Studying Does Not Count

On May 20, 2006, the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, Hubei, was fully completed. On the 22nd, the Beijing Higher People's Court reached a final verdict on Guo's plagiarism case, upholding the initial judgment that the novel *Dreams May Fall* constituted plagiarism of *Inside and Outside the Ring*, ordering a financial penalty of 200,000 yuan, the cessation of sales, and a public apology.

Though it was Saturday, Fang Chang'an and his fellow third-year junior high students did not have the day off. Fang Chang'an learned about the news while watching television that evening, and by noon the next day, upon returning to the classroom, he still heard people discussing it.

Wang Ke had also caught wind of the matter. She and several other girls in the class had read *Dreams May Fall* along with other works, and initially refused to believe it when people claimed it was plagiarized. She had even secretly complained to Fang Chang'an, saying, "Some people actually say it's plagiarized," only for Fang Chang'an to reply, "It really is plagiarized," which made her so mad she ignored him for five minutes.

Now that the truth had come to light, as Fang Chang'an walked back into the classroom, Wang Ke was discussing it with Liu Bei, Fang Dianqiu, Liang Jingyu, and a few other girls. Seeing Fang Chang'an enter—and knowing full well that he had overheard—she likely felt a twinge of a guilty conscience. She threw him a glance, puffed out her cheeks in a haughty manner, and lowered her head to work on problems, putting on an ostrich-like pose that seemed to say, "Even though I know you were right, I simply refuse to admit it."

Fang Dianqiu, however, still remembered Fang Chang'an mentioning the plagiarism earlier. Being his younger cousin, she was much more obedient than Wang Ke. Seeing him return, she chimed in, "Fang Chang'an, that book really was plagiarized! It was on the news, and they fined them 200,000 yuan!"

"What's the use of a 200,000-yuan fine? People like that don't care at all. Besides, they refuse to accept the verdict and won't apologize."

Fang Chang'an still retained memories of the public outcry this incident would generate more than a decade later, and he was unimpressed. "And with a precedent like this, there might be even more people plagiarizing in the future."

Liu Bei asked in surprise, "Didn't they rule on it?"

She preferred authors Han and An, and had only read Guo's book after hearing classmates discuss it during their third year. She didn't care for it particularly; it was just a topic of conversation outside of class.

"Compared to the profits, the cost is not even worth mentioning, so naturally, it can't deter hearts that are itching to try."

Fang Chang'an sat down and opened his workbook. To prepare for the entrance examinations, he too had to plunge into a "sea of exercises." Liang Chuyuhcuriously asked, "How much money can someone make from plagiarizing a book?"

"Who knows? Anyway, it's way more than 200,000, and by much more than just a little bit."

Fang Dianqiu said, "Well, it has nothing to do with us anyway. We're just here to read books."

Fang Ying's grades were poor, and after finishing her second year, she did not continue into the third. Fang Lusheng had pulled some strings with relatives to find her a job, learning computers or something relatively relaxed. Just two days ago, Rong Rong had mentioned that Fang Ying's mother, Chen Qiaoqiao, was boasting in chat, saying things like, "Our Yingying can make a thousand yuan every month now."

Fang Dianqiu had successfully advanced into the key class, though her grades within the class were mediocre. Among more than sixty students, she ranked in the lower-middle tier. Admission to the county's No. 1 High School was definitely out of the question, so she was striving for the town's No. 1 High School instead.

Fang Chang'an did not play favorites and helped her with tutoring whenever he had time. However, Fang Dianqiu was indeed rather slow when it came to academics, particularly the sciences. Lacking confidence, she had adopted a somewhat defeatless attitude and did not study diligently, only absorbing a bit when Fang Chang'an personally tutored her.

When he lectured her on the importance of studying hard, she wouldn't talk back, but it had little effect. Fang Chang'an guessed she had been influenced by the rhetoric of Fang Changfeng and his wife—ideas like "schooling is useless, just go out and work after high school"—and combined with Fang Ying's example, she didn't place much value on education.

