Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 179 - 178 Jokes

The game began, and the Salty Team served the ball.

A Jibei buzz cut dribbled the ball down to the baseline, head low.

When he looked up, he saw Li Zheng, restless and itching for action, just a stone’s throw away.

Although he really didn’t want to pass the ball to Li Zheng, they were already too close.

If he didn’t pass it to Li Zheng soon, he might just come over and take it.

The Jibei local had no choice but to nervously hand the ball off to Li Zheng.

As soon as Li Zheng got the ball,

well, to hell with it.

The game? Victory?

I’m just here to have a blast.

Before his teammates could even react, he was already charging toward the opponent’s half like a wild donkey, ball in hand.

Real basketball players don’t need to look at shots or anything; they only need to watch two seconds of ball handling to judge someone’s skills.

Therefore, ordinary idols trying to craft an image with "likes playing basketball" are bound to be cussed out by the hardcore ballers until they never dare touch a basketball again.

And now, Li Zheng’s aggressive drive not only featured graceful form and sexy movements but also an explosive force.

It caused the Sweet Team to panic.

This is bad!

This guy can really play.

On a normal day, it wouldn’t be a problem for Li Zheng to break through to the inside alone from miles away.

But now, how could the members of the Sweet Team, who hadn’t seen a girl in a long time, afford to embarrass themselves in front of such an adorable sister?

In an instant, several of them, like a pack of wolves, pounced on Li Zheng one after another.

However, at a good three to four meters away from the three-point line,

Li Zheng jumped straight up.

Basketball high above his head, eyes wide with focus, he shot with confidence.

Whoosh.

The ball whistled through the air, flying over the buzz cuts.

This ultra-long three-pointer,

was not only elegant but also domineering.

The flustered Sweet Team members came to a stiff halt, looked up, and watched the basketball carve a huge arc over their heads.

Then,

there was a loud thump as it hit the ground.

Airball!

It missed the basket by a good half meter or more.

Didn’t even graze it.

It went straight out of bounds.

Li Zheng, with an air of confidence, blew a stray lock of hair from his face, turned around with a swagger, and jogged back to his own half of the court, "Got a bit carried away, sorry."

Leading with Wei Dongyang, everyone burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, he almost had me fooled."

"I was this close to believing it."

"You’re done for; get ready to eat sweet tofu brain."

Just as they were enjoying their banter,

the exuberant girl on the sidelines suddenly dropped her luggage, grabbed a bottle of drink, and dashed onto the basketball court, running straight to Li Zheng with a wide smile, holding out the drink with both hands.

"Master, have some water~~"

Suddenly,

including the Salty Team,

all the buzz cuts went weak at the knees.

Their mocking expressions instantly froze,

and then slowly, bit by bit, sank.

Their pride was deflated forever.

Li Zheng looked at the girl and also had a moment: "Xiaoke?"

"Hahaha!" Zhang Xiaoke reached up to tousle Li Zheng’s disheveled hair, "Look at you, what a mess you are. See, I’m the one who cares for you. I even brought you supplies. Aren’t you going to praise me?"

"Praise!" Li Zheng suddenly lit up and immediately turned to shout, "You guys play; my classmate is here!"

After speaking, he walked to the sidelines with Zhang Xiaoke.

No one on the court responded to him.

They thought they were watching a joke.

Turns out they were the joke.

They laughed until they cried.

Such a cute girl...

Travelled from afar...

And she’s his classmate...

Classmate...

Li Zheng and Xiaoke reached the sidelines, not having seen each other for days, naturally overjoyed.

Of course, given the current situation, probably even if Qiao Bixia had shown up, there would be cause for joy.

"You didn’t need to bring anything; your company is enough," Li Zheng said, eyeing Zhang Xiaoke’s luggage the moment she arrived.

"Isn’t it because I feel sorry for you?" Zhang Xiaoke bent down, leaned in close, and scrutinized Li Zheng, "Say... your aura has changed... who’s been picking on you... that’s so sad..."

