It was the start of a new semester, and Liang Jiajia was now in her third year of junior high.
As the oldest in the junior high department, the third year was an awkward grade.
Facing the high school entrance exam, which would decide which high school she could take the college entrance exam at, she suddenly felt much more mature, even though she was still just a girl in her early teens, the same age as second year students. But somehow she had suddenly developed a sentimental, mature persona.
After class, leaning on the railing in the school hallway, sucking on a lollipop, everything felt cooler than last semester.
Although she hadn't suddenly transformed into a study master, Liang Jiajia now had tremendous zeal for her studies, as if over the summer she had secretly trained while everyone else played, and now she felt her English was amazing. Her relationships with her group of friends were even better.
What's more, she now had a feeling of looking down on her fellow students, as if they were all foolish humans.
This was because Liang Jiajia felt she had discovered her interests and goals, and suddenly seemed like someone with a career and ambitions.
She felt very fulfilled.
While others asked their parents for one or two yuan in pocket money every day, someone had actually come looking for her, asking if she was willing to film a TikTok ad for 300 yuan.
At first she thought it was a scam, and that she should quickly get her mom to resolve this.
But it turned out to be a real company. Still, money was not tight in Liang Jiajia's family, so she naturally wouldn't take the ad, just out of interest. But it gave her a different perspective.
Little Liang Jiajia didn't care about making money. Her comfortable life meant she didn't have an urgent desire to earn money. But she felt that if you did something well, there would be gains and results.
Although not every TikTok she filmed later had Teacher Xiao Qi, because she was now experienced, she could film complex shots. Her sense of filming, the image, content and viewership were all pretty good.
She felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Morning reading had just finished, and unexpectedly the perpetually silent Xiao Qi in their Seven Fairies chat group had sent them a video.
Liang Jiajia was extremely excited. She had added Teacher Xiao Qi after tutoring ended, and the group name was still the same.
She tapped to open it. The scene was a massive sports field, with the wind seeming to blow fiercely, rustling loudly. Although filmed on a handheld phone, the image was stable without shaking. Liang Jiajia remembered that Xiao Qi didn't like taking photos or filming, but everything she filmed looked very clean and nice. Every photo Xiao Qi took for her could get countless likes if posted on social media.
In the video, the sky was very blue, the track was red, with a grass lawn in the middle - a soccer field, very spacious, with many people. Xiao Qi's sweet voice introduced, "Military training starts today, saying hi to you all. New semester, study well and make progress every day."
The final shot was of Xiao Qi's smile.
Her hair was a bit messy from the wind, wearing military camo training clothes - she looked amazing.
With no beauty filter, Liang Jiajia couldn't help licking the screen.
As she watched the video, she was already thinking of TikTok captions - something like "Military training at a private aristocratic school"...probably many people would want to see that.
After sending the video, Xiao Qi put away her phone and went to assemble.
When lining up, she noticed there was another girl with dyed yellow hair in their class. On the first day of school, the school and nearby hair salons were nearly overflowing because hair dyeing and perming was banned, with everyone getting black straight hair. Now with hats on, you could see black hair coming out from under the brims, and one head of yellow hair really stood out.
Chen Mier next to her whispered, "I heard her grandma is a foreigner, her family is mixed race, so she has natural blonde hair and doesn't need to dye it black."
As Chen Mier spoke, the blonde girl seemed to sense it and looked over. She did appear mixed race, with beautiful features and a tall nose. Blonde hair itself was nothing special, but among all the black hair she really stood out.
Xiao Qi glanced at her briefly without staring. Actually, in terms of looks, she felt Guan Xingzhi was prettier, with very delicate features and a graceful, sunny disposition that also seemed cultured - very nice overall. After tutoring for a summer, Xiao Qi was now immune to beautiful girls, and wouldn't feel self-conscious or envious.
In the past when she saw pretty girls she would feel envious and insecure, but now she appreciated their beauty more.
At 8am, the classes were lined up in loose formations, but each class was clustered together, so you could tell them apart.
The homeroom teacher called roll, and surprisingly two students were absent.
A boy and a girl. Soon Xiao Qi heard Chen Mier quietly dishing out gossip beside her. Xiao Qi was amazed by her - it seemed like they were all together, how did Chen Mier know so much?
"The two not here are Li Weijin and Su Li, both from the prep class. I heard prep class students are super rich and connected, so they probably won't attend military training and teachers can't do much."
