166. First Blossoming

Anyone who has received nine years of compulsory education has heard Edison’s famous quote: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Of course, many people have also heard—and "popularized" to others—the so-called second half of the sentence: "But that one percent inspiration is the most important."

Setting aside issues such as translation discrepancies and Edison's original intent (Edison's original words did not imply that hard work is useless, but my English is not good enough to analyze the original text), spreading the phrase "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration" itself is not problematic. On the contrary, those who go around popularizing the idea that "there is a second half to this quote, and your teachers lied to you"—at least those initial individuals who deliberately propagated the notion that "you were lied to by your teachers, talent is more important"—are the ones with ulterior motives.

There is undoubtedly a gap in people's natural aptitude. However, for the vast majority of people, you can work hard your entire life and still struggle to reach the ceiling dictated by your innate talent; you simply cannot touch it.

Yet differences in human aptitude do not manifest solely in the "upper limit." Very often, they are more readily reflected in learning efficiency and progress, and even if one falls short of the upper limit, there are still "bottlenecks."

After his rebirth, Fang Chang'an possessed greater insight and ability to observe the people around him, and the person who made him feel this most deeply was Zhang Lu. She studied extremely diligently, ranking among the most hardworking students in the entire class. Yet ever since entering Class Four until the class reshuffle at the end of junior middle school, her best ranking in the entire class was merely thirty-fourth.

Subsequently, upon entering the third year of junior high, the four key classes were merged into two, and Zhang Lu was inevitably assigned to an ordinary class.

Another person who gave Fang Chang'an this feeling was Wang Ke.

Throughout the entire first year of junior high, Wang Ke's dedication to study basically followed an upward curve. After Shen Mo transferred schools and entered the second year, nearly a month passed before she gradually developed her own study habits under Fang Chang'an's intentional or unintentional guidance.

In the mid-term examination of the first semester of the second year, Wang Ke broke into the top ten of her class for the first time, taking ninth place, and seventh place in the finals. In the mid-term examination of the second semester, she ranked fourth in the class and eleventh in the grade, while her final exam class ranking remained fourth, and her grade ranking broke into the top ten for the first time.

If she could maintain these grades and perform normally in the high school entrance examination, she had a high probability of entering the county's No. 1 High School, though she was still a tier away from the city's No. 1 High School.

Fang Luguo had mentioned this matter once, saying that Fang Chang'an's cohort might create the most glorious record in the history of No. 2 Junior High. On one hand, there was a possibility someone could be admitted to the city's No. 1 High School; on the other hand, the top students in the grade were all performing exceptionally well, and he felt there was a chance to secure twenty slots for the county's No. 1 High School.

If Wang Ke could maintain a position in the top ten of the grade, getting into the county's No. 1 High School was virtually a sure thing.

But for her, this was far from enough.

In the third year, the students were divided into nine classes, with classes eight and nine designated as key classes. Fang Chang'an was in Class Nine, and his head teacher remained Cheng Mengfei. With both connections and academic achievements, Cheng Mengfei lacked only seniority. While achievements without seniority might make promotion difficult, connections without seniority were inconsequential. She successfully secured a spot for a key class and explicitly requested that Fang Chang'an be assigned to her class, giving the reason: "This is a student I taught!"

Wang Ke was undoubtedly also assigned to a key class. With a one-in-two probability, she was placed into Class Eight. Fortunately, Fang Chang'an had taken precautions and sought Cheng Mengfei's help in advance. The head teacher of Class Eight demanded Liu Bei in exchange, but Cheng Mengfei was reluctant to let her go. After several rounds of bargaining, she ultimately traded Wang Sha to bring Wang Ke over.

Wang Ke did not disappoint Cheng Mengfei's "favoritism." In the first monthly exam after entering the third year, she made a giant leap compared to her sophomore year, directly breaking the established pattern of top grade students by taking third in the class and fifth in the grade, and she maintained this ranking in the mid-term examination.

