Chapter 40: Success if I can just get a high school diploma!
There’s a saying in China, “A person’s writing reflects their character,” and Yayoi, A Qing, and A Man fit this saying perfectly.
Yayoi was very afraid of wasting things. Even when she first started learning to write, her characters became smaller and smaller. It was evident that she subconsciously felt that smaller characters were better, and that saving paper was more ingenious. She was already aiming for the style of tiny, elegant script when she first began learning.
A Qing’s writing was very neat and proper. She wrote with great seriousness, striving for perfect uprightness, with horizontal strokes perfectly horizontal and vertical strokes perfectly vertical. Each stroke was a stroke, each line was a line, like a primary school student. Even if she accidentally made a mistake, she would carefully cover it with a neat, square block of ink. She would definitely get full marks for presentation.
A Man was much worse. Her personality was too restless, and this was reflected in her writing. All her characters were stretching their arms and kicking their legs, and lined up, they were all jumping up and down. At first glance, they had a bit of Zheng Banqiao’s “stones paving the street” style, and when she made a mistake, she would just scribble over it haphazardly. Whether it was round or square, or if it was even covered, she didn’t care. Amidst all the stretching and kicking, there were seven or eight twisted black blobs, and the paper was covered in ink dots, a complete mess that almost blinded Yuan Ye.
However, Yuan Ye looked at it up and down three times and couldn’t find a single misspelled or incorrect character. He even compared it to the original text and found no missing words or sentences, which made him start to doubt his own existence.
This is a bit unscientific. To memorize over a hundred new words and phrases in one night and then write them out without a single error—this isn’t something a human can do!
Yuan Ye found it hard to believe. If someone told him this without him seeing it himself, he would have kicked them—are you trying to fool me into thinking I’m an idiot?
But this was happening in the real world…
A Man saw him frowning and repeatedly looking at her page of writing, seemingly without end. She couldn’t help but lean her head over and ask curiously, “What exactly are you looking at? Is there a mistake? There shouldn’t be a mistake! If there is, you must have misremembered…”
Her babbling beside him made Yuan Ye feel a bit awkward, as if his dignity as a teacher was at stake. But he was a pragmatic person and immediately began to reflect on what the problem might be—this was too strange. Could A Man be a genius? Or did she cheat on the test?
Cheating was unlikely. He couldn’t just assume the worst of her without reason, but if not, then she must be a genius…
He quickly took a closer look at “Genius A Man.” He really couldn’t see anything about her that looked like a genius. No matter how he looked at her, she was still that lazy, gluttonous wild child!
Or is it normal to learn to recognize characters at over ten years old and memorize over a hundred new words a day?
The more Yuan Ye thought about it, the more confused he became. Putting aside the new words, even if he were asked to memorize two pages of a book in one night and then write it out the next day without a single mistake, he wouldn’t dare to guarantee he could do it.
So, was the ancient saying “photographic memory” actually true? Although A Man wasn’t quite there yet, there was still a gap, but her memory was already incredibly strong, stronger than 99.99% of people!
As he wondered, his gaze shifted to Yayoi and A Qing, and he began to ponder if these two might also be geniuses.
It wasn’t impossible. In anime, this kind of thing often happens: a genius is surrounded by other geniuses and prodigies, all incredibly powerful. Moreover, Yayoi’s personality was docile and gentle like a little rabbit, and A Qing’s demeanor was cool and elegant like a crane. They looked much smarter than A Man, who had those funny Dou Dou eyebrows, and indeed had the air of little talented scholars.
Perhaps he should have them try too. He didn’t have any experience teaching for the first time, so he didn’t want to accidentally mislead them…
“Is there a mistake or not!” A Man kept her head out and asking, very concerned about her grades. She was very competitive, but it was also as if she was deliberately trying to prove Yuan Ye wrong and show that she was indeed very smart.
Yuan Ye glanced at her and held back.
He had always admitted his mistakes and didn’t care much about his face. If A Man learned well, she learned well. He wouldn’t lie about such a thing for the sake of his pride. He said directly, “There are no mistakes, not a single one. Last night I underestimated you. You learned… very well, much better than I imagined. Keep it up!”
After speaking, he didn’t forget the other two students. He turned to Yayoi and A Qing and said, “I didn’t expect this before, and perhaps I taught a bit too slowly. You should also mention your learning progress from now on. Aim to be like A Man and work hard!”
Although Yayoi and A Qing might not be geniuses, they could try first. If it worked, in a month or two, when he was away, they could write him letters to report on the situation at home, keeping him informed. If he had urgent matters, he could leave them notes, which would make daily life and affairs much more convenient.
Yayoi and A Qing nodded seriously together. They didn’t understand anything, so naturally, whatever their teacher Yuan Ye said was what they would do.
