Chapter 33: The Pulse of the Era: Getting into Peking University with One Essay

The good food, good drink, and hard training of late have been very effective; Fang Xinghe's physique has increased by 1 point, mainly reflected in his height, now 175.

Additionally, immunity has also increased by 1 point, not bad, not bad.

Considering the upcoming high school entrance exam and the fact that he needs to handle a major matter afterward, Fang Xinghe finally decided to first raise all attributes to 79 points, patch up his weaknesses, and then fully improve coordination.

Once the resolve was set, he casually spent a huge sum of 54 million Starlight Points, raising all attributes to 79 points, an outstanding level.

【Attribute Panel】

Appearance Attributes: Looks 99, Physique 79

Constitution Attributes: Strength 79, Speed 80, Stamina 80, Agility 79, Flexibility 79

Hidden Attributes: Coordination 81, Perception 79, Recovery 79, Immunity 79, Health 79

Art Attributes: Writing 79

【Starlight Panel】

【Fan Count: 2.75 million】

【Starlight Points: 6.5 million】

【Star Glory Points: 3】

The new attributes are truly beautiful, and it's not just about looking good; more importantly, they are practical.

Having all attributes at 79 is already impressive among adults, let alone for a 14-year-old teenager; it's simply outrageous.

Feeling the power surging within his body, he had never felt this good before.

Like a second rebirth!

Fang, who had been bedridden for a long time and was fragile, could particularly appreciate the value of every single point of improvement.

He wasn't greedy; raising coordination to the max before university and pushing all attributes to 85 points would count as victory.

The difficulty isn't great; with another 80 million Starlight Points, he could raise coordination to 89, then use Star Glory Points to instantly boost it to 92.

Then again, where did those 3 Star Glory Points come from?

Eliminating all impossibilities, it must be thanks to Mr. Ba Jin.

As the highest peak in the current literary world, Mr. possesses both reputation and prestige; his sincere praise can bring fans immense glory and a sense of achievement.

Extremely intense and extremely pure positive emotions, large in quantity and high in quality, refining 3 Star Glory Points is truly not an exaggeration.

It might even be a bit too little; perhaps because the old gentleman's praise wasn't particularly formal?

Thus, Fang Xinghe formed a new hypothesis—if he could win a heavyweight award, making fans share in the honor, then it would likely be possible to refine even more Star Glory Points.

In that case, he would need to pay attention in the future; works should be refined to perfection, but it's best not to aim for balance.

Wanting both isn't impossible, but it's very hard to achieve the extreme in any one aspect.

In the future, he should continue to clarify his goals, fully leverage the advantage of high-level thinking, and aim precisely.

He must use time to balance gaining fans and the general public, rather than being impatient and trying to become a fat man in one bite.

Wild in action, fierce in momentum, stable at the core; thus, the peak is easily reached.

Time passed day by day, and the date of the high school entrance exam drew closer.

The attacks on Fang Xinghe from the cultural circle temporarily ceased, leaving him ample preparation time.

But before the exam, the trumpet of the era finally sounded a loud "hello" with a rumble, catching everyone off guard.

On June 20, Chen Jiayong received the Peking University admission letter, number 004, the fourth one in Magic City.

Just the next day, the news article titled "Getting into Peking University with One Essay" instantly exploded across the nation.

This time, it was a true explosion, far, far greater than the commotion Fang Xinghe had caused before.

Because the nature was different; no matter how good Fang Xinghe's essay was, it was ultimately just an essay, not tied to the most practical thing.

His looks, his talent, his arrogance, combined, could not compare to the status of those two words in the hearts of the people.

Peking University.

This is a myth; the sprouting and the Seven-School Alliance succeeded.

Oh, now it's the Fourteen-School Alliance; Tsinghua and other universities also announced their joining as organizers of the second New Concept Essay Contest, which poured a bucket of oil on this fire.

For a moment, truly the entire society was discussing it, proponents and opponents, envy and anger, endless turmoil.

No. 3 Middle School didn't escape either.

Fang Dadan's eyes sparkled with excitement: "You damn thing, if you participate in two more sessions, can you get recommended to Qingbei?"

Ever since she was beaten a second time by her own mother because of Fang Xinghe's "nonsense," she had been calling him "damn thing" whenever she spoke to him.

But looking at it from another angle, being willing to call him "damn thing" just to initiate conversation shows she truly loves him.

Fang Xinghe lazily glanced at her: "What's it to you? As if you getting into Qingbei would make us alumni."

"I!"

Fang Dadan got angry for a moment, then replied with a guilty conscience but a stubborn mouth: "As if anyone wants to be your alumni!"

