Chapter Two: Even a Sated Tiger Is Not to Be Trifled With

[First Place: Hu Man, 61 points;]
[Second Place: Han Xia, 57 points;]
[Third Place...]
[Tenth Place: Yan Jinbu, 35 points;]

Once the thin, petite Teacher Hu started the class, he first announced the top ten scorers of this mock mathematics exam, and then began going over the questions.

Only then did Li Ye realize that the little old man wasn't just trying to comfort him; a score of 28 really was just "a bit on the low side."

Thinking back to what that troublemaker He Weiguo had just said—that Li Ye had fallen short by 7 points in the last college entrance exam—it meant he had only scored 21 points back then.

In this era, high school students had to pass a province-wide preliminary exam just to qualify for the actual college entrance exam, and the passing rate for the preliminary was less than 50%.

Would you believe that a score of 28 actually placed him solidly in the middle tier of the entire province?

You really couldn't blame the students of this era for being slow or lazy.

After listening to Teacher Hu explain the questions for just five minutes, Li Ye knew the teacher's own level fell short of his own.

And this was a math teacher for the remedial class at a county-level high school.

How long had it been since the college entrance exams were reinstated in 1977? What was the educational environment like now in 1981?

Not only was there a massive gap in the education received by middle and high school students during the period of isolation, but the teachers' own learning had also been disrupted.

Thus, this was an era of overall educational recovery. The tenacity and diligence of the students back then were in no way inferior to those of later generations, but their foundation of knowledge was incredibly weak.

In his past life, Li Ye had heard a college student from the late 1970s say that when they received the notice for the college entrance exam, they couldn't even understand simple linear equations in one variable.

Li Ye had treated it as a joke back then, but looking at it now... it didn't seem all that far-fetched.

Just looking at Li Ye's remedial class, the students' ages ranged from eighteen or nineteen to their late twenties.

Many of them had to start relearning from the very basics of seventh grade, competing with classmates whose ages differed by over a decade to cross the single-plank bridge of the exam.

In Li Ye's original era, a 34-year-old taking the exam for the fourteenth consecutive year was a rare oddity. But in this era, educated youth candidates approaching thirty were not uncommon at all.

After all, a decade or so ago, they too had been youth in their prime.

The national university admission rate at this time was a mere 4%. And that wasn't 4% of fresh high school graduates, but 4% of the entire cohort of young people ranging from sixteen to their early thirties.

For high schoolers now, taking the exam for three or four consecutive years was perfectly normal. There were students in Li Ye's class who were on their fourth attempt, and almost everyone who successfully got into college each year was a repeating student.

Even so, with a total score of over 600, scoring just over 400 could get you into a key university, and a bit over 300 could get you into a junior college.

Surprising, wasn't it?

Unexpected, wasn't it?

Li Ye didn't know that Ali Ma would only score 19 points on his second attempt at the college entrance exam's math section, nor did he know that the current average score for the math exam nationwide was only in the thirties. He only knew one thing: he was set.

With the questions on the paper before him, Li Ye didn't even need to summon the painful memories of his past life; relying solely on intuition and mental reflexes, he could tear through them with ease.

This was no boast. Letting Li Ye take the college entrance exam in this era was like introducing a massive cheat code.

How could you compare a group of high schoolers who stumbled over basic linear equations with the hyper-competitive, over-tutored kids of the future?

What kind of ordeal was it to be forged in a mountain of books and an ocean of mock exams?

Could the students of today comprehend the brutal beating of the Huanggang Secret Papers? Could they endure the devastation of the Hengshui Intensive Training Method?

Compared to them, Li Ye was like the Monkey King emerging from Lao Tzu's Eight Trigrams Furnace—honed to absolute perfection.

***

For the rest of the class, Li Ye barely listened to what Teacher Hu was saying at the blackboard.

He was afraid that if he listened too closely, he wouldn't be able to resist standing up and letting the teacher experience the agony of having a math god like "God Wei" in his class, prompting the teacher to leap over and rain punches down on him.

[Teacher, your explanation for this problem is too tedious, you know?]

[Teacher, I know a much better way to solve this.]

"Hmph, take this punch!"

Transmigrated for less than a day, deceased.

Letting his mind wander, Li Ye quietly booted up his brain and began reading that long-buried "painful memory" from his "hard drive," starting his own review.

Back in the day, he had studied until midnight every single night, faced with endless exercises and infinite equations. Rowing a boat through the sea of exams, one could easily be drowned by a sudden wave.

But now, those papers that had nearly blinded him and those notes that had calloused his fingers could appear clearly before his eyes whenever he wished.

Moreover, the knowledge points and detailed annotations seamlessly integrated into the brain of his current body, merging with lively agility.

Copy, paste, transfer complete.

Easy peasy.

The experience that had been so brutal it made him want to cry was now Li Ye's ultimate secret manual for leaping over the Dragon Gate.

In the early 1980s, the Dragon Gate was very real.

