The Protagonist's Talent for Work

Liu Chang'an slowly walked back from the train station. On the way, he encountered an electric motorcycle driver chasing after him, trying to solicit passengers. Liu Chang'an was puzzled by the driver's enthusiasm and persistence, so he casually asked how much the starting fare was.

"What's the starting fare for wrapping something? It's 25 yuan at the Peace Hall, 35 yuan at Slope Street. Where are you going?"

"I was just asking."

"You seem a bit too precious... I'll scold you in your room..."

Liu Chang'an didn't mind, but he was just disappointed that he didn't have an electric scooter, otherwise he felt he could make some money. This driver was a bit shady.

Based on my extensive experience traveling around the country, it's common knowledge that you should avoid talking to eight out of ten people soliciting passengers near any transportation hub. They generally don't meet the traditional Chinese standards of conduct and work.

Liu Chang'an sighed at how aggressive people were these days. He looked up at the sun and thought that it was understandable that people were so aggressive when taking on jobs in this kind of weather.

Thinking that he would be idle after the college entrance examination and would become lazy, and had not run for a long time, Liu Chang'an took off running back.

"You're quite perceptive. The kid runs pretty fast, huh? Why isn't he going to the Olympics? Run, run, run some more, or you'll get heatstroke!"

The cursing of the electric motorcycle driver was no longer heard. Liu Chang'an ran past Yuan Family Ridge, Fire Palace, Lotus Square, and Peace Hall, reminding him of the scene in Forrest Gump where the protagonist was running.

He watched this movie twice, and each time he had a different feeling. The first time, he focused on the male protagonist's foolish yet legendary experiences, while the second time he focused on the female protagonist, Jenny. After watching the movie twice, Liu Chang'an had some new insights. He also reflected on his own understanding that no matter how long one lives, one's insights into society will not be updated. After all, new phenomena arise in new eras that have never been observed before.

In Forrest Gump's time, drugs and similar substances were already common in the United States. Countries that hadn't been driven to the brink of national extinction by these things didn't feel the pain firsthand and were naturally more lenient. By the time they were truly affected by the rampant corruption of these substances, it would be too late.

Human self-destruction is probably rooted in our genes, but I am different. Humanity's future may be self-destruction. If we are the only ones left on Earth, it will certainly be meaningless... Or maybe not. If we are the only ones left, can we develop a sufficiently powerful AI machine era on our own? At that time, we will be the only human beings in the robot age.

Or is my current situation no different from what I just imagined? Or am I really an old human remnant from the previous era, who created modern humans to keep me company?

Liu Chang'an dared not delve into memories too distant; those memories had already shattered to the atomic level, and with his current mental strength, he was unable to reconstruct them... This protective state was probably to prevent him from discovering the truth of the past.

It's not that I don't know how I can live peacefully among modern humans. If I were to recall the situation I'm imagining, and it turns out to be true, I wonder how I would feel now.

Just like Nuwa coming to her pile of clay figures, after the brief novelty and surprise, she probably felt more loneliness, because she knew that those around her were not truly her kind.

As Liu Chang'an pondered these random thoughts, he suddenly laughed when he reached his doorstep. He was someone who lived in the moment, and thinking about these things seemed pointless. Even the ephemeral beauty of a night-blooming cereus is fleeting; why worry about its eventual demise?

Zhou Dongdong was struggling to move her small feet while balancing a small table on her head.

There was a hole in the center of the small table, and her head poked out of the hole. When she stood up, her shoulders supported the small table, and then she staggered unsteadily toward Liu Chang'an's door.

"What are you doing?" Liu Chang'an realized this was the question he asked Zhou Dongdong most often.

"I found the sick little table!" Zhou Dongdong stopped, peeked out from under the table, and hopped over to Liu Chang'an, as if to show off his achievement.

"I thought I saw a square turtle." Liu Chang'an already knew Zhou Dongdong's intention.

"Turtles crawl on all fours!" Zhou Dongdong immediately bent down, braced herself with her hands on the ground, and looked up at Liu Chang'an. "That's how it is!"

Liu Chang'an smacked her on the bottom, and Zhou Dongdong cried out "Ouch!" and fell face-first to the ground. The turtle was too round, its belly too close to the ground. Zhou Dongdong excitedly rolled over, jumped a few times, and pouted, saying, "Don't bully me!"

"I'm not fixing this table anymore." Liu Chang'an has already repaired three small stools, two small benches, a broken radio, a short-legged Transformer, a helicopter without a propeller, and a number of other odds and ends, all of which Zhou Dongdong found.

Zhou Dongdong seems to have awakened her work talent: collecting recyclables.

"The little table is so pitiful. If you fix it, it won't be sick anymore." Zhou Dongdong touched the little table with heartache.

"You'll be a primary school student next semester, you should understand that a small table won't get sick. Besides, I remember the little stool that got sick, you threw it straight into the fire to burn it," Liu Chang'an said earnestly. "Primary school students need to mature, don't think that small tables can get sick anymore."

Zhou Dongdong frowned, wondering how she could persuade Brother Chang'an to fix the small table.

"The little table is fixed! We can do our homework together on it now!" Zhou Dongdong suddenly remembered her thoughts when she found the little table: doing homework with her brother Chang'an under the sycamore tree so that she wouldn't have to be sad looking at her books Zhou Dongdong.

Liu Chang'an thought about it and decided the reason was acceptable, so he went to get the tools.

Zhou Dongdong followed Liu Chang'an excitedly. She had heard from a classmate in kindergarten that her older sister had a lot of homework every day after starting elementary school. Zhou Dongdong was a little scared, but if she did her homework with Chang'an, she could help him with the chores and then have Chang'an help her with her homework.

Of course, it would be even better if she didn't have to go to primary school, but unfortunately, Zhou Dongdong's life was accompanied by Zhou Shuling's beatings. Zhou Dongdong also knew that there were some difficult things in life that could not be avoided but could only be faced.

Liu Chang'an found a piece of wood, intending to first patch up the hole in the small table, and then find cardboard, plastic, and paint to beautify the tabletop. Zhou Dongdong showed great interest in painting, but Liu Chang'an chased her away. After the painting was finished, the table had to be hung on the tree first.

While he was busy, Liu Chang'an received a message from Qin Yanan: "Bring the dishes you've prepared tonight."

Qin Yanan went back to find Qin Peng, and she was gone for more than a month. Liu Chang'an wasn't the type to ask too many questions, so he didn't know what information she had obtained.

Liu Chang'an replied with a single word, "Okay."

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