Chapter 1565 - The Underage Senator Lin Ziqi

As she began to struggle with a certain probability problem, she subconsciously looked up seeking help—every time she looked up and saw the classroom, she would feel a wave of loss and bewilderment.

This was the 17th century.

She looked around listlessly: everyone was taking a test, but the content of the tests varied. There were no classmates from her elementary school grade in the classroom; there were only those students known as "Little Senators." Their ages ranged widely; the youngest was born the year before D-Day, turning six this year and having just moved up from the Learning Institute's kindergarten; the oldest were her and Zhang Yunmi's group, not yet eighteen. Consequently, the teaching materials used were also diverse—the "Initial Class" of the Learning Institute, opened specifically for the children of Senators, adopted a multi-grade education system. Moreover, based on each person's ability and learning interests, an "individualized instruction" model was used. Thus, her exam paper was unique. Zhang Yunmi, who was about her age and also her best friend, was currently gritting her teeth over a German test paper.

The homeroom teacher, an old lady known as "Principal Qian," sat upright behind the lectern. Her hair, already a bit gray, was combed as meticulously as Jiang Qing's, and she wore black-rimmed glasses. Her expression was so stern that the few elementary students didn't dare to breathe loudly when they saw her. As for why the post-90s Lin Ziqi knew about Jiang Qing, it was entirely due to the influence of her father, a member of the Key Politics Bureau.

Suddenly, a sound came to her ears. She glanced out the window listlessly. While lamenting that the window seat was indeed a suitable place for woolgathering, she also saw a group of boys from the Selection Group playing football: Rugby football, no, in this world, it was called Australian rules football.

Right, this world, the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty. Exactly which year it was, she, a post-90s girl who "always lived in her own world," didn't know. She only knew this year was 1634. Even when her dad took her on the ship back then, apart from knowing she was going to a strange place and would never return, she had no cognition of the historic moment of crossing. It wasn't until after the crossing that she suddenly realized.

Crossing. This term was not strange at all to post-90s generation; it even carried colors of romance and happiness. What was crossing? Crossing meant that whether you were an ordinary person or a genius, once you crossed, women became enchanting figures loved by all, and men became hegemons who changed the world, or at the very least, characters who could alarm the Emperor just by farming.

But after personally experiencing the crossing, Ziqi realized that ancient times were not full of handsome guys running around and beauties everywhere as described in novels. Cities weren't just inns and shops where copying a poem could make you famous worldwide, or a small idea could earn millions of taels of silver... This world was not only poor and backward but also full of dangers everywhere: counterattacks by natives, threats of various infectious diseases, harsh environments... The biggest difficulty was the maladjustment to material life. During that difficult period of initial establishment, she almost collapsed. When sleepy, she wanted a Simmons mattress; when hungry, she wanted KFC; when thirsty, she wanted soda; when tired, she wanted to stay in a building; when bored, she wanted to play on the computer; when hot, she wanted air conditioning; when the mood struck, she wanted to stroll through the walking street and visit manga shops... But the reality was, let alone Simmons, KFC, and soda, even the basic toilet was a squat toilet she was super unaccustomed to. If outside Bai Ren City, the concept of a toilet didn't even exist...

Fortunately, the pampered post-90s Lin Ziqi survived. Of course, she had to survive: outside the camp was a place full of dangers. In her view at the time, the so-called natives were no different from the savages in comics...

Following her dad, living in makeshift dormitories, eating seafood porridge every day, being called to copy various documents, filling out forms for natives, being hurriedly dragged to "shooting training" before the Great Battle of Chengmai... After experiencing the Senate's successful "leap-frog developments" one after another, she grew up day by day, from an elementary school student to high school age.

Now, she had just passed her seventeenth birthday. In another year, she would be fully eighteen and officially become a "Senator" with voting rights.

She had no intuitive impression of what a Senator did. She only knew that her father and all the uncles and aunties called Senators were very busy. Every day they went out by starlight and returned by moonlight. Even after coming home, they had a lot of work to do. often when she woke up from a sleep during her stays at home, the kerosene lamp in her dad's room was still on.

Over these six years, what kind of life had she lived? No TV, no games, couldn't even buy a magazine! The phone was a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System). Even using a computer to watch a video or browse a local area network that had nothing but a forum required budgeting the electricity quota. When she had her period for the first time and saw the female hygiene kit issued to her, Lin Ziqi couldn't help but lie on the bed and cry loudly, leaving her dad baffled...

