Zi Bu Yu (Revised)

Qin Yanan hoped she wasn't here for a blind date with Liu Chang'an.

Zhu Juntang hoped to meet Liu Chang'an again on the roof of Baolong Center, talk at length about Longevity, and then ask him to perform another rooftop jump.

Zhong Qing didn't go looking for Liu Chang'an right away. Zhu Juntang wasn't trying to frame Liu Chang'an; she simply had no way to influence him, so she wanted to find a way—and someone—who could.

Liu Chang'an went home. Before nightfall, he swept the plane-tree leaves scattered across the ground into a pile. The tree's bare branches stood out all the more, like a young man with a thick head of hair who had suddenly lost a patch, exposing his scalp. It looked even less healthy than an older man's bald head, as if it were a harbinger of illness.

After sweeping up the leaves, Liu Chang'an brought in the dried cilantro he'd left outside to sun-dry (a Mustard Greens product). He bit off a piece. It was just the right balance of salty and sweet; a few more days in the sun and it would be ready.

Looking at the quiet carriage, Liu Chang'an felt that it shouldn't be left here. He remembered the black lacquered coffin decorated with colorful paintings that he'd seen in the warehouse that day. That painted coffin was covered with marvelous beasts darting through flowing clouds. Against a black lacquer base, red, white, black, yellow, green, and other colors formed swirling, free-flowing clouds. More than a hundred animals, divine beasts, and spirits were interspersed among them, creating fifty-seven distinct scenes. It was a typical Han Dynasty lacquer painting with cloud motifs, filled with an auspicious, dignified aura—completely unlike the aura emanating from the bronze coffin inside the carriage.

Since ancient times, the dragon had represented the Son of Heaven. It was supreme, while the phoenix, as the empress, stood beneath it. The image of a phoenix tearing at a dragon's body gave off an aura of murderous defiance against the natural order, bleak and desolate as the chill of late autumn and winter, cold enough to pierce the bones.

Had this thing made Qin Peng sense something? Was that why he'd sent it to Liu Chang'an...? When people draw near to death, it's like standing at the boundary between night and dawn. Their bodies already harbor the aura of death, and they can often attract or sense energies that cross the cycle of life and death. Those energies had made Qin Peng uneasy.

He was a hundred and ten years old, practically a living relic. It wasn't surprising that he could sense unusual forces beyond ghosts and gods.

After pondering it briefly, Liu Chang'an went to make dinner. When he went to play mahjong, a few familiar faces were absent again. They called it a night at ten. Liu Chang'an lost ten yuan, while Old Qian, who'd stubbornly played through the evening with a runny nose, cheerfully went home as the night's biggest winner.

That night, Liu Chang'an unusually had a dream, but when he woke up, he couldn't remember any of it. He only felt a little cold, so he added another blanket.

The next morning, Liu Chang'an drank the soy milk left outside his door while looking at the plane tree, which had shed even more leaves. In just two days, nearly half its leaves had fallen.

He'd originally planned to spend his day off doing nothing, but it turned out to be unusually full. Work made people happy; work created wealth; work brought health; the working people were the greatest... After spending all afternoon hauling bricks, Liu Chang'an felt great.

When he arrived at school, he ran into his homeroom teacher, Huang Shan, at the gate. Huang Shan was watching some video on his phone, though it was too early for it to be one of the female streamers he followed.

As he passed the basketball court, Liu Chang'an saw Chen Changxiu, who was staring right back at him. Chen Changxiu's already fierce face looked even worse with a cold sneer at the corner of his mouth. Liu Chang'an returned a toothy grin.

"Just you wait!" Chen Changxiu pointed at Liu Chang'an. He thought Liu Chang'an was far too arrogant, and figured it would feel great to wipe that smile off his face.

Bai Hui was outside the classroom eating the breakfast Qian Ning had brought her. He'd bought it at KFC and carefully put together a meal of coffee, an egg sandwich, and a bowl of porridge. For a boy his age, that was already quite thoughtful; expecting them to make a homemade breakfast with love was asking a little too much.

Unlike usual, Bai Hui didn't greet Liu Chang'an with a gentle smile, usually tinged with a faint, pitying sympathy because he cared for her and she couldn't return his feelings.

Today, Bai Hui ignored Liu Chang'an completely, her gaze sweeping past him before turning cold and indifferent.

There were still only a few people in the classroom. Liu Chang'an greeted her. "Morning!"

Bai Hui turned her head away, facing him from the side.

"I heard the school couldn't take the pressure and someone reported it to the Education Bureau. We'll still get the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. Want to go sing karaoke again?" Liu Chang'an suggested enthusiastically, since Bai Hui had said she'd bring him along next time.

"Liu Chang'an! Are you asking for a beating?" Qian Ning snapped, unable to take it anymore. Liu Chang'an had wounded Bai Hui's pride, and she'd been angry ever since. She'd even started ignoring Qian Ning and Lu Yuan.

