Volume One: High School Days Chapter Two: The Bank Card Without Limit

Now fully convinced that he had truly traveled back in time, Liu Sheng hurriedly hugged Ren Xiadong tightly and exclaimed, “Brother! Whatever questions you have in the future, just ask me. I know everything that’s going to happen to you! Hahaha!” At this, Ren Xiadong wore a bewildered expression, quickly pushing Liu Sheng away and saying, “Dude, I like women, not men! Keep your distance!”

Liu Sheng then asked, “Has Tao Nan transferred here yet?” Once again, Ren Xiadong was left stumped, growing a bit anxious. “Bro, what are you even talking about?!”

Tao Nan was the transfer student who arrived in the last week of the second month of their first year, widely acknowledged as the school beauty, and the very same girl Liu Sheng had secretly admired for three years.

“What day of the week is it today?” Liu Sheng asked.

Ren Xiadong was now thoroughly exasperated, thinking, “What’s gotten into this guy today? Did he get possessed or something?” But he still answered, “It’s Friday! One more week and the month’s over.”

Liu Sheng thought to himself, “So, after this weekend, when classes resume, I’ll finally get to see Tao Nan!”

Just then, the bell signaling the end of class rang out.

“Let’s go! Next period is PE—you’re the sports monitor, you can’t be late!” Ren Xiadong urged.

Though Liu Sheng wasn’t a strong student academically, his physical abilities far surpassed the average. He’d managed to get into college on a sports scholarship, and without athletics, he wouldn’t have made it to university at all. Their PE teacher also happened to be his athletic coach, and every afternoon Liu Sheng would skip two classes to train in sprinting and long jump on the track.

In PE class, Liu Sheng felt a wave of nostalgia upon seeing the teacher he hadn’t seen in so long.

“Mr. Han, what are we learning today?” Unlike other PE teachers who let students run a couple of laps and then dismiss them, Mr. Han would always join in, playing alongside the students and sharing the origins of various sports and stories about famous athletes.

“Liu Sheng, come help me move the high jump equipment. Today we’re learning high jump,” Mr. Han said. For Liu Sheng, these activities were nothing new, but this was a perfect opportunity to show off his strengths in front of the girls in the class—how could he let it slip by?

During practice, no one managed to clear a height of 1.6 meters. All eyes turned to Liu Sheng.

Ren Xiadong called out, “Stop daydreaming! It’s your time to shine! Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for? Get on with it!” In the past, Liu Sheng would have rushed forward at the first chance, but the current Liu Sheng, having traveled back, wasn’t so impulsive. He waited until everyone was watching before stepping up—being the center of attention was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Liu Sheng began his approach, running in a curve, then took off on one foot in front of the bar, arcing beautifully through the air and landing on his back on the mat without even brushing the bar. Just then, a black bank card slipped from his pocket.

Mr. Han quickly picked it up and joked, “Are students these days so well-off? No cash for school, just cards now?” His comment sent the class into peals of laughter, and Liu Sheng joined in.

“You’re still laughing! Are you leaving this card behind? Come get it!” Mr. Han called out to Liu Sheng, who was still laughing. Liu Sheng paused for a moment, thinking, “Mine? Since when did I have a bank card?”

Liu Sheng was a day student from a family of modest means, with just a few coins in pocket money each day. He’d never even carried a hundred yuan bill, let alone owned a bank card.

But since Mr. Han insisted it was his, Liu Sheng went up and took the black bank card. As soon as he touched it, the voice of the river god echoed in his mind, “The password is xxxxxx.”

With the password now ingrained in his mind, Liu Sheng tucked the card away and continued the class.

After school at noon, Liu Sheng went alone to Xinghai Bank, wanting to check the card’s balance at the ATM. What he saw left him utterly stunned: there were no numbers, just the words “Positive Infinity.”

Confused, he withdrew one hundred yuan. The balance still read “Positive Infinity.” He withdrew another thousand—still “Positive Infinity.” Liu Sheng couldn’t help but laugh aloud, drawing the attention of those around him. Embarrassed, he quickly pocketed the card, left the bank, and rode his old bicycle home.

On the way, Liu Sheng thought, “This bike is dad’s old cast-off and a chore to ride. Tomorrow’s a day off; I should buy an electric scooter. I don’t have a driver’s license yet, so I can’t drive a car. Besides, I’m just a high schooler—I shouldn’t be too flashy. Yes, an electric scooter will do.” Lost in thought, he soon arrived home.

At home, his mother had already prepared dinner and called out, “Eat quickly, or it’ll get cold.” There was another guest at the table: a friend of his mother’s, whom Liu Sheng didn’t greet—her family was quite well-off, her husband a businessman always flaunting his wealth in front of Liu Sheng’s mom.

