1 Chapter 1

The selection site of the "XingHai Cup".

The "XingHai Cup" is a large-scale drawing competition organised by City A, the standard of this year's competition is scarily high, being judged by a professor from a well-known arts academy. Its scale is also rarely large, thus the difficultly of this competition is evident.

There was a total of 10 who managed to squeeze into the finals, all coming from major art studios while divided by different schools, each of them being the top student of their studios. Their drawing skills were equivalent of that one can see during the university entrance exams, in which they can basically safely enter TsingHua University's Academy of Arts and Design, as well as other well-known art academies.

Halfway through the selection process, the second and third place had already been decided, and had started deciding on the first place.

For the competition to be this intense, one cannot ignore the teachers on the selection panel – Sir Yang MingZong, a legendary figure in the arts circle. There is no arts student that doesn't respect him, and there are none who doesn't recognise him as their role model.

Followed by the sound of a walking cane tapping the tiled floor non-stop, an aged old man passed by the remaining 8 paintings, and finally stopped in front of one of them.

This painting is not inferior compared to the rest.

The old man is Sir Yang MingZong. After stopping in his steps, he took a look at the competitor's name: Kang Kai.

The other selection teachers being younger than Yang MingZong, they followed behind him, and saw that he finally chose this painting, sighing: "Sir really has good taste, this painting is indeed outstanding." It is not only outstanding.

Even with a glance once can see that it is on a different level from the pieces by the other competitors, its brush strokes showing a strong sculpture. But the reason why Yang MingZong chose this painting is not only because of that. "Who helped you edit this painting?" Although the painting was already outstanding enough, but Yang MingZong could still tell at a single glance that it had been edited by someone, the editor had used a few strokes of the pen to elevate the quality of the entire painting, and these few edits were obviously different from the rest of the painting.

The competition had allowed mentors, and even allowed collaborations, so this didn't count as breaking any rules.

This kind of natural and heart-touching talent, Yang MingZong had taught painting for decades but had rarely come across it.

"Sheng ge1, today I met Mr Yang MingZong! He's really incredible, just a look and he could tell that my painting had been edited by you." "He even asked me who edited it." "You really, not even allowing me to mention your name, must you hide this deep." "He is definitely interested in your few strokes of the brush, there were so many competitors there, he was only caught talking to me." In the school corridor, a person leaned against the wall near the corner of the stairs during lesson time. As the line of sight was blocked, one could only see the hem of the boy's t-shirt being lifted up by the wind. He had a tall figure and slender fingers, after listening to the voice recording once, he moved his finger and pressed on the screen, repeating the recording once more.

"... Sheng ge if only you had participated, you'll probably be snatched away, not even needing to sit for the joint entrance exam 2or university entrance exam, you can attend whichever school you want." Xu Sheng finished playing the recording, pausing for some time before relaxing. A long while later, he laughed and called the other stupid in his heart, as no one is spared from the joint entrance exam or university entrance exam.

The saved name in the chat window was called Kang Kai.

Kang Kai was his childhood friend, and was also his neighbour who stayed in the same apartment building, his family running an art studio. Kang Kai had received the news of this round's XingHai Cup too late, almost missing the registration date, having no time to paint from scratch and could only find an old draft – the old draft was drawn a year ago, and it was one that he was proud of, being edited by Xu Sheng.

On the other end of the corridor was Year 2 Class 7.

The homeroom teacher entered the classroom and looked at the empty seat in the last row.

Furrowing his brows, he tried to hold back but failed to do so: "Where's Xu Sheng – skipping class again? Is he not aware of how he had fared on the mock exam this time, still daring to skip class? Tell him to come to my office after class if you see him." LinJiang Sixth High 2018 second year school opening mock exam, language paper.

Examinee's marks: 48.

Mathematics: 36 English: 22 Natural Sciences: 59 ... These few exam scripts were placed on the office table, each one of them filled with merciless crosses, each script worse than the other. The one marking the paper quickly realised that this normal way of marking was not suitable for that examinee, therefore the next page contained only a few scarce red ticks.

In the name column was scratched out two words, looking free-spirited, but each stroke of the pen was powerful. Name of examinee: Xu Sheng.

