"How many games have you played?" Zhou Li turned, closed the door, and asked in a low voice.
"Quite a few." Huai Xu's gaze shifted evasively.
"How many is 'quite a few'?"
"No." Huai Xu paused, then began his counterattack, "Where did you and Li Daimao go to have fun? Did you enjoy yourselves?"
"Did you finish your homework?"
Huai Xu handed Zhou Li a notebook, then muttered under his breath, "If you're checking my homework, I should be the one checking your reading. I can examine whether you've truly learned anything from the books. That would be fair."
Zhou Li ignored him, flipping through the notebook. "Should I buy you some copybooks to practice your handwriting?"
"Why? Didn't you say before that you wanted to practice calligraphy?"
"My brain must have been slammed by a door back then."
"The door's fine. It was my brain that was damaged when I agreed to only play four games a day and do so much homework." Huai Xu was filled with regret. "Plus, now I have to attend classes for you. Look at you, not even attending your own classes. Then look at me."
Zhou Li nodded. "What about the diary?"
"Haven't written it yet." As Huai Xu spoke, he started pushing Zhou Li out. "You go take a shower. I'm going to start writing now."
"If I showed you, would you even look?"
"You hesitated! You hesitated!" Huai Xu pointed at Zhou Li, saying repeatedly.
"That's because you offered to show it to me, and I was afraid saying no would hurt your feelings." Zhou Li put on a helpless expression. "What's so interesting about your day? Besides homework, it's just playing games, playing games, playing games, then regretting your gaming addiction and swearing to study hard from tomorrow, followed by more playing games, playing games..."
"Still denying it? Ever since you got into gaming, you've rarely gone out to bully other Little Demons."
"Isn't that me responding to the national call and contributing to society?" Huai Xu retorted. "The virus is rampant outside. Are human lives the only ones that matter? Aren't Demon lives important too? Besides, I do go out often, you know. I run around everywhere and have way more fun than you."
"Alright, alright..."
Zhou Li didn't feel like arguing. He picked out a change of clothes from the wardrobe, wrapping his underwear into a bundle and tucking it inside.
「Half an hour later.」
When Zhou Li returned to his room, he greeted Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing, who were watching TV in the living room, and reminded them to go to bed early. Those two had started their online classes last month, and their workload was much heavier than his.
Huai Xu was still hunched over his desk writing, his body bent and head lowered, meticulously forming each stroke.
He was genuinely trying not to write anything questionable.
This Old monster loved to play and was addicted to games, that was true, but he also genuinely loved to study. At least, he loved studying more than Zhou Li did. For that reason, he was even willing to accept Zhou Li's supervision. Sometimes, when Zhou Li was annoyed by him, he would deliberately make his homework difficult, but Huai Xu would still endure it. It had reached the point where Zhou Li sometimes felt, 'This student is actually quite good.'
"Still writing? That's a lot."
"Didn't you say you wouldn't look?"
"I won't look." Zhou Li thought for a moment, then added, "Don't lean so close to the notebook. It's bad for your eyes; you'll get nearsighted."
"I won't get nearsighted!"
"Keep your back straight."
"You're so annoying!" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽
"You'll regret it later..."
Having had his fun, Zhou Li lay down on his bed.
He took out his phone, put on his headphones, found the well-hidden TikTok app, and opened it. He had intended to sneak a peek at Brother Nan's updates, but as soon as he opened it, he came across a video from a local user. He only heard her voice and couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was a young woman with a very sweet voice.
The star of the video was a beautiful cat.
"During the epidemic, I found a stray cat. It was so pitiful. There was no one on the streets, so no one was feeding it. It was terribly skinny. As soon as it saw me, it rushed right over. It's so beautiful and seems so intelligent; I can't believe someone would abandon it."
"Don't worry, little one, I'll take good care of you."
"From now on, your name is Yiyi."
The post was from four days ago and had been a minor hit at the time. Commenters praised her luck and expressed their envy, likely because the cat in the video was indeed stunningly beautiful.
Zhou Li clicked in to see more. Over the past few days, the girl had been consistently posting videos about this cat, receiving many likes.
Sigh... He couldn't help but feel a bit wistful.
