CDJMM – Volume 2 – Chapter 3 The State Slaps and Teaches the Scum a Lesson (3)

【Yan Qing: The Five-Three??! Did I hear that right?】

【Successor of Socialism: Hahahahahahaha hiccup, the Five-Three! I saw it in the system shop before and thought—who in their right mind would ever buy that? Never thought the blogger himself is that lunatic, hahahahaha!】

【Rolling on the Floor Shouting 666: My mood right now is exactly like my ID.】

【Onlooker: My mom wouldn’t even believe this if I told her. I never touched the Five-Three myself, but now I get to watch the blogger do it live!】

Even the system couldn’t believe it. It asked cautiously: 【Host, do you even know what the Five-Three is?】

Le Jing instantly slipped into straight-A-student mode, his eyes burning with scholarly passion:  “Of course I know! Just listen to the name and you’ll know what’s inside! ‘Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests’! With this book, I can happily solve tough problems, ace the college entrance exam, and Mom will never have to worry about me failing to get into university again!”

System: ……

【Lana: ……couldn’t help but glance at the title of this livestream.】

【Maple Leaves in Autumn: Same, glanced at the title too.】

【He Yun Xue Ya: Isn’t this supposed to be a livestream about counterattacking cannon fodder and slapping scumbags??? Why does this host’s style feel so off???】

【Shui Mu: I only clicked in for household drama face-slapping… but somehow, this study-obsessed host feels kinda addictive?】

【System Notification: Shui Mu tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 100 RMB.】

【System Notification: Zhang Kuaihuo tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 100 RMB.】

……

System: ……???

It seriously felt that Chang Jingchen was toxic. Not only was his own style completely abnormal, but he even dragged the entire audience’s style into abnormality too!

In just this short while, Chang Jingchen had already raked in five to six hundred RMB in tips!

Back then, even the hardworking newbie streamers it had mentored—streaming nonstop for a whole week about slapping scumbags—might not earn this much in tips!

The system stared at Chang Jingchen’s utterly ordinary, forgettable face, sinking into a stunned silence.

Meanwhile, with the barrage messages muted, Le Jing had no idea about the tips pouring in. All of his mind and spirit were immersed in the world of the Five-Three.

The Five-Three from the system shop cost 200 points—very expensive. But you get what you pay for. Because the system’s version of Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests contained every exam and full-length mock paper from 1977 to 2573.

Strictly speaking, the book should’ve been titled Five Hundred Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Hundred Years of Mock Tests.

What’s more, the Five-Three sold in the system shop existed only as a virtual item within the host’s consciousness. In other words, as long as Le Jing closed his eyes, he could enter his mental space and work on the problems there. And in that space, time flowed three times faster than in reality. Three hours in the mind equaled only one hour in the real world.

This was cutting-edge black technology that future society had spent countless years developing—just to maximize students’ problem-solving efficiency!

#Look how happy those students are while doing questions#

#Three times the problem-solving time, three times the joy#

……

……

Wen Wenzhong noticed that his deskmate Chang Jingchen was acting really strange today.

First, at noon he had arrogantly roasted the school bully Zhao Desheng. His icy tongue and sharp words were nothing like his usual timid, cowardly self. It was like a complete personality swap.

Then in the afternoon, he suddenly transformed into the god of sleep.

The second the class bell rang, he would flop onto the desk and doze off. Even during class, he’d often prop up his head with one arm and nod off.

So, during the third period in the afternoon, just as the dismissal bell rang and before Chang Jingchen could fall asleep again, Wen Wenzhong hurriedly asked with concern: “Are you not feeling well?”

Le Jing glanced at the worried little chubby boy and asked: “Why do you say that?”

“Because you’ve been sleeping all the time…”

“I wasn’t sleeping. I was closing my eyes to rest.”

Wen Wenzhong: “…What’s the difference?”

Le Jing answered truthfully: “There is a difference. Because when I close my eyes to rest, I’m still studying.”

Wen Wenzhong: Mom, this guy is seriously shameless.

The last period was math class.

Their Class 9 of Grade 11 was an ordinary liberal arts class, so most of the students were weak in math.

Their math teacher, Wu Zhongming, also taught in the experimental science Class 3. After being used to seeing the stellar grades of the science class, whenever he looked at the hopeless math scores of this liberal arts class, he would burn with frustration.

As a result, the whole class dreaded math the most.

In the morning, Wu Zhongming hadn’t gone over the midterm exam papers, so it was very likely he had saved them for this last period.

So when Wen Wenzhong saw Wu Zhongming enter the classroom with a stack of test papers and a dark face, despair instantly filled his heart: I’m doomed.

