Chapter 32: , working overtime

"Really? Is it truly *Harvest* magazine?"

"Absolutely certain!"

Upon receiving the definitive confirmation, Li Heng was so happy he nearly picked up the English teacher before him, hurriedly asking, "What did they say on their end?"

Wang Runwen leaned against the office desk, crossed her legs, and said, "They were looking for you, so I didn't ask in detail.

It's agreed that they will call tomorrow at 12:30 PM. When that time comes, you go to my place to talk to them specifically."

Li Heng thanked her, "Great! Thank you, Teacher."

Wang Runwen tossed her long hair and teased, "If you really want to thank me, then study English well, get a few more points on your exams, and don't put all your heart into pretty female classmates."

Li Heng retorted, "Teacher, you've misunderstood. Things aren't as you imagine; I simply appreciate Song Yu's beauty."

Wang Runwen asked, "Then what about Chen Zi Jin from before? In my second year of high school, I saw you two secretly holding hands in the small woods on the east side. Don't tell me that was a misunderstanding too?"

Li Heng spoke without hesitation, "That really was a misunderstanding. Chen Zi Jin said her hands were cold, so I helped her warm them up."

Wang Runwen sneered, "It was summer then, the temperature was 37 degrees, and she was cold?"

Was it like that?

Was it really summer?

He had done far too many bad things in that small woods; damn it! For a moment, he couldn't even tell what was real and what was fake.

But he couldn't admit to this even if it killed him. "She had a fever, a low-grade fever, and her whole body was shivering with cold.

Teacher, you are well-traveled and knowledgeable; you must have heard of low-grade fevers, right?"

Wang Runwen laughed in anger, "Low-grade fever? Let me tell you, if this were a few years earlier, you would be guilty of hooliganism, and one report would be enough to get you."

"Look at how you're talking; I don't like hearing that. What time is it now? In our rural areas, every household is dividing up the fields and mountains; why do you still have such stubborn thinking?"

Li Heng retorted, then asked with an incredibly confused and fearful look, "Teacher, why are you so interested in my private life? You wouldn't be..."

Wang Runwen stared at him intensely, her full chest heaving violently a dozen times, then she pointed toward the door, squeezing the words out one by one through her teeth:

"Get out! Get out immediately! Get as far away from me as you can!"

Seeing her angry look for the first time in this life, Li Heng left feeling satisfied.

He thought to himself, *That'll teach you to gossip! That'll teach you to wag your tongue! After this lesson, you should be more restrained in the future, right? *

After a brief moment, when he returned to the classroom, quite a few people had already arrived.

Men and women, all with their heads down, seriously grinding through problems and reading books.

It was very quiet.

Sometimes one has to marvel that in an experimental class like this, which gathers the top students of the entire city, the learning atmosphere is truly intense. Not one of them is mediocre, and they basically don't need the teacher to manage them; their self-discipline is exceptionally strong.

Occasionally, if an individual student doesn't do well on an exam, before the teacher even steps in to comfort them, they have already conducted a deep self-reflection and formulated an even stricter study plan.

In short, it's one phrase: Charge forward with dreams in your heart! Charge forward, vying to be first!

They are all the pride of heaven; no one is willing to admit defeat!

Even if there is a huge gap in IQ between people, then the clumsy bird flies first, using double the time and diligence to make up for it.

Mai Sui had arrived, and there were no empty seats next to Song Yu, so Li Heng temporarily extinguished the urge to sit with her.

When he returned to his own seat, Sun Manning tore off a slip of paper.

She wrote: *Regarding the seat change, I have already told Mai Sui. *

His gaze lingered on the slip for two seconds; Li Heng didn't feel embarrassed, picked up his pen, and wrote: *Does she agree? *

Sun Manning replied: *I've known her since I was 5; naturally, she agrees. *

Li Heng wrote: *Thank you! *

He didn't go to ask if Mai Sui was curious.

