Chapter 13
After this level was over, a few people made an appointment to meet again next time. Zhan Mu took off his helmet and fell into a silence called a sense of gap. He opened his mobile phone to check the information of Tiangan, took out a notebook and started to take notes.
Seeing that he was studying on his own without asking for permission, Lu Chao was amused and asked, "You're working so hard, are you going to take the postgraduate entrance exam?"
"I just feel that compared to you guys, looking back, I really haven't worked hard enough to study." Zhan Mu suddenly sighed and smiled, "I didn't expect that playing games can also be a very profound learning experience."
"So this game is very popular, it won awards and received official recognition, and the social impact it has had is positive," Lu Chao said.
Zhan Mu frowned and tilted his head to show he was tired. He really wasn't used to Lu Chao's way of speaking. He didn't swear, and his emotions were even very stable. But every word he spoke carried a strong sense of "taking the civil service exam."
No wonder, his dream is to become a diplomat. He must have grown up watching the news broadcast.
Zhan Mu laughed and started searching for relevant information again, but did not chat with him anymore.
Lu Chao discovered that although he was a bad-mouthed man with a casual personality, he could clearly sense a strength in him that made him stronger when facing a stronger opponent, a tenacity whose true strength was unknown.
They left the game at noon, and Zhan Mu worked all afternoon. At this moment, he had already drawn the prototype of the second Qimen of the copy, which was a circular Qimen that integrated the four mythical beasts, the five elements, and the heavenly stems.
"Help me to bring them along, and let's discuss the tactics together." Zhan Mu stared at the strange gate on the paper without raising his head.
"Okay." Lu Chao just snapped his fingers and created a group.
On the other side, An Jing, who had just finished dinner, took a look and found it amusing. He asked, "Hey, Bian, what does this guy you pulled do?"
Bian Lu was placing the cooked dishes on the table when he saw Zhan Mu's Qimen diagram and said, "He said he was a game streamer. He's quite the character. He figured it out in just one afternoon. But why did he put Wu and Ji Earth in the middle?"
The girl, whose pseudonym is Cheng Cheng and whose real name is Cheng Jiacheng, replied in a voiceover, "It's normal. The disk is spinning, so it's round. The four directions, east, south, west, and north, are guarded by mythical beasts, representing the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. As long as we pass through the four gates of wood, fire, metal, and water, the last one is the gate of life, earth."
"As expected of our Chengcheng~" An Jingdian teased her.
"So, do you understand what to do next?" Lu Chao said. "Let me summarize briefly. If the order of the four seasons remains unchanged, then Bian Lu will play Yang Wood, An Jing will play Yang Fire, Cheng Cheng will play Yin Metal, and I will play Yang Water. Do you understand?"
"In the end, we should be able to pass the level directly and open the earth gate." Zhan Mu said, and there was a hint of excitement in his words. He felt extremely happy and joyful about this game.
"What if the third instance incorporates the Earthly Branches?" An Jing suddenly asked, as if to dampen his arrogance, and sharply said, "Hey, Captain Lu, do you know what the Earthly Branches are?"
"Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai." Zhan Mu answered for Lu Chao and implied in an unquestionable tone that I was the team leader.
Zhan Mu smiled slightly, his tone light and cheerful: "It's nothing more than yin and yang, zodiac signs, five elements, months, and hours. I've memorized them. Or if I really have trouble remembering them, I can ask Lu Chao."
An Jing laughed dryly, then looked up and asked, "Where did you find someone so good at showing off? He's taking a game so seriously."
"You were the first to speak ill of others." Bian Lu answered gently.
"I..." An Jing was about to speak, but learned to keep his mouth shut. Ever since he came to Xia Country, not only has he encountered obstacles everywhere, but he has also lost all his former charm.
You know, who is Ren Anjing? He is definitely not the son of an official.
Although the Blue Continent Base is only the size of a province in the eyes of Xia State, they have sought independence and have indeed possessed human rights and high-tech technologies, so they should not be underestimated.
Unfortunately, ever since Bai Tiao's Nobel Prize was exposed to be in doubt, the prestige of the Blue Island Base has declined significantly. An Jing's father, An Xingmin, also knew that the tide of the times was irresistible, so he promulgated the "Blue Island Landing Plan" and called on ocean people to return to land.
