Chapter 41: The Future Card Master

School life remained fulfilling. Having acquired the [Pen of the Literary Maiden], Zhai Da was now, in a practical sense, firmly on the right track.

Erlang Bridge was just around the corner.

Combined with his adult mindset in planning his study path, he was definitely among the tiny fraction of students in the small Wool Textile Middle School who could be considered "hardworking."

Thus, Zhai Da, the little study prodigy, summarized a profound piece of wisdom: study methods are more important than studying itself.

For instance, cheating by using external hacks.

The only minor annoyance was that, due to his skyrocketing improvement in last week's Chinese quiz, Ding Rong had called him in for a talk.

With a massive leap to 130 points in Chinese and a 68-point essay, it was only natural for Ding Rong to keep an eye on him.

Especially since Zhai Da still wasn't handing in his homework...

"Zhai Da, I've heard feedback from certain classmates that you aren't just skipping Chinese homework, you aren't doing the assignments for any subject at all. Is that true?"

In the senior year teaching staff office, Zhai Da curled his lips.

"Teacher, that 'certain classmate' you mentioned—did his surname happen to be Chu, his given name Xiang, his courtesy name Petty, and his alias 'Resident True Scumbag'?"

Ding Rong denied it in a single second: "No, absolutely not, stop talking nonsense. Don't try to change the subject. You managed to get 130 points in Chinese this time; if you put in a bit more effort, you can push it even higher. Getting into a junior college by then is not just a dream!"

"...Teacher, I feel your expectations could be a little higher."

Ding Rong said earnestly: "Then your demands on yourself must be higher too. You've long since recovered from fainting during the mock exams. When an opportunity presents itself, we have to seize it. If you have any questions about Chinese at ordinary times, you can come to me. There are only sixty days left, let's work hard together."

To be honest, Zhai Da was quite surprised by Ding Rong's attitude.

Words like "let's work hard together" were things even corporate bosses dangling empty promises lacked the face to say; they usually only existed in the mouths of naive, sweet heroines in TV dramas.

In his past life, he hadn't thought of Ding Rong as a particularly responsible teacher, but to be fair, he himself hadn't been a "responsible" student in his past life either.

Why should he expect teachers to look at him with special favor and shower him with meticulous care?

In this lifetime, the moment he showed even a sliver of potential to go further, Ding Rong immediately seized this "opportunity" and wanted to give Zhai Da a hand.

However... at this stage for Zhai Da, doing homework really wasn't the most important thing... using his two hacks to rapidly make up for his accumulated deficits was.

Chu Xiang, I have marked this grievance down in my ledger...

Zhai Da gave a light cough and said, "Teacher Ding, it's not that I'm unwilling to do the homework, but I still can't keep up with the pace right now. I'm currently in the stage of building my foundation."

Ding Rong didn't speak, but the math teacher next to her choked on a mouthful of water with a pfft.

"Cough, cough... Sorry, went down the wrong pipe."

What the hell kind of foundation building? There are only 60 days left until the college entrance exam and you're still building a foundation?

Naturally, Ding Rong assumed Zhai Da was just making excuses: "Your attitude is a serious problem."

Zhai Da said sincerely: "How about this, Teacher Ding? Starting next week, I'll hand in my homework normally."

This was also Zhai Da's original plan. With two hacks, he should be able to enter a new stage by next week.

Ding Rong scrutinized Zhai Da with her gaze: "Homework is not something you use to bargain."

"But homework is something you can copy."

Ding Rong: ...

How come it felt like ever since Zhai Da fainted once, he had become so difficult to deal with?

It wasn't the stubbornness and absurdity typical of adolescent boys, but rather the vibe of a seasoned, slippery veteran.

After a full ten minutes of tug-of-war, Zhai Da barely managed to pass inspection, successfully renewing his "Homework Exemption Golden Medal" for another week.

Returning to the classroom, Zhai Da shot a knife-like glare at Chu Xiang. As the study committee member, this guy's grades were actually pretty good, and he sat in the front row.

Catching that glare, Chu Xiang looked bewildered, but how could a spirited youth endure such treatment? He immediately glared right back.

Zhai Da thought to himself that your acting skills as a little punk are pretty decent, you should be applying to the Beijing Film Academy!

I've noted this grudge down.

Returning to his desk, his deskmate Yang Fan was still slumped over the table, looking utterly dejected. Zhai Da tapped the corner of the desk, and Yang Fan reluctantly moved aside.

Yet, he kept secretly observing Zhai Da's expression.

Unfortunately, nothing could be read from it.

Wu Yue, sitting behind him, shouted out: "Zhai Da, a teacher was looking for you just now."

