The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Not long after the military training, the students had to take formal classes and lectures. Soon enough, they found out that these courses were as demanding as the military training.

The university did not require the computer science majors to attend many lectures on their professional knowledge. When Lin Wenxi checked the university timetable, he found out that there were at most two one-hour lectures per weekday and sometimes, there were no classes or lectures to attend on Thursdays and Fridays. However, when he took a look at the exam arrangements. He could not help but gasp in astonishment. They had to take lots of courses and pass lots of exams within the following three months. Their compulsory courses included physics,which Lin Wenxi hated the most, English, advanced mathematics, discrete mathematics, geography, history, politics, ethics and morality and law basics. Their professional courses included C++ programming, java programming, lura scripting, object-oriented, computer logic, computer architecture, operating system, computer composition and algorithm basis. Wang Xiang, who had already forgotten most of the math knowledge that he learned in his high school, calculated and said, “Gee, we need to attend 85 lectures and pass 23 exams during the first term. That means we have to take an exam for every four lectures we take. And some of the exams are even combined with hand-on projects, such as building a radio!”

The university timetable was detailed and well-organized. It must have been written by a professional. When Wang Xiang read the last line of words on the timetable, he could not help but cry out, “What? This is ridiculous!” After that, he pretended to spout blood and lie dead. Jifu University advised the students to finish all their compulsory, optional and professional courses successfully within the first two years and encouraged them to graduate ahead of time or a start their own business during the junior year. Students who finished the courses ahead of time could also win postgraduate recommendations and to further their studies in another university.

Fortunately, the students could choose to take some extra-curricular courses that they really enjoyed. All of them like these extra-curricular courses very much.

They could choose to study liberal arts. In this class, they would explore the history of the ancient China. They would discuss how Li Shizhen had made his professional achievements. They would know that the poem contained in the prelude of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was actually written by Yang Shen instead of the author of the novel and Yang Shen was a top scholar banished from the court by the emperor. They would even discuss the real rules in the royal harems and find out more about their own ancestors. Lin Wenxi outshone the others here and never missed a class. As for students who chose to study the natural sciences, they would be able to tell whether the moon was in its first quarter or second quarter, and some of them would even be able to predict the weather by observing the moon at night. (Their weather forecasts were quite accurate, which deeply impressed the other students in the university.) They would also study different human civilizations and even extraterrestrial civilizations. Shu Xiaoman enjoyed this class very much and liked to predict what Lin Wenxi, a typical Leo, was going to do the next day.

The extra-curricular arts courses gave the students the chance to learn drawing, singing, dancing, string music, wind music and percussion music. When a teacher found an exceptionally talented student here, he or she would train this student separately to help the student improve his or her skills. Zhang An’an, Chen Wanxin and Shu Xiaoman outshone the others in the dancing class. Their satin-like skin and graceful gestures made a lot of boys fall for them. As for the sports lovers, they could choose to learn basketball, volleyball, badminton, swimming, shot-put and even bodybuilding. After defeating the basketball coach by himself, Zhao Yuan was deemed to be “half student and half coach”. As he coached his classmates pretty well, the coach gave half of his wages to Zhao Yuan. Apart from basketball class, Zhao Yuan was also “half student and half coach” in the martial arts class. He taught his classmates Taekwondo. With his help, even Wang Xiang managed to master some martial arts skills. He often teased himself, “Now I’m sure that I’m invincible in nursing homes and nurseries.”

Students who choose to take social skill class would learn negotiation skills, lecture skills, and marketing skills. Those who chose to study social sciences would explore how a society or an economy worked and developed. Every time the central government issued a new policy or a NPC member submitted a proposal, they would study it and analyze it. Sometimes, some doctoral students from the other universities would come here to discuss with them and make friends with them. There was even a physiology class. Students would observe and study all kinds of behaviors, including sexual behaviors of animals and human beings. Zheng Kai excelled in this class just as he did in the martial arts class and the basketball class. Under the strict supervision of the university, the students in the physiology class did not do anything out of line. Gu Xi chose some extra-curricular courses too, and Shu Xiaoman believed that he must have chosen all the classes that Zheng Kai would attend.

Students from the other universities could take these extra-curricular courses of Jifu University as well. If they excelled in their classes, Jifu University would recruit them and help them transfer to this university.

Not long after the students began to enjoy their campus life, their school counselor told them a piece of exciting news: The Freshmen Contests were going to be held in December. Zhao Yuan had heard a lot about these contests from the girls on the campus and had already told his classmates to get prepared as early as possible.

The Freshmen Contests were a series of competitions.

All the freshmen in the university had to take these competitions seriously.

There were singing contest, dancing contest, basketball match, soccer match, ping-pong match, poetry-reading contest and English speech contest. This even was like a talent show. All the freshmen in this university and from the other universities and applicants applying for this university could compete in the contest, but usually, most of the contestants were students of Jifu University. Once a student from another university won a contest here, he or she would win a postgraduate recommendation, which would give him or her a chance to further his or her studies in a key university in the country. Once a student of Jifu University won a contest, he or she would get some credits. Students with high credits would be able to further their studies in some famous university abroad.

Zhao Yuan, who was not very good at math, calculated his credits for a long time and thought, “With the help of the credits I’ve got by winning a second prize in the wilderness training, I’ll win a postgraduate recommendation which can get me into a key university in the country. If I don’t want to further my studies, I can use the credits to get a chance to work in a large company or start my own business. Many partners of this university are large companies. I can manage to pull a lot of money for my business.” He threw a quick glance at Zheng Kai and said, “They say that it’s not a big deal to win a second or third prize in the whilderness training, but it’s not ture. The credits are worthwhile enough.”

Zheng Kai laughed and said, “I also know that if I don’t want to further my studies, I can give up the recommendation and exchange it for a scholarship, some real money!” Upon hearing that, his friends all laughed and teased him for being too unambitious.

That being said, they could not really intervene and stop Zheng Kai from using his credits in this way. As Jifu University allowed its students to decide how to use their credits by themselves.

When everyone was enjoying their wonderful and inspiring campus life, Shu Xiaoman often looked somber. She repeatedly thought, “Should I do as Chen Wanxin said? Should I ‘test’ their relationship?”