"Take a look for yourself your mock exam results." "You're away from the average by a whole 30 marks, not to mention preparing for the university entrance exam, with your abilities you'll even need to retake middle school!" The homeroom teacher Meng GuoWei raised his voice as he continued speaking, and half the corridor outside the office could hear his roars: "Which of these questions have I not gone through in class, these are all giveaway questions! If I sprinkle some rice grains on your paper, even a chicken can blindly get more questions correct, what is wrong with you – did you come to school to learn or to dawdle your days away?!" "Also, where were you during morning revision? All you know how to do is to skip lessons all day!" Xu Sheng had been standing in the office for 6 minutes already.

Similar words had already been said previously countless of times, he looked afar and his sight landed on the wall clock behind Meng GuoWei, at the same time guessing that the classic phrase "If you don't want to learn then get out as quickly as possible" would follow.

As expected.

Meng GuoWei smacked the detained test papers with a "pa" on the corner of the table: "I don't care how you were like in the past, but now that you're in Year 2 Class 7, you better pick yourself up, if you don't want to properly learn, then get out as quickly as possible!" Xu Sheng looked very sleepy, closing his eyes a little, obviously not wanting to hear anyone speaking nonsense. Meng GuoWei: "..." Although Meng GuoWei's words were harsh, he felt guilty on the inside.

He actually didn't dare to look for this student to talk, but since he just took over the class, he had better set this student straight.

They had just split classes in year 2, not sure what the school administration was thinking, most probably wanting to balance it out a little, placing 2 first places in his class – the top of the level and the top from the bottom were both sent over.

The young man standing beside his office table stood out from the rest of the office environment.

The students entering and leaving the office were dressed in their school uniforms properly by the book, while he was dressed in a black graffiti t-shirt, the graffiti couldn't even be distinguished on a closer look.

The young man was tall and slender, with his eyes downcast, as if he hasn't slept enough during morning revision. As he stood there, it was as if he didn't care about anything.

His results were so low it seemed strange, his offenses in and outside school couldn't even be counted with 10 fingers, such a problematic student who had never worn the school uniform, it was really Meng GuoWei's first time coming across one after teaching for so many years.

LinJiang Sixth High was still a key school. Even though they weren't the best in area A, their cut-off points barely at the tail end, and had risen from an ordinary school 2 years ago.

Guo MengWei momentarily placed down the matters of the mock exam and skipping class aside, and said: "Where did you go after yesterday's exam, did you sneakily leave school grounds again?" Speaking of this, the young man reluctantly stood up straight, carefully asking: "Did anyone see me leaving the school?" Meng GuoWei: "No." Xu Sheng pondered for a moment: "Was I captured by any surveillance camera?" Meng GuoWei: "... No." Xu Sheng was obviously confirming whether he was caught in the act of leaving school grounds, and finally he confidently answered: "I didn't leave school grounds." "..." Meng GuoWei was trying to organise the words in his brain, wanting to say something more.

But Xu Sheng didn't have the patience.

"Teacher," He opened his mouth to speak, "If it's because of my results, then we can talk till here. You teach your class, whether I study or not, how much I want to study is my own business, you don't really have to talk to me about these." Xu Sheng's voice wasn't loud, the noisy office was filled with the sound of flipping books, the voices of teachers assigning tasks as well as the chattering of the students entering and leaving the office, his words were so casual, it didn't draw any attention.

But Meng GuoWei heard each word very clearly, frozen by these casual yet arrogant words, only speaking after a long while: "What kind of words are you saying, is this the attitude when speaking to a teacher – then what are you still attending school for?!" Xu Sheng met his eyes without dodging. Meng GuoWei then realised that the school rule that this student had broken had not only been the rule of "not wearing school uniform". His right ear also adorned an ear stud, silver surrounding the black chalcedony5. The ear stud, which couldn't be counted as low-key, was half-hidden by his hair.

What are you even attending school for?

This sentence actually repeated itself a few times in Xu Sheng's head6.

"Just count it as me dawdling my days away," After a long while, Xu Sheng reached out his hand, taking away his test papers, holding them in his hands and without caring much, said, "Don't care about me anymore." In the entire class only Xu Sheng's paper was detained, when he returned to class with the paper in hand, the originally enthusiastic class instantly quietened down, just like how an originally smoothly playing movie was suddenly stopped.

