10: Chapter 10 Measuring the Length of Youth

Senior year of high school is miserable.

Shen Weiyue always believed that senior year was just like being in prison.

Getting up at six every morning and slogging away until ten-thirty at night before going home—it was even more brutal than the 996 work schedule; even capitalists would shed tears if they saw it.

As the top dog in Lingshan County and the only provincial key high school, Lingshan No. 1 High School had a schedule that was downright inhumane.

Upholding the philosophy of "as long as you don't study yourself to death, keep studying to death," the school only gave students twenty-four hours of rest a week, and even that was broken up.

There was no evening self-study on Saturday, and classes didn't start until five o'clock on Sunday afternoon.

Giving them a day off was probably considered a massive favor.

So, Shen Weiyue enjoyed a good lie-in, not getting up until nine on Sunday morning, and after breakfast, he went out for a stroll.

Usually, boys don't like shopping, but having just been reborn, he couldn't wait to relive the old times of his eighteen-year-old self and measure the length of his youth with his own footsteps.

The county town wasn't big, and at that time, there was only one bus route, covering The First High School, the bus station, the commercial pedestrian street, and other important spots for two yuan a ride.

There were more rickshaws, powered by human effort—naturally aspirated with direct-injection legs—which were quite eco-friendly.

Shen Weiyue didn't take a ride; The First High School was located in the center of the county town, and it only took about ten minutes to walk to the commercial street.

Calling it a commercial street was really just a stretch; it was just a street lined with shops that was a bit livelier than other places.

In this era, the streets were full of brands like Xtep, Li-Ning, and Yishion; there were Nike and Adidas specialty stores too, but most people didn't dare to go in.

After all, most students were from rural areas with limited living expenses; a single visit wouldn't even cover the cost of one shoe, not to mention it would only increase their sense of inferiority.

The current Shen Weiyue had a laid-back attitude; he ran into the stores to look at the classic styles but didn't buy anything, which made the shop assistants roll their eyes incessantly.

Passing by every shop along the way, Shen Weiyue went in to look at almost all of them.

The classic songs of that era filled his ears.

There was Jay Chou's "Hair Like Snow" and "Far Away," S.H.E's "Don't Want to Grow Up," and Xiao Gang's "Lonely Sandbank Cold."

Of course, there were also the classics by Dao Lang, which one could only truly appreciate with age, such as "Lover" and "Punishment for Impulsiveness," as well as "Poisonous Perfume," which sang about taking off everything to sleep with you.

Other songs like "Autumn Doesn't Come Back" and "Peach Blossoms Blooming" were also extremely popular for a time.

This was truly an era where legends competed.

Sometimes Shen Weiyue found it quite sad to think that even over a decade later, these songs remained the mainstays in KTVs.

The aesthetics of this period of economic upturn suppressed an entire era, so much so that those "Chicken You Are Too Beautiful" types in later generations always lived in its shadow.

Good songs are just like that; they always make people stop in their tracks.

An old bookstore was playing music.

So Shen Weiyue squatted down to dig through a pile and found a yellowed copy of "You Meng Ying," a traditional character edition, which cost him one gold coin.

A pawn shop was playing music.

Director Shen stopped again; this time he couldn't afford it, as the handheld console with Monster Hunter cost several hundred.

Walking further, an internet cafe was playing music, and he stood at the door for a long time.

Some people were playing Jade Dynasty, some were playing QQ Speed, and others were playing Fantasy Westward Journey...

"Young man, come in and play."

"No thanks, I didn't bring any money today."

Shen Weiyue remembered the warning from Old Demon Han and gave his restless fingers a few hard slaps, gritted his teeth, and continued walking.

Once out of the influence of the internet cafe, his mind calmed down.

Damn it, games really are tempting.

Shen Weiyue wiped the sweat from his forehead; his younger self really lacked self-control, and it was fortunate that he had brought back some of the self-discipline of the middle-aged Director Shen to suppress his initial self.

In his previous life, he had excellent grades when entering high school, but later he only got into an ordinary key university; ultimately, it was because he was a rural kid with too little experience and was ruined by online games and novels.

A village kid who had grown up with a lack of entertainment, how could he possibly resist the impact of spiritual opium?

Since he couldn't resist the temptation, he could only stay away from it.

Only with self-discipline can there be freedom!

