clinging to that cool hand, Li Zheng haughtily scanned the astonished classmates and the parents who covered their children’s eyes.

All fake, all of it.

Girlfriend? Boyfriend? The future? University? Society?

Stop kidding.

You can’t even catch prey in a zoo, let alone hope to hunt in a primeval forest.

Studying and dating, grasping both, and promoting mutual development—why don’t parents understand this?

At the school gate.

When Li Zheng and Lin Yujing submitted their admission tickets,

still interlocking their fingers!

No choice, they could only meet on these two days of the college entrance exams. After that, they would return to the solitary grind of academic battles.

Every second counted; a second more of holding hands was a second earned!

But to the teacher in charge at their own school, this was far too arrogant!

He had never seen such audaciously shameless and corrupt individuals!

Just as he was about to speak up,

he ran into Li Zheng’s defiant glare.

The teacher’s momentum was mysteriously crushed instantly.

No... this person wasn’t just any high school student...

Just that look,

was at least of someone who had been held back for three years.

Too much for him...

"Okay... let go now..." Lin Yujing shook off her hand, embarrassed from being stared at, "I can’t even get my admission ticket now..."

"No worries, I have a plan." Li Zheng nodded seriously, "We can help each other get our admission tickets—crossover admission tickets."

He didn’t give Lin Yujing a chance to respond. As he spoke, his hand had already reached into Lin Yujing’s backpack, "I’m going in..."

Driven by the atmosphere, Lin Yujing, her face flushing, also reached into Li Zheng’s pocket, "You have so many things in here..."

What was Li Zheng?

The ultimate lover.

At that very moment, he naturally leaned close to Lin Yujing’s ear and whispered, "Just pull open the pencil case and you’ll find them."

"Hmm..." Lin Yujing searched hard for a while, her breathing growing heavier, "How come I can’t feel the zipper on this pencil case?"

Li Zheng’s eyebrows tensed, and he started to panic, "That’s not it... that’s not the pencil case..."

"What is it then?" Lin Yujing asked blankly.

"Run... it’s a sandbag for weighted running..." Li Zheng, sweating profusely, fell far from being the ultimate lover.

Lin Yujing burst out laughing, "Ha ha, you brought this to your college entrance exam? Just like you!"

Then she gave a firm squeeze and dragged it out.

She ended up pulling out Li Zheng’s entire pocket, scattering all sorts of strange items on the ground.

But no sandbag.

"???" Lin Yujing scratched her head in confusion, "Where’s the sandbag..."

"Student!" The invigilator, unable to bear it any longer, pointed towards the school, "I see your admission tickets, please just go in!!"

Li Zheng’s momentum completely deflated too, and picking up his belongings, he dragged Lin Yujing, fleeing awkwardly to a secluded garden.

Even as they entered the garden, Lin Yujing was still full of questions, "Weird... there wasn’t a sandbag inside... what was that..."

Li Zheng swallowed hard, "It was the pencil case."

"But I should have been able to grab the pencil case, so why did I end up pulling the entire pocket out instead?"

"This is now a physics question, let’s start from parity non-conservation..."

"Is it really that complicated?"

"Just listen to me explain."

Li Zheng was quite sure.

It’s better not to let her understand.

Hoping she’d quickly forget this confusion, lest one day when she broadened her knowledge and suddenly realized it, she would definitely get pissed off.

Anyway, during the interlude between the Chinese and math exams, Li Zheng painfully endured for four hours.

Luckily, the next test was math, which didn’t require much thinking, just the autonomic nervous system was enough.

Speaking of the autonomic nervous system, many parts of the human body are indeed independently passive like plants, only responding to stimuli independently of the brain...

Wait... this isn’t good.

Stop.

Done for, studying was ultimately affected.

Grandma... it really isn’t easy to juggle two tasks at once, barely managing one is already overwhelming.

He had even considered whether to rent a house together for college.

Absolutely not.

If that happens, the whole person will fall into a vegetative state.

…

After handing in their papers, Lin Yujing was still concerned about the sandbag and pencil case, whereas Li Zheng didn’t dare to look or think about it, even too scared to reach out his hand.

The two walked out of the school gate before Li Zheng said, "I have some things to do tomorrow afternoon, so I won’t come over."

"???" Lin Yujing exclaimed, "Grandpa means no harm..."

"It’s for another reason." Li Zheng coughed and awkwardly turned his head, "Anyway, I had a lot of fun today. Although I am always happy when there are exams, today might have been the happiest day of my life."

"Hehe, me too," Lin Yujing strolled with her hands behind her back, "Taking a day off like this once in a while doesn’t really affect our studies~"

"It actually does affect..." Li Zheng said, his face trembling as he looked down.

