Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 196 - 195 Guess guess guess guess guess

The next day, news of Li Zheng’s birthday had already spread.

Even though it was actually Zhang Xiaoke’s plan, Li Zheng ended up blaming Jiang Qinghua for it all.

This guy really has a big mouth.

But Zhang Xiaoke didn’t get to act smug for too long.

When Li Zheng returned to the classroom after lunch, he happened to catch Zhang Xiaoke sneakily placing gifts on his desk, red-handed.

"Ha!" Li Zheng charged over with wide eyes, "So it was you, thick eyebrows and big eyes!"

"Aaaah..." Zhang Xiaoke hurriedly dropped the gift boxes and started to run with his head in his hands, "It’s all in good faith, Master."

"Good faith my ass, it’s such a hassle to return gifts," Li Zheng scolded as he chased, "Do you know because of this, I have to remember a ton of people’s birthdays, and if I miss one, I’ll feel this weird guilt."

"Alright, alright, no one is asking you to return them."

"There is! I’ve already been caught on November 1st, I have to think about it every day to remember it well."

"What the heck!"

After running a lap, Zhang Xiaoke had run back and crawled under her own desk, looking up at Li Zheng with teary eyes, "I was just trying to celebrate your birthday... You’re so mean, Master."

Li Zheng wasn’t really going to do anything to her, so he could only sit down resentfully, "Let’s stop here, don’t spread it any further."

"Can do, can do." Zhang Xiaoke then withdrew her tearful eyes, climbed out with a grin and sat back down, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the gift boxes on Li Zheng’s desk, "They’re all anonymous~ Only I know the answers~ You can only take if you guess right~"

"Then I’ll guess Liu Xin for all of them, and send them all back."

"Stop blabbering, hurry up, hurry up~"

"This is so boring..." Li Zheng said, but his eyes still scanned the desktop.

There were a total of seven gift boxes, probably from people close to Zhang Xiaoke who conspired to send them.

It should be pretty easy to guess.

"So you mean..." Li Zheng mumbled, "Jiang Qinghua, Liu Xin, you, Xu Mengxi, Qiao Bixia, and Lin Yujing, all sent gifts?"

"Yes!" Zhang Xiaoke nodded steadily, "And one more from Liu Yuexuan."

"Oh?" Li Zheng glanced toward the position of Liu Yuexuan, the Language class representative seated in the front row.

Liu Yuexuan was also looking this way, waving from afar with a smile, "Happy birthday~"

"Thanks." After returning a smile to Liu Yuexuan, Li Zheng turned his face and gave Zhang Xiaoke a stony look, "Thanks to you, I have another birthday to remember."

"Don’t... don’t be so scary..." Zhang Xiaoke said in a panic, "If it comes to it, I’ll help you with the return gifts..."

"Such a hassle." Li Zheng sighed and picked up the pink gift box on top.

From this color scheme, it was probably given by a girl.

Although he said it was a hassle, Li Zheng still felt a faint expectation.

After all, this was the first time someone other than his parents had given him a birthday present...

He had never even received a card before.

"Hurry up and open it, quickly." Zhang Xiaoke raised an eyebrow and teased, "The rule is to look at the gift before guessing, and if you guess wrong, it goes to the person you guessed."

Li Zheng responded with an "Oh," suddenly becoming interested, "So you’re saying, if the gift is from Liu Xin, but I guess it’s from Jiang Qinghua, then the gift belongs to Jiang Qinghua?"

"Yes!" Zhang Xiaoke bumped Li Zheng with a grin, "Guessing Zhang Xiaoke for all of them is pretty good too!"

"In your dreams." Li Zheng ripped open the wrapping in a couple of quick moves and then froze.

Underneath that pink wrapping paper,

was unexpectedly a set of resistance bands.

Therefore, the result was no surprise.

"Qiao Bixia..." Li Zheng sighed in bland resignation.

"Congratulations, you’ve won a set of resistance bands," Zhang Xiaoke cheered, making gestures, "You have to bulk up those pectorals in the future, Master."

At the same time, from outside the door came a loud, boisterous laugh as Qiao Bixia walked into the classroom cheerfully, "I waited for you at the basketball court until six o’clock yesterday, I’m glad my kindness wasn’t wasted."

"Thanks..." With no chance to dodge, Li Zheng could only accept a heavy slap from Qiao Bixia, "Special circumstances yesterday, I’ll definitely play basketball today."

"Alright, my gift-giving mission is accomplished, open the next one," Qiao Bixia urged.

"Okay." Li Zheng then tore open another smaller blue-wrapped package below.

It was a book with a similarly blue cover, bearing the elegantly printed title "Fortress Besieged."

Again, no surprise.

"Liu Yuexuan," Li Zheng nodded again toward Liu Yuexuan in the front row.

