A wealthy person with a reading panel

Chapter 2 Cuicui Plays the Recorder

This all happened ten minutes ago.

When Zhou Qing put the set of four great classics into the snakeskin bag, a strange scene suddenly emerged in his mind. The "egg" with spots of stars inside collapsed and disappeared right in front of his eyes. Then his hands were empty, the four books disappeared out of thin air, and a panel like this appeared in his mind!
The panel is very simple.

Zhou Qing touched it with his mind and immediately understood the various meanings in it mysteriously.

In short, as long as he reads medium-length or long novels with self-consistent logic, complete world view, and fluent writing, he will have the opportunity to draw items in the novel.

As long as the items appear in the main text of the novel, you will have a chance to draw them!

……

Zhou Qing simply squatted down against the door, staring at the panel in front of him, repeatedly touching it with his mind and studying it.

"The target of the reading is medium-length or long novels. 'A complete worldview, self-consistent logic, and smooth writing' are the basic requirements for the quality of a novel."

"A 'thorough reading' means reading the novel from beginning to end, aiming to gain a preliminary understanding of the novel's overall picture; an 'intensive reading' involves a more in-depth and careful reading, and also involves analytical reflection on the novel."

"Reading through is done randomly after selecting a novella or novel; while intensive reading is done by choosing a work you have already read through."

"'Intensive reading' is obviously more complicated and difficult than 'thorough reading', and it definitely takes more time and energy, so the probability of getting good things from 'intensive reading extraction' is greater than 'thorough reading extraction'."

"Also, the more unrealistic the item is, the lower the chance of winning it."

……

"The Four Great Classics are extremely special to the board. As long as I accumulate enough draws through reading other novels, I can redeem them as many times as I want for 'Read the Four Great Classics' and then draw!"

Zhou Qing recited the "Four Great Classics", and four vermilion books immediately "lit up" in the background of the panel.

From top to bottom they are: "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "Journey to the West".

The covers are a bit old and look very familiar. They are the same ones that disappeared out of thin air before.

He got this set of books from his part-time job as a freshman. It is an unabridged edition published by Sunshine Publishing House, hardcover with lockstitching. In addition to the title, author name, publisher and other information, each cover also has a color painting!

He originally wanted to keep it for himself, but later he became busy with his studies and had to work various part-time jobs. In addition, with the rise of various long and short videos, he quickly lost interest in reading novels. He left it on his desk for more than a year, gathering dust, and in the next two years he often used it as a laptop pad.

There is a shallow scratch on the cover of "Journey to the West", which was accidentally made by scissors when I was making a model of the ancient building.

"Gazing" at the four famous books, Zhou Qing's mind once again emerged the scene of the vast "egg" collapsing and annihilating.

"The probability of getting good things is highest by reading through the Four Great Classics, but you need to accumulate ten other draws before you can choose one to read through. Ignore it for now."

Zhou Qing thought about it and hid the four great classics.

I stood up, rubbed my legs that were sore from squatting, and couldn't wait to try it!

"For the first time, I'll definitely choose a novella with fewer words!"

But before that, we have to...

He carefully put the panel back into his mind, took out his three-year-old Redmi K40 from his pocket, turned the phone into flight mode, turned on the front camera recording function, and fixed it to the toilet windowsill with discarded towels and toilet paper.

Then he called up the panel and stayed in front of the camera for a few minutes, changing various angles.

Then he took his phone and checked the video.

In the video, there is nothing unusual except myself making silly movements.

Zhou Qing heaved a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth: "Sure enough, I'm the only one who can 'see' the panel!"

After confirming this, and knowing that his phone battery had long since died, he finally came out of the bathroom, first cleaned up the things on the floor, then sat on a chair, charging his phone while calling out the panel.

Focus your attention, touch the "Reading" option, and convey your thoughts:
“Choose to read a novella.”

As soon as the thought came to mind, the panel changed instantly—

Name: Zhou Qing

Currently reading: Border Town (by Shen Congwen)

Read through library: None

Intensive reading completion library: None

……

"Shen Congwen's 'Border Town'?"

Zhou Qing naturally knew this novel, as it had been excerpted in the textbook!

It was a very classic novel, and he still remembered it. The book was about the story of Cuicui, a boatman girl living in a border town at the junction of Sichuan and Hunan in the 1930s.

Of course, I don’t have a paper copy of “Border Town” with me at the moment, but nowadays, everything can be found on the Internet.

Zhou Qing immediately searched on his phone's browser and quickly found the original text of the entire novel. He immediately ignored everything else and started reading!
"From Sichuan through Hunan, there's an official road to the east. It approaches the border of western Hunan, and when you reach a small mountain town called 'Chadong,' there's a stream, and beside it stands a small white tower. Beneath the tower lives a single family. This family consists of an old man, a girl, and a yellow dog."