Actually, for things like this, as long as one isn't a fool, one can basically guess the reason.

And would Mai Sui, who has long shared the top spot in the class with Song Yu, be a fool?

The answer was obvious.

Sitting quietly for a while, seeing Sun Manning put away the slip and continue doing math problems, he didn't stay idle either; he took a new notebook out of his drawer and spread it open.

He prepared to write *To Live*.

After this period of non-stop writing, *To Live* had currently reached 80,000 words, a little over halfway.

There were still 50,000 words to go before finishing.

Today, the phone call from *Harvest* magazine gave him a shot in the arm, but it also sounded an alarm.

Damn it, time was running out; he had to seize the time to finish writing as soon as possible.

Four days!

He planned to work overtime for the next four days to finish this novel.

Once a person has anticipation and a sense of urgency, they generate infinite motivation.

And so, Li Heng, having entered the zone, had an explosion of inspiration today; his fountain pen tip danced like dragons and phoenixes on the white paper, writing for hours without stopping.

In one breath, he filled 5 sheets of paper, about 4,500 words.

Damn it! His fingers holding the pen had deep indentations, and they were faintly aching.

"Li Heng, what are you writing? The cafeteria is almost out of food; aren't you going to eat?"

When she left earlier, seeing him buried in hard work, she thought he was studying, so Sun Manning didn't disturb him.

She didn't expect that even after she had finished eating with Song Yu and Mai Sui and returned, her desk-mate had maintained the same posture, so she immediately leaned over.

Seeing this girl's head almost reaching his chin, his body instinctively retreated a little.

And he asked, "Rich girl, what time is it now?"

Sun Manning's nickname was "Rich Girl," and she was one of the few students in the class who wore an electronic watch.

Hearing this, she raised her wrist to look, "6:28, it's almost dark. At 7:00, the head teacher is going to rearrange the seats; you'd better hurry and eat."

"Oh, okay."

Responding with an okay, Li Heng tightened the cap of his fountain pen, put the manuscript into his schoolbag, and carried it to the cafeteria.

Sun Manning glanced at his manuscript and schoolbag, wondering why this guy was so mysterious. Why carry such a tattered schoolbag with him? Curiosity instantly rose in her heart.

Li Heng didn't care what she was thinking; the manuscript was a treasure now, related to changing his destiny. He didn't dare to be careless and leave it in the drawer; it was better to carry it with him—peace of mind!

Scanning the classroom, he didn't find Liu Li or Zhang Zhiyong; these two must have stayed in the dormitory and not come over.

Forget it, there was no time; he couldn't be bothered to call them. Li Heng jogged all the way to the cafeteria.

The student cafeteria wasn't far from the teaching building, separated only by a small rockery in the middle, with a straight-line distance estimated to be no more than 300 meters.

He arrived very quickly.

Just as Sun Manning had said, the usually bustling cafeteria had almost no one at this hour; counting him, there were only three or five lazy cats in the large open space getting food.

"Auntie, what food is left?"

"Just some carrots."

"What about the others?"

"You're late; it's gone."

Li Heng poked his head into the serving window and was instantly struck with despair; the steamed eggs he loved were sold out, and of the delicious sweet and sour chicken giblets, only two spicy chicken pieces remained at the bottom of the basin.

Seeing him standing there looking depressed, the auntie serving the food used her ladle to scoop up the last bit of watery carrots.

She asked him, "Do you want it or not? If not, I'm closing up."

He didn't like carrots at all, but he still reluctantly held out his lunchbox.

"Auntie, how much?"

"Forget it, I won't charge you for this; anyway, if you don't want it, I'm just going to dump it in the slop bucket."

Li Heng felt a faint sadness and was even more depressed.

PS: In the previous chapter "Song Yu," the part where Li Heng and Song Yu meet felt off; March has already made slight modifications. Those interested can go back and take a look. Also, due to several modifications, some comments were automatically swallowed by Qidian; it wasn't the author who deleted them.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 33 =====