However, Liu Yuexuan had a rather miserable expression, "No, it’s Zhang Xiaoke..."

"???" Li Zheng’s eyes widened, "How is that possible? Does Zhang Xiaoke have such culture?"

"I do have it, Master..." Zhang Xiaoke’s eyes welled up again, as she flailed a barrage of punches, "I gave my favorite book to Master... How can you say I have no culture!"

This time, Li Zheng didn’t fend off the punches, but just took them in silence.

You can know someone’s face but not their heart.

Zhang Xiaoke actually had some culture...

However, in the end, Liu Yuexuan still didn’t take the book back, allowing Li Zheng to keep it.

Li Zheng also took a deep breath and opened the third rainbow-wrapped gift.

It was a box of Morning Glory pens, bound together with a stack of brand-new workbooks.

Li Zheng’s eyes immediately lit up.

Good stuff, practical.

The one who gave such a sincere gift.

"Liu Xin!" Li Zheng called out with open arms.

The Liu Yuexuan in the front row almost burst into tears again: "It’s me..."

"Ah..." Li Zheng scratched his head, "Anyway, Liu Xin wouldn’t need this, so I’ll keep it."

The fourth box.

An old wind-up mouse toy...

Li Zheng couldn’t help but massage his forehead.

A normal person wouldn’t give an 18-year-old high school student this kind of toy.

It obviously wasn’t for people to play with...

But for cats to play with.

So there could only be one conclusion.

"Lin Yujing." Li Zheng sighed with some disappointment, "Got it, I’ll give it to Wang Cai to play with."

However, Liu Xin rushed in: "Brother Li, it’s me, Brother Li!"

"???"

"This is the wind-up mouse I’ve treasured since I was a kid, my most precious memory, Brother Li!" Liu Xin picked up the wind-up mouse and pointed to the scratch on the side, "My name’s here, it symbolizes that our friendship will never fade."

"Ah..." Li Zheng was thrown, "Sorry... sorry..."

"I don’t care, I’ll give it to you even if you guessed wrong." Liu Xin stuffed the mouse into Li Zheng’s arms, "You must not let the cat play with it, you have to treasure it."

"...Okay."

When opening the fifth box, Li Zheng who had made several mistakes was now panicked.

It won’t do, I can’t be blindly confident anymore.

The outside and inside of a person are often contradictory.

Under Zhang Xiaoke’s flamboyant exterior lies a serious literary heart.

Liu Yuexuan’s artistic temperament harbors a practical core.

Liu Xin, after being recklessly flamboyant, hides tenderness and delicacy.

The only one who is consistent inside and out is Qiao Bixia.

Taking the opposite approach may have a better chance.

Tch!

The packaging of the fifth box was torn open.

It’s a complete set of Xue Zhiqian’s album CDs!

Shit...

Li Zheng swallowed hard.

There’s no way to guess this the other way around.

"Jiang Qinghua..." Li Zheng read out the name.

At the entrance, that man flashed into the class: "Right, it’s me."

"Thank you..." Li Zheng said thanks with difficulty, "But I don’t have a CD player..."

"They’re for collection, I don’t have one either," Jiang Qinghua sighed lightly with a smile, "Don’t feel pressured, I just wanted to say goodbye to my past self and set you up with your blue skies and oceans."

"I don’t really understand, but thanks anyway."

Li Zheng took a deep breath and opened the second-to-last gift box.

Now there were only two people left.

Lin Yujing, Teacher Mengxi.

A choice between two, it should be easy to guess.

After tearing off the red wrapping paper.

Li Zheng saw a brand-new black metallic mobile phone case.

He then picked up his own phone and realized it was already full of scratches.

Another very practical gift.

It must be Teacher Mengxi...

Although that’s what he thought, Li Zheng didn’t guess right away but quickly opened the last gift—

A fist-sized Cosmic Glass Sphere!

With the shake, the glowing substance inside would flow like stellar migration, like the Milky Way revolving.

