No one understands rebirth better than me

Chapter 204 A New Realm of Balance

Three days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the teachers' residential compound.

"elder sister…"

"Ah."

“You make Guan Ren stand for every single class; he’s been standing for three days now, he…”

"Young pear."

At the dinner table, Gu Wancheng didn't even look up:
"You should have less contact with him in the future."

"..."

It had been a long time since her older sister had said such things, but now that she had brought it up again, Gu Youli felt helpless and also quite angry at Guan Ren, that wicked guy.

Why would he give his sister maternity leave when everything was fine?!
Why do you have to be so talkative?
That's great. For several days in a row, he stood up to listen every time he had a Chinese class.

Despite her anger, after a while, Gu Youli put down her chopsticks and couldn't help but say:
“Sister, it’s wrong of him to make you angry, but the classmates have been talking about it lately, and they don’t know what Guan Ren did wrong. This might not be a good thing.”

"..."

Gu Wancheng put down her bowl and glanced at Gu Youli.

So Gu Youli is saying that she is using her position to settle personal scores?

Tsk.

Is it an illusion...

Why does it feel like my sister is increasingly siding with outsiders?
However, in reality, ever since Guan Ren pointed out that Gu Wancheng had included her own material in the exam paper at the beginning of last semester, even though she was so angry with him that her chest hurt this time, it wasn't entirely out of personal revenge.

"Youli, did you look at his Chinese workbook that you collected yesterday?"

Gu Youli shook her head in astonishment:
"No, he didn't do it?"

"He didn't finish, and he used some method to circumvent the inspection."

"?"

So that's what happened.

Based on her understanding of her bad deskmate, Gu Youli felt that Guan Ren's so-called "method to circumvent inspection" was rather far-fetched.

Sure enough, Gu Wancheng paused and continued:

"The workbook was assigned during the winter break. He filled the entire workbook with his writing, but he actually tore out some of the pages in the middle."

"..."

Little Pear Blossom's eyebrows twitched upon hearing this.

Is he a primary school student...?

Considering that he wanted to give his sister maternity leave, Gu Youli admitted that this person's crime was indeed compounded, and he deserved to be punished.

"I'm going back to the house."

"There's a little bit left, don't you want it?"

"Well, I'm full."

"..."

Looking at Gu Youli's retreating figure, Gu Wancheng felt a little worried.

She always felt that her younger sister's appetite had decreased.

This feeling started when Gu Wancheng returned from her business trip last semester.

I just never knew why.

Could it be that when my sister ate out, the restaurant added some addictive seasoning, making her crave the food and therefore feel that her older sister's cooking didn't taste as good...?
----------

Meanwhile, in an old residential area.

"Alright, class monitor, that's enough for now. I'm hanging up."

"Why is it so early today?"

"Oh, there's nothing we can do."

Guan Ren turned on speakerphone, texting Xiao Ningmeng while rubbing his thigh and sighing:

"I'm exhausted from standing during Chinese class these past two days, and I don't even want to talk much."

"Serves you right, who told you to be so foul-mouthed..."

"I didn't do it on purpose. The atmosphere was just right, and I was just joking with Zhang Chi."

"Alright, go and rest, you pighead."

"Ah, you too."

After hanging up with Luo Xiaobei, Guan Ren really didn't want to talk anymore. After sending a text message to Xiao Ningmeng, he also sent a message to Gu Youli on QQ:
[Guan Guan Jujiu: Sister Gu, I'm tired of standing, so I won't whisper to you today. Please remember to apologize to Teacher Gu for me.]

[Xiao Li: Yes, I already told her. You should get some rest.]

...In the matter of impartiality, Guan Ren has now grasped his own method and his own path, and like the Desolate Emperor, he has broken out of his own system.

When handling water, one should not be too rigid or inflexible. Rigidity will not go far and is prone to failure.

The true way to "fetch water" is to add water when there's too much flour, and add flour when there's too much water.

For example, Guan Ren skipped Xiao Lihua's whispering session today because he didn't want to talk.

That's alright, Guan Ren will also stand up Luo Xiaobei someday in the future.

Doesn't that make up for it all?
"Am I a genius?"

Guan Ren shamelessly exclaimed, "This is so difficult!" and then did not rest immediately.

Although I don't have enough energy, my brain is still working perfectly.

So I'll sit in front of the computer for a while and catch up on some old anime.

Of course, what he calls "catching up on old anime" is actually "watching new anime" to others.

……

"Hmm...it seems the wind is shifting..."

Before opening Bilibili, Guan Ren opened the class group and the "Our Struggle" group, and reviewed the group messages from the past month for the first time in a long time. He found that new people were participating in the latest anime and Bilibili discussions every day.

[Who's watching Future Diary? Yuno Gasai is awesome!]

[Is my King's Power any better? I saw it on Bilibili, everyone's talking about Tanmu.]

You mistyped it. It should be "bullet screen" (弹幕), pronounced "dan," not "tan."

"Oh, I've seen all of these. What other good animated films are there? Wang Chao, can you recommend one?"

I recommend watching the ones from January; yours are all from last October. Also, anime is not the same as animation!

"hey-hey…"

When Guan Ren saw Wang Chao's angry rebuke inside, he laughed so hard he couldn't help but grin like an idiot.

Anime is not animation.

This statement represents the most typical perception of so-called "newcomers to the world of anime and manga" at this point in time.

It is most commonly used by junior high school students.

Because this is the age when we're most immature and dislike being told, "Why are you watching cartoons like a little kid?"

So people started taking those more adult-oriented elements from Japanese anime and defining them as "anime," while defining things like Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf as "animation."

Then he said, "Anime is for adults, animation is for children."

Animation is just animation!
Male-oriented, female-oriented, children-oriented, 2D, 3D... all of these are animation. To Guan Ren, saying "anime is not animation" sounds rather awkward.

……

Speaking of which, cartoons like Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, along with the rise of the anime/manga style, have also been heavily criticized.

Comments such as "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf is too childish", "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit is not good", and "All domestic animations are animals" are rampant.

The Gen Z kids who love these things are still young and haven't yet built a voice online based on their "childhood memories."

Guan Ren still remembers a news story about a child imitating Pleasant Goat by cooking his younger brother in a pot at home. It was widely circulated during the Japanese anime craze, and Pleasant Goat became the League of Legends of animation for a time.

You country bumpkin, you should just go play League of Legends.

For the rest of your life, watch your beloved Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf!

These phrases, which often appear in online flame wars, evoked a deep sense of emotion in Guan Ren, giving him a sense of enjoyment akin to reading a history book.

……

Finally, Guan Ren finished reading the chat history and started catching up on his own anime.

Browsing through Bilibili, the animation section is full of things like Jiying Subtitles, Light Novel Kingdom, Huameng, and Chengkong.

These subtitle groups are updating the January 2012 anime series as soon as possible.

Among the works that left a deep impression on Guan Ren, besides the final season of "The Familiar of Zero" and "Nisemonogatari", it was the relatively obscure work "Another".

The name of this show may have been forgotten by many people later.

However, those who have seen it will surely remember the scene where a character falls down the stairs and his throat is pierced by the tip of a long umbrella.

This experience made Guan Ren hesitant to use a long umbrella for many days afterward.

……

And so, Guan Ren unwittingly watched until 2 a.m.

Then, unsurprisingly, I was late for the morning Chinese reading session the next day.

Fortunately, Gu Wancheng didn't criticize her anymore.

He only glanced at himself silently as he passed by, which made Guan Ren feel relieved that it seemed the matter was finally over.

(End of this chapter)