However, by the end of this semester, her best results stopped right there. During one monthly exam, she even slipped back to ninth in the grade, only fighting her way back up in the final exams.

Optimistic as Wang Ke was, she didn't believe that a school which hadn't managed to send anyone to the city's No. 1 High School in years could suddenly send four or five this time around. It simply wasn't realistic; having even one student admitted would make the principal grin from ear to ear.

As the second semester of the third year approached, she noticeably became somewhat restless, especially as the date of the entrance exam drew closer and she remained stagnant, fueling her growing distress and anxiety.

Spring flowers bloomed, and the weather grew warmer day by day. Before the May Day holiday began, Fang Chang'an and his peers finished their experimental and physical education additional examinations. Following the holiday, they officially entered the final sprint phase to prepare wholeheartedly for the high school entrance examination. Both at home and at school, teachers and elders noticeably softened their attitudes toward the exam candidates, speaking in gentle tones.

Two years—neither long nor short—had passed, and many things had happened in the outside world. Just like before, some were familiar to Fang Chang'an, while others felt somewhat unfamiliar.

On January 18, 2005, the Chinese scientific expedition team successfully reached the highest point of the Antarctic inland ice sheet. On the same day, South Korea's Seoul changed its Chinese transliterated name; on January 30, the No. 1 Document concerning "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers" was issued; on March 14, the Anti-Secession Law was passed; on March 18, the last surviving participant of the Xi'an Incident passed away; on June 7, the pilot reform meeting for rural taxes and fees concluded; on August 15, China's first lunar globe was unveiled; on August 18, famous comedian Gao Xiumin passed away; on October 12, the 10th National Games were held in Nanjing...

And with the arrival of the year 2006, on New Year's Day, January 1, China ushered in a major historical event: the agricultural tax, which had been levied on the ancient land of China for 2,600 years, was officially abolished!

Regardless of his past or present life, Fang Chang'an had a profound impression of this event. In his past life, he did not yet understand the significance of this matter at the time, but after entering university, influenced by the outside world and online discourse, Fang Chang'an once chatted idly with his mother during a holiday, discussing various current affairs, among which were plenty of arguments going along the lines of "how foreign countries do this, while China does that."

At that time, Cong Rong remained silent for quite a while before finally saying: "Wasn't the agricultural tax abolished just a few years ago... From ancient times to the present, when has there ever been a time when farmers didn't have to pay taxes for farming?"

This matter left a deep impression on Fang Chang'an. However, what he hadn't expected was that after his rebirth, influenced by him, his family had stopped farming, yet his parents still felt deeply moved upon hearing the news.

Over the past two years, major changes had also taken place in Fang Chang'an's family. The most intuitive change was not their income—that was internal—but the external manifestation that the whole family had adapted to urban life.

After harvesting that crop of corn, most of the family's five mu of land was handed over to his uncle Fang Luyong's family to farm, leaving only the pear orchard south of the village and a small adjacent plot, for which they naturally only needed to handle that portion of the agricultural tax.

As their reputation fermented and spread, the business of Qingyun Shoe Store grew better and better. Before the news of the abolition of the agricultural tax arrived, the shoe store's monthly income had even exceeded five thousand yuan, making that small agricultural tax utterly negligible.

Yet Fang Lujun and Cong Rong were still overjoyed by it, proactively bringing it up several times when chatting with others, regardless of whether the other person farmed or not, and discussing it with great emotion and festive cheer even during meals.

Fang Lujun no longer went to work in the factory, but he had nothing to do at home on ordinary days. With money, the relatives and friends in the village looked at him in a new light. Fang Lujun originally lacked any grand ambitions, and hearing a few words of flattery inevitably made him complacent. Fortunately, he still knew he hadn't contributed much physical effort to earning the family's money, so at home, he was no longer as domineering as he used to be. He spoke less, and he seemed to have grown much steadier.

