Chapter 2

  After all, Yu Cai is already a high school student, so she quickly adapted to her new life. In the past, her struggles in learning were mostly due to math and science. Now that she has decided to switch from science to liberal arts, she only needs to spend a bit more time on math and geography, which she was never good at since childhood. One of the main reasons she chose science in the first place was that she had no idea what the geography textbook was talking about, while physics and chemistry were at least somewhat understandable to her.

  Yuwen Yuzi has been good at languages since she was a child, and will continue to be so. As for English, it's even more unnecessary to mention, as it was her major in college and graduate school. I reckon Old Mei is no match for her now.

  After being baptized by the fire of Ma Zedong Thought, Politics and Economics in graduate school, high school politics is not a problem at all, let alone history. She can vaguely understand orthodox history, not to mention unofficial history. While others like gossiping about celebrities, she likes gossiping about unofficial history.

  The study tasks are not too heavy at the beginning of the school year, and teachers take into account that students have just entered a new environment and need time to adapt. The classes are slow-paced and the explanations are very detailed.

  Yu Zai's main task every day is to think about how to make money. Her future self had fantasized countless times that if she knew ten years ago that house prices would rise like this, she must buy a dozen or so houses. Now that her dream has finally come true, she suddenly realizes that she doesn't have the money to buy them.

  Even if I could persuade my dad to buy a house, our family's financial situation can only guarantee one household's living expenses, and there is absolutely no extra money to buy a house. Given my dad's conservative and cautious personality, he would never take out a loan to buy a house.

  Yu Cai went into a bank and asked if she could get a loan, but the result was that she was told she couldn't because she was still underage, let alone having no financial security.

  But now there's a more pressing issue, the extravagant lifestyle of a graduate student for over two years has made the 300 yuan living expenses from my parents each month seem like nothing to me, not to mention my own guilty conscience.

  I was studying in Suzhou, an economically developed city, and ten years later, as long as I worked a little harder, my spending money would flow in like water. Now, in this small county town, I am restricted by my immature face, and the degree of depression is imaginable.

  “！”

  "Whatever," Yu replied, not even lifting her head. She was really helpless against this little white face who had intimidated her throughout the first year of high school. Being a bit chubby herself, she was afraid that this guy, who enjoyed teasing people, would give her some nickname like "Fatty". Later, when he finally got assigned to the liberal arts class, her fear finally came to an end.

  "Excuse me, I have something on today, can someone else do the cleaning?"

  "Go ask if there's anyone willing to swap with you, if someone is, I'm fine."

  "Why don't you and I swap instead? How about it?"

  Yu Cai raised her head and found that this guy seemed quite serious, so she nodded.

  "Hey, I've got a question for you, how did you get to know A Fei?"

  Yu Cai looked at him solemnly, "What's written on your face?"

  He rubbed his face hard and said, "Could it be that I accidentally got some ink on it while writing?"

  Yu Cai nodded seriously, "Maybe, but you're quite good at drawing, I didn't know if it was intentional or not, how did you end up drawing the words 'chicken' and 'wife' on your face?"

  Qiao Jia and the two boys sitting behind Yu Cai burst out laughing.

  Xiao Bai's face finally came to his senses, after all still a child, his ears also turned red, "Hei——"

  Yu Cai knew something was wrong as soon as he uttered those words, the nickname that had been dodged like a street vendor evading city management had finally caught up with him, summoned back by his own careless joke.

  "Do you really want to know?" Yu Cai interrupted him decisively.

  The young man nodded impatiently.

  Yu Cai put down her book, "Actually, there's nothing much, that day when the teacher took attendance, I saw him looking handsome so I remembered him".

  "Is that it?"

  "What else do you want?" Yu Cai picked up the book again and made a gesture of sending someone off.

  Xiao Bailian walked away with a huff, Qiao Jia mysteriously approached Yu Cai and asked, "You really didn't know Mo Fei before?"

  "Hmm, really don't know."

  Qiao Jia nodded with a mix of relief and regret, "Ah, I think Mo Fei can be considered the most handsome boy in our class, what do you think?"

  Yu Cai thought of Qiao Jia and Mo Fei's brief romance, and said vaguely, "It's okay, several boys in our class are quite good-looking."

  Qiao Jia didn't get the answer she wanted, and disappointedly turned around to talk to Li Miao behind her. Yu Cai also didn't have a very good impression of Li Miao, who had smashed a table on him on the first day he came over. Yu Cai thought that sometimes he was so stubborn that he wouldn't change his mind even if it killed him, and he could dislike someone for a lifetime.

