Second Half, I'm Here!

Even Jiang Qinghua trembled.

The background music immediately collapsed.

His fear scattered the bleak feelings in his heart.

"I'm fine." He kicked the ground in retreat and stood up haggardly.

"Hehe, I was kidding." Qiao Bixia laughed, then wiped off the saliva at the corner of her lips and said, "How could I let you take advantage of me?"

Jiang Qinghua grabbed his abdomen, even though it was his heart that was aching.

He then looked at Li Zheng.

The latter nodded steadily. "You, that wasn't good."

Jiang Qinghua shook his head and smiled determinedly. "That was just one ball. Don't be arrogant. I'll make you submit today."

Li Zheng rubbed his fists.

At that moment, Liu Xin ran back into the court.

"Mr. Qiao said that he'll spare me if we enter the final four during the basketball competition." Liu Xin waved his arms and jumped like a giant moth. "Let's get to practice!"

"What are you mumbling about? Go snatch the ball," Jiang Qinghua scolded.

"I'm going."

"Hmph, it's getting interesting." Qiao Bixia followed behind Liu Xin.

The contest was about to start again.

During the repeated laps...

Jiang Qinghua's sweat became warm again. His motivation was back.

What happened just now was just a tiny pause.

"The second half, I'm here!"

…

The sun was setting. There weren't many people left on the court.

The six of them sat beside the court and gulped down their water as they chatted about every match they had just played.

Qiao Bixia said, "Not bad, Oil Barrel. Our battle today made me feel very good."

Liu Xin replied, "We'll continue tomorrow night. I'll beat you tomorrow."

Xu Mengxi chimed in. "Hehe, Jing Jing also played very confidently today."

"Hm!"

Li Zheng said, "That wasn't an interception. All she did was touch the ball with the tip of her fingers…"

"~~~"

Jiang Qinghua mumbled. "..."

Unknowingly, everyone had achieved their goals.

Lin Yujing had successfully intercepted Li Zheng.

Li Zheng had completed his relaxation.

Liu Xin had grown during his battle against Qiao Bixia.

Qiao Bixia had helped Lin Yujing find joy in playing basketball.

Xu Mengxi had trained her body.

Jiang Qinghua had learned about life.

Even though it was a little painful.

On the other hand, Li Zheng, who had thoroughly enjoyed the competition, also obtained an extra boost of energy recovery.

After all, the relaxation was tripled by Lin Yujing, Xu Mengxi, and Qiao Bixia.

After this fierce battle, he felt as though he had more energy to spend studying.

…

Morning the next day.

Li Zheng noticed two hundred-yuan bills on the shoe cabinet when he was just about to leave the house.

He silently stuffed the money into his pocket.

He only read the note after he took the money and put it away.

"Mrs. Hu is already hospitalized. Don't worry. Her condition is within the range of my expertise."

"Five hundred yuan. Go and get some stationery. You can ask for more if it's not enough."

"In regard to Chemistry, I can't answer you."

"I seemed to have scored full marks after just flipping through the textbook once."

"Sorry, I can't remember anything."

"You should go ask your classmates who are better at Chemistry."

"XD"

"Golden Quote of the Day:"

"Genius is like this. Genius only means working hard all one's life."

"This quote is from Mendeleev. He made the world's first periodic table."

"... Li Yi."

"2018/10/12. 5:15 a.m."

Li Zheng didn't remember the golden quote after he finished reading the note.

Instead, he checked the shoe cabinet repeatedly.

"Where was the five hundred yuan he promised?" he thought.

He soon noticed another note by the side.

The handwriting was messy.

"I don't have any cash with me. I'll take three hundred."

"Old Li, you have to take good care of Mrs. Hu. Be more precise with your scalpel."

"Li Zheng, be quieter when you leave the house. Your mother is in the house, suffering from jet lag."

"This golden quote sucks too much. Look at mine…"

"Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."

"... My eternal god, Feynman."

"See that?"

"That's what's called a golden quote."

"Savor it, savor it slowly."

"... An Ning"

"2018/10/12, 6:37 a.m."

"D*mn it!" Li Zheng thought.

Li Zheng wasn't wrong.

The three hundred yuan he lost.

It did belong to his mother.

