He shut out the world and devoted himself entirely to mastering origami.
One day, two days. Three days... five days...
As he slowly taught himself,
Gu Zhe gained a basic understanding of the various forms of paper artifacts, how to select and process paper, bamboo, and other materials, and the steps involved in folding, building frames, pasting, and making adjustments.
He also developed an overall sense of how to shape the figures, animals, buildings, auspicious objects, household vessels, everyday utensils, and other offerings used in rituals for the dead.
A week later:
Gu Zhe smiled at the crooked, slightly warped paper horse on the floor, a paper effigy that vaguely resembled a person but looked creepy on closer inspection, a set of burial clothes cut from paper, and a rather comical paper figure...
If someone had been there,
and seen those crooked creations,
they would probably have found them utterly terrifying. Then, seeing Gu Zhe's satisfied smile,
they might have suspected they had run into a psychopath.
Gu Zhe really was satisfied.
Going from a complete novice to barely managing a bamboo-framed paper horse and human effigy, along with paper burial clothes and a paper figure, in a week was already pretty good.
After all, Gu Zhe had previously been a pampered rich kid who never lifted a finger.
As for buildings, intricate utensils and vessels, attractive golden boys and jade maidens with complete outfits, statues of gods and Buddhist shrines, carriages, horses, sedan chairs, boats, pavilions, gatehouses, mountains of gold and silver... those were a bit complicated.
Gu Zhe had not tried them yet.
Take a paper spirit house for the dead, for example. It required carving, painting, writing, and planning out its dimensions.
It needed tables, pavilions, gardens, outbuildings, ponds, and so on.
The garden needed plants and flowers, and the pond needed a few paper fish. Then there were the furnishings indoors. Should they match modern homes? Should he include windmills, mills, farming tools, servants, hired hands, poultry, and livestock?
What about all the decorations?
Perhaps Gu Zhe did not need to go to all that trouble and could just throw together a paper building.
But he had not been learning for long, after all. Being able to make these warped, creepy things was already quite an achievement.
Suddenly,
Gu Zhe perked up, delighted surprise spreading across his face.
Because!
The panel had changed.
[Name: Gu Zhe] [Class: Mysterious Origami Craftsman] [Rank: Mortal] [Class talent: ritual transmutation] [Skills: Basic Paper Effigy Technique (Beginner), Basic Paper Figure Technique (Beginner), Basic Paper Artifact Technique (Beginner)] [Spirit points: 0]
Looking at the changes on the panel,
Gu Zhe could not help feeling delighted.
The skills section had entries now, which meant he could spend points to upgrade them.
"Studying? Not happening. I'll just get by on spending points."
The next moment,
Gu Zhe paused.
"Uh, the real question is, what the hell are these spirit points?!"
He focused his mind on each skill. The Basic Paper Effigy Technique, Basic Paper Figure Technique, and Basic Paper Artifact Technique each needed one spirit point to reach the next level.
That was not much. Compared to the cost of upgrading his talent, they were practically free.
The only problem was that he still had not found a source of spirit points.
Whatever the case, the system had recognized his skills as having reached the beginner level.
That proved he could move on to the next stage of experimentation.
Gu Zhe's mood lifted.
He checked his various group chats.
Since he had neither shown up nor said anything, discussions about him and the Gu family had dwindled considerably.
Life moved fast these days, and people's enthusiasm faded easily.
Especially after Gu Zhe ignored them, some people found it awkward to keep running their mouths.
There were still occasional messages asking where he had gone, though.
Most of those people were simply curious.
In the past, Gu Zhe would have kept quiet. After all, as a former top-tier rich kid who was still a university student, becoming an origami craftsman-a profession people associated with feudal superstition-was admittedly a little embarrassing.
Even if he could take it, there was no need to give others a chance to mock him.
But!
Now!
Was he just some ordinary origami craftsman?
With an awakened system, anyone with a functioning brain would know they were different now.
"Suddenly, I broke the golden cord; here, I tore the jade fetters apart. As the tidal roar rose on the Qiantang River, only today did I learn who I truly was..."
He smiled serenely.
"Now this is a new life. Ordinary rich kids can only piss their lives away on booze, women, and pleasure. Even a dog would turn that down!"
"Uh, ahem. Anyway, I'm not doing that anymore!"
How could the mockery of the ignorant shake the mighty heart of this Mysterious Origami Craftsman?
Besides... Gu Zhe had read countless novels. What if these spirit points came from other people's approval, complaints, or verbal smackdowns...? It probably did not work that way, but what if it did?
