Chapter 393: Brother Meng's Change

"Time and again, youth unspent, drifting threads of silk..."

"Thoughts quiet, leaves scattering, frost and snow urge on..."

The waning moon was reduced to a mere sliver, hanging above the top of the persimmon tree when viewed from the second floor.

Chen Shu hummed a song whose name he had forgotten, carrying a hint of operatic flair; he felt he was singing it wonderfully, full of charm, and as he indulged himself, he lit candles in the room, his good mood visible on his face.

"Poof..."

A stack of freshly washed bath towels landed on the bed.

"Snap~"

A small packet of slippery liquid.

Ning Qing sat on the edge of the bed, expressionless, stealing glances at him.

"You say longing~~"

"Bestowed upon whom, eh~~"

A spray of flower petals scattered onto the bed, bringing a gentle fragrance.

Ning Qing watched silently; those were the flowers she had grown.

"Don't be nervous."

Chen Shu turned his head to say to her: "I will be very gentle."

Ning Qing pursed her lips and finally spoke, her voice as steady as ever: "It seems you are very practiced."

"It's useless."

Chen Shu seemed to see through her ploy and shook his head with a smile: "No matter what you say, I am going to sleep with you tonight."

Ning Qing pursed her lips lightly and fell silent.

Chen Shu reached out a finger—

With a click, the lights in the room went out.

Only the candlelight remained, flickering and casting shadows on the walls and curtains, dim and indistinct, swaying incessantly.

The residential area was so quiet in the early morning.

The cicadas had not yet begun to chirp, and the noise of the city could not intrude here; there was not a hint of clamor, and the only thing to be heard was the chirping of birds.

The temperature in the room was very low.

Chen Shu lay on the bed, his entire skin in intimate contact with the quilt, lingering in the warmth of the bedding while keeping his eyes open, staring longingly ahead.

Qingqing had already abandoned him to get up and was sitting on the edge of the bed, back turned to him as she put on her clothes—a simple white shirt that covered her back, which could only be described as perfect, and the stunning curves that tapered inward at her waist; she kept her head lowered, fastening the buttons unhurriedly.

"Qingqing."

Chen Shu couldn't help but call out to her.

"Hm?"

"Qingqing."

"What is it?"

"Qingqing."

"Speak."

"Qingqing~"

"Are you sick?"

"Qingqing, come let me hug you again." Chen Shu stretched his arms out toward her.

"..."

Ning Qing didn't even turn her head; she finished buttoning her shirt, stood up, and walked out, leaving him only with: "After you get up, take the mattress cover and duvet cover to wash; I put clean ones in the wardrobe, change them while you're at it."

The sound of a door opening, the sound of a door closing.

Only Chen Shu was left lying on the bed, shaking his head to himself.

She stopped paying attention to him the moment the Heavy Body Desire cultivation was finished; what difference was there between this and using someone and then tossing them aside?

Truly cold and heartless.

The little girl was pacing in the courtyard again early in the morning, her expression serious as she walked in circles; this was her unique way of thinking.

As she walked, she suddenly stopped beside the persimmon tree and looked up at the treetops.

Two sparrows stood side by side, preening their feathers.

Come to think of it, these two sparrows were also miraculous; the little girl remembered that when she first came here, they were eating persimmons on the tree, and in the blink of an eye, it seemed nearly four years had passed, yet they were still here.

She didn't know if they were the same two from four years ago.

Or had they been replaced by two others?

Only her sister knew.

But the little girl didn't want to ask.

Let's just assume they were still the same two from four years ago; that way, she would have known them for a long time.

Some movement came from the side wing room.

The little girl turned her head to look.

The side wing room here had a flat roof, and her sister had planted climbing roses on it that were suitable for hanging; the branches hung down, with a few flowers scattered here and there. A long clothes rack was also installed on top, and her brother-in-law was there hanging up the mattress cover and duvet cover, with Taozi following him along the very edge of the roof, not even afraid of falling off.

