Chapter 3

As Ying Chanxi explained the problem to him, Li Luo explored the shapes of these memories in his mind.

About ten minutes later, he finally gained some understanding of his current state.

In short, it was similar to hyperthymesia with few aftereffects.

The full 35 years of memories from his previous life were like videotapes recorded and stored—whenever he actively recalled, he could instantly and precisely relive the scenes.

Even the "Record of the Peach Blossom Spring," which he had only read a few times, he could recall word for word without omission.

If ordinary people's memories were like a river, where tracing the past required strenuous upstream effort and the memories had long grown murky and unclear,

then Li Luo's mind at this moment was like a vast memory palace.

All 35 years of memories were neatly stored within it, and whenever Li Luo needed, he could retrieve them at any time.

But his ability functioned more like an active skill—when he didn't think about it, he didn't suffer the constant overload that hyperthymesia patients endured from too many memories.

So during the brief moment when Ying Chanxi went to the bathroom, Li Luo quickly rose from his seat and took down a thick Xinhua Dictionary from the bookshelf.

He then flipped open a random page and read through a paragraph word by word.

Normally, after reading it once, an ordinary person would only retain a vague impression.

But Li Luo merely recalled it briefly, and every single word he had just read appeared in his mind without error.

As long as he wanted, he could recall it anytime.

"What are you doing?" Ying Chanxi asked, returning to the bedroom from the bathroom and seeing Li Luo holding the Xinhua Dictionary.

"Oh, checking a pinyin," Li Luo replied offhandedly, returning the dictionary to the shelf, his heart already swelling with excitement.

Because…

He tried recalling the exams he had taken during his previous life's middle school entrance exam—

Chinese—Question One: Which of the following options has all the correct pronunciations for the underlined characters?

Math—Question One: 3a(−2a) =?

It really worked!

As Li Luo recalled the exam papers rising in his mind, his lips and throat grew dry, and his heart pounded violently.

With these original questions, he didn't just have a chance at the regular high school cutoff—he might even dare to aim for Yuhang Attached No. 1 High School!

But when Li Luo finished recalling the math paper and tried to continue recalling the politics, history, science, and English papers, his head suddenly spun and swelled—he immediately stopped, frowning and clutching his head.

Ugh…

Li Luo frowned at the problem Ying Chanxi had asked him to solve, pretending to concentrate while easing the ache in his head.

Then he realized his memory palace's recall ability wasn't entirely without aftereffects.

Each recall consumed his mental energy and stamina; trying to recall too much in a short time could easily damage his brain.

Especially fine details—like specific exam questions—intensified this drain.

Even so, given the remaining time, Li Luo believed he could still recall all the other exam papers.

The good news was that once recalled once, these papers were like permanently engraved in his mind—retrieving them no longer required mental effort and could be reviewed at will.

The only pity was that in his previous life, Li Luo had never checked the correct answers to the middle school entrance exam, so the memory palace naturally held no correct answers to those papers.

He only remembered his previous life's exam score was 417, ranking 4,897th in the entire district.

This year's regular high school cutoff was 420.

Yuhang Attached No. 1 High School's cutoff was as high as 512.

As one of the more remote districts in Yuhang City, Yuhang Attached No. 1 High School ranked among the top five in the entire city for teaching staff and academic results.

Each year, roughly seven to eight thousand students in Yinjiang District took the middle school entrance exam, but Yuhang Attached No. 1 High School admitted only about 640 new students.

Of these, 160 had already been admitted through independent enrollment, leaving only about 480 spots for students who took the entrance exam.

Excluding the top students who transferred to the city's key high schools, to get into Attached No. 1, one needed to rank within the top 600 in the district to have any chance.

Ranking within the top 500 was relatively secure.

This difficulty level was hellish for both the 15-year-old Li Luo and the 35-year-old Li Luo.

He never even thought about it in normal times.

But now, having discovered those preserved middle school entrance exam papers deep in his memory, Li Luo suddenly felt he might still have a chance.