Liang Jingyu countered, "You can't say it like that. If nobody read it, his plagiarism wouldn't make money either. Or if everyone boycotted it, there would definitely be fewer copycats. Reading it is basically condoning it."

Fang Dianqiu argued, "Well, that's not our fault."

Seeing the two of them debate, the others chose not to interfere. Liang Jingyu persisted, "But reading plagiarized books is helping him make money."

Fang Dianqiu agreed with the logic, but having already stated her stance, she found it hard to back down. She turned to look at Fang Chang'an, who smiled and said, "Those who don't know are not guilty."

Liang Jingyu looked at him and said, "I'm not talking about the past; I mean after knowing about it."

Liu Bei chimed in, "Forget it, forget it. This doesn't have much to do with us. We'd better think about the upcoming exams; that's more important."

Idle chatter among classmates inevitably led to minor debates, and no one took it to heart. After a brief discussion, everyone went back to doing their homework. There were over sixty students in the class, seated across seven rows, rotating horizontally every month. Both Fang Chang'an and Wang Ke were quite tall and sat in the fifth row. This month, their rotation placed them near the south windows, with Wang Ke sitting on the inside and Fang Chang'an by the aisle.

It was rather warm these past two days. Outside, the summer sun blazed fiercely, while inside the classroom, four ceiling fans whirred noisily. A fifteen-year-old girl, right at the threshold of womanhood, sat primly at her desk doing homework. Her long hair was still tied in a ponytail, and in the bright light, her profile looked striking and lovely. A loose white T-shirt stretched over her youthful, graceful curves. To Fang Chang'an, with the mindset of a soul that had lived two lifetimes, the scene before him resembled a faded photograph of a summer afternoon from a distant memory—tranquil and beautiful.

Noticing that he was staring at her again, Wang Ke shot him a sharp look with her bright eyes, carrying a warning gaze. Fang Chang'an flashed her a brilliant smile, took out a new notebook, and wrote to her: "I realized something recently."

The young girl turned her head to look at him, showing a hint of curiosity, and then skillfully used her fountain pen to draw a question mark in her notebook: "?"

Fang Chang'an continued writing: "The saying 'a girl changes eighteen times by adulthood' is true, especially the latter part."

Probably feeling that he was being too glib, the young girl puffed up her cheeks and gave him a sideways glare with a look of mild disgust. She handed the notebook back to him and went back to solving problems. A moment later, thinking he wouldn't look again, she couldn't help stealing a tiny smile, and then another.

Just as she finished smiling, the notebook was handed over again: "What are you smiling at? Pay attention! Even if you're the prettiest girl in the world, the grading teacher won't have the fortune to see it and won't give you extra points. Don't dream about it."

Caught red-handed, Wang Ke opened her eyes wide and glared back at him in a fit of feigned anger. Seeing him looking at her with a beaming smile—his gaze clearly carrying a teasing warmth and a subtle, heart-fluttering undertone that might perhaps be called doting—

The young girl's delicate face grew warm. She gave him an indignant kick under the desk, tightened her face to focus on her work, and secretly warned herself that she must hold her ground this time and not forgive him as easily as before. She would ignore him for at least ten minutes... No, all the way until the warning bell rang!

"Fang Chang'an."

Liang Jingyu, seated in the middle of the fourth row, suddenly turned around and called out softly. Seeing Fang Chang'an look her way, she asked in a low voice, "Do you know how to do question number seven on page 135 of the Huanggang math book?"

"No impression."

Fang Chang'an thought for a second and beckoned to her. "Bring it over and let me see."

Liang Jingyu then took her study materials and walked over to Fang Chang'an's desk, sitting sideways and turning the book toward him. Tang帅, her deskmate, turned his head to glance at them, curled his lip, but said nothing.

Fang Chang'an had first seen Liang Jingyu back when he used to sell steamed buns, though he hadn't recognized her at the time. Later, when he heard her name a few times from Cheng Mengfei, he hadn't paid much mind.

After all, with the two objects of his secret crushes from the first and second years already ahead of him, a third-year girl didn't rank high in his thoughts yet. Even after meeting her a few times afterward, they hadn't exchanged many words.

