Spark At First Contact Chapter 8

"Xiehe? You mean the medical school in Beijing... Of course it's great. If you can get in, your grandfather will definitely be happier. He recalled to us that when he was young, he always said that he wanted to be a doctor. Later, when he retired, he had nothing to do but read books on internal medicine at home..."

Chu Heng carefully placed the poached egg on a slice of whole wheat bread and pushed it in front of Logan. The two of them ate breakfast and talked about exams and majors.

"Meimei, let me tell you something. Your dad will be back in Ronggang next month. He may ask someone to help your school transfer a few special teachers. Remember to tell him whether to choose arts or science in the future."

"Science." Logan filled the milk bowl with oatmeal. "I want to take the clinical medicine exam at the Associate Medical College."

"Clinical medicine... the eight-year program?" His nephew's goal sounded ambitious. Chu Heng was very pleased that he could determine his future direction at this age, so he asked one more question: "What is the score line in Ronggang?"

Logan said calmly, "The lowest score this year is 697."

When the three numbers "697" were arranged in Chu Heng's mind, she almost smeared jam on her fingers. After graduating for many years, she was no longer sensitive to the college entrance examination scores, but at least she had some common sense: "This is enough to get into Peking University or Tsinghua University, right?"

Logan lowered his head and answered, "The first two and a half years of clinical medicine at Peking Union Medical College must be studied at Tsinghua University, and the last five and a half years will be spent back at the main campus. The undergraduate admission score is about the middle level among Tsinghua majors."

In other words, if you want to be admitted to the clinical medicine department of Peking Union Medical College, you must exceed the score line of Tsinghua University.

Chu Heng knew that he was already preparing for the college entrance examination, so there was no need for her to worry too much. But she was silent for a moment, and still couldn't help asking: "Then will you be more stable if you are at least in the top ten in the city in science in the college entrance examination?"

Logan noticed her erratic tone, and the boy raised his head and asked, "Do you think I can't pass the exam?"

"Well? Of course you can." Chu Heng didn't want to dampen his confidence, so he smiled immediately, "Talent is not something that everyone has, and the college entrance examination in Ronggang is less stressful. For you, being in the top ten in the city is easy..."

"That was in the past." Logan turned his face away calmly, "A long time ago."

In the more than two years since the onset of sleeping sickness, Logan had been looking forward to his body returning to normal after waking up from a dream. The so-called "somnia" and "cataplexy" were just nightmares that could be forgotten at any time. But day after day, not only did he not show any signs of improvement, but his academic performance even declined seriously. From the first place in the whole school of Hongwai, to the last few in the class; from a gifted top student, to an outlier in the eyes of others.

---Logan, if you don’t want to attend class, go home. School is not a place for you to sleep!

---Look, Logan fell asleep again, hahahaha...

---Don't think you can skip homework just because you're smart. You're the only one in the class who can't keep up with the progress. Why don't you hurry up?

---Hey, top student, you always sleep during the day, what are you doing in the middle of the night?

...

There are very few doctors in China who are familiar with narcolepsy, and even fewer people who understand it. Not only did he have to endure a flood of ridicule before the diagnosis, but he also did not receive forgiveness after the diagnosis. In the process of struggling with nightmares, Logan gradually learned to face everyone's disappointed eyes alone.

"Don't be anxious, Meimei. Didn't the doctor say that many people slowly recover after adulthood?" Chu Heng put down the spoon and his voice returned to the most relaxed state. "Okay, don't think about this. How do you feel about Chengjun these days? Are you adapting?"

"It's good. But except for Chinese, other teachers' lectures are very slow and waste time."

"Have you become closer to your classmates?" Chu Heng asked, "Does the classmate who gave you candy that day play with you every day?"

"Not familiar with him." Logan drank the milk in the bowl, leaving a circle of milky white on his light red lips. He took out a tissue to wipe his mouth, and before his aunt asked why, he took the initiative to add: "We are not the same kind of people, and we can't get along."

He stood up, said "I'm going to school", picked up his schoolbag and left home.

