[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world":3,"chapter-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-23":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Cultivation: I Studied Abroad in the Modern World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2263749,4418,"Chapter 23: Magnanimity","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-23",23,"\u003Cp>Math doesn’t lie, but it insults you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai had been rambling on, and to Zheng Fa, every word felt like a hammer striking his skull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you understand now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He heard Teacher Bai ask him, looked up, and gave him a blank, confused expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What about you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man asked Tang Lingwumin beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Pretty much,\" Tang Lingwumin whispered. \"It's not that hard, is it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai nodded at Tang Lingwumin, then glanced at Zheng Fa and let out a long, deep sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa: … You two aren’t even targeting me, but I feel like you’re both throwing dirt at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll explain it again. Zheng, listen carefully this time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai didn’t give up; he picked up his pen again, as if determined to crush each concept into pieces and spoon-feed it to Zheng Fa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he made Zheng Fa realize that some things, you won’t know you’re truly incapable of until you fight for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Lingwumin beside him had already begun yawning out of boredom; Zheng Fa’s face remained utterly bewildered, barely grasping half of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve never taught a student this stupid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai flung his pen down, angry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa was also feeling discouraged when he heard Tang Lingwumin whisper beside him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Teacher Bai used to be a professor at Beijing University. It’s normal you can’t keep up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa was genuinely comforted—Beijing University was the top university in the country, far above Jiangnan University, his dream school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa had self-awareness: he was at most hardworking, never talented.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the old man grew increasingly impatient, his mouth full of contempt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stupid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your brain won’t open!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is Qing Shui Middle School filled with students like you? I bet your teacher’s salary is just compensation for emotional damage!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa’s composure remained steady, but the old man had clearly exhausted his patience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He kept cursing Zheng Fa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even mid-lesson, he stormed off in a rage, leaving Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin behind to smoke on the balcony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa didn’t break; he broke the old man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you okay?” Tang Lingwumin, having heard the old man’s harsh remarks, now looked at Zheng Fa with pity: “What Teacher Bai said earlier was a bit too much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He’s used to teaching geniuses. Teaching me is a trial for him.” Zheng Fa said his mindset was calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These insults were positively refined compared to the lowbrow jokes back in the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s true…” Tang Lingwumin nodded: “I heard him say before that he couldn’t understand how anyone who scored full marks on the Gaokao math exam would dare apply to Beijing University’s math department.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because real geniuses mostly get in through competitions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Lingwumin explained, and Zheng Fa finally understood deeply: in Teacher Bai’s eyes, someone who occasionally scraped past 130 on math was nothing but rotten wood unfit for carving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Still, he went too far.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s fine. Strictness is good for me!” Zheng Fa turned around to comfort Tang Lingwumin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl looked at him deeply, impressed: “I just realized—you’re surprisingly magnanimous. I couldn’t take it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, you won’t learn anything else right now. Let me explain these diagrams clearly!” The old man finally gave up: “These diagrams are actually just two patterns.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Some parts are probably incomplete.” He added a few strokes to the diagram, then drew two simpler shapes on paper: “These diagrams are all variations of these two basic patterns.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa studied the two shapes and memorized them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I taught you for thirty minutes—I’ve lost three years of my life!” The old man still complained, clearly regretting this and wanting to quit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How about I teach you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Secret technique. Clan’s ultimate skill.” Zheng Fa smiled with pure innocence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come on, come on!” The old man instantly perked up, dragging Zheng Fa into an empty room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Follow me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa taught seriously—he demonstrated the Songhe Stance, and Tang Lingwumin watched curiously nearby; he paid her no mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man twisted his body into a pretzel shape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Smack!” Zheng Fa slapped the old man’s occiput.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are you doing?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your head is in the wrong position!” Zheng Fa’s face was stern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai obediently corrected his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Smack!” “Pull your arms in!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Smack!” “Don’t stick out your belly!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Smack!” “Stand firm on your legs!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The repeated smacks made Tang Lingwumin wince in sympathy; she and Teacher Bai both grimaced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Step your leg forward!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No no! My legs are breaking!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai cried out in pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa spoke with the tone of someone exasperated by failure:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stupid!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Didn’t you oil your body?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your previous master probably got so fed up he turned himself in to the police!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Lingwumin gave Zheng Fa a long, deep look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She silently bowed her heart in apology to the word “magnanimity.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Teacher Bai had stood the stance for ten minutes and could no longer endure it, Zheng Fa finally let him go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to Xu Jiaotou, the old man’s talent was truly poor—at best, low-average.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Add his age, his bones were stiff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His speed in practicing Songhe Stance was lucky if it reached one-tenth of Zheng Fa’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Teacher Bai rubbed his aching arms and bounced in place: “You know what? I feel lighter all over.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa was certain that with this man’s talent, no real progress could have been made in this time—it was almost certainly psychological.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then we’ll take our leave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa wanted to escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait!” Teacher Bai blocked the door: “Had your fill of yelling? Trying to run?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Another half-hour with me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man dragged Zheng Fa back, pulled out a reference book from his study used during lessons, and began tormenting Zheng Fa again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin left, it was already around ten at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Were you doing that on purpose?” Tang Lingwumin blinked at Zheng Fa in the hallway: “Deliberately provoking Teacher Bai so he’d teach you more?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, he was doing it on purpose.” Zheng Fa slung his bag over his shoulder and glanced back at her: “This old man desperately wants someone to teach.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t missed the fleeting loneliness on Teacher Bai’s face when they said goodbye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he woke again, he was back at Zhao Fu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On another bed, Gao Yuan slept sprawled messily, papers scattered beside his pillow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The patterns on them were so familiar to Zheng Fa he could vomit them out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a weekend of cramming at Teacher Bai’s house, though math was still hard, Zheng Fa had finally figured out those diagrams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least he remembered how to understand their patterns mathematically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Awake?” Gao Yuan mumbled, rolled over, squinted at Zheng Fa rising, and rubbed his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get up. Xu Jiaotou’s waiting for us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa urged him. After teaching them the Songhe Stance, Xu Jiaotou had become a hands-off master; yesterday—or rather, the day before Zheng Fa crossed into this modern world—he suddenly said he wanted to check how they’d practiced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly said he wanted to see how the two had progressed over these past few days.\u003C\u002Fp>",1178,"2026-06-19T19:16:02.864Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","374bb26cba5fed2fd76eefed6595ff528c0814711279851c413da7028add671f","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-24","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-22",487,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-cover.jpg"]