Chapter 286: Recollections are Medicine

Weekend, small courtyard.

Taozi is darting around the courtyard, at times dodging invisible enemies, at times running as if crazed.

Chen Shu and Qingqing are sitting side by side on a swing, the swing rocking with a creaky sound. Chen Shu tilts his head to look up, noticing a moving part has rusted, so he says to Qingqing beside him, "The quality of the swing you bought is so poor."

"..."

"Why haven't you paid any attention to me these past few days?"

"I have."

"You haven't really paid any attention to me these past few days."

"During my cultivation of No Joy, my state was quite poor; I didn't want you to discover it."

"How poor?" Chen Shu asks, tilting his head. "As poor as when you were little?"

"When is 'when I was little'?"

"Five years old, when I first met you."

"I don't know which time was poorer."

"How was it poor?"

"The cultivation method blocked my perception of joy, perception in any sense, so I cannot feel happy, cannot perceive beauty; those things in life that were originally interesting now seem dull and uninteresting." Ning Qing pauses, glancing at him sideways. "Even with you by my side, I know I love you very much, know you are my most important person, but I still cannot feel happy, and I was afraid that would bring you a bad interaction experience."

After listening, Chen Shu thinks for a moment before saying, "Isn't that the same as when you were little?"

The swing loses its momentum, the arc gradually becoming smaller.

Ning Qing is stunned for a moment.

Just now, she was the one swinging; Chen Shu had asked her to swing.

That's right—

Before meeting Chen Shu, and when she first met Chen Shu, wasn't she just like this?

Ning Qing continues to swing.

Although she feels that sitting on the swing is very uninteresting right now, and the rocking cannot bring the slightest bit of pleasure, thinking that Chen Shu is willing for it to be this way, she just continues to do it, and she discovers that no impatient emotions arise within her.

As for the insights from the past two days—

All major emotions are interconnected.

Joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, and surprise are all interconnected.

Heavy Joy and Loss of Joy seem to only affect the emotion of joy, but in reality, during Heavy Joy, she is also less prone to anger, less prone to worry; when thinking of things, she often recalls Chen Shu and those beautiful moments, is less prone to sorrow and fear, and always feels pleasant surprise rather than shock.

But during Loss of Joy, everything is reversed.

Chen Shu, however, has the ability to make her heart calm down.

Just as it was during their growing years.

"Creak..."

Chen Shu tilts his head up again: "Is there any lard left in the house? I need to apply some oil to it later."

"There is."

"Good!"

"..."

"Look!"

Ning Qing looks in the direction his finger is pointing.

Taozi is next to a flower, making a retching motion.

Chen Shu explains to her: "I just lowered my head and saw your stupid cat digging in the dirt, and it ended up digging up the sheep manure you buried..."

"Fermented sheep manure isn't smelly; what it smells is cat feces left by the neighborhood stray cats."

Ning Qing's expression is indifferent, without sorrow or joy.

In this state of heart-calm where it feels as if one can do nothing and think of nothing, she has a more wondrous sensation: even though her brain clearly perceives no joyful emotions, the reason deep within her heart makes her feel that the scene of chatting with him here ought to be beautiful.

This cognition is detached from emotion.

"How many more days do you need to cultivate?"

"Cultivate for a few more days."

"And then?"

"Digest for a period, then consider the next item of cultivation." Ning Qing purses her lips. "If there's nothing else, go help me clear the new shoots on the rose bushes; only clear the shrubs."

"Aren't you afraid I'll do a terrible job?"

"Not afraid."

"Won't you hit me when you cultivate Heavy Anger?"

"We'll see when the time comes."

"That works too..."

Chen Shu gets off the swing, stretches, and starts working.

Taozi is very curious and insists on crowding over, following him closely, tilting its head to watch what he is doing.

Qingqing's swing is still moving; she has no expression, and no ripples arise in her heart, her gaze following Chen Shu's figure. Not far away, the little girl leans against the living room doorframe, sitting on the ground with her hands folded on her knees, silently watching them.

Heavenly Humans are cold by nature; Night People are born violent.

The older sister possesses Night Person blood; once she cannot feel happy, under the frustration of her mood, she has shown herself to be exceptionally impatient and irritable these past few days.

But today, she is not.

The little girl scratches her face, and after realizing this is a common habit of Zhang Suannai, she hurriedly puts her hand down.

Time passes bit by bit.

Taozi accompanies Chen Shu, walking from the left side of the courtyard to the right, from the inside of the courtyard to the outside, and a pile of tender shoots gradually accumulates in Chen Shu's hands.

"There's so much, it's a waste to throw it away. How about I stir-fry a plate for you at noon? Do you want to eat it?"

"Woof~"

"Forget it if you don't want any."

Chen Shu walked out of the courtyard and threw it into the trash can. Taozi also trotted along with happy little steps, following him out and then following him back in.

The morning time was slowly whittled away.

Ning Qing didn't have any dishes she wanted to eat, so when Chen Shu asked her what she wanted for lunch, her answer was that it didn't matter. However, while he was cooking, she still saw him preparing the dishes she had always loved. For a moment, she even felt that she had broken free from the shackles of the Loss of Heart Dao.