"She's even more ruthless than her son when it comes to swiping money," Li Zheng thought.

"But Feynman's words…"

"They sure have many layers to them."

"It's the same with studying. Even though it can produce practical results."

"It's not the reason why I like it."

"Yes, I'll accept these words."

"I wonder if Mrs. Xiaotang would give me extra marks if I used the quote in my essay."

Li Zheng then grabbed his pen and wrote a reply.

"To Old Li:"

"Hehe, this is the last time you're going to act like you're superior to me in terms of Chemistry."

"Your golden quote of the day is substandard."

"You have to operate on Mrs. Hu personally. Don't get your substitute, Cheng Wenyue, to do it."

"Not only must your cut be precise, but it must also be clean."

"Finally, three hundred yuan has been intercepted. Please send it to me via WeChat."

"To Ning'er:"

"Listen carefully."

"... Li Zheng."

"2018/10/12, 7:01 am."

Bang!!!

Li Zheng slammed the door heavily.

Then he ran.

He had just got onto his bicycle when he received a notification on WeChat.

"An Ning: You have guts. Just wait."

Li Zheng wasn't afraid.

"You even dare to take the money your son is going to use to buy stationery," he thought.

"That's retribution."

"Plus, Ning'er would have probably gone on another business trip by the time I got back home after school."

"After all, we're mother and son, connected through post-its."

…

There were no accidents this morning.

Li Zheng reached the school before 7:20 a.m. He even managed to snag a parking spot that was most convenient for him.

There weren't many people in school when he entered.

"Great. I've successfully avoided Sun Xiubin," he thought.

He walked to the second floor and opened the classroom door. He sorted and placed down his revision material in the empty classroom.

He could finally study at ease.

After consecutively playing basketball for two days, his body aches had instead subsided.

"Yes, I must have gotten stronger," he thought.

He moved his finger and pulled open his pencil case.

At the same time, he examined the state of his studies.

[Li Zheng]

[Science Foundational Study Stage (Awaiting advancement)]

[Language: 94] [Mathematics: 110 ↑] [English: 92]

[Physics: 102] [Chemistry: 74 ↑] [Biology: 86 ↓]

[Today's energy: 0/29, magnified 28 times.]

"That's weird. I didn't even do any Mathematics assignments yesterday, yet it increased by one point," Li Zheng thought.

"I left Biology alone, and it decreased by one point."

"Could it be that my intelligence level is rising, but my memory is getting worse?"

"Travelling against the current, I'll move backward if I don't advance."

"I have to engage in lifelong learning."

Of course, Chemistry is what's most important right now. It increased by nine points after I studied it for the entire day yesterday."

"Then I tried my hardest to relax and finally squeezed out 29 hours of energy."

"I'm still 11 points away from the target. There's a great chance I'll accomplish the mission."

"However, there's a marginal effect when it comes to studying. The more advanced I get in a subject, the harder it is for me to improve."

"I have to plan my 29 hours well."

"Come, let me first come up with a study plan."

Li Zheng rubbed his hands as he opened a book. He was filled with anticipation.

Coming up with a study plan was an extremely enjoyable task.

It was equivalent to researching what kind of job one would undertake before playing a game. There was unlimited space for imagination, and the process might even be more enjoyable than playing the game itself.

For his study plan for Chemistry today, Li Zheng divided his time into three parts:

"1. Completely internalize Xu Mengxi's study strategy and come up with my own mind maps. (7 hours)"

"2. Consolidate my knowledge by attempting practice questions. (7 hours)"

"3. After consulting Mr. Sun Leyang in the afternoon, look for opportunities based on my Chemistry score."

"If I'm still far away from my target, I'll adopt the method of studying for future content and start to tackle the content for next semester and the third year."

"Even though the efficacy of this method is obvious, forcibly memorizing content without a solid foundation would not only be less effective, but also extremely exhausting."

"If I'm near my target of raising the score of a subject by 20 points, I'll continue doing questions. I'll practice on harder questions and completely internalize all of the Chemistry content that has been taught until now.

With the experience he had yesterday, Li Zheng allocated 15 hours to this section to remain flexible. Those hours included the time he spent listening to the lessons.

Li Zheng's anticipation toward studying drew to a close after he finished making the study plan.

He was still looking forward to today's study session.