Chapter 1

Accompanied by an indescribable sense of dizziness, Qin Feng felt as if he had traversed time and space.

The scene before him suddenly became both strange and familiar. Despite being surrounded by classmates he saw every day, Qin Feng felt as if he hadn't seen them for over a decade. In a daze, an angry face suddenly approached, and the head of the Political and Educational Affairs Office, Zhou Haiyun, forcefully grabbed Qin Feng's arm and pulled him down from the edge of the flower bed.

"Who told you to stand up there?" Zhou Haiyun, as she did every day, questioned Qin Feng in her unique scolding tone.

Qin Feng opened his mouth to explain but closed it again.

This scene seemed all too familiar.

Over a decade ago—if it could be put that way—when Qin Feng was in his first year of high school, one morning during the morning exercise lineup, because the path ahead was blocked, he decided to walk along the edge of the flower bed to the front.

Unfortunately, this was noticed by Zhou Haiyun. That day, she was probably on her period, so her mood was particularly bad. Upon discovering Qin Feng's actions, she immediately pulled him to the front of the morning exercise broadcast station, first criticizing him in front of the entire school, and then, before the first class, took him to the Political and Educational Affairs Office to leave a record.

That was the first time in his life Qin Feng had to press his fingerprint, and he never imagined it would be for such a ridiculous reason.

What was even more ridiculous was that Qin Feng's academic performance soared in his third year of high school. In the college entrance exam that year, he topped the school in the liberal arts with a score that was 30 points higher than the second place, becoming the only student in that year's cohort to be admitted to a second-tier university.

Anyone who understood the situation would realize that the high school Qin Feng attended was a genuine subpar school.

Thinking about this, Zhou Haiyun, as Qin Feng remembered, had already pulled him to the front of the playground, in front of the broadcast station.

Deputy Director Zeng Zhiwen, standing next to the broadcast station, gave Qin Feng a cold glance, saying nothing, his expression deliberately sinister. Qin Feng ignored him and continued to slowly integrate the memories of his two lives.

After the college entrance exam, Qin Feng entered Dongou University in Dongou City, majoring in Chinese literature.

Standing out among the underachievers in high school, he quickly became just another face in the crowd after entering university. So, upon graduation, Qin Feng struggled to find a job as a clerk and began a life of endless overtime under a stingy boss. He worked at that company for five years, rising to the position of deputy manager in the marketing department through seniority and diligence.

"Oh, right, I was working on a document just now. I must have been too tired and fell asleep for a bit, and then... I was reborn?" Qin Feng's eyes suddenly lit up, as if a new operating system had just been installed.

The surroundings no longer seemed surreal. He took a deep breath, and his body involuntarily trembled.

Was he excited?

Qin Feng asked himself, and the answer was almost a flood of hot tears.

Zeng Zhiwen had been silently observing Qin Feng, and his current performance was quite satisfactory.

Students should fear their teachers, and the more they fear, the better, especially teachers like those in the Political and Educational Affairs Office. Students should react to them as mice do to cats.

Zeng Zhiwen's lips curled slightly but quickly returned to a straight line. He pulled a stern face and said to Qin Feng in a deep voice, "Now you know to be afraid? Knowing to be afraid, you still act recklessly?"

Hearing this, Qin Feng's excitement instantly dissipated.

He turned his head and asked Deputy Director Zeng Zhiwen curiously, "Afraid of what?"

"Haha, still being stubborn, I see you're about to cry," Zeng Zhiwen said with a mocking smile, thinking he had found Qin Feng's weakness.

Qin Feng stared at Zeng Zhiwen for a moment, his lips slightly curved, and then turned his head back without a word.

Zeng Zhiwen felt like he had punched a pillow. He glared at Qin Feng angrily and threatened, "You'll cry soon enough!"

The formation on the playground was finally complete.

But just as the music for the morning exercises began, Zhou Haiyun's voice also rang out.

"Stop! Stop!" She rudely interrupted the exercises, holding the microphone and shouting, "I said yesterday, no walking on the edge of the flower bed. Did you all hear me?"

No one on the playground answered.

Zhou Haiyun continued, pointing at Qin Feng and asking his homeroom teacher, "Teacher Xia, is this student in your class?"

Xia Xiaolin, who had just graduated from university, quickly nodded in agreement.

Zhou Haiyun then pointed at Qin Feng, her face sour, and said, "It doesn't matter if you ignore my words. Today, I'll make you all understand whether my words count. Teacher Xia, this student in your class will receive a public reprimand. I'm taking him to the Political and Educational Affairs Office right now!"

If it were a more experienced and senior homeroom teacher, they would have surely pleaded for leniency at this point.

But Xia Xiaolin had neither the experience nor the seniority, so she just stood there, watching Zhou Haiyun take Qin Feng away with the same forceful momentum as a police officer apprehending a thief.

Qin Feng let Zhou Haiyun pull him along, not bothering to resist.

In life, this level of humiliation was hardly worth considering, right?

But—

Qin Feng's mind began to race again.

"Am I really going to walk the same path again in this life? Even if I do better in exams this time, what's the point? Will my life change just because I attend a better university? What a joke. If university is useless to me, why should I continue high school?"

Thinking about this, a thought suddenly struck him, making his heart tremble.

Imagine if he could use some advantages to become wealthy early on. Wouldn't that be a much better choice than going to university?

Moreover, he had already received a university education; he was only missing a piece of paper. Was that piece of paper really so important? Not necessarily.

Zhou Haiyun pulled Qin Feng quickly to the door of the Political and Educational Affairs Office.

"Go in," she said, pushing Qin Feng's back rudely, as if he were a criminal.

Qin Feng walked into the room and was led by Zhou Haiyun into a small, cramped cubicle.

She took out a thick book from the cubicle's closet, opened it, and asked for Qin Feng's name, writing it down. After writing, she took out a stamp pad, pointed to the page with Qin Feng's name, and ordered, "Press your fingerprint here."

Qin Feng did so without expression.

Seeing Qin Feng's cooperation, Zhou Haiyun's face finally softened a bit.

She closed the book and said to Qin Feng, "Don't do anything that violates school rules again. The punishment will be recorded in your file for life!"

"I won't," Qin Feng replied indifferently, but then immediately asked, "Teacher Zhou, I want to ask, how do I go about the procedures for dropping out?"