Chapter 1: Indirectly ambitious, continuously waiting to die while eating and drinking

Lu Mingfei stared blankly out the window.

The withered branches of the plane trees traced messy musical staves against the gray sky, and the icicles hanging from the twigs were like abandoned glass wind chimes, emitting faint whimpers in the cold wind.

Just like his mood at this moment.

Of course, with Lu Mingfei's truly appalling level of literary proficiency, he could never have come up with such a description; he just felt a bit... melancholy.

This melancholy was because he had just seen the final exam report card posted by his homeroom teacher in the "Official Class Group."

In the row belonging to him, the number in the total ranking column matched the total number of students in the class exactly...

"Beep-beep-beep!"

The message notification sound from his headphones pulled Lu Mingfei's attention back from the window. He looked at the bottom right corner; the pulsing icon was a lotus flower.

Lu Mingfei, who had spent a long time building up his mental defenses, almost lost his composure, but since he would get hit whether he stuck his head out or pulled it back, he moved the mouse and clicked the avatar.

Homeroom Teacher: "Lu Mingfei, are you made of lead? Last place! Do you have any idea how much you alone dragged down our class average?"

Homeroom Teacher: "Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao have both been hiring tutors recently to improve their grades. You don't hire a tutor, and you don't study hard yourself—what are you trying to do? This is the third year of high school! The most critical time!"

Homeroom Teacher: "You must attend the school's winter break remedial classes. Reply when you see this!"

Lu Mingfei shrank his head, typed the two words "Received," then decisively closed the chat window and set his QQ status to invisible.

Whether it was this slightly self-deceiving tactic that worked, or the homeroom teacher had simply finished what they wanted to say, the "beep-beep" sound didn't ring again...

"Beep-beep-beep!"

Lu Mingfei was startled. He glanced at the bottom right corner, then let out a sigh of relief and clicked it open.

The chat window that popped up belonged to the "Private Class Group," the only difference from the "Official Class Group" being the absence of teachers.

Liu Miaomiao: "@Everyone Reliable news, official document: winter break is from today until February 10th, just after the Lantern Festival, a full month!"

This message ignited the deep-sea bomb with the speed of a gray fuse, blasting out a bunch of lurkers.

"What's the point of a long official break? Which year has the school not held remedial classes for the third year during winter break? It starts tomorrow, seamless transition! They say it's voluntary, but my parents didn't give me a choice at all."

Someone posted a sighing emoji, "I'd be thankful just to have ten days of vacation left."

"That's you guys, I don't have to. My dad said as long as I get in the top ten in the grade for the final exam, he'll let me choose freely." Su Xiaoqiang popped up, "I'm going to do fitness training to tone up, and then travel the world!"

Zhao Menghua: "Sigh, I really envy you guys."

Xu Yanyan: "What are you envying, Boss? Didn't you say long ago you weren't attending remedial classes? You have a whole month to play as you please."

Zhao Menghua: "I'm not attending school remedial classes, but my family insists on arranging tutors from Qinghua University and Peking University to coach me in every subject, plus a provincial team coach to instruct me in Basketball.

My Schedule Plan is packed every day. Vacation? It'll be a miracle if I can rest for one day on New Year's!"

Liu Miaomiao: "I have it even worse. Not only do I have to attend school remedial classes, but my family also specifically found a pianist who won an American international Piano competition last year to give me tutoring lessons."

"Don't even mention it. My mom saw that a Wuying-level Martial Arts Athlete came out of the school last year, and she insisted on signing me up to learn Tai Chi!" someone said.

Lu Mingfei scratched his hair. He had no interest in any Qinghua University or Peking University professors or award-winning pianists.

He flipped through the messages from start to finish just to find a girl's avatar wearing a baseball cap... but he didn't find it.

Lu Mingfei couldn't even tell if he should be disappointed or happy.

If he were happy, Chen Wenwen hadn't popped up; if he were disappointed, at least the message he had sent to Chen Wenwen two hours ago, asking if there were any Literature Club activities during the winter break, hadn't received a reply, which now had a reasonable explanation.

"Beep-beep-beep!"

Lu Mingfei glanced over; the pulsing icon was a baseball girl avatar.

The cursor moved to that avatar almost instantly, a precise target lock, and he clicked the left mouse button.

"Yes, there are. I'm attending the school remedial classes," Chen Wenwen said.

It was like someone who had been stifled in a damp, dark prison for a year or a year and a half, growing mushrooms on their body, suddenly being released. The joy of that first step out of the prison gate, with the magnificent sunlight enveloping their whole body, making the entire world feel fresh and warm.

Waiting in the internet cafe for two hours had only yielded ten characters. But Lu Mingfei's previously low spirits were evaporated just like that. He couldn't help but grin, then scanned his surroundings like a thief, terrified of being seen by others.

"You're attending too? But your grades are very good," Lu Mingfei hurriedly typed. When he looked at the class report card, Chen Wenwen's was the first one he looked at, and only then his own.

"Yes, but it's still not good enough..." Chen Wenwen replied, "You too, let's work hard together!"

Work hard together!

