Chapter 75

(Minor revision to the previous chapter)

Originally, Yu Xiaoli was only probing for information, but she never expected to dig up a golden egg!

The huge piece of good news made her feel as if her body had become a few pounds lighter.

Although she could accept all of Zhai Da's "bad" traits—even if Zhai Da were to say "don't bully the young because they are poor, don't bully the middle-aged because they are poor, don't bully the elderly because they are poor," or "the dead are the most important"...

That did not mean she wasn't gratified by all of Zhai Da's "good" traits.

As they chatted, the corners of her eyes were already glistening with moisture.

Afterward, Zhai Da followed the old routine and went to wash the dishes, but Yu Xiaoli wanted to stop him, arguing that he should spend more time studying.

Zhai Da told Yu Xiaoli to keep a calm mind and live life as it should be lived; "if you cook, you don't wash the dishes, and if you wash the dishes, you don't cook" was the family rule of this household. Since Yu Xiaoli and Lu Wei had already cooked, the dishes should be left to him.

He wasn't the kind of bookworm who couldn't fit anything else in his brain just for the sake of studying.

Pushing his mother out of the kitchen, Zhai Da washed the dishes in an orderly fashion. After finishing, he didn't leave immediately but instead took out the [Hard-Man Razor] and the whetstone from the corner of the cupboard.

He didn't know how to sharpen a blade, but he could search Baidu on his phone.

He didn't have complex tools, just a whetstone and the common items found in the kitchen.

Making do with what he had, he just tinkered with it; after all, he wasn't trying to grind out a peerless sharp blade.

Or rather, for something used to shave and reduce pain, making it too sharp would be dangerous instead.

By the way, this was also an experiment.

He had never systematically changed the "material form" of [Equipment] like this before.

The stains on the handle were cleaned off, and while the rust on the blade didn't visually spread to the edge, it was better to sharpen the whole thing for safety's sake.

White vinegar, baking soda, and rapeseed oil were all useful things, and they were all in the kitchen. If he felt the friction wasn't enough, he could add some salt or sugar.

And when Zhai Da had been sharpening for ten minutes, it seemed the amount of material lost by this [Equipment] exceeded a certain threshold, and Zhai Da actually received a system notification.

"Detected that [Hard-Man Razor] is being modified... Equipment effects disabled (temporarily)..."

Zhai Da was stunned and stopped his movements.

"Detected that [Hard-Man Razor] modification is complete, re-evaluating..."

"Integrity evaluation... Functionality evaluation... Conceptual evaluation..."

"Evaluation passed, [Hard-Man Razor] status remains unchanged."

Zhai Da pondered for a moment...

So... equipment can be modified!

What would happen if it failed? Total destruction?

Or... were there other possibilities?

Zhai Da continued sharpening. A few minutes later, it seemed he exceeded a threshold again, and he received the system notification again: Being modified, effects disabled...

As soon as he stopped, it was evaluated as a success again.

Clearly, just sharpening to remove rust wouldn't result in any other outcome.

The integrity, functionality, and concept of the [Hard-Man Razor] had not changed.

Zhai Da, lost in thought, threw the [Hard-Man Razor] into a mineral water bottle and then poured in "rapeseed oil" according to the tutorial.

Tomorrow, he would take it out and pass it over a fire, and this [Hard-Man Razor] would be considered reborn. He would try it himself first; if it really wasn't of much use, he could lend it to Fan Junwei for a while.

He had already exhausted all possibilities in his system space; the [Hard-Man Razor] couldn't be synthesized with anything currently in his hands, and its effects were also quite annoying.

It was originally a small task done on a whim. If it weren't for Fan Junwei, he probably wouldn't actually use this thing; he wouldn't even bother sharpening it, just tossing it aside to wait for some day to synthesize it and be done with it.

But at this moment, it gave Zhai Da a brand-new understanding of the system.

[Sets], [Modification]... these were undoubtedly deeper ways to play with the system.

If a razor could be modified... then what about a bicycle? Playing cards?