However, Fang Chang'an knew very well that this did not mean his father had truly changed; it might even suppress and brew an even greater "malady." Cong Rong suffered from motion sickness, so trips to the Wenzhou factory were handled by Fang Lujun, though the frequency was very low.

The effect of the family's transformation, coupled with the aftermath of the robbery caused by Li Xiaoyi's father's gambling losses, would eventually fade away. To prevent his father from having nothing to do and breeding idleness, Fang Chang'an consulted with Shen Chengjian, and through Shen Chengjian's intervention, invited Fang Lujun to take charge of the town's steamed bun shop.

Shen Chengjian himself poured his energy into opening a "boutique" steamed bun shop.

Fang Lujun had many flaws, but he lacked calculation when treating others, which could be described in some ways as having "very low emotional intelligence." Initially, when interacting with Shen Chengjian, he felt he owed him too many personal favors and that he had to show some gesture when returning home. With no way to avoid it, he invited Shen Chengjian to dinner at his house.

At first, the atmosphere was extremely awkward until they started drinking. Fang Lujun's habit of talking too much when drunk flared up, and he nearly dragged Shen Chengjian to swear a brotherhood oath. Ironically, this caused them to grow familiar with each other, and over a year later, the two of them were already on very familiar terms, calling each other "Brother Jun" and "Chengjian."

Shen Chengjian was naturally a straightforward person by nature. Through their interactions, he had also gained a certain understanding of the personalities of Fang Lujun and Cong Rong. Believing in people without suspicion, and genuinely busy with preparing to open a shop in the city, he truly handed over the town's steamed bun shop for Fang Lujun to manage, and even offered to cede an additional ten percent dividend for this reason. Fang Lujun and Cong Rong already felt they owed him too much favor, feeling that every month's money over the past two years was unearned profit, so how could they possibly accept it?

In human interactions, most people are ordinary folk: you respect me a foot, I'll respect you a yard. With both families harboring mutual goodwill, this incident left them with an even better impression of one another.

However, everything has two sides, and this matter also brought a very bad consequence for Fang Chang'an—for example, his small private treasury, which he had hidden for two or three years, was thus exposed.

Fortunately, Fang Lujun and Cong Rong had already adapted to his maturity, which differed from his peers. After Fang Chang'an explained, the two of them didn't dwell on past accounts, but they were deeply puzzled as to why Fang Chang'an used every month's dividend to buy stocks. Fang Chang'an had no choice but to ask Shen Chengjian to vouch for him, explaining how much money stocks had made over the past two years. Although Fang Lujun and Cong Rong still didn't fully understand, they didn't interfere, and the money from the bun shop was still left for Fang Chang'an to dispense: primarily for buying stocks.

Fang Lujun mocked himself several times because of this: "Damn it, I just quit my factory job less than two years ago, and now I'm starting to work for my son again!"

After this incident, the family's affairs could be said to have basically gotten onto the right track, allowing Fang Chang'an to focus wholeheartedly on preparing for the exam without distractions.

With sufficient nutrition and regular exercise, Fang Chang'an was not yet fifteen years old this year, yet his height had already exceeded 1.73 meters. He looked fair and slender, but beneath his clothes lay solid muscle with smooth lines, giving him the upright and handsome appearance of a youth.

Wang Ke was only a few days younger than him. Girls develop earlier, and before Fang Chang'an's recent sudden growth spurt, her height had once matched his. Now she stood at 1.65 meters, blossoming into the appearance of a young maiden with willow-leaf eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, bright and delicate beauty, while her body had also begun to mature.

For instance, after the May Day holiday, Fang Chang'an—who had just resolved to single-mindedly and intently prepare for the exams and strive to win the title of "town exam top scorer"—was studying at noon while Wang Ke, who still sat at his desk as his seatmate, rested her head on her desk for a nap. He accidentally glanced inward through the young girl's short sleeves, and as a result, he didn't sleep well that entire night, plagued by colorful dreams. He had to get up in the middle of the night to change his clothes, leaving him entirely listless during class the next day.