It was already past seven o'clock and still light outside, as the evenings had been getting darker later and later recently.

But the weather still felt like winter.

Zhou Li turned on the desk lamp anyway. Its warm glow spread comfortably across the desk. Then he spread a book out and placed his phone on it. Twisting around, he reached out to Tuanzi on the bed.

"Come here, I'll hold you."

"Hmph!" Tuanzi turned her head away. "No!"

"Why not?"

"Lord Dumpling doesn't like you guys!"

"Why don't you like us again?"

"Because when Lord Dumpling talks to you, you ignore me! Lord Dumpling wants to toast with you, and you won't let me!" Tuanzi added indignantly, "It's your honor!"

"Is that so…"

Zhou Li didn't insist and turned back. As a result, he didn't see the astonished look on Tuanzi's face.

Hmph! How dare he not coax me!

Lord Dumpling was all puffed up with anger again!

Meanwhile, Huai Xu moved beside Zhou Li. She showed him the shopping interface on her phone. "Which one should I buy? These random Pinyin names and terms are making my head spin!"

"Buy the same model as mine."

"Okay! What's yours called?"

"Let me find it… this one."

"Which configuration should I choose?"

"The most expensive one."

"…"

"Go big or go home. Otherwise, you'll complain about it not being good enough later," Zhou Li gave his sensible advice.

"Is yours the most expensive one?"

"No."

"I suspect you're deliberately tricking me into spending more money, so soon your money will be more than mine!" Huai Xu said after a pause.

"…Toxic."

"Hmph!"

She still bought the most expensive one.

After the payment was successful, she checked and double-checked. It seemed like she was confirming her personal details were correct, but in reality, she was just excited. Unsurprisingly, she would continue to check it every little while, refreshing the page.

"Why don't these stores have 'self-pickup'? Takeout places do."

"…"

"Why aren't you answering me?"

"…"

"Look at you, you've developed a bad habit." Huai Xu glanced sideways at Zhou Li. "Playing with your phone before reading or doing homework—usually, only people with poor self-control have that habit."

"…" Zhou Li fell silent for a moment and glanced outside at the sky. "It's dusk. Why haven't you changed back into a guy yet? You have classes tomorrow."

"I'll change back tomorrow morning."

"…"

Zhou Li remained silent, continuing to look at his phone.

He hadn't liked playing with his phone much before; he would even hold it without knowing what to do. But now, he had developed the habit. Perhaps it was because he now knew what to do with his phone.

It's all Brother Nan's fault!

Zhou Li saw that Brother Nan had posted a status on QQ Space, titled "Almost stifled into a normal person, finally went out."

Below were eight photos… eight of them.

The first photo in the second row was a selfie Brother Nan had taken of the two of them with peach blossoms in the background. It's unbelievable that in this era, a girl's camera has no beauty filters. Fortunately, both her and Zhou Li's looks were undeniably attractive.

Suddenly, Zhou Li wasn't upset anymore.

Huai Xu caught a glimpse and, after just one look, saw everything clearly. She said, "Li Daimao just posted. Why don't you?"

Zhou Li twisted his phone's screen away from her and didn't answer.

DING-DONG!

"Li Daimao messaged you." Huai Xu's ears twitched. "It's definitely them, urging you to post that thing—the same kind of post. HEHE! You normally never post stuff like that. If you post now, it'll be way too obvious! MWAHAHA! I can't wait to see what you'll do!"

"Talk less."

Zhou Li returned to the chat interface. The message wasn't from Brother Nan, but from Baozi.

Baozi: [Image][Image][Image][Image][Image]…

Zhou Li opened the first one and was stunned.

He gasped.

Did I really take this?

All I can do is marvel at the magic of Photoshop!

Looking at each photo, he was extremely pleased and quickly typed to Baozi, "Faster than I imagined."

Baozi: Check the quality.

Zhou Li: Excellent.

Baozi: Good to hear the boss is pleased.

Zhou Li: [Red Packet]

Your friend Baozi has received your red packet.

Baozi: ???

Baozi: Thanks, Boss.

Baozi: You are the most generous boss I've ever met, hands down.

Zhou Li: You're welcome.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Don't go asking Brother Nan for more."

Baozi: Okay.

Baozi: Actually, the peach blossoms are too dazzling. The pear and plum blossoms should have bloomed as well in the past few days. We should find a place to go and enjoy them. White flowers are more elegant and would suit your group's temperament better.

Zhou Li: Are you really that short on money?

Baozi: I'm thousands in debt.

