"Tingting, you're up? Hurry and get breakfast downstairs."
"I already checked. We're having eggs today," said a girl combing her hair nearby, noticing Tan You spacing out on the bed.
Tan You snapped back to reality. She knew this girl was Liu Na. "Okay, I'm going to go brush my teeth and wash up."
After folding the blanket into a square, Tan You carried Han Tingting's washbasin to the sink to get ready. Her hand faltered when she saw the toothbrush, but she ultimately decided against using it. After a quick wash of her face, she followed the other girls downstairs.
In her own body, Tan You was extremely nearsighted. She was always very careful going down the stairs, always holding onto the railing or the wall. But now, in this new world, Tan You realized she had never seen her surroundings with such clarity.
"So this is what it's like to not be nearsighted," Tan You murmured, feeling a bit disoriented.
"What are you talking about?" Liu Na reminded her from behind. "You're not nearsighted, are you? Hurry down and get breakfast."
Tan You came to her senses. "I was just feeling a little emotional all of a sudden."
She quickened her pace as she spoke. No longer nearsighted, she didn't have to walk with so much hesitation. Tan You bounded down the stairs. Just from this simple act, she discovered that this body was in much better shape than her own.
She knew her own body well. Having been overweight since childhood, she was fine with walking, but couldn't handle even a light jog. Han Tingting's body, however, was clearly very healthy. She had just rushed down the stairs without her face flushing or even getting a little out of breath.
She remained in a daze as she went downstairs and ate breakfast with her roommates. Afterward, Tan You casually grabbed Han Tingting's schoolbag and followed the others to school.
Han Tingting was in the second year of junior high, Class 3. Guided by Han Tingting's memories, Tan You easily found her seat and sat down.
She had just sat down when a girl in front of her turned around. "It's time to turn in the homework. The group leader is already nagging us."
Tan You flipped through the homework notebook and felt a bit dazed when she saw the completed work. 'Even though I did poorly on my high school entrance exams, I haven't forgotten second-year math. Isn't this math homework done really well?'
'Then how is Han Tingting always ranked at the bottom of the class?' The girl in front quickly answered Tan You's unspoken question. "Did you copy it from Wan Wei in Class 2 again? She's number one in the whole grade."
Tan You lowered her eyes. Ever since she was little, Cheng Wenhui had taught her not to copy other people's homework. It was better to leave it blank than to cheat. As a result, Tan You herself had never once copied an assignment.
But now, in this strange new world, she was experiencing what it was like to be someone who copied homework. 'No,' she thought. 'Starting today, I can't copy homework anymore.'
'To avoid being expelled, I have to establish the image of a diligent, hard-working student in everyone's eyes!' Tan You clenched her fists. Since the morning reading session hadn't started yet, she took out the original Han Tingting's English workbook, which looked like it had barely been opened. 'I should take this time and get a few pages of exercises done.'
Because she struggled with science and math, Tan You had always preferred subjects like Chinese and English. Plus, back in her own world, her English teacher had been very fond of her, so Tan You had poured even more effort into English.
Seeing Tan You scribbling away in her English workbook, the girl next to her pursed her lips. But Han Tingting normally had good relationships with her classmates, so even though they found her behavior a bit strange today, no one said anything behind her back.
While Tan You was busy working through Han Tingting's workbook, a girl suddenly stopped beside her desk in the aisle. "I'm collecting the math homework," she said curtly.
Tan You looked up slightly. Seeing the unconcealed arrogance on the girl's face, she felt a slight stir within her but said nothing, simply handing the math workbook to her.
The girl scoffed. "It's all copied. Is there any point in collecting it?"
Tan You didn't say a word. She wasn't a very talkative person to begin with, and she already understood this girl's attitude perfectly. 'It's the typical arrogance of a good student. It's only natural for her to look down on a student at the bottom of the class.'
'It doesn't matter. I'll become a good student too.' Tan You narrowed her eyes, staring at the girl's retreating back for two seconds before looking down to continue her English exercises.
At 6:40, the morning reading session began right on time. Today was Chinese reading, so Tan You followed everyone else's lead and pulled out her Chinese textbook. The corner of her mouth twitched when she saw how blank the pages were.
She rarely took notes either, but not because she wasn't paying attention in class. It was because she had a good memory and could basically remember everything the teacher taught. As a result, her own textbooks had always been pristine.
For subjects like math, however, she took very diligent notes. She couldn't get the hang of math, so she would pour a lot of effort into it. But sometimes, effort doesn't guarantee results, and that was precisely the case for Tan You.
Her grades had always been pretty good, but only because Chinese and English pulled up her average; she could barely pass math. Thinking about how she had only scraped by with a passing grade in math on her high school entrance exam, Tan You couldn't help but clench her fist. 'This time, I have to get good at math!'
After quickly going through the entire Chinese textbook, Tan You touched the ring on her right hand. "System, are you there?"
She had arrived here in the middle of the night, gone right to sleep, and then woken up to a chaotic morning. This was the first chance she'd had to chat with the system. If the system was there, Tan You's heart could finally settle down a bit.
The system's voice was a bit faint. "Host, System is here."
Hearing that something was wrong with the system's condition, Tan You became anxious. "What's wrong with you?"
System: "System requires energy to transport Host through spacetime. System's energy is insufficient."
Tan You understood. "I'll work hard to complete the missions. But System, can we still go back?"
The system instantly perked up. "We can! If Host completes the missions well, System can request an energy advance from the Main System. We'll pay the Main System back once our energy has been credited."
Tan You: "Like borrowing money?"
System: "Exactly. So, Host, you must do your best on the missions."
Right now, Tan You was completely oblivious to the fact that the system was manipulating her. She only felt the weight of responsibility on her shoulders and nodded emphatically. "System, don't worry, I'll definitely work my hardest!"
"But it's really strange, System. The textbooks here are actually the same as in the real world." Tan You flipped another page of her book. "Actually, I was pretty sad after I got my high school entrance exam results yesterday. I didn't expect to do so poorly."
"But this is good, too. I get to go back and study it all over again. This time, even if it's not for Han Tingting's sake, I'm going to do it for myself. I'll work hard to get a brilliant score on the entrance exam."
The system waved its little arms. "Go for it, Host! System knows you can definitely do it!"
The system's encouragement made Tan You laugh. She was also grateful that she hadn't arrived at the worst possible time. At least for now, Han Tingting was still in school, so the talk of expulsion was something she could still fight against.