No need to rely on a rich father or a powerful grandfather. Even if you were just a wild little tadpole, you didn't even need to look for your mother; as long as you leaped with all your might over the threshold of the college entrance exam, you would seize the staggering fortune of transforming into a soaring dragon.

The talent gap created in the preceding years gave the capable, proactive, and credentialed younger generation a vast stage to perform on.

Among the college students of the early eighties, many rose rapidly to the very center of power, and countless others held key positions in large state-owned enterprises.

It could be said that as long as they weren't exceptionally unlucky, college students of this era could take the shortcut of the entrance exam straight to the pinnacle of life.

The saying "even the village dogs became police dogs" was truly no joke.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything. Some of those who got into college during this time were fraudulent "special talents."

For instance, Master Ma, famous for his "Five Lightning Whips," was a member of the first college class of '77. Single-handedly, he shattered the reputation of traditional martial arts, a truly legendary figure of bluster.

***

The dismissal bell rang. After dragging the class on for another three minutes, Teacher Hu left. The students went out in small groups to catch some fresh air, and many actually began smoking openly in the corridor outside the classroom.

There were educated youths in their twenties in the remedial class who were long-time smokers, and the teachers generally turned a blind eye.

Li Ye didn't go out for air. After all, having run a high fever for two consecutive days, his body was still weak, and he didn't feel like moving.

He leaned over his desk to doze, taking the opportunity to sift through the fragments of the original host's memories to fully adapt to this world.

But just a few minutes later, hurried, chaotic footsteps rapidly approached from outside the classroom.

"Li Ye, Li Ye!"

The class monitor behind him, Hu Man, cried out in alarm.

Li Ye quickly turned around, only to find Hu Man staring in terror at someone rushing through the door.

The newcomer was a large fellow with a round, flat face, clutching a wooden stool leg in his hand. He charged in, shouting with murderous intent:

"He Weiguo, you motherf... you want to ruin my brother! Damn it, I told you last time, if you ever mention that bastard again, I'll break your legs!"

The students in the classroom scrambled out of the way, clearing a path for the furious intruder.

Meanwhile, He Weiguo, grabbing a makeshift weapon from the back row, roared back, "Li Dayong! You're in Class One, don't meddle in Class Two's business! I'm not afraid of you!"

"I'll teach you to call me that!"

The flat-faced giant thundered past the podium, his large feet stomping heavily on the classroom floor as he charged toward He Weiguo like a bear.

But as he swept past Li Ye, Li Ye grabbed his arm.

The residual memories of the original host told him that this raging giant was his childhood best friend, who had come to avenge him for what had happened before class.

However, Li Ye underestimated Li Dayong's strength and fury. Still physically weak, he failed to stop him immediately and was instead dragged forward, stumbling slightly.

Li Dayong stopped instantly, supporting Li Ye and asking anxiously, "Brother, are you okay? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Li Ye steadied himself, snatched the stool leg from Li Dayong's hand, and began pulling him out of the classroom.

Seeing Li Ye "chicken out," He Weiguo, who had been tensely bracing for a fight, along with his lackeys, instantly regained their arrogance, letting out mocking hoots and jeers.

Li Dayong's explosive temper flared up again, but Li Ye reacted even faster.

He didn't curse or charge at them. He simply turned around and raised his hand.

*Whoosh!*

*Clatter!*

The stool leg flew from Li Ye's hand, sailing across the classroom to brush past He Weiguo's ear before slamming into the blackboard at the back.

He Weiguo jumped in fright. If that had hit his head, a massive lump would have been the least of his worries.

He stared at Li Ye in fury, only to meet that incredibly calm, terrifying gaze once more.

Five seconds, ten seconds... He Weiguo couldn't utter a single threatening word, barely even daring to breathe.

He felt as though if he made even a single move, Li Ye, like a fierce tiger, would pounce on him and tear him to pieces.

After all, "tiger slayers" were just legends in textbooks. He Weiguo knew he couldn't pull off the legendary move of using an axe and a sliding tackle to disembowel a tiger.

It was only because Li Ye had just transmigrated from forty years in the future—an era where if someone punched you, you would immediately lie down on the ground and order the latest motorcycle model with the compensation money—that he remained law-abiding and restrained, not yet adjusted to the lawlessness of this era.

Otherwise, he might really have pounced.

Yet even this sheer suppression of presence kept He Weiguo in a state of cowardice. It wasn't until Li Ye pulled Li Dayong out of the classroom door that He Weiguo finally let out a sharp breath and resumed normal breathing.

*Why didn't I realize he was so fierce before?*

He Weiguo took a few deep breaths, looked up, and froze.

Everyone around was staring at him with strange expressions, and a few even wore looks of sheer contempt.

Nothing could be more humiliating than this.

One moment you were beating your chest like a roaring gorilla, and the next you were tucking your tail like a lapdog. The contrast was simply too stark.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I just can't be bothered to waste my breath on a landlord like Huang Shiren. So what if he's a dirty landowner..."

*Phooey!*

He Weiguo spat on the floor and swore, "If he manages to get into a university in the capital, then the heavens must be blind!"