Chapter 11: 11

Xu Sheng freed a hand. With the bag carried in one hand, he flipped through the last few books: “No Words That Cannot Be Practiced into Adequacy: A Quick Tutorial in Xingkai”, “Words Are Like Individuals: Five-book Set of Huaxia Wanjun Pen Copybook”.

… 

They were all copybooks.

Xu Sheng couldn’t look anymore.

 

 

Judging from the bag’s weight and thickness, Shao Zhan had bought at least ten books. There was a comprehensive list of fonts, from beginner to advanced versions. There was a high degree of choice.

Who knew if it was because Shao Zhan had bought way too many copybooks, but the store had even put a pen in the bag as a gift. 

It hadn’t been easy for Xu Sheng to last until school ended. He initially thought he could temporarily escape this “Shao Zhan” curse, and hoped that when he woke up tomorrow morning they would have switched back. “You even specially went to buy copybooks, you’re also…” He said that, but under Shao Zhan’s gaze that was devoid of warmth, he shoved the curse words back. “What’s wrong with you?”

 

To him, Shao Zhan’s ability to go to the store to buy copybooks was also a kind of test.

There had still been a few students inside the bookstore choosing their remedial materials. Once he entered the store, he had cleared it out for the shop owner in less than ten seconds, and immediately received priority treatment.

The reason he bought so many copybooks was completely because he didn’t have the time to choose. The shop owner had stood by the side and sighed, “Student, hurry up and buy it, we still have to do business here.”

 

Today in class, Xu Sheng was able to snatch the test paper back from Meng Guowei’s hands, but there was no guarantee in the future. If some subject teacher excitedly called on him to write the solution on the blackboard, once Xu Sheng’s writing came out, he couldn’t explain it even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

Shao Zhan, “Your handwriting is too ugly.”

Xu Sheng looked at his own face that seemed to have been frozen over.

 

“…” He really wanted to curse him, but he couldn’t rebuke it. 

Shao Zhan slung his bag over one shoulder, and gave him another choice. When he spoke, he leaned in closer, giving off an oppressive aura, his wispy bangs falling over his eyes. “It’s fine if you don’t practice too. I’ll switch to my right hand in class tomorrow.”

Not only did Xu Sheng want to curse at him, he even had the urge to smack him.

If Shao Zhan were to switch back to his right hand to write, each subject teacher would suddenly notice that Xu Sheng’s handwriting was advancing by leaps and bounds, close to that of the study god’s. This shock would be even greater.

Two choices, both of which ended in death. The only difference was which one would have a more tragic death. 

Xu Sheng didn’t want to choose either of them.

After Shao Zhan had said that, he didn’t want to fret over this problem anymore, and prepared to turn around and leave. Xu Sheng quickly pulled him back. “Wait a moment.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Xu Sheng’s grip on Shao Zhan’s hand was tight. As long as he prepared himself mentally and occasionally set a bottom line, he could say anything and bargain. “Twenty pages is too many. The number of words I’ve written this semester don’t even add up to that much. Let’s negotiate, ten pages.”

Vtjb Itjc ibbxfv ja tlw klatbea rjslcu j kbgv. 

We Vtfcu rajgafv ab ajix cbcrfcrf, “Snfgsatlcu lr vloolmeia lc atf yfulcclcu, jcv cbatlcu mjc yf vbcf bnfgcluta, sbe rtbeiv xcbk atlr qtlibrbqts. P yfilfnf sbe kbeivc’a yf rb geatifrr abkjgvr j mijrrwjaf…”

Lbkfnfg, We Vtfcu tjv bcis rajgafv ab rqfjx ktfc tf kjr lwwfvljafis yibmxfv.

 

“I’m solemn and serious, utterly desolate,” Shao Zhan spoke up to here, paused, then continued, “Oh, and also one more phrase, even worse than a beast.”

“…” 

Shao Zhan, “Let go.”

Xu Sheng let go and watched Shao Zhan return to the opposite dorm room and close the door.

Xu Sheng’s writing had always been casual. He happily wrote however he wanted to write.

It wasn’t as if none of the teachers had ever given him copybooks. In the first year of high school, Gu Yanwang had advised him. “Look at your handwriting, what kind of chicken scratch is that? I could randomly pull someone off the street who could write more clearly than you with their feet! Your scores are already so low, and you won’t even get a good grip on your total score. Go out the school gate and turn right into Xinhua Bookstore, get out and buy some copybooks to practice! Quickly!” 

Xu Sheng had pretended he didn’t hear anything and had merely said “goodbye Director Gu” and walked away.

Practice writing?

What kind of joke, even if Xu Sheng was dreaming, it wasn’t possible for him to dream of something like this.

Ten minutes later, Xu Sheng sat in front of his desk. He accepted the humiliation and the burden, and turned to the first page of the copybook. 

Before he moved his pen, a line of words appeared in his mind: I’ll definitely regret my actions tonight.

On the first page of the copybook, there was a row of three grids on the left. Inside the grids were three basic strokes: héng, chuí lù shù, xuán zhēn shù.

Under the grids, there were a few lines of small characters that listed the writing techniques and key points: héng, keep the pen light at the beginning, then smoothly drag it to the right, take note that it’s low on the left and higher on the right, a long horizontal with a slight arc…

Xu Sheng pressed the layer of copy paper over the copybook, forced himself to control his emotions, then in the practice grids on the right, copied a row of the character for “three”. 

