Chapter 17: A Thousand Tasks Await Revival

ritical moment such as this, you don't even encourage your son; what do you want from him Not to study hard and end up in a bad school What’s the point of that!"Dad realized he had spoken out of turn...Chapter 17: A Thriving Renaissance

For the Su Cen family, this was the beginning of a busy period. Even on weekends, Su Cen joined in to help out by setting up a basin filled with water at the entrance and cleaning the glass panels of the shelves, taking inventory of the goods, and rearranging them neatly. They aimed to make the store look spacious and tidy, although it was too late for elaborate packaging and decoration. However, at least they could give off a fresh impression.

Even though they were one of four companies designated as city procurement定點采購的翻譯可能不太準確，這裡直譯為“designated by the city for procurement”，但考慮到語境和簡潔性，可以簡化為“city-designated supplier”或者直接使用“procurement supplier”。但為了保持原文風格，我選擇保留“定點采購”的表述。 businesses designated by the city, they were undoubtedly the smallest in every aspect.

Their store had become a must-visit spot for Uncle Zeng Quanming and Aunt Yin Shuying after their evening meals. Zeng Quanming probably hadn't anticipated that Su Licheng and Zeng Ke's performance at the bidding meeting would impress him so much, let alone secure them a spot on this city-designated procurement list.

Thus, almost subconsciously, they had designated the street where Su Cen's family store was located as their daily route. They chatted with his parents and the tone of reproach in their words diminished. They also inquired about Su Cen’s studies and life, and no longer limited their demands to covering his university tuition but instead looked ahead to buying a house and getting married.

This made Su Cen raise an eyebrow; it seemed that parents and elders always had something new to worry about at different stages of their children's lives.

Zeng Na, who was observing the goods on the shelves, noticed Su Cen’s expression. Coincidentally, everyone had turned to this topic, and his mother Zeng Ke teasingly asked her older sister, who also attended City No.1 High School with him, "Na-na, do you think Su Cen is popular among girls at school Or does he have a girl he likes"

Uncle Zeng Quanming was clearly an old-fashioned man; upon hearing his mother abruptly shift to this topic, he muttered, "At this stage, talking about friends is all fantasy..."

However, no one paid attention to him. His aunt wore a curious expression eager for answers, and Su Licheng just smiled continuously.

Su Cai looked at the group of people who showed great concern over this topic and thought to himself that becoming the focus of his family didn't seem like such a good thing after all. Perhaps it was better when he used to be overlooked in every family gathering.

His older sister, Zeng Na, however, gave him a condescending look as if sizing him up. She was now in her senior year of high school and had spent six years at the city's number one middle and high school, so she knew all about this circle.

In her eyes, there were plenty of influential figures within such a large group, but she could be sure that her little brother wouldn't be among them. Although various gossips would appear every day, none of it would concern Su Cai. Even though his middle school results had been impressive, the high school was just too big for one person to stand out; there were many excellent students and he was like a pebble that quickly blended in with the mud at the bottom of the sea without causing any waves.

Moreover, from Zeng Na's perspective, Su Cai wasn't someone who would be favored by girls. Especially not those high-minded girls at their school; Su Cai lacked both the height to be a basketball star and the academic excellence to rank among the top two in his class, let alone any special talents. This led her to scoff under her breath: "With so many talented girls at this school, even if he does have someone he likes, it's unlikely that they would tell him. And as far as I know, there isn't anyone who likes him."

After uttering these words, Zeng Na felt a bit regretful and secretly glanced at Su Cai to see whether his expression had changed. Seeing no reaction on his face, she calmed down somewhat, wondering if she might have been too arrogant.

The family understood that there was nothing more to be said after what Zeng Na had just said, leaving Ke a bit disappointed as her aunt hurriedly tried to ease the tension: "That's right, who cares about dating at this age It's all meaningless. We'll talk about relationships when you're working and ready for marriage."

Su Cai nodded, his calm eyes revealing a tinge of sadness.

Life is like sitting on a hilltop, watching the blood-red sunset while savoring an old wine. Compared to this heavy liquor, any daydreams or fantasies would seem as tasteless as plain water.