Thus, that evening, Yuan Ye attempted to speed up the teaching pace. Everyone would learn two pages of new words and phrases. Moreover, Momorokuro also wanted to improve and came over, drawn by the scent. He also wanted to learn to read, but he didn’t dare to ask for it at first. He just listened and peeked from the doorway of the earthen floor room, and he even brought his younger brother, Ichishiro.
These two young boys were Yuan Ye’s “employees,” and perhaps even future “entrepreneurial backbones.” He definitely had to provide them with the training they deserved. So, he decided to include them in the night school and teach them together. Theoretically, they also had the potential to be geniuses, so he tried them all together, requiring them to memorize two pages of new words and phrases and write them out in full.
After trying this for a day, everyone except A Man failed miserably.
A Man was still at ease, without any mistakes, achieving a perfect score;
Yayoi’s dictation was scattered and disjointed, with a large number of misspelled and forgotten words. She could barely read it, her little face turned pale with fright. She regretted not working hard enough and was very afraid that Yuan Ye would kick her out of the literacy group;
Momorokuro and Ichishiro were even worse than Yayoi. They were completely dumbfounded. The two of them struggled desperately to put together a short passage, never expecting literacy to be so difficult. They were already starting to give up, feeling that feeding donkeys was a much easier life;
A Qing was the worst. She only managed to write the first sentence and a half, almost like submitting a blank paper. She knelt there with her head bowed, tightly clenching her fists, her body trembling uncontrollably. The little tuft of hair on her head quivered, as if she were waiting to be beheaded.
Yuan Ye was also stunned. He hadn’t expected such results. It turned out that only that wild child A Man was special, and the others were all worse than each other.
A Man was extremely proud, laughing heartily at the sky, delighted. She felt she was indeed the smartest. Furthermore, her bad habit of wanting more and taking more resurfaced. With a little advantage, she tried to monopolize the teaching resources and actively suggested to Yuan Ye, “They are all idiots. It’s useless for you to teach them. Why don’t you just teach me alone! Give me more time, and I can learn even faster!”
Yuan Ye was regretting it in his heart. He glanced at her sideways and said irritably, “Shut up. You just have… a bit of talent. There’s nothing to be proud of. Why do you want to hog it all for yourself! And you need to learn to be down-to-earth, avoid arrogance and impatience, and be humble. Otherwise, you definitely won’t go far in the future!”
A Man was unconvinced. “I’m already so smart, why should I pretend to be stupid? Wouldn’t that make my intelligence wasted?”
This wild child still dares to talk back? Yuan Ye pointed at the low table, his face stern. In front of his teacher, he became even more impatient with her, “Go copy books. Practice your terrible handwriting. I can barely recognize what you write!”
“Fine, I’ll copy books. Why are you yelling at me…” A Man was still very unconvinced, but she mumbled and complied, not daring to argue further. After all, she also cherished this opportunity for free learning. If she really angered Yuan Ye and he stopped letting her learn for free, it would all be over.
Yuan Ye turned back to the other four and said gently, “Don’t be discouraged. Effort is more important than talent. As long as you persist in learning, it will only take you a little longer than A Man, and the final result will be the same.”
Now it was really bad. He had originally wanted to see if there were any other geniuses among these four. But after testing them, not only were there none, but all four of them were dejected. He could only try to boost their morale with platitudes, forcibly smoothing things over—the gap between people is sometimes greater than the gap between a person and a dog. A Man could learn more in one night of haphazard study than A Qing could in half a month of diligent study, and there was no logic to it!
“Yes, Lord Saburo, I will definitely work hard! Please look forward to my performance!” Yayoi was relieved. As long as she wasn’t kicked out, she was fine. She had never thought of competing with A Man, and she was even a little afraid of A Man usually, never daring to provoke her.
The Momoi Brothers also nodded repeatedly like pecking chicks, forcing themselves to say they would continue to work hard. As for A Qing, she seemed to be greatly disheartened, unable to accept that she was the worst. She continued to look down at the ground, clenching her fists tightly without a word.
Yuan Ye glanced at her and updated her tag from 【 A strange, somewhat stubborn child 】 to 【 A strange, somewhat stubborn child with seemingly strong self-esteem 】. But there was nothing else he could do; he could only let her recover on her own.
Damn it, anime really can’t be trusted. Geniuses don’t come in packs. He shouldn’t have believed that nonsense!
…
The literacy class continued. After more than ten days, the top student A Man continued to lead the pack, crushing everyone in progress. She didn’t even use the same textbook as them anymore. Yayoi’s progress was also good, while the Momoi Brothers were mediocre, only passable. In the end, only A Qing became a slacker, falling far behind the others in progress.
You really can’t say anything about talent. Before, he thought she would at least get into a decent university, but now, if she can get a high school diploma, that would be a success!