  After school, when cleaning the classroom, Yu Zai finally understood the good intentions of Xiaobai and himself switching shifts - Mo Fei was also there.

  With Yu Cai's current state of mind, these small pranks naturally had no effect on her. She smiled calmly at Mo Fei and briefly discussed their tasks with two other female classmates. The few people began to clean the classroom in an orderly manner.

  At that time, high school students did not have much awareness of environmental protection. The floor was littered with paper scraps and dust, and the broom had not been used for many years, making it quite messy.

  The other two female classmates were obviously young and vigorous, chatting non-stop in this dusty environment. Yu Cai was not very familiar with them and didn't want to be ridiculed as soon as she opened her mouth, so she just quietly listened to what they had to say.

  The two of them chatted and chatted, and before they knew it, they were discussing their weekend plans. Yu Cai suddenly realized that it was already Friday, and she should be rushing to the train station at full speed. If she missed the last train, it would be a disaster. Oh yeah, she also needed to bring some small gifts for her parents and little brother, especially her little brother Zhengtao.

  "Yu Cai, what are you planning to do over the weekend?"

  Yu Zai was struggling with paper scraps and dust, didn't expect them to talk to her, stunned for a moment before saying "go home".

  "Where is your hometown?"

  "rural areas of xx town".

  "Is it far?"

  Yu Cai's sensitive ears caught the subtle tone of superiority in the girl's voice, and she replied calmly, "It's not far, but we'll have to transfer trains, which is a bit of a hassle."

  "Well, if you're going back tomorrow and then coming back again the day after, it's really not worth it."

  "I'll be back soon," Yu Cai replied patiently in order to maintain her good girl image.

  "Will it take long? Are there still buses at this late hour?"

  "I don't know, let's try our luck," Yu Cai remembered that she used to take the bus home after school and didn't know if delaying for twenty minutes would still make it.

  "Hey, Yu Cai, how did you learn English so well? Your English teacher praises you every day," another girl said. These days, Lao Mei often calls on Yu Cai to answer questions, so her popularity in the class is quite high now.

  "Actually I'm just a bit bolder and dare to speak out, but my English foundation is still not good, Zhang Wenjing's English is better than mine."

  "That girl pouted, 'Excessive humility is just pride!'"

  "I'm telling you the truth, otherwise I'll find out when I take the exam. My English foundation is not good, but my mom is an English teacher, so I've heard a lot and can say a few sentences."

  Two girls exclaimed in unison, as if they had finally found a good reason why a country girl could speak English so well.

  Yu Cai smiled and took out two trash cans to dump the garbage. She knew Mo Fei's young master's temper, and it was already enough to give him face by sweeping the classroom today. Letting him carry a trash can around the campus without regard for his image? No way, not even if you killed him. As for those two girls... well, she'd rather take a loss herself. To save time, she decided to dump both cans at once. But she figured her tough image would probably just give those two girls more capital to be proud of anyway.

  Yucai rushed to the train station, but the train had already left. She called her parents and told them she wasn't coming back, then slowly started walking back.

  It's actually better to miss the bus, Yucai doesn't know if her parents will notice her current state, waiting a little longer, even if her parents think she has changed, they will only think that high school life has changed her.

  However, another major livelihood issue arose. During Yucai's high school period, she would generally return home once a month. Even if she didn't want to go back, her mother and others would come over and leave her living expenses for the next month, usually 300 yuan. At the beginning of the semester, her mother was probably worried and had left 400 yuan, plus the pocket money given by relatives during the summer vacation, totaling 600 yuan. On the first day, Yucai spent 400 yuan on two sets of clothes and shoes and socks. At that time, things were still very cheap. Yucai remembered that the clothes her mother bought for herself usually cost around 20-30 yuan, and winter clothes were no more than 60-70 yuan. But as a graduate student who was used to famous brands, Yucai didn't have the courage to put those street stall goods on herself, so she went straight into a specialty store. At that time, the things in the specialty store were also very cheap. Yucai changed from inside out and from top to bottom for only 400 yuan. If it were ten years later, one skirt would cost that much money.

  Although there are still 200 yuan left, which is enough for Yucai's meals for the next month, there is still a problem. The weather will soon cool down and clothes need to be added, and autumn and winter clothes must be more expensive than summer clothes.

  Yu Cai's face, which had been tanned to a dark glaze, was slowly fading away and would soon return to its usual pale and dull complexion. She had grown accustomed to using various skincare products over the years, but hadn't used any in the past few days, making her feel uncomfortable all over. As she was still young, if she paid attention to skin care, she might be able to completely cure her sallow skin tone, which would require some investment.