Shen Weiyue had decided that he would never go near an internet cafe again until after the College Entrance Exam.

He strolled along aimlessly.

In this wild era, one could see yellow-haired youths with bangs covering one eye everywhere, or "spiritual little sisters" with dyed hair of all colors.

They loved to hang out in various hair salons along the street, and when Shen Weiyue passed by, they even waved at him, calling out, "Handsome, come in and have some fun."

Shen Weiyue wasn't annoyed; he smiled and looked at everything around him, feeling a rare sense of familiarity.

He passed through an area selling mobile phones, continued walking, and then arrived at the clothing section of the pedestrian street.

This street was the most prosperous part of the county, and because both sides were lined with clothing shops, it was the most popular and lively area.

On the side of the road, there were people selling freshly grilled rice flour triangular cakes for fifty cents each; the skin was grilled until it was crunchy, and it had a slightly sweet and sour taste.

Shen Weiyue bought two, and they were so hot that he had to switch hands while eating, and before he knew it, he had arrived in front of a shop.

This was a women's clothing store, with a large glass floor-to-ceiling window at the entrance; the overall decor was much more upscale than other shops, and the clothes inside were not cheap.

"Mom, these pants feel so tight, I don't want to wear them..."

"Just try them on; you can wear them when you go to college, it's almost time anyway; tsk tsk, my daughter looks so good."

Shen Weiyue was just about to leave when he heard the conversation between a mother and daughter, and one of the voices was very familiar; it sounded like Nickname, the classmate who had caused him to stay up all night writing self-reflection letters.

Sure enough, a figure walked toward the full-length mirror, and he caught a glimpse of her instantly.

It really was Zhao Qingyan.

This female top student seemed to be buying summer clothes.

At this moment, she was wearing a cartoon Snoopy white short-sleeved T-shirt on her upper body, which was extremely cute and pure, adding a touch of playfulness to her style.

Her hair wasn't the usual high ponytail; she had let it down to drape over her shoulders, turning into long, straight black hair, which added a bit more femininity.

Most importantly, she was actually wearing skinny jeans!

This was simply lethal.

The skinny jeans wrapped around her straight, slender legs, liberating them from the baggy school uniform trousers; the shape of her legs was very well-proportioned, which even the discerning Director Shen of the later generations would describe as top-tier.

Besides that, she naturally had a perfect figure, far from the shapes that people in later generations deliberately achieved with yoga pants or "technology."

Having lived two lifetimes, up until today.

Shen Weiyue only then realized that he had always underestimated her.

This unsociable, cold-faced School Beauty was not only impressive and good-looking, but her figure was also so stunning.

Zhao Qingyan, oh Zhao Qingyan, why didn't you tell me about such a big thing earlier?

Director Shen won't look for free; Director Shen gives you ninety-nine points, afraid that one more point would make you arrogant!

Perhaps due to some mysterious intuition, Zhao Qingyan turned her head to look outside the door and caught Shen Weiyue staring right at her.

That damn Cultural Reference had a piece of rice cake in his mouth, like a pug with a bone, staring at her wide-eyed and stunned, having completely forgotten to chew.

"Ah!"

Nickname screamed, her face blushing with shame, and she immediately wrapped some clothes around her waist.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Chunyue hurried over.

Director Shen resumed chewing, calmly eating his cake, not panicking at all.

"Baby, is this your classmate?"

"Yes, that Stupid Donkey deskmate."

In her panic, Zhao Qingyan revealed the label she had given Shen Weiyue.

Director Shen's heart sank.

The hierarchy of intelligence is terrifying; a future 985 university student is actually a donkey in the eyes of the genius girl!

"Fox deskmate, what a coincidence."

Heh, you call me Stupid Donkey, then I'll return the favor by calling you a fox.

Zhao Qingyan frowned and glared at him, full of the essence of a teenage girl.

Lu Chunyue laughed out loud.

"Classmate, what is your name? I am Qingyan's mother; you can call me Aunt Lu Chunyue."

"Hello Aunt Lu Chunyue, I am Shen Weiyue."

"Student Shen, are you shopping too?"

"I'm just passing by, on my way to the bookstore, I won't disturb your shopping."

Shen Weiyue pointed to the Xinhua Bookstore ahead, waved his rice cake, and walked forward naturally and calmly.

So, the length of youth is about a meter or so.

About the same as the length of Zhao Qingyan's legs.