"Everyone’s been picking on me..." Li Zheng was immediately overcome with sorrow and hung his head, "They won’t let me work on physics problems, won’t let me read comics, won’t let me rest... they only allow chemistry... if it weren’t for art keeping me sane, I probably would’ve had a split personality by now..."

"Don’t cry, don’t cry, Master will give you a pat-pat." Zhang Xiaoke spread her arms and gave Li Zheng a motherly air-hug from a distance.

"What’s a pat-pat?"

"Hey, it’s just like this, pretending to give a hug, that’s the way to pat."

"Oh, then pat-pat." Li Zheng also gave an air-hug to Xiaoke, and although there was no actual contact, he still felt an especially rich bond of fellowship between master and disciple as if he had absorbed some of Xiaoke’s vitality.

Zhang Xiaoke skipped forward, clasped her hands behind her back, and asked with a giggle, "Feeling better now?"

"Yeah... much better..." Li Zheng took a deep breath, finally regaining some of his vitality, and said while pulling his suitcase, "Let’s go, to my room and talk."

Zhang Xiaoke quickly gave Li Zheng a punch on the back: "Keep your voice down, it could be misunderstood."

And so, in the assertive observance of a dozen buzz-cut boys.

The two of them walked away with laughter and playfulness, patting each other.

Thump.

The basketball in Wei Dongyang’s hands dropped to the ground.

Thump thump.

Thump thump thump.

In half a minute, the dozen buzz-cuts all stared in one direction in silent resignation, not a word spoken amongst them.

It was a Lu Dong buzz-cut who broke the silence first: "Salty Team... brings on a... substitute..."

A few substitutes didn’t budge.

The game seemed to have lost all meaning.

"Goddammit..." Wei Dongyang squatted on the spot, clutching his head, "Why..."

Seeing his state, the resolve of all the buzz-cuts on the court disappeared.

Not just basketball had lost its meaning.

The contract with Ji University’s Elite in their hands, what meaning did it have now?

We agreed to devote our youth to chemistry...

Li Zheng, this asshole...

This asshole...

Finally, one buzz-cut pounded the basketball hoop and cried out: "We can’t let this asshole go to Prague!"

Suddenly, there was a chorus of agreement.

"Goddammit, we can’t lose again!"

"Screw playing basketball, let’s study!"

"Let’s find Shi Yang, go!"

Li Zheng was clueless about all this.

Although he was very reluctant,

he had inadvertently boosted our country’s overall level of chemistry.

...

Li Zheng and Zhang Xiaoke walked back to the lobby, replenishing quite a bit of vitality with their banter and laughter.

Zhang Xiaoke had originally planned to secretly rally everyone to come and rejuvenate Li Zheng during the weekend.

But Lin Yujing and Jiang Qinghua were preparing for a physics competition, Xu Mengxi, and Qiao Bixia were preparing for the college entrance examination, leaving only Liu Xin to call upon.

Although Zhang Xiaoke had no objections to Liu Xin, she just couldn’t convince herself to travel to Lu Dong with only him for company.

In the end, she had no choice but to bring her mother along.

Mother Ke was a thoughtful person, too. Before setting off, she had specially informed Old Li and took the opportunity to bring along some clothes for Li Zheng to change into.

How could there be such good people?

In the hotel lobby, Li Zheng saw Mother Ke, who had just finished checking in and gotten her room card.

On the surface, she appeared to be a mature and thoughtful version of Zhang Xiaoke, turning vitality into charm.

But a closer look revealed.

She was a fashion maestro.

For this trip, Mother Ke had chosen a cool, leather-themed style.

A black cropped leather jacket, high-top denim-style leather boots, and a pair of large sunglasses.

The finishing touch was that she was wearing a light grey pullover under the leather jacket.

Two things that should have been entirely mismatched came together to create a cool aura.

But Mother Ke felt quite the opposite upon seeing Li Zheng looking so dispirited; she only had two words in mind: want to cry.

"Xiaoke wanted to come and visit you. I was worried about interrupting your training," Mother Ke took off her sunglasses, looked at Li Zheng with full sympathy, "Who bullied you? Did you tell your family?"