In the past, An Jing was a white glove who eliminated dissidents of the plan, but now An Jing is a good son who is willing to give up the academic honor of Lanzhou and become a part of Xiaguo.
That's why he became an ordinary civil servant in Xia State.
No one knows, or perhaps others know but are unwilling to say, that as An Xingmin's son, An Jing has never been able to control his own destiny.
Once upon a time, a bad temper could be disguised as abusing power and being ruthless, but now it is just a bad temper.
So An Jing pursed his lips, suppressed his irritability, forced a smile, and said, "Alright, Captain Zhan, please continue."
-
"He hates you." Lu Chao, who had seen An Jing's reaction clearly, told Zhan Mu and warned him, "It seems this guy sees you as a competitor."
"Why, me?" Zhan Mu laughed.
"Maybe he failed in his previous attempt to seduce you." Lu Chao said meaningfully, "Maybe you are a fool in his eyes, and someone who looks inferior to him is actually better than him, so he is jealous of you."
"I always give people the impression that I'm an idiot?" Zhan Mu was shocked. He felt both amused and speechless. He thought he was a cool and handsome guy who looked good at first glance.
"Yes, your temperament is really funny sometimes." Lu Chao nodded vigorously, but he noticed that Zhan Mu was not very happy. It seemed that he was sensitive to these little teasings and felt that his self-esteem was hurt.
He nodded and said he was going out for dinner. He didn't even take his cell phone with him. He walked out with his hands in his pockets, took a breath, and began to ponder to himself.
So annoying.
Zhan Mu attributed this inexplicable irritability to dissatisfaction with the current situation. He wanted money, freedom, love, and all the good things, but unfortunately he was powerless.
"I really am not suitable for dealing with people..." Zhan Mu muttered to himself and kicked a can on the roadside. Unfortunately, it rolled into a busy barbecue roadside stall.
Miaomiao's boyfriend, the so-called rich second-generation Huang Jiye, was drinking with several men and women. The girl sitting next to him clamped his hand with her thighs and let him touch her.
Zhan Mu choked, not knowing whether to go or escape. He searched his pockets and remembered that he didn't have his phone with him, so he couldn't take a photo. He was half a beat slower and heard Huang Jiye say to his drinking buddy, "Zhan Miao? Oh, that female academic bully. Really, she's very coquettish. As long as you pay her, she will wear black stockings."
"We broke up, a long time ago." Huang Jiye burped and said, "She won't let me touch her, I know she's after money. She keeps calling me brother and asking for gifts. She treats me like an idiot. How can I be her ATM machine?"
Zhan Mu was furious. He felt a chill down his spine and rushed forward without restraint. He was about to smash a glass bottle at the door of the store onto Huang Jiye's forehead when he heard a shout: "Brother——"
Not far away, Zhan Miao ran over with red eyes, took the bottle of wine from his hand, and whispered: "I broke up with him. It was me who proposed it. I didn't feel wronged."
The street lights were dim and yellow. Zhan Mu could clearly see the slap marks on his sister's face under her messy hair. They looked like women's fingers. Zhan Mu was furious and was about to explode, but he saw a red subtitle on a monitor sold on the roadside pop up: No, I'll do it.
Zhan Mu was stunned for half a second, then realized...
The next second, the lights in the shop where Huang Jiye was suddenly turned off, there were bursts of suspicious sounds, the incandescent lamp above his head flickered, crackling with flames, and even fell onto the table!
They were so frightened that they screamed and scattered.
"This, what is this?" Zhan Miao also took a half step back.
It’s Lu Chao.
Zhan Mu's eyes flashed with gratitude, and he was extremely moved.
He knew that less trouble was better than more, so he pulled Zhan Miao along, avoided the crowd, and came to the roadside not far away. He put on the attitude of a patriarch and asked, "Who hit him? Was it Huang Jiye?"
"No. His ex-girlfriend." Zhan Miao said haggardly.
She has lost weight and didn't wear any makeup today. She was dressed as usual, not looking so exquisite and luxurious, but more like her original carefree personality.
