Chapter Nineteenth: Deskmate

  The news that Leng Bing Han was attending Su Qi Elementary School's second grade class one spread quickly throughout the campus, instantly causing a stir. Everyone rushed over to see him, acquaintances came to catch up, and as soon as they met, they ignored Leng Bing Han's objections and gave him a passionate hug, laughing so hard that their feet left the ground, as if this was the only way to express the joy in their hearts. They then constantly reminisced about the happy times they spent together, with a hint of deep emotions. Of course, there were also complaints: the upperclassmen complained that since Leng Bing Han had already skipped grades, why didn't he skip one or two more, so he could be in the same class as them; while the first-year students complained that Leng Bing Han was being too reckless, why did he have to skip grades, it's not like he couldn't get along with his original classmates, especially those who were originally assigned to first grade class one, they were extremely disappointed.

  Once the person is warmly acquainted, especially if it's someone who originally hung out with them and Leng Bingxue together, Wen Xin becomes even more enthusiastic. Regardless of whether there's anything going on or not, she'll squeeze into Leng Bingxue's surroundings, quietly tilting her head to the side, curving her eyes to watch their lively hugs and chats, occasionally inserting a sentence or two to show off her own presence.

  More and more students who didn't know Leng Bing Xue came to gawk, all wanting to see what this legendary Leng Bing Xue looked like - did he have two noses or three eyes? They were so curious that the second grade class one was like a zoo, with people coming in waves. Even the students of class one themselves would be stopped outside the classroom and asked about Leng Bing Xue by others. This made them feel both proud and annoyed at the same time.

  Apart from these, life in second grade was dull and monotonous.

  At that time, elementary school was not like now, where everything is learned. There were only two main subjects: Chinese and math, plus a third subject - science - which would be taken in the fourth grade but had not started yet. The rest, music, art, and physical education, were all electives, just for fun, and no matter how well you did, it didn't count towards your grades. Students also thought of them as more enjoyable activities.

  The homework of a second-grader must be extremely simple for anyone who has read through university, with no challenge at all, let alone the cold Bing Han who had excellent grades in his previous life.

  At first, he was still enthusiastic about revisiting his elementary school days, but after just two days, he became utterly bored. Looking at the teacher on the podium, who was painstakingly explaining extremely simple questions, repeating them over and over again, he couldn't help but admire the teacher's patience, but he himself couldn't muster up any enthusiasm.

  At first, I was still respectful of the teacher and genuinely wanted to do a good job as a class leader, so I endured it there. Later on, I couldn't bear it anymore. People sat there, but their thoughts wandered off to the nine heavens, thinking about this and that, sometimes even getting bored enough to put the pen in my hand into the ring on my finger, then taking it out again.

  His behavior, of course, did not escape the teachers' notice. If it were any other student, they would have been called out and scolded severely, then sent to stand in the corner of the classroom as punishment. But with Leng Bing Xue, they didn't dare. Not only had Principal Xie Chang Qing repeatedly reminded them, but even without that, they wouldn't want to offend Leng Yun Yi, who was currently in power and had a strong say in things. As long as Leng Bing Xue didn't sleep or make noise in their classes, disrupting the normal order of the classroom, they were already very satisfied, so why would they have any other thoughts?

  What should I do then?

  Leng Bing Han is reborn, but in his previous life he was mediocre and didn't enter politics. From a young age, he wasn't very concerned about the direction of international policies, and what little he knew was very superficial. If one wants to achieve something and create an unforgettable path of rebirth, how can they follow the trend if they don't grasp the pulse of policy in time?

  Isn't the advantage of rebirth being able to seize the good opportunities that were missed in the past?

  Although Leng Bingxue often sneaked into his father Leng Yunyi's office to play, he secretly read the government publications subscribed by the district committee, such as "People's Daily" and "Half-Monthly Talk", in order to understand the latest policy trends and make judgments on the development trend and steps with his own advantages of being aware of many major events. However, he was just a primary school student after all, and Su Qi was a remote rural town, and the information was really too closed off.

  After some deliberation, Leng Bingxue suddenly decided to tidy up his thoughts and carefully recall the more significant events that would occur in the next few years. He wanted to see if he could discover any good opportunities to take advantage of. Otherwise, if he wasn't careful, he might miss them again and be left frustrated.

  Unfortunately, the memories of his past life in the cold ice and brain sea were too few. After thinking hard, he only remembered a few impressions, which was still thanks to the politics exam in high school in his previous life, when he had to memorize current events under the teacher's pressure. The only characteristic of Leng Bingxue's learning in his past life was that he had a good memory and was sensitive to words, which was also an important reason why he chose to study liberal arts.