Yuan Ye was rather compassionate towards the weak. After seeing patients in the afternoon, as he stepped out of the “black clinic,” he saw A Qing muttering to herself, writing and drawing on the ground. It seemed that while performing her guard duties, she was also diligently reviewing her homework.
Seeing her work so hard, Yuan Ye couldn’t bear it. He went over, squatted down, and gently advised, “You don’t need to push yourself so hard. It’s okay to learn slowly. If A Man can read and write in a few months, it will only take you a year or two to learn, and the effect will be the same. Besides, you have strengths that A Man doesn’t. Your martial arts are much better than A Man’s, aren’t they? You should be able to easily defeat A Man!”
A Qing looked up at him. She didn’t like it when people belittled A Man, not even him. She gently shook her head, “That was an accident last time. Sister A Man was injured and had eaten too much, which is why I kicked her. She’s actually very powerful and has created many life-saving techniques. If we really fought, I wouldn’t be sure I could subdue her.”
“Oh, life-saving techniques?” Yuan Ye’s heart stirred upon hearing this. His attention immediately shifted, and he asked with great interest, “What life-saving techniques?”
A Qing opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Soon, she lowered her eyelids, only her eyelashes trembling slightly, and she stopped talking.
She was just trying to save A Man some face. In reality, A Man’s martial arts were very poor, and her invented life-saving moves were even more bizarre:
When A Man faced an enemy head-on, her first move was usually “Fierce Visage Axe.” She would raise her small axe and charge at the enemy, screaming, her face contorted, her voice sharp, her Dou Dou eyebrows scrunched together, like a short-legged demon from hell charging out. Her goal was to scare the enemy into peeing their pants and fleeing without a fight, thus ensuring her own safety.
However, her first move never succeeded. She would usually proceed to her second move, “Greasy Footwork.” This meant that if she saw that she couldn’t scare the enemy, she would turn and run. But this was a feint. If the enemy took the opportunity to chase and attack her, she would counter with her third move, “Despicable Lime Powder.” She would pull out a handful of quicklime and throw it in the enemy’s face, then start chopping at them with her small axe.
If the lime powder didn’t work and she still couldn’t win, she would start to truly escape, using her fourth move, “Empty Field Bomb.” She would throw handfuls of her homemade gunpowder bombs onto the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke, and then seize the opportunity to run for her life, crying and wailing all the way, running as fast as she could.
Ideally, there would be a river for her to jump into. She had also invented the “Well Wood,” which allowed her to run a short distance on the water’s surface. Even if she fell into the water, she wouldn’t be afraid. Her swimming skills were quite good, and she also had a blow-up urine bladder, so she could float dozens of miles down the river without drowning, enough to shake off any pursuers.
Of course, she wasn’t happy just escaping like this, feeling it was too shameful. She continued to develop her fifth move, “All Beings Equal Cannon.” She planned to modify the fourth move to include insults while escaping, calling the enemy dung beetles and luring them to chase her, so she could find a corner, turn back, and blast the enemy with a cannon, proving that martial arts were useless and that success in life depended on one’s wits.
The problem was that she never had any money. She always lost when gambling, so she couldn’t afford a matchlock gun. This move was just a fantasy, and she couldn’t use it. She often complained to A Qing about why they were born poor.
A Man’s self-developed set of “life-saving techniques” was so shameful that it was completely shameless. It was full of treachery and contained no martial virtue at all. A Qing was too embarrassed to elaborate. However, Yuan Ye misunderstood, thinking that this was a secret of their school. Since they were “life-saving techniques,” it was normal for them to be secret. If it were him, he wouldn’t tell outsiders easily either. He could understand.
He smiled sheepishly and prepared to leave, saying finally, “Just pretend I didn’t ask. But you really don’t need to make things so difficult for yourself. You are you, and you don’t need to compare yourself to A Man. Take your time!”
A Qing was indeed stubborn, like a little donkey. She kept shaking her head, “I just feel I’m not living up to expectations, and I can’t learn as well as anyone. I didn’t think of comparing myself to Sister A Man. She’s naturally smarter than me, so it’s only natural that I can’t learn as well as her. Otherwise, my grandfather wouldn’t have chosen only her to practice our Life Preservation Style Sun Technique.”
“Oh?” Yuan Ye’s footsteps paused. He hadn’t expected to hear something different unintentionally. They had been together for almost two months, and neither of them had ever mentioned which branch of the Kōka Group they belonged to. Their wariness was like an instinct.
Of course, this was normal. If they were naive and innocent, telling everyone everything with innocent cheerfulness, they would have been buried long ago and wouldn’t have met him.
Yuan Ye was very interested in this matter. The Life Preservation Style Sun Technique sounded quite powerful. He couldn’t help but want to learn more about it, to see if it would be useful to him. So, he cautiously probed, “What does the Life Preservation Style Sun Technique refer to?”