Zhang Feng was still bombarding him with WeChat messages.

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Zhang Feng: Right, boss, why did you run off so fast after school today?

Because I was afraid you’d come looking for me.

Zhang Feng: I wanted to ask if you wanted to play basketball. 

I was especially afraid you’d come look for me to play basketball.

Zhang Feng: What are you doing right now?

 

Xu Sheng glanced at his copybook and replied with three words: Playing games.

Zhang Feng: Play together? 

Xu Sheng: Play by yourself, I want to practice positioning.

Xu Sheng: People can’t always depend on their teammates. You should learn how to carry yourself.

Zhang Feng: …

When Xu Sheng finally raised his head from his copybook, it was already completely dark outside. The sound of cicadas were faint and a hot, dry wind rustled past the shadows of the trees. Only then did he realise he had actually been practicing for almost an hour. 

Xu Sheng threw his pen to the side and sat with one leg curled up on the edge of his seat. He leaned back and stretched his neck before unconsciously reaching for the bottle of mineral water on his desk.

He unscrewed the cap, placed the bottle opening to his mouth, then screwed the cap back on without drinking anything.

Going to the bathroom was more embarrassing than taking a shower.

He hadn’t communicated any specific details with Shao Zhan and pretended that this didn’t exist, but they both ended up drinking less water. Xu Sheng thought of this, and a deep sense of shame surrounded him. 

He really didn’t know—why was it so difficult just getting by in school?

Xu Sheng scratched at his hair and took his phone out again. He opened up his web browser and tapped on a Q&A site. He wanted to see if there were any other people who had experienced similar events, but all he found were recommendations for novels.

He could only become the first person to ask the question. He typed out word by word: I am a second year in high school. My grades…my grades definitely have room for improvement.

Maybe it was hesitation over speaking about it, or his inability to find the correct angle of approach at the moment. Xu Sheng beat around the bush for a while, even nonsensically praising his own good looks before entering the main topic: I switched bodies with a classmate. What should I do? 

Xu Sheng’s choice of classification for this question was both difficult and complicated. Soon afterwards, a doctor surnamed Li responded to his question: I recommend you go to a hospital for a checkup as soon as possible.

The doctor surnamed Li’s profile picture was a white coat with a majestic, strict expression, looking very authoritative.

Xu Sheng sat up straight. It seemed like he had found a solution. He responded: Could you give more details?

Doctor surnamed Li: Go see a psychiatrist as soon as possible and actively cooperate with the doctor. I wish you a speedy recovery. 

“…”

Xu Sheng suddenly felt that practicing his handwriting was a pretty decent option compared to asking advice from an unreliable doctor.

 

Xu Sheng finished copying twenty pages until he was dizzy and his vision was blurry. The words in the grids went from familiar to unfamiliar back to familiar. As he wrote, he became deeply suspicious of life and society.

His mention earlier of the fact that this was more words than he had written all semester was true. Right now, he wanted to correct the phrase he had just said—not only this semester, but he hadn’t even written that many words this and last semester combined. 

He never turned in his homework, never took notes, and didn’t answer questions seriously on exams.

If there were choices for essays, he would always choose ‘poetry’ because there were less words. This was always pulled out by Gu Yanwang for a bitter scolding. “You think you’re a poet huh? Huh?! What poetry, with your few broken phrases, can this be considered poetry?! Even if you wrote an off-topic essay it would be better than this! How did you pass the high school exam!”

Xu Sheng didn’t think any further. He shook his hands and the other thought that appeared in his mind actually turned out to be this: Seemed like Shao Zhan didn’t have friends?

Before, he only knew that this person looked cold, but after actually becoming Shao Zhan for a day, he discovered that although Shao Zhan had many fans, he didn’t really have a single friend. 

This was actually rather convenient for him. He didn’t need to deal with the sudden appearance of some “exam prodigy friend”.

If there really was such a person, the two of them would have to discuss problems together and agree to meet up at the library to cultivate philosophy and expand knowledge in their free time. He would rather choose death.

But after a day, he had finished enjoying his conveniences, but the question mark buried in the shadows was becoming bigger and bigger. Did this person’s life only consist of Huanggang and Wusan practice workbooks? Was the study god that perverse?

Xu Sheng took a shower and another question mark appeared. 

This time, he wiped away the condensation on the mirror. The upper body of the youth in the mirror was bare, his hair not yet dry and still dripping water. Xu Sheng turned to the side and craned his neck to see. This time, he finally managed to see the tattoo from a closer view—it looked like a wing made out of flame. The flames sprung out of his shoulder blades into the shape of a wing.

It was a very basic tattoo, basic to the point that it was the type that would appear most frequently if you walked into any tattoo shop.

It was the polar opposite of Shao Zhan’s entire icy cold persona.

Xu Sheng looked at it, and felt that staring at someone else like this was too perverted. He snatched his towel from the side and shook off all his questions. He covered his head with the towel and opened the door to leave. 

Before sleeping, the two of them thought of the same thing: Maybe they could switch back tomorrow.

If they didn’t switch back, there was no way they could continue living like this.

The next day, Xu Sheng was woken up by the sound of knocking on his door. He opened his dorm door. The person bringing his backpack and coming over to check his twenty pages in his copybook was “himself”.

The heavens clearly didn’t receive their calls. Other than that inexplicable sound of thunder, there had been no reply. 

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