"..."

The little girl fell into thought.

Then she looked up at the sky.

It seems to be a very sunny day today...

I might as well wash them too!

And so, this morning, the mattress covers and quilt covers were hung all over the roof; as a breeze blew by, it was filled with the fragrance of laundry detergent.

Taking advantage of the time while Qingqing began to practice No-Body Desire, Chen Shu returned to school without hesitation.

He took out his campus card, swiped open the Dormitory door, and the air inside still lingered with the smell of food; there were also two unthrown-out trash bags at the entrance, containing plastic boxes from Commercial Street fast food, which looked like some kind of roast meat rice.

Before he even walked into the living room, he heard Brother Meng's voice: "Brother Chen, it has been a long time since I last saw you; I have missed you dearly!"

"No bromance, thanks." Chen Shu walked in, "You should look for Brother Jiang instead."

"..."

Meng Chunqiu wore a pained expression as he watched Chen Shu's figure appear: "Brother Chen, if this were ancient times, you would likely have already been dragged off to be beheaded."

"Is that so? It has been over half a month; has Brother Meng been doing well?"

"Not bad, though I have missed your cooking." Meng Chunqiu paused, then added, "Brother Chen, has your internship been going smoothly?"

"Smoothly, very smoothly." Chen Shu knew he was also in the Spirit Cultivation Class of the Ancient Cultivation Academy, so he said, "Just learning about Spell development; for the final group project, we just need to develop any small Spell. With your level and status, you could even slack off and not go."

"Is it outside the city to the east?"

"Yeah, it's just a bit remote, the food isn't great, the cafeteria is awful, and outside there are only hole-in-the-wall eateries. By then, your delicate constitution, Brother Meng, might have to suffer a bit; oh, my heart aches just thinking about it."

"Is that so? Then shouldn't you send me some love-filled meals, Brother Chen?"

"?"

Chen Shu was stunned for a moment.

Then the two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

It is a testament to how Brother Meng, who comes from a noble background, went from speechless to accustomed, then to accepting, and finally to actively participating in such banter.

"But Brother Chen, you are already at the Seventh Stage. Our school is in the western suburbs, and if the internship is outside the city to the east, with your cultivation, you should be able to return to the Dormitory every day, so why must you stay there?"

"Yeah."

It was purely because he didn't want to return to the Dormitory.

Chen Shu grinned, just about to say he was afraid of disturbing the private world of him and Brother Jiang, when his Mobile Phone suddenly vibrated.

"Buzz, buzz."

A message came in the class group.

Xia Yunyun: It's already the end of the senior year; there will be no classes next semester, and everyone only has two things: internships and graduation. I am posting the internship arrangements. Also, before the end of the term, everyone must decide on their advisor and communicate well with them. I suggest everyone ask the seniors from the previous batch; you can learn from them which advisor is more suitable for you. It's best to choose early, be proactive, be active, and don't drag it out. If you leave it until the end, the remaining advisors are mostly those with bad tempers.

Xia Yunyun: @All Members

Xia Yunyun: 【Internship Arrangements】

Xia Yunyun: 【Graduation Advisors and Contact Information】

Xia Yunyun: If you don't know which advisor to choose, I suggest you choose a teacher who has taught you before.

Xia Yunyun: In our major, besides a graduation thesis, you can also do a graduation project. It depends on whether you prefer theory or design; ask your advisor for specifics.

Jiang Youyu: Time passes so quickly.

Song Rentou: If you haven't studied enough, just continue your advanced studies.

Chen Shu read the message carefully.

It says to choose an advisor who suits you, but in reality, it means choosing one with a good temper and a good reputation.

Chen Shu opened 【Graduation Advisors and Contact Information】 and looked; at a glance, he found the most familiar teachers, Shi Qian and Fu Jia. These two were the main professional course teachers who accompanied them from freshman to senior year, and among them, Teacher Shi Qian must be very popular with the students in the class.

