Chapter 54

"Aren't you taking a nap today?"

After lunch, Zheng Fa looked at Wang Chen, who was studying hard with a book, and asked in surprise.

Wang Chen had a habit of napping at noon; according to him, if he didn't sleep at noon, his whole day would collapse.

"Didn't you see Old Chen's face? If I do badly on this exam, he'll eat me alive!"

It's no wonder Wang Chen was so nervous—this monthly exam wasn't ordinary; it was a joint monthly exam between Qingshui Middle School and several nearby city and county schools.

For Qingshui Middle School teachers, the performance bonus from doing well on the Gaokao might bring joy for a month, but the pleasure of mocking rival schools after a strong joint monthly exam could last at least half a year.

Conversely, the humiliation of doing poorly and being mocked would be equally miserable for half a year.

Their intense focus on this joint monthly exam reached Wang Chen and the others in one phrase: Don't say we didn't warn you.

Old Chen had even kindly reminded them that after this monthly exam, Qingshui Middle School would hold a parent-teacher meeting…

Zheng Fa glanced around the classroom.

On ordinary noon breaks, at most half the desks in this classroom were occupied, and most of those were students napping face-down.

Today, at least eighty percent of the seats were taken, and almost no one was sleeping—everyone was buried in their books.

Zheng Fa stood up, grabbed a few books, and prepared to head downstairs.

"Where are you going?"

"To ask Tang Lingwu some questions."

Since making an agreement with Tang Lingwu for her to tutor him in math, they'd been meeting after lunch whenever they could.

"It's almost the monthly exam—aren't you supposed to be studying?"

Wang Chen widened his eyes and stared at Zheng Fa.

"Isn't this exactly what I'm doing—studying?"

"... I believe you, you liar!"

Watching Zheng Fa's retreating figure, Wang Chen turned to his desk mate and said:

"Though I deeply admire his courage to pursue love at all costs, his face when Old Chen beats him senseless after failing will surely be a sight to behold."

His desk mate looked at him, expressionless: "Wouldn't you go if it were you?"

"I wouldn't go? I love studying—I want to read! There's beauty in books!"

"I don't know who this 'Beauty' is, but that's Tang Lingwu."

"Tang Lingwu… can Tang Lingwu help me pass the monthly exam?"

"That's Tang Lingwu."

"Alright, fine—the monthly exam doesn't matter. What if my mom comes to the parent-teacher meeting after I fail?"

"Tang Lingwu."

"True—if my mom sees Tang Lingwu, she might even go home and brag that I've got something going for me."

…

Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu met in a small pavilion beneath the teaching building; the pavilion held a stone table and four stone benches. Zheng Fa placed his books on the table and slowly asked Tang Lingwu about his doubts.

Tang Lingwu wore a white short-sleeved shirt, idly spinning a fountain pen with her right hand, while propping her chin with the other, occasionally frowning in thought at Zheng Fa's questions before offering her insights.

To be honest, Tang Lingwu's level didn't match Bai Lao's; many questions still needed to be resolved when visiting Bai Lao's home.

But for Zheng Fa, her help was still quite effective—Bai Lao was used to teaching geniuses, so he often couldn't grasp where Zheng Fa found things difficult, and this misunderstanding usually came with devastating questions: "You still need to be taught this?"

Tang Lingwu was better—she was still relatively new to learning herself, so she could sometimes empathize more with Zheng Fa's struggles.

Added to that, her temperament wasn't as impatient as Bai Lao's, and if you factored in the difference in their appearances…

The learning experience improved significantly.

Especially in areas like Gaokao math, where the gap between Bai Lao and Tang Lingwu wasn't so wide, Tang Lingwu's help to Zheng Fa was even greater.

Zheng Fa flipped through the list of questions he'd written down and realized he'd asked nearly everything; he hesitated slightly, then looked at Tang Lingwu:

"I have something I'd like to ask you for help with."

Tang Lingwu looked up at him, puzzled.

"I want to understand the physical differences between us."

"..." Tang Lingwu narrowed her eyes slightly and stared at Zheng Fa for a full half-minute before speaking: "It's in the biology textbook."

"Uh, you misunderstood—I want to know if I'm the only one in this world who can master the Spirit Crane Body."

Since arriving in this modern world, Zheng Fa had become even more certain of one thing—the qi energy he cultivated in the Spirit Crane Body still remained inside him, but the sense of that strange force in the void had vanished.

According to Zheng Fa's earlier assumption, the Spirit Crane Body should have been easy for modern people to master, given the documentaries and videos available.

Yet no matter how hard Tang Lingwu or Bai Lao tried to visualize it, their bodies showed no reaction whatsoever.

Coupled with the fact that the Xuanwei Realm had immortal techniques while this world did not…

The most natural assumption was—this world had no qi.

But there was another possibility: Zheng Fa's body was different from those of people in this world, so only he could master it.

Tang Lingwu looked at Zheng Fa with a hint of suspicion; Zheng Fa forced himself to wear an earnest expression.

"How do we test it?"

"Assume the Pine-Crane Stance, and visualize it."

Tang Lingwu stood up and assumed the Pine-Crane Stance; Zheng Fa stepped behind her: "Forgive the intrusion."

He gently placed his fingers on the upper portion of her spine.

Tang Lingwu's body trembled.

"What's wrong?"

"It's ticklish."

"If anything else feels uncomfortable, tell me."

Zheng Fa spoke a sentence, closed his eyes, and carefully sent his qi energy into Tang Lingwu's body.

His qi energy was not abundant to begin with, and he dared not send too much; he only dared to carefully transmit a single wisp, fearing an accident would harm Tang Lingwu.

In his mind, if anything in this world contained spiritual qi, it would be his own body and his qi energy.

He certainly could not dissect Tang Lingwu to examine the physical differences between the two.

Nor could he cut off a piece of flesh to feed Tang Lingwu.

He could only attempt to test it with his qi energy.

Zheng Fa merely let his qi energy linger on Tang Lingwu's spine, waiting to see her reaction.

Gradually, Tang Lingwu's body began to tremble slightly.

Zheng Fa felt that the wisp of qi energy he had sent into Tang Lingwu's body was gradually pulsing.

The frequency was exactly the same as when he cultivated the Spirit Crane State of Mind!

In the classroom upstairs, Wang Chen and his desk mate squeezed together, peering through the window at Zheng Fa and the other.

Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu had not thought to hide from people; they went downstairs simply because they did not want the sound of their discussion to affect others' study and afternoon nap.

"What are they doing?"

"Move over a bit, let me see!"

"Aren't you supposed to be reading and studying?" the desk mate glared at Wang Chen.

"How can books be as good-looking as sweet love?"

"What is so good-looking?"

On the window, a dazzling reflection appeared, and a bald head, barren of any hair, showed up behind the two.

"Tea... Teacher!"

Wang Chen and the other were startled and quickly turned around.

"I heard your voices from the corridor! In the whole class, you two speak the loudest!" Old Chen scolded with a stern face: "Do you know the exam is coming soon? Are you studying so well? How many points can you score?"

Seeing the two remain silent, he asked another question: "What were you two looking at just now?"

Wang Chen sidestepped two steps, trying to cover it up.

Old Chen looked at him deeply, pushed his body aside, and saw the strange posture of Zheng Fa and the other.

"What are they doing?"

Old Chen said gloomily.

"Uh, Zheng Fa said he was asking Tang Lingwu for academic advice."

"Asking for academic advice?" Old Chen's face was like cold frost, his voice carrying intense anger: "I'd like to know what knowledge is so tricky that it needs to be transmitted through physical contact?"