"Why are you zoning out?" Ying Chanxi glanced at Li Luo, who was staring blankly, slightly annoyed. "Don't daydream—have you figured out this problem yet?"

"Hmm… can you explain it again?" Li Luo snapped back to reality and said boldly.

He compared it briefly and realized the problem Ying Chanxi was explaining had the same question type as Question Five on the math section of the middle school entrance exam.

If he mastered this problem, he could solve that multiple-choice question on the exam.

Thinking this, Li Luo felt energized.

He couldn't possibly write down the exact questions from the middle school math paper in front of Ying Chanxi and ask her to teach him.

That would be far too suspicious—if she later checked the actual exam paper after the test, it could cause trouble.

But if he could master similar question types and follow Ying Chanxi's reasoning to solve the math paper in his mind, wouldn't that let him solve those problems ahead of time?

If Chinese exam questions like reading comprehension had no fixed answers and were nearly impossible to score perfectly without memorizing model responses,

then subjects like math—once he identified the question type and understood the solution method—could let Li Luo calculate the answers in advance.

Even for problem-solving questions, if he had the same solution approach and steps, he could solve them with 80–90% accuracy.

After confirming this, Li Luo's motivation for review was fully ignited.

Ying Chanxi could clearly sense that Li Luo had become at least five times more serious—even taking the initiative to pick out problems and asking her to explain them multiple times.

This brought her some comfort, and she sharpened her focus, breaking down each problem meticulously for him.

…

Around five in the evening, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the front door.

Soon after, the muffled noises of shoes being taken off and quiet murmurs echoed outside.

Probably seeing the shoes by the door, Li Luo's mother, Lin Xiuhong, walked to the bedroom door and knocked, asking, "Li Luo, is Chanxi at home?"

"Auntie, I'm here." Ying Chanxi, closer to the door, stood up and opened it, leaning out to say to Lin Xiuhong, "Lin Yi~ I'm helping Li Luo review tomorrow's exam subjects."

Hearing this, Lin Xiuhong paused in surprise, then peered through the door crack and saw Li Luo bent over his desk, studying intently—she was slightly stunned.

Immediately, she smiled happily, nodding repeatedly, "Good, good, good! Chanxi, you've worked hard. Your uncle and I bought plenty of groceries—stay for dinner tonight."

"Mm-hmm." Ying Chanxi nodded, a sweet smile blooming on her face, "I've been craving your cooking."

"Hehe, all your favorites—cola chicken wings, tomato and scrambled eggs, minced pork with eggplant…" Lin Xiuhong listed off a string of dishes.

The more Ying Chanxi heard, the brighter her eyes grew: "Lin Yi, need help? Can I assist you?"

"No, no, your uncle's back—we'll cook together." Lin Xiuhong waved her hands, "You focus on helping Li Luo study more—he'll benefit from even one more day."

"Mm, I understand."

The two finished speaking.

The bedroom door closed again.

The moment Ying Chanxi shut the door and turned back to her seat, Li Luo's previously trembling shoulders grew still.

But if one paid closer attention, it was clear Li Luo now gripped his pen far tighter than before.

"Phew…" Li Luo exhaled slowly, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, barely avoiding losing composure in front of Ying Chanxi.

Just now, hearing his mother's familiar voice, Li Luo's mind instantly flashed to his mother twenty years later—pale-lipped, yellow-skinned, emaciated, and wrinkled, lying on a hospital bed.

And now, young by twenty years, Lin Xiuhong… Li Luo feared that if he so much as saw her face, he'd burst into tears.

So he forced himself to suppress the urge, refusing to turn and look.

Ying Chanxi, unaware of Li Luo's disturbance, continued tutoring him.

In the kitchen, Lin Xiuhong chatted with her husband.

"If Li Luo had half Chanxi's obedience, he wouldn't be doing so poorly."

"Boys mature late," Li Guohong handed her the washed vegetables, offering comfort, "He'll improve once he gets to high school."

