Chapter 25: Returning To High School 30,000 Years Later
Demeter University’s Junior High Department and Senior High School Department were separated only by a fountain plaza and commercial street, so she first dropped Xiang Xue off at school.
As soon as Xiang Xue got out of the car, she was surrounded by several classmates. The topic revolved around the live stream room and Empresses in the Palace. Some students recognized Xiang Chuan sitting in the car and waved to her in greeting. Xiang Chuan politely waved back in response.
Somehow, it felt like becoming the family member of a celebrity. Xiang Chuan thought.
Xiang Xue had the onboard transport robot retrieve the luggage and the multi-layer food boxes prepared by the servant from the trunk. Although the two did not live on campus, going back and forth from home during lunch break was troublesome, so they simply rested in the dormitories provided by the school for lunch breaks. Xiang Weiguo had applied for the highest-grade dormitories for the two children, and the dormitories were fully equipped, so the luggage only contained some simple daily necessities.
After saying goodbye to Xiang Xue, the car passed through the one-way street on the plaza that only allowed shared travel during peak hours and arrived at the Senior High School Department. Xiang Chuan couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Having left university to be a corporate slave for ten years and returning to the high school campus she had been away from for fourteen years—and in the future world’s high school campus at that—it was impossible for Xiang Chuan not to be nervous.
[Beep—Miss Xiang Chuan, arrived at the school gate.]
The onboard AI’s announcement sounded, and she realized the car had already stopped in front of the school gate.
“Whatever, at worst I’ll just be a high school student coasting through. What’s there to be afraid of.”
She patted her face to cheer herself up, got out of the car with the other onboard transport robot, and walked into high school 30,000 years later.
Looking around, all the students nearby had transport robots with them. Some transport robots were very large, stacked with lots of luggage—these were probably boarders. Some were the same size as Xiang Chuan’s. If there was any difference, it was that Xiang Chuan’s transport robot had a lot of food boxes stacked on its back. Passing students occasionally cast curious glances at her food boxes.
Xiang Chuan was helpless about this.
She had originally planned to have Xiang Xue distribute the buns and steamed buns from the four full meal boxes made with the yeast from the past two days to her classmates, but yesterday, thanks to the kitchen AI’s reminder, she discovered that another jar of sterilized yeast culture could already be used normally. The kitchen AI was very dutiful; on the day she harvested the first batch of yeast culture, she instructed the kitchen AI and the servant to monitor and handle the second jar according to the fermentation state of the first jar of yeast. Ultimately, the second jar of yeast successfully activated under the careful care of the kitchen AI and the servant.
The result was that she directly knelt down in front of two large basins of yeast culture in the kitchen.
What consumes the most yeast? Buns, steamed buns, and Western-style pastries.
But buns couldn’t be made now due to insufficient materials—not even barbecued pork buns, soup dumplings, soup buns, or custard buns, let alone Western-style pastries. On the second day after transmigrating, Xiang Chuan coquettishly asked Xiang Weiguo and Lin Minzhi for an oven, but after hearing her describe the oven’s features, their faces changed dramatically, and they solemnly told her never to mention it again.
It was just a machine with internal heating. Was that necessary? Xiang Chuan thought at the time.
Because of this, she had been pondering all week how to make bread and cake without using an oven. The standard cake could now barely be managed by steaming, but bread inevitably required the step of “baking” no matter what.
Sigh, the road ahead is long.
Xiang Chuan thought helplessly as she stepped into the teaching building.
After entering the teaching building, Xiang Chuan thought she would see a long line for new student registration (since there was no line in front of the building), but unexpectedly, in the spacious hall of the teaching building, the students were just wandering around looking for their classes, with no registration line.
Huh? Then where do I go to register?
Xiang Chuan was dumbfounded.
Could it be the same registration procedure as in junior high? But there was no such memory in her “mind”?
Should I ask someone?
Among the three fatal options of “being late on the first day of school,” “visiting every classroom to show my face to classmates at the same level,” and “asking a common-sense question and being treated like an idiot,” she decisively chose the third one, which was the least harmful to her.