Perhaps just as Chen Shu said, one might not be able to feel happiness, but one could find comfort.

Looking back on it in the future, it would be sweet, right?

Ning Qing sat on the swing, thinking quietly.

A white cat came in front of her, looked up at her, then tentatively walked closer, and finally found an opportunity to jump onto the swing.

"Woo-woof~"

Ning Qing did not respond, nor did she shoo it away.

While making eye contact with the white cat, the sound of stir-frying came from the kitchen. When she turned to look, she saw her younger sister standing at the kitchen door, peering inside. She remembered that when she was a teenager, she had also stood at the door of Chen Shu's kitchen peering inside like that, but not for his feeding; she just felt that such a scene was truly beautiful and couldn't help but want to look a little longer.

Amidst the recollection, some memories gradually surfaced again.

When she first started Children School at five years old, her mother told her that she wouldn't come to pick her up after school and to walk back by herself. But she didn't expect that the school had a rule: in the first year of Children School, a parent had to pick the child up after school before the teacher would let them go.

On that first day of school, all the students were picked up by their parents, leaving only two students behind: one hung their head in silence, having no other choice, and the other was mischievous and troublesome, arguing with the teacher.

"Oh my god! Why did you only just get here! Hurry up and tell the teacher that I'm an exception from now on and don't need a parent to pick me up. If she doesn't agree, you can sue her! It's so annoying, if she didn't keep me, I'd already be at home eating ice cream! Eh? This looks like the neighbor's little girl. Her mom doesn't seem to have time today, and the teacher called her mom but no one answered. She looks quite pitiful, shall we take her back with us?"

"Qingqing, because your mother is busy, she doesn't have time to pick you up or drop you off at school. From now on, you will go to and from school with Auntie and your brother, understand?"

"You look so pretty, what's your name? Not talking? Is it a big deal to be pretty? Let me tell you, based on my observations, those who look good when they are young will all turn into dinosaurs when they grow up. Only people like me, who look average when young, grow up to be incredibly handsome."

"Why don't you talk? Tsk tsk, what a pity, you look so good but you're a mute."

"Of course, everyone has a little pee-pee, you let me see yours, and I'll let you see mine... Why won't you? You don't have one, do you?"

"Why aren't you wearing your school badge? You'll get scolded. That idiot principal has so many formalities, sooner or later I'll have my mom send him in."

"Want to eat some Sugar-coated Haws? They're sour."

"Why do you eat at the cafeteria every noon? It's weirdly gross. Come on, I'll take you out to eat at a restaurant, you pay."

"Do you want to play marbles? I won them all, they're so pretty. I'll sell them to you cheap, you're getting a great deal. I mainly just want to go play games, otherwise I wouldn't sell them."

"Lend me five yuan, I'm going to play games."

"You're getting prettier and prettier, grow up and be my wife."

"Your family bought a courtyard in the suburbs? That's a good thing! Hmm, you seem very sad, tsk tsk, this is what a kid should be like! Come, lend me ten yuan first, I'm going to play games."

"Be nicer to your younger sister, care for her more. It's very pitiful when no one cares about you, don't let your sister end up like that too."

"Your personality is too cold, perhaps it's caused by loneliness. Try raising a pet, maybe it can warm your heart. A cat would be good."

"There are plenty of joys in the world, you have to be patient and calm to find them."

"There are no nerve cells on your hair, so what if you let me play with it? Besides, you have so much hair, what's the big deal if I pull out two strands? Come to think of it, your hair is about due for a trim. It's a waste to throw it away after cutting it, why not sell it for money and give it to me to play games."

"..."

Unknowingly, a smile had curled onto the corners of Ning Qing's mouth.

The world regained its color in her eyes.

She had originally felt it would be a pity not to be able to perceive happiness, but she hadn't expected that being unable to feel happy was a sickness, a sickness equivalent to pain.

Fortunately, it had medicine to cure it.

"Open..."

Chen Shu, who was walking out with the dishes, froze and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "What's wrong? Did it fail again? Or did it end?"

"It was interrupted."

"Then what should we do? Can it be reconnected? Or do you have to start over?"

"No need."

"No need?"

"I achieved the purpose of cultivating it in another way."

"What way?"

"I won't tell you."

A smile curled onto the corners of Ning Qing's mouth.

February, the Apricot Month.

As the weather in Yujing warmed up further, the jacaranda trees in University City were about to bloom again. The originally bare rose branches in Ning Qing's small courtyard were also covered in leaves, and some fast-growing varieties already had tiny flower buds visible, in clusters, seemingly anticipating another burst of flowers this spring.

The Group Leader had not yet awakened.

Over these past few days, Brother Meng seemed like a different person, changing from studying poetry all day to being obsessed with cultivation and studying Spells all day. Brother Jiang had always been obsessed with getting beaten up and couldn't extricate himself, which caused Chen Shu to be infected by them while staying in the Dormitory, forcing him to practice his Spirit Body even harder.

These two workaholics.

After some time, the Spirit Body also had breakthrough progress.