The point wasn't the hard work, but the "together"!

Lu Mingfei clearly felt his heart skip a beat. If he weren't in an internet cafe right now but in his aunt's bedroom, he would surely be beaming with radiance, wriggling happily like a maggot.

"Okay!" Lu Mingfei's force on the keyboard was much greater now.

"Good luck! I'm going to go read now." Chen Wenwen sent a "good luck" emoji, and her avatar turned gray.

"Good luck!"

Lu Mingfei whistled as he looked out the window. The slightly pale and gloomy winter scenery was so dazzling at this moment, which reminded him of the book *Lady Chatterley's Lover* by Lawrence that he had read in the Literature Club earlier—

"The world is cold and dead, yet beneath the appearance of death, secret stirrings, immeasurable minute vitality are growing... Frost presses heavily upon the earth, but this weight presses life into secret corners, pressing it toward the warm, intimate depths."

"Ding-dong!"

A message box popped up on the desktop—"Your session time is about to end. The system will automatically shut down in 3 minutes. If you need to extend your time, please contact the internet cafe manager."

Lu Mingfei decisively logged off.

Having received encouragement, he was full of ambition at this moment!

What internet surfing, what StarCraft? Those were just clouds in the sky. From this moment on, he would strive for progress and study with self-discipline!

Lu Mingfei had already begun to fantasize about his grades making an explosive leap after he studied hard, becoming one of the top ten in the grade in one fell swoop, and standing on the podium with Chen Wenwen to receive praise after the next monthly exam assembly.

So cool!

Lu Mingfei, still in the midst of his fantasy, left the internet cafe. He hadn't taken two steps when he suddenly stepped on something, his foot slipped, and he almost did a split on the spot.

"Who has such poor public morality!"

Lu Mingfei, who had been scared into a cold sweat, stood steady with lingering fear and looked at the ground, discovering that the culprit was an exquisite booklet.

"Schedule Planning Manual?"

Lu Mingfei, who had picked it up out of curiosity, silently read the six large characters on the cover and flipped it open.

The first thing that caught his eye was the introduction—

"Please fill out the Schedule Plan 【completely】 according to your own situation and based on 【practical】 needs, in order to cultivate self-discipline."

The two words "completely" and "practical" were even specially bolded and printed in red.

It was exactly what he needed; Lu Mingfei felt a surge of joy in his heart. Could this mean that even the heavens were helping him?

If he had a Schedule Plan and could strictly execute it, it would be far more efficient than aimlessly hitting here and there!

Of course, for the vast majority of people, a Schedule Plan usually becomes scrap paper within one to three days, but Lu Mingfei, who was currently in a state of intermittent ambition, would not consider such things.

The internet cafe was not far from his aunt's house, so Lu Mingfei bought two discounted loaves of bread on the way and stuffed them into his schoolbag, preparing them for tomorrow's breakfast.

His uncle had gone to chat and brag with his tea-drinking friends, his aunt had gone to play mahjong, and his cousin Lu Mingze had also gone out to play, so there was no one else at his aunt's house. He returned to his room, picked up a pen, and began to fill it out.

The supplementary classes at Shilan Middle School were a bit different from those at ordinary schools.

Given that most students had other tutoring arrangements at home, the winter break supplementary classes were much shorter than normal school hours; the mornings remained the same, but school ended at three in the afternoon.

This meant that, in addition to the courses arranged by the school, Lu Mingfei also needed to fill in his Schedule Plan for the afternoon and evening.

"Hmm, starting from tomorrow, that would be..."

【January 11, 2009】

【6:00—7:00 Get Up, Dress and Wash, Morning Run to School, Eat Breakfast】

"It's too troublesome to fill in every single class. I'll just write them together. What lunch break? No need! No breaks between classes either, use them all for Learning!"

【7:00—15:00 Morning Self-study, Classes, Lunch, Self-study during odd moments and lunch break】

"What should I do after school?"

Lu Mingfei fell into deep thought, and then a scene suddenly flashed before his eyes: Zhao Menghua leaping up on the Basketball court to easily send the ball into the hoop, with everyone watching and cheering in admiration.

Though he said he didn't care, deep down, Lu Mingfei had also fantasized that he was that kind of person.

Most importantly, Zhao Menghua was like him—one of the people personally invited by Chen Wenwen to join the Literature Club.

Sometimes Lu Mingfei felt discouraged when he thought about it himself; apart from having an advantage in playing StarCraft, he had absolutely no edge in other aspects.

If he put himself in her shoes, if he were Chen Wenwen, he wouldn't choose a guy who only knew how to play StarCraft, right?

If he could be more outstanding than Zhao Menghua, would that make things secure?

Add it! Add everything he was inferior in!

As for the "completely" and "practical" in red and bold in the introduction? What practical or not, Lu Mingfei believed in his own perseverance!

【15:00—18:00 Basketball Training】

"What to do at night, homework? But there's never much homework from school, I can finish it during the breaks... Play games? No, Lu Mingfei, oh Lu Mingfei, how can you be so slack!"

The state of intermittent ambition had not yet passed, and Lu Mingfei was still in a high-spirited phase.

