Classmate Li Zhuangsheng doesn’t want to be reborn

Li Zhuang thought to himself, "How can I type if you're asleep?"

Well, I'm not really keen on writing a novel anyway. I'll just read a book; it's been a long time since I've read one.

It's strange, but before, when I had no books to read, I would go to the supermarket and bookstore, saving up money from my daily food allowance of less than thirty yuan to buy books. But now that my room is full of books that interest me, I don't feel any desire to read them.

Li Zhuangsheng casually picked up a copy of "Notes from the Thatched Cottage of Close Observation," written by Ji Xiaolan, a great scholar of the Qianlong era, and published by Zhonghua Book Company. It consisted of three volumes, and he was reading the first volume. The content was similar to "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," consisting mainly of ghost stories.

In fact, Li Zhuangsheng didn't know much about Ji Xiaolan. He had only watched the TV series "The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan," but he also searched it on Baidu and found that the TV series and the historical Ji Xiaolan were completely different.

As I was reading, I quickly flipped to the bookmark page, which showed that I hadn't read much even before I lost my memory.

Li Zhuangsheng picked up the bookmark, which contained a passage from the Tao Te Ching:

The superior man, upon hearing of the Way, is able to practice it; the average man, upon hearing of the Way, is half-convinced and half-doubtful; the inferior man, upon hearing of the Way, laughs loudly at it. If he did not laugh at it, it would not be the Way… Great squareness has no corners; great vessel is not easily made; great sound is rarely heard…

Why is this Tao Te Ching different from the one I've read before? Li Zhuangsheng raised an eyebrow slightly. Putting everything else aside, shouldn't it be "great talents mature late"? Why is it "great talents are exempt from maturity" here?

This completely changes the meaning. It must be a printing error, Li Zhuangsheng thought.

He then turned the bookmark to the back, where it contained the same passage as the front. However, the Tao Te Ching on the back appeared to be handwritten, with neat, elegant, and beautiful characters.

Li Zhuangsheng was taken aback. He subconsciously thought of the bookmark in "Dream of the Red Chamber".

He carefully took out the commentaries on Dream of the Red Chamber, found the bookmark, and compared them carefully. He discovered that the handwriting was completely different, indicating that it must have been written by different people. Moreover, neither of them were gifts from Li Xiuyu.

"Oh, this is interesting. Why are they all giving me handwritten bookmarks?" Li Zhuangsheng smiled, put the bookmark from Dream of the Red Chamber back, and returned the seashell to its place.

After thinking for a while, I randomly picked out a few books and finally found a second bookmark. It still looked like a passage from the Tao Te Ching, with elegant and beautiful handwriting on the back.

Li Zhuangsheng returned to his place, wondering if this was a complete set. After searching for a while, he finally found the Tao Te Ching bookmark again.

It seems to be a complete set, and each page should have a handwritten note... What perseverance!

Li Zhuangsheng wondered who this person was who would send him such a thoughtful gift. The Tao Te Ching is said to contain five thousand words by Lao Tzu, and its language is obscure with many variant characters. To have someone so carefully transcribe it on a small bookmark must mean they have a very good relationship.

Most people don't have this kind of patience, and Li Zhuangsheng himself boasted that he didn't have it either.

Judging from the handwriting, it looks like it belongs to a girl, but it's not Li Xiuyu. Although Li Xiuyu's handwriting is varied, the other person certainly wouldn't do something so troublesome and useless.

If it really was given by Li Xiuyu, it would only be because she had evidence of his murder and arson, or she was planning to take the opportunity to strip him of everything.

Could it be Xie Jiangqing? Li Zhuangsheng glanced back and saw Xie Jiangqing comfortably occupying his bed and tablet. They seemed to have a good relationship, but they didn't even seem to be friends on WeChat before.

That must be Hu Mengke, right? It can't be one of the two girls who liked him in high school that Li Xiuyu mentioned... Speaking of which, it's not even certain whether those two girls actually exist; maybe Li Xiuyu was just teasing him.

