Chapter 714: The Graduation Season
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Nowadays, the second watershed in every Chinese person’s life was probably the National College Entrance Examination(NCEE) 1 .
Some people disagreed, quoting many successful stories of university drop-outs. However, the fact was, those people quit school because they were no longer satisfied with the content taught in university…
After years in the workplace, one would finally realize that academic grades were really a shortcut for climbing up the social ladder. In most circ.u.mstances, undergraduate qualifications truly determined one’s social standing in the future.
This was the reality, even though it was quite sad.
Lu Xiaoyu was confused when Lu Shu told her that. “Why is it only the second watershed, if it is really so important? What’s the first one?”
Lu Shu sighed. “The first is your birth…”
The NCEE was already over with when Lu Shu came back from Europe.
Looking back, Lu Shu’s heart was filled with a mixed bag of emotions. Last time, he had studied so hard for a renowned university, which would get him a well-paid job and a better life for Lu Xiaoyu and himself. But times had changed, and so had his goals.
The once important NCEE was now insignificant for him. He was a free man when other students were busy preparing for the exams.
Leisure was a luxury for Lu Shu. Suddenly it rained. Standing along the corridor outside his cla.s.sroom, Lu Shu studied the rain. The ground and railings were wet, but the corridor remained dry.
Lu Shu reached out with his hands. The rain drops that fell onto his palms immediately came alive, dancing cheerfully.
Sometimes they turned into a bird grooming its feathers, sometimes a lively puppy. Behind him in the cla.s.sroom, there was a heated discussion on estimated marks and the intended universities each person was applying to.
At that time in Yuzhou, students were required to apply to universities first based on their estimated marks before the results and cut-off points were released. Lu Shu had no intention, nor the need, to indicate his choice of school. Files regarding his personal particulars had long since been highly cla.s.sified. Even Luo Shen Cultivation College had no right to access his information, except for his name.
Jiang Shuyi did not turn up, as if he had vanished from the world after the training camp. Lu Shu tried to call him, but no one answered.
A gaping gap seemed to have formed between Lu Shu and his past experience on the very last day of the NCEE. Without any friends, he would not be contacted, nor invited, for any cla.s.s gatherings.
Everyone had a new chapter of life ahead of them. Different majors, different cities, and young couples would be separated by distance.
As for Lu Shu, he would enter a new cultivation college to start his life afresh.
There was no turning back. In any case, a graduation certificate from a cultivation college would not get him a decent commoners job.
Although it was true that many organizations were recruiting Metahumans as highly skilled workers, it would not make sense for a lightning-type Metahuman to end up as an electrician.
In fact, it was fair to say Lu Shu had just lost his love.
Actually he had never decided to commit to anybody, but Coral’s feelings for him were overwhelmingly fervent. Coral was well aware that Lu Shu’s decision to take her away was solely out of his concern about her safety, not love.
Yet, how could Lu Shu not develop any feelings for Coral? He was not a rock.
Then came the thrilling elopement, which almost made him believe that he was in love. Yet, just when he was giving it a serious thought about whether to commit to their relations.h.i.+p, and became mentally prepared for it, he lost her all of a sudden…
Fate loved to play with people’s feelings.
Meanwhile, the grand wedding had become a hit on the Golden Foundation forum. Lu Shu’s name also became well-known as a newly ascended Cla.s.s B super expert in the cultivation realm. Some people believed that he was only second to Cla.s.s A’s, some said he could be the ninth Heavenly King, and there were quite a few negative voices too.
He was accused of breaking a wall of a restaurant and destroying some secret pract.i.tioner’s weapons…
Anyway, this was how the Internet was like nowadays. You would be criticized and judged regardless of what you did. Philanthropists were called hypocrites, and non-philanthropists heartless. If you had always been nice but did something not quite up to people’s expectations, they would not even care about why you had done it; instead, they would say, “Ha, a terrible person. A good actor in the past though”.
If the situation was reversed and a bad guy suddenly did something nice, people would say, “Actually he’s not bad, even though he didn’t show his kind side in the past”.
This was how irritating the world was.
Then, for some reason, almost everybody knew that the wedding did not end well and the groom and the bride had become strangers ever since.
Having heard soft footsteps drawing close, Lu Shu turned around. It was Liu Li. Lu Shu certainly did not expect him to initiate a conversation with himself. Thus, Lu Shu asked with a smile, “So you’ve forgiven me, your cousin?”
“From Liu Li’s distress, +666!”
After a long moment of awkward silence, Liu Li said, “Actually, time will heal your wounds. About the breakup. I understand how you feel, even though you are a terrible person.”
“What do you understand? No one likes you anyway,” replied Lu Shu.
“From Liu Li’s distress, +666!”
Lu Shu was pondering about the link between “understanding how he felt” and “he was a terrible person”. Could it be this dude simply wanted to humiliate him?
After another long moment of silence, Liu Li asked, “Are you a Cla.s.s B?”
“Yeah.” Lu Shu admitted. He had been using his own appearance in the grand battle in Europe. Thus, there was no need to hide the truth.
Moreover, the fight at the train station was even more dramatic than the last battle. 2 VS hundreds. The drastic difference in numbers added an extra flavor to the fight.
“I will catch up with you.” After that, Liu Li left immediately. He had made Lu Shu a role model he wanted to compare with.
It was also at this moment that one thing became clear. Lu Shu had an inherited trade, not any other trade, but an extremely powerful one. He was no longer the strength-type loser.
Lu Shu shouted at Liu Li’s back. “Liu Li!”
Liu Li stopped along the corridor, but did not turn. Outside the corridor, rain drops were still dripping down the eaves. “Yes?”
Lu Shu said with some consideration, “Thank you.”
“Sure.”
Then, Lu Shu turned and went home too.
By then, all the students in the building had finished estimating their scores. They surrounded their Daoyuan Cla.s.s friends, expressing their admiration for their exemption from the NCEE and their cultivation opportunities. They hoped they would remain in touch.
When Lu Shu walked past the cla.s.srooms, all the Daoyuan Cla.s.s students would turn to look at him in silence. But the other students did not know why.