Chapter 81

In the following days, Yu Xiaoli discovered that Zhai Da was a bit different.

He was working harder.

It wasn't that he hadn't been working hard before... but he had taken a step further.

He got up an hour earlier than usual in the morning, and he held his notebook even while eating. One day, when she got up to use the bathroom after two o'clock, there was still light in Zhai Da's room, though she didn't know if it was one person or two.

However, she didn't interfere with Zhai Da; she just silently increased the nutrition in their daily meals, with chicken, duck, fish, and meat taking turns, and fresh fruit always placed on the dinner table.

Her mindset was somewhat like that of a programmer in later generations.

If a program is running for some unknown reason... then you'd better not mess with it.

Zhai Da's progress came from his own hard work, at most supplemented by Lu Wei's efforts; it was best for her, as a mother, not to cause trouble.

She just smiled like the Maitreya Buddha every day while working at the factory.

On the way to school, Zhai Da played with an ordinary coin in one hand.

This was his only time to relax... just messing around.

The coin flipped and moved rapidly between the gaps of his fingers on the back of his hand, as if it had a life of its own.

From left to right, from right to left.

The eyes of the people walking to school nearby were fixed straight on it.

Seeing a boy who looked like a junior student staring with wide eyes, Zhai Da smiled at him.

With a slap of his wrist, the coin flew up, and when it fell, he grabbed it in his hand.

He stretched out both hands: "Which hand is it in?"

The junior student pointed hesitantly at the right hand, having just seen with his own eyes that the right hand had grabbed it.

Zhai Da opened his right hand; it wasn't there.

He opened his left hand; it wasn't there either.

The junior student was stunned.

Zhai Da let him cup his hands together.

Then he displayed his clean hands again, placed them together above the student's hands, and rubbed them continuously.

Coins... coin after coin fell down, like rain.

The junior student was dumbfounded.

Subconsciously, he started clapping: clap, clap, clap...

He didn't know why either... but it was as if someone was whispering in his ear: There should be applause here!

Along with the other few students who had stopped just now, they also started to clap.

Amidst the applause, Zhai Da retrieved all the coins, tossed them up like a long dragon, then grabbed them in mid-air and turned to leave.

When he opened his hand again, there was only one coin left in his palm, continuing to flip and move on the back of his fist.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that the 【Set Effect】 was good...

Although "Nimble Hands" was an effect that was hard to quantify, from his own physical sensation...

It was quite invigorating!

It even smoothed out the difference in dexterity between his left and right hands... both his hands were now "dominant hands."

Precise, flexible, and fast.

To be honest, even his handwriting looked better than before because his control over his hands had become stronger.

Of all the bonuses brought by the 【Magic Regalia】, none were as important as this one.

You have to know, the most important organs for humans are the brain and the hands; this is the greatest reliance for humans to stand at the pinnacle of the natural world.

The benefits he gained were definitely not just that his magic tricks were smoother.

Compared to this, the other two set effects, "Mr. Magic" (magic props won't fail and won't reveal the trick) and "Center Stage" (easier to get applause), basically only acted on the magic performance itself, so they were actually irrelevant...

This served as a reminder to Zhai Da not to underestimate the 【Set】 just because its "category" was obscure; there might be surprises!

For example... perhaps there was a 【Manga Boy】 set that could give a manga volume?

Or perhaps there was a 【Tamer】 set, and humans were beasts too?

Wasn't that quite reasonable?

With a beautiful yearning for "sets," Zhai Da arrived at the overpass he passed by every day on his way to school. He subconsciously looked at the side of the road, but didn't see that familiar Mercedes S350; Lu Siwen would wait for him with a very high frequency.

But when he walked onto the overpass, he saw Lu Siwen and a man leaning against the edge of the railing. Lu Siwen was very close to him, and they seemed to have a close relationship.

"Student Zhai! Morning!"

Zhai Da looked at the other person curiously, and only when the other party turned around did he realize the person's identity.

That man pushed up his glasses and took the initiative to stretch out a hand.

"Hello, Student Zhai, I am Lu Siwen's father, Lu Zetao."

Zhai Da was a bit surprised, thinking to himself that he hadn't done anything to their daughter, so were they blocking him on the way to school?

He had only used Lu Siwen's pen...

Lu Zetao smiled: "Don't be nervous, I'm just seeing Siwen to school."

Although this person looked to be in his forties, his physique, attire, and height didn't have any sense of age; just now, looking at his back, one would have thought he was in his early twenties.

Moreover, his appearance was very handsome, even having a bit of a "Lu Yi" feel. Time had left traces but hadn't destroyed the overly excellent foundation, and he hadn't even put on weight.

When he was young, he must have been invincible at deceiving girls, Zhai Da couldn't help but think...

It seemed that Lu Siwen's beauty was mostly due to her father's genes; although Qian Yarong wasn't bad, she was much worse than Lu Zetao.

Of course, besides being handsome, he was a little bit greasy... not the greasy middle-aged kind, but a residual state of a "handsome guy" from the previous era.

A kind of deliberate "gentleness."

"She always mentions to me that this overpass can give people inspiration, so we climbed up together to take a look."

"Looking for inspiration?"

Lu Zetao smiled and pointed at himself: "Because, for the time being, your uncle can also be considered a writer."

Although he added "for the time being," Lu Zetao's eyes were full of pride and seriousness, as if he expected Zhai Da to be shocked!

Zhai Da:??

He turned his head to look at Lu Siwen; this girl had never mentioned this matter, even when they usually exchanged writing experiences.

But in fact, the situation might be a bit different from what Zhai Da thought...

In a broad sense, Lu Zetao was considered a "writer," a member of the Writers Association, and he was also a heavyweight in the loose provincial Writers Association, having already published several physical books...

But in a narrow sense, those were all self-published...

How was his level... it was probably to the extent that even Lu Siwen was embarrassed to praise it.

But he was rich, and even if he was only occasionally generous, the provincial Writers Association, a clean and poor government office, could laugh until their flowers bloomed, so naturally, he was a heavyweight...

Of course, part of the reason was also that Lu Siwen's grandfather had once accumulated some standing in the writer's circle.

However, Lu Zetao really liked writing and prided himself on being a writer.

He probably had some cognitive impairment, just like some people might be black males on the surface, but actually consider themselves white females who are homosexual and have racial discrimination.

Lu Zetao was a successful boss with a harmonious family on the surface, but he actually considered himself a "writer" whose works could not be understood by the world.

However, before reading Lu Zetao's masterpieces, Zhai Da couldn't figure out the situation of this person, so he just maintained the basic etiquette for a classmate's parent.

He always felt that meeting Lu Zetao today was Lu Siwen's deliberate doing, but he couldn't guess exactly why.

Until he heard Lu Zetao say:

"Your 'Street Lamp and Wine,' I also saw it when I was browsing blogs. It was written very well. Later, Siwen let it slip, and I only then knew it was written by her classmate."

Zhai Da was polite: "Just wrote it casually..."

Thinking to himself, and then what... please hurry up, I still have to study!

Lu Zetao looked at Lu Siwen dotingly:

"I heard from Siwen that you are writing a long novel? She said that without your permission, she wasn't good at showing it to others, so I'm waiting here today to see if I can get your consent. Your uncle is very curious."

"If it's suitable, maybe I can recommend it to a few editors at publishing houses I'm familiar with."