Cuteness Matters More Than Beauty

It started raining again in the latter half of the night, the raindrops falling lightly on the awning, rolling down the edges and dripping, reflecting the lamplight, creating an exceptionally peaceful atmosphere.

Liu Chang'an opened his eyes. The cool air and humidity made him feel very comfortable. Sleeping outdoors was much more comfortable than being in a damp bed. Liu Chang'an stretched. There was silence all around, except for the sound of rain. The light from the incandescent bulb under the awning seemed to be pressed down on Liu Chang'an by the darkness. Looking around, it seemed that only this small awning remained quietly in the world.

Liu Chang'an went back to his room, took the book he had borrowed from Zhu Juntang, and started flipping through it. Perhaps it was because ordinary human life was short that their desires to live a wonderful and joyful life were even stronger, which led them to create countless beautiful, ugly, absurd, dark, heroic, and shameless stories.

Liu Chang'an had experienced some things, and some things he could never experience. So he looked at other people's lives. Life is long, but not every kind of life is worth experiencing.

He read until dawn when the little hen was brought over. Liu Chang'an gently stroked its head and then sent it on its way of no return.

"Will you jump out of the coffin once you've absorbed enough life force and blood?" Liu Chang'an asked, looking at the coffin.

Having witnessed countless strange and unusual events, Liu Chang'an still read anecdotes from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio like * Zi Bu Yu *. He didn't believe he had seen it all. Life in the world is ever-renewing and infinitely mysterious. He didn't even understand his own body's phenomena, so how could he easily lose his curiosity and interest in unknown and wondrous phenomena?

The coffin did not answer him.

"Is that a zombie that popped out? According to the hierarchy of zombies, which level do you belong to? Blood Red? Are you jumping around with knees that can't bend, or do you look like a living person?"

Liu Chang'an patted the coffin.

"If you could come out, you could keep me company."

As Liu Chang'an closed the carriage door, he saw Zhou Dongdong running under the sycamore tree with her newly bought little floral umbrella. She patted the trunk and then ran to a small locust tree and pushed it.

Rain fell from the tree, pattering onto the umbrella. After a while, Zhou Dongdong closed the umbrella and held it in her hand. Then she took a deep breath, bent down, shook her hands and back a few times, and then jumped forcefully into a puddle in front of her.

Mud and water splashed everywhere.

Zhou Dongdong hopped between several puddles until she reached Liu Chang'an. She patted her pockets and realized she had forgotten to bring soy milk. She quickly ran back and got two bags of soy milk, giving one to Liu Chang'an and keeping the other in her mouth.

"If you're so capable, jump into that puddle!" Liu Chang'an was referring to the puddle where loaches were raised.

Zhou Dongdong retorted, "If Mom hadn't hit me, I definitely would have jumped in!"

"You think your mother won't beat you now?" Liu Chang'an tugged at the back of her clothes, showing her the splattered mud stains.

Zhou Dongdong was taken aback. How could this be? It must have been there on the clothes all along.

"We're going to get beaten up anyway, let's jump in one more time," Liu Chang'an said, pointing to the puddle.

"If I jump in here, Mom will hit me harder!" Zhou Dongdong refused without hesitation; she wasn't such a foolish child.

Zhou Dongdong didn't fall for the trap, and Liu Chang'an was very pleased with her growth.

The college entrance exam is tomorrow, so it's understandable that Liu Chang'an has no interest in studying. The rain stopped in the morning, Liu Chang'an planned to go to Riverside Cultural Park to see the newly built Junsha Museum, library, concert hall, and planning exhibition hall.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get into the Xiangnan Province Museum last time. Although the Junsha Museum doesn't have as rich a collection as the former, it's not without its merits. Moreover, the concert hall is said to have a unique design. The exterior wall surface is textured with musical staff and ancient China musical notation, and the musical scores used are the local South Hunan folk songs "Mist and Clouds over Xiaoxiang" and "Spring Dawn over Dongting", which effectively expresses the regionality and uniqueness of the building.

Liu Chang'an, still dressed in his neat shirt, trousers, and cloth shoes, strolled around the Riverside Cultural Park all morning, quite satisfied. There was a traditional music concert in the afternoon, but the tickets were expensive, so Liu Chang'an gave it up and spent his lunch break sitting by the river enjoying the breeze. Feeling a bit hungry, he leisurely walked home to cook.

After finishing his meal, Liu Chang'an set out two benches, removed a door panel and placed it on top, then spread out newspapers. He then laid out the fabric Qin Yanan had given him last time. As for using a sewing machine, he could borrow it from Zhou Shuling. He borrowed tools like cutting rulers, sleeve rulers, and grading rulers from Old Lady Liu. She wasn't a professional tailor when she was young, but most women of her generation were skilled at using sewing machines, and many could even sew clothes. Buying fabric and making clothes from scratch was more economical than going to a tailor shop to have a master measure and make clothes.

When Zhong Qing came to find Liu Chang'an, he was surprised to see him busy with dividing the land into plots. It took him a while to explain why he had come.

"The college entrance exam is tomorrow, I don't have time." Liu Chang'an looked up and refused Zhong Qing's request.

Zhong Qing looked at what he was doing; it turned out he was someone who was taking the college entrance exam the next day.

Zhong Qing wanted to smile and continue persuading, but she found that she seemed to have lost her smile in front of Liu Chang'an. Her tone remained gentle and calm, "I think you can still find the time. Third Mistress is very willing to see you."

"Since she wants to see me, she can come herself." Liu Chang'an continued with his work. This was a very obvious principle; why were some people so unreasonable?

"You should know that since you have such a close relationship with the Third Miss, you were bound to encounter this kind of meeting." Zhong Qing considered his words carefully. "After all, the Third Mistress is an elder. As a junior, being more humble will be more beneficial to your future interactions with the Third Miss... as friends."

"I'm not interested in elders; I only like pretty young girls." Liu Chang'an shook his head.

"Third Mistress is very beautiful." Zhong Qing wasn't as easily angered as before; after all, she had met Liu Chang'an quite often, and they had even eaten lobster together. "Although she's not a young girl, she and Third Miss are often mistaken for sisters."

"Okay, if she comes looking for me, I can see her." Liu Chang'an remained unmoved. In comparison, the other mother seemed much cuter and more charming; she was a beautiful and adorable little girl who could rival her daughter as sisters.

Being pretty is nothing special; being cute is more important.

Zhong Qing looked around and unbuttoned his coat one button at a time.

Liu Chang'an was somewhat surprised, but out of respect for the feelings of women when displaying their bodies, he did not look away.

Zhong Qing only unbuttoned a few buttons at the bottom of her shirt, revealing her smooth abdomen with two faint red marks, as if she had been whipped. A pitiful shyness and resentment appeared on her fair, rosy face. "If you don't agree, I will be punished like this."

"I'm not going."

After glancing at it twice, Liu Chang'an continued to do his own thing with his head down.

Zhong Qing buttoned up her clothes, bit her lip, glared at Liu Chang'an, and angrily turned and left.