Brilliant!

```

It was too obvious, there was no way it could be wrong.

Li Zheng held up the Cosmic Glass Sphere with his right hand, "Lin Yujing."

With his left hand, he grabbed the black phone case, "Teacher Mengxi."

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

Even Zhang Xiaoke didn’t make any inappropriate comments and just stared dumbfounded at Li Zheng.

Li Zheng’s expression grew tense.

Could it be... that he was wrong...

How the hell could he get this wrong...

He shakily turned his head, looking towards the classroom door.

Lin Yujing was glaring furiously.

Teacher Mengxi looked profoundly sad.

"It’s not... this..." Li Zheng picked up the cosmic ball, "Only Lin Yujing could’ve given such a thing, right?"

"Uh..." Xu Mengxi forced a smile, "It was me... I chose it for a long time... and bought it from abroad..."

Crack!

Li Zheng was completely at a loss for words, "Thank you... thank you, Teacher Mengxi, this is my favorite gift."

"Mm... I’m glad you like it."

"Then..." Li Zheng then picked up the phone case, "such a practical, thoughtful gift..."

Lin Yujing spread her hands, "I bought it last minute this morning."

Crack!

Li Zheng felt his head explode.

He had completely misunderstood.

How he’d let down Teacher Mengxi’s kind intentions!

"Mengxi, let’s go, don’t bother with such trash..." Lin Yujing said with contempt before pulling Xu Mengxi away.

"How could you guess it wrong!" Qiao Bixia was so angry that she grabbed the grip strengthener she’d given him, "Go reflect on yourself. I’ll use the grip strengthener myself."

As the tide comes in and out, everything returned to tranquility.

Li Zheng could only turn his head in irritation and glare at Zhang Xiaoke.

"This was all your idea, wasn’t it?"

"Te-te-te-te...acher..." Zhang Xiaoke shrunk back under the desk, clinging to the leg of the table as she explained, "I didn’t know it would turn out like this..."

"Come on, let’s test your recent academic achievements," Li Zheng shook his arm, "I’ll personally set a comprehensive science test for you."

"Ha!" Zhang Xiaoke crawled back out and climbed onto her seat, laughing hysterically, "I thought it was something serious, but this is just like throwing a meat bun to a dog."

"Not just any comprehensive science test, it’s an Olympic-level comprehensive science test," Li Zheng narrowed his eyes, "you start right after the first period this afternoon and go until 6 PM. It’s out of 200 points, and your goal is 20 points. If you don’t reach it, you’ll be expelled from my tutelage."

"..."

...

That afternoon, the Lake Ying Middle School’s new year program audition officially began.

In principle, only the students from the first and second year of high school were allowed to register for the program, and no more than 5 acts would be selected for the New Year’s Eve performance.

The audition took place in the music classroom, with Principal Liu Xiaodong and other school leaders scoring it, conducted in groups and in batches to minimize class disruptions.

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing went around three o’clock, and as soon as Li Zheng’s guitar sounded, Principal Liu Xiaodong immediately gave approval. Lin Yujing didn’t even finish the first line before the other teachers had also given their approvals, the scene was reminiscent of "The Voice of China."

Jiang Qinghua and Zhang Xiaoke went after four o’clock, and they were only there for scoring. The results would have to wait for the "mentors’" discussion and decision.

At the end of school, while Li Zheng was packing his bag, ready for a satisfying basketball game, Tang Zhifei suddenly entered the classroom, nervous and excited, and pulled Lin Yujing with him as they both approached the class’s core figure, Li Zheng, forming a small group.

"The results of the program selection are out..." Tang Zhifei nodded first at Li Zheng and Lin Yujing, "’Fly me to the moon’ is the finale."

"Oh?" Li Zheng frowned slightly, "I wanted to go first."

In his mind, the first performance had the greatest impact and was more advantageous for accruing vitality value.

Tang Zhifei simply shook his head, "The first one will quickly be forgotten, but the finale is the most influential. Anyway, Principal Liu insists putting our school’s reputation on you two."

"Hmm..." Lin Yujing seemed a bit uncomfortable, "About how many people from City First School will there be?"

"Don’t be nervous, just sing with your eyes closed," Tang Zhifei muttered, "I’m not sure exactly how many people, but each grade has about less than twenty classes, and the middle school and high school sections are all coming."

"That’s over 4000 people," Li Zheng mused, resting his chin on his hand, "Plus our school’s middle and high school sections, as well as the teaching and administrative staff, roughly 6000 in total... Assuming an even gender distribution, that’s 3000 girls... good, 3000 girls should be enough..."

Li Zheng suddenly felt this was inappropriate and quickly corrected himself, "Don’t get me wrong, I’m just paying attention to the gender ratio at excellent schools, to see if it meets the average distribution."

"Who cares about you!" Zhang Xiaoke urgently asked Tang Zhifei, "What about us? What about us?"

"Mmm... unfortunately..." Tang Zhifei pursed his lips in a sigh, "The spots were given to group performances. It seems there’s a preference against solo acts."

"Damn!" Zhang Xiaoke cursed, biting her lip, "I practiced a lot with the video."

"Let it go, let it go," Jiang Qinghua simply smiled lightly, packing the flute back into his bag, "Life is full of disappointments."

"It’s really not your fault," Tang Zhifei put his arm around Zhang Xiaoke, rubbing her little hand to comfort her, "I asked about it specifically, your solo dance was mainly not chosen because the gym is too big and it’s hard to see clearly. Qinghua’s flute performance was very good, but the main reason it wasn’t selected is that a solo flute might seem monotonous; it would’ve definitely had a chance in an ensemble."

Zhang Xiaoke scoffed, "So we should both be playing the flute and dancing, right?"

