Quick Travel: Destiny for Thirty Lifetimes

As they were talking, several people had already strode out of the classroom and heard Teacher Ma standing on the podium praising the school uniforms, but no one in the audience believed him.

Five or six boys piled the packaging bags beside the podium. Teacher Ma took out a chart and shook it twice. "Those whose names are called, come here and look for them. Be careful when you look, don't take the wrong size. Jing Chen, Ma Sixue, Li Zhiheng, Sun Qianjing, Chen Feici, you five come up first."

Lian Qingyang leaned on his seat, his head propped up: "No way, Lao Ma, go by ranking, I'm already at the bottom."

Old Ma gave the list to Ma Sixue and asked him to read out the next name. He walked to Lian Qingyang and glanced at him: "Who told you not to study hard? If it weren't for chemistry to back you up, do you think you would see me again?" Teacher Ma remembered the distortion on his face when he saw that Lian Qingyang's chemistry score was almost full, but biology and English were below the passing line on his report card.

After saying this, as if remembering something, Teacher Ma raised his hand to quiet everyone down. "Let's elect class committee members according to the previous method. The student with the best grades will be the study committee member, and that's Jing Chen. Let Ma Sixue be the class monitor. Besides the two of them, the students with the highest scores in individual subjects will be the class representatives. We also have a physical education exam, right? Then we should elect a physical education committee member as well. I think it's Qu Anbai, right?"

The boy in the last row on the left raised his hand. Teacher Ma nodded after noticing it, then sat down at Ma Sixue's seat. After thinking for a while, he said, "The top five students in our class still have a position. Each subject representative should at least communicate with the teacher in a timely manner. Don't just focus on studying. Collect more feedback from students on each course so that the teacher can make timely adjustments to the teaching method..."

"Oh, Lao Ma, this shirt is really nice!" A boy had already opened the package and spread out the clothes. Lian Qingyang turned his head to look at the blue and white color-blocked shirt. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it looked. He looked back at Lao Ma and said, "I think I have a similar one."

Old Ma smiled proudly, his eyes narrowed so much that crow's feet appeared. "I modified it based on yours. I saw you at first sight and thought that students should have this kind of energetic look. If the school uniform hadn't arrived by then, I would have recommended your style of clothes."

The boy behind had already gone to the bathroom to change and came back. After hearing what Teacher Ma said, he said to Teacher Ma happily: "Old Ma, what do you think of me?"

Everyone looked over. It was Qu Anbo's deskmate, Li Wenzhe, the burliest boy in the class. He stood straight, his clothes clinging to his skin, outlining his graceful curves and causing everyone to burst into laughter. Teacher Ma's smiling face froze for a moment, and he leaned in close to Lian Qingyang and whispered, "I suddenly feel like this outfit doesn't convey any youthful energy anymore."

*

The three of them had lunch together again in the afternoon. Since it was the first day of school, there was no evening self-study, so they could go back to the dormitory directly. Jing Chen put the dishes and chopsticks in the sink to wash them, then told the two of them that he would go to the classroom to get his books and go to the library later, and then left.

Ma Sixue and Lian Qingyang returned to the dormitory together. After saying goodbye to Ma Sixue, Lian Qingyang followed his memory and took out his phone from the deep drawer of his desk. After turning it on, several messages popped up, most of which were calls from Lian's mother. Lian Qingyang was about to call her when the phone rang. He picked up the call and put it to his ear. A gentle voice came from the other end: "Qingqing, good evening. Have you had dinner? Why didn't you call Mom at noon? How are you feeling today?"

Lian Qingyang sat up straight even through the phone. He answered his mother's question obediently, his voice a little dry: "Good evening, Mom. I've finished my meal and am in the dormitory now. Sorry, Mom, I forgot about lunch today. I feel pretty good. I understood everything the teacher said today! How are you and Dad?"