"No... just did too many problems." Although it was his first meeting with Mother Ke, Li Zheng felt a warm familiarity, "Thanks for coming all this way, Auntie."

"It’s nothing. I happened to have a distributor here on the way," Mother Ke then passed a room card to her daughter and patted her on the back, saying, "You go ahead and take your things to Li Zheng’s room. Look at the time; I’ll take you guys out to eat soon."

"Got it, got it, you go on. Don’t interfere with us," Zhang Xiaoke pushed her mother to the side, urging her away.

"Alright, you’re ungrateful," Mother Ke chuckled, offering no resistance and getting pushed away, then she remembered to turn back and say, "You guys can play in the hotel too, just give them this room number, no need to say anything else, but at least Li Zheng you should get your hair cut."

"Thank you, Auntie."

Zhang Xiaoke shooed her mother away and, after pushing Li Zheng quickly into the elevator, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your mother is really nice," Li Zheng said thoughtfully, "I wanted to exchange some fashion tips with her. Why rush off like that?"

"Don’t you think it’s weird?" Zhang Xiaoke crossed her arms and cocked her head, "Why is she so nice to you? It’s strange."

"It’s probably because she sat at the same table as my dad during the parent-teacher conference," Li Zheng pondered, "A tiger doesn’t father a dog, Old Li has high EQ. He must have formed a good bond with your mom at that time."

"Stop it, that’s even weirder," Zhang Xiaoke objected.

With a "ding," the elevator reached the floor.

The two of them walked to Li Zheng’s room door, only to find that it was ajar, undoubtedly because Shi Yang had returned.

As they stepped inside, Shi Yang started shouting, "Ha! Li Zheng, did you sneak out to hit on some girls during the afternoon break?"

Before Li Zheng could respond, Shi Yang poked his head out from around the corner with a lecherous wag of his eyebrows, "You don’t call me for picking up chicks... Damn it... Damn it..."

When Shi Yang saw Zhang Xiaoke, his eyebrows froze at their highest arch.

His mouth couldn’t even close anymore.

His face began to visibly contort.

"Ah..."

In the end, he let out a timid squeak like a little chick and shrank back.

Li Zheng glanced back at Zhang Xiaoke.

The latter already had a disgusted look on her face, twisting her mouth in a ’couldn’t-care-less’ manner.

This disdainful expression undoubtedly sentenced Shi Yang to death.

It was so typical of Shi Yang to instantly max out someone’s dislike for him upon first meeting.

Li Zheng strenuously dragged his suitcase inside and, carrying the awkwardness, forcefully introduced, "This is my classmate, here to bring me clothes. This one is City First School’s chemistry whiz."

Shi Yang sat in front of the bed, not daring to make eye contact with Zhang Xiaoke the entire time.

But even so, her cute little face and adorably dressed appearance were deeply imprinted in his mind.

Without a doubt...

This must be Lin Yujing...

My God...she’s in the city’s top ten for chemistry and still so adorable...

I must get to know her well.

Even though that was his thought, Shi Yang still didn’t dare to look at her, just bent over, tying his shoes while trying to sound cool, "You...hello...I’m Shi Yang, aiming to be the Icho world champion, hmph."

This self-introduction instantly lowered Zhang Xiaoke’s impression of him another notch.

Zhang Xiaoke simply turned her head away, hands behind her back, and barely let out an "Hmm" without even telling him her name.

In this excruciating awkwardness, Li Zheng put down the suitcase and, while pulling on the straps, said to Shi Yang, "You rest, we’ll leave as soon as we drop off these things."

"I... well, I should... step out for a bit..." Shi Yang swallowed hard, walking past Zhang Xiaoke, but his eyes involuntarily flicked down, glancing at her long-stockinged legs.

"Eh..." Zhang Xiaoke took a wary half-step back, "Alright, you go out then."

"..." Shi Yang shivered, wiped his face, and walked out feeling wronged.

He definitely couldn’t resist taking a look.

With you dressed like that, who could stand it?

"Wait a moment." Li Zheng suddenly raised his hand.

"Oh?" Shi Yang turned back like a manly man.

