Chapter 16
The precious sheets of paper lay scattered across his blanket.
He exuded an air of disillusionment, as if he had given up on life and was just waiting to fade away.
“What’s wrong?”
Gao Yuan’s gaze was vacant, clearly not in the mood to talk.
After a long pause, he suddenly sat up and shouted, “I just won’t be this book boy anymore! I won’t look at these things either!”
Zheng Fa was taken aback, his eyes instinctively shifting to the scattered papers. “You think looking at these will keep you from being kicked out?”
“What do you think that book Young Master Qi reads all day is?” Gao Yuan pointed at the patterns on the paper. “It’s all these strange symbols!”
Zheng Fa picked up a piece of paper and examined it. The patterns were chaotic and complex, lacking any discernible order.
“What does Young Master Qi want with this?”
“Talismans! These are the legendary talismans of the immortal sects!”
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but feel a sense of reverence. Even the seemingly childish doodles on the paper now appeared filled with mystery.
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**Chapter 18: Young People Should Believe in Science!**
Zheng Fa looked again, but he still couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
The sheets were all jumbled, with no pattern, as if they had been hastily sketched.
If Gao Yuan hadn’t said these were related to the immortal sect, Zheng Fa would have believed they were drawn by his little sister.
“Where did you get this stuff?”
He set the paper down and asked Gao Yuan.
“My dad gave it to me.” Gao Yuan stared blankly at the ceiling, looking utterly defeated.
“Did your dad say these are talismans?”
“It’s not my dad who said it. Didn’t I tell you that Young Master Qi had five book boys before?” Gao Yuan explained to Zheng Fa. “This was drawn by the very first one.”
“Where did he learn about it?”
“My dad said it’s not really a secret in the manor. Apparently, Young Master Qi, for some reason, has the potential for cultivation but can’t practice.”
Even though there were only the two of them in the room, Gao Yuan instinctively lowered his voice.
Zheng Fa recalled that Coach Xu had also mentioned something similar.
“But Young Master Qi has always been unwilling to accept it, spending all day reading these talismans and books about spells.”
Zheng Fa pointed at the patterns on the white paper. “Is it really these?”
“Exactly! This was secretly copied down by a previous book boy. I heard he was kicked out of the manor for it by the lady.” Gao Yuan frowned. “Honestly, what’s the point of copying this? Who can understand it?”
Zheng Fa wholeheartedly agreed with Gao Yuan’s sentiment.
Even though he had already come to believe that these strange symbols were indeed related to those so-called talismans, he couldn’t see anything special about them no matter how he looked.
“Your dad managed to get this?”
“How many people in the Zhao Manor want to curry favor with Young Master Qi? Everyone has their own way of doing things. This isn’t exactly a big secret, but no one can make sense of it!”
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but marvel again at how the Zhao Manor truly had connections to the immortal sect. Despite Gao Yuan’s casual tone, these sheets of paper might be something an ordinary person would never encounter in their lifetime.
He took another look at the patterns, quietly committing them to memory.
Later that evening, he saw Gao Yuan deep in thought again, holding the sheets of paper.
“Aren’t you done looking at them?”
“I’m done looking, but that book boy position is really gone now!”
Gao Yuan gritted his teeth as he spoke. Zheng Fa nodded, lay back on the bed, and soon drifted off to sleep under the light.
---
When he woke up again, he was back in the modern world.
The sky outside was still dim, barely past five o’clock.
Zheng Fa hurriedly filled his stomach, not even grabbing his backpack, and headed out toward the school.
There were very few pedestrians on the road, just a cleaner in an orange vest sweeping up fallen leaves.
About five hundred meters from Qingshui Middle School, there was a small park.
Zheng Fa entered the park and found that quite a few people were already exercising.
Mostly older folks, and as a young man, Zheng Fa attracted quite a few curious glances from the elderly.
He found a patch of open ground and assumed the stance of the Songhe Zhuang (Pine Crane Stance).
With each breath, a familiar warmth surged within him.
It worked!
Zheng Fa cheered inwardly, almost losing his rhythm.
He had been thinking about practicing the Songhe Zhuang in this modern world to make up for his late start.
But he was also a bit worried that the rules of the two worlds might differ, and that he wouldn’t be able to practice here.
That’s why he had come to the park early to try it out, and he hadn’t expected it to go so smoothly.
