Chapter 4

Zhai Da's home was in an old factory residential area called "Wool Spinning Third Residential Area."

Dongyang County is in the bulk province, but it belongs to the northernmost part. By comparison, it is typically absolutely underdeveloped within the province and relatively underdeveloped nationwide.

It ranks first among poverty-stricken counties in the province.

The earliest San-Yi Wool Spinning Factory was one of the few industrial enterprises in Dongyang County, mainly engaged in wool spinning and weaving, for both military and civilian use. In summer, they made military coats, and in winter, they made short-sleeved shorts.

In that era, basically every place had its own wool spinning factory, which was the most primitive light industry.

It had also been prosperous once. As a state-owned factory, building houses for employees was a routine operation. Dongyang County had four or five from "Wool Spinning X Residential Area" to "Wool Spinning New Village."

So the locals were also used to calling each residential area "Big Mao," "Second Mao," so his home was in "Third Mao."

Of course, it's a different matter now; this factory has been half-dead for more than ten years.

As for this house, it was allocated when his grandfather was alive. It is said that it was also related to some professional title he had evaluated. It was larger than the houses allocated to ordinary employees, with two bedrooms, one living room, and a storage room, over 60 square meters without shared area.

He was a single-parent child. His father passed away before he had any memories, leaving only a vague impression and some relatives with whom the relationship was not very harmonious.

So living with his mother, it was more than enough, and it was still very spacious.

Zhai Da followed his mother upstairs, looking calm and relaxed, but actually looking left and right. He hadn't been back to this place for too long.

After his mother passed away in his previous life, this house wasn't sold. It was left vacant for a few years, and after the hurdle in his heart was overcome, it was rented out.

In a few years, he only came back once because the tenant was operating a business inside and was caught by the police uncle.

Truly bad luck!

This building was "factory-built" at the beginning, so the idea was quite unique. There were four floors in total, and all the doors faced one direction, in a long corridor, the same as the factory dormitory.

Zhai Da's home was at the very end, and he had to pass seven or eight doorways along the way.

Every family was familiar. Now it was mealtime, and the main doors were wide open for smoke exhaust. Along the way, they had to chat a few words.

"Xiaoli, preparing to cook? Xiao Da has a treat again~"

"Auntie Liu is right, my mom's craftsmanship is nothing to say~"

"Xiao Da, home from school so early today? Caught by your mom at the internet cafe?"

"Grandpa Wang, your legs are still there! Truly healthy!"

Grandpa Wang:?

Actually, Zhai Da couldn't call most of these neighbors by their full names, just their surnames, but it was already a closer neighborhood relationship than in big cities. Not to mention helping each other, having a few familiar faces when returning home made it seem lively.

In case a tenant secretly operated a business and held a banquet, the neighbors could help report it!

Walking to the household at the very end, Zhai Da was stunned for a moment because a girl was standing at his door.

Her hair was very long, tied into the simplest ponytail. Her skin was slightly blue-white, her features were three-dimensional, and she had a pair of big eyes, but the corners of her eyes were longer, which gave people a cold and unapproachable feeling out of thin air. In fact, if you looked at her calmly, you could find that the other party was just "expressionless."

The long eyelashes were dyed warmer and more delicate by the light, and the shallow lip line had little blood color, almost merging with the blue-white skin, making the girl look exceptionally... clean.

He couldn't find a more suitable adjective.

The most critical thing was that Zhai Da actually felt this girl was a bit familiar...

But, he only remembered the legs of Lin Shuyao, who wrote the love letter. This girl, who was at least two levels better-looking than Lin Shuyao... he really couldn't remember who she was.

The girl was leaning against the wall, reading a book in her hand. The sunlight spilled from the corridor window, and the book spine read "Mathematical Olympiad Small Series."

Holding such a book in a small county and an old residential area reminded Zhai Da of the young people in big city cafes holding a copy of "To Live" or "The Moon and Sixpence."

Of course, Olympiad math is definitely more advanced. Ordinary people wouldn't think of pretending to be cool in this direction...

Seeing Yu Xiaoli, the girl took the initiative: "Teacher Yu, you left in a hurry this afternoon. The paper pattern didn't seem to be finished. Manager Liu said it will be used tomorrow, so he asked me to send it to you."

Yu Xiaoli smiled and took a plastic bag. The so-called "paper pattern" is the sample of the clothes to be made drawn on paper, setting the rules for cutting and sewing to achieve the purpose of standardized production.

She heard that her son fainted and was hospitalized in the afternoon, so she couldn't take care of work. The meaning of Manager Liu asking someone to send it was very obvious, which was to hope she would work overtime at home.

The girl sent the things, bowed politely, but when she raised her head, her gaze stayed on Zhai Da's face for a moment.

Zhai Da also met the eyes of this clean girl.

Calling Mom "Teacher"? Looking at her age and speaking habits, she was completely a student. As a result, she was a factory girl from the wool spinning factory?