Enhua University did have a prep class, where students who couldn't get into college could spend a year in the prep class. As long as they passed the prep class exams, they could enter Enhua University. But as a private institution, Enhua's tuition was already astronomical for average students, let alone the prep class.
After whispering for a bit, they saw a group of men in military uniforms approaching, marching very neatly in ranks.
When they reached the students, they fanned out and went to different classes.
The one who arrived at Xiao Qi's class was a very tall young soldier with a shaved head, looking around 20 years old. Wearing a military uniform, he had a very neat appearance, with no smile on his face, quite handsome - a chiseled nose, piercing eyes, and sharp features. If not for slightly dark skin, he could rival the popular fresh meat celebrities.
Despite the coach arriving before them, the students continued whispering.
Especially the girls from the English department next door, who were quite noisy and spirited.
The weather today was excellent, with sunny blue skies without a cloud. And there wasn't a single tree on the entire field.
Although Xiao Qi and the others wore hats, the brims were very short, just covering the forehead. Their cheeks and chins were exposed to the sun.
These coaches seemed very strict and fierce, and quickly resolved the chatter and giggles from the English girls next door...by making them run laps around the field. Of course they weren't executed...but you could see delicate girly figures jogging on the field.
"Anyone else want to join them running outside?" the coach asked.
The new students in Xiao Qi's information management class shook their heads, quietly settling down.
"My surname is Zhang, Coach Zhang Bowen. Call me Coach Zhang. Starting today for the next week, I'll be accompanying you. I hope we get along in a peaceful, friendly manner. Next, everyone, start running."
All the students: ...???
When the English girls didn't listen, the coach punished one or two with running laps. But for their class, he wanted the entire class to run?
These fair-skinned new students had lived a blissful life over summer vacation. With PE classes mostly replaced by other courses before the gaokao college entrance exam, where would they get the stamina to run?
But the coach looked very fierce, so they silently followed behind him as he ran, afraid to cause trouble and get singled out.
Among the crowd, Xiao Qi was actually secretly delighted. She had worried military training would be too tiring and affect her running training, but unexpectedly running was part of the military training too. She could even ask the coaches for advice on long distance racing secrets and such. The military did the most long-distance running and endurance training, she knew. Thinking this, Xiao Qi's eyes lit up.
She inexplicably felt one step closer to the big marathon prize, like money was flying her way.
It was the start of a new semester, and Liang Jiajia was now in her third year of junior high.
As the oldest in the junior high department, the third year was an awkward grade.
Facing the high school entrance exam, which would decide which high school she could take the college entrance exam at, she suddenly felt much more mature, even though she was still just a girl in her early teens, the same age as second year students. But somehow she had suddenly developed a sentimental, mature persona.
After class, leaning on the railing in the school hallway, sucking on a lollipop, everything felt cooler than last semester.
Although she hadn't suddenly transformed into a study master, Liang Jiajia now had tremendous zeal for her studies, as if over the summer she had secretly trained while everyone else played, and now she felt her English was amazing. Her relationships with her group of friends were even better.
What's more, she now had a feeling of looking down on her fellow students, as if they were all foolish humans.
This was because Liang Jiajia felt she had discovered her interests and goals, and suddenly seemed like someone with a career and ambitions.
She felt very fulfilled.
While others asked their parents for one or two yuan in pocket money every day, someone had actually come looking for her, asking if she was willing to film a TikTok ad for 300 yuan.
At first she thought it was a scam, and that she should quickly get her mom to resolve this.
But it turned out to be a real company. Still, money was not tight in Liang Jiajia's family, so she naturally wouldn't take the ad, just out of interest. But it gave her a different perspective.
Little Liang Jiajia didn't care about making money. Her comfortable life meant she didn't have an urgent desire to earn money. But she felt that if you did something well, there would be gains and results.
Although not every TikTok she filmed later had Teacher Xiao Qi, because she was now experienced, she could film complex shots. Her sense of filming, the image, content and viewership were all pretty good.
She felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Morning reading had just finished, and unexpectedly the perpetually silent Xiao Qi in their Seven Fairies chat group had sent them a video.
Liang Jiajia was extremely excited. She had added Teacher Xiao Qi after tutoring ended, and the group name was still the same.
She tapped to open it. The scene was a massive sports field, with the wind seeming to blow fiercely, rustling loudly. Although filmed on a handheld phone, the image was stable without shaking. Liang Jiajia remembered that Xiao Qi didn't like taking photos or filming, but everything she filmed looked very clean and nice. Every photo Xiao Qi took for her could get countless likes if posted on social media.