"Huh? Really? Maybe it’s different for boys and girls."

"It really is different."

While they talked, they each took out their bicycles, sat down, and faced the roads stretching in opposite directions.

"Well, starting tomorrow, let’s go back into seclusion," Lin Yujing nodded.

"Yeah." Li Zheng chuckled, "After tomorrow, I’ll see you at Ji University. Say hello to Grandpa for me."

Lin Yujing’s eyes suddenly lit up, "Right, I can ask Grandpa."

"Ask Grandpa what?"

"Where did the sandbag go? Grandpa is the smartest, he must know."

"No!! You’ll get killed!!!"

"Ah??"

"It’s not you who will get killed; I will!!!"

…

The next day during the exams, these two truly didn’t speak to each other, they didn’t even make eye contact, making one wonder if they had argued.

At noon, Shen Yuecen still prepared a table full of exquisite dishes, ready on time. When he saw Li Zheng didn’t come, his mood immediately brightened.

Finally, he could have lunch and chat alone with Little Jingjing!

So, he heard about "the sandbag issue."

The old table corner.

Crack.

It was crushed.

"What’s wrong with Grandpa?!" Lin Yujing exclaimed as she stood up.

"Nothing, mate," Shen Yuecen’s face turning steel blue as he discarded the table corner, "You, eat, I’ll, get, the, soup."

As if replicating the past, he took step after step into the kitchen and closed the door.

Li Zheng!!!!

My pure and adorable Little Jingjing...

How could she...

How could she...

Just you wait!!!

The day school starts!!!

I will study you to death!!!

I will wash you out!!!

When he came out with two bowls of soup after calming himself down.

"Grandpa... so, do you know where the sandbag went?"

"......" Shen Yuecen pondered for a long time before finally sitting down sadly, "This is a physics issue, we have to start with the conservation of parity..."

"Grandpa... how can you be like Scum Chap..."

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"No, we are not the same," Shen Yuecen stared dead at the table corner, "Definitely not the same."

Thankfully, Li Zheng didn’t come.

Otherwise, he might have had to use "Fight to the Death" + "Distance Running Champion" to escape.

…

With the life-changing college entrance exam finally over, Li Zheng’s life hadn’t changed much.

Even when Li Yi generously gave away tens of thousands of yuan for Li Zheng to enjoy a graduation trip, it all...

...was spent on buying books.

Unknowingly, the Li Zheng who once focused only on the college entrance exam and aimed for the top universities, had now set his sights even higher.

This secluded study lasted until the end of June when it was finally interrupted by an event.

On a summer day, Li Zheng, Zhang Xiaoke, and Jiang Qinghua returned to their classroom where Tang Zhifei was waiting.

Inside the classroom, only the buzzing of the air conditioner could be heard.

As the four of them faced each other, the atmosphere was tense from the start.

The college entrance exam scores inquiry system would be officially accessible at 9 a.m.

Although Li Zheng was completely uninterested, he was still dragged here.

After a long absence, Tang Zhifei and Jiang Qinghua hadn’t changed much, though Jiang Qinghua’s hairline seemed to have stabilized, or perhaps his hair had grown longer and covered it.

The only one was Zhang Xiaoke.

She had actually...

...slimmed down again.

In the silent classroom, Zhang Xiaoke sat cross-legged at her own desk, occasionally glancing at her shiny nails and sometimes stroking her newly dyed blonde hair.

To sum it up, she was very arrogant.

"Rushing to dye your hair, huh...," Jiang Qinghua sat behind, struggling to accept it, "It’s fashionable... but black hair feels more grounded..."

"Heh," Zhang Xiaoke shook her head and smiled, "After the college entrance exam is over, shouldn’t I live it up a bit?"

Li Zheng stared intently at Zhang Xiaoke’s abdomen and said, "I’m more interested in how you slimmed down."

"Heh, without the pressure of the college entrance exam, one’s mindset is healthier and naturally slims down."

"Eh? But I saw you promoting weight-loss shakes in your Moments," Jiang Qinghua pulled out his phone, "Didn’t you say you’ve been sticking to it for over a month without touching a single grain of rice?"

"Shut up!" Zhang Xiaoke frantically changed the subject, "Speaking of which, how are you and Du Shitong doing? Haven’t seen each other for so long, any exciting developments?"

"You needn’t worry, we’ll be in touch every day." Jiang Qinghua coughed, trying to appear calm, yet a look of concern still showed on his face, "the key thing is still the results…"

As he was speaking, Tang Zhifei, sitting next to him, raised his hand.

"We can check now, who wants to go first?"

