Chapter 1410: Rapid Transformation

This is even easier.

Gu Zhihao gradually found his rhythm, speaking incessantly to the mirror; the results improved each time, and ten minutes later Sheng Hanyu called a halt: "That's enough, let's eat."

At the dining table, Gu Zhihao polished off three bowls of noodles by himself, and Shi Yuke couldn't stop laughing: "You never ate this much when doing farm work; does mental labor burn more energy?"

If it were any other time, he would certainly have complained to his wife, but today he didn't; he just gave a simple "Mm," which served as his reply.

Right now, his mind was entirely occupied with how to deliver that speech better, and how to express everything he wanted to convey!

After the meal, he didn't need to be urged; he took the initiative to go to the Study and practiced in front of the mirror.

Seeing that he had entered the zone, Sheng Hanyu picked up a book and read it casually, occasionally offering him a word of guidance; the afternoon passed quite quickly.

The next day.

Today the content changed.

Sheng Hanyu handed Gu Zhihao another stack of paper and told him: "Answer the questions above in written form."

Gu Zhihao: "What's 'written form'?"

Sheng Hanyu:...

He realized he had been careless; he shouldn't have ignored the fact that the man's foundation was abysmal just because he performed well yesterday.

"It means using a pen to write on paper."

"Oh."

Gu Zhihao sat at the desk like a diligent elementary school student, picking up the Hallucinogenic Pen to prepare to answer the questions.

As it turned out, he sat there for three minutes without putting pen to paper!

The first question wasn't difficult; it was mainly about future planning for the village and how to seek benefits for the villagers.

These were also the issues most relevant to the villagers' interests and the ones they were most likely to care about.

"Don't know how to answer?"

"No, I don't know how to write the character 'solve'."

Sheng Hanyu:...

"Why do you need to write 'solve'?"

Gu Zhihao replied: "When I watch the two kids doing their homework, they always have to write 'solve' before the answer!"

Sheng Hanyu:...

The expression on his face didn't change, but inside, he had already flipped the table.

"You're looking at math homework, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes, brother-in-law, you're too amazing, you're practically a god; you even know what kind of homework I'm looking at, how did you know?"

Sheng Hanyu thought to himself, does that even need asking?

Aside from solving math equations, elementary students don't need to write the character "solve" for any other homework.

"Don't get hung up on the details; you aren't an elementary student, and this isn't math homework, so there's no need to write the character 'solve'. Besides, if you encounter any other characters you don't know how to write, you can use pinyin instead."

"I don't know pinyin either."

Sheng Hanyu:...

"Drawing pictures or using symbols to substitute is fine, as long as you can understand it yourself."

Gu Zhihao asked very "thoughtfully": "Is it really okay as long as I can understand it? You aren't going to check it?"

"I won't check it."

"Alright."

Having received a firm answer, he felt relieved this time.

Actually, besides not knowing how to write many characters, Gu Zhihao was also afraid of being laughed at for writing poorly.

He felt a great deal of awe toward Sheng Hanyu and was terrified of being mocked for performing poorly!

Since it wouldn't be checked, that made things easy; he wrote exactly what he thought—the entire page was nothing but plain, colloquial language... plus various drawings and symbols.

But none of that mattered; just as Sheng Hanyu had said, he could understand it himself!

He wrote more and more smoothly.

Because these questions were simply too good, as if someone had gone deep into the village to understand things; they were all solid, practical issues.

The few sheets of paper Sheng Hanyu gave him weren't enough, so he found a notebook himself, tore out a few pages, and continued to draw... and write!

"I'm done."

Gu Zhihao put down the Hallucinogenic Pen and rubbed his aching wrist.

"Check it."

"Huh?"

He was shocked, subconsciously covering the notebook in front of him, and reminded him nervously: "That's not right, brother-in-law, you said you wouldn't check it just now; how can you go back on your word?"

Sheng Hanyu didn't even lift his eyelids and said: "I said for you to check it yourself."

Check the things he wrote himself?

Impossible.

The whole page was full of "ghostly scribbles" that were impossible to understand; Sheng Hanyu wouldn't look at them.

Never mind not being able to read the characters; even if he could, he wouldn't look, as Gu Zhihao himself understood the village affairs best.

In this regard, he was a layman.

As long as the general direction was grasped, the specific matters still had to be handled by him.

"Oh, hehe, I'll check, I'll check..."

Gu Zhihao looked it over again himself and sure enough found quite a few problems, scribbling and making corrections!

Just as he put down the pen, Sheng Hanyu said: "Check it again!"

Gu Zhihao:...

He thought, was there really a need for this?

It had already been checked once, but since his brother-in-law had requested it, he could not refuse.

So he checked it again and actually found other problems; after revising it once more, the notebook was already "a sight to behold," though fortunately, he could still make sense of it.

"Check it again."

"Check it again."

By the fifth check, Sheng Hanyu finally called a halt: "That will do. Get a new notebook and rewrite the questions and answers all over again."

"You got it," he agreed with particular cheer.

Even if his brother-in-law hadn't requested it, he would have rewritten it anyway, as the original paper was already so messy that even he couldn't stand to look at it.

After it was rewritten, Sheng Hanyu told him that he didn't need to do anything before the election; he just had to wait for that day.

During the wait, Ergouzi was still jumping around the whole village, visiting every household to canvass for votes, while Gu Zhihao went about his business as usual, taking no action at all.

He could keep his cool, but the villagers who supported him could not.

People went to the Gu Family and asked him what he was thinking.

Was he going to give up?

Gu Zhihao put on a mysterious expression: "Give up? That doesn't exist. Just put your hearts at ease and go back home to wait."

Although the people didn't get a precise answer, seeing his confident appearance made them feel a bit more settled, so they went back.

The big day for the villagers to elect the Village Chief finally arrived.

The weather was not bad that day; early in the morning, the sky was overcast, and soon a light rain began to fall.

It was the height of summer, and with a bit of rain, the mugginess in the air was relieved quite a bit.

On the Square at the village entrance, red flags fluttered and colorful banners flew.

A red carpet was laid from the village entrance all the way to the village committee office to welcome the higher-ranking leaders.

The carpet was donated by Ergouzi, because the village didn't even have a single long red carpet!

Ergouzi was determined to win the election for Village Chief; as of yesterday, more than half of the people in the village had agreed to vote for him, and another quarter were still wavering.

He still had a "trump card" he hadn't played yet.

When a person is too confident, they easily become arrogant, and when they become arrogant, they easily stop taking their opponent seriously!

Ergouzi was in exactly that state now; he patted Gu Zhihao on the shoulder triumphantly and said: "Outsider, you're just a cook. A cook should just honestly do your cooking and stop always thinking about stealing someone else's rice bowl!"

Gu Zhihao was only a teenager when his father brought him to the village; he grew up in the village, but it was no use.

In the eyes of some people, he would always be an outsider.

Although Ergouzi had been out wandering for over a decade, his family had been in the village for generations, so he considered himself a cut above Gu Zhihao.