The school issued a brand new sports jacket to the first-year students today. The main color is black with white, and the collar and cuffs are decorated with lemon yellow stripes. The fabric is a bit smooth, and the texture is similar to that of a windbreaker. Students who were tired of wearing "Smurfs" in the past are very satisfied with Chengjun school uniforms. Logan put on the jacket to confirm the size. He wore uniform shirts outside Hong Kong, and now he is not used to this loose sportswear. The sleeves are always a bit uncomfortable when writing.

"Our school emblem is not a horse!" Jason was surprised by the newly discovered details, "What is this? Triangular... Brother Diu, look! Our school emblem is a zongzi!"

Derek stared at the school uniform and retorted: "How can it be a zongzi! This... this is more like a longevity peach!"

The two of them had a heated discussion about this little thing, and the sound entered the ears of Logan, who accidentally fell asleep, and made him dream that he had turned into a ball of filling, stuffed between crowded rice grains to make a rice ball.

Logan was most likely to feel sleepy in the morning. Sometimes he would oversleep and miss lunch. He would slowly become alert in the afternoon. In the history class where the discipline was not strict, Logan concentrated on reviewing the content he missed in the morning math class.

However, the review did not go smoothly because Logan found that the history teacher always looked at him. Although he had the privilege of not listening in class, Logan still did not want to ignore the teacher's presence when he was awake, as this would make him seem disrespectful to his elders.

The reason why the history teacher continued to pay attention to the window seat was actually Jason who was sitting in the seat in front of him.

In his first history class, Jason successfully attracted the teacher's attention. The male teacher was young, wearing glasses and looked very gentle, with a friendly accent. The most distinctive feature was his slender arms. The students sitting in the front row couldn't help but exclaimed: "Teacher, your arms are so long, they must be able to touch the floor directly, right?"

"Of course." The history teacher straightened his legs and bent down, his fingers touching the ground effortlessly.

Jason couldn't help but sigh: "Wow! If your phone falls into the toilet, you can definitely get it out directly!"

As he finished speaking, the teacher's cell phone slipped out of his trouser pocket and fell onto the podium. It rolled twice and the screen broke into pieces.

Jason immediately covered his mouth.

From this class on, the history teacher remembered Jason's name and often asked him questions. Jason was also very supportive, answering when he could, and making up when he couldn't. He would also catch the teacher getting stuck in the lecture and lead the students to make fun of him. The atmosphere of the history class was always lively from the beginning to the end, and basically no one would be absent.

"What two sets of contradictions were associated with the ancient autocratic centralized system in my country? Jason, please stand up and speak."

"Well... country and people, industry and agriculture... right?" Jason observed the teacher's increasingly surprised expression, "Well... I don't know!"

"You don't know this? Isn't what I'm asking about middle school knowledge?"

"To be honest, Brother Xuan, I have long forgotten what I learned in junior high school." Jason said sincerely, "But don't worry, I can still recite 'Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing'..."

"You, you, you, sit down and confess!"

Every time Jason made the history teacher angry, the classmates would laugh. In the harmonious atmosphere of the classroom, only Logan's brows became more and more furrowed.

In his class experience from childhood to adulthood, very few people would interrupt the teacher loudly without raising their hands, and no one would argue with the teacher about topics other than learning. The students also strictly abided by the classroom discipline and listened attentively. But now? It is obviously an experimental class, but many students around him have a casual attitude, talking, laughing, and making trouble... Some even want to go to the toilet and refuse to wait until the end of class. The key is that the young teacher on the stage indulges them again and again, and the relationship between teachers and students is too frivolous.

Logan was indeed dissatisfied with this class style, but he understood the principle of making the best of it, so he just ignored everyone and studied with his head down with a blank expression.

"Students, we will have general cleaning in the second and third classes this afternoon. I will assign tasks to you now." After the history class, the head teacher came in with the school's arrangement notice in his hand and announced, "Girls in Groups 1 and 2 will sweep the floor, and boys will mop the floor. Groups 3 and 4 will be assigned by the class monitor. Group 5 will be responsible for the front and back doors and windows. The male class committee will be responsible for wiping the four fans."

As the sports committee member, Jason wanted to learn from the class monitor about the students who would work with him in cleaning this time. However, Lily told him that there were only two male class committee members, and the other one was the academic committee member Logan.

