```
"Around 1:30," Ou Xingzhuo shook his head, "still haven’t cracked that problem. I’ll continue tonight."
"Don’t you get sleepy during the day?"
"I’ll find ti for a nap at noon," Ou Xingzhuo said, shaking his head, "If you keep exercising, you naturally have more energy."
"I’m not saying..." Li Zheng couldn’t help but look down despondently, "you’re so strong."
"I know that," Ou Xingzhuo chuckled, "Self-discipline isn’t that hard, it just becos a habit after a while."
"I an in every way," Li Zheng said, pressing on his leg, "so cocky and so strong, I respect that."
"Eh, it’s just so-so," Ou Xingzhuo turned his face away, sowhat embarrassed, "I... actually, I’ve said this to a lot of people, I’m just working harder, that’s all... I really can’t compare to Shi Yang, Wu Shu, or even you for that matter, at least in terms of talent for organic chemistry and experints... but no one believes ."
"I don’t believe it either."
"Believe it or not," Ou Xingzhuo took a big gulp from his water bottle.
"So, is what Wu Shu said true?"
"What?"
"All this is to maintain your male god status?"
"Get lost!"
"Haha." Li Zheng laughed, "But with your kind, you probably don’t have many friends."
"Heh, it’s the sheep and cattle that flock together, the tiger walks alone," Ou Xingzhuo said and then firmly put on his glasses.
Li Zheng laughed, "You’re overthinking it, hanging around soone like you gives people excellence anxiety."
"Don’t suddenly complint people, and definitely not repeatedly, it’s uncomfortable..." Ou Xingzhuo turned and walked towards the building entrance, casually tossing the water bottle to Li Zheng, "I’m off to take a shower, about 17 minutes, enough ti for you to run a lap."
No sooner had Ou Xingzhuo entered the building than Li Zheng had caught his breath when a girl with a more professional running posture and gear ca running back.
It could only be Wu Shu, who, compared to Ou Xingzhuo, had added a black sports headband.
The running pants... seed to be even tighter than Ou Xingzhuo’s.
There was an ominous feeling about it.
But Wu Shu was completely oblivious, running up to Li Zheng, her cheeks slightly flushed, she took off her earphones and wiped away sweat, "Why not run on the track over there?"
"Speaking of which, is Ren Da Fu a track and field school?" Li Zheng looked down despondently, "I’m finished, I’m even worse at sports than you."
"I’m not that good, Ou Xingzhuo is the amazing one, he dominates every event that involves running," Wu Shu said smiling, grabbing Li Zheng’s head while wiping her sweat on her way to the building entrance, "except for ball gas."
Hearing this, Li Zheng finally felt a bit better.
He’d have to get in so good practice at basketball soday.
Just as he was about to get up for another round, a hefty running figure trudged past him.
This slightly overweight big sister was hard to describe, but she just seed a bit chubby.
Not very professional in her attire, she seed to struggle with every step, as if each one was life and death, like a large white rabbit with motor impairnts.
Li Zheng didn’t know that this was Shen Yiyun’s first day persisting with her running, with a simple goal: to get down to 60KG.
At the sa ti, this was also her 17th attempt at losing weight.
For this, she had devised a week-long low-fat nu.
Perhaps from spending too much ti with young people lately, she suddenly wanted to achieve a slimr self again, to return her body to its graceful high school days.
"Keep going... keep going..." Shen Yiyun muttered to herself as she ran, "Young... beautiful... slim... handso..."
```
Just as she was psyching herself up, she looked up and suddenly saw a sly smile.
Not good!
Ignore him!
Shen Yiyun turned her head in panic.
He didn’t see , he didn’t see , he didn’t see ...
But Li Zheng wasn’t going to let her off that easily. After being bullied for so long by Ou Xingzhuo and Wu Shu, he now found himself an easy target and rolled up his sleeves to follow her: "Senior sister, keeping healthy, huh."
"..."
"Co on, I’ll run a couple of laps with you."
"You go, you go!"
"Seems like there’s a breakfast stall over there."
"I don’t eat oily food!"
"Then I’ll go eat by myself. It’s been a while since I’ve had a sugary pancake, matched with tofu pudding and stead buns, hmm..."
