Chapter 117: The Bit-Part Actor

After three days of leisure, the results for the sophomore year placement exams were posted on the notice board.

That morning, Zhang Tan habitually picked up two pebbles the size of ping-pong balls from his desk and began rotating them in his palm, creating a rhythmic squeaking sound. These were pebbles Gao Jie had picked from a stream near her grandmother’s house in the Dabie Mountains during the summer break, specifically choosing two near-spherical ones as a gift for him.

Zhang Tan had originally asked for the stones before the winter break, but since Gao Jie hadn't made it to her grandmother’s that time, she had kept it in mind and brought them back for him after her summer trip.

Using these pebbles as health balls, rolling them around with his fingers, gave him a distinctly rakish, playboy air. If he were to tuck a folding fan into his back and have two lackeys trailing behind him, he would look exactly like the pampered son of a wealthy landlord.

He walked through the school gate with a slow, swaggering gait, turning the stones in his hand.

He had barely entered the campus when he ran into Cao Yuchuan.

"Detective, I was just looking for you."

"What's up?"

Cao Yuchuan said excitedly, "The placement results are out. We’re in the same class—Class 4 of the sophomore year!"

"Oh, is that so?" Zhang Tan replied with a flat tone. He truly didn't feel much excitement about making it into the fast-track liberal arts class; to him, fast or slow classes made no difference.

"And Zhu Dandan, she’s in Class 4 as well."

"Not bad."

"We’re so lucky to have all three of us together. Your make-up exam results over the summer were impressive, Detective. You made it into the top fifty, forty-seventh place. I only ranked thirty-second—you’re almost catching up to me. Not bad, kid," Cao Yuchuan said smugly.

Zhang Tan rolled his eyes. The guy was actually trying to act superior in front of an "old soul."

Seemingly enjoying the feeling of getting the upper hand, Cao Yuchuan continued incessantly, "Zhu Dandan ranked sixty-seventh, a bit behind you. She was just saying she’s going to study day and night to overtake you. Anyway, you two can fight it out. As for my performance, don't even think about it—we’re on different levels."

*Squeak, squeak.* The sound of the pebbles in Zhang Tan’s hand grew slightly louder, and he had a sudden urge to smash them into Cao Yuchuan’s face.

"Gao Jie did well in the sciences, tenth in the whole school. She’s in Class 1. I went with them to check out the new classrooms just now. Ours is in the building next door, and Class 4 is right by the stairwell. From now on, the homeroom teacher will only be able to peek at our evening study sessions through the crack in the door. If you sit in the corner on the right, nobody can see you."

"Do you know who our homeroom teacher for Class 4 is? It’s Li Shengnan, that old woman who teaches history. I heard she’s going through menopause and is particularly insidious and ruthless. Her favorite thing to do is peek through the door crack, and if she catches anyone not studying, she drags them straight to the office for a 'tea session.'"

"Yu Na is still teaching us Chinese, but she’s the homeroom teacher for Class 6. Zhou Yuxi, Wang Long, Li Jianjun, and Zhu Mingxing all went to Class 6. Yu Na is such a great person; it’s a shame she isn't our homeroom teacher, sigh." The chatty Cao Yuchuan let out a long, melancholy sigh at the thought of parting ways with Yu Na.

Zhang Tan looked at him strangely. "Don't tell me you have a crush on Yu Na?"

"No," Cao Yuchuan denied, though his voice lacked conviction.

Although Yu Na wasn't exactly a beauty, she had a delicate, graceful appearance that captured the fantasies of many young boys. Especially with the added allure of being a teacher, Zhang Tan—who in his previous life had spent plenty of time on "adult" websites—had also had his fair share of daydreams about her, even meeting her in his dreams a few times for some unspeakable pleasures.

Of course, looking back with his current perspective, he found those memories quite embarrassing.

He had felt impulses toward Yang Yuejiao, toward the daughter of Pei Wencui, and toward Yu Na. Driven by adolescent curiosity and hormones, he had indeed been quite prone to such impulses.

Those impulses belonged to the past, but the memories remained.

They had become a fond recollection.

After all, what is youth without a little bit of romantic waywardness?

Today, Cao Yuchuan and his peers were the true youths, and it was perfectly normal for them to have such fantasies about Yu Na.

After a long pause, Cao Yuchuan said sadly, "Sigh, Detective, did you know? Yu Na is getting married."

"To Mr. Bu Xuewen, right?" Zhang Tan said casually.

"You already knew?"

"Yeah, Mr. Bu is a decent guy with a lot of class. They’re a good match."

If Zhang Tan’s memory served him correctly, Yu Na would marry Bu Xuewen that year during the National Day holiday. Bu Xuewen was also a Chinese teacher; during Yu Na’s pregnancy, he had even taken over Zhang Tan’s Chinese class for a while. His teaching was average, but he was a very gentle man with a mild temper.

Cao Yuchuan sighed again. "Sigh, why are they getting married so soon?"

Zhang Tan patted Cao Yuchuan on the shoulder without a word.

These were the troubles of growing up.

Walking a few steps further, they reached the notice board. Many students were gathered there, searching for their own names and those of their friends.

"Detective, you made it to Class 4," Tang Tongxin said loudly when she saw him.

Zhang Tan nodded. "Oh, and you guys?"

"I’m in Class 2."

"I didn't do well, I’m in Class 5."

Classes 1 and 2 were the fast-track science classes, 3 and 4 were the fast-track liberal arts classes, 5 and 6 were the slow-track science classes, and Class 7 was the slow-track liberal arts class.

Surrounded by people he knew, everyone called out their classes in a cacophony of voices. Zhang Tan scanned the familiar names on the board.

Zhu Ran had gone to Class 1; he was an athlete, but his science grades were decent, and he would eventually get into Suzhou College. Xu Weidong went to Class 6, as did Gao Ming, the guy who used to pee in class... Liang Wei, his former deskmate, had gone to Class 7.

Lu Jing, the girl he had harbored a secret crush on in his youth, had gone to Class 7, just as expected—her grades weren't good.

As for Yang Yuejiao, whom he had once pursued out of impulse—Zhang Tan had thought that by not bothering her this time around, she might make it into a fast-track science class. Instead, she had still ended up in Class 5, a slow-track science class.

"A weight off my shoulders. Perhaps Yang Yuejiao’s downward spiral in my past life wasn't because of me."

Because he had pursued Yang Yuejiao and then abruptly cut ties, Zhang Tan had always believed that her academic decline was his fault, leading to her eventual failures in society. Now it seemed it wasn't his doing at all; in this life, he had never once flirted with her.

However, thinking about it, he didn't feel much better.

"Damn it, is the last shred of my presence in high school about to vanish too? Was I just an insignificant extra in my past life?"

Zhang Tan didn't want to admit that his influence in his previous life could have been that pathetic.

But the facts seemed to point to the truth: it had been a life of a total loser.

Fortunately, he had been given a second chance.

He might not be able to change everyone else’s trajectory, but he could at least change his own.

No more being a loser!