Zhang Xiaoke and Jiang Qinghua shuddered at the same time.

"Then I’ll go first…" Li Zheng stood up and moved closer, entering Lin Yujing’s information, "...I’ll check for Lin Yujing first."

It’s just that the more important things are, the more we need some completely meaningless foreplay to get into the right frame of mind.

With Li Zheng’s lightning-fast typing, Lin Yujing’s final high school grade report flashed up right in front of his face.

[Lin Yujing]

[Chinese: 145]

[Math: 150]

[English: 143]

[Science: 299]

[Total Score: 737]

[Rank: 1]

Although this score was nothing remarkable.

Still.

"Wow."

The three other than Li Zheng exclaimed in unison.

"Unworldly…" Li Zheng shook his head in resignation, "Collegiate exams are no more than a point more or less in Chinese or English, boring."

"Hey, Master, I understand." Zhang Xiaoke patted Li Zheng, "In the end, it still comes down to this, huh."

"What’s this about not being one thing or the other." Li Zheng, blushing, pushed Zhang Xiaoke away, "We’ve long since stopped comparing ourselves with such boring exams."

"Not outwardly." Jiang Qinghua also solemnly patted Li Zheng, then his own chest, "but inwardly it matters."

"It does not matter inwardly either!"

"Stop lying to yourself, Li Zheng." Tang Zhifei sighed, "The end of high school, you can’t erase that."

"You guys are too much!!" Li Zheng stormed, ruffling his hair, "You were the ones tense, and I accompanied you here. Who’s next? Zhang Xiaoke?"

"I’ll wait a bit longer…"

"Qinghua!"

"I need some more time to gather myself."

"Is this it? And you’re teasing me?" Li Zheng snorted and quickly entered his own information.

Whoosh!

[Li Zheng]

[Chinese: 141]

[Math: 150]

[English: 146]

[Science: 300]

[Total Score: 737]

[Rank: 1]

Bang!

Li Zheng slapped his palm on the table.

Luckily, it was also a plain and unremarkable score.

That was close, that was close!

Almost spent a lifetime unable to hold my head up high!

Seriously, who had no taste to review the Chinese paper, docking me down to 141 points?

Tang Zhifei also breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this score.

Okay, Principal Liu’s final wish had been fulfilled.

Two top scorers in one school, he’ll have enough to brag about for a lifetime.

Though that was the case, Tang Zhifei still felt a bit displeased, tapping on the screen and chiding, "See? That’s what you get for not paying attention in class, your Chinese is lagging!"

"Lin Yujing didn’t pay attention either."

"She listens while she sleeps."

"She was even wearing headphones."

"That’s not important…" Tang Zhifei, poking Li Zheng’s waist, reminded, "When you go to university, make sure to listen properly in class. Ordinary lectures are fine to skip, but you must attend those given by famous professors from Ji University."

"Got it…"

"So, about that person you said you’d introduce me to…" Tang Zhifei raised his eyebrows, "Is he a famous professor?"

"Hold back a bit, Teacher Tang, I’m working on it, don’t give it away so easily." Li Zheng then made space, pushing Jiang Qinghua to take over, "Stop standing, go check."

"Um…"

As soon as Jiang Qinghua finished entering the information, his phone rang.

Looking at the phone, he grew panicked again.

"Ah… Du Shitong 665…"

Zhang Xiaoke also grew anxious, "What? Is that high or low?"

"I don’t know." Jiang Qinghua nodded blankly, "It just feels pretty terrifying."

"Alright, stop thinking about it." Tang Zhifei snatched the mouse and gave a heavy click on the webpage, "Class president, charge ahead!"

Another whoosh!

[Jiang Qinghua]

[Chinese: 129]

[Math: 121]

[English: 132]

[Science: 269]

[Total Score: 651]

[Rank: 2423]

The atmosphere suddenly stiffened.

Li Zheng looked at the three motionless people, very conflicted.

651, ranked 2423...

Should he be happy, or should he be sad?

Should they celebrate, or should they comfort them?

He had no idea!

Seeing that no one had spoken for quite a while, Li Zheng tried to offer some consolation, "At least with this ranking, you should be able to get into a university, right?"

"Not just any university!" Tang Zhifei excitedly stood up and grabbed Jiang Qinghua’s shoulders. "It’s several hundred places higher than the mock exams, enough for Ji Post, definitely enough!"

"Ji Post?" Li Zheng pondered, "Jijing Post and Telecommunications? Hmm... It should be a good school."

"Oh man." Zhang Xiaoke nervously ruffled Jiang Qinghua’s hair. "You did well, no need to pretend, spill it."

