Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

Chen Siyu wore a puzzled expression, causing Dong Qingfeng to feel uneasy inside.

Due to Dan Kaiquan's interference, it disrupted his entire plan.

He failed to use the opportunity to win Chen Siyu's favor.

Dong Qingfeng couldn't help but scorn Dan Kaiquan, thinking to himself,

"A guy who only knows how to discuss fighting with girls, how uncouth."

Initially, he had plans to befriend Dan Kaiquan, but now it seemed impossible to get along, not even half a sentence matched.

Dan Kaiquan, privately despised Dong Qingfeng: "A guy who only knows how to please girls, he will never achieve great things."

Dan Kaiquan had always looked down on people like that.

The two held contempt for each other, and thus lost all interest in conversation and returned to their seats,

Leaving Chen Siyu alone.

Chen Siyu felt cold; they had just been competing to talk to her moments ago.

Outside, the noise of the scuffle continued for a while, then suddenly, a figure burst into Class 8 and fell in front of the lectern.

The fallen person was Liang Sheng from Class 9.

A few from Class 9, including Shen Xinli, stood at the doorway of Class 8, laughing loudly, pointing at Liang Sheng's embarrassed look, extremely pleased with themselves.

Many students in Class 8, looking at Liang Sheng on the ground, felt sympathy rising within them.

Dan Kaiquan, sitting in the front row, couldn't stand it any longer and immediately shouted towards the doorway,

"Damn it, if you want to fight, take it outside; otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"

Shen Xinli, not very tall, possibly around 165cm, and skinny, he had a considerable presence:

"What are you shouting for?"

"I didn't touch you, mind your own business."

Shen Xinli's tone was very unfriendly, not giving Dan Kaiquan any face.

Although Dan Kaiquan lowered his attitude in front of Bai Yuxia, he was actually quite reckless; at the beginning of the school year, he had initiated a conflict with Song Sheng and faced him in a fight.

Later, he annoyed a girl with a butterfly tattoo, causing her brother, Deng Xiang, to come to Class 8 to beat someone up.

When it came to being recklessly outspoken, Dan Kaiquan was definitely among the top in Class 8.

"I've given you face!" Dan Kaiquan suddenly stood up, walking towards the doorway; he had been annoyed with Shen Xinli for a while, bullying honest students was what kind of skill?

Class leader Huang Zhongfei shouted, "Kaiquan, calm down a bit."

"It's not about me being calm, it's about being bullied to our door," Dan Kaiquan said.

Seeing the conflict escalate, students from the back like Guo Kunnan, Hu Jun, and Cui Yu ran over to back him up.

A crowd gathered at the classroom entrance.

Jiang Ning peeled a sunflower seed, tossed it into his mouth; the flavors were still pretty good.

His desk-mate Xue Yuantong sat alone, not even looking at Jiang Ning.

She had painstakingly peeled a bunch of sunflower seeds, all of which Jiang Ning had eaten, and the annoying part was she couldn't find any evidence to pin it on him.

Xue Yuantong clenched her teeth, deciding to give Jiang Ning the cold shoulder.

Chen Siyu turned her body sideways, looking towards the chaos at the classroom door, worriedly saying,

"They won't really start fighting, will they?"

Jiang Ning said, "Class is about to start."

He had just finished speaking when the class bell rang; a tense atmosphere that seemed ready to erupt in a fight the next moment gradually dissipated with the ringing of the bell.

There was no choice, as students, they still had to attend classes, and it wouldn't be good to miss studies due to fighting.

"If you come to our class to cause trouble again, see if I don't deal with you," Dan Kaiquan threatened.

Shen Xinli was not afraid, "Who do you think you are?"

"I'm your dad," Dan Kaiquan cursed. "I'll smash your dad's urn with one kick, and from then on, I'm your dad."

Although both men cursed fiercely, following the bell, they each returned to their classes.

…

During the last period in the afternoon, since the math teacher was sick, it was still a self-study period.

Jiang Ning held his pen and filled out the test paper smoothly without any pauses, filling one side completely.

Xue Yuantong kept her little face stern, sitting motionlessly; it had been several minutes, she looked like a statue.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Ning asked her.

"Feigning ignorance," Xue Yuantong said sternly.

"I really don't know."

"You say you don't know, always bullying me," Xue Yuantong complained.

"I'm so miserable."

She had spent so much effort peeling those sunflower seeds, all stolen by Jiang Ning without a greeting, and she couldn't even trace him or reprimand him.

It was infuriating!

"I didn't bully you," Jiang Ning argued.

"There was bully, I definitely won't speak to you during this period."

Xue Yuantong believed that without teaching Jiang Ning a lesson, he would become increasingly arrogant, she wanted to let him know she was not to be messed with easily.

She straightened her little waist, sitting dignifiedly, creating a commanding posture.