The voice coming from the other end was a little distorted, but one could still sense the smile mixed in it: "It's okay, Qingqing, did you understand? That's great! My dad and I just finished dinner, and now I'm taking a walk in the community with Cantou." As soon as the words fell, a few dog barks were heard from the other end. Cantou was a one-year-old Alaskan dog, whom Lian Qingyang brought home last year when he was just in the first year of high school.

"Okay, have fun, Mom and Dad!" Lian Qingyang smiled and said after hearing a few dogs barking, "Cans should have fun too."

After hanging up the phone, Lian Qingyang finally let go of his strength. The inexplicable thoughts in his mind became stronger and stronger. He asked Xiaojiu: I am not actually a child of the Lian family, right?

The black fur ball shuddered at the words and asked in confusion, "How could the host think so? You must be the biological son of the Lian family, otherwise they would talk to you every day?"

Lian Qingyang stood up and rubbed his head. Even though the dormitory had the air conditioner on, he still felt that his clothes had a canteen smell. He found a change of clothes and went into the bathroom. Lian Qingyang propped himself up with his hands and looked at himself in the mirror. He sighed and said, "I hope I'm overthinking it."

*

It was already past ten o'clock when Jing Chen came back. Passing by the dormitory full of noise, he took out his key and opened the door. The lights in the dormitory were off. Only a desk lamp on the desk facing the door emitted a soft light. He gently closed the door, and the noisy sounds outside were instantly isolated. Unexpectedly, it still woke up the person lying in bed.

Lian Qingyang poked his head out from under the quilt with sleepy eyes and said in a daze: "You're back. Go take a shower. Please turn off the desk lamp for me before you go to bed. Thank you." After that, he buried his head and fell asleep again.

Jing Chen stood straight at the door for a while before he walked quietly to his desk, slowly placed his textbook on the table, took his clothes and tiptoed into the bathroom. Lian Qingyang turned over and fell asleep to the sound of water.

At six o'clock the next day, Jing Chen got up on time, put on his school uniform, and washed up. Lian Qingyang was still curled up in the quilt without moving, so he had no choice but to walk over and gently pat the thin quilt. Before he could say anything, the dormitory door was knocked. Ma Sixue's loud voice could be heard clearly through the door: "Brother Qing, get up quickly! There will be tofu pudding and spicy soup this morning! Hurry up, or they will be gone if you're late!"

Jing Chen gritted his teeth and looked at Lian Qingyang who had sat up suddenly without opening his eyes. He said in a deep voice, "Get up quickly." After that, he picked up the book on the table and left the dormitory first.

"Brother Jing, are you leaving? Aren't you going to eat with us this morning?" Ma Sixue didn't wait for Jing Chen to speak. He pushed him into the dormitory and ran towards the stairs. "Brother Jing, wake up Brother Qing first. I'll go buy some food and wait for you guys at the same place!"

Jing Chen could only turn around and look at Lian Qingyang, who was still lying in bed with a dazed look on his face. His voice softened unconsciously: "Hurry up and get up. Ma Sixue has gone to buy food. We can eat there when we get there."

Lian Qingyang was wide awake, but his body was still asleep. He staggered into the bathroom and washed his face before opening his eyes. His hands were constantly moving, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed a figure outside the frosted glass: "You slept later than me last night, so how come you're more energetic than me this morning?"

"I'm used to it." Jing Chen pressed his weight against the wall next to him.

Lian Qingyang squeezed some toothpaste into his mouth and said, "I still haven't gotten used to it in over ten years. Waking up every morning is like torture. Wait until morning self-study. Give me a piece of drawing paper and I can draw you a picture of a chicken pecking at rice in five minutes."

After hurriedly changing clothes, Lian Qingyang ran downstairs empty-handed, dragging Jing Chen along: "Hurry, hurry! I'm starving."

The cafeteria opened at 6:15 and sold food until 6:45. The school had morning self-study at 6:50, with two 25-minute periods, before classes officially started at 8:00. The mornings were so long that they would often grab something to eat after breakfast and eat outside the classroom after self-study.