"Err..." Shen Yiyun grimaced, "If you’re going to run, then run, no chitchat."
"I am inviting you as an apology," Li Zheng said with a raised eyebrow, "Half a sugary pancake each, not one bite more."
"No... I won’t eat..." Shen Yiyun hurriedly wiped her mouth, "Stop bothering , I’m on a diet."
"Give a chance to make ands," Li Zheng raised his eyebrow, "Start your diet after this al, breakfast doesn’t make you fat."
"..." Shen Yiyun, struggling, passed by the breakfast stall just as the freshly stead buns were being basketed, she couldn’t resist herself and glanced over, coincidentally watching an old man bite into a bun, squeezing out the oil, "Ah..."
"Then I’ll go eat myself," Li Zheng waved his hand, "Breakfast really doesn’t make you fat, eat up then diet."
"Aaaah..." Shen Yiyun, scratching her head, finally couldn’t resist and followed with her lips licked, "Just... just half a sugary pancake..."
"Of course."
Ten minutes later, a bowl of tofu pudding, one sugary pancake, and a basket of stead buns went down her stomach.
Shen Yiyun ate her fill and lowered her head, fully satiated, rubbing her tummy.
She knew, this 17th attempt at dieting had failed after enduring for just 13 minutes.
...
In the following days, the intensive training continued at a fast pace.
Although they didn’t make it into Hu Zengwu’s special class, Sun Leyang and Shen Yiyun did their best to help out, and the three of them catalyzed each other’s progress. As long as the environnt and reagents were ready, they improved rapidly.
In the process of balancing study and exercise, Li Zheng felt ti was flying by. He spent his days with Wu Shu and Ou Xingzhuo, and ideas for learning ca flooding like a broken dam, completely out of control.
Actually, Wu Shu and Ou Xingzhuo weren’t far behind either. They had also improved their chemistry fundantals through Li Zheng.
The three of them stuck together all day everyday, aside from attending theory classes, seemingly living in a world apart from everyone else.
After successfully leading his senior sister astray, Li Zheng tried to keep up with Wu Shu and Ou Xingzhuo’s pacing as much as possible, restricting his diet and schedule, running in the mornings for as long as he could.
All of these activities mingled together, ultimately triggering a miraculous effect.
Even though the daily learning intensity had multiplied several tis over, his energy levels surged, allowing him to get into the zone imdiately upon studying and to fall asleep as soon as he hit the bed.
Both body and mind gradually reached their optimal states.
Li Zheng had a surreal feeling that he was approaching The Domain of the Gods of learning.
On the fourth day, Li Zheng had transford, developing a fixed biological clock, almost waking up along with Ou Xingzhuo, feeling downright uncomfortable if he didn’t run.
Running past the breakfast stall, looking at Shen Yiyun eating buns alone, that gaze was sowhat frightening.
Regrettably, even with great reluctance, such heavenly days were drawing to a close.
Finally, on November 20, at one o’clock in the afternoon, all the training mbers assembled once again in the large laboratory.
About 40 people, according to the randomly drawn numbers, stood in front of their respective experintal stations.
Even though most people were already familiar with each other, there was very little conversation at this ti.
In silence, the atmosphere grew sowhat tense.
The final experintal exam was about to begin.
This exam would follow all the standard procedures.
The experintal scores would be combined with the preliminary theoretical exam scores, and the top 13 ranked individuals would officially beco mbers of the Jijing Provincial Team, heading to the Lu Dong Country finals on December 1st.
At least, that’s what the official process was. If there were so-called "regular grades" or Hu Zengwu’s "subjective scores," there was nothing to be done about it.
In the midst of the tension, Li Zheng, Wu Shu, and Ou Xingzhuo exchanged looks from afar, all showing an unspeakable anxiety.
Others thought the three of them had provoked Hu Zengwu and were just now becoming fearful.
Only they themselves knew why they were anxious.
After a few minutes of silence, a series of disordered footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Following that, Chief Examiner Hu Zengwu, leading about a dozen teachers and teaching assistants, entered the classroom one after another.
