My Taoist nun girlfriend is from the Republic of China era, 1942.

Chapter 29 Visiting the School

Lin Ling's unexpected phone call kept Lu Yuan awake all night.

Those pleading pleas repeatedly stirred his nerves, causing the idea of ​​"fortune favors the bold" to grow wildly in his mind like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

The next morning, Lu Yuan sat down at the dining table with light dark circles under his eyes, mechanically stuffing fried eggs into his mouth while staring blankly into the void.

Chen Xiaomiao sipped her porridge, secretly glancing at Lu Yuan, her heart pounding with anxiety.

As a Taoist priest, although I am not good at it, I do know a little about traditional Chinese medicine and understand the concepts of male and female yin and yang.

The crumpled pieces of paper in Lu Yuan's bedroom trash can, upon closer inspection, reveal something amiss.

Then I noticed Lu Yuan's haggard face this morning...

"Lu Yuan." Chen Xiaomiao put down her bowl, mustered her courage, and spoke seriously.

"Huh?" Lu Yuan snapped out of his daze and looked at her blankly.

"Are you... are you feeling unwell?"

Chen Xiaomiao lowered her voice, her eyes filled with concern and an indescribable complexity: "I noticed your face is pale and your eyes are bluish, which is a sign of depletion of vital energy. You must take care of yourself and not act recklessly!"

"Pfft-cough cough cough!"

Lu Yuan almost spat out his mouthful of congee, choking violently.

He grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth haphazardly, then said seriously, "I just didn't sleep well last night, and I was bothered by something."

Chen Xiaomiao looked unconvinced and continued to persuade him: "'When the heart fire is agitated, the kidney water is depleted.' At your age, you are full of vigor and vitality, and you are most vulnerable to such abuse."

But everything has its limits; too much of anything is as bad as too little. Draining the pond to catch all the fish... that wouldn't be good after marriage!

"Stop, stop!"

Lu Yuan quickly raised his hand, making a pause gesture: "I'm really fine! It's just... I just didn't sleep well, because of my thesis, you know? My thesis!"

Chen Xiaomiao blinked. She had no idea what a thesis was, but she still politely said "Oh," though her doubts remained undiminished.

Breakfast ended in an extremely strange atmosphere. Before leaving, Lu Yuan suddenly said, "By the way, do you remember when I taught you how to take the subway last time?"

Chen Xiaomiao nodded: "Yes, I remember."

"Leave around 3 p.m., take Line 2 to XX station. Our school is right outside the station. Remember to call me when you get there."

Why would I go to your school?

Didn't you say you wanted to take a look yesterday?

"Can I go in?"

"Don't worry, the mountain man has a clever plan."

Lu Yuan gave a mysterious smile.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Yuan was still discussing the direction of his graduation thesis with his supervisor when his phone suddenly rang. It was Chen Xiaomiao calling.

He made an excuse to slip out of school and rushed to the subway entrance.

Chen Xiaomiao was dressed in her usual style: a white T-shirt, sweatpants, and canvas shoes. Her long, black hair was tied in a ponytail, revealing her smooth, full forehead.

She stood at the subway entrance, looking around with a naive and innocent look, much like a freshman who had just arrived for university.

"here!"

Lu Yuan waved to her.

When Chen Xiaomiao saw Lu Yuan, her eyes lit up, and she quickly ran over. When she stood still, she was still slightly out of breath: "There are so many people... there are so many people."

"Come on, I'll take you inside."

Lu Yuan led her to a welcome bus at the school gate and waved to signal them to wait a moment.

New students arrive a week later than returning students, and the checks are less stringent, making it the easiest way to sneak in.

The driver stopped the car, opened the door, and asked curiously, "Hey, students, what are you doing waiting for the bus at the school gate..."

Lu Yuan took out his student ID and said apologetically, "Driver, my cousin is a freshman who just got into college this year. I just picked her up from the station. Could you please give me a ride?"

The driver glanced at him, then at Chen Xiaomiao behind him, without any suspicion: "Get in the car, it's still a long way to the registration office."

The two got into the car without incident.

The car was already quite full of people, all of them with youthful faces.

Lu Yuan pulled Chen Xiaomiao to find an empty seat in the last row and just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a loud and boisterous voice rang out from next to them.

"Holy crap! Lu Yuan?"

A boy wearing a red vest as a welcome volunteer approached, grinning slyly and winking: "Not bad, bro. I'm working like a dog welcoming new students, and you're just sneaking around and stealing their base?"
"Wow, you were quick! You've already won over that junior high student?"

