Superpowers

Caring too much about someone can sometimes hurt you. It can make you narrow-minded, suspicious, sensitive, and neurotic. Sometimes, looking at yourself from an outsider's perspective, you might even be surprised and incredulous at how you've become like this.

During swimming class, seeing her shoes placed next to the shoes of a boy she suspected might have a romantic relationship with made her feel uncomfortable.

He and she exchanged a glance, and even her smile caused him heartache.

My heart races whenever she glances at me unconsciously. Has she noticed something? Does she hate it when I pay attention to her?

In the empty classroom, all the students had left, and anyone who approached her desk could sense something was amiss.

Liking someone is actually a torturous thing, even tantamount to self-torture.

The sadness of youth, once it settles down, may well take root in the hearts of middle-aged people.

All-Star walked over, all smiles, "You two siblings really have a great relationship."

"Manager Quan is here! Please have a seat here. I'll have the kitchen prepare something for you." Zhou Shuling quickly stood up, pulled out a chair for All-Star to sit down, and then went to tell the kitchen.

Liu Chang'an smiled slightly and said nothing. This middle-aged man, All-Star, wasn't a bad person, but he hadn't given up on Zhou Shuling, which made him feel bad.

After ordering, Zhou Shuling sat back down. She originally wanted to chat with Liu Chang'an. Although Liu Chang'an was not very willing to listen to her talk about serious matters, Zhou Shuling still needed someone to report to. If he didn't want to listen seriously, so be it; Zhou Shuling would just talk.

After sitting down, Zhou Shuling became reluctant to talk. They hadn't discussed anything serious, just chatted with Liu Chang'an, and now with the All-Star sitting next to her, Zhou Shuling felt she had nothing more to say. She opened her mouth, "Would you like a fried egg? It's a new dish I invented."

"You invented fried eggs? You invented all four great inventions?" Liu Chang'an discovered someone with an even thicker skin than himself.

"What I mean is, it's our shop, you see, you made this noodle dish, and Zhou Dongdong even made a big chicken leg. I think I need to invent a dish to put in it." Zhou Shuling was a very ambitious person, looking at Liu Chang'an expectantly, hoping he wouldn't disagree.

Liu Chang'an laughed. It's a good thing for a woman to have ideas. She may not necessarily be unconvinced, but she definitely has the idea of wanting to contribute more as well.

"Add a fried egg for me and Manager Quan, please." Liu Chang'an nodded.

"Thank you, but most noodle shops do add fried eggs. It's just that many shops use a lot of oil to save time, and the eggs are just thrown in like they're deep-fried, too crispy and bitter, it's not really a fried egg at all." All-Star agreed.

Zhou Shuling spoke to the kitchen staff and was delighted to see that both of them agreed with her idea. "These eggs are all free-range eggs I bought from relatives back home. I fried them with lard. Adding two yuan for a fried egg isn't unreasonable, is it?"

"Five yuan." Liu Chang'an thought for a moment and said, "Five yuan a day, but let's put it in the set meal and call it three yuan and fifty cents. Our costs are quite high."

"I... I thought two yuan would be enough." Zhou Shuling was startled, glancing cautiously at Liu Chang'an, realizing she had made a huge mistake. If it was three yuan short, selling a thousand eggs would mean losing three hundred yuan in profit. "I even entered the price into the input."

"Five yuan is acceptable. A Japanese steamed egg at the Western restaurant upstairs costs over a hundred yuan. Why can't our fried egg with lard be sold for five yuan?" All-Star also supported it.

After Liu Chang'an and All-Star finished their noodles with fried eggs, they walked out of the shop together. Liu Chang'an patted All-Star on the shoulder. "Don't overthink it."

After Liu Chang'an finished speaking, he left. All-Star was stunned for a moment. Did Liu Chang'an mean that he shouldn't have too many thoughts about Zhou Shuling, or did he realize that his previous statement about the good relationship between the siblings had a hidden meaning?

It was hard to figure out for a while. Sure enough, these people with hidden backgrounds liked to make people guess what they were saying. I had the chance to hear Miss Zhu's instructions a few times. She was just like Liu Chang'an. She spoke very well. I had to listen carefully and analyze her words to understand what she meant.

Liu Chang'an never expected to be compared to Zhu Juntang. He walked out of Baolong Center and headed towards school under the midday sun.

Military training is over, and the vibrant camouflage green is gone from the entire campus. Maple leaves are turning red, and sycamore leaves are falling in abundance. The wind blows through the streets covered with leaves, and the leaves trace the shape of the wind, making one think of Zhu Shuzhen's poignant love poem.

"Did you see today's Weibo? I retweeted and tagged you." Although Liu Chang'an's actions had made An Nuan give up on the idea of following him back with a secondary account, An Nuan is no longer holding it against him.

"No, I don't use Weibo much anymore." Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"Oh! You don't use Weibo much anymore!" An Nuan said sourly, "You used to use it so frequently."