```

"It’s not that it’s impossible, but it doesn’t quite fit, does it?" Tang Zhifei patted Zhang Xiaoke’s hand, "Anyway, just focus on being a great audience from now on."

"No problem, I’ve been one for a long time now," Jiang Qinghua revealed a smile like that of an immortal.

Just as Tang Zhifei was about to leave.

A "whoosh" sound was heard.

People familiar with this sound all knew.

It had to be Li Zheng raising his hand.

"Wait a second..." Li Zheng furrowed his brows, his gaze deepening.

The depth wasn’t because of deep thought, but because he was checking the task.

[Unparalleled II: After accepting the task, the vitality value cap will be removed for all relaxation activities for 10 minutes. Please restore vitality for the equivalent of 500 hours within these 10 minutes.]

There was a 10-minute timeline for the task, and the song performance with Lin Yujing would last at most 3 minutes.

Being conservative and assuming there were only [2000 sisters] in the audience, based on past experience, an average vitality restoration rate of [4 (minutes)/sister per minute] could be estimated.

Multiplying the two and cancelling out "sister," the total restoration rate would be 8000/minute.

If the performance lasted for three minutes, the total restoration would be 24,000 minutes.

Which means... 400 hours...

Not enough! Absolutely not enough!

The Unparalleled task cannot be messed up.

Whether it’s the [History Textbook] or the [Senior Programmer], they were absolutely rewards worth fighting for.

Speaking of which, there seemed to be another option...

Forget it, that’s not important.

In conclusion, it’s still not enough, just one "Fly me to the moon" is not enough.

The remaining 7 minutes had to be utilized, without any waste.

As for how to utilize them, there were two plans.

One was to perform basketball after singing the song. Since the setting was a gymnasium, playing basketball made sense.

But this would be a bit forced.

And basketball without competition had no soul.

For some indescribable reasons, in this era, someone dribbling non-stop in public could become laughable.

Forget about attracting girls, he might end up becoming the girls’ laughing stock, the girls’ enemy.

Basketball had to be ruled out.

Then, the other plan was to extend the performance time. If one song wasn’t enough, then three.

About that, first of all, Lin Yujing would definitely not agree.

Secondly, the same two people performing similar pieces repeatedly would only tire the audience.

It would be better to have more people, more instruments, in a more diverse manner, linking up some pieces that can excite the crowd.

Especially pieces that can get middle schoolers hyped.

About these, Li Zheng knew nothing.

So—

"Qinghua and Xiaoke can also join our performance, right?" Li Zheng asked Tang Zhifei.

"Huh?" Tang Zhifei’s eyes widened, "Flute and... that kind of dance... don’t really match, do they?"

"What do you mean by ’that kind of dance’?" Zhang Xiaoke glared and began to jump around, "Teacher Tang, make yourself clear, are you looking down on our two-dimensional space?"

"Hehe... it’s just a bit... a bit too cute," Tang Zhifei replied reluctantly.

However, Jiang Qinghua, seated at the back, only waved her hand, "Forget it, we two won’t add to the chaos, you guys do your best."

"It’s not about adding chaos; the more people, the better the performance effect can be," Li Zheng planned while stroking his chin, "Since it’s the grand finale, we need to make it more exciting, to make the sisters... to make the atmosphere more fervent. We might as well shorten the main piece and add a medley at the end. Qinghua could play the flute, the triangle, and Xiaoke could dance or act as a mascot when necessary."

"Ah!" Zhang Xiaoke’s eyes lit up as she started shaking Li Zheng’s shoulder, "You can do two-dimensional music pieces too, Master?"

"Music is mathematics; it doesn’t differentiate between dimensions," Li Zheng said with a grin, "As long as it gets us more sisters... a better performance effect, I can play any string music."

"Wow, aren’t we being a bit arrogant?" Zhang Xiaoke immediately asked, "A erhu rendition of ’Pure Land of Bliss’?"

"No problem at all," Li Zheng nodded confidently.

"Huh?" Zhang Xiaoke pressed on, "A violin version of ’Digital Monster’?"

"Easy peasy."

"Saxophone version of Slam Dunk?"

"That’s a wind instrument, let’s discuss if necessary."

If it were someone else being so arrogant, they might have been criticized vigorously.

But everyone present knew Li Zheng never spoke falsely.

After such a back-and-forth, Zhang Xiaoke’s expression became serious in an instant.

"If what Master says is true..." Zhang Xiaoke settled into her seat solemnly, like Li Zheng, she started rubbing her chin, "I’m confident I can plan this grand finale to blow—turn—the—place—upside—down!"