He picked up his phone.
He took photos of his masterpieces, then of his smiling face-a positively radiant smile!
"Not bad. After a few days in seclusion, I've picked up the Gu family's old craft again. Your daddy's back."
Then he posted the photos and text.
His Moments feed fell silent for a while.
His parents were the first to like the post.
For some reason, they immediately withdrew their likes.
Then comments started appearing.
Most were: ??? or !!!
There were also messages like "You can do it," "Interesting," "Heh," "Haha," "Being an ordinary person is fine too," and "I'll support your business sometime."
Nobody asked for details.
Gu Zhe understood perfectly. Having lived two lives, he had merely chosen to play dumb before; in truth, he was extremely perceptive.
They did not ask because they wanted to enjoy the spectacle without risking him latching onto them.
They worried that if he revealed how far he had fallen, he might ask to borrow money or call in favors they owed him...
Of course, there were also a few guys who had once been his closest friends.
Not a single response from them. Gu Zhe knew their phones had "definitely" been confiscated. Heh, they must have been grounded!
Human nature!
It really was the same in every world.
Those were nothing but worthless remnants of his "old" life.
Now!
Time to raise the roller shutter, open for business, and rejoin society!
Looking at the sunlight outside and the occasional passersby,
Gu Zhe stood in the doorway and stretched.
"A million seconds spent cultivating behind closed doors, and now I know not what year it is..."
"The hangers-on have scattered, and the truth stands revealed... same old surroundings, different people. Same old surroundings, different people..."
"Pfft..."
Gu Zhe turned to look.
It was a bright, lively girl with sparkling eyes, pink lips, and white teeth. She looked very youthful, probably eighteen or nineteen.
She was sitting outside the neighboring shop, apparently minding the store.
It was a shop with a strange mix of goods. A projecting board on one side of the entrance held incense, candles, and joss paper, while a freezer on the other held drinks and alcohol. Inside was a small convenience store.
Gu Zhe looked along the street, sorely tempted to ask whether opening a convenience store here was really a sensible idea.
But then he spotted a little fast-food place farther away and understood. People these days did not care about such things that much.
"Hey, mister, what are you looking at? A million seconds in seclusion? Think bigger! A million years in seclusion, then asking what dynasty this is-that sounds way better!"
"Hey, mister, when did you rent this place? What are you going to sell? Not that stuff again, right?"
Gu Zhe rubbed his chin.
He looked at the girl.
A pretty girl was easy on the eyes.
"Heh, are you scouting out the competition, or trying to chat up this handsome guy?"
"Pfft, mister, please. Take a look in the mirror. I'm not short on fatherly love!"
Mister?
I'm only twenty-three, damn it!
Just a week ago, everyone was saying, 'Had heaven not bestowed Young Master Gu upon us!'
Something suddenly occurred to Gu Zhe. He rubbed the beard he had neglected for a week and glanced at his somewhat scruffy clothes.
He began to understand.
He remembered how, back in school, even a girl just one year above him had seemed so much older.
Gu Zhe had no intention of shaving his beard right away.
He glanced at his shop.
This look fits perfectly, okay?
Besides, it's better if nobody recognizes me as the son of Yuzhou's richest man. I used to keep a low profile, but people did occasionally snap photos of me.
Right, Yuzhou's former richest man!
"Hey, mister, what exactly do you sell?"
Gu Zhe pursed his lips. "Look for yourself!"
Sure enough, the girl jogged over to his doorway and peered inside.
"Ah..."
At first, she jumped in fright.
Then she recovered.
She pouted.
"Mister, your craftsmanship sure is something. All I can say is, seriously impressive!"
She could barely keep herself from laughing.
"I mean, they are scary, and they've definitely got that dead-person vibe, but are you sure you can sell them? Are you sure anyone's stupid enough to buy these...?"
Those were the products Gu Zhe had placed on the shelf beside the counter.
They were also the pieces that had brought his skills to the beginner level.
Crooked and lopsided, like children's playthings.
"Also, mister, with stuff this scary right next to our shop, how are we supposed to do business?"
Gu Zhe nodded as though he completely agreed.
He shot her a glance.
"Fair point. How about I open a little convenience store too? We can have some healthy competition."
"You!"
The girl stamped her foot.
Pouting, she went back to her own little shop.
Then she took out a book and began reading.
It seemed to be called Elementary Calculus, Volume One. So she was a first-year university student!
Damn that youth!
Just a week ago, I still had mine too, damn it!