"Oh." Jason curled his lips and asked Lily for a new rag.

Logan was indifferent to the class committee list, as long as he could finish his work in an orderly manner. After standing on the table to clean the first two rows of ceiling fans, Logan found that Jason was still cleaning the first one. The reason for his low efficiency was probably because he was not tall enough. He had to stand on tiptoes and straighten his arms when standing on the table. He started to stagger after just a few wipes, and then he had to start again.

Logan didn't say anything. After washing the rag, he went straight to the table and wiped the last ceiling fan in the back row.

He was cleaning up the dust when he suddenly felt someone knock on the table twice. He looked down and saw Jason looking up at him.

"Come down, I'm in charge of the fan here." Jason said in a firm tone.

Logan was unmoved and said condescendingly: "I can wipe it too."

"The squad leader assigned you to clean the first two and I to clean the last two. Now you clean three each. Is that appropriate?" Jason stiffened his neck, very reluctantly. "Don't work for me. I don't want to owe you anything."

Logan felt that his words sounded familiar, and after thinking about it for a few seconds, he remembered that he seemed to have said the same thing the day before yesterday, and then he suddenly realized that Jason was deliberately looking for trouble.

Unexpectedly, two days had passed since that little incident, and he was still angry with her. Logan didn't know whether to say he was fussy or unreasonable, so he could only say in a deep voice: "It takes me enough time to wipe two in the time you spend on wiping one. Why don't you think about your own reasons?"

"You don't have to do it for me." Jason refused to budge. "Since you've finished cleaning your row, go and rest over there. Don't come over and get in my way."

The other party's commanding tone made Logan take a deep breath impatiently and said, "Didn't you see the person mopping the floor waiting at the door for a long time? Finish wiping the fan and move the table away as soon as possible so that they can come over. Who is in the way, Jason?"

The two were in a stalemate, one high and one low. The moment their eyes met in the air, they felt the hostility between them. Logan didn't want to waste time with him, so he glanced at Jason lightly and wanted to turn around and continue wiping the fan blades.

Jason's eyes had already moved to the top of Logan's head. Suddenly his face changed and he shouted, "Don't raise your hand!"

Logan subconsciously stopped what he was doing, and when he looked down again, he saw Jason striding towards the back door of the classroom, grabbing the short-haired girl who was cleaning the wall, and quickly turning on the fan switch.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past his ears. Logan looked up and found that the fan blades above were turning slowly and then stopped.

"What are you doing? Don't you know it's dangerous?" Jason did not control the volume of his voice, and his questioning attracted the attention of the students around him.

The short-haired girl didn't dare to look up at him and apologized hurriedly: "I'm sorry! I didn't know the switch was so loose... I just wanted to tear off the tape on it... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Logan nimbly jumped off the table and landed safely. He walked over and gently nudged Jason with his elbow, whispering, "I'm fine."

Then he looked at the girl and said gently: "It's okay, just go on."

Jason sighed and told her, "Be careful next time."

The girl's back stiffened, thinking that Jason was threatening her, and she nodded hastily out of fear.

Since he had already stepped down from the table, Logan was too lazy to go back, lest Jason target him again. He threw the rag into the basin, went out to the bathroom to wash his hands, and went downstairs to buy an eraser.

In the canteen, Logan saw several boys from his class. He had an impression of one of them who always hung out with Jason.

"Hey, what a coincidence." Derek saw him and took the initiative to greet him, "Logan, did you oversleep and miss lunch at noon? Are you okay now?"

"Very good." Logan smiled at him calmly and picked up a bottle of pure milk from the shelf.

"Why don't we just wake you up at noon? You'll be more sleepy when you're hungry." Derek decided without giving Logan a chance to refuse. After a pause, he casually said, "Jason was thinking about you when he was eating. I wanted to bring you some, but I was afraid it wouldn't suit your taste, so I gave up."

Several bottles of milk on the shelf fell over with a clang. Logan cleared his throat and quickly straightened them out. He didn't turn around, and asked Derek nonchalantly, "Is Jason very generous?"

Derek said without hesitation: "Of course, he always shares his snacks with me."