Unfortunately, being only just over 1.5 meters tall, she seemed too small, slightly diminishing her presence.

Jiang Ning saw her stern face and found it especially amusing.

"Xue Yuantong."

"Xue Yuantong."

Jiang Ning called her.

Unfortunately, Xue Yuantong just sat there, completely ignoring him.

Jiang Ning thought for a moment, put the cap on his pen, and then poked her cheek gently with it.

The pen cap touched Xue Yuantong's soft, delicate cheek and sunk right in.

Xue Yuantong was very angry; not only had he stolen her sunflower seeds, but he also dared to offend her like this.

Didn't he know she was angry?

Did he think she was easy to bully?

Xue Yuantong glared with her eyes, angrily puffed out her cheeks, and pushed the pen cap back...

Jiang Ning found it even more amusing. He continued poking, feeling how soft and bouncy it was.

He couldn't help but laugh.

After being treated like this, Xue Yuantong finally lost it and scolded him,

"Still laughing? What's so funny?"

If he annoyed her further, she wouldn't call Jiang Ning for breakfast tomorrow morning.

At that moment, Jiang Ning wiped his Storage Ring, reached under the desk, scanned with Divine Sense, and grabbed towards Xue Yuantong's hand.

Xue Yuantong sensed something was wrong and instinctively tried to pull her hand away, but how fast was Jiang Ning?

He caught her hand in a flash.

Xue Yuantong's heart trembled slightly, her mind went blank, and the surrounding noise seemed to vanish in an instant.

Jiang Ning just felt her hand was warm and very comfortable to hold.

Jiang Ning parted her fingers and slipped something into her palm.

Xue Yuantong came to her senses, quickly placed her hand on the desk, and spread it open to find a White Rabbit Creamy Candy lying on her palm.

She scoffed, "At least you have some conscience."

Xue Yuantong tore the wrapper off the candy, biting into the White Rabbit Creamy Candy. The sweet taste of milk melted in her mouth, and the grievances inside her melted away as well.

"Don't think I'll forgive you," she huffed.

...

After finishing the candy, Xue Yuantong made up with Jiang Ning.

They sat close together, laid out a piece of grid paper, and began drawing symbols to play Connect Five.

Occasionally, Xue Yuantong's crisp laughter filled the air, spreading joy around.

Having written half of her exam paper, Chen Siyu felt a bit bored and turned to chat with them.

"Jiang Ning, you went to school in the town during junior high, right? Were there many fights at your school?"

She was from the urban area, had lived in the city since she was small, and had hardly ever been to the countryside, so she was curious about life there.

"Yes," Jiang Ning said.

"Were they severe?"

"Quite severe. In 2010, when I was in the first year of junior high, often groups of people, maybe thirty, would gather right outside the school," Jiang Ning said.

During his first year, fights were a common occurrence in the town's middle school until it somewhat improved by his third year; however, it still wasn't nearly as good as the schools in the city.

"So many people, that's shocking!" Chen Siyu was astonished, feeling scared just imagining such a scene.

"Yes, a huge crowd of people, and often it was many against one."

Many times, fights were not between equally matched sides but were a gang-up on the weaker party.

Chen Siyu rested her arm on Xue Yuantong's desk:

"Did such fights never lead to serious consequences?"

"When I was attending school, I never heard of any serious incidents, but if you go back another five years, around 2005, it happened quite often."

Hui Province wasn't very developed; the urban areas were reasonable, but a few years back, the remote towns where Jiang Ning lived were truly chaotic.

He remembered clearly how, in his first year, shady cars would often wait outside the school gates after evening self-study, picking up high school girls and taking them to work in the county town overnight, only to return them the next morning.

As for what kind of work they did in the county town, Jiang Ning found out much later.

As a listener, Chen Siyu was quite attentive, with Bai Yuxia occasionally tuning in as well.

Jiang Ning shared some stories about the town, not just the grim aspects but also some fun ones.

Like when they went out to roast sweet potatoes or in the height of summer when Jiang Ning made a net from bamboo poles, wire, and plastic bags to catch cicadas.

Chen Siyu and Bai Yuxia listened with great interest, and before they knew it, the bell for the end of the period rang.

"Ah, I haven't finished my exam paper yet!"

Chen Siyu suddenly remembered that she still had a lot of her math exam left.

Bai Yuxia said, "Don't worry, the first period of evening self-study is math."

"Right, we won't chat tonight. I need to work hard on my math exam."

Having chatted for most of the period, Chen Siyu felt somewhat guilty and couldn't afford to slack off.

She had to do well in math in the midterms for her sister, as math was her strength, and she couldn't let herself slack off.

Among their group of four—Xue Yuantong, Jiang Ning, Bai Yuxia—their grades were all better than hers.

Chen Siyu silently encouraged herself:

"You need to study, go for it!"