Before this, he had also planned to commit the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to memory.
Saturday morning.
The students of Ke University began enjoying their weekend.
The various shops across the city welcomed customers arriving like the tide right on schedule. After five quiet days, the pedestrian street where Li Zhi's shop was located also saw a peak in foot traffic.
Seeing that it was almost noon, Li Zhi's Antique Style Jewelry Shop still showed no sign of opening for business.
Zhou Mei, the proprietress of the neighboring Fashion Shop, gave him a call.
When he received Zhou Mei's call, Li Zhi was eating dumplings at home.
"Mei, you called?" Li Zhi answered in a hearty voice.
"Little Li, are you sick? You haven't come to the shop for three days. Do you need your big sister to come over and take care of you?" Zhou Mei's voice was as pleasant and seductive as ever.
"Cough, cough." Li Zhi instantly choked on his water. Only after a bout of hurried coughing did he say, "Mei, I'm not sick. I'll be at the shop in a little while."
"You're coughing that badly and still saying you're not sick. Wait at home. I'll come pick you up and take you to the hospital." Zhou Mei sounded somewhat anxious.
"Mei, I'm really not sick. I just choked on some water. I'm eating dumplings at home. I'll go to the shop after I finish." Li Zhi hurriedly explained.
"You're eating dumplings?" Zhou Mei's voice suddenly became a little strange. Then she said, "Bring me a serving too."
With that, she decisively hung up.
Li Zhi found it rather baffling.
At her own shop, Zhou Mei looked at Li Zhi's number on her phone and smiled. "Since when did you start liking dumplings? I think you must be missing your sister-in-law."
She then returned upstairs. Before long, she had changed into a dark-red short bodycon skirt, and she also changed her flat shoes into black high heels.
After looking at herself in the mirror, Zhou Mei was somewhat dissatisfied and lowered her head to glance at the flesh-colored stockings on her legs.
Although the stockings wrapped her legs in a smooth, rounded layer, she felt they were in the way, so she simply took off the expensive stockings.
She posed prettily in front of the mirror a few more times before finally leaving the changing room, satisfied.
After going downstairs, Zhou Mei said to the two weekend clerks in the shop, "I'm going out for a while. Take good care of the customers."
Both clerks gave Zhou Mei an encouraging thumbs-up.
They knew their boss liked the handsome young man in the neighboring jewelry shop.
When Zhou Mei arrived outside Li Zhi's Antique Style Jewelry Shop, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, Xia Siyu, and Li Xiaoman also arrived there almost simultaneously.
"Boss, has the owner of the jewelry shop not opened for business yet today?" Pang Bo and Ye Fan recognized Zhou Mei as the proprietress of the neighboring clothing shop and asked her directly.
"Are you here to find Li Zhi too?" A trace of puzzlement flashed through Zhou Mei's eyes. Then, after seeing Pang Bo, she said, "I remember now. You're that college student who came twice to return something."
"We heard Boss Li had come back, but we don't know when he'll open for business," Ye Fan said as well.
"He'll be here soon. Just wait a few minutes." Zhou Mei understood Ye Fan's hint and replied with a smile.
Less than a minute later, Li Zhi appeared on the pedestrian street, dragging a large suitcase.
Seeing so many people gathered outside his shop, Li Zhi immediately quickened his pace. Once he saw that it was Ye Fan and the others, he smiled and said, "Oh, it's you guys."
Then he handed a food container to Zhou Mei. "Mei, these are the dumplings you wanted."
He did not notice at all that Zhou Mei had carefully dressed up.
After opening the shop and inviting Ye Fan and the others inside, Li Zhi hurriedly said, "What are the four of you looking to buy? My shop is small, but the designs are quite good and very much suited to young people's tastes."
"Boss, we're here to return something." Pang Bo took out the box containing the Golden Pixiu Bracelet and said so.
"Didn't the other party like it? You can take a look at something else." Though he said that, Li Zhi swiftly inspected the bracelet and refunded the money.
Such a straightforward return made Pang Bo very happy.
He had thought he would have to waste a lot of breath arguing with the boss.
After returning the item, Pang Bo intended to leave. Like most men, he had no interest in browsing shops and choosing things.
Li Xiaoman and Student Xia, however, continued picking out jewelry in the shop.
Ye Fan's gaze remained fixed on the suitcase Li Zhi had brought, which looked extremely heavy.
After watching Li Zhi disinfect and wipe the Golden Pixiu Bracelet before placing it back in the display case, Ye Fan suddenly asked, "Boss, do you sell antiques in your shop?"