It wasn't that she hadn't blamed her dad for making decisions on his own, nor that she hadn't "sent regards" to the eighteen generations of ancestors of those leaders—dad secretly called them "livestock"—but Lin Ziqi eventually got through it. She also watched as living conditions improved day by day. She got used to the things that really couldn't be overcome.

After all, this spacetime still had many good things, like fresh air, like the dazzling Milky Way at night—Lin Ziqi had never seen such a beautiful Milky Way in the other spacetime—and the freshest vegetables and seafood. The most important thing was her father's status. A Senator, a "Chief"!

The word "Chief" used to exist only in those old black-and-white movies in Lin Ziqi's world. But now, those naturalized citizens and natives always used this term respectfully when they saw her father. In the other spacetime, when had her dad ever received such respect? Even her own mother always looked disdainful when mentioning him, as if he owed her five million. Of course, otherwise they wouldn't have divorced, and Lin Ziqi wouldn't have followed her dad, who intended to "start anew," to this world.

"In this new world, you are a princess..." Father had said this while carrying luggage and queuing to climb down the big ship.

Yes, a princess...

Her gaze turned once again to the boys on the ball field outside the window. Indeed, the way they looked at her did have a bit of, well, "uniqueness."

As soon as the Senate gained a firm foothold in Lingao, they immediately established Fangcaodi. The Little Senators under eighteen also came to this world, which was almost completely isolated from the outside.

Although Fangcaodi couldn't compare with schools in that world, it was a rare quiet place. And it felt very much like a school. The Learning Institute where these Little Senators stayed was a state within a state: surrounded by high walls and heavily guarded. Except for carefully selected students from the Selection Group and naturalized teachers who took care of their daily lives, no one could easily enter or leave here, ensuring they wouldn't be easily disturbed. What they needed to do was to receive education properly and become new Senators.

Principal Zhang had told them: They were not "second-generation Senators" whose inheritance of the Senator seat was unknown, but underage Senators who held formal seats on the Senate roll. Therefore, they must have the "consciousness of becoming a Senator" from a young age.

Lin Ziqi didn't know what "consciousness of becoming a Senator" meant, but from her father and those uncles and aunties, she roughly knew this was not a path of happy enjoyment. Just like her studies over these six years, it was almost a full-load operation. By age fifteen, she had finished high school curriculum from the old spacetime and started university education.

Math, physics, chemistry, Chinese, history, biology, foreign languages, physical education... various courses filled everyone's schedule to the brim. Except for the younger students in lower grades, there were eight classes every day. After dinner, there was evening self-study, where teachers would review that day's knowledge points with them one by one.

So scary. I don't want to be a straight-A student; why do I have to learn so many things? Lin Ziqi was distressed.

"Ten minutes left to collect the papers. Students, hurry up." "Principal Qian" spoke.

Lin Ziqi quickly stopped her mind wandering, gave up on that problem, and started checking the test paper. The score of the weekly test would affect the average grade. If the grades were too poor, she would be kept back for remedial classes during the holidays—vacations here were already pitifully scarce.

The big clock on the main building's bell tower of Fangcaodi Academy chimed on time: 2:00 PM local time.

As soon as Principal Qian announced that time was up, the student on duty today collected the papers in the class one by one and handed them in. Today's duty student was Zhuo Xiaomin, son of Zhuo Tianmin. He was only six on D-Day, and now he was a twelve-year-old youth, inheriting his father's high nose bridge and big eyes, plus long eyelashes not inferior to a girl's. Wearing the white fine linen summer boy's uniform shirt of Fangcaodi, he looked somewhat pitiably like a bottom (uke)...

After collecting all the papers, Principal Qian said, "You can go home after class. The school will be on holiday for two days starting tomorrow." She then knocked on the desk, "Review often during the holiday. After all, there are Cultural Festival activities coming up. Time is precious for you..."

After a long sermon, "Principal Qian" finally left. The atmosphere in the class instantly relaxed.

All the remaining time was free time. Although they could go home now—the younger children were already packing their schoolbags impatiently—the older students still seized this rare free time to chat and play. Outside the window, the naturalized students' rugby game was still going on. They were boarding students like Ziqi and the others. If there was any difference, it was that every student who could play on the Learning Institute's field was a top student selected through fierce competition.

(End of this chapter)