On the other hand, much like eating a meal, people could reach emotional saturation. If Liang Jingyu had entered his life earlier and their paths had crossed sooner, Fang Chang'an might have entertained some thoughts; right now, however, he truly had nothing of the sort on his mind.

Still, being classmates for nearly a year and both being top students, discussing academics was entirely normal.

Tang Shuai was the classmate with whom Fang Chang'an had a minor verbal dispute when he went to Class One to sell buns back in the first year. He was Liang Jingyu's childhood friend, maintained average grades, and seemingly harbored feelings for Liang Jingyu, though she did not return them.

Shortly after his rebirth, Fang Chang'an discovered that triggered by real-life events, he could occasionally recall things he thought he had forgotten—for instance, initially only remembering that Zhou Xiaoyan had married a classmate, and later recalling that it was Li Dongfeng.

He suspected this was related to his physical development. The memories carried by his adult soul undoubtedly far exceeded those of a twelve-year-old Fang Chang'an, potentially placing a burden on a body that had not yet fully matured. Consequently, information he deemed unimportant had been "sealed away."

As his body matured, these memories might be released, recalled anew when triggered by certain moments or events.

Returning to the matter concerning Liang Jingyu, Fang Chang'an remembered that in his past life, Tang Shuai seemed to have gotten into a fight with some people outside the school on her account. It had caused quite a stir at the time—apparently during an evening self-study dismissal, a group had fought outside the school gates, and Tang Shuai had worn gauze bandages to class for quite a while afterward.

Fang Chang'an didn't remember the details clearly, but a fight had definitely taken place, and it hadn't happened yet because Tang Shuai wasn't wearing any bandages right now.

He cared nothing for it; since nothing overly serious was at stake, there was no need for him to intervene.

As Fang Chang'an explained the problem to Liang Jingyu, Wang Ke listened alongside them, occasionally chiming in with a discussion of her own, thinking to herself, *Studying doesn't count!*

With this comforting thought, she felt entirely at ease. A moment later, she added, "This seems a bit like the last question from our last monthly exam."

With that, she flipped out her monthly exam test paper. Having lost five points on that final question and subsequently organized it in her error collection notebook, she remembered it vividly.

After the three of them finished working through the problem, Fang Chang'an tackled a few more challenging advanced problems before a thought struck him. He wrote to Wang Ke: "Have you finished organizing the mind map I asked you to make last time?"

Studying ultimately boiled down to patterns of thought, which was precisely where Wang Ke—and Fang Dianqiu—fell short. Fang Chang'an had therefore supervised them in organizing knowledge points on their own, stringing them together into mind maps to train their academic thinking skills.

Fang Dianqiu, however, struggled with it, found it too difficult, and deemed it unnecessary, preferring to just look at his notes instead. Unwilling to put in the effort, Fang Chang'an had gradually stopped pushing her and focused his supervision primarily on Wang Ke.

Many other classmates also knew of Fang Chang'an's "secret formula." Some learned to make their own, while others borrowed his to copy, though Fang Chang'an never forced anyone.

Wang Ke switched to a different notebook and handed him the detailed outline she had compiled regarding "functions." Method of undetermined coefficients, solving function analytical expressions, function graphs, finding intersections with coordinate axes, ranges of independent variables, and other detailed knowledge points—along with related question types and her own past mistakes—were all neatly organized. It was evident she had genuinely put effort into it.

Fang Chang'an carefully read through it and offered some corrections, primarily concerning comprehensive question types. Wang Ke rested her chin in her hands, listening attentively, her eyes fixed on the notebook and occasionally lifting to glance at him, her bright eyes seeming to hold a gleam of light.

When he finished explaining, noticing that she was staring at him blankly, he skillfully raised his hand and tapped her lightly on the forehead. The young girl leaned back against the classroom wall, glaring at him with a shy, puffed-up expression.

Fang Chang'an acted as though nothing had happened and continued explaining. After all, it wasn't the first time he had flicked her forehead; Wang Ke glared at him to signal her stance—*"Even though you do this often, I never gave you permission"*—before resuming listening to him nonetheless.