"The stream flows down, skirting the hills, and after about three miles it joins the larger river at Chadong. If one crosses the stream and walks over the hills, it's only a mile to the edge of Chadong City."

Shen Congwen's writing style is very beautiful.

But the more impatient Zhou Qing became, the more agitated and unstable he became. These sentences floated before his eyes, as if they were split into separate words with his heartbeat and breathing. He knew each one, but when they were put together into a sentence, he felt dazed.

From the feedback from the previous panel, we know that whether you are reading through or reading carefully, you must be serious and it will not work if you just read it in a hurry.

I read a few paragraphs reluctantly and then stopped for a while.

"Let's take it easy for now. Let's just move our things to the rental house first."

……

Fifty minutes later, at the Zhangshuwu bus stop, Zhou Qing, dragging an old black suitcase and carrying a snakeskin bag, squeezed off the No. 802 bus, sweating profusely.

After walking for another ten minutes, we finally arrived at Building 23 of Zhangyuan Community.

This resettlement community has no elevator, and by the time he moved his things to the sixth floor where he rented his house, he was exhausted.

After closing the door, he collapsed directly on the mattress which had not yet been covered with a mat. After resting for two minutes, he could not help but call out the panel again to "take a look".

The panel seems to have magical powers. As I look at it, I get motivated!

Zhou Qing turned over, took out the charger from the snakeskin bag, sat down against the head of the bed, charged his mobile phone, opened the favorite page in the browser, and started reading "Border Town" again.

You know what, my previous excited mood has calmed down due to fatigue. Now when I read novels again, I can get into them right away.

Cuicui grew up in the sun, her skin darkened. She was surrounded by green mountains and clear waters, her eyes clear as crystal. Nature had both nurtured and educated her. She was innocent and lively, like a little animal in every way. And she was so well-behaved, like the yellow muntjac on the hilltops, never thinking of cruel things, never worrying, never getting angry.

……

People who love reading novels know that once you get into a book, time flies by very quickly.

Zhou Qing started watching at 4:20 in the afternoon. He only drank water once in the middle and didn't care about being hungry. He was immersed in the story of "Cui Cui" and more than two hours passed by unknowingly.

"By winter, the collapsed white pagoda had been rebuilt. The young man who sang under the moon, whose voice gently lifted Cuicui's soul in her dreams, had not yet returned to Chadong."

"This person may never come back, or he may come back tomorrow!"

After finishing reading the last bit of text, Zhou Qing stood up from the bed with a look of disappointment.

Shen Congwen is worthy of being one of the most famous writers in Nanhu Province. He writes very well.

Every character in the novel is good. The protagonist "Cui Cui" is innocent and kind, "Grandpa" is a traditional Chinese elder who loves his granddaughter very much, "Tianbao" is generous and magnanimous, "Nuosong" is emotionally rich and delicate, and even the ship captain "Shun Shun" who is considered half a "villain" is righteous, generous, honest and fair.

After reading "Border Town", which was woven by so many good people, Zhou Qing felt a little sad.

At first, he thought it was because the heroine Cuicui did not have a good ending, but he soon realized that he was subconsciously lamenting the fickle fate of the minor characters in the context of that era.

"Don't think too much about it. The most important thing now is..."

When Zhou Qing thought about the fact that he could now draw items from the novel, all his sadness disappeared immediately.

Immediately think of it and call out the panel——

Name: Zhou Qing

Currently reading: Border Town [Read it, do you want to draw items in the text?]

Read through library: None

Intensive reading completion library: None

……

"Seeing" the changes on the panel, he rubbed his hands, and without hesitation, his mind touched "Reading" and selected "Extract Now"!
The next moment, a passage of original text suddenly flashed through my mind——

It was a gentle, windy day, with no one crossing the river. The town was idle for long days, so Grandfather and Cuicui would sit on the large rock in front of the door, basking in the sun... Or Grandfather and Cuicui would each hold a small bamboo flute and play a tune to welcome the bride and send off the bride. When a ferryman arrived, the old boatman put down his bamboo pipe and followed the boat alone to cross the stream to ferry people. One of the people on the rock, seeing the boat start, would shout sharply:

"Grandpa, Grandpa, listen to me play, and you sing!"

Grandpa reached the center of the stream and began to sing joyfully. His hoarse voice, along with the twang of the bamboo pipe, resonated in the still air, making the stream seem a little more lively. In fact, the return of the singing only made everything even quieter.

Before Zhou Qing could react, he felt a long and thin object suddenly appear in front of him. He instinctively reached out and grabbed it, and immediately held it in his hand.

Looking closely, it was a gray bamboo recorder.

Zhou Qing understood.

This is the recorder that Cuicui played in the content just now in my mind!
(End of this chapter)