Chapter 7: Saturday

On Saturday afternoon, the homeroom teacher would distribute the confiscated mobile phones. During the afternoon training session, the teacher would bring the phones to the physical education office so that students could have them for the evening.

When everyone finished training and entered their relaxation period, they would retrieve their phones. However, almost every student on the sports team carried two phones; the one handed over to the school was typically a spare. This was because the school strictly prohibited mobile phones on campus, requiring all students to surrender them to be stored collectively by the homeroom teacher in a dedicated cabinet.

After relaxing, Zhang Qin retrieved his phone, returned his mat to the equipment room, and headed home on his electric scooter.

Outside the school gate, there was a very steep slope nearly seven or eight hundred meters long. The school had strict regulations prohibiting students from riding electric scooters or bicycles on the slope. This policy was primarily for safety reasons. During arrival and dismissal times, the campus was bustling with people; if numerous electric scooters were allowed to weave through the crowd, it could easily lead to collisions and injuries. Therefore, the school required all vehicles to be parked in a designated area at the bottom of the slope.

However, there were many residential buildings between the school gate and the bottom of the slope. For convenience, many students, including Zhang Qin, often chose to park their vehicles in front of these buildings.

Upon returning home, Zhang Qin was greeted by a sumptuous dinner prepared by his mother. On the table was a bowl of rice noodle soup, a local delicacy from Southern Fujian. The dish was rich with ingredients, featuring not only slippery rice noodles but also tender lean meat and fresh green vegetables. As their child had entered high school and academic pressure was mounting, his parents naturally hoped to provide extra nutritional support to help him grow strong.

Afterward, Zhang Qin went to the wardrobe, took out fresh clothes, and headed straight to the bathroom to wash up. Inside, he turned on the shower, letting the warm water wash over his body to soothe the fatigue from the afternoon's high-intensity training. He knew that hot water not only cleaned the body but also helped relax the muscles and restore his energy.

After his shower, Zhang Qin gently dried his damp hair, his skin still smelling of fresh shower gel. He slowly walked into his room and sat down at his desk, his gaze falling on a familiar Japanese textbook. This book had accompanied him through many days and nights, bearing his hopes and efforts for the future. Thinking back to his high school days, he had felt completely helpless when it came to English. Since childhood, memorizing vocabulary had seemed like an insurmountable chasm; no matter how hard he tried, those dense letters struggled to leave a lasting impression on his mind.

Because of this, when faced with choosing his high school subjects, Zhang Qin resolutely opted for Japanese. He knew that only by taking an unconventional path could he compensate for his shortcomings in English and boost his total score in the college entrance examination.

Today, the college entrance examination system has undergone significant changes. Instead of the simple division into liberal arts and science tracks, it has been replaced by the new "3+1+2" model. What exactly is this model? The "3" represents the three core subjects that remain constant: Chinese, Mathematics, and Foreign Language. The "1" means students must choose either Physics or History as a mandatory subject. The final "2" involves selecting two subjects from Politics, Geography, Biology, and Chemistry to count toward the exam. This reform provides students with more diverse choices, allowing them to arrange their studies more reasonably based on their interests and future plans.

Zhang Qin gently opened the slightly worn Japanese book, his eyes resting on the dense text. He took a deep breath and began to silently memorize words that were both familiar and strange, yet full of charm. He knew that regardless of the language, vocabulary was the cornerstone that must be firmly grasped.

Zhang Qin had always had a little habit: whenever he was alone, he would immerse himself in the world of music. His favorite singers included G.E.M., Jay Chou, JJ Lin, and Joker Xue. The unique voices and touching melodies of these artists seemed to pierce through his soul, bringing him endless comfort and strength. Especially when studying, Zhang Qin would put on his beloved Bluetooth headphones, letting the melodious songs accompany him, which allowed his restless heart to calm down quickly without being disturbed by chaotic thoughts.

Japanese is a unique language composed of Hiragana and Katakana. While memorizing vocabulary, because Japanese has intricate ties to traditional Chinese culture and ancient characters, and because he had practiced calligraphy diligently as a child, he possessed a strong foundation in traditional characters. Consequently, he found it twice as easy to memorize many Japanese words. Moreover, drawing on the vast vocabulary accumulated in his past life, he could easily handle most words with just a bit of review. Yet, Zhang Qin knew he couldn't let his guard down; learning any subject required persistent effort and focus.

In truth, Zhang Qin’s choice to study Japanese was not out of personal interest, but purely to cope with the college entrance exam. In his past life, although he picked up English again after entering university and eventually earned a postgraduate degree, he knew he had no other choice now but to calm down and devote himself to memorization. Fortunately, his Japanese teacher was very kind to him, so reviewing the vocabulary now was sufficient to prepare him for the exam.

Two hours passed quickly, and the clock struck 10:00 PM. He opened his phone and saw 99+ unread messages in the group chat.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that some students in the class had snuck out to play basketball and were caught by Mr. Huang, who had taken photos and posted them in the group. He also left a message stating that during Monday's training, everyone caught playing would have to run five 400-meter laps. The group was filled with mocking comments.

"LOL!"
"That jump shot was really cool."
"Five 400-meter laps is a piece of cake."

After reading the gossip in the group for a while, Zhang Qin opened a mobile game, planning to play a round of *Honor of Kings*, a game that had been popular in the country for a long time. People everywhere played it, and even in his past life, Zhang Qin would still play a few rounds whenever he had time after university.

He noticed his rank was only Diamond II, two stars. Thinking about how he usually never climbed very high, he started a match and realized that using his future-life mindset to play, he was on a completely different level, dominating every game with ease.

By 12:00 sharp, his parents walked in and said, "It's very late. Hand over your phone and get ready for bed."

He had no choice. Because his parents were worried he would stay up late playing games instead of sleeping, they confiscated his phone every night during the school term. Usually, he handed his phone to the teacher, but they took it away on weekend nights as well. This was why he had chosen to have a spare phone—in his past life, he had worried about having no phone to use once his main one was confiscated.

After handing over his phone, Zhang Qin quickly drifted off to sleep. The training had been so exhausting that he was out the moment his head hit the pillow.