"This is a pedestrian street, not an antique street. How would I have antiques here?" Li Zhi replied with a smile.
"Seeing the decorations in your shop, I thought you had some genuine antique jade pieces." Ye Fan pointed at the jewelry in the Antique Style section.
Li Xiaoman and Student Xia, who were choosing jewelry, both pricked up their ears.
Li Zhi smiled. "You didn't come here just to return something, did you? Student Xia, although you aren't wearing those black-rimmed glasses today, I still recognized you at a glance."
Xia Siyu and Li Xiaoman, who were wearing hats and masks, immediately removed their masks.
They then turned to Li Zhi and said, "You really have an article written in Oracle Bone Script? If you let me take a look, perhaps I can introduce you to Professor Gao."
Li Zhi smiled and walked to the entrance, pulling the suitcase he had left there over to the counter.
Then he opened it in front of them.
Only then did Ye Fan notice that the suitcase was filled with books. Among the titles he could make out were "Huangdi Neijing," "Tao Te Ching," "Collected Commentaries on the Analects of Confucius," "Diamond Sutra," and "Classic of Mountains and Seas."
The other books in the suitcase were covered by sheets of xuan paper.
Li Zhi pulled out a sheet of xuan paper covered in brush-written characters from beneath the stack.
Then he closed the suitcase again.
After spreading the sheet covered in more than a hundred Oracle Bone Script characters across the counter, Li Zhi said, "Student Xia, are you sure you recognize the characters on this?"
When she saw the Oracle Bone Script, Xia Siyu was completely dumbfounded.
There were more than a hundred characters on the xuan paper, but she recognized only three of them in total.
Xia Siyu then stammered awkwardly, "I'll look up some references when I get back. I'll definitely be able to recognize them."
The writing was very different from the inscriptions she had seen before.
Li Xiaoman seemed to sense her best friend's embarrassment and tugged at her. "Sisi, let's not discuss academics when we're out shopping on the weekend. Take a photo and bring it back. Once Monday comes, you can study it properly."
Xia Siyu quickly pulled out her phone and planned to photograph the article.
But Li Zhi was even faster. He directly put the article away and said, "Priceless treasure. No photos."
"It isn't even the original. Do you really have to be so stingy?" Xia Siyu pouted.
Li Zhi smiled. "Sorry. The paper may be new, but the writing on it is worth a fortune."
Xia Siyu seemed to be angered. She suddenly bared her teeth and glared at Li Zhi, then grabbed Li Xiaoman's hand and said, "Xiao Man, let's go."
Ye Fan gave Li Zhi a slight nod and followed them out.
As for Pang Bo, he had already run outside the shop.
Watching their retreating backs, Li Zhi shook his head and began organizing the Ancient Records in the suitcase.
At that moment, another clicking sound came from inside the shop.
As Li Zhi bent over to organize the Ancient Records, he looked up and saw two long, fair, shapely legs in black high heels heading straight toward the Storage Room.
Straightening up, Li Zhi saw that Zhou Mei seemed displeased as she carried the dumpling container into his Storage Room.
"Come here."
After pushing open the small door to the Storage Room, Zhou Mei turned back and called to Li Zhi.
"Mei, what's wrong with you?"
Looking completely baffled, Li Zhi followed her inside.
Once in the Storage Room, Zhou Mei shoved the dumpling container into Li Zhi's hands and said, "You didn't make these dumplings yourself."
Li Zhi smiled. "Mei, you think too highly of me. How would I know how to make dumplings? They're frozen dumplings I bought at the supermarket."
"You're trying to fob me off with frozen dumplings?"
Zhou Mei seemed quite angry as she walked to the small door, then discreetly slid the bolt into place.
Li Zhi did not notice her little maneuver. Instead, he smiled apologetically and said, "Then I'll treat you to dinner tonight."
Zhou Mei turned and walked up to Li Zhi, revealing a seductive smile. "That sounds more like it."
Then she suddenly did something that nearly made Li Zhi get a nosebleed.
Right in front of Li Zhi, Zhou Mei actually pulled down the zipper on her chest.
"Mei, you—"
Before he could finish, Zhou Mei covered his mouth.
Soon, clanging and banging sounds came from the Storage Room, as though the two of them were fighting inside.
The sounds continued for a full half hour before finally fading away.
Afterward, Zhou Mei left with a radiant smile.
Another five minutes passed before Li Zhi finished tidying the scattered items in the Storage Room and came out.
Before you continue