Is the configuration of factory girls so high now? No wonder Ms. Yu always wants me to go to the factory.

After Lu Wei left, Zhai Da asked curiously:

"Mom, who is that?"

"A newcomer in the factory, she just came not long ago, she's my apprentice. This child calls me teacher every other word, making me feel embarrassed."

That's what she said, but Ms. Yu still liked to hear it. It was better than being called "Auntie Yu"..

In Zhai Da's memory, there was no such thing in his previous life, but it was reasonable. He didn't faint in the exam room in his previous life, so naturally, there was no such thing as sending "paper patterns" now.

But why did he still feel that girl was familiar?

Craving her body again?

After returning home, Yu Xiaoli turned directly into the kitchen, while Zhai Da stood at the door, changing his shoes slowly, actually looking at his "former home" constantly.

Clearly it was an ordinary, dilapidated "old, broken, small" house, but the corners of Zhai Da's mouth were harder to press down than an AK.

Even the inexplicable "smell" accumulated in the air because of the old decoration was so sweet~

Returning to his room, the feeling of being fiercely slapped in the face by youth was even more obvious.

One Piece posters, Jay Chou's album CDs, desk lamps that claimed to protect eyes, reference books on the table, "Men's Health" under the mattress...

This room was once the entirety of a teenager.

Reborn in 2008, every object could make him become a machine, falling into memories.

For example, the One Piece poster, a gift when buying "Anime Frontier." Every time there were a lot of gifts, I don't know what the magazine agency relied on to make money.

For example, Jay Chou's CD, bought at the audio-visual store at the school gate. The boss patted his chest and guaranteed it was genuine, selling for 18.8. As a result, Zhai Da took it back and listened, and inside was "Lonely Sandbar Cold."

That CD didn't have an announcer, it started singing from frame 0. Jay Chou was printed on the disc, so he always thought it was little Jay, but after listening for a month, he found it was old Jay.

Not to mention "Men's Health," occasionally needed when pretending to be a man.

Well... occasionally...

However, Zhai Da didn't have the time to be sentimental about so much for the time being. He had more important things to do.

That is to rummage through boxes and cabinets! See if there is more 【Equipment】.

He almost turned his room upside down, and took advantage of Yu Xiaoli cooking to rummage through many places outside, until his nasal cavity was full of dust.

He even rummaged out a few boxes of old "Peace and Tranquility Cow-Gallstone Pills" from an old box!

He said "Damn": The startup capital is here!

Looking closely, it was "Peace and Stability Burdock Pills."

After tossing and turning, Zhai Da finally disappointedly found that there didn't seem to be any special items in the house that could be converted into 【Equipment】...

That is to say, if you don't count the 【Clown's Love Letter】 forcibly converted by the system, their family only had one "28-inch bicycle" that counted as a special item.

Everything else, even some gold jewelry that Yu Xiaoli treasured very much, and all the sundries that carried his teenage taste, were ordinary objects and were not recognized by the system.

"It's reasonable, otherwise the system definition would be too loose... It's impossible for the whole street to be full of special items..."

"Strong emotions, obsessions, and moods will linger on objects... So the probability of old objects is higher, new objects are basically unlikely... Change the thinking, items with stories? Do antiques count?"

"From the perspective of the whole world, there will be many, many special items that can be converted into 【Equipment】. Maybe this small Dongyang County has hundreds of them, but starting from myself, the ones I can discover and own are still relatively scarce."

The two white 【Equipment】 he currently has: 【Clown's Love Letter】 is useless, just for fun; 【Permanent 28-inch Bicycle】 is for his mother to ride, which can make her commute to the factory a bit safer.

Rounding it up, his cheat is equivalent to not being turned on yet!

And a sense of humor can't be eaten as a meal.

"Xiao Da~ ready to eat!"

"Coming!"

Zhai Da used the last bit of time to dig out a piece of draft paper and write a few lines on it.

"One: Explore the system more."

"Two: Save the grades, strive to get into an undergraduate program, can't fall in love at all, just pay in installments in the future."

"Three: Don't want to be so tired in this life, at worst wait to buy that lottery ticket again. If money can be earned, earn it, but there must be some. The premise of lying flat is having money. Lying flat without money is called waiting for death."

"Four: Accompany Mom well, listen to Mom, don't make her angry, find an opportunity to take her to the big city for a checkup."

"Xiao Da~ hurry up~"

Zhai Da got up, ready to enjoy the dinner his mother had been thinking about for ten years.

Just as he was about to open the door, Zhai Da retracted his hand.

He turned back and added a sentence to that piece of paper.

"Five: Be a better version of yourself... Chase the sun and moon, don't forget the mountains and rivers."

Then, he raised his eyebrows at the young and immature self in the small round mirror on the desk.

He turned and grasped the old brass handle that had been worn off its plating.

He twisted it gently.

Open the door and enjoy a brand new life.