“Hello, classmate.” Xiang Chuan stopped a female student who, like her, had a small transport robot. She should also be a new student. “Excuse me, where do I go for new student registration? I don’t know where my class is.”
As expected, she received a surprised look from the other, as if looking at an idiot.
With psychological preparation, the damage was unexpectedly minor.
“……Class assignment messages and classroom locations before school starts were all sent to our personal terminals, visible on the education program page.”
The female student’s expression was a bit impatient, but she patiently explained before leaving.
“Thank you!”
Xiang Chuan hurriedly opened her terminal, thinking: This kid is actually pretty nice.
As soon as she opened the education program, several unread notices popped up. Xiang Chuan broke out in a sweat; if the Education Bureau implemented a function to monitor whether students had checked their information, would she be classified by the school as a student who played so hard she forgot to even look at notices?
With trepidation, she found the classroom location in the message bar notices, took the elevator in the corridor to the eighth floor, and finally found the classroom.
Before reaching the classroom, Xiang Chuan inexplicably felt nervous again, but this was different from the previous nervousness due to era differences. This tension with a hint of excitement felt somewhat familiar.
Ah, it was the excitement of arriving at a new school after further education.
Xiang Chuan was a bit dazed. This was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in fourteen years. After leaving university and working for ten years, entering the company from society brought only trepidation, not the eager anticipation of first entering campus.
She didn’t expect to have a chance to relive this feeling again.
“Hey in front, don’t block the way.”
The voice behind her interrupted her thoughts. Xiang Chuan snapped back and instinctively stepped aside.
She saw a brown-haired boy frowning at her. Xiang Chuan noticed his green eyes, which made her a bit curious. But the boy clearly had no interest in staring contests; he immediately led his transport robot into the classroom. Xiang Chuan hurriedly followed.
The classroom was wider than imagined, and unlike the 21st century where a classroom crammed fifty or sixty students, this one had only about thirty table and chairs at a glance. Most people had arrived, mostly choosing window side or seats near the back row, leaving some empty spots in the middle.
Xiang Chuan raised an eyebrow: Sure enough, no matter the era, students don’t like sitting where the teacher can see them at first glance. But there were fewer people than expected; they would probably each have to eat two.
She wasn’t picky about seats and casually chose a seat in the middle-back area to sit down. Just as she was thinking about how to distribute the buns and steamed buns to her classmates, a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside her:
“It’s you?”
Xiang Chuan turned her head. Sitting to her left was the girl she had met in the hall downstairs who showed her the way. There were one or two other classmates standing beside her, seemingly having just been chatting. Seeing the kind girl who had helped her, Xiang Chuan immediately smiled.
“What a coincidence, we’re in the same class? Thanks for just now.”
A student beside the girl asked curiously: “Miss Yating, do you know her?”
“No,” the girl called Yating denied decisively, “I just taught her downstairs how to check notices. I’m not acquainted with someone who doesn’t even check the school opening notices.”
Uh. Although the other girl’s words were thorny, Xiang Chuan was indeed in the wrong, so even if it was frustrating, she could only endure it.
“Haha, I was too busy during the holiday so I forgot. By the way,” Xiang Chuan had the transport robot place the meal box on the table. The six-layer tall large meal box instantly became the focus of the entire class.
Didn’t eat breakfast?
Eating now?
This girl eats so much? Can’t tell.
Such complaints flashed through the minds of the entire class’s students at once.
Then, when Xiang Chuan opened the meal box and had the transport robot extend multiple mechanical arms to hold the six meal boxes, revealing the white buns and steamed buns inside, everyone’s brains suddenly froze upon seeing the novelty.
“As thanks, try the buns and steamed buns made at our house. Do you like sweet or savory ones?”
“Uh…… either is fine for me.”
Xiang Chuan’s bold move stunned Ouyang Yating. She subconsciously answered obediently. By the time she realized she had lost composure, the other had already placed two white, steaming-hot items in her hands.
