The First Lesson

"Xiuwen, could you help me sound him out? What kind of girl does Zhang Shuai actually like? I feel like I might have been too forward and scared him off, which is why he keeps rejecting me."

"Xiaoya, I suggest you give up while you're ahead. Don't hang yourself from a single tree. He probably doesn't like your personality. During those few gatherings, you started acting all loose and wild once you had a drink, and you frightened him."

"Then what if I start acting like a lady in front of him from now on, talk less—could that make him change his mind about me?"

"I doubt it. First impressions between men and women are crucial. You ruined your image with that drinking, and I'm afraid it's beyond repair."

Sun Xiaoya looked dejected. "I didn't know he was so innocent! Zhang Shuai has a childhood friend who lives in the same residential complex as my family. I asked him about Zhang Shuai's past. You wouldn't believe it—Zhang Shuai suffered from depression when he was a kid. He stayed in his rural hometown and didn't interact with anyone. He only came to the city these past two months to work as an electrician with his friend."

Lin Xiuwen was surprised. "He had depression? He seems perfectly normal to me, aside from being a bit naive at times."

"He is very innocent. After all, he's lived in the countryside his whole life, hasn't been out in society, and hasn't seen much of the world—he's inexperienced. But that's exactly why a man like him is a treasure! I'm a good judge of character; Zhang Shuai is definitely going to be successful in the future. Do you believe me?"

"I believe you. After all, he is very capable. With his photographic memory, he could succeed in any field, right?"

"Exactly! And he's so handsome, just my type. That's why I don't want to miss out on a treasure like him."

Lin Xiuwen frowned, not knowing how to convince Sun Xiaoya to give up.

Just then, Zhang Shuai walked over and greeted the two women naturally.

"Sun Xiaoya, Lin Xiuwen, what are you two beauties chatting about?"

Sun Xiaoya opened her mouth, ready to say she was talking about him, but stopped herself, swallowing the words back for some reason.

Lin Xiuwen smiled and said, "We were waiting for you. Come on, I'll take you to handle the paperwork for your auditing status."

With that, Lin Xiuwen and Sun Xiaoya took Zhang Shuai to the School of Liberal Arts office building. They found the Student Affairs Office, where a staff member gave Zhang Shuai an application form to fill out. One of the fields asked for his educational background, and Zhang Shuai cheekily wrote down "high school."

After filling in his basic information, he submitted the application.

Lin Xiuwen told Zhang Shuai to go back and wait for the approval notification, noting that it should be processed by tomorrow.

The next morning, Lin Xiuwen sent a message saying his application had been approved and told Zhang Shuai to come pick up his auditing pass and pay the fees.

Once at the school, Zhang Shuai followed Lin Xiuwen to collect his pass and downloaded the entire course schedule for the Paleography major from freshman to junior year. Finally, he selected all the courses he needed to attend.

These courses spanned from freshman to junior year, but Zhang Shuai only chose those related to the evolution of ancient characters. He skipped foundational courses like Ancient Chinese and Ancient History of the Dragon Kingdom, as he felt they were mostly introductory and of no use to him. He only picked what was essential.

In the end, the auditing fees totaled eighteen thousand yuan. It wasn't cheap, but fortunately, Zhang Shuai had earned a sum of money in the Beautiful Country; otherwise, even the fees would have been a problem.

After paying the money and collecting a stack of textbooks, the entire day had passed.

The next morning, Zhang Shuai went to his first class: Introduction to Philology.

The class was held in Multimedia Classroom No. 9 of the Paleography department. Before nine in the morning, Zhang Shuai arrived early and sat silently in a seat in the back row.

When he arrived, there were only three or four other people in the room, all of them men.

Seeing Zhang Shuai, the other students looked surprised. He looked about twenty-four or twenty-five, an age not typical for an undergraduate. He could have been a second- or third-year graduate student, but why would a senior student be attending a foundational course like Introduction to Philology?

Zhang Shuai didn't mind their strange looks. Since he had chosen to audit university classes, he had already anticipated such reactions. Back in his rural hometown, he had grown accustomed to people staring at him since he was a child; the villagers had treated him like a fool, so he was long used to it.

After a few minutes, students began to trickle in, though the total number was only around forty or fifty.

Soon after, Professor Wang Songlin arrived. In the field of Paleography, Professor Wang's expertise was top-tier in the country. He was a first-rank professor, and he was a renowned authority on the subject of the Origin and Evolution of Ancient Chinese Characters. He had even participated in writing many of the textbooks for the discipline.

"Before we begin, I want to clarify a concept: what does the course Introduction to Philology actually teach? I will provide a brief overview. This course mainly covers the origins, nature, structure, and evolution of the ancient characters of the Dragon Kingdom, as well as the laws of their development..."

Zhang Shuai listened intently, hanging on every word the professor spoke.

During the lecture, Professor Wang used a projector to illustrate the origin and evolution of the Dragon Kingdom's writing system.

"There are various hypotheses regarding the origin of writing. Currently, there are two main viewpoints: the mythological 'Cangjie Creating Characters Theory' and the 'Knotted Rope Theory.' By examining ancient legends and archaeological discoveries, we can explore how the writing of the Dragon Kingdom might have first emerged..."

"We will examine the forms of primitive writing, such as the relationship between early symbol systems like pottery inscriptions and the origin of writing, and analyze how these simple symbols gradually evolved into a system with semantic functions..."

Professor Wang's lecture was vivid, and Zhang Shuai was so engrossed that the class ended before he knew it.

In the afternoon, Zhang Shuai audited two sophomore-level Paleography courses: General Theory of Oracle Bone Script and General Theory of Golden Literature.

For the next two months, Zhang Shuai attended every class on time. When he wasn't in class, he delved into the ancient characters found in the Small Heavenly Cycle Art. After two months of systematic study, he had gained a fundamental understanding of Paleography.

Zhang Shuai had originally thought that by following Lin Xiuwen to university, he could grow closer to her and spend more time being intimate. However, he realized that with Sun Xiaoya around, Lin Xiuwen didn't dare to date him openly. Zhang Shuai also felt awkward asking her to come to his rented place at night, fearing she might think he was a lecher.

Haste makes waste, and Zhang Shuai wasn't the type to fall apart without a woman; he poured all his focus into studying Paleography.

The deciphering of the Small Heavenly Cycle Art allowed for no errors, so he studied with great diligence.

However, the more he researched, the less confident he felt.

He felt that even if he mastered all the domestic knowledge on Paleography, it would be difficult to translate the Small Heavenly Cycle Art accurately. The characters in the text were slightly similar to Oracle Bone Script, but they were not the same.

There were too few references to compare them against. He might be able to guess the meaning, but the accuracy would be greatly compromised.

Yet, a cultivation technique could not afford the slightest mistake; one wrong step could lead to failure or render it ineffective.

For these two months, Zhang Shuai buried himself in his studies, and his meetings with Lin Xiuwen were few and far between.

Although they were at the same school and were boyfriend and girlfriend, in these two months, they had only met at his rented place to be intimate a couple of times during the first few days—and that was limited to kissing. Both of them kept their boundaries, never crossing the final line.