"The interjection 'ya' is not as strong as 'ah'."

"Am I trying to strongly express anything? Humph!"

"Hmph" is quite cute here.

"You're still so blatant in changing the subject!"

"Isn't the point the Weibo post you wanted to tell me?" Liu Chang'an changed the subject again.

An Nuan read aloud from her phone, "In recent years, with the rise in popularity of villa parties, they have gradually become a favorite among students. This morning, after a party was held at a villa near Xiangtan University, a student was found buried in the ground in the villa's backyard. Other students ignored him and left on their own. It was only when staff were cleaning the villa that they discovered he was completely buried, with only his head exposed. After being rescued, the student refused to go to the hospital or reveal any further information and left on his own. Villa staff stated that they had never encountered such a prank before, and its nature was extremely malicious. The management is considering sending staff to supervise the entire city when parties are held in the future to prevent such pranks..."

"Is this a prank? An ordinary person buried for that long would most likely be dead." Liu Chang'an shook his head seriously. "This student actually left unharmed. According to current regulations and procedures, I'm afraid this will ultimately be resolved quietly."

"I saw some comments below saying it seems to be from our school. The main problem is that the victims are unwilling to speak out, making it difficult to conduct a thorough investigation," An Nuan lamented. "School bullying is getting more and more serious. Logically speaking, college students are all adults; don't they consider the consequences?"

"You can't make a decision right away when you see this kind of news. Nine out of ten news stories have a twist, and these media outlets are irresponsible. I think the truth of this news story is probably a duel between two superpowered individuals, and it has nothing to do with labels like college students or villa parties."

"What's it like to have a chuunibyou (delusional) boyfriend? Thanks for the invitation. My boyfriend is a chuunibyou who believes in superpowers. The experience is alright, except he has superpowers himself, which is really annoying." An Nuan asked and answered herself.

"What super powers do you have that you discovered?" Liu Changan wondered, "Do you finally believe the truth about my immortality?"

You're incredibly good at exaggerating.

"What kind of superpower is that? Well, wouldn't being super cute be a superpower?!"

"Yes!" An Nuan admitted loudly and confidently.

"So, does being super good-looking count as a superpower?"

"Calculate!"

The two chatted idly along the way. After they parted, Liu Chang'an bought a serving of pig brains from a roadside vendor. "My brain hasn't been working as well as it used to be," he said. "I guess I should eat what I need to replenish it."

If I tell Guan Yuan that I didn't intentionally forget him there, I don't know if he'll believe me. But since I've already said I ate pig brains, it's clear that I at least believe him, so why wouldn't he?

Believe it or not, Liu Chang'an was eating pig brains when his phone vibrated. Liu Chang'an thought that he had just parted ways with An Nuan, so it probably wasn't her calling. He wasn't in a hurry to answer and continued squatting under a sycamore tree by the roadside, eating pig brains.

The phone kept vibrating until Bai Hui ran up to him, panting.

"You... you... why didn't you answer the phone?" Bai Hui could hear the bulge in his pocket vibrating.

"Catch your breath first." Liu Chang'an had also noticed that Bai Hui stuttered when she was anxious or nervous. It was just that she hadn't encountered many tense or anxious situations before. Liu Chang'an only discovered this when she took out 200,000 yuan from her person.

Bai Hui pressed her chest to catch her breath. She had been catching up on sleep in her dorm that morning, and when she woke up, she didn't even bother to change into her pretty dress or put on makeup before rushing to find Liu Chang'an... This meant something really serious had happened.

"Yesterday... yesterday I heard from your class that you didn't have class until the afternoon... I knew you must have arrived at school right on time..." It was too common for Liu Chang'an to miss or deliberately not answer the phone, so Bai Hui had no choice but to patiently call him from her dormitory to ask him questions.

"Your eyelashes aren't curled at all today, they look like dead fish eyes." Liu Chang'an glanced at Bai Hui, noticing a slight difference from last night.

Perhaps it was because the lights were so beautiful last night, and the night was just right, that the willow branches outside the window stirred up thoughts of spring.

"No way!" Bai Hui exclaimed in surprise, hurriedly turning around and checking herself with her phone's front camera. Thank goodness, even without beauty filters, her face looked slightly tired from staying up all night, but it was still acceptable. After all, she was a pretty girl, and she could go out without makeup. There was no need to put on seven or eight layers of makeup before she could confidently see someone she cared about... ugh, someone she disliked.

"My eyelashes are naturally long and curled. I wore colored contact lenses last night, so they looked sparkly, and they might be slightly... slightly larger by a millimeter... no, a hundredth of a millimeter. Actually, there's no difference." Bai Hui wanted to remind Liu Chang'an not to be blind and to take a closer look, but then she remembered all the reflections, determination, and pride she had felt after returning to her dorm this morning. So she just stared at him with wide eyes, hoping he would understand on his own. Anyway, she wouldn't remind him.

