The summer vacation ended, and Wu Hua finally ushered in the start of his university life.
"Hello, classmates! I'm here!" Wu Hua, being a social butterfly, greeted everyone as he walked through the door. This startled a beautiful young woman who was busy erasing the chalkboard. She glared at him and scolded, "You're back, so just be back! What are you shouting for? Come help clean up, now!"
The girl before him made Wu Hua’s eyes light up. The one speaking was Song Xinmei. She and Wu Hua had been high school classmates, but she was the universally acknowledged school beauty back then. She was stunningly pretty, resembling Liu Yifei before she even became famous in the future.
Her skin was white as jade, her waist slender, and her legs straight and long; her perfect curves were full of youth and vitality.
Girls in this era possessed an ethereal, pure aura. Moreover, relationships between men and women were quite conservative; it was common for them not to speak to one another at all.
Song Xinmei hadn't talked much to Wu Hua in the past. Back then, Wu Hua was utterly ordinary, while Song Xinmei was like a proud swan, carrying herself with a certain haughtiness and an air of superiority.
Wu Hua said nothing. The goddess's skin was like mutton-fat jade, without a single blemish—an exquisite masterpiece of nature that made it hard for anyone to look away.
Seeing Wu Hua staring at her with a cheeky grin, Song Xinmei shot him a sharp glare, fully embodying the authority of a class cadre.
She felt that this boy’s temperament had changed completely over the summer. She hadn't expected him to be admitted to the same university, and even the same class, as her.
Feeling that he had just challenged her authority, she struck a pose of her former self and said, "Wu Hua, since you're here, help out with the cleaning!"
"Report: I had a severe illness and almost died, so I don't have much strength in my limbs," Wu Hua said, wanting to tease the school beauty.
In his previous life, Wu Hua would have blushed for a long time just from speaking a single sentence to Song Xinmei, only daring to steal glances at her from afar.
But now, he was no longer a timid, pure-hearted boy. Having participated in plenty of business social events, how could he be intimidated by chatting with a pretty high school girl?
"Hmph! Save your excuses for the teacher and see if they believe you!" Song Xinmei said, wrinkling her cute little nose.
"Xinmei, you’re so cruel..." Wu Hua said casually.
Hearing Wu Hua call her by her given name, Song Xinmei was so stunned she was left speechless. Her pretty face flushed a deep crimson, like the evening glow on the horizon!
"Wu Hua, when did you become such a hooligan? Please respect yourself! I’m warning you, if you dare call me Xin... Xinmei again, I’m telling the teacher!" Song Xinmei was furious.
Wu Hua was speechless. He wasn't even allowed to use her name? Were the boundaries between male and female university students in this era really that strict?
Wu Hua’s grades in school were decent, but he wasn't a top student. In this era, before university expansion, getting into college was quite a struggle.
His grades had originally been mediocre, but in the final year of high school, he had a breakthrough. His grades improved steadily, and he was ultimately admitted to Wujiang University, a key provincial first-tier university.
During his four years of university, Wu Hua didn't waste a second. He excelled in all his subjects and was even elected Student Union President; it could be called a comeback.
Song Xinmei had always been at the top of her grade, and her family background was quite good. She had run a high fever during the college entrance exam, which affected her performance, so she ended up as Wu Hua’s classmate.
Although their families were old acquaintances—their fathers were both leaders in the railway system and were on good terms—and Wu Hua had nursed a secret crush on Song Xinmei for three years, they had never dated in his previous life.
Later, after graduation, their families even wanted to set them up on a date to forge a marriage alliance. However, Song Xinmei didn't want to come back after graduation, preferring to stay in a big city to hustle, while Wu Hua joined his father's railway system. Separated by vast distances, the matter fizzled out.
Life is full of regrets, but in this life, perhaps Wu Hua could make up for it.
However, this proud, delicate school beauty still had no positive feelings for Wu Hua; she treated him as a complete stranger.
Wu Hua didn't care. His mindset was different now; he was no longer the weaker party in a relationship.
The first day of school was the usual opening ceremony. The principal droned on with a bunch of clichés, but after his rebirth, Wu Hua found even that quite interesting.
In the afternoon, the counselor, Teacher Zhang, didn't arrange any classes, but followed tradition by handing out new books and holding a class meeting.
Perhaps as revenge for Wu Hua daring to call her Xinmei, Song Xinmei intentionally called Li Xu over to help move the books, with the intent of making Wu Hua do the heavy lifting.
To her surprise, Li Xu was perfectly happy, not taking it as an issue at all; in fact, he was quite pleased.
Of course he was happy. Men and women bickering—wasn't that just the beginning of a romance?
At school, he ran into Zhang Rui and Wang Xiaofang. The two girls kept their heads down and didn't say much to Wu Hua, which he could understand.
University life was full of novelty and beauty. Although Wu Hua had experienced it once, this second time around felt different.
Wu Hua didn't dare to waste time. Even with a second chance at life, this was an important milestone. Getting into university wasn't everything; it was just the beginning.
Moreover, there were so many talented people in university. To reach the top tier, one had to keep striving.
At that moment, the counselor, Teacher Zhang, announced the registration for the Math Olympiad, a selection exam for the city's global Mathematical Olympiad competition.
The school had ten spots for the city-wide competition, which would be awarded fairly and justly through a selection exam.
For this selection, Teacher Zhang adopted an open enrollment policy: if you thought you could do it, you signed up!
Song Xinmei was, of course, the first to sign up. Mathematics was her strength, and she had often been first in her grade. After signing up, she looked at Wu Hua with a hint of provocation.
This girl really knew how to hold a grudge!
Wu Hua’s interest was instantly piqued. A Math Olympiad? What a coincidence! In his previous life, he had been very interested in mathematics for a while and had even self-studied to participate in international non-governmental math competitions, where he earned a ranking and a bit of fame.
Later, he took on side jobs tutoring kids for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), studied many classic competition papers, and coached several gifted students during his four years of university, earning quite a bit of pocket money.
It could be said that all of Wu Hua’s university expenses were self-funded. He made so much from tutoring that he would have opened his own school if he hadn't been assigned a job.
Now that Song Xinmei was challenging him in his own area of strength, Wu Hua’s passion was ignited.
"I’ll sign up too," Wu Hua was the second to raise his hand.
Teacher Zhang didn't say anything. Since he had declared it open enrollment, anyone could sign up. However, he didn't know much about Wu Hua, whose math grades had been average; he just figured he was making up the numbers.
Song Xinmei, however, let out a sneer of disdain.