No doubt about it, being a good brother meant leaving me a chance when picking up girls, right?

"Get a bottle of water." Li Zheng picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table and threw it to Shi Yang, "Go play ball in the backyard. Don’t wait for me for dinner."

Shi Yang shakily received the mineral water.

Looking at Li Zheng, he clenched his teeth.

It’s all fake, all of it.

The senior sister, the cute girl, all of it.

It’s all fake, you were never going to include me in your fun.

They’re all surface-level brothers, all made of plastic.

And even though Shi Yang’s heart ached bitterly, he could only turn and run away recklessly.

In his world, perhaps nothing was more frustrating and painful than giving up the room for a brother.

It was bad enough as it was, but as Shi Yang took a couple of steps out the door, he heard a loud "bam" – the door was shut firmly.

Just as he turned his head back, he saw the "Do Not Disturb" light come on.

This scene was truly the icing on the cake.

Way to go, Li Zheng!

You and Lin Yujing, are you really in such a hurry?

She’s supposedly the top ten cutest girl in chemistry in the entire city.

Damn it...

Believe it or not...

Believe it or not, I’ll...

Tell the teacher!

...

Inside the room, after Zhang Xiaoke slammed the door shut with force, she was still angry, "What kind of roommate do you have? So disgusting..."

"Shi Bao’er is just low on EQ and doesn’t know how to conceal his desires, that’s all," Li Zheng said.

"That doesn’t mean he should look at someone’s legs first." Zhang Xiaoke stood with her hands on her hips, complaining.

"True as that may be, with you being so... adorable..." Li Zheng coughed and said, "I’m also trying really hard to restrain myself from looking down."

"Oh?" Zhang Xiaoke sat down at the foot of the bed, arching an eyebrow, "So Master, you have desires too?"

"..." Li Zheng’s face became anxious.

Zhang Xiaoke was visibly amused, swinging her legs with glee, "Ha-ha, I’m not stopping you from looking."

"Enough!" Li Zheng looked down and cursed, "That’s a double standard. Why is it perverted when Shi Bao’er looks, but okay for me to look anytime, if not because I’m handsome?"

"Eww!!!"

Watching Zhang Xiaoke get grossed out, Li Zheng finally felt a bit better.

At last, licking his lips, he opened the suitcase.

Wow!

Golden, epic-level supplies!

"Sci-Fi World" 2018 bound edition.

Two big stacks of "Volleyball Junior" comics.

Two big stacks of physics competition textbooks & practice exercises.

Two packs of spare clothes.

A brand-new set of art supplies.

The most crucial thing.

And a pair of slippers.

The paper slippers from the hotel can go die.

"Now I... I’ve come back to life..." Li Zheng stroked those books, gasping for breath as he looked up, "Tell me, what do you want? Anything, as long as I have it, I can give it to you."

"???" After a moment of shock, Zhang Xiaoke hopped into the bathroom, "I’ll use the restroom first..."

Two minutes later, by the time Zhang Xiaoke came out after tidying up, Li Zheng had already transferred everything from the suitcase and was opening the bag with clothes.

"Wait!" Zhang Xiaoke jumped in surprise again.

But she was too late.

At that moment, Li Zheng had already pulled out a pair of yellow-bottomed, black-dotted cotton briefs with a Pikachu head on them.

On closer inspection, it turned out that the head, along with the two long ears on either side, perfectly formed the entirety of the briefs.

"Do I have such a thing?" Li Zheng dumbfoundedly looked down at the bag of clothes.

Wow!

A new world!

Even Li Zheng blushed, suddenly flustered.

Before he could put it down and apologize, Zhang Xiaoke had already charged and bumped into him.

"Make me forget!"

Li Zheng was knocked over onto the bed, not realizing that Zhang Xiaoke could muster such strength.

As she collided, Zhang Xiaoke also performed a swift move, snatching back Pikachu and then speedily stuffed it back into the bag, tying it up and shoving it back into the suitcase in no time.

Afterward, there was only silence.

Zhang Xiaoke, without lifting her head, breathed heavily in silence, her face unseen.