  Moreover, I have poor digestion and need to drink some cooling tea to clear the fire, and also my favorite book that feels like three autumns without seeing it for a day...

  In short, Yu Cai has thoroughly degenerated into a new generation of petty bourgeoisie ten years later, not wanting to compromise herself in the slightest, and creating conditions if none exist!

  Yu Cai began to ponder how to create conditions, doing business is the first choice for most people who cross over, but she now has no capital, no connections, and no time or energy. Learning from others and asking parents for help is basically a pipe dream. Although her mother is only a temporary substitute teacher, she still doesn't have the risk of losing her job in ten years, so it's relatively stable. She fundamentally disagrees with quitting for an uncertain so-called "business". Of course, if she can achieve some results first, maybe it will be different, but this again returns to the paradox of which came first, the chicken or the egg...

  My own major is still teaching and tutoring classes, don't say that now basically private tutoring classes have not appeared yet, most are teachers bringing a few of their own students, including home tutors, who would want to hire a high school student to teach their own children? Even when I was in graduate school, there were often parents questioning my level!

  As the sky gradually darkened, Yu Zai realized that a young girl like herself wandering around on the big street was not proper, and she didn't want to go back either. She always thought that her friction with Ding originated from their daily interactions, and when the distance disappeared, so did the beauty.

  Yucai then bought all the geographical materials she could find in the bookstore and returned to school, finding a brightly lit classroom, sitting down at an empty seat, and starting to focus on her geography that she would never be able to master, hoping that she could take down this fortress with the passion of her rebirth.

  The next day, Ding Si heard that Yu Cai had burst into a senior three class's self-study session and became very interested, so he followed Yu Cai. Of course, on Saturdays, the sophomores and juniors still had to attend classes. The two found an empty classroom, sat down, and started reading their books.

  Yucai was dazed and confused by a sudden gust of wind, rubbing her temples when she suddenly saw Mo Fei standing at the classroom door, seemingly about to leave, but then Yucai suddenly looked up, and it seemed like just leaving like that wasn't quite right, so he hesitated.

  Ding poked at Yu Cong with his elbow and said in a low voice, "It seems like it's from your class."

  Yu Cai nodded, Mo Fei's mother was very strict and liked to nag, so he often came to the classroom for self-study on weekends. Of course, Yu Cai thought that most of the time he was just spacing out.

  Yu Cai and Mo Fei's revolutionary friendship was established after sophomore year. During freshman year, he was busy dating Qiao Jia, whom Yu Cai didn't have a good impression of because she always tried to one-up her. As a result, Yu Cai also didn't want to interact with Mo Fei too much, who was still infatuated with Qiao Jia at the time. It wasn't until sophomore year when Mo Fei broke up with Qiao Jia and fell for another girl that Yu Cai went to gloat. With malicious intent, Yu Cai nodded casually at Mo Fei before lowering her head again to continue struggling against the air currents.

  At noon, Ding Si called Yu Cai to eat, but at that time Yu Cai was still obsessed with the air flow problem and couldn't let go. The table and bench were filled with geography books and materials, all of which were flipped to that question, one by one comparing and checking. Upon hearing this, he didn't even lift his head and said, "You go first, I'll talk about it after I finish this."

  Ding waited for a while and found that she was still quite far from finishing, so he went himself.

  Jing Yucai finally confirmed that the airflow problem would not occur whether he was lying down or sitting up, and only then did he rub his neck and lift his head.

  Ding Si pushed the tray in front of her, "Seven hours have passed, you haven't even moved."

  Yu Zai stood up and stretched his arms, "What's this? My personal record is sixteen hours, uh, excluding going to the bathroom and eating."

  Ding sighed, "Sometimes I just can't help but admire you".

  "I'd rather be able to move around more, by the way, is there anything you want to buy? Want to go window shopping?"

  "Do you have anything to buy?"

  "No, but I saw a pair of tights in a store that day which were quite good. It's just cold enough to wear them now, and I'm also getting a bit hungry."

  Ding looked up and down at Yu Cai, "Yu Cai, I think you've changed recently".

  Yu Cai was startled and quickly covered it up with a smile, "What's wrong, what's changed?"

  "You used to never wear shorts, let alone long socks."

  "People are always changing anyway, besides I think knee-high socks really look great, paired with shorts and sneakers they make you look so young!"

  "You're young enough already!"

  Yu Cai smiled and said, "The key is that I always feel a bit unreal."