Wu Zhongming’s gaze swept over the classroom like a heavy pressure. With a stern face, he said: “Your math results this time were terrible. How terrible? Even the lowest score in Class 3 is one point higher than the top score in your class.”

“Same teacher, same teaching—how can your results be this bad? Don’t tell me every single one of you is just dumber than the students in Class 3?”

“I won’t say anything extra. You’re all sixteen, seventeen already. Back when I was your age, I was already working! Group leaders, come up and collect your group’s test papers. All of you, reflect properly on this exam result!”

Wen Wenzhong’s heart was thumping wildly, sweat breaking out on his back. He craned his neck, staring eagerly yet nervously at the group leader distributing the test papers, torn between expectation and fear.

After what felt like ages, the group leader finally stopped at his desk and handed him his paper. Across the page, the glaring red 96 stood out.

Wen Wenzhong let out a long sigh of relief. Out of 120 points in math, 96 wasn’t bad at all. At least he didn’t have to worry about being scolded when he got home.

The group leader then pulled out another paper and placed it on his deskmate Chang Jingchen’s table. The 70 written on it was just as eye-catching. That was when Wen Wenzhong noticed—Chang Jingchen was still sleeping!

In contrast to that failing score of 70, his earlier claim that he was “closing his eyes to rest while studying” seemed even more laughable.

Wen Wenzhong stifled a chuckle, poked him lightly, and whispered: “Class has started.”

Chang Jingchen gave a grunt through his nose, not even moving his eyelids.

“This is math class, the teacher’s going to explain the test.”

Only then did Chang Jingchen slowly open his eyes, lazily sitting up straight. “I know… thanks.”

Wen Wenzhong felt there was a trace of reluctance in that “thanks.”

Once all the papers were handed out, Wu Zhongming cleared his throat and began going over the math test.

“The first question—at a glance, anyone can solve it. No need for me to explain, right?” He paused briefly, then continued in one breath: “Second question—obviously the answer is C. Next. Third question—clearly B. Next. Fourth question—skip…”

Wen Wenzhong sighed. He was already used to this teacher’s style. Wu Zhongming’s catchphrase was: “This question is obvious, do I really need to explain it?”

After skipping through seven multiple-choice questions in a row, finally a timid voice rose from the class: “Teacher… this question, I really don’t get it…”

Wu Zhongming let out a heavy sigh, his expression grave. “What part don’t you get?”

“…Teacher, can you write the steps on the blackboard? Once we see it, we’ll get it.”

So Wu Zhongming turned around and dashed off a few neat lines of steps on the board. The class instantly had their eyes opened. This was exactly why, despite how much he looked down on them, the class still held great respect for him. No matter his disdain, his math skills were truly solid—rumor had it that during high school, there wasn’t a single math problem he couldn’t solve.

Wu Zhongming’s explanations were fast. Barely twenty minutes in, he had already finished going over all the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, and moved on to the application problems.

He skipped the first few “giveaway” problems—because, of course, “they’re obvious”—and went straight to the final two “more interesting” big problems.

He was halfway through reading out one of the problems when he suddenly stopped. The piece of chalk in his hand traced a graceful parabola through the air and landed squarely on a black head.

“Chang Jingchen, stand up!”

Only then did Wen Wenzhong realize—at some point, Chang Jingchen had closed his eyes again, propping his head up with his hand, back in his so-called “resting with eyes closed”!

Struck by the chalk, Chang Jingchen finally opened his eyes, retrieved the chalk from his hair, and obediently stood up.

“How many points did you get on this math test?”

“Seventy.”

“Did you solve the last two application problems correctly?”

“No.”

“And you still dare to sleep?!”

“But I can solve them.”

The two voices overlapped almost at once. Wu Zhongming’s eyes widened, momentarily doubting his ears. “What did you say? Speak louder!”

To Wen Wenzhong’s utter disbelief, his timid deskmate straightened his back, his voice ringing clear: “I said I can solve them.”

Wu Zhongming’s face darkened. “Since you can solve them, then go write the answers on the blackboard!”

“Oh, alright.”

Chang Jingchen strolled lazily to the podium. Without seeming to think at all, he picked up the very chalk Wu Zhongming had thrown and began writing on the board, leaving behind line after line of smooth, concise formulas.

Gradually, Wen Wenzhong’s eyes grew wider and wider as he stared at the blackboard, while Wu Zhongming’s dark face no longer looked so terrifying.

That second-to-last problem—during the exam, Wen Wenzhong had racked his brains for ages and had barely figured out the first two sub-questions. Even then, although his formulas were correct, he had substituted the wrong numbers and lost a lot of points. As for the third sub-question, he hadn’t even managed to attempt it!

As for the final big problem, he had only scratched out an answer for the first sub-question. Aside from two wrong multiple-choice questions, nearly all his lost points had come from those two massive problems!

