Su Nian’s magnetic voice was like the whisper of an ancient god.
“No, don’t make it sound so easy.”
Yun Buran’s tone had weakened, but she could deeply sense her heart pounding incredibly fast. She felt as if she were facing the temptation of a demon.
“There’s already a sliver of you in your heart that wants to start betting with me, but that sliver is enough. Subsequent successes will amplify it infinitely, eventually making you addicted.”
“Then let’s start with a little appetizer.”
Su Nian leaned back comfortably, smirking with a hint of wickedness. Normally, any girl would blush at that mischievous grin, but Yun Buran was concentrating intently on his words.
“First, remember the rules of the game: make reflection your breath.”
“Your breath?”
“Don’t interrupt me. That’s the second rule. Answer when it’s your turn to answer.”
“Let’s take English as an example. What do you think is the most important thing in English?”
“Memorization?”
Yun Buran said hesitantly.
Su Nian didn’t say if she was right or wrong, as if indifferent to her answer. He quickly continued, “That’s the third rule: when you answer, you must include the process of your thinking.”
“Let me demonstrate. English is a language subject, so the essence of learning lies in input and output; they complement each other. And to clarify our goal, we plan to get high scores in English exams, so…”
Su Nian looked at Yun Buran and tilted his head.
“So the most important thing is output?”
Su Nian gently shook his head, but spoke in an encouraging tone. “Input and output are not important. That’s what people who truly want to learn English should consider—for example, those going abroad. Be clear about your own goal. Your goal is exam-oriented. Don’t just follow my words. Repeat the first rule.”
“Make reflection your breath.”
After answering, Yun Buran quickly continued thinking.
“An English test paper is divided into four parts: listening, reading, grammar, and writing. And to get high scores in these four parts…”
“The most important thing is still vocabulary?”
“Great! But unfortunately, it’s an open-ended answer.”
Yun Buran was suddenly choked. She really wanted to curse this lunatic.
“But you’re in the zone, aren’t you? Follow your train of thought. Now we’re at the vocabulary stage. How do you memorize most efficiently?”
Yun Buran started recalling all the methods: memorizing example sentences and phrases, using images, roots and affixes…
“I think it’s about scheduling memorization according to the Ebbinghaus Curve.”
“But I think it’s not efficient enough. Reflect. Tell me the drawbacks.”
“Mid-term review takes up a lot of time, and it’s hard to stick with it. After all, senior year life is busy, and according to the memory curve, the results take a long time to show.”
Yun Buran had actually used this method, so she quickly came to a conclusion.
“Fourth rule: Always base it on your actual situation. Have you gone through all your high school vocabulary completely?”
“I went through it during review, but I’ve forgotten a lot.”
Yun Buran said a bit sheepishly.
“Now I’ll give you a method. By the way, when you encounter efficiency obstacles, you can definitely use the internet and ask others. Learn from others’ strengths to compensate for your weaknesses. Don’t be stubborn.”
“Starting tomorrow, you read the vocabulary book.”
“Read?”
“Read the English once, read the Chinese once. Don’t linger, move quickly to the next. You can also jot it down briefly; if you can spell the word in that instant, just pass it. Even if you forget it by the next page, don’t be discouraged. Keep moving forward.”
“Repetition?”
Even though Yun Buran’s tone was questioning, her eyes were sparkling because she had followed Su Nian’s train of thought.
“Yes, the key is speed. You can start with fifty pages a day, then up to a hundred, two hundred pages. When your speed reaches the point where you can go through three hundred pages of English Xiaogan tomorrow, they’ll be engraved in your brain—and for a lifetime.”
Yun Buran was very excited because she guessed that Su Nian intended to use the approach of continuous repetition, which was essentially the same as the Ebbinghaus Memory Curve.
“Then remember to keep telling yourself one thing: words are meant to be forgotten.”
“To prevent frustration from dampening motivation and slowing down the reading speed?”
Yun Buran followed up.
“Great! Reflect.”
Although Su Nian really wanted to pat her head, this wasn’t the right time to have his mind read.
“It might be tough in the initial stage because you’re not familiar enough, so even just reading is slow. Also, if it takes a long time, it’s hard to persist.”
Yun Buran was supposedly answering, but it was more like muttering to herself.
Su Nian nodded with satisfaction. Yun Buran wasn’t unintelligent at all—she just needed some psychological conditioning.
“Then we can use fragmented time, since just reading is easy to do. You can quickly look through a few pages during breaks, or keep flipping through during Chinese and English classes, even during math class when the teacher is drawing diagrams and reading out problems—you can quickly glance at a page.”
After speaking, Yun Buran looked at Su Nian excitedly.
“Alright, so on the vocabulary front, you’ve found the most suitable method for yourself. But obviously it’s only enough to handle the reading section, and not even guarantee full marks. So what to do?”
“After mastering these, go on to memorize CET-4 vocabulary? But that doesn’t help much with listening and grammar.”
“Fourth rule.”
“My grammar is basically full marks, and I rarely lose points in listening. I think dictating English materials sentence by sentence is efficient enough for me now.”
“Great! Fifth rule: Make choices, and don’t make heavy plans. But CET-4 isn’t necessary either.”
“You should know that no matter how much you memorize, there will be words you’ve never seen in Gaokao past papers—even English teachers face that. So at this stage, just solve the vocabulary issue. If you want to pursue full marks, you need techniques. Techniques aren’t something someone with insufficient experience like you can figure out on your own. I’ll teach you later.”
“So, what about writing?”
“Writing…”
What they were tested on was a short essay plus continuation writing. Yun Buran’s writing score was at an average level, and that was mostly thanks to her good handwriting.
“First rule.”
“My writing problem is probably because I just keep memorizing various example sentences and good phrases, but every time I only get a little above average. So what I lack is the thought process? Should I switch to memorizing more model essays?”
“Right and wrong.”
Su Nian took out his water bottle and took a casual sip.
“Indeed, Senior, you’re probably the type who only uses templates, but you can’t figure out the thought process behind those full-mark essays—why use this sentence structure, when to use it. Constantly memorizing model essays still doesn’t solve this fundamental problem.”
The term “Senior” made Yun Buran pause for a moment, but she continued thinking. “Then for each model essay, constantly deconstruct and analyze it?”
“Right train of thought, but efficiency is too low. My suggestion is: for each full-mark essay, after reading the prompt, only read the model essay once. Then write your own version, imitating that essay in your mind.”
“Put yourself in a state where you have an impression of the model essay but can’t recite it in detail. Create an essay that incorporates your own elements, then compare it with the original.”
Su Nian put his thermos back into his bag, hoping that next time this silly and adorable senior would prepare a drink for him in advance.
Yun Buran started excitedly reflecting on the drawbacks of this method again.
“Alright, Senior, game over. Have a drink and calm down. Congratulations on coming up with the most efficient and suitable English improvement plan for yourself.”
Yun Buran snapped back to reality, only then feeling her lips a bit dry, her breathing heavy, and her cheeks burning red. She tried to slowly calm her heartbeat.
Looking at the composed handsome boy in front of her, Yun Buran was now willing to bet that he definitely wasn’t human.
But Yun Buran was very grateful. She could feel that this would definitely become a turning point in her life. Because she had played a card slightly more important than hard work—that card was choice.