Liu Chang'an was quite disappointed, and went into the classroom.

An Nuan arrived just a little after Liu Chang'an. Her mother had left early that morning to take care of something, so An Nuan had been asked to look after the plants at home. Watering them had taken quite a while.

From a distance, An Nuan spotted Bai Hui. Today, Bai Hui was wearing her full school uniform, which made her look a little short—though, of course, only compared with An Nuan. The loose uniform concealed Bai Hui's figure, but as a volleyball player and school-team athlete, An Nuan was allowed to wear athletic shorts instead of the uniform.

An Nuan's mood was a little unsettled, shifting between one emotion and another. But when she saw Bai Hui, she couldn't help feeling a great deal of pride and smug satisfaction. At the same time, she didn't want to make it too obvious. She reminded herself not to get carried away, to be reserved. A young woman had to be reserved!

"I'm so jealous. You have someone bringing you breakfast and lunch every day." An Nuan walked up to Bai Hui. She hadn't prepared what to say, so she blurted out a compliment.

Qian Ning stammered, his face a little red. Even though he liked Bai Hui, An Nuan was undeniably striking, and her looks were hard for a hormone-fueled boy to face without blushing.

"If you want, you can ask Liu Chang'an to bring you breakfast too!" Bai Hui wasn't sure whether she'd said it well, but the sour note in her voice made her regret it. She'd made it too obvious. Wouldn't that just make An Nuan even smugger?

Watching An Nuan give her a reserved smile and walk away, Bai Hui got so angry she threw the breakfast in her hand into the trash. Qian Ning opened his mouth, annoyed, but his anger wasn't directed at Bai Hui. It was directed at Liu Chang'an.

"She... she must know about what happened at the karaoke place. Who told her?" Bai Hui's gaze swept over Qian Ning, and she was nearly beside herself with anger. An Nuan had suddenly lowered herself to compliment Bai Hui, but that certainly wasn't an admission of defeat. It was the superiority of a winner! She was saying she no longer thought it worth quibbling with Bai Hui over everything. Only a victor could afford to lower herself like that!

An Nuan entered the classroom and sat in her seat, staring straight ahead. She took a deep breath, hung up her schoolbag, then placed both hands on her thighs and lightly tapped her fingers. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Liu Chang'an huddled with Gao Dewei, completely unaware she'd arrived.

"Gao Dewei, you're incredible. Two hundred years ago, you'd have come top in the imperial examinations. You'd have ridden off in triumph, your horse flying, and seen all Chang'an's flowers in a single day." Liu Chang'an held Gao Dewei's notes. Gao Dewei had not only written down the key points from the tutoring he'd received from a relative who was a teacher, but had also organized the important topics, difficult concepts, and likely test questions himself. The entire notebook was a condensed distillation of everything Gao Dewei had learned over three years.

Gao Dewei smiled sheepishly. "Just you and An Nuan can look at it. Don't let it get around."

"Of course." Liu Chang'an understood. "I made some dried cilantro yesterday. I'll bring you some when it's ready."

Gao Dewei nodded, then went back to his book.

"What do you mean, see all Chang'an's flowers in a single day? Was the imperial examination held in Chang'an two hundred years ago? Let me see first." An Nuan couldn't hold back any longer. She reached out and took the notebook from Liu Chang'an. Gao Dewei was the best of the best, and, more importantly, he wasn't the type to hoard what he knew or put on airs. And Liu Chang'an had actually won him over with a little dried cilantro?

Liu Chang'an didn't fight An Nuan for it. He wasn't doing reading comprehension today; he went back to reading Yuan Mei's Zi Bu Yu.

An Nuan couldn't concentrate. After glancing at the notes, she looked sideways to see what Liu Chang'an was doing, and immediately spotted the passage he was reading.

"In Gao County, Jiangxi, there was a boy named Yang Gui, nineteen years old, somewhat pretty and gentle by nature. Anyone who wanted to take liberties with him met with no resistance."

What kind of book was this?! An Nuan was embarrassed just reading it. Girls often talked privately about boys' love fiction, but what Liu Chang'an was reading was even more lowbrow!

"Don't read that." An Nuan closed Liu Chang'an's book.

"In ancient times, this was perfectly ordinary. Ducks are actually quite interesting animals." Liu Chang'an began explaining it to An Nuan with great interest.

"Shut up!" Noticing Bai Hui walk into the classroom, An Nuan immediately suppressed the urge to explode. A faintly bashful smile appeared on her face. She lowered her voice and pinched Liu Chang'an's hand.

Watching from a distance, Bai Hui felt that An Nuan and Liu Chang'an were flirting. She gave a cold snort and returned to her seat.

Liu Chang'an had nothing to do and was bored. He wasn't allowed to read his book, and he didn't have the notes anymore.