Zhai Da was stunned: "A teacher? From which subject?"

Don't tell me it's about homework again?

Wu Yue shook his head: "I don't recognize him. It didn't seem like he teaches us. He just asked if you were around, and then left."

"It's a teacher who doesn't even teach us, and you still added an uncertain 'seemed like'? You really went to school for nothing."

"You can't put it that way. Do you remember what the PE teacher looks like?"

Zhai Da choked...

What you said makes so much sense that I am completely powerless to refute it...

They hadn't caught a single whiff of what a PE class smelled like since the second year of high school...

After school, Zhai Da ditched Wu Yue at the school gate, ignored Lin Shurao—who seemed to want to walk home with him and had something to say—and directly hailed a taxi, heading toward Construction Road.

This was the street where the Dongyang County Government was located, and commerce was relatively bustling. Aside from various shops and restaurants, there was a "Xinhua Bookstore," which was also the largest bookstore in Dongyang County, boasting a two-story building spanning probably over a thousand square meters.

A dozen years later, almost no one would visit a Xinhua Bookstore, but at present, it was wildly popular. You could even say the Xinhua Bookstore was the "top sales champion" of this street.

Physical books remained the mainstream reading material of the day, and even the mainstream of cultural entertainment.

Even illiterate local bosses had to keep a row of books in their offices to put up a front. Before the internet age, if you didn't have a few books at home, you wouldn't even have the face to greet people when going out.

Zhai Da couldn't think of anywhere in Dongyang that sold "magic" instructional discs, so he could only come here to try his luck.

Even though it was close to closing time, there were still a dozen people inside, most standing in place to browse while a small portion were checking out.

Right at the most eye-catching spot by the entrance, a dozen bestseller books were displayed, and Zhai Da saw many familiar names.

*Three Doors*, *Flowers Fall in Dreams*, *Currency War*, *Wolf Totem*...

Suddenly, he felt a wave of nostalgia. He vaguely remembered being recommended by someone to read Han Han's *Three Doors*. At the time, it seemed filled with resentment toward the world, making him feel that studying was useless and schools were guilty.

He had thought Han Han was practically the spiritual mentor of contemporary youth.

Yet years later, not a single word of the stories told inside could be remembered... only some emotional memories remained...

Until many years later, Han Han—once regarded as a role model by many youths—was called a greasy middle-aged uncle by a new batch of youths...

It was then that Zhai Da knew he was no longer young either.

The checkout counter had a queue, so Zhai Da simply walked further inside and found a clerk who was stocking shelves:

"Hello, do you have any books related to magic? The kind with disc materials included would be best."

Perhaps the question was too obscure, as a middle-aged auntie looked puzzled for a moment before saying, "Go check the very back of the second floor and see if there are any in 'Comprehensive Books'."

Zhai Da climbed to the second floor and found the so-called "Comprehensive Books." To be precise, they were miscellaneous books that defied categorization, dominated by a little bit of everything, many of which had already gathered a layer of dust, having sat there God knows how many years.

*Friend of Military and Civilian Dual-Purpose Talents*, *Eighteen Methods of Bone Palpation (Color Illustrated Edition)*, *Folk Nursing Methods*...

In the corner, Zhai Da actually managed to find two useful books.

One was called *Illustrated Magic*, and the other was *Take You Playing with Poker*.

Wiping away the floating dust, Zhai Da flipped through them.

The former was a bit disappointing; most of it consisted of outdated and complicated magic illustrations like "Beauty Snake" and "Escape Art," which obviously weren't things he could perform right now, with only a tiny fraction being useful.

But the latter book left him extremely satisfied.

...Fancy shuffling
...Fancy card dropping
...Flying card ricochet
...4-Ace on Top and Poker Prediction

Every single piece of content inside matched the [Joker Poker] perfectly, especially the "Flying Card Ricochet," which looked exceptionally cool.

The most important thing was that it came with an optical disc in the back.

Once he thoroughly mastered this book, he should be able to play [Joker Poker] with all sorts of flashy tricks, and the unlocking task for the special effect "Spotlight" should be a piece of cake.

Fragments of scenes from various God of Gamblers, Saint of Gamblers, and Casino Tycoon movies flashed through his mind...

Hesitating slightly, Zhai Da bought both books anyway; *Illustrated Magic* might still come in handy.

The two books cost a little over seventy yuan in total—not cheap by 2008 pricing. After stepping outside, Zhai Da quickly hailed another cab and rushed back toward Sanmao Residential Compound.

Ms. Yu had already sent a text message asking why he hadn't arrived home yet.

And she mentioned that Lu Wei was cooking dinner tonight.