"He doesn't even know if he'll pass the cutoff for regular high school," Lin Xiuhong said anxiously. "At the parent-teacher meeting, the teacher told me his grades are dangerously low—just a few points lower, and he'll be sent to vocational school."

Li Guohong fell silent for a moment, then said, "Do you remember my cousin?"

"What about him?" Lin Xiuhong asked, slightly puzzled.

"His wife's brother-in-law is the academic director at Thirteenth Middle School," Li Guohong said. "I mentioned Li Luo before—he said Thirteenth Middle accepts a few non-resident students each year. If Li Luo just misses the cutoff, paying an admission fee can still get him in."

"Really?" Lin Xiuhong's face lit up, a flicker of relief in her chest, but she immediately asked, "How much is the admission fee?"

"A one-time fee of thirty thousand, and annual tuition two thousand higher than regular students."

"So expensive?" Lin Xiuhong frowned instinctively, then sighed, "If this boy truly doesn't strive, we'll have to spend the money anyway."

"Don't think like that," Li Guohong patted his wife's shoulder, soothing her. "Look—Ying Chanxi is tutoring him. The top student in grade is helping your son—his score should be fine."

"What good is that?" Lin Xiuhong pouted. "If it were really that effective, why didn't he start earlier? Only now, on the last day, does he get Chanxi to tutor him?"

"At least he's trying now," Li Guohong could only say, "The exam is tomorrow—don't say anything harsh in front of the kids."

"Do you think I need you to tell me? I know my limits."

Lin Xiuhong sliced an apple, handed the knife to Li Guohong: "I'll take the fruit in—you chop the vegetables."

Saying this, she stuck two toothpicks into apple slices, picked up the tray, stepped out of the kitchen, and gently knocked on her son's bedroom door.

"Lin Yi, what is it?" Ying Chanxi opened the door, peeked out, and saw the fruit tray in Lin Xiuhong's hands.

"Here, dinner's still a while—eat some fruit first." Lin Xiuhong handed over the tray, glancing again at Li Luo inside.

At that moment, Li Luo had just finished listening to Ying Chanxi explain a complex math problem and was now concentrating intensely, working out how to solve a similar geometry question on the exam paper.

Seeing her son so focused, Lin Xiuhong felt a flicker of relief: "Keep going—I won't disturb you."

"Yes, Lin Yi." Ying Chanxi sweetly replied, then sat back down with the tray.

Seeing Li Luo still deeply absorbed in the exam paper, Ying Chanxi picked up a toothpick and offered a slice of apple to his lips.

Feeling the odd sensation at his mouth, Li Luo looked down and snapped back to awareness.

He stared at Ying Chanxi in surprise, blinking, his gaze slightly dazed.

"What are you staring at?" Ying Chanxi wiggled the toothpick. "Since you're studying hard, this is a one-day-only perk."

"Ying Chanxi."

"Hmm?"

"Do you like me?"

"... I like your big head!" Ying Chanxi scowled, pulling the toothpick back, "Fine, don't eat it."

"Hey, wait!" Li Luo quickly grabbed her small hand, then leaned forward and snatched the apple slice into his mouth.

Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes, reinserted the toothpick, then picked up another and stuck a slice onto it for herself.

Rekindling the pure, joyful friendship with his childhood friend, Li Luo's mood lifted sharply—he savored the apple's crisp sweetness and bent back to his problem.

"Here, another slice."

The apple slice was held to Li Luo's lips.

Li Luo opened his mouth instinctively—only to bite air, his teeth snapping shut with a click.

"Hahaha!" Ying Chanxi laughed triumphantly at his trick.

But the next second, Li Luo raised his eyebrows, snatched the toothpick from her hand, and shoved the apple slice into his mouth.

"Hey!" Ying Chanxi's face flushed with alarm, "What are you doing?! That toothpick is mine!"

"Huh? No wonder it didn't taste as good as before."

"... You're asking for death!"

A side of her personality never shown to schoolmates now unfolded fully, unrestrained, inside the boy's bedroom.

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