In romance novels and films about reincarnation, protagonists always end up with grand achievements, countless beauties at their disposal, and a world where everything is favorable towards them. Brothers are loyal, women disregard status and beliefs to become their wives, all villains will be vanquished, the world will transition from chaos to stability, and the future will be glorious and bright.

However, reality is far from this. Even if he were to be reborn, it wouldn't be like a fairy tale; the stark truth of life still awaits him – raw and unadulterated, in a world wrapped in glamour but riddled with struggles and harsh realities.

Moreover, I've long surpassed the age where meeting beautiful women would instantly make me want to spend my entire life with them—at least psychologically speaking.

The genuine interaction between two people isn't merely about simple love; it's more about how one sustains and nurtures that love over the long years of life together.

Time just flipped past this early autumn, a season marked by desolation.

At twenty, one feels that time flies too quickly. At thirty, you find there isn't enough time. By forty, you hope for time to move more slowly and be more fulfilling. When fifty is reached and sixty looms, the passage of time carves its mark on your heart, causing pain.

For those at City No.1 High School who enter and leave the school gates daily under bright sunlight and a sea of cassia blossoms, sitting in well-lit classrooms with fans whirring or laughing loudly in the playground during recess, time itself has no real concept for them.

The only sense of time they have is why sports classes are so short—just forty minutes—while math classes stretch endlessly, like endless drumming on a wooden fish.

Su Cun found himself struggling. If he previously had been holding back his true capabilities, the strength of City No.1 High School began to manifest during this period when they all started from the same baseline. The top students in his class were beginning to rise powerfully; Tang Wu remained unshakably at number one. After every lesson, teachers would assign difficult problems as homework, and these challenging questions were of a high level for their type. For most students aiming towards prestigious universities in China, including Tsinghua and Peking University, completing such questions was merely the foundation.

Su Cun encountered some difficulties in tackling these hard problems; his accuracy rate dropped below fifty percent on certain questions. In terms of ranking within the class, he had fallen to several positions behind.

The No.1 High School in the city is a national key high school, and many people who graduate from here will become elites in various fields as long as they maintain their excellence in the future.

Although ranking in the teens within a class isn't embarrassing, Su Cen only felt his sense of defeat after considering his overall performance among over a thousand students across all grades. He had been reborn with the mindset of someone from the future, and this was how he faced the issues at hand.

Moreover, their Class 5 was considered an average class in terms of academic performance within the school, which could be seen from the perpetually worried expression on their homeroom teacher, Xiao Rihua's face. The overall excellence rate of a class directly affected his annual income and job title evaluation; how could he not put every ounce of effort into maintaining classroom discipline and tapping into students' academic potential

Su Cen realized that it was because he had dabbled in too many subjects that he felt this way. His learning ability should be superior to his peers, but due to the vast range of topics he delved into, he wasn't like Count of Monte Cristo who, despite being confined in Chteau d'If for fourteen years and with名師指導這一部分在基督山伯爵的故事中冇有對應的內容，因此可以將其刪除或調整為更通用的表達，以保持故事的一致性和連貫性。這裡我將做相應的簡化處理：“雖然他渴望成為那樣的人物，但現實中誰能通曉天文地理、曆史文學等各個領域的知識？”

However, Christus had fourteen years in prison on the Isle of If and was guided by great teachers, allowing him to become proficient in various fields. Su Cen, having only been reborn for half a year, found it ridiculous to aim for proficiency across all subjects.

After reflecting upon his current issues following his failure with a difficult problem, Su Cen gradually reduced the time he spent borrowing books from his maternal uncle and slowed down his studies on various topics, focusing more on examination-oriented materials since this was currently the most crucial matter at hand for him.

No matter what steps he wanted to take in the future, at present, everything needed to be rebuilt from scratch.

As each day rolled by, another sensational event seemed inevitable at No.1 High School, following closely after Su Cen's declaration of love incident.

Tang Wu now had a public admirer, who was naturally a celebrity in the school..Many people looked at Lin Chu and some said, "Your niece has such a character like her dad! She's so straightforward!"Others laughed, "Boyfriend Little Luoran is feeling the springtime romance!"A few...