「Another ten minutes later.」
Huai Xu carefully closed his diary. He then made a show of scrambling the combination lock, pointedly avoiding Zhou Li's gaze, which amused Zhou Li greatly. He didn't have the heart to tell Huai Xu that cracking such a cheap plastic lock was practically child's play.
"Wrote two pages, huh?" Zhou Li whispered.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't look?"
"Caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye."
Huai Xu disappeared with his fountain pen and diary.
The room suddenly fell quiet.
Only then did Zhou Li open QQ and message Brother Nan—
Zhou Li: Are you playing games?
Zhou Li: Reading a novel?
Li Daimao: Copying homework, my hand is sore
Zhou Li: How about I give you a call?
Li Daimao: Why a call
Zhou Li: Just feel like it
Li Daimao: Then why not voice or video chat
Zhou Li: So many questions
After sending that, he dialed Brother Nan's number.
Brother Nan picked up promptly, launching into a tirade, "My hand is so sore from writing! Do you think this teacher is crazy? We don't usually have homework. Why pile it on us during the pandemic? And so many words..."
"Why not ask Baozi to write it for you?"
"Is she short on money again?"
"She bought a new camera lens."
"Then I'll ask her. Hey, where did I put my notebook?" Sounds of searching came from Brother Nan's end. "Hiss, I swear I just left it on the bed. Where did it go? Come out! Come out! Notebook, notebook, where are you..."
"Mind your own business... Found it! It was hiding here!"
"I rarely call people," Zhou Li explained. "Even if it's for something important, I seldom make calls. Except when it comes to Zheng Zhilan."
"No wonder you suddenly wanted to call me," Brother Nan remarked. "I rarely call people either. Our generation doesn't really like making phone calls. For us, it's more of a social custom to only call in emergencies. QQ and WeChat are so much more convenient, plus voice and video chats are free."
"True," Zhou Li agreed. After all, he was the kind of person who was too lazy to even listen to voice messages. Making a phone call was an even bigger hassle for him. Today was purely on a whim.
"So, should I hang up?" he said.
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead, bye," Brother Nan replied.
"Let's switch to voice chat after hanging up."
"Weren't you going to hang up?"
"..." After a pause, Brother Nan mused, "Are you sure your cousin is really short on money?"
"She said she's too lazy to write it herself," Brother Nan continued, followed by the soft tapping of keys. "I'll offer her more money and see."
"She still won't do it. She even said if she had money, she'd pay someone else to write hers," Brother Nan said. "Looks like she really is broke."
「An hour passed in the blink of an eye.」
The two of them finally, and with some difficulty, managed to end the call. Reflecting on it, Zhou Li found the whole exchange rather awkward.
Are other people too? He didn't know. And he was too embarrassed to ask.
「The next day, morning.」
Huai Xu was once again sprawled at his desk, enjoying breakfast. Zhou Li had already grown accustomed to this sight.
He checked his phone.
There was a message from Mr. Jiang on Alipay.
Mr. Jiang: "Master Zhou, I have a matter I'd like to ask for your help with. It's : I've recently discovered that the content of most books in our ancestral tomb consists merely of strange novels or biographies. It was only after consulting another book that I *could* read that I learned the true content of those books is only visible to those who possess the gift of a Heavenly Master. This makes it impossible for me to categorize them. Could I trouble you to assist me?"
Mr. Jiang: "I will pay."
Mr. Jiang: "Additionally, do you know of any way to resolve this issue?"
Zhou Li pondered for a moment, then showed the message to Huai Xu.
After reading it, Huai Xu chuckled. "Heh, this fellow is interesting. Letting you read precious books and even offering to pay you for it. You should think carefully about whether to agree."
Looking at the last message, he added, "It seems this person still hasn't accepted the fact that he doesn't possess the Heavenly Master's gift."
Zhou Li remained silent.
Huai Xu was probably right. Zhou Li figured that Mr. Jiang, through those miscellaneous books he *could* read, had likely come across a lot of accurate information regarding Heavenly Masters. Perhaps this had helped Mr. Jiang understand the significance of this first generation of Heavenly Masters. The Jiang Family was already lagging in this new era; it was hardly reprehensible for them to want to latch onto someone influential. But to be honest, Zhou Li wasn't accustomed to such convoluted dealings. And he had no desire to be the influential figure they latched onto.