"Only for you?"

"Because you are more familiar with me now...what's wrong?" Derek thought about the reason why Logan asked this, "Oh, you want to eat it too, then I will remind him to give it to you first next time."

"...No." Logan pursed his lips, hesitated, and asked Derek, "He gave me a lot of candy before, what do you think I should buy for him?"

"What's the 'appropriate or inappropriate' thing? It's not a gift." Derek said matter-of-factly, "Jason shouldn't be picky. I noticed that he eats different things every day and even made a snack plan for the next week."

Logan nodded, and then chose a bucket of planet cups on the recommendation of the store owner.

"Can you give it to him for me?" Logan asked.

Derek was puzzled, "What will happen if you give it to him in person?"

It’s true that nothing will happen, but Logan just doesn’t want to be the one who takes the initiative to reconcile.

After all, he had done nothing wrong. Of course, he didn't think Jason had done anything wrong either. It was just that they had different principles, so friction was inevitable. So it would be better to turn over this awkward page and live in peace with each other in the future. He didn't want to waste his precious study time just to deal with interpersonal relationships.

Although Derek didn't understand why Logan was beating around the bush, he still agreed, took the bucket of star cups back, and put it on Jason's desk when he was not around.

After the classroom was cleaned up, the tables and chairs were returned to their original positions. Jason saw the bucket of chocolate biscuits and thought that someone had forgotten it, so he held it up and asked who the owner was. Derek pulled Jason aside and quietly told him that Logan had given it to him.

Jason looked towards Logan's position and found that he was sleeping on the table.

"He was still awake just now." Derek once again marveled at how quickly Logan fell asleep.

Jason said nothing. He returned to his seat and put the Planet Cup on the ground. Then he leaned over and gently said "g" to Logan.

Logan didn't move, his face buried in his arms, and he looked like he was sleeping soundly.

Jason opened the lid of the planet cup, took out a few and placed them on the corner of Logan's table.

The leader came to check the results of the general cleaning, and then the students continued their classes. Logan was still lying on the table, half of his face sticking out his arms, and he quietly opened his eyes and looked at Jason's back.

Jason could not sit still in class. Sometimes he would tilt his head to look at the blackboard, and sometimes he would half-turn out of his seat to borrow correction tape from others, often blocking Logan's view. Only when facing the vigorous Chinese teacher could he sit still and obediently.

"I wasted a lot of time waiting for you to check the hygiene just now. No dictation today. I will randomly check and ask questions." Chinese teacher Wang stood on the podium and looked at the faces of the whole class. "Jason, stand up. I will ask you about the notes under the book first."

Jason sighed and stood up with a bitter look on his face.

"What is the usage of the word 'stray from the intended line' in 'Yue is known for its remoteness'?"

Jason stammered, "I despise you."

"What?" Teacher Wang raised his voice in a stern tone, which frightened Jason so much that he dared not speak.

The students in the group next to him tried to remind Jason, but because of the distance, the content could not be clearly conveyed. Logan felt that he was too slow in answering questions and delayed the class time, so he had to open his mouth and remind him: "Famous work movement."

Logan thought his volume was just right, but Jason didn't react. However, Teacher Wang, who had a keen sense of hearing, noticed him and said, "Logan, since you like to remind him so much, why don't you stand up and answer for him? What is the usage of 'blind'?"

Logan stood up and spoke without thinking: "Name is action, what do you despise it for?"

"'Far'?"

"The shape is the name of a distant land."

Teacher Wang asked him seven or eight questions about the notes in the book, and Logan answered them fluently, word for word according to the textbook.

"Jason, and the students who didn't get to ask questions today, you need to stand up as skillfully as Logan in the future, and answer any questions without hesitation, forming a conditioned reflex. Remember?"

Everyone nodded, and Teacher Wang asked them to sit down and started the lecture.

Logan lowered his head and took notes seriously when he suddenly heard a slight "tapping" sound in front of him. He looked up and saw a few more planet cups on the corner of his desk.

He moved his eyes upwards and noticed that Jason's hand was suspended in the air and had not yet been retracted...he was making a "V" sign representing victory to him.