Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

Night, cool as water.

But no matter how cool the night is, it can't compare to the coldness of the human heart.

"She actually, actually!" An infinitely sorrowful voice rang out at the entrance of the Yucai Mini Store.

Cui Yu took a sip of cola, his body shivered: "Brothers, I'm so cold."

Wang Longlong: "Yu Zi, you're drinking iced cola, of course you're cold!"

His words interrupted Cui Yu's atmosphere of misery, pausing his lament.

Guo Kunnan stood opposite them, holding a bowl of fried tofu, wondered: "Yu Zi, seeing so many films, I thought you'd already figured out life, why do you still expect love?"

Cui Yu: "Nonsense, the more filth I see, the more I long for pure love."

He betrayed his good brother Meng Gui for that sweet girl, never expecting to end up like this.

He was truly unwilling: "If only that girl didn't have a son, it would be great!"

Guo Kunnan offered a suggestion: "You can pretend she doesn't have one."

Dan Kaiquan watched the commotion, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Wow, you're still so pure?"

Cui Yu straightened his chest: "If it wasn't a heart-wrenching love, how else would I be so miserable?"

Wang Longlong concluded: "You're pounding your chest now simply because you haven't met a better girl."

Cui Yu immediately retorted: "You're talking nonsense! I'm actually very loyal to love."

Although he usually appears quite roguish, being the famous playboy of Class 8, truthfully, deep down, Cui Yu considers himself a deeply loving man.

From the beginning of high school, he liked Jiang Yanan, and until a few days ago, he still liked Jiang Yanan. Even amidst countless rivals, he never gave up.

He felt that in terms of deep love, he was comparable to Yan Tianpeng, who liked Lu Qiqi.

Wang Longlong asked: "Really? How loyal?"

Cui Yu got angry: "Damn!"

But to prove his loyalty to love, he said: "This failure in love made me decide not to date any girls this year."

"Even if she really likes me."

Wang Longlong: "Even if it's Zhou Jinglan?"

Zhou Jinglan is a girl one grade above them, very attractive, and had posted a few photos on Li Yi's Bar, earning countless praises, becoming a 'mini internet celebrity' of this era, but her influence was limited to the internet, rarely known even among Fourth Middle School students.

If it weren't for Wang Longlong's excellent intel skills, this person might have been overlooked.

Cui Yu, with a blank expression, said: "I told you, no matter how much a girl likes me, I won't date her."

"Alright, Brother Yu is indeed impressive." Wang Longlong thought Cui Yu was a real man.

Cui Yu: "By the way, who is that Zhou Jinglan you were just talking about?"

Upon his query, none of the present Guo Kunnan or Dan Kaiquan knew.

That's how high school is, many people only know their classmates and the prominent figures of their grade, completely unaware of other grades.

Wang Longlong: "She's a girl from our school's first-year, you can search her on the forum."

"Okay, wait for me."

Leaving these words, Cui Yu opened the forum and searched the name Wang Longlong mentioned, then saw Zhou Jinglan's school uniform photo.

It was a photo shrouded in a hazy filter, making her appearance and aura filled with the charm of a century ago, as if she had stepped out from that era.

Cui Yu silently bookmarked the post.

He said: "Zhou Jinglan is nice."

...

Night, eleven-thirty.

Huang Yuzhu's clothes were covered in mud and dust; he had taken leave from evening self-study to go to the construction site.

His task should have been studying, not earning money, but this job was revealed to him by Jiang Ning, and such opportunities in life are rare; once missed, they are gone.

Under the night sky, Huang Yuzhu held a strong flashlight in his left hand, using his left wrist and right hand to push his bicycle through the dark, damp alleys.

Wastewater flowed everywhere, unsure where the drainpipe broke, yet no one bothered to fix it.

He passed through the alley, looking at the stairway entrance, where two electric bikes were parked. Bikes parked here could avoid being blown by the wind and drenched by the rain.

But such a good location was occupied by others, leaving his and the other neighbors' vehicles only able to park outside.

However, even if this spot wasn't occupied, Huang Yuzhu still dared not park here.

Before, his parents had parked their electric bike here once, only to have it pushed out of the stairway by the family on the first floor, toppling the bike into the wastewater.

For this, Huang Yuzhu's parents had a quarrel with the first-floor family, and since then, their home often experienced water outages.

It was later discovered that the first-floor family secretly lifted the iron cover on the ground and twisted their home's water valve in revenge.

Such matters aren't significant, but sudden water outages are very unpleasant, and it finally stopped after the police were called to visit.

Facing such a malicious neighbor, unless you become more rogue than they are, it's difficult to resolve the issue.

Even middle-class families, when encountering similar issues, mostly find themselves helpless—wanting a permanent solution means moving houses, as using violence is illegal, and no one in this society has god-like powers.

Especially for honest families like Huang Yuzhu's; to avoid further retaliation, they dared not park near the stairway again.

Huang Yuzhu parked his bike at the alley edge, quietly ascending the stairs.

The stair sensor light was broken, but his family was on the second floor, not needing much effort; climbing a few steps, he recalled how Dan Xiao had asked him about long-distance running tips recently, generously offering advice.

Dan Xiao had also mentioned if he encountered any troubling life issues, he could tell him, as he might have solutions.

Huang Yuzhu smiled this off, thinking: What solutions could a typical student have?

Sharing it would only add more worry.

He pushed open the door, not expecting darkness, but being greeted by a plainly dressed middle-aged woman and her piercing gaze.