"Oh." Liu Chang'an finished eating the pig brain and got ready to go to class.

"Wait a minute..." Bai Hui caught up with Liu Chang'an, patted her chest, and almost forgot about the important matter, "I still have something to tell you!"

It's all Liu Chang'an's fault. He started rambling on and on as soon as we met, making Bai Hui almost forget about the important matter.

"Speak."

I tagged you on Weibo, did you see it?

"No!"

"Look at this Weibo post, I'll read it to you..."

"Stop reading it. An Nuan has already read it once." Liu Chang'an had no interest in hearing it a second time.

"Huh?" Bai Hui lowered her voice, "Did she ask her mother to put in a good word for you at school?"

"What are you talking about?" That's utterly absurd.

"You buried Guan Yuan!" Bai Hui heard about it in her dormitory, and after seeing it on Weibo, she became even more convinced that Liu Chang'an was the one who did it!

Last night, Liu Chang'an said he buried Guan Yuan. Bai Hui certainly didn't believe him at the time, but she really didn't see Guan Yuan all night. Could that be a coincidence? The villa in the Weibo post is the same one where they had a party last night!

"Your reaction time is pretty slow, huh? I told you last night, and you only came rushing over here this afternoon, all flustered." Liu Chang'an pointed to the roasted pig brain shop behind him. "Go order a set meal from that shop, eat pig brains for every meal, and you'll be eating it for half a year."

"Really... really... it really is!" Bai Hui stammered again after learning the truth.

Liu Chang'an nodded.

Bai Hui then realized how incredibly stupid she had been! Why hadn't she realized it last night? Liu Chang'an clearly had a history of such ruthlessness. For example, that night when he encountered two petty thieves, he casually threw them off a pedestrian overpass, right above a road! He didn't care at all whether they lived or died!

For example, there was an earlier incident where he beat two disciples who came to spar, sending them to the hospital, and then he even demolished their martial arts school!

Bai Hui was filled with regret. She had heard him say last night that he had buried Guan Yuan, but she had taken it as a joke. If only she had found out last night, she would have made him dig Guan Yuan out.

But... am I overthinking it? Given Liu Chang'an's personality, since he's already done this, do you think he'll change his mind if I talk to him? Pigs would fly if that were the case.

"Now we're in the same boat again... no, we're in the same boat again... still no, you're the grasshopper, and I'm the one holding the rope." Liu Chang'an, having caught Bai Hui's stutter a little, waved his hand. "Grasshopper, go back to class."

"Why?" Bai Hui felt wronged. How did she become a grasshopper again? Being a grasshopper was bad enough, but she was the only grasshopper. Only if both of them were grasshoppers would Bai Hui be slightly willing.

"Because you're an accomplice, no, you're the one who instigated it. I was just doing the work. Last night, you were the one who asked me to bury Guan Yuan."

"I only asked you to help me deal with Guan Yuan!"

"I'll bury him then."

"Then... then it's not that I'm not... I..."

"You're going to come to our classroom for class?"

Liu Chang'an suddenly stopped and turned to look at Bai Hui.

Bai Hui reached out to cover her chest, a gesture that was far more agile than her athletic ability. After all, girls with large breasts tend to experience more pain from impacts, a trait they've developed.

Why does it still hurt more even with thick cushioning? Actually, it's relative. Because with her bra size, when someone bumps into you, they usually actually hit your chest, while other girls usually only hit their face or nose, and it doesn't hurt their chest.

Bai Hui realized she had followed him to the classroom door of the School of Biology. She quickly turned and ran away. Last night, some of her classmates must have had a good impression of her. Today, she had followed Liu Chang'an to their classroom, which would inevitably make people suspect that there was something between her and Liu Chang'an. Most importantly, she wasn't wearing makeup. She didn't want people to think, "Oh, this girl looked so pretty last night, but why doesn't she look so pretty today? Is it because the lighting was too beautiful, the night was perfect, and the willow branches outside the window stirred up thoughts of spring?"

Liu Chang'an glanced back at Bai Hui's swaying waist as she ran away. With such a heavy upper body and such a thin waist, her sense of balance must be terrible... Look, she almost crashed into a tree.

In the first semester, everyone attended classes together. Zhu Juntang also came to class. Except for military training, she seemed to have a pretty proper posture when she was in class. One day, she didn't take a helicopter to class. Instead, she chose a regular Bentley, which was cheaper than her custom Maybach S680. She didn't even ride in a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Zhu Juntang believes that wealthy people should indulge in extravagant spending and purchase of real estate in China, which can not only stimulate domestic consumption and increase employment, thus making a secondary contribution to economic development, but also demonstrate their determination to live a simple and honest life.

If we look at it the other way around... Zhu Juntang won't say anything more.

-

I recommend a book, <The Master of the Yellow Court>. It tells the story of Lu Laogou's journey of cultivation through countless worlds. It's not cliché at all, and it's super good!