Watching Brian Cooper sway his big hips as he walked, William Clark couldn’t help but smile wryly to himself. When you’re young, you don’t know the taste of sorrow; it’s only when you need knowledge that you regret not having learned enough. You’d never understand the meaning of these words while still in school. In his previous life, it was precisely because he hadn’t studied hard in high school that he ended up only getting into a junior college. Not only was it a waste of money, but more importantly, without a good diploma, he hit walls everywhere when looking for a job and suffered far too much.

Since he had been given a second chance at life, William Clark naturally wouldn’t let the same thing happen again. Even though he knew that the current exam-oriented education system wouldn’t be of much use in his future work, that diploma was still extremely important. If you can’t make society adapt to you, then you can only adapt to society. William Clark wasn’t an angry youth, so he could only use this opportunity of rebirth to study hard. In his previous life, he hadn’t adapted well to society; this time, he was determined to fit in perfectly.

The exam was tomorrow, and the time left for William Clark was really too little. So he didn’t expect that just this half day could make his grades improve by leaps and bounds, or even hope to score many points. What he mainly wanted was to get familiar with the textbooks. These textbooks felt so distant to him, even a bit unfamiliar.

At this point, his grades were probably very poor. Even if he did a little worse, it would still be normal.

When he reached the classroom door, William Clark felt a wave of nervousness. He glanced around at the people inside; nothing had changed since he’d left a moment ago.

Returning to his seat and picking up his book, William Clark really felt a bit dumbfounded. In his previous life, he hadn’t studied seriously at this time, and once he got to college, he played even harder, sometimes not even opening his textbooks for certain subjects. Not only did he not gain any new knowledge, but he’d also forgotten almost everything he’d learned before high school. After starting work, he did study some professional knowledge seriously just to make a living, but even then, it had little to do with the things taught in high school.

Now, holding that math book and looking at those exercises, William Clark felt like he was reading a foreign language. He hadn’t forgotten everything, but he definitely couldn’t recall even the formulas.

Actually, you couldn’t really blame William Clark. After putting down the books for so many years, even real graduates from good universities would need some time to recall how to solve a fifth- or sixth-grade math problem. As for high school exercises, they were many times harder. Picking them up again so easily was just too difficult.

By now, more people had entered the classroom, and the noise of conversation had increased. William Clark also put down his book and looked at his classmates. From their conversations, the floodgates of William Clark’s memory slowly opened, and he quickly recognized a few classmates.

This made him feel a faint excitement. At this time, relationships between classmates were very simple. Maybe they hadn’t spoken much during their school days, but once they met again as adults, there was always a strong sense of familiarity.

Accompanied by a crisp, bell-like voice, two girls walked into the classroom. The book in William Clark’s hand fell onto the desk with a slap, and his eyes were fixed on one of the girls who was speaking. At that moment, he could see only that girl, and hear only her voice. It was as if nothing else existed in the world, leaving only her graceful figure.

At this moment, William Clark finally understood why he had felt inexplicably nervous when entering the classroom. It was because he had been wanting to see someone—a girl, a girl he had secretly liked for two whole years during high school... Helen Carter.

Helen Carter, William Clark’s high school classmate, always ranked in the top three of the class, and came from a very good family. Her father was the deputy district chief, and her mother also worked in a government department. Although he couldn’t remember which department or position, having a deputy district chief as a father was more than enough.

Excellent grades, a good family background, and a naturally beautiful face—not only was she the object of many boys’ secret crushes in the class, but also in the whole school. However, because Helen Carter’s conditions were so good, boys who wanted to pursue her had to weigh their own worth. High schoolers back then weren’t as materialistic as those after the 21st century, but even many of the top students who were handsome failed in their pursuit of Helen Carter, so ordinary boys didn’t even have the courage to write her a little note.

But Helen Carter always ignored the boys’ attentions, basically turning them all down. By the time they reached senior year, no one was pursuing her anymore.