In the first row there was a boy with his butt sticking upwards, the upper half of his body on the desk, reaching out to the student sitting in the second row for some biscuits at that moment, but upon seeing Xu Sheng entering the class he didn't dare to move and maintained that pose.

"The school gangster's7 murderous aura is too strong," That boy softly said, "I don't dare to move, but I'm tired in this position. You, just let me eat a piece of the biscuit..." To the students in Year 2 Class 7, when they saw the class list after splitting classes, their feelings could only be described with the word suffocating.

2 days ago, the entire level stood at the school gates with their hearts in their mouths.

"Which class is Xu Sheng in?" "Class 7, that's good, I'm in Class 6."

"Fuck, I'm in Class 7..." "What kind of luck do you have bro, hang in there, there's still 2 more years of high school. It's just 2 more years, time passes by as quickly as riding a white horse8, it'll pass by really quickly." What kind of person is Xu Sheng?

A famous school gangster.

The outcast that is famous in school.

Because he didn't wear his school uniform throughout Year 1, the level head had blown off his top several times, making him stand as punishment, calling his parents, even making him stand in front of the entire school and review himself, but alas there wasn't any result, he still wore whatever he shouldn't be wearing. LinJiang Sixth High, whose teaching faculty were well-trained and knowledgeable and the school spirit rigorous, with the school motto "Civilised and harmonious, Hardworking and realistic", even digging 10 years forward one couldn't find another like him.

Xu Sheng passed by his classmates and headed for the last row.

Even after leaving the office in his t-shirt and jeans, he still looked out of place in the crowd, he stuck out even more in the sea of grey and blue school uniforms in the classroom.

He was tall, and adding on to the fact that he was late on the first day of school, there were only 2 empty seats left in class, besides the last row there was no other seat he could choose from. The final remaining seat was on his left, separated by an aisle, but it had been empty since yesterday as he heard that the student had taken a leave of absence from school.

Xu Sheng didn't really care who the missing student was, he dragged the chair out and planned to sleep. When dragging the chair over the boy in the row in front of his couldn't help but to tremble as he held his pen.

Xu Sheng thought about it again, holding on to the chair, he leaned forward and used his other hand to pat the student's shoulder. The pen in that boy's hand almost flew out of his grip, and having no other choice, turned around:

"Do... do you9 have any order for me?" Xu Sheng: "Don't you feel squeezy?" "Ah?", Xu Sheng pointed at the boy tightly pressing his chest to the edge of the table, observing that he only gave himself a range of motion not exceeding 30cm, if he wanted to go to the toilet he would have to slide downwards and squat down before leaving from under his table, so he asked once more: "You don't feel squeezy?" That boy opened his mouth: "I..." Of course, I'm feeling squeezy, but I don't dare to say it! I don't dare to get too close to you even more!

Xu Sheng waited for an answer with some effort, but he might as well directly push his own desk backwards.

The first lesson in the morning was English, Xu Sheng was currently sprawled on his desk and prepared to meet the Duke of Zhou10, until the window beside him was knocked twice.

A few people opened the window, and from the corridors they poked in: "Boss." Xu Sheng's hand was on the back of his neck, tilting his head slightly when he heard the voice. "I'm going to sleep, quickly spit it out." The guy leading this gang of people had the most stylish thick bangs, his skin was a little tanned, but overall, he still looked energetic. He sighed: "This time we're separated too far apart, you're in Class 7 while I'm in Class 1, we're on separate ends, how am I going to play games with you during class in future?" Although Xu Sheng was well-known, with many avoiding him as far as possible, but at this energetic age, boys didn't need any special condition to play together, playing 2 rounds of a game seals the deal. Xu Sheng's popularity isn't bad, at the end of every lesson back in Year 1, the back of the classroom would always be a circle of people.

Sometimes, gaming skills are more useful than academic results.

The fate of Xu Sheng and Zhang Feng's first-time gaming together started when it was his first time doing a review in front of the entire school, during that time Xu Sheng's final sentence to conclude his review was "I'm in the wrong, but I don't guarantee that I won't make the same offence again." After saying that, the whole school was in an uproar.

