Chapter 2

Leaving the examination room, Qi Lei headed straight for outside the school.

Although he attended junior high at No. 2 Middle School, he was familiar with the area around No. 1 Middle School because it was close to his home.

In his memory, there were many bookstores outside No. 1 Middle School.

He randomly chose one and asked as soon as he entered, "Boss, do you have junior high physics and chemistry textbooks?"

"Sure!" The bookstore owner nodded.

It was common for students to lose half their textbooks or not know where they were, especially boys, so the bookstore also sold textbooks.

However, these were not the official versions and were more expensive, printed secretly by small workshops with generally poor quality, but they still made a good profit.

The owner pointed Qi Lei to the location and waited at the counter to collect the money.

Doing business with students had its advantages; there was no need for good service or marketing. If someone asked, they would almost certainly buy.

However, the owner waited for a long time, but not only did the sale not go through, the person didn't even come out. He was puzzled, what was going on with this kid?

He went to find Qi Lei and saw him sitting on the floor, one hand holding the "Grade 7 Physics" textbook, the other using his knee as a desk to copy formulas.

"Hey!!" The owner was both angry and amused; this was not the era of unlimited browsing in bookstores.

He snatched the book, "Are you buying or not? If you flip through it too much, who will I sell it to?" His tone was harsh and threatening.

If it were another child, they would have felt guilty and fled in embarrassment, but Qi Lei remained calm.

"Sorry, Uncle! I'm a third-year junior high student, and I forgot some concepts. I have an exam soon, so I was a bit anxious, that's why..."

The owner paused, then teased, "An exam? Even so, you can't just flip through my new textbooks like that?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Qi Lei was very polite, "I was being very careful, I didn't want to damage them."

The owner instinctively looked down and saw that there wasn't even a crease, which eased his mind a bit.

Before he could speak, Qi Lei interrupted him.

"Can I do this? I didn't bring enough money. Can I use it for a bit? I really need it! I'll bring the money this afternoon and buy it."

At this point, even the most heartless person would soften.

Moreover, people in those days were very simple.

Looking at Qi Lei, who clearly wasn't from a wealthy family and looked very anxious, the owner felt a bit guilty. Why make things difficult for a kid?

He thought, "Forget it, it's not easy. If he misses the exam, it could affect his whole life."

He handed the textbook back to Qi Lei, "Go ahead, just be careful."

He didn't mention the money.

Qi Lei took the book with a smile, "Sorry for the trouble!"

The owner waved his hand and walked away.

Immediately, Qi Lei was alone in front of the bookshelf, a smile on his lips as he glanced at the wall clock.

He had left the exam room about twenty minutes after it started. There was still an hour and a half before the math exam ended, plus a 20-minute break, so he had nearly two hours to use here.

Qi Lei's strategy was this:

Completely abandon the math exam, finish the next subject (politics) and the afternoon Chinese exam as soon as possible, and use the saved time to prepare for the next day's science exam.

Although it wasn't enough, he could at least memorize the physics and chemistry formulas, which would be somewhat useful.

As for why he didn't use the time for politics and Chinese...

Because it wasn't worth it!

To get a high score in politics and Chinese, you had to memorize a lot. The effort to memorize one passage could be used to memorize many formulas.

Moreover, the passages you memorized might not be on the exam, but the formulas would definitely be useful.

The second advantage of a middle-aged soul was knowing how to manage time.

Two hours...

Qi Lei thought he could copy all the physics formulas from junior high. After the politics exam, he would go home and copy the chemistry formulas.

The owner didn't expect...

"You only forgot a few formulas, and you sat there for two hours? And you even switched to the Grade 8 physics book!"

The owner regretted not charging him!

But he held back.

Just as the next exam was about to start, with only five minutes left, Qi Lei closed the Grade 8 chemistry textbook and prepared to leave.

In this time, he had not only copied all the junior high physics formulas and theorems but also started on the chemistry formulas.

The bookstore owner sighed, "This is a loss!"

But since he had promised, there was nothing to say. Before Qi Lei left, he gave a friendly reminder.

"Leave the notes you copied; you can't bring them into the exam. Good luck, hope you get into a good high school!"

Qi Lei smiled, "No problem, the next exam is politics, and the physics formulas are allowed."

"Huh!?" The owner was surprised, "Not the science exam?"

Qi Lei looked innocent, "The science exam is tomorrow morning, still early."

"I..."

The owner didn't have a backache, "Tomorrow? Why did you cause trouble today? This unlucky kid!"

