Chapter 61 (Two in One)

"Well...the correct pronunciation of the following is...the one with no grammatical errors is...well...fortunately it's not difficult..."

The first session of Zhou practice was Chinese. Li Zhuangsheng supported his body and reluctantly answered the questions.

Chinese is the subject with the lowest threshold, and even Li Zhuangsheng, who has graduated for many years, can handle it.

After solving the first few multiple-choice questions, I still remember the filling in the blanks of the following poems, but I can’t write some words. This is also the dilemma that some online authors face in reality. They can type quickly on the keyboard, but they often stumble when actually writing.

If Li Zhuangsheng had not prepared for the civil service examination and picked up a pen again, he might not even be able to hold a pen now.

Subsequent reading of classical Chinese, appreciation and translation of vernacular Chinese were no problem. Ten years later, he would be able to barely read the original texts of ancient books that had been edited. However, the scoring points for high school classical Chinese translation are relatively rigid, and points will be deducted if some words are not translated accurately. Although Li Zhuangsheng could understand the meaning of the entire classical Chinese essay, he felt that he would not get full marks...

In any case, it has been going well so far, and Li Zhuangsheng also felt arrogant about it.

Haha, if I don’t know math, how can I still know Chinese? I’m a person who only eats words!
However, reading comprehension soon gave him a blow.

Appreciate the expressive features of the underlined sentences in the article... Well, what are expressive features?

Briefly summarize the character traits of xxx in the article...just cheerful, perseverance, what else?
What role does the last paragraph of the article play in the article... Hiss, is the full text of the leader or something? How should I answer?

Please explore the profound meaning that this article wants to convey... huh? How do I know!
A set of combo punches instantly knocked Li Zhuangsheng into disgrace, but he could only grit his teeth and fill up the empty space, and then move on to the next reading comprehension article... He was also in a mess after finishing it.

Finally it was the composition's turn, and Li Zhuangsheng felt that he could finally feel proud again.

I have written essays, although that was two years ago...but I am still a starting point writer who joined the Provincial Writers Association. Do you understand the value of professional counterparts? Isn't writing a piece of cake?
Let me write a touching story that will shock everyone. Maybe it will be posted for all the teachers and students in the school to admire and study! Before he even started writing, Li Zhuangsheng's heart was full of enthusiasm, his face was radiant, and his sleepiness in the morning was much relieved.

But forty minutes later, Li Zhuangsheng, who had filled up the essay grid, suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Wait, are the eight hundred words used up? Why do I feel like I just wrote the beginning... Wait a minute, why is the writing so watery? The whole article is useless nonsense... Oh oh oh, I forgot, I write online articles!
Li Zhuangsheng suddenly remembered his own job. Compared with writing stories, word count was his professional skill. It’s just over 800 words, isn’t it easy to get over it?
After taking a break from the Chinese test, Li Zhuangsheng was most afraid of facing mathematics.

It is known that the minimum positive period of the function f (x) = xxxxx is xx, then the value of the positive number is... No.

Evaluate xxxx plus xxxx...I don’t understand

It is known that tan a is -2, so the value of xxxxxxx is... What are the definitions of tan, cos, and sin?

Li Zhuangsheng turned over the math test paper over and over with despair on his face, and finally filled in two blanks. He thought he could probably get five to ten points... Well, there are always five points!
Is this my limit? Do you dare to let me be reborn and go back to elementary school? If I go back to elementary school, I will definitely suppress all enemies in the world!

Li Zhuangsheng sighed and lowered his head, scribbling on the scratch paper, pretending to be calculating, and pretending to be a fool among the students who were answering the questions seriously.

He also knew that he could not pretend for long. Teacher Fan, the invigilator, walked back and forth in the class, and soon he would find that he had actually filled in nothing...

"Li Zhuangsheng, is Li Zhuangsheng here?"

Following the sound of hurried footsteps, Principal Xingpeng appeared in a hurry at the door of Class 13, Grade .

……

"Hey, isn't that your partner?"

Xie Jiangqing smiled and pointed to a boy standing in a daze beside the basketball court in the distance.

"Who is he?"

Hu Mengdie frowned slightly. She had never seen this person before and didn't know why Xie Jiangqing mentioned him.

"He is Li Xiuyu's brother."

"What does Li Xiuyu's brother... have to do with me?"

Hu Mengdie had heard of Li Xiuyu before and had met him a few times from a distance. Like her, the other party became famous during military training in high school.

She is indeed a very beautiful girl, and is even nicknamed "school hunk" because of her attractive face to both boys and girls... So, it seems that her brother is a bit similar to her.