As he got off the flag-raising platform, Zhang Feng sincerely said to him; "Fuck, you're quite awesome." Zhang Feng said again: "Why did you go to the teacher's office just now? I heard you made your class's Old Meng really angry." Xu Sheng declined to comment.

Zhang Feng finished lamenting, and continued to work hard poking around the classroom, this time he not only poked his head in, even his entire upper body was squeezed in, looking at every corner of Year 2 Class 7's classroom Xu Sheng came back to his senses, he leaned backwards, his legs were long, even with his legs bent he could reach out a large distance: "Why the hell are you here." Zhang Feng revealed his true intentions: "We're here to see the study god." Focused on just sleeping during the mock exams, Xu Sheng who didn't care who his classmates were:

"?" "No, to see is not a word appropriate enough, it should be paying respects, that's right, I'm here to pay respects to the study god," Zhang Feng said. "- It's the person who got first in the high school entrance exam, he clinched first place in the municipal league in year 1, it was made into a school poster and pasted on the wall of honour at the school entrance. Don't you know, your class arrangement is the most creative, there's you, and there's a study god." Xu Sheng heard this, and suddenly laughed.

He waved his hand towards Zhang Feng: "Come here, come closer." Zhang Feng went closer unguarded.

Xu Sheng simply rolled up the test paper he had brought back from the office and rolled it up, hitting him on the head with it: "Are you fucking looking for a fight, if you're here to see the study god then just see him, do you need to insult me too? Letting you come in standing while leaving lying down today is quite creative too, do you want to try it?" "I'm wrong, da ge, I shouldn't have dragged you in," Zhang Feng bent over and hid, muttering as he hid, "But da ge, why is it that I've been looking for long but I haven't found him, is everyone in your class present?" Indeed, not everyone is present.

Xu Sheng threw his test paper onto the table, his gaze sweeping across the narrow isle beside him, before landing on the empty seat by his side.

In the teacher's office.

The school bell rang, Meng GuoWei was still immersed in the conversation he had had with the problematic student from the class he had just been put in charge of, he couldn't get out of it for a long time.

A teacher holding a lesson plan passed by him, and upon seeing that he was still analysing Xu Sheng's results, stopped in their13 steps and said: "Mr Meng, you should think too much about it, that child has always been like that, when he was in Year 1 no matter how many teachers caught him it was futile. Just let it go if it doesn't work out, not every student really wants to properly study." Meng GuoWei is different from the other teachers, his temper coming all at once: "I don't believe that I can't change him for the better, I, Meng GuoWei, in my 20 plus years of teaching never had the word 'give up' in my dictionary." "..." "Mr Meng, I cheer on for you in spirit," That teacher took a look at the time, and said, "Ai, I won't say any further, I need to get to class." However, there were other teachers who were interested in this topic, and asked as they marked assignments: "Old Meng, do you have any ideas?" Meng GuoWei was deep in thought just now, and read through a few books of <<How To Correctly Guide Students>>, and he really managed to come up with an idea: "He might be resistant to teachers, but I'm prepared to try the one-on-one method, getting a good student to guide him through." As Meng GuoWei said this, he took out a stack of test papers from his side. Xu Sheng's test papers were not the only ones detained, originally beside the stack of test papers with Xu Sheng's name on it was another stack of test papers, just that there was a different reason for detaining those papers – the reason for Xu Sheng's was that his results were too bad, but the reason for the other stack was purely that the answers were well written, and was directly detained by the teachers to be used as a model answer, photocopying a few sets to distribute to every class.

Besides deducting 6 marks in his Language paper, the other subjects were all of full score. The test paper at the very top of the stack, the first row wrote: LinJiang Sixth High 2018 second year school opening mock exam, Mathematics paper, full marks 150, marks attained: 150.

Examinee's name: Shao Zhan

-------------

Author's note:

Made a few changes to the timeline to match it to next door's school gangster, sorry I forgot that next door's is already 18 years old!!

13 Teacher's gender wasn't specified Started a new project, not sure how many people are here, a new challenge. As anxious as usual but I will do my best!

Ps: Xu Sheng is really bad at studying.

Pss: It's intermittent time travel, they will switch back in the middle and switch again once more, Do leave comments and send 100 red packets~