Zhou Li: …

He had just turned off his phone when Huai Xu somehow moved closer. Their faces were no more than five centimeters apart. Zhou Li had gradually gotten used to her female appearance recently, but in the past two days, she had taken on a fresh look.

"What are you doing?" Zhou Li asked.

"Just peeking at your chat... I'm not spying on you! I was about to talk to you," Huai Xu said. Her eyes darted around as she thought hard for a moment, then she remembered what she had wanted to say. "I saw online that this laptop is noisy. When set to high-performance mode, it supposedly sounds like an airplane. Why doesn't it sound like that when I use your computer to play games?"

"Maybe because you've never flown a plane."

"Tell me where there's a plane, and I'll go fly it right now."

"…"

He really couldn't be bothered to talk to this old monster.

Zhou Li turned off his phone and began reading his book.

The Jiang Family's carving spell… it couldn't really be called a secret spell. For ancient Heavenly Masters, it was quite a common one. Even many less fortunate Heavenly Masters knew some basic aspects of this art. However, the Jiang Family specialized in it and achieved the highest mastery, becoming the de facto representatives for this particular spell.

Anyway, the many volumes of this spell book were numbered.

The first few volumes covered universal techniques and knowledge about casting spells, while the subsequent volumes grew progressively more complex, including unique secret methods not found elsewhere.

Zhou Li had just about finished the first volume.

To read further, he would need to find a traditional, hand-carving teacher. The carving tools would also need to be custom-made; modern electric carving knives definitely wouldn't do… I'm so out of step with the times.

He studied from seven-thirty to ten-thirty—three hours. Zhou Li felt he had been extremely diligent and was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

After a bath at eleven, he lay down in bed.

Huai Xu returned, suddenly reappearing at the foot of his bed. "It's shipped! It's shipped!" she said repeatedly. "Sent from Jin Palace, it will arrive tomorrow! Do we need to configure some settings when we first get it?"

Zhou Li: …

Huai Xu: "I don't know how!"

Zhou Li turned over. "My mom finishes her quarantine tomorrow and is coming back. I need to go to Jin Palace to meet her, so I won't be free."

"Then what should we do?"

"Wait for me."

"I can't wait."

"It's okay if you don't set it up. Just play with it for now. I'll configure it for you when I get back."

"It won't break, right?"

"…"

"Hmm? I'm asking you!"

"Good night!"

"Why are you so rude? I'm talking to you!" Huai Xu was exasperated. She was so excited; couldn't he see that and show a little empathy?

"You're the Great Devil King," Zhou Li said, his voice flat.

"What about it?"

"A Great Devil King wouldn't use such a childish way to refer to herself."

"…"

With a WHOOSH, Huai Xu suddenly appeared on Zhou Li's bed and sat cross-legged. This bed was much larger than the bunk bed over there. Zhou Li occupied only a small part of it, so there was still plenty of space even with her sitting there.

"Why did your mom divorce Old Zhou?" she asked again.

"They couldn't make it work anymore," Zhou Li actually responded.

"Did they have a big conflict? Look, she isn't returning to Yan City, only to Jin Palace," Huai Xu analyzed.

"She has an apartment in Jin Palace. Sometimes she comes to Yan City too. The last time she came to Yan City was to see me," Zhou Li whispered. "If I talk to you like this, they'll hear us."

"They won't hear clearly; they'll just think you're on the phone with Li Daimao," Huai Xu said, unconcerned.

"…"

"Your era is really different from ours. Back then, it was rare for couples to divorce," Huai Xu sighed. "In most eras, women who divorced were looked down upon."

"I've seen a divorce agreement from the Tang Dynasty. It said something like, 'once parted, both are relieved and find their own joy.' I can't quite remember the exact wording," Zhou Li recalled.

"Did your mom divorce after having you?"

"It was after I was born that my parents divorced," Zhou Li corrected her. "Even in this era, it takes a lot of courage for a woman with a child to decide to divorce."

These were Zhou Li's heartfelt thoughts.

If two people can't live together, even if they force themselves to stay together for the child's sake, is that necessarily a good thing for the child? Probably not. At least, I feel quite content with how things are now.

Zhou Li knew that Old Zhou and Ms. Ji both felt they owed him a great deal. Perhaps, when Zhou Li was a child, they even thought he blamed them—especially Ms. Ji. Maternal love is always seen as so grand that people tend to have exacting expectations of mothers.

Exacting, meaning severe demands.

In truth, Zhou Li harbored no such feelings.

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