In the video, the sky was very blue, the track was red, with a grass lawn in the middle - a soccer field, very spacious, with many people. Xiao Qi's sweet voice introduced, "Military training starts today, saying hi to you all. New semester, study well and make progress every day."
The final shot was of Xiao Qi's smile.
Her hair was a bit messy from the wind, wearing military camo training clothes - she looked amazing.
With no beauty filter, Liang Jiajia couldn't help licking the screen.
As she watched the video, she was already thinking of TikTok captions - something like "Military training at a private aristocratic school"...probably many people would want to see that.
After sending the video, Xiao Qi put away her phone and went to assemble.
When lining up, she noticed there was another girl with dyed yellow hair in their class. On the first day of school, the school and nearby hair salons were nearly overflowing because hair dyeing and perming was banned, with everyone getting black straight hair. Now with hats on, you could see black hair coming out from under the brims, and one head of yellow hair really stood out.
Chen Mier next to her whispered, "I heard her grandma is a foreigner, her family is mixed race, so she has natural blonde hair and doesn't need to dye it black."
As Chen Mier spoke, the blonde girl seemed to sense it and looked over. She did appear mixed race, with beautiful features and a tall nose. Blonde hair itself was nothing special, but among all the black hair she really stood out.
Xiao Qi glanced at her briefly without staring. Actually, in terms of looks, she felt Guan Xingzhi was prettier, with very delicate features and a graceful, sunny disposition that also seemed cultured - very nice overall. After tutoring for a summer, Xiao Qi was now immune to beautiful girls, and wouldn't feel self-conscious or envious.
In the past when she saw pretty girls she would feel envious and insecure, but now she appreciated their beauty more.
At 8am, the classes were lined up in loose formations, but each class was clustered together, so you could tell them apart.
The homeroom teacher called roll, and surprisingly two students were absent.
A boy and a girl. Soon Xiao Qi heard Chen Mier quietly dishing out gossip beside her. Xiao Qi was amazed by her - it seemed like they were all together, how did Chen Mier know so much?
"The two not here are Li Weijin and Su Li, both from the prep class. I heard prep class students are super rich and connected, so they probably won't attend military training and teachers can't do much."
Enhua University did have a prep class, where students who couldn't get into college could spend a year in the prep class. As long as they passed the prep class exams, they could enter Enhua University. But as a private institution, Enhua's tuition was already astronomical for average students, let alone the prep class.
After whispering for a bit, they saw a group of men in military uniforms approaching, marching very neatly in ranks.
When they reached the students, they fanned out and went to different classes.
The one who arrived at Xiao Qi's class was a very tall young soldier with a shaved head, looking around 20 years old. Wearing a military uniform, he had a very neat appearance, with no smile on his face, quite handsome - a chiseled nose, piercing eyes, and sharp features. If not for slightly dark skin, he could rival the popular fresh meat celebrities.
Despite the coach arriving before them, the students continued whispering.
Especially the girls from the English department next door, who were quite noisy and spirited.
The weather today was excellent, with sunny blue skies without a cloud. And there wasn't a single tree on the entire field.
Although Xiao Qi and the others wore hats, the brims were very short, just covering the forehead. Their cheeks and chins were exposed to the sun.
These coaches seemed very strict and fierce, and quickly resolved the chatter and giggles from the English girls next door...by making them run laps around the field. Of course they weren't executed...but you could see delicate girly figures jogging on the field.
"Anyone else want to join them running outside?" the coach asked.
The new students in Xiao Qi's information management class shook their heads, quietly settling down.
"My surname is Zhang, Coach Zhang Bowen. Call me Coach Zhang. Starting today for the next week, I'll be accompanying you. I hope we get along in a peaceful, friendly manner. Next, everyone, start running."
All the students: ...???
When the English girls didn't listen, the coach punished one or two with running laps. But for their class, he wanted the entire class to run?
These fair-skinned new students had lived a blissful life over summer vacation. With PE classes mostly replaced by other courses before the gaokao college entrance exam, where would they get the stamina to run?
But the coach looked very fierce, so they silently followed behind him as he ran, afraid to cause trouble and get singled out.
Among the crowd, Xiao Qi was actually secretly delighted. She had worried military training would be too tiring and affect her running training, but unexpectedly running was part of the military training too. She could even ask the coaches for advice on long distance racing secrets and such. The military did the most long-distance running and endurance training, she knew. Thinking this, Xiao Qi's eyes lit up.
She inexplicably felt one step closer to the big marathon prize, like money was flying her way.
