Chapter 26: 25. Genuine, Bona Fide Elation (Asking for monthly votes, asking for follows)
As Zhang Zhiluo walked toward the cafeteria, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he went, he saw his son standing at the entrance with two classmates. He had already found that rather surprising—but then, what did he hear?
Zhang Zhiluo watched as, after a look of astonishment crossed his wife’s face, a trace of genuine, bona fide elation appeared in her eyes and on her face. He couldn’t help cursing inwardly: Damn!
The two classmates beside his son nodded like chicks pecking at rice.
“Auntie is very beautiful!”
“Hello, Auntie!”
Liang Fengying shot Zhang Luo an annoyed glare.
“You brat, what are you saying! Can you not be so vain!”
Zhang Luo said, “Mom, give me the food carrier. I’ll head back.”
Liang Fengying handed the food carrier to Zhang Luo.
She asked, “Have your classmates eaten dinner yet? Do they want to eat with us before leaving? I’ll have them stir-fry a couple of dishes for you.”
“N-no need!”
“Thank you, Auntie, please don’t trouble yourself! My mom’s still waiting at home for me to eat!”
With that, the two of them hurriedly got on their bicycles and fled.
Zhang Luo laughed.
“Then I’ll head back too.”
“All right. Be careful on the road.”
As soon as Zhang Luo turned his bicycle around, he saw his dad.
His dad wore an expression that seemed to say, “Not bad, kid,” though of course it was very subtle—not blatant or straightforward at all.
“Oh, Dad, when did you get here?” Zhang Luo asked in surprise.
His dad said, “When you and your classmates came in through the gate, didn’t you see me parking too?”
Zhang Luo said, “No.”
“…Hurry up and go back.”
Zhang Luo looked at his dad in confusion.
What was going on? Why did he feel a somewhat flustered hostility coming from his father?
After Zhang Luo had left as well, Zhang Zhiluo and Liang Fengying looked at each other.
They both saw the same astonishment on each other’s faces.
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After Zhang Luo returned home and completed the three-piece set of showering, eating, and washing the dishes, he didn’t start his homework right away. Instead, he took out the novel he had yet to finish.
He read through it again from beginning to end.
Strangely enough, when he had just finished writing the rough framework for the four sections that morning, he had felt that everything was badly written. But when he read it just now, he actually felt that some of it was… not bad?
Zhang Luo scratched his cheek in confusion.
Was he being too confident? Too optimistic?
If only he had a computer.
Then he could revise and delete things at any time.
Zhang Luo wasn’t in a rush to start making changes right away. He set it aside instead.
Homework still had to be done first.
The junior high knowledge he needed to make up for also had to be made up.
Exams were coming next Thursday and Friday.
Although Zhang Luo was much thicker-skinned and much more open-minded than his fifteen-year-old self from his previous life, if his grades were truly awful, he would still feel ashamed.
Especially under circumstances where many of his classmates already regarded him as a “top student.”
He didn’t know whether it was psychological or not, but after Li Miaomiao explained her fundamental approach to studying English, he somehow felt as if understanding one thing had opened the door to understanding everything else.
That kind of study method seemed like it could be applied to other subjects too.
To put it plainly, for the first exam of freshman year, there were only so many points they could test.
Once you understood them, one principle would lead to all the rest.
Take history, for example. In truth, they could only test the first unit: the political systems of ancient China.
There were only so many knowledge points in the textbook. If you simply memorized it from beginning to end, your score would definitely be average.
Don’t just memorize those times, places, and people. Instead, truly figure out the contents and characteristics of the political systems in several different periods, including some representative elements—especially sort out the reasons for their formation and evolution.
No matter how they tested it, they couldn’t get outside that circle.