  On New Year's Day in 1986, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Deployment of Rural Work for 1986" (also known as the "Central Document No.1 of 1986"). The document pointed out that China's rural areas have begun to embark on a path of planned development of commodity economy. Agriculture and rural industry must develop in coordination, organically combining "no industry, no prosperity" with "no agriculture, no stability". The overall requirement for rural work in 1986 is: implement policies, deepen reforms, improve agricultural production conditions, organize pre- and post-production services, and promote sustainable, stable and coordinated development of the rural economy.

  On February 4, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Regulations on Further Prohibiting Party and Government Organs and Their Cadres from Engaging in Business Operations". It reiterated that party and government organs are strictly prohibited from engaging in business operations, and cadres and employees of these organs are not allowed to hold positions in various enterprises except for those approved.

  On October 11, the State Council promulgated the "Regulations on Encouraging Foreign Investment", encouraging foreign investors to set up Sino-foreign joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative enterprises and wholly foreign-owned enterprises within China.

  ……

  In order to prevent others from seeing his records and causing unnecessary trouble, Leng Bingxue used a special shorthand method when recording.

  This shorthand method was learned in a past life due to the needs of office work, and was assigned by the unit. During recording, only sporadic individual non-continuous texts without logical meaning will appear, and some commonly used words are represented by special symbols, such as: Today's weather is very good, which can be represented by a circle with two horizontal lines below, it is both fast and confidential, unless someone who has participated in this professional study training can understand.

  Of course, in 1985, this shorthand method should not have been invented yet. Leng Bing Xiang was the only one who understood it, so he wasn't afraid that someone else would be able to decipher the shocking content he had recorded.

  (The plot requires a fictional shorthand method, don't think about whether it's reasonable or not. I also don't know if there is a similar one, if so, it's just a coincidence.)

  "What are you doing? Your writing doesn't look like writing, your drawing doesn't look like drawing, it's all messy?" The girl sitting next to him saw his "heavenly book" and was very curious, couldn't help but ask him in a low voice while still in class.

  The cold seats are in the third row. Those who have read books all know that the best position in the classroom is the third and fourth rows. The first and second rows are too close to the blackboard, looking at the blackboard not only requires tilting one's head, but also often gets dusty (at that time there was no dust-free chalk, as the teacher wiped the blackboard, the chalk dust flew everywhere, and the teacher was prone to pneumonia).

  The seats were even farther back, making the distance to the podium and blackboard even greater. Not to mention that the view might be blocked by the dense heads in front, even if you could see the blackboard and listen to the teacher's lecture, it would still be unclear due to the distance. Of course, these seats are also the favorites of students who don't like to study, after all, being far away from the teacher reduces the chances of getting caught for doing small actions or making a ruckus.

  The third and fourth seats are generally the most desirable positions for many parents and students, with some parents even going so far as to bring gifts to the teacher in hopes of having their child assigned such a good seat.

  Of course, students who can sit in the third or fourth row are generally either relatives of teachers or students with good grades. Leng Bingxue being able to sit in such a seat goes without saying, must be a deliberate arrangement by Class Director Li Zhi Xiong. Those who can sit next to him are naturally not ordinary either, although they are not class cadres, their grades are quite good, last semester's final exam scores Chinese 96 points, mathematics 99 points, first in the class, third in the grade.

  The icy and cold female classmate, Chen Ting, was not very tall, with a long braid, looking elegant and refined. She was very quiet, somewhat shy, and didn't like to talk much. When answering the teacher's questions, she would also lower her head, her voice as soft as if it came from her throat, seemingly a bit embarrassed. For several days, Chen Ting had been sitting at the same table with Han Bing, but she rarely spoke up. Even when Han Bing talked to her, she would just nod and murmur, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's hum. Most of the time, during breaks from doing homework or reading, she would sneak glances at Han Bing, trying to figure out what made this legendary boy so different.

  Observed for several days, but it was very disappointing. This cold and icy person not only didn't listen carefully, but either sat there in a daze or was busy with who-knows-what, not doing their job properly. They didn't even take notes, and as for homework, they did it if they felt like it. What's infuriating is that the teacher never said anything about it.

  If it weren't for the first day of school, Chen Ting would never have imagined that the person beside her was the genius prodigy Leng Bing Xue, who was known for his calm and confident demeanor.

  Is this the huge gap between ideal and reality?

  Today in math class, Leng Bing Xian was doing some strange things again. Chen Ting couldn't help it and finally gathered the courage to ask him.

  It was actually Chen Ting's first time taking the initiative to talk to Leng Bing Xue.

  Who knows Leng Bing Han seemed as if she hadn't heard anything, her head didn't even lift up once, and her hand continued to draw the messy thing in front of her.

  After about half a minute, even Chen Ting was wondering if he really hadn't heard her, and hesitated whether to ask again when she finally heard him say in a low voice: "Nothing, just messing around."