Lu Yuan raised an eyelid and replied irritably, "Get lost, she's my cousin." "Cousin?"

The boy smiled even more ambiguously, leaned close to Lu Yuan's ear, and whispered, "Got it, got it, you're the orthopedic cousin, right?"

But honestly, this junior high school girl is absolutely stunning. She has a pure yet alluring beauty—she's gorgeous!

Chen Xiaomiao didn't understand what "stealing a house" or "orthopedics" meant, but she could feel the other person's eyes sizing her up and down between her and Lu Yuan, with a slickness that she disliked.

She instinctively shrank closer to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan noticed Chen Xiaomiao's unease, his face darkened, and he shoved the boy's head away: "Zhang Hao, if you keep spewing nonsense, believe me, I won't be polite."

"No, no, no, it's just a joke, don't take it seriously!"

Zhang Hao quickly raised his hands in surrender, took two steps back with a grin, and before leaving, he didn't forget to give Chen Xiaomiao what he thought was a handsome smile.

Lu Yuan ignored him and turned to Chen Xiaomiao, softening his tone: "Don't take him seriously, he's not very bright."

Zhang Hao and Lu Yuan were in the same class. The reason they chose civil engineering was that their fathers had been contractors for decades and they planned to follow in their footsteps.

That self-important, slick social attitude probably came from his father; it often annoys people. Even though he's a senior, he's still thinking about freshmen and insists on volunteering to welcome them.

As soon as the vehicle entered the campus, the view suddenly opened up.

The wide asphalt road is lined with tall, lush vegetation, and sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light.

Buildings of various styles are nestled among the green trees, including classical buildings with red bricks and green tiles, as well as modern buildings with sleek lines.

What shocked Chen Xiaomiao the most were the people on campus.

Groups of young people whizzed past, dressed in all sorts of clothes, their faces radiating youthful energy.

Compared to the young people Chen Xiaomiao had seen in the past, the almost overflowing vitality of today's students was something she had never seen before.

"Lu Yuan, look at that!"

Chen Xiaomiao tugged at Lu Yuan's sleeve, lowering her voice as if she had discovered a new continent: "Why is that girl wearing only underwear in the street? And that one, her arms and legs are exposed, isn't she ashamed!"

Lu Yuan followed her gaze and saw a girl wearing athletic shorts and headphones running past.

"Those are sportswear, they're convenient."

Lu Yuan was both amused and exasperated: "Didn't I tell you? We don't follow those old rules anymore."

Then I passed the track and field stadium, where the school dance team, dressed in short skirts, was rehearsing. A row of long, snowflake-like legs swayed freely, full of dynamism and energy.

"Indecent and immoral! Indecent and immoral!"

Chen Xiaomiao quickly covered her eyes, her little face flushed.

After getting off the bus at the welcome area, Lu Yuanfei quickly led Chen Xiaomiao away and wandered around the university.

The novelty and excitement on Chen Xiaomiao's face slowly subsided, turning into a lingering sense of melancholy.

"Lu Yuan, so many people are studying here. How many scholars and officials must there be?"

"Now they're not called scholars or graduates anymore, they're called undergraduates, postgraduates, doctoral students... Most of them can't become officials, but rather find jobs and earn money based on their own abilities."

"So, is civil engineering a good way to make money?"

"What are you thinking? You'll be lucky if you can find a job as a bricklayer after graduation."

The mere mention of money brought back Lu Yuan's old worries.

He suddenly asked Chen Xiaomiao very seriously, "Xiaomiao, if you had a lot of money, the kind you could never spend in your entire life, what would you want to do?"

Chen Xiaomiao paused for a moment, tilted her head, and began to think seriously.

"I think... we should repair our Qizhen Temple first."

She counted on her fingers, one by one: "The roof of the temple is leaking, and a piece of paint has fallen off the statue of the Three Pure Ones. Once it's repaired, I can properly enshrine my master's memorial tablet."

"and then?"

"Then, I wanted to buy lots and lots of white flour, steam it into big white buns, and share them with the hungry villagers down the mountain. When I was fleeing famine, I sometimes went days without a bite to eat; that was a terrible feeling..."

As she spoke, Chen Xiaomiao's eyes reddened slightly: "Finally, I want to buy myself some good cloth and make a new Taoist robe. My old one has so many patches..."

"Is it gone?"

"Hmm... I don't know what else I can do. I'll donate the rest to buy airplanes and cannons to fight the Japanese."

She grinned and said, "For a monk, money is just an external thing."

The little girl was talking about people and things from the past.

Simple and unadorned, yet incredibly weighty.

(End of this chapter)