Suppressing his excitement, he gradually immersed himself in guiding the warmth within.
Once he completed his daily standing practice and felt his stomach rumbling, he finally let out a long breath, a clear crane’s call escaping his lips.
When he opened his eyes again, he found an old, wrinkled face peering at him, filled with curiosity.
The man looked to be in his sixties, with white curls on his head, wearing an old man’s shirt, standing with his hands behind his back in front of Zheng Fa.
Seeing him open his eyes, the old man smiled awkwardly and took a step back.
“What were you doing? Warming up your voice? Learning to sing?”
He asked with a hint of curiosity, seemingly enchanted by Zheng Fa’s last peculiar breath.
“Uh, just exercising.”
“Exercising?” The old man chuckled, mimicking Zheng Fa’s earlier stance. “You think this is how you exercise?”
“I don’t really know; I’m just copying what I saw.”
Zheng Fa found it hard to explain the purpose of his Songhe Zhuang.
The idea of another world was already absurd; if he started talking about immortal sect legacies, the old man would probably send him to a mental hospital.
“I see, you’ve been watching too many short videos—those ancient martial arts, breaking bricks, internal and external styles—they’re all just tricks. Running is better for your health! It’s just that in recent years, the crackdown hasn’t been strict enough; otherwise, I bet those so-called masters would all be behind bars!” The old man said seriously, then looked at Zheng Fa’s face and added, “Do you live nearby? Are you from Qingshui Middle School?”
Zheng Fa felt something was off. The old man sounded like he was connected to the school.
“What class are you in?”
Zheng Fa hurriedly replied, “I’m from the neighboring city, just visiting!”
With that, he turned and walked toward the park exit.
“Exercising is good, but you can’t just learn anything!” The old man called after him. “You’re still young; you should believe in science.”
It wasn’t until he left the park that Zheng Fa wiped the sweat from his forehead, vowing never to return.
---
After morning self-study, Zheng Fa held a meat bun bought from the cafeteria in one hand and a pen in the other, doodling on a piece of scrap paper.
Before long, several patterns that looked like tangled yarn appeared under his pen.
They were unmistakably the so-called “talismans” that Gao Yuan had looked at earlier.
Zheng Fa hadn’t delved deeply into them at the time, but he had sensed Gao Yuan’s tension: in recent days, Zheng Fa’s progress in martial arts had been slightly ahead of Gao Yuan’s. The boy, after all, was still naive and had begun to distance himself a bit.
On the other hand, Zheng Fa was reluctant to let anyone from the Zhao Manor, including Gao Yuan, see his guarded side.
The idea of immortal sect talismans sounded enticing, but clearly, not everyone was qualified to view them.
Otherwise, why would Gao Yuan’s father have hidden those sheets in a food box?
Zheng Fa knew he didn’t have a butler father like Gao Yuan, who could brazenly look at those papers. He wasn’t sure what consequences might arise if he showed too much interest in them.
So he decided to study them in this world.
His memory was quite good; after just a few glances, the patterns were etched in his mind.
However, as he continued to look, he began to understand Gao Yuan’s frustration—these things made no sense at all.
“What are you looking at?”
Wang Chen suddenly popped his head over his shoulder, peering at the scrap paper with a frown. “What’s this? Are you preparing for a math competition?”
“A math competition?”
“Yeah, if you’re not preparing for a math competition, why are you looking at these geometric shapes?”
Zheng Fa perked up. “You think these shapes are related to math competitions?”
“I don’t know; I’ve never participated in any competition training. But I’ve seen problems written by competition students…” Wang Chen rubbed his chin and looked at the patterns again. “Yeah, it’s that feeling of nausea, like you’re questioning whether your brain is missing something.”
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**Chapter 19: Getting Started**
Wang Chen’s words made Zheng Fa ponder whether these patterns had something to do with math competitions.
“Are there any competition students in our class?”
“In our class?” Wang Chen gave him a strange look. “There aren’t many competition students at Qingshui Middle School! This stuff is only for the elite of provincial key high schools!”
Qingshui Middle School was actually quite decent in the city.
Every year, there were one or two top students, but provincial key schools? That was a different level altogether.
“However, I heard that Tang Lingwu is secretly studying for competitions.”
Zheng Fa’s gaze instinctively shifted to the front of the classroom.
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