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck him, and he thought of the Fitness that Su Xiaoqiang had mentioned in the group earlier.

Zhao Menghua had also talked about Fitness (Muscle Gain) in class; a body full of muscles was something even boys would envy.

Lu Mingfei looked down at himself again; by comparison, it wasn't exactly withered, but he could certainly be called a walking skeleton.

"Just Running won't build muscle... I want to do Fitness too!"

【18:00—22:00 Dinner, Fitness (Muscle Gain)】

"After Fitness, go back to my aunt's house and study for another two hours; sleeping six hours a day should be enough!"

【22:00—0:00 Go home, Wash and Gargle, Self-study, Sleep】

"Very good, that's the day finished..."

Lu Mingfei let out a long sigh, then immediately realized there were still twenty-nine days left to fill.

"This is too troublesome!"

"No, wait, if I think about it carefully, I can just follow the class schedule before school ends, and I can do Basketball Training every day too, it's just the evenings that need to change, after all, I can't do Fitness every day..."

But what should he replace it with?

After pondering for a long time, unable to think of anything, Lu Mingfei simply opened his notebook, logged into QQ, and looked for inspiration in the "private class group."

As a private key high school, most of the students at Shilan Middle School were from wealthy or influential families, so their holiday arrangements were naturally exceptionally rich.

His gaze skimmed over Liu Miaomiao's previous messages.

"Piano, let's add Piano too!"

Every year at the school's Spring Festival gala, the grade-ten Piano beauty Liu Miaomiao would play the Piano on stage, the center of attention under the spotlight, surrounded by boys in black formal wear dancing gracefully.

Sometimes Lu Mingfei had also thought about being the one playing the Piano.

【January 12 18:00—22:00 Learn Piano】

As for where to learn the Piano? Lu Mingfei was already on a roll; whether he could finish it or not didn't matter, just write it down first!

"Private tutoring definitely needs to be arranged too; how can I rely only on Self-study? During the school break, I'll have private tutoring, following the school's class schedule!"

"Hahaha, learning Tai Chi martial arts sounds pretty good too, add it! In case I get into a fight later, I won't have to be afraid!"

"Sleep one day, and study two more hours!"

"That's about it, just rotate through these few things..."

Once he completely let himself go and didn't have to consider how to finish it, filling it out became quite simple.

In no time, the entire thirty-day Schedule Plan was filled out.

"Phew... why do I feel like I've forgotten something?"

Lu Mingfei let out a long sigh, flipped through the Schedule Plan booklet, and looking at the absurd time arrangements on it, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, so he didn't continue thinking about it.

It looked absurd just to look at!

"Beep beep beep!"

A notification sound rang out, and Lu Mingfei clicked open the StarCraft group, where someone had @-ed him, "A master has arrived, called Lao Tang, he's begging to be crushed!"

Lu Mingfei immediately became interested.

As for the brand-new Schedule Planning Manual in his hands with ink not yet dry?

Lu Mingfei shoved it into the backpack hanging on the back of his chair.

Tomorrow's business can be dealt with tomorrow!

As for completing it... that is of course impossible, not even for a single day. He had let himself go when filling out the Schedule Plan; how could such an outrageous plan possibly be completed!

The intermittent state of being full of ambition is outdated, now online is the new state—

Persistent state of waiting for death while eating and drinking!

Lu Mingfei, who had come online at light speed, did not notice the change that had occurred to the Schedule Planning Manual stuffed into the crevice of the backpack hanging on the chair back.

On the closed paper pages, a line of handwriting emerged.

【Plan received, checking...】

【Plan meets requirements, according to the schedule, the difficulty is judged as: Roll Dog】

Execute according to the predetermined plan?

PS: You can still modify and adjust before confirming; this difficulty is the highest difficulty, and it cannot be changed after confirmation】

【Yes/No】

Lu Mingfei was typing a reply at this moment, while muttering, "Come, come, come, let me see how awesome you are!"

【Answer received, confirmed to execute according to the predetermined plan.】

【Welcome to use the Schedule Planning Manual, dedicated to serving you, plan start time, January 11, 2009, 6:00】

The paper vanished into thin air, turning into countless light particles that passed through the backpack and the chair back, sinking into the completely unaware Lu Mingfei's body.

January 11, early morning, six o'clock sharp.

While Lu Mingfei was still in a sweet dream, just finishing the "Third Piano Concerto" while welcoming the shocked and envious gazes of the whole school, an emotionless electronic voice suddenly rang in his ears.

【Warning, it is time to 【Get Up】, please execute immediately, otherwise a primary punishment will be carried out—Electric Shock Release!】

"What kind of gibberish is that?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned and didn't take it too seriously.

The electronic voice continued to ring.

【Warning, electric shock countdown, three, two, one, Electric Shock Release!】

Intense electric current surged out of thin air, the dream that had already become somewhat blurry shattered completely like glass, and the pain accompanied by instinctive convulsions made Lu Mingfei's eyes widen instantly, a scream echoing through the sky outside the window that was still covered in thick ink-like darkness.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

(End of this chapter)