Flower and Book

The next evening, a light breeze.

Huang Tian tidied up his apartment briefly, then suddenly stirred. He opened the door, walked downstairs, and stood at the entrance of the unit building, smiling as he looked at a girl holding a bouquet. She was tall, wearing a pale blue tea dress, white canvas shoes with white socks, and a light cyan backpack, looking exceptionally youthful.

"Xiao Zong." Huang Tian waved at her.

Zong Wenjun froze for a moment, quickly hid the flowers behind her back, and trotted over. "Classmate Xiao Huang!"

Standing before him, she brought out a bouquet of red tulips and white roses from behind her back like a treasure.

The tulips were layered and blooming, each petal resembling a crystalline ruby. The white roses were interspersed among them, their milky white petals edged with a hint of pale green, which, paired with the intensity of the tulips, brought a touch of clean tranquility.

"Thank you, they're beautiful."

Huang Tian took the flowers from her hands, a smile appearing on his face.

"I'm glad you like them!" Zong Wenjun took Huang Tian's hand. "I have three days off this time; I can finally revisit some old spots in Chang City."

Huang Tian held the flowers in his left hand and led her upstairs with his right. "Isn't it seven days?"

Zong Wenjun complained, "When I was on summer break, my mom and aunt traveled all over the country for over a month without even coming home once.

By the time they finished their trip, I had already started school. Then my mom kept saying how much she missed me, and she wanted me to go back and see her for National Day. I couldn't say no to her, so I agreed and bought a high-speed rail ticket to Nanjing for the morning of the fourth."

"Three days is enough. You can finish Wanshou Palace and Tengwang Pavilion in one evening; there isn't much else to see anyway," Huang Tian said. "Have you had dinner on the way?"

Zong Wenjun shook her head. "Not yet, I'm waiting to eat with you."

As they spoke, the two reached the apartment door, and Huang Tian took the keys from his pocket.

Click.

The door opened. Huang Tian placed the wrapped flowers by the wardrobe, while Zong Wenjun stood in the room, looking around with curiosity.

"Here, have some water and rest for a bit. We'll head downstairs for dinner in a while," Huang Tian said, grabbing a glass to pour some water.

"Okay." Zong Wenjun put down her backpack, took the glass, held it in her hands, and took a few small sips. "The room is so clean."

"Of course."

Huang Tian smiled. He was naturally a bit of a neat freak and cleaned the place every few days. Since he began his cultivation, he would occasionally use spiritual energy to clean corners that were hard to reach with a broom, so the room was naturally even cleaner.

After resting for a while.

Huang Tian said, "Let's go. We'll eat downstairs first. We won't go out tonight; I assume you're tired from the journey. We can go to Tengwang Pavilion tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm."

The two went downstairs. They didn't go out of their way for a romantic Western meal or a candlelight dinner; they just walked to a restaurant across the street and had a casual meal. By the time they were full, the sky outside had gradually darkened.

A full moon hung high in the sky, and a few wisps of pale gray clouds floated quietly, giving the scene a hazy, dreamlike quality.

A few cars drove slowly along the road. The shops on both sides of the street lit up with warm lights, and rows of tall streetlamps cast dim yellow glows. Elderly people, children, and a few couples walked along the road in scattered groups.

Huang Tian and Zong Wenjun bought a cup of Kun Tea at a shop and walked slowly side by side on the sidewalk. The cool night breeze brushed against their cheeks and hair, bringing a sense of clarity and comfort.

Suddenly, Zong Wenjun stepped forward, turned around, and looked up at Huang Tian. With her hands behind her back and her eyes bright and clear, she whispered, "If only the world could always be this quiet, nothing changing, staying in this moment forever."

"Good times are always fleeting."

"But they are brilliant."

As she spoke, she leaned in closer and stood slightly on her tiptoes. A delicate fragrance wafted over, and her soft lips brushed against Huang Tian's. Before he could react, she giggled and ran off, her long, pale blue dress fluttering in the night breeze.

Huang Tian followed, finding it quite amusing. Their shadows stretched longer and longer under the dim yellow streetlamps.

After playing around for a while, they returned to the apartment once they were tired. After showering and lying in bed, Zong Wenjun curled her soft body into Huang Tian's arms and gradually fell asleep. As her light breathing filled the room, Huang Tian felt a sense of peace and slowly drifted off to sleep as well.

The next day, Huang Tian accompanied Zong Wenjun to the supermarket to buy a glass vase and some flower preservative. Then, they went home and trimmed the flowers together, removing some leaves, pouring water and preservative into the vase, and finally arranging the flowers.

"Done!"

Zong Wenjun held the vase, lowered her head to sniff the elegant fragrance, then placed the vase in a spot away from direct sunlight and clapped her hands gently. "Now you can smell the flowers even when you're at home!"

Time quickly reached six in the evening. The two skipped dinner and headed straight out to take the subway to Wanshou Palace. After getting off at the station, they found the streets packed with pedestrians, many of them tourists who had come to visit during the holiday.

"Let's go get something to eat first."

"Okay!"

Huang Tian and Zong Wenjun strolled through the Wanshou Palace cultural district, stopping from time to time to eat snacks: fragrant clay pot soup, soft and sweet sugar cakes, spicy lotus root slices, handmade mochi...

And the famous Kun Tea.

However, there were too many tourists buying Kun Tea, and it required a long wait. Zong Wenjun was patient enough to wait in line, while Huang Tian stayed in a bookstore at the corner of the street.

The bookstore wasn't large, but it was quiet. The lighting was warm, and a faint scent of ink drifted through the air. A dozen or so customers were either crouching in corners picking out books or sitting on the soft sofa on the west side reading. The clerk was a young boy with black-rimmed glasses, sitting behind the counter, bored, playing on his phone.

Huang Tian liked this kind of environment. He walked with very light steps, searching the rows of bookshelves for books he wanted to read.

History, literature, art, popular science... there was even a copy of Abstract Algebra that had somehow found its way in.

Huang Tian was a mathematics student and had taken a course on abstract algebra. Recalling the overly abstract course content, he found it a bit funny as he pulled it out to take a look. He flipped through a few pages and suddenly froze on the spot.

He discovered that some of the knowledge points he hadn't fully grasped before were now clear at a glance: quotient groups, permutation groups, Galois theory, ideals...

"Is this... my comprehension?"

Huang Tian suddenly realized. Ever since he gained his superpowers, his comprehension had improved significantly. It took only a moment to learn a spell, and now, reading a book and understanding it had become incredibly easy.

His eyes brightened. He quickly flipped through the entire Abstract Algebra book. His photographic memory allowed him to instantly record all the content, and his excellent comprehension enabled him to easily understand all the knowledge points, even allowing him to branch out and apply what he had learned!

"I think I know what I want to do in the future..."