"Phew…" Jiang Qinghua let out a long sigh of relief and leaned tiredly on the back of the chair, amidst his flowing hair strands, "It wasn’t easy..."

Only then did his emotions start to surface.

"All this time... I really have to thank you..." Jiang Qinghua’s eyes gradually reddened, "Without you... I wouldn’t have made it to today... You taught me how to study, not just the knowledge, but also the willpower."

On hearing this, Tang Zhifei quickly cleared his throat, ready to embrace Jiang Qinghua.

Jiang Qinghua did not disappoint and looked towards the person he should thank the most.

"Thank you, Master Li Zheng!"

"Oh, it’s nothing." Master Li Zheng raised his hand and laughed heartily, "It was merely some minor guidance; you did the hard work yourself."

Jiang Qinghua stood up and grabbed Li Zheng’s arm, "No, without your guidance, my efforts would have been like drawing water with a bamboo basket, utterly futile."

"That may be true." Li Zheng no longer demurred, "Current teaching methods indeed lack personalized designs. I’ll accept that praise."

While Li Zheng spoke, he couldn’t help but notice the pitiable Tang Zhifei.

"Ah, Teacher Tang also contributed," Li Zheng quickly tried to amend, "After all, she... she... she also encouraged us to study."

Tang Zhifei’s sense of grievance deepened, and she probably would have started biting a handkerchief if she had one.

"Yes, yes, yes." Jiang Qinghua quickly bowed politely, "I’ll come back every Teacher’s Day from now on, as I’m now the senior class president."

This statement suddenly made the atmosphere a little strange.

It was as if after today, they would never see each other again.

In this moment, it was Zhang Xiaoke.

She pushed Jiang Qinghua away, took a deep breath, and sat down with authority.

Amidst the solemn silence, she calmly typed in her exam number.

The last swipe!

[Zhang Xiaoke]

[Chinese: 134]

[Math: 139]

[English: 140]

[Science: 279]

[Total: 692]

[Rank: 176]

"Oh my gosh!!" Jiang Qinghua jumped up.

"Ah... is this even possible?" Tang Zhifei covered her mouth.

"Not bad." Even Li Zheng nodded repeatedly.

Only Zhang Xiaoke herself remained silent.

This was very unusual.

Normally, this was the moment she would have jumped up saying, "Oh man, I barely reviewed," "I didn’t do well, I didn’t even reach 700."

But now, she didn’t move at all.

"What’s wrong? Didn’t you do well?" Tang Zhifei rubbed Zhang Xiaoke’s back and asked.

Zhang Xiaoke just slowly shook her head and sighed, "Still... can’t get into Bright Academy..."

"Ji University’s Bright Academy?" Tang Zhifei widened her eyes, "There are barely 10 spots for the whole of Jijing, right? You need to be in the top 20 in the national exams to get in..."

"Yes..." Zhang Xiaoke lowered her head, "I was striving for the top 20 places..."

"That’s... a bit exaggerated..." Jiang Qinghua pointed at the screen, "With these scores, Ji University is a sure thing, isn’t that enough to be happy about?"

"Yeah..." Zhang Xiaoke forced a smile, "It’s quite an improvement already, thank you master, thank you Teacher Tang."

Zhang Xiaoke’s words sounded as if an unruly dog had suddenly become smart and obedient.

It was quite strange.

But, none knew better than Zheng.

"No need to be so discouraged so soon." Li Zheng rubbed Zhang Xiaoke’s head, "The journey of learning has just begun; there are ways to get into Bright. You can start in the invertebrate linguistics department, spend a year studying there, and then compete for one of the 20 transfer spots into Bright next year."

Zhang Xiaoke blinked, her eyes trembling as she looked up: "Master... even though I didn’t get into Bright... do you still want me... and what - what did you just mention? Does that major even exist?"

Li Zheng chuckled, "Just get in there, and then study with me for another year, do you have confidence?"

Zhang Xiaoke looked at Li Zheng with tear-filled eyes for a long time, finally nodded, and with tears shimmering, she lunged forward.

"Master!!!!"

This moment was supposed to be slightly touching.

But the atmosphere was quickly shattered by Liu Xiaodong’s shouting on the sports field.

"Right! Hang them at the door!"

"And across the street, hang as far and as many as you can!"

"Hang the photos too! All of them!"

"We’ll deal with the city management if they come; hang them for as long as we can!"

"Haha, the more I look, the more satisfying it is!"

"Warmly celebrating Lake Ying Middle School’s Lin Yujing and Li Zheng jointly acing the Jijing university entrance exams!"

"Keep going, hang them up to Lake Ying Park!"

"Damn, how many times have I told you." Li Zheng glared, opened the window, and shouted—

"Put my name in front!"