For one, they were familiar enough, and for another, Teacher Shi Qian really had a good temper; he was gentle and patient.

By comparison, although Teacher Fu Jia was also an excellent teacher who thought of everything for her students and was very cool, she was somewhat strict. Once that face hardened, she was like a dean of students, and many students were afraid of her.

Chen Shu contacted Teacher Shi Qian without hesitation.

Chen Shu: Beep beep.

Chen Shu: Uncle Shi Qian, I'm looking into graduation advisors.

Shi Qian: Alright.

Shi Qian: Do you plan to write a graduation thesis or do a graduation project?

Chen Shu: Haven't thought about it yet.

Shi Qian: Think about it slowly.

Shi Qian: A student at the neighboring school produced a thesis this year that shocked the Ancient Cultivation academic world; the leaders are all very envious. You should strive to produce one too.

Chen Shu: /Complex expression

Chen Shu: We'll see, we'll see.

Chen Shu clicked on 【Internship Arrangements】 again to take a look.

There wasn't much content; it just said that the fifth year requires an internship, provided a template for the internship report, and told students to find their own internship jobs, print them out, fill them in, get them stamped, and return them to the class assistant before the defense. Only at the very end did it mention that if you can't find one, you can ask the school for help with recommendations, though students from a world-class top university like Yujing Academy shouldn't need this step.

Ah, that's not for sure—

There are even those who graduated from Ling'an Academy who deliver food.

Chen Shu didn't need to worry about this; he could just go back to the sect and get a stamp.

It was the graduation thesis and project that he found troublesome.

Writing a graduation thesis wasn't hard, the format was simple for him, and he had Teacher Shi Qian covering for him. What was hard was writing a good graduation thesis.

The graduation project was the same.

The graduation project for Spell Principles is to independently design a Spell. Based on his previous experience lurking on the Gray Net, if he just wanted to graduate, he could come up with one that met the standards in a day or two, but to come up with a good one wouldn't be easy.

Chen Shu followed the Ancient Cultivation path, focusing mainly on cultivation and learning Spells, with a solid foundation, but he hadn't done much research and development on Spells. He had participated in two noteworthy projects: one was the previous improvement of the Thunder Method, and the other was the Tracer Technique automatic defense, which was currently underway and had already shown significant progress.

The former was not completed independently by him, he only participated, but extracting its theory to write a graduation thesis would be no problem at all.

The latter was something he conducted independently, and once completed, it could be used directly as a graduation project.

Either one, if brought out, could achieve a result of Surprise; not to mention surprising the academic world of ancient cultivation, as a university student, surprising the whole world would not be a problem.

It is a pity that the former remains a military secret of Dayi to this day, a technology that other countries have yet to master. The latter is also being secretly researched by all major powers, each with its own results, but none have been made public; if he were to succeed, he would not be able to just bring it out casually either.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu, being a slacker, actually felt a bit of anxiety at this moment.

This anxiety was in urgent need of being diverted.

Chen Shu looked at Brother Meng beside him and fell into thought.

"Hmm? Brother Chen, why are you looking at me? I know I am handsome and dashing, elegant as a jade tree, and possess unparalleled talent, but you must not fall in love with me."

"Emmm..."

What on earth should he say?

Just at this moment, Brother Jiang returned.

Chen Shu immediately gave up on thinking, shifted his target, and asked him: "Brother Jiang, has your academy started selecting graduation thesis advisors yet?"

Jiang Lai wiped the sweat from his face and stopped in front of the aisle:

"It has started."

"What do you plan to write your thesis on?"

"I haven't started thinking about it yet."

"Then you can start thinking about it now. A graduation thesis has to be at least twenty or thirty thousand words; with your level in cultural courses, and having to compete in the Martial King Tournament, you need to prepare early."

"Mm..."

Jiang Lai nodded silently and also began to feel anxious.