...

Back at the exam room, the preparatory bell hadn't rung yet, and the invigilator wasn't there. Some students were waiting at their desks, while others hadn't returned.

As he passed a short-haired, irritable girl, their eyes met. Qi Lei naturally waved, "Hello, Auntie!"

"Ha!" The girl was taken aback, both angry and amused, "Who's your auntie?"

Qi Lei shrugged, "If I call you 'girl,' you won't like it either!"

The girl was speechless, "This classmate, can a normal person call someone 'girl'? My dad calls me that!"

Qi Lei wanted to laugh; this conversation was going nowhere. If he continued, he would be taking advantage of her.

"Okay, how should I address you?"

As he spoke, he extended his right hand, like an adult, "I'm Qi Lei, from No. 2 Middle School. How should I address you?"

The girl was stunned; this greeting and self-introduction were smooth, but they didn't shake hands at their age, right?

Blinking her big eyes, she looked at Qi Lei and mimicked his tone, "I'm Xu Qian, from No. 1 Middle School. Nice to meet you! But... no need to be so old-fashioned, right?"

Actually, Qi Lei realized it was inappropriate after extending his hand. He had unconsciously brought his workplace habits into play.

But it was too late to retract. To ease the awkwardness, as soon as Xu Qian finished speaking, Qi Lei looked disappointed, "See, you won't even give me a chance? I've never touched a pretty girl's hand!"

"Go to hell!" Xu Qian laughed and blushed, naturally labeling Qi Lei as "funny" and "a bit special."

At that moment, the invigilator entered the room just as the preparatory bell rang, looking directly at Qi Lei's seat.

Qi Lei naturally retracted his arm, ready for the exam.

He chuckled to himself, "Little girl! Can't handle you? This time, I'll copy a couple of questions, and you won't block or glare at me, right?"

However, Xu Qian... her name sounded familiar. He subconsciously looked at the old desk, and "Goodbye, Xu Qian!" caught his eye.

Qi Lei's mouth dropped open, staring at the neighboring desk in surprise. What a coincidence!

He wondered who the original owner of the desk was.

His curiosity was piqued, but the invigilator was handing out the papers, sternly warning him, "This classmate, stop looking. There are no answers on her face."

Boom...

The exam room erupted in laughter. Even with Qi Lei's thick skin, he felt a bit embarrassed.

He knew the invigilator was warning him to keep his eyes on his own paper during the exam.

...

The politics and history exam was a single sheet, worth 40 points, with a one-hour time limit.

Don't underestimate the 40 points; to get a high score, you had to memorize all six volumes of the politics textbook.

Moreover, in 1998, the Harbin region's high school entrance exam allowed students to choose between politics and history, and the subject was decided by a lottery before the exam.

In other words, to get those 40 points, you had to memorize both politics and history. It was inhumane.

Fortunately for Qi Lei, the exam was politics, not history.

The exact dates of historical figures and events, along with their significance, could drive you crazy. One wrong word, and you'd lose points.

Politics, on the other hand, had standard answers, but it had one advantage: you could guess.

As long as you understood the main idea of the question and wrote the core content, you could add the Four Cardinal Principles, the core competitiveness of socialism, and Marxist-Leninist thought, and even if you didn't get full marks, you could still score well.

Moreover, after getting the paper, Qi Lei found it wasn't as bad as he had expected.

Many questions that required rote memorization for junior high students were common knowledge for a 30-year-old who had taken the postgraduate entrance exam.

For example, a fill-in-the-blank question, "（??）is our country's state system."

If you hadn't studied carefully, you might fill in "（socialism）is our country's state system."

But Qi Lei knew, "（People's Democratic Dictatorship）is our country's state system!"

Another example, "Multiparty cooperation and political consultation," the three mountains are: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism.

The party's governing philosophy is: wholeheartedly serving the people, governing for the public good, and serving the people.

These were points that junior high students had to memorize, but for him, they were well-known facts.

In the end, Qi Lei answered many questions using his knowledge. For the ones he couldn't guess, he took a few glances at the neighboring desk when the invigilator wasn't looking.

Although Xu Qian noticed, she pretended not to see and focused on her own paper.

Half an hour later, with another half hour left, Qi Lei, as usual, was the first to submit his paper.

This drew the attention of both Xu Qian and the invigilator, who both thought, "What a good boy, but his mind isn't on studying."

The invigilator habitually flipped through Qi Lei's paper and found it much better than the previous one.

At least... it was full.

...