This was the first ti Li Zheng had seen him since their previous conflict.
Hu Zengwu didn’t look at Li Zheng but instead went up to the podium and, looking down at his notes, began to reiterate the requirents of the experintal exam.
"The exam duration is three hours."
"Extra ti will result in point deduction, with a maximum of not more than 4 hours."
"Unless there are special circumstances, leaving the room is prohibited."
"Please dress appropriately throughout, wear gloves, and be sure to wear goggles when using concentrated alkali solutions."
"Talking with other candidates is forbidden during the whole process, please consult an examiner if you have any questions."
"The final experintal score will consist of result points, operation points, and other points."
"Lastly, please read the experintal instructions carefully."
After Hu Zengwu finished speaking, he scanned the whole audience.
"This experint will also determine whether you can enter the provincial team."
"If you have any questions, speak now."
After hesitating for seven or eight seconds, seeing that no one spoke, Hu Zengwu then gestured to the right and left.
The exam officially began.
Li Zheng received the examination papers and raw materials and, after a brief glance, was so shocked that his eyes popped.
[Make lead oxide from the residue of lithopone by the waste residues thod]
Wasn’t this the real question from ’98?
Embarrassingly, Li Zheng had spent those days with Shi Yang, going through 20 years of finals experintal questions, and had gone up to the year ’98; he wouldn’t have known if it had been any earlier...
But, by a stroke of fate, ’98 was the very last one they did.
As for this question, although it looked daunting, the principle remained the sa.
It was still the process of leaching, filtering, transforming, drying—the typical procedures of dissolving and filtering—to the point of nausea.
If he rembered correctly, he had achieved an 83% yield at that ti, while Shi Yang had 92%.
The subsequent titration and purity test were also very standard—you could yawn your way through them.
Now, doing this question again, it was really hard even to make a mistake...
Plus, having been in a heated contest with Wu Shu and Ou Xingzhuo these past few days, Li Zheng’s touch was at its peak; he was actually a bit embarrassed.
But even with such confidence, he hadn’t dared to be careless. Before starting, he ntally went through the entire procedure as usual, trying to find any dangerous steps.
Well, there were none.
Nothing more to think about, let’s begin.
While Li Zheng waited for the heat, he occasionally swept a glance at the surrounding exam area, not out of curiosity about the progress of others, but purely because of anxiety about a particular matter.
He could also see clearly that this examination was much more serious than the first one, with an examiner behind every four students, closely scrutinizing and recording each candidate’s every move.
As the chief examiner, Hu Zengwu did not treat anyone specially this ti; he patrolled back and forth throughout the examination hall, occasionally conveying so information to the examiners.
Looking at it now, with such a strict exam, he probably wouldn’t stir up any trouble.
During the subsequent exam period, so people broke reagent bottles, others left early, so persisted, and so were dazed.
Those who barely made it into the training by ranking close to the provincial first likely couldn’t hold on anymore.
About half of the candidates in the top twenty were relatively stable.
Of course, none of them were as steady as Li Zheng.
At 1 hour and 50 minutes, Li Zheng confidently stood up and submitted all his products and reports to the examiner behind him.
The young male examiner was likely a graduate teaching assistant. After taking the reports and several products, he quickly filled out the score sheet, nodding continuously: "Good, fast and stable, no points deducted for operation, good luck at nationals."
anwhile, others around him cursed Li Zheng under their breath while they focused on their experints.
Li Zheng looked at his classmates’ expressions of pain.
And gradually realized.
Unconsciously.
He had step by step beco the kind of person he used to hate the most.
That was Lin Yujing.
Only now did he understand Lin Yujing’s troubles.
And the true essence of "uhm."
There’s no helping it, friends...
I didn’t want to be this fast either.
But my abilities didn’t allow otherwise.
Just as Li Zheng was packing up ready to leave, Shen Yiyun suddenly hurried in.
It wasn’t a run, it was a charge.
She charged all the way to Hu Zengwu’s side, only stopping when she grabbed the podium, clearly losing her composure. Although she ant to whisper to Hu Zengwu, her words spread throughout the entire classroom—
"Shi Yang! Shi Yang has co with an IV drip!"
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