But Chang Jingchen had effortlessly written out all six sub-questions across both big problems. His methods and formulas were ingenious, elegant, and made Wen Wenzhong’s mind light up as though the fog had cleared—such clever solutions!

When Chang Jingchen wrote out the final answer to the last sub-question, Wu Zhongming’s eyes were filled with surprise and suspicion, his voice much gentler than before: “If you knew how to do it, why did you get it wrong on the test?”

Bathed half in the glow of the evening sun, the boy turned around and gave an answer that Wen Wenzhong would remember for the rest of his life:

“I didn’t get it wrong. I just didn’t write it.” Tossing the chalk back into the chalk box with casual ease, the boy added calmly:

“Too easy. Anyone can tell at a glance. I couldn’t be bothered to write it.”

Wen Wenzhong: …

Wu Zhongming: “……”

The whole class: “……”

Wen Wenzhong thought he would never forget the look on Wu Zhongming’s face at this moment. He had never expected that the always arrogant and aloof Wu Zhongming would show such a stiff, darkened expression.

The boy walked down from the podium, sat back in his seat, and pulled out his math test paper, pretending to study it seriously. Wen Wenzhong snuck a few glances at him, only to be dumbfounded when he saw that after looking at the paper for a few seconds, Chang Jingchen closed his eyes again!

Wen Wenzhong: “……”

Just who on earth was this seemingly ordinary deskmate of his?!

Meanwhile, in the virtual livestream room that Wen Wenzhong couldn’t see, countless comments scrolled by like a flood.

【Shan Gui Says: Aaaahhh so handsome!! Explosively handsome!!】

【Summon Meat～: It’s clearly just an ordinary cannon fodder face, but why did I suddenly feel he was so swoon-worthy for a moment?!】

【By the Waterside of Autumn: Aaaahhh the way the streamer slapped faces is so satisfying!!!】

【System Notification: Streamer Chang Jingchen has completed one face-slapping mission. Reward: 100 points.】

【System Notification: Zang Zhou tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 100 RMB】

【System Notification: Have You Studied Today tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 200 RMB】

【System Notification: Master Mo tipped the streamer Chang Jingchen 100 RMB】

……

……

On the third day after transmigrating, Le Jing finally saw the novel’s female lead—Song Caiying.

At that time, Le Jing was in P.E. class. After completing a few sets of radio calisthenics, the P.E. teacher let them move around freely.

Several athletic stars of their class quickly started a heated basketball game on the playground. The original body, being just a background character with no athletic talent, naturally was always just a silent spectator.

Declining his deskmate Wen Wenzhong’s invitation to play badminton, Le Jing planned to head back to the classroom to work on some practice papers to kill time. Just two days ago, he had bought a complete set of Five-Three from the system store, with pages and pages of blank spaces waiting for him to fill.

Now it was the late 1980s. Due to limitations in technological and economic development, educational resources were very scarce. Future high schoolers would enjoy a vast array of supplementary materials, test banks, and even high-quality online educational resources. Wealthier students could attend professional tutoring classes or even hire famous teachers for one-on-one guidance at home.

But high school students of this era were not so fortunate. Baicheng No. 1 High School, where Chang Jingchen studied, while not outstanding within the whole Ji Province, was still the top-ranked school in their city. When Chang Jingchen got admitted to this high school, Mother Xie had been so thrilled she even set off firecrackers.

Yet even in such a key city high school, there were few quality test papers available. Most of the papers were made by their own teachers—teachers who were often only high school, technical school, or junior college graduates. College graduates were extremely rare, so one could imagine the standard of test papers produced under such qualifications.

Occasionally, the school would spend heavily to purchase internal test papers from famous schools in Ji Province, but in Le Jing’s eyes, those were still inferior. After all, he had done countless papers from Five-Three, Huanggang Secret Papers, Golden Test Papers, and so on, and had fully experienced the “ugly faces” of the five legendary men of Chinese education: Wang Houxiong, Xue Jinxing, Rong Deji, Ren Zhihong, and Qu Yixian.

So after gaining his first batch of points from face-slapping, the very first thing he redeemed was a complete set of Five-Three to start grinding.

In Le Jing’s view, the optimal solution to escape the tragic fate of the original body was to study hard, get into a good university, achieve class mobility, and by then all those toxic relatives would be nothing more than paper tigers.

Just then, the system excitedly howled in his mind:【Host! Female lead detected going downstairs, you’ll encounter her in five seconds!】

Le Jing froze mid-step on the stairs. Lifting his head, he soon saw Song Caiying descending with another female classmate.

Chang Jingchen was in Class 9, Grade 2, while Song Caiying was the school belle of Class 3, Grade 2.