"I’m... I’m sorry..." Li Zheng swallowed his spit, "I thought they were all my clothes..."

"Shut up..." Zhang Xiaoke still didn’t look up, murmuring in an eerily low voice, "If you spill it, I’ll kill you."

"I got it, won’t say a word..." Li Zheng nodded repeatedly, "Actually, it’s no big deal, Pikachu underwear is nothing to be ashamed of, my dad still wears red Superman boxers..."

"Shut up!"

"..."

After locking the suitcase, Zhang Xiaoke once again hurriedly retreated into the bathroom.

Sitting on the toilet lid, she furiously kicked her legs and waved her arms.

Ah ah ah!

If only I’d brought a different pair.

After quite a while, she wiped her face and came out again.

Li Zheng was sitting upright and still at the writing desk, not daring to move, murmuring, "I’ve thought about it… maybe I should compensate your loss with a secret of mine, Teacher Tang, she..."

"Shut up, it’s over." Zhang Xiaoke sat on the bed with resentment, "Don’t you even mention it ever again!"

"Alright..."

After a moment of tense silence.

"What about Teacher Tang?" Zhang Xiaoke eventually couldn’t hold back.

"I’ll only tell you, you mustn’t tell anyone else."

"Mhm mhm mhm, my mouth’s the tightest, I’m the end of the line for secrets here."

A few minutes later, having collected a new secret, Zhang Xiaoke finally relaxed.

"Aha, no wonder you haven’t been wearing stockings lately."

"Oh? Is it because of the stockings?"

"Yeah, stockings smell the worst." Zhang Xiaoke thought about it and hurriedly added, "I’m the exception, I sweat very little."

"Alright, stop mocking others’ weaknesses, everyone has their flaws," Li Zheng shook his head and sighed, "Like me, for so many years, I’ve been a slow learner, slow to understand..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Xiaoke promptly stopped Li Zheng, then sat on the bed swinging her legs, turning her head to say, "You said just now, anything you have, I can have, right?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Then..." Zhang Xiaoke swallowed, turning her head, "Share some of your... time with me."

"Time?"

"Yeah... like tutoring me..." Zhang Xiaoke turned her head again, "It’s like this... after using your systematic feedback studying method... in the recent monthly exam, I accidentally got the 10th place..."

"Congratulations!"

"Yeah, I didn’t expect it either... so... I want to give it a try." Zhang Xiaoke leaned back, spreading her arms and lying on the bed, "After all, I got into Ren Da Fu by myself... Maybe I just haven’t felt confident in a long while... But now that I’m in the top ten, I want to put in serious effort again... Although I can’t compare to Master, I still want to try and challenge Jingbei!"

"That’s a good thing, of course," Li Zheng reminded, "but you need to evaluate yourself accurately, the only reason you got into the top ten is because I didn’t participate in the exam."

"Dammit!" Zhang Xiaoke suddenly sat up and cursed, "Speaking of which, Jingjing didn’t take the exam either; it’s so annoying."

"Why not?"

"She said she lacked the will to compete and just stayed home to study physics," Zhang Xiaoke stuck out her tongue and spread her arms, "The principal couldn’t do anything about her..."

"Hmph, typical Master Ye," Li Zheng began flexing his fingers, "Alright, back to you, when I return from the training camp, I’ll conduct a more comprehensive assessment and intensive training on you, don’t break down."

"That’s exactly what I wanted to hear," Zhang Xiaoke stood up happily, "Xu Mengxi also got the second place in the grade this month, you better not teach anyone else."

"That’s tiring, it takes dozens of hours," Li Zheng waved off with a smile, "No problem, consider it passing on the skills."

"Alright, let’s go out then," Zhang Xiaoke grabbed Li Zheng to push him outside, "Bowling? Table tennis? Swimming?"

"Hmm..." Li Zheng considered and said, "How about shopping? Haven’t done that in a long time."

"???"

"If you don’t want to, forget it..."

"I give up," Zhang Xiaoke resignedly spread her arms, "Let’s just say it’s to accompany you for a haircut."

"OK, let’s invite your mom too."

"???"