"Does it hurt?" Zhan Mu adjusted her hair and saw that the little girl's earlobes were red with excitement. He sighed, "So your tablet is still working?"
"I hit that woman so hard that her nose bled." Zhan Miao blinked and replied, then finally twitched her lips impatiently, "She asked for it. I had already broken up with Huang Jiye at the time, and she rushed over and grabbed my hair and slapped me without asking."
"..." Zhan Mu stared at her for a few seconds and smiled. Then he calmed down, coughed twice and said in a gentle voice, "Have a drink?"
Zhan Miao exclaimed, he knew Zhan Mu could drink, but his brother always behaved properly in front of him, so the two siblings had never drunk together.
Let’s make an appointment, Zhan Miao nodded, and saw Zhan Mu picking his eyebrows with a little annoyance, then he realized that it was just him who was depressed and wanted to vent.
As they talked, the brother and sister each picked up a bottle of cocktail and sat in front of the small clinic, doing nothing, like a pair of hooligans who didn't come home at night.
"Are you taking the postgraduate entrance examination?" Zhan Mu asked casually.
"Actually, let me tell you the truth, Huang Jiye's mother is the vice president of the School of Biology and Technology of Yuzhou University..." Zhan Miao said.
Zhan Mu choked, his eyes widened, and he said in a questioning voice: "Zhan Miao, Zhan Miao, you really opened my eyes."
"Oh, it didn't work out." Zhan Miao said with a hint of displeasure, rather like she was regretting not getting what she wanted. She also said sullenly, "What's the big deal? It's perfectly normal. Our new teacher is the same. She got a job at the university because she fell in love with a teacher at our school who was 20 years her senior."
"..." Zhan Mu was speechless, his throat choked for a moment and he was speechless.
"What do you think? Being a teacher is a sacred profession." Zhan Miao chuckled twice. "I'm really impressed. You don't know this yet, do you? There's a woman in our school who went to the home of a new young counselor late at night to ask for advice in order to get a research project."
"So you think you are quite innocent, right?" Zhan Mu's eyes became sharp, and he squinted his eyes in an impolite manner.
Zhan Miao smacked his lips, feeling that he had asked for trouble, and said, "When will a man like you be kept by a rich woman? I will look at you the same way you look at me now."
"When I was in college, I met a guy who was involved in the sports circle. He was also a teacher, so to speak. He asked me to introduce him to a girlfriend. But when I saw that he had white hair, I refused. As a result..."
Zhan Mu laughed: "It was originally my chance to referee a basketball game, but someone else got the chance. Later, I didn't pass the coaching exam."
"There are many things in life that don't go as planned." Zhan Mu said, "Just get used to it. We don't have that kind of luck..."
"I really fucking hate your face!" Zhan Miao stood up suddenly, knocked the bottle in his hand, and roared: "You meddle in everything, it doesn't matter, just endure everything, you are a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong!"
"You're annoying, but I'm even more annoying! Our whole family is like this!" Zhan Miao seemed to be talking to herself. The more she spoke, the angrier she became, until she choked with tears and said, "During those years, our family had no money, and so did Mom. She listened to Dad in everything. I even got into high school, but she didn't want me to go even though she asked me to. I was a year behind you, and I stayed at home for a year. Just one year, and I almost got married and had children!"
"Zhan Mu, don't you really understand? Mom and Dad have always liked you more! All my efforts and struggles are for the sake of being able to control my own destiny so that I don't have to marry easily!"
Zhan Mu frowned and interrupted her, saying, "That's why I didn't go home to inherit the store, so that you can have a way out."
The night lights were bright, and the brother and sister looked at each other, seeing each other's helplessness and powerlessness.
Zhan Miao choked, tears fell, and finally turned into a murmur, she said: "...I, really. Is that so?"
"Yeah, let's go back to the dormitory soon." Zhan Mu stood up, looking exhausted, took the bottle of wine from her hand and threw it away, while raising his chin to indicate that he would not see her off today.
Zhan Miao was stunned, and her brother's back had disappeared.
The wind was blowing tonight, and she felt as if she had seen it before in another world, not knowing that this night would be her last.
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