Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 263 A dirty thing has sneaked in
When Zhai Da returned to Sanmao Community, it was already past 10 p.m.

Yu Xiaoli was already dozing off on the sofa.

Zhai Da looked closely and saw that his mother looked perfectly normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief for no reason.

He suddenly felt that the benefits of the "Eight Sufferings" outweighed the drawbacks, and at least the "Suffering of Illness" was worth trying.

Hearing Zhai Da return, Yu Xiaoli woke up, yawned, and said, "I've registered for driving school. I can start practicing tomorrow."

Zhai Da: "Let's practice more, there's no rush to get the license."

At that time, I was essentially holding a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes to the coach's forehead and another pack of Lotus cigarettes to the examiner's forehead, aiming for a speedrun without any rules.

In small towns, things can get complicated, and if something goes wrong, the driving school won't have to pay for it.

But Mom still shouldn't go astray; she should practice her driving skills thoroughly before hitting the road.

Yu Xiaoli nodded: "By the way, on my way back this afternoon, I went to the orphanage again to see Xiao Kui."

When Tang Xiaokui was mentioned, Yu Xiaoli couldn't help but smile; she genuinely liked that child.

She is sensible, cute, and has the air of a little adult.

Regarding the adoption of Tang Xiaokui, Zhai Da never offered any advice or expressed any desire for his mother to adopt her; it was simply that Yu Xiaoli took a liking to him on New Year's Eve.

Humans are visual creatures, there's nothing strange about that.

"Kindness" alone is not enough to make someone decide to adopt, and even "sympathy" is not enough.

It has to be something you "like," it's that simple.

This was a big deal for the family, so Zhai Da simply sat down next to his mother and discussed it seriously.

Yu Xiaoli propped her head up with her elbow and leaned back on the sofa, saying softly, "After you went to school, I did get a bit bored in Dongyang. Sometimes I couldn't even stay at home alone at night. If I didn't make a sound, there wouldn't be a soul in the house."

“I’m not working as hard anymore. If I bring Xiao Kui back, I’ll definitely have enough energy. It’s just an extra pair of chopsticks. It’s not a long-term solution for that child to stay in the orphanage. We get along quite well.”

Zhai Da smiled and said, "You can chat with a six-year-old child?"

"She's quite a little adult, very smart, her father has done a good job educating her."

Zhai Da thought for a moment and asked, "After we bring them back, will we need to change their surname? What should we call them?"

Yu Xiaoli gently patted her son: "Why think about these things? So what if she's called Tang Xiaokui? If she wants to change it, let her suggest it herself in the future. It's fine if she calls me 'Mom Yu,' or even 'Auntie.'"

“I adopted her because I like her and she has a companion. I don’t expect her to carry on the family line, so why should I care about these things?”

Zhai Da nodded: "Since you've thought this through so clearly, then I really have nothing to worry about."

The lighting was dim, and the flickering light from the television screen swept across the corners of Yu Xiaoli's eyes, making her wrinkles more noticeable than usual.

Yu Xiaoli clapped her hands and said, "Now that we've had a good chat, I'm planning to go and get the paperwork done tomorrow. Li Huifen said there's a 3-6 month trial period, which will make the procedures a bit simpler. If both parties feel it's a good fit, we can end the trial period early and officially get the paperwork done."

If it's not suitable, there's no need to elaborate on how to handle it, but it shouldn't come to that.

Zhai Da sensed that Yu Xiaoli was still a little nervous, after all, adopting a child was a first for most people.

So I decided to give my mom more encouragement: "Congratulations in advance, our family is going to have a new member. I've wanted a little sister since I was little."

It's fake; you only want it when you grow up.
Yu Xiaoli's expression relaxed a bit, but when the topic of raising children came up, she couldn't help but look at Zhai Da's face and fall into memories.

It's a big change since high school. In my second year of high school, I felt like a big kid: wearing a loose school uniform, reckless, mischievous, and careless.

There's also a little bit of fat.

And now, in just one year, he's taller, thinner, and more handsome. Most importantly...
grown up.

Children grow up in the blink of an eye.

The aging of adults, however, is a subtle and gradual process.

Yu Xiaoli couldn't help but look at the row of photos hanging on the wall behind Zhai Da.

There was one child, Yu Lihua, and another, the elderly couple. Later, they had a child named Yu Xiaoli. Eventually, the colors became more and more vibrant, and they had a husband named Zhai Zhihong and a child named Zhai Da.

The largest one is one of the few family photos of the Zhai family, showing Yu Lihua, Yu Xiaoli, Zhai Zhihong, and Zhai Da. Their mother, Liu Huijuan, is missing, but it's still a rare sight.

Later, fewer and fewer people appeared in the photo.

She prefers to be surrounded by people.

Zhai Da suddenly remembered something: "By the way, where does Tang Xiao Kui sleep?"

After rambling on for a while, Zhai Da finally realized that the child had nowhere to sleep.
The family's wealth gave them both a false sense of security, making them forget that the house wasn't actually that big, and that they would be a little nervous before school started.

Yu Xiaoli frowned and thought for a moment: "It seems that Xiao Wei can only squeeze in. I'll discuss it with her later."

Zhai Da agreed in a second: "What's there to discuss? It's settled then. I'm not afraid of being crowded."

