The bell sounded and the teacher took his things and left for the teacher's room, while the children ran out quickly to go buy snacks for their fifteen-minute break. It was only a few children that sat down and continued to study and for the first time in the memory of the students that went to the same school as him, Wan Zhi was one of them.

Even though he was known for having passable grades he never really studied but the teachers left him alone because he also couldn’t be considered a trouble maker. He just usually sat in his desk quietly and fiddled with something out the other, and that was because even after digging in his memory he couldn’t find a single memory of himself having friends.

After all, no one wanted to make friends with the little bastard that their parents had told them to stay away from. Even when he went back to the Wans he couldn’t remember having a true friend, maybe back then he thought all those people that leached off him were his friends but the Wan Zhi sitting there now, knowing that none of those people were his friends, the minute he was pulled into a pit they either walked away and abandoned him or did what they could to make his life worse.

“Why do you think he’s studying?”

Wan Zhi heard the whisper not too far from him but ignored it and continued to work, he had no time to care about what these people had to say about him, he just wished they found somewhere else to talk. As he massaged his temple the fifteen minutes came to an end and another teacher walked into class as the students rushed in, they quickly finished what they were eating and tossed it in the trash.

The teacher looked over all of them and then nodded before she started to write on the board.

“You know, I was wondering if the students of this class had started working properly since the exam was fast approaching. But looking at you, you all have the spare time to play around, I hope you know that those who get passable grades during this exam will only end up in mediocre schools, and for those that don’t even pass, humph…”

Some of the students seemed struck by this and lowered their heads in shame before they picked up their pens and began to work. The teacher passed over each of them and then went back to her work, like that the morning passes and in between each class, Wan Zhi would take the time to do his review. It was only when lunch came that he packed up and went to the canteen to get lunch, normally his mother would make lunch for him but they were too busy for that now.

He took out the leftover money he had and bought two buns and water and then went to the back of the school to find a quiet place, He saw a few old stone desk and chairs and took out his books to study as he ate. As he was writing he paused and then quickly searched his memory, a weird look came to his face as he realized he could still remember the test questions.

He bit his lip and pensively stared down at his book, he considered what to do with the information and decided to use it. He wasn’t a situation where he could choose not to, since he had to take every backup card he had to the court. But he wouldn’t rely on it directly because they were in a different province as such the questions would vary, but he would use the key points.

It’s because even though he had attended a subpar school it was still a school located in an area where the average economic state of families was much higher. He didn’t bother to write down the questions for ear someone sees it and he ends up in a deep pit. As he thought about each question he took pages from another book put symbols on the paper and then tore them before using glue to stick them to certain pages of the text.

When he was finished class was about to begin so he grabbed his things and returned to class, after that the school came to an end. He got up and packed his things quickly before he left the class and headed out the school, he got on the bus back to the hostel. When he reached there his mother sat on the single bed folding up the clothes, from what he could see she had gotten bored and went to wash clothes.

“Mom I’m back. He said as he walked over and Yin Zi looked at him and smiled.

She set down the top she was holding and came over to give him a hug, as she reached to touch him, he but back the urge to step away, his muscles became stiff and he braced himself for the hug. His mother gave him a strange look when he didn’t answer back but since she wasn’t so smart and couldn’t figure it out she brushed it aside.

“Today there was nothing to do so I cleaned up the place and washed everything again, when I finish folding the clothes there will be nothing else to do.” She sighed and went back.

Wan Zhi stared at the woman who hadn’t even asked how his day was and felt a trace of disappointment, it seems she wasn’t really that different from her of that time. He sighed and went over to the small desk, he took out his books and put them on the table with his other things. He checked the time and decided to take an hour break before he studied again.