"Have you ever given me a bookmark?" Li Zhuangsheng waved the bookmark in his hand.

"What bookmark?" Xie Jiangqing was taken aback. "Let me see."

"Oh, then it's nothing." Li Zhuangsheng nodded, confirming that it wasn't Xie Jiangqing who gave it to him.

"Hey, what were you looking for all that rummaging around in just now?"

"nothing."

"Is that a Switch?" Xie Jiangqing touched the game console by the bed and shook it. "When did you buy it?"

“Oh…” Li Zhuangsheng hesitated for a moment, thinking about how to express it, before saying, “She gave it to me.”

"Who sent it?" "Hu Mengdie, before she lost her memory."

"Oh...oh oh." Xie Jiangqing nodded. "Is it fun?"

"It's not fun, but I have a membership, so I can play a lot of games for free. You can play if you want."

"Never mind, I don't like playing games anyway... Hey, can I play Genshin Impact on this?"

"Genshin Impact isn't a Nintendo game, so it can't be played. Besides, this machine's performance probably isn't enough to run it."

"I know! I mean, the one that looks a lot like Genshin Impact, the one that's said to be a rip-off of Genshin Impact..."

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? I don't think you can play it; you have to buy it. But if you're going to play Genshin Impact, there's no need to play Breath of the Wild. They're similar in genre anyway, and Genshin Impact might even be more fun, with more characters."

Do you play Genshin Impact too?

"No, I'm not playing that. I'm playing Infinite Nikki..."

"Ugh, it's so laggy." Xie Jiangqing looked at the game console in her hand and pouted. "You buy this console and then you have to buy games too, and the games cost money!"

Li Zhuangsheng nodded in strong agreement: "Exactly, Nintendo games aren't very fun. I usually play pirated versions, and I feel like I'm wasting my money by even getting a membership. But thankfully this isn't the official Chinese version; people online say it would be a huge loss if it were."

Xie Jiangqing tilted her head: "What do you mean by 'Chinese version'?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but basically it's a scam for newbies."

"Oh...that's good because Hu Mengdie didn't buy the Chinese version. She doesn't usually play video games, so she probably searched for it beforehand."

Li Zhuangsheng paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Going to sleep... Ugh, the pillow smells."

"Why don't you flip it over?"

"No need, I won't mind this time. Just don't call me for lunch, just leave me some room!" Xie Jiangqing snuggled against the pillow, slowly closed her eyes, and hummed.

"Oh." Li Zhuangsheng nodded honestly.

You can really sleep! I'd love to have a chance to lie in bed and take a nap!

I yawned. Although I could sleep in either Li Xiuyu's or Hu Mengke's room, I decided against it and decided to read a book for a while instead.

Li Zhuangsheng quietly flipped through "Notes from the Thatched Cottage of Close Observation." Before he knew it, it was almost noon. Li Zhuangsheng stretched and yawned. Because there was a translation, he easily finished reading the first volume.

Turning to look at Xie Jiangqing, he thought to himself, even if he didn't have to go to work today, she shouldn't be sleeping this much... Hmm?

Sometime during her sleep, Xie Jiangqing had slept in a crooked position, her legs slightly curled up, but her feet were still sticking out. Her white socks were hanging on her feet, half-off, which looked rather unsettling.

Li Zhuangsheng quietly got up, thinking that she was still kicking off the blankets, probably because she was hot. He walked to Xie Jiangqing's side, where she was lying on her side, her cheeks flushed, her brows slightly furrowed, and her body swaying slightly, as if she was struggling a little, but a smile was also on her lips.

What kind of dream was that...? Li Zhuangsheng wanted to cover her with the blanket, but the fact that she had taken off her socks halfway down was really eye-catching.

Should I pull off her socks, otherwise she might kick off the blankets again...? While his mind was still hesitating, Li Zhuangsheng's hands had already started moving.

"What are you doing?"

Just then, the study door suddenly opened, and Li Xiuyu stared in surprise at Li Zhuangsheng, who was bending down to take off Xie Jiangqing's socks. (End of Chapter)