Yu Xiaoli rolled her eyes at Zhai Da: "I'm saying Xiaowei slept with me, what's it to you?"

Zhai Da: ?
Yu Xiaoli counted on her fingers and said, "You're the only man here, so it'll just be Xiaowei and me adjusting. We can't have Xiaowei and Xiaokui sleeping together, can we? Besides, it's better for adopted children to have their own room and a safe space."

"It will be more convenient once you start school. By the way, when do you start school? Aren't they doing business over there? Actually, you could go ahead by yourself, which would be convenient for everyone."

Mom, you have a new phone number.

You threw away your old account password, right?
Zhai Da said, "If there's not enough space, you can bring them back later. For example, after you buy the house, you can reserve them for a stay." Yu Xiaoli rolled her eyes: "You think this is buying a pet? Reserving a stay?"

With resistance futile, the order was carried out immediately. Zhai Da shrugged, indicating he had no objections, and Yu Xiaoli turned to discuss the matter with Lu Wei.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Zhai Da took a shower, dried his hair, and returned to the bedroom. Xiao Mutou's beautiful figure was bent over her desk, writing intently.

Zhai Da gently tapped Lu Wei's shoulder, indicating that he was back and not to frighten her.

Lu Wei then turned and gave Zhai Da a slight smile.

Seeing Zhai Da sit down, Lu Wei quickly tidied up the scattered manuscript papers. Each paper was numbered, but some were marked with an "X".

That was a compilation of "sensitivity conjectures," which, according to Lu Wei, had been reduced from the initial 300+ pages to about 100 pages.

However, for mathematics, it is still a "very long" topic. In this field, padding is not an option; we must distill as much as possible.

Every mathematician dreams of proving a world-class problem in just a few lines of text, and they believe that the "beauty" of mathematics can certainly achieve this, it's just that humans can't.

This includes Lu Wei.

"No rush, is everything going smoothly?"

Lu Wei nodded and said, "Not bad, my proof should be correct."

Zhai Da couldn't help but sigh that having good talent is truly remarkable.
"So, once school starts, should we start planning how to publish our papers?"

Lu Wei asked somewhat nervously, "Does it really have to be published?"

Xiao Mutou was a little unsure about the "public results." She wasn't researching this to publish papers, but rather to pass the time.

Once it's published, it means it's in the public eye. It's obvious how much attention a freshman doing something like this will attract.

She's just a little slow-witted and also has an illness.

But not stupid.

If the proof is successful, he will become a "minor celebrity"; if it is wrong, he will have made a fool of himself in front of the global mathematics community.

This held little appeal for Lu Wei, who did not crave fame.

So she wanted to keep it as a secret.
Zhai Da shook his head: "Since you've chosen the path of mathematics, it's only a matter of time before you publish your findings."

After thinking for a moment, Zhai Da changed his approach: "If we keep the proof to ourselves, there's really no loss, but if we publish it, wouldn't that promote the progress of mathematics as a discipline?"

Even if it's just a relatively obscure conjecture, it's still a brick in the towering edifice of mathematics, isn't it?

Sure enough, thinking about it this way gave Lu Wei some motivation.

Although not much
Zhai Da encouraged him, "Don't you dream of using mathematics to optimize weather forecasting? In any field related to reality, one person alone is not enough, whether it's mathematics or engineering. It requires the participation of many people, and you are accumulating that energy."

This time, Lu Wei's nod was clearly more firm.

"Oh, by the way, there's a package for you; it looks like a book."

"Book?"

Zhai Da looked down at his feet, picked up the express delivery bag, and opened it to find a hardcover book inside.

The cover maintains the warm color scheme and watercolor style, depicting a cozy room divided into two halves by a crack in the floor, where a man and a woman sit at a similarly divided table eating hot pot.

The styles on the left and right sides are clearly from different eras, especially the left side where the woman is located. There are many things that are difficult for ordinary people to understand at this point in time, such as large-screen smartphones, ridiculously thin TVs, and robot vacuum cleaners.

This is a sample copy of "The Timeless Cohabitation Handbook".

Phoenix Media said it had been shipped out before the Lunar New Year, but due to logistics disruptions during the holiday, it only arrived now.
It was ridiculously slow; he'd completely forgotten about the package.

The official version may have already been stocked in the warehouses of some bookstores, just waiting to be released.

According to the plan, the time will be the first Saturday after work resumes following the Spring Festival.

The cover design was personally directed by Zhai Da, showcasing a detailed glimpse into the "near future" of the book. This is designed to capture the reader's attention and convince them that it's a heartwarming cohabitation romance story, making them happily step inside after a thorough cleaning.

By the way, compared to the first edition of "The Long Road of Lü", which relied entirely on recommendations from other authors to maintain its reputation, "The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual", or rather, Zhai Da's work, now has its own brand.

"Bestselling Novel Author of the Year"

"Sweeped three major awards".

"Young Writer of the Year"

"New Fashion Writer of the Year"

"Rising Star of Chinese Literature"

"New Century Weekly's Person of the Year 2008"

"Star Wave's Most Popular Author"

"Winner of the Most Charming Smile Award from Literary Figures Weekly five times"

He is covered in numerous honors.

Wait, something strange seems to have sneaked in here.
(End of this chapter)