Fang Xinghe ignored her, so Fang Dadan waited a while, stamped her foot, and said resentfully: "Don't look down on people; just wait and see, Sister Thirteen and I will definitely get in!"

Lu Tingting was so shocked she hurriedly waved her hands: "Don't drag me into your bragging; I dare not dream of Qingbei."

Bao Fu suddenly had a strange idea: "Looks like I need to practice writing essays seriously; who wouldn't want to go if you can get into Peking University so easily?"

That was outrageous enough, but what followed was even more outrageous: he pulled out his crotch.

He looked earnestly at Lu Tingting and declared solemnly: "You study hard; if you can't get into Qingbei, get into Fudan or Jiaotong; wherever you get in, I'll get recommended there; we'll fly together, leaving Big Brother behind..."

Waiting for him were a dozen pairs of eye-rolls and an extra "Bang!" punch.

"Betraying Big Brother, punishment by family law! Someone, carry him up, prepare the door frame!"

Thus, Bao Fu was lifted up by a group of little eagles, legs spread wide, launching a fierce charge at the door frame.

"Aiyo, damn, damn, damn, damn..."

The sound of wailing and bawling rang through the classroom, and everyone's unrestrained laughter punctuated Fang Xinghe's final carefree youth.

……

Although Taodang's wishful thinking was absurd, at this stage the nation's parents, teachers, and the students themselves had indeed been stirred by a new aspiration—write good essays and get guaranteed admission to elite schools.

The newspapers kept hyping it, and in reality "New Concept" had become a buzzword.

If there had been a Baidu search index at the time, the New Concept Essay would have topped the yearly chart without suspense; second place, however, would not have been Chen Jiayong who got into Peking University, but Han Han, who had suddenly "crashed."

On the 26th, Fang Xinghe quietly sat the high school entrance exam, performed steadily, and didn't lose a single point of the marks he should have gotten.

And on the very next day after the exam ended, the 29th, the news that Han Han had failed seven out of eight subjects and would have to repeat a year landed on the front pages of two major Shanghai newspapers.

The wheels of history rolled forward, and suddenly "Big Brother" had "blown up."

A mere grade retention had actually triggered an intense nationwide debate on quality-oriented education policy and a series of educational issues such as "Should schools cultivate well-rounded talents or specialists?"

Apart from Fang Xinghe, no one could have foreseen this.

When Baofu and the others brought a stack of newspapers to Fang Xinghe's house, they were especially indignant: "Lately the papers are full of Han Han every damn day—hell, even repeating a grade can cause such a huge commotion!"

Taodang, however, was excited and argued back: "But I think he's pretty cool! Didn't the experts also say that studying is useless as hell!"

Fang Xinghe frowned slightly, suppressed his temper, and began: "You need to see the resource gap caused by the different environments the two of us live in."

"Huh? What the hell?!"

The younger brothers stared at each other wide-eyed, not understanding a word.

"Shanghai has several hundred newspapers and a population of over ten million; they can interview Han Han anytime, anywhere, and after writing the report, millions of locals are willing to read it. But here in our place…"

Fang Xinghe stretched out his arm and slowly opened it wide, as if embracing his hometown, yet with an inexpressible heaviness.

"This small city we live in has nothing—no people, no media, no factories, no skyscrapers or bustling commercial centers, not even a Starbucks or a KFC.

My story can spread among at most a few tens of thousands of people, while your bravery and sorrow, no one cares about at all.

If we can't break free from all this, by the time we reach our parents' age, the sky won't have grown any wider—instead it will press down and bind us tighter, pinning us firmly to this barren land, unable to take a single step away.

Our children will still have nothing.

Baofu, Taodang, Heizi, Zhang Qi… you have to get out, don't rot here, understand?

I'll take the first step, then I'll reach out my hand to you. When that time comes, I hope you'll have the ability to grab it, and we can keep being brothers, instead of being scattered to the four corners from then on."

The heartless, carefree youths finally began to think, and for the first time showed a deeply moved reaction.

And that very night, Fang Xinghe wrote a brand-new essay aimed squarely at the "uselessness of studying" theory that had recently begun to spread like a flood.

The title was "Small-Town Test-Taker."

At the end, he wrote:

Everyone's ultimate mission is to find the self, and then sincerely and faithfully be true to that self.

We are not trying to flee this homeland; we need to set out, to see different scenery, to temper the soul with a vaster world—to go from hating everything to loving everything, from despising everything to respecting everything, and finally to happily discover—this world is not the shape I imagined in my youth, yet I still love it.

There are many such paths, and I choose to do the test questions.