But he had neither the tools nor the technique... he couldn't just grind a blade onto a bicycle...

Zhai Da thought again of "Grandpa's Metalworking Notes," which were still sitting on the bookshelf, temporarily idle because he couldn't understand them.

That might be an important key.

The rest of the night was calm and efficient, filled entirely with studying.

Zhai Da and Lu Wei took turns using the [Literary Girl's Pen], then guided each other, making progress together.

Lu Wei was responsible for math and physics, while Zhai Da was responsible for Chinese and English.

That phrase "let's work hard together" on the dining table was by no means Lu Wei being polite; the two of them were a truly great combination.

By the way, Zhai Da also tried out the [Undying Lightbulb] he obtained today. He stepped on a stool, unscrewed the original lightbulb on the ceiling, and replaced it. The interface on the ceiling was also quite old, and it happened to fit this piece of equipment perfectly.

Then he discovered it really could light up... but it was also really dim.

To what extent? He felt that lighting a lighter was better than this lightbulb.

In the end, Zhai Da just bit the bullet and accepted it. Although the effect of preventing distraction and carelessness was hard to notice, and it couldn't be brought into the college entrance exam hall, at least it could increase the efficiency of him and Lu Wei studying in his room.

For proper lighting, he still had to rely on the desk lamp.

At one o'clock in the morning, the two of them took showers one after another. When Zhai Da came out of the bathroom, it was already quiet outside.

Lying on the bed, fully relaxed, he stretched. His hips were still a bit sore from the strain. In the darkness, Zhai Da kept kicking his legs, trying to loosen up some muscle he didn't know he had strained.

"Zhai Da..."

Lu Wei's voice sounded through the wall.

"Hmm?"

"Let's go to the same university..."

In the cramped room next door, Lu Wei faced the wall, waiting for a response.

Her voice was always devoid of too much emotion, so much so that even Zhai Da, with his mature soul, couldn't clearly distinguish the real reason behind her words.

Was it because of anxiety, or because of encouragement?

Was it because of fear, or because of politeness?

Or perhaps...

Was it because of friendship, or because of love?

Zhai Da also felt in his heart that it would be great if he and Lu Wei were at the same university.

But this "great" shouldn't come at the cost of sacrificing Lu Wei's future.

Doing such a thing would lead to people pointing at his spine and cursing him.

Making it seem like I don't want to...

Zhai Da could think this way, but he couldn't express it.

He had to force himself to stand from the perspective of being "rational, neutral, and objective" to persuade her, because he knew that if he brought it up, there was no way Lu Wei would refuse.

"Do you know how much of a change getting into Jing University or Qing University can bring to your life? Your baseline will be higher than many people's ceiling."

"Qing University, Jing University... are they really that important?"

"...Of course."

"You haven't been to them either."

Zhai Da: ...

There was only another long silence.

Inside the small room, Lu Wei reached out her slender, pale hand and touched the texture on the wall: "The same university."

Zhai Da thought to himself that chatting with a broken record was exhausting. He turned over and said, "It's still too early to talk about this... We'll fill out our applications after we get our scores. Let's play a song and go to sleep... What do you want to listen to?"

"The same university."

"If you don't say anything, I'm going to play 'Tan Te' (Uneasy)."

Lu Wei: ...

"Then... 'Zhi Zu' (Contentment)."

There wasn't much to choose from; Zhai Da's knock-off phone only had a few dozen songs he had copied onto it earlier.

As a habit for the two of them before sleep, they had listened to them countless times. Occasionally, when they encountered a good one, Lu Wei would ask Zhai Da the name of the song.

Before long, the soft singing came through the wall.

Gradually, there was no more movement on either side.

Only the screen of the knock-off phone remained lit, scrolling through the lyrics.

"How to possess a rainbow..."

"How to embrace the wind of a summer..."

"The stars in the sky laugh at the people on the ground~ always unable to understand, unable to feel content..."

"We will... the same university..."

The whisper the young girl said to the wall became the final ripple of the night.

It rippled in the heart of Zhai Da, who actually wasn't asleep and had his eyes open.