Song Caiying was very beautiful. Even in the baggy blue school uniform, she looked fresh and radiant, like a dewdrop-laden lotus, making the girl beside her—who was otherwise quite pretty—instantly pale in comparison, like an ugly duckling.

But that wasn’t why Le Jing suddenly blushed and his heart raced the moment he saw her.

His mind was crystal clear, which only made it easier to notice the physical reactions—warming cheeks, a quickening heartbeat, and a rush of inexplicable and complex emotions: excitement, joy, but also timidity and sour unease.

Le Jing: “……”

The system struck while the iron was hot:【Host, I know you like the female lead, but she belongs to the male lead. You can’t break them apart. So! Host, what about the girl beside her? She may not be as pretty as the female lead, but she comes from a wealthy family. If you pursue her successfully, you’ll save yourself thirty years of hard work!】

【Mu Yunbing: ??? That realistic??】

【Still Here: ……Who wouldn’t want to be spoiled by a rich lady QWQ I want that too, dammit!】

【Math Class Rep: Streamer, don’t listen to that system’s trash talk! Why chase girls? Is math not fun enough? Not enough papers to do?】

After a few days of adjustment, Le Jing no longer resisted the livestream as much. He realized he could gather a lot of intel from the bullet comments. So instead of blocking them, he minimized the chat to the bottom of his screen, occasionally responding.

Lowering his head, he brushed past the two girls as if nothing had happened, but his eyes flickered coldly as he smiled faintly at the viewers: “So, my feelings for the female lead are also just part of the plot setup?”

【Amusi & AD Calcium Both Taste Good: ……Damn, hearing the streamer say that suddenly feels heartbreaking. All his emotions being just programmed settings……】

【Songzi: ??? Why are you getting so emotional upstairs? Isn’t the streamer just a character created by a tech company based on the novel’s plot?!】

【Huya Defa: No! The streamer isn’t just a character, he’s a living person in a different dimension! He’s no different from us!】

Soon, the barrage shifted into an argument over whether Chang Jingchen was a real person.

Thanks to their discussion, Le Jing gained a deeper understanding of this world’s setup.

Simply put, Qijiang Technology was like God, creating the world where Chang Jingchen lived. The viewers outside the livestream were akin to other gods. Some acknowledged that the inhabitants of the small world were truly “human,” while others insisted they were nothing more than strings of code, not real people.

The reason Le Jing had blushed and his heart raced at Song Caiying’s sight was also part of the character setting. One of Chang Jingchen’s cannon-fodder traits was that he harbored a secret crush on Song Caiying. So even though Chang Jingchen was dead and Le Jing’s consciousness now controlled this body, his body would still react that way upon seeing her.

Heh.

Le Jing licked his lips, his nails digging deep into his flesh, while his face only grew softer with a gentle smile. He asked the system curiously: “Number 77, can I change the plot?”

【The host can change his own life plot, but not the main plot of the male and female leads.】

“If I change it, what will happen?”

【The program—that is, the world’s rules—will self-correct.】

“So I can understand it this way: if I don’t save the female lead from the thugs four days from now, someone else will?”

【Correct.】

Le Jing nodded. “I see.” He smiled, but a shadow passed over his eyes as he whispered, “……So that’s how it is.”

And so—

One day during break, the school bully Zhao Desheng somehow picked a fight with “background character” Chang Jingchen. Their argument drew many classmates to peek curiously from the classroom.

Then, nobody knew what Chang Jingchen whispered, but Zhao Desheng, enraged, swung a fist at him. Leaning against the corridor wall, Chang Jingchen tilted his body just enough to narrowly dodge. Zhao Desheng couldn’t pull back in time, and his fist brushed past a flowerpot resting on the corridor railing.

Le Jing lowered his head to look. The flowerpot grazed Song Caiying’s uniform and then crashed to the ground, scattering soil and shards everywhere. Dust even splattered onto her leather shoes.

Completely unharmed, Song Caiying stared in shock at the shattered pot before finally letting out a sharp, belated scream.

Le Jing pulled back his gaze, subtly curling his lips, his dark eyes cold as ice.

So this was the so-called female lead halo?

He already knew the female lead had a 99.9% chance of not being hurt, let alone dying, but he still felt disappointed.

As expected, the plot wasn’t so easy to change.

Turning around, Le Jing solemnly said to Zhao Desheng: “Zhao Desheng, please don’t misuse violence again. Luckily, Song Caiying is fine this time. Otherwise, you’d be going to jail!”

Casting a worried glance downstairs at the still-frightened Song Caiying, he grabbed Zhao Desheng’s sleeve: “Hurry, come downstairs with me and apologize to her!”

Zhao Desheng: expletives expletives expletives!