  Chen Ting was so angry that she almost burst her lungs. Someone asks you a question, and it's already rude enough that you don't answer for half a day. And yet you still use such stupid words to placate me? Are you just messing around? Your parents spent money to send you to school, is it just to mess around? Such good paper and pen, I thought about it for a long time and couldn't think of anything, you don't know how to cherish them at all, and use them to waste like this, it's really too much. Humph, isn't it just drawing some messy things? What's so great about it? I can do it too!

  Xin's head was about to explode with anger, and it seemed that scolding wasn't enough. Chen Ting picked up the pen in her hand and heavily drew unconscious shapes on the notebook, muttering softly as if the hateful Xin was the paper on the notebook, being mercilessly whipped by the pen in her hand, once, twice, see if he dared to provoke her again?

  Thinking of the cold and ruthless words under her own pen, Chen Ting was quite pleased with herself, and the anger in her heart seemed to have been vented somewhat, a faint smile also appeared at the corner of her mouth.

  "Chen Ting!" Just then, Math Teacher Liu's stern voice sounded in her ear.

  "Ah!" The sound was like a thunderbolt, waking Chen Ting from her fantasy world. She stood up in a flurry, her heart racing with anxiety and unease, with only one thought on her mind: "Oh no, I've been discovered by the teacher! What should I do?" She secretly lifted her head, just in time to see Liu's gaze piercing through his thick glasses, and her heart sank to the bottom.

  At this moment, she felt both ashamed and angry. She had always been a good student loved by the teacher, listening carefully in class. Today was all because of Leng Bing Xue, if it wasn't for him, how would she have made such a mistake? And to make matters worse, she got caught red-handed by the teacher. Now her classmates will laugh at her to death! When she gets home, her parents won't let her off either. What should she do?

  For a moment, she felt as if the sky was going to collapse.

  "Chen Ting, come and solve this problem for everyone."

  "Ah! Okay." Hearing that the teacher didn't scold her in front of everyone, Chen Ting let out a soft sigh. But the teacher asked her to solve the problem on the board, which was normally a good thing since she had good grades and the teacher often asked her to work out problems for everyone to see. However, just now she had zoned out and didn't know which question the teacher wanted her to solve.

  What can be done? Her mind was a mess, she was at a loss, and her body couldn't move.

  "On the fourth page, question three, using the four arithmetic operations, the answer is 17!" Just as she was at a loss, a cold and icy voice faintly echoed in her ear.

  The voice that originally made her grit her teeth now seemed like heavenly music. She looked at Leng Bing Xue in surprise, but Leng Bing Xue continued to draw his "Heavenly Book" with his head down, as if he hadn't spoken to her just now.

  But at this moment, the situation is urgent, Chen Ting can't afford to think about it, whether right or wrong, she can only make do with what she has. She glanced lightly at her textbook, saw the question clearly, and then quickly walked up to the podium, picked up the chalk and began to solve the problem.

  The problem wasn't difficult, Chen Ting's foundation was also very good, and with the hint from Leng Bing Han, the problem was quickly solved.

  Teacher Liu looked at Chen Ting with profound meaning, asking her to return to her seat, and then continued to explain the question to everyone.

  After returning to her seat, Chen Ting's suspended heart finally put down. The previous fuss, although it was a thrilling adventure, seemed like taking a roller coaster ride, as if wandering around the edge of death for a while, still made her feel frightened afterwards. This time, she didn't dare to be distracted again, and hurriedly concentrated her mind to listen carefully.

  After waiting for a while, her mood calmed down a bit, but while listening to the teacher's explanation, she was puzzled in her heart: Leng Bing Xiang had been making small mistakes all along, how did he know which question it was? And how did he know the answer? Was he really a true genius? But why did he want to help me?

  She thought about it, but still couldn't figure it out, and was already in class. She had been warned by Teacher Liu once before, and her heart was still racing. She didn't dare make another mistake. Thinking of this, she felt very wronged. Leng Bing was always not paying attention to his studies, the teacher didn't care, but as soon as she made a small mistake, she almost made a fool of herself. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she couldn't help but turn her head and glare at Leng Bing again.

  This class felt especially long, and it wasn't until the bell rang that Liu Laoshi walked out of the classroom. Chen Ting couldn't hold back any longer and hastily asked Leng Binghan: "Why did you help me?"

  "Did I help you?" He stretched lazily, yawning slowly and said: "Such a simple question, it's nothing for you, I didn't help you." After that, he continued to fiddle with his things.

  Although she was dissatisfied with his cold attitude, what he said did resonate with her. After all, being so smart and having such good grades, this simple question didn't need his reminder, it was easy to do anyway. She felt somewhat complacent.

  Thinking of this, I suddenly feel that Leng Bing Xue is not so annoying after all.

  However, she still owed him a favor. Chen Ting thought for a moment with her head tilted, and after a while, she seemed to have made up her mind. She then whispered to Leng Bingxue: "Zhao Xin has found someone to beat you up on the way home from school this afternoon. You'd better ask for leave early this afternoon and go back home, so as not to run into them."