Xie Jiangqing said meaningfully, with a touch of teasing: "Her brother's name is Li Zhuangsheng, the Zhuangsheng of Zhuangsheng Mengdie..."

"Ok?"

Hu Mengdie was startled for a moment, then nodded with an "I see" expression.

Xie Jiangqing winked and joked further with a smile: "You said it was a coincidence or not, do you feel like you are destined? When you hear these names, they are a match made in heaven!"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Hu Mengdie rolled her eyes at Xie Jiangqing angrily, and couldn't help but cast a curious look at Li Zhuangsheng.

It was the big break before evening self-study. Students left the cafeteria in small groups, and the boys who occupied the basketball court were enjoying their youth on the court.

But Li Zhuangsheng seemed to be an anomaly. After dinner, he neither returned to work nor played ball. He just stood on the edge of the basketball court and playground, staring at the setting sun in a daze.

The sunset on this day was indeed particularly beautiful. The sky was like a burning fire, and the setting sun burned through the clouds. The cumulus clouds seemed to be wrapped in fire, burning out the edges of golden threads, like a magnificent brocade.

Gradually, the fire went out, and the distant skyline turned into a charming and deep purple ribbon... and the sky dimmed.

Li Zhuangsheng stared at all this blankly. The evening breeze slightly lifted his bangs, and his eyes seemed to be reflecting the light of fire.

There’s also the artistic conception, Hu Mengdie said in her heart. It seems that he is really the Zhuangzi who is wandering around and seems to be awake but not awake.

This was the first time the two met during the first semester of high school. Hu Mengdie silently remembered this boy because of this peculiar name and this wonderful picture.

Of course, that's all.

Life in high school was fulfilling and busy, and Hu Mengdie quickly left this mediocre boy behind. Only occasionally when I pass each other on the road, I will say in my heart, "He is Li Xiuyu's brother, Li Zhuangsheng."

If Xie Jiangqing or several other close friends were there, they would still snicker and tease her: "Isn't this your partner?"
Every time she heard this, Hu Mengdie would stare helplessly. But she won't be offended by it. After all, it's just a little joke among friends, and the last few people will just laugh and make a fuss.

Later, when she got a real boyfriend, she rarely heard this joke anymore, so she never really got to know Li Zhuangsheng.

When she was in high school, she didn't know what would happen between them in the future. In her mind, Li Zhuangsheng was just a schoolmate who had a slight impression of him.

Enthusiastic, easily shy, and a little bit unlucky.

Hu Mengdie's impression of his enthusiasm came from one early morning when her father drove her to school and stopped at a red light. She was sitting in the car and happened to see a junior high school student riding a bicycle in the wrong direction and bumped into Li Zhuangsheng's battery car. .

Li Zhuangsheng didn't seem to be angry, he just asked Li Xiuyu to go first, and he stayed to help him repair the bicycle. After that, it was unclear what happened, only that he was late for morning self-study.

Because after the morning self-study get out of class that day, Xie Jiangqing ran over to her with a smile and said, "Hey, your partner is standing downstairs."

Hu Mengdie looked down from the corridor curiously. The head teacher had been catching students who were late for morning self-study these days. Unfortunately, among the students who were late today, Li Zhuangsheng was among them.

He lowered his head and honestly accepted the punishment of being "watched". Hu Mengdie, who knew the whole story, had a complicated expression and thought that this was really a unlucky guy.

Fortunately, this incident did not dampen Li Zhuangsheng's enthusiasm for doing good deeds. After that, Hu Mengdie saw Li Zhuangsheng picking up garbage on campus more than once.

Hu Mengdie's impression of Li Zhuangsheng as "easily shy" originated in May of the second semester of her senior year in high school.

At that time, she had been dating Qi Haoyu for a while, and Li Zhuangsheng had gradually faded from her mind. But that day, a small accident happened. On the way to the teacher's office, the class book in her hand was blown away by a gust of wind.

Soon, passers-by offered help, but she didn't pay much attention at first. She knew that she was pretty and would always meet kind people.

But when she raised her head and said "thank you" to the person who helped her as usual, she found that the other person was Li Zhuangsheng.

She thought to herself, it's been a long time since I last saw him.

In fact, she must have met him before, but at that time she was fully focused on her relationship with her boyfriend, and she probably treated Li Zhuangsheng as a background figure like everyone else.

Although Hu Mengdie had observed Li Zhuangsheng unilaterally before, this was the first time she had met him face to face.

Since we've bumped into each other, let's just say hello, Hu Mengdie thought.