“You should at least greet people!” his mother chided. Her friend smiled, “It’s nothing, he’s just a kid. By the way, we bought another apartment—right in the new complex across from yours. I keep telling my husband not to buy so many, we can’t even live in them all, and it’s so much work to keep them clean—just exhausting.”

Liu Sheng’s family lived just inside the second ring road, where property prices were much higher than outside. The new complex across the street was a high-rise with better amenities and management. His father was a salaried worker, his mother had no steady job, and his younger brother—twelve years his junior—was still in kindergarten. After their necessary expenses, their income barely covered food.

As they ate, Liu Sheng said, “Mom, this bike is too hard to ride. I want to buy an electric scooter tomorrow.”

“How much will that cost?” his mother asked anxiously.

Her friend cut in, “Kids today are under so much academic pressure; you should make their lives easier where you can. I just bought my son, Liu Po, a scooter for over three thousand yuan—it’s worth it if it makes him happy.”

“Three thousand is a bit much…” his mother began, but Liu Sheng interrupted, “I worked over the summer and made four thousand. I haven’t spent a cent—it’s all saved up. Here’s a thousand for you to use.” He handed his mother a thousand yuan he’d withdrawn at noon.

Looking at the money, his mother beamed with pride, “Good boy, working hard over the summer and giving your earnings to the family instead of spending it on yourself—you’re so thoughtful.” Her friend’s expression soured. People always said Liu Sheng was a troublemaker, good at nothing but getting into mischief. Now, seeing him bring money home through his own efforts, she felt uneasy and soon made her excuses and left.

Heading back to school after dinner, Liu Sheng pondered, “What excuse can I use to give my family a large sum of money and improve their lives?” Having an endless supply of money at an age when he shouldn’t made him anxious—he couldn’t just hand it over outright.

It was only 1:30 p.m., but the classroom was already full of students reading and memorizing. Even Ren Xiadong, in the back row, was busy scribbling away. Liu Sheng walked over and asked, “Classes don’t start until two—why is everyone already studying?” It wasn’t surprising for others, but Liu Sheng was shocked to see Ren Xiadong so diligent.

Without looking up, Ren Xiadong muttered, “There’s an exam this afternoon, and next week is the parent-teacher meeting. The results from today’s tests will be announced then. I don’t want to get beaten up by my parents when I get home. Luckily, these cheat sheets I’m making should get me through.”

Suddenly Liu Sheng remembered that he’d bombed this exam in his original timeline, causing his father great embarrassment at the parent meeting, and earning himself the first “mixed doubles” beating at home—he found the memory almost funny.

So Liu Sheng pulled out all his textbooks. Now that his brain was operating at full capacity, he could memorize anything with a single glance. But when he opened his books, he was dumbfounded: they were brand new except for his name, with not a single note or annotation.

He approached the class monitor, a bespectacled boy who looked thoroughly absorbed in his studies.

“Let me borrow your books for a bit—just a few minutes,” Liu Sheng requested. The class monitor ignored him, so Liu Sheng took out a hundred yuan and laid it on the desk. The monitor snatched the money, saying, “You have five minutes!”

Liu Sheng quickly flipped through the books, page after page. With his fully awakened mind, he could finish a page in a flash and remember everything perfectly.

Two minutes later, Liu Sheng said, “Done,” and returned to his seat, laying his head down to nap, leaving the befuddled class monitor behind. Ren Xiadong, meanwhile, was still feverishly copying his cheat sheets.

During the afternoon exams, Liu Sheng finished each test in just two minutes, spending the rest of the time napping. This left Ren Xiadong, sitting behind him, in awe—he was sure Liu Sheng was just courting disaster and would be in for a beating after the parent-teacher meeting.

On his way home after school, Liu Sheng withdrew another five thousand from the bank, planning to splurge after buying his scooter the next day. But he was still troubled about how to give money to his family without arousing suspicion.

That evening, the whole family sat down to a meal of just two vegetarian dishes, which made Liu Sheng’s heart ache. He had endless wealth, yet couldn’t improve his family’s life. But how could he explain it—“I’m from the future and have infinite money”?

Just then, the river god’s voice echoed in his mind again: “You can give any amount of money to anyone for any reason, as long as you never reveal the existence of the bank card or that you’re from the future. If anyone finds out, your life will end instantly!”

“My god, my life is at stake!” Liu Sheng was so frightened that he rushed to the family’s battered old computer, logged into his game, and used the card to top up two thousand yuan—then proceeded to show off and flirt with girls in the game.