However, just as she approached and before she could say anything, she saw a blush quickly covering Li Zhuangsheng's entire face. He said "you're welcome" and ran away, almost falling flat on his face. Hu Mengdie was a little dumbfounded.

This was also her last contact with Li Zhuangsheng.

Besides, she had heard people say that the big-breasted Zhu Zhixue liked Li Zhuangsheng... but she had never seen the two of them together, so it must have been just a rumor.

The above is all the impression Hu Mengdie had of Li Zhuangsheng in high school—a somewhat interesting classmate.

Later, Hu Mengdie went to university. Although she and her boyfriend were in the same city, the universities were far apart, and the one-way journey took nearly two hours.

She originally thought that time and distance were not a problem. She had the same naive fantasy about love as she had in high school. She felt that love was like the sunset she watched from the window... so gorgeous and bright, and every day could bring her new feelings and joy.

But she was wrong, love was not the sunset she imagined... Maybe she was not wrong, but she understood it wrongly.

The sunset means it is far away in the horizon, and after that comes the long night.

The happiness of the past has turned into sadness, and the originally beautiful fantasy is nothing but a wishful thinking.

She was becoming more and more tortured by this relationship. She wanted to break up several times, but she couldn't bear the other party's pleading expression and the increasing sunk costs she was investing in the relationship.

Perhaps, I am also wrong. She always consoles herself in this way.

Until the other party touched her bottom line.

That should be the bottom line, or maybe it was just the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After a long struggle, it finally came to an end between them.

Hu Mengdie felt like a loser on the African savannah, and finally returned to her hometown with scars all over her body. She finally learned how to fake a smile.

When I was a child, I often couldn't express my ideas clearly. When I grew up, I couldn't speak from the heart. The price I paid was that I became more and more tired and more and more accustomed to keeping silent.

She stayed at home in depression for nearly two years. During this period, many people introduced her to potential partners. She also tried to get in touch with other men, but without exception, nothing came of it.

The painful experience of her last relationship had exhausted her energy. Her heart was now a desert and she no longer had the ability to love.

Until that day, her mother opened her door and told her that a certain relative had introduced another boy to her.

Hu Mengdie was feeling upset, but her mother introduced the boy to her, saying that he went to the same high school as her, that his name was Li Zhuangsheng, that he was not bad looking, had a good figure, came from a well-off family, and none of his relatives had any illnesses. He seemed to be a writer, with a good income, and his mother said that he was very honest and had never had a girlfriend... Oh, by the way, he was taking the civil service exam recently, and he had already passed the written test. We had to seize the opportunity to get this potential stock, otherwise the competition would be too fierce when he was admitted...

Hu Mengdie was slightly startled and ignored her mother's chatter. To her, the key information was just three words: Li Zhuangsheng.

The memories that had been sealed for many years were suddenly opened up. She couldn't help but recall the boy who quietly looked up at the sunset by the playground, the boy who risked being late to help others in the morning mist, and the boy who ran away in a hurry with a blushing face because of her approach...

Then go and meet him, she said to her mother.

On the day of the blind date, she put on some light makeup for the first time.

She didn't know why she did this, maybe it was because the two names gave her some expectations, or maybe she just did it on a whim... maybe she also felt lonely.

The two met again, which was a reunion for Hu Mengdie after ten years.

She was almost startled when she walked into the restaurant's private room. There were not many signs of aging on Li Zhuangsheng's face. He still looked like the 17-year-old boy in her memory.

Has time stopped for him?

He was still young, shy, reserved and gentle, so Hu Mengdie pretended not to recognize him.

The two of them had little interaction in school, and the other party probably didn't want to think about the experience of running away in embarrassment in front of her.

Hu Mengdie observed Li Zhuangsheng inconspicuously. He always kept his head down and spoke softly, as if he was the little girl. But he would occasionally realize his stage fright, and from time to time he would hold his head high and speak in a louder voice... although he would soon lower his head in shyness.

It was obvious that he was very nervous and was trying very hard to find topics to talk about. Hu Mengdie thought this was really cute and couldn't bear to see him too embarrassed, so she tried her best to agree with him.

After the blind date, Hu's mother asked Hu Mengdie what she felt about the blind date. Hu Mengdie replied that he was a very interesting boy and she hoped to get to know him better... After hearing this, Hu's mother happily conveyed the news to the boy's mother.

Hu Mengdie admitted that she said that at the time only because she was greedy for the other person's youthfulness.

That was something that had long been worn out in her. She wanted to be close to him.

But she never imagined that this would be the most important and correct decision in her life.

It was this decision that brought the ultimate redemption to her desolate heart.

(End of this chapter)