Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

Chapter 137 The Taste of Happiness

"You're not going with the group, just thinking about your own things?"

Li Zhao chuckled. "Why haven't you gone back yet?"

"I'm already here, and this is how you start?"

"Boring," they both said in unison.

He Shuyao sat directly on the tree pit.

Right now, some students who love sports are still playing ball and running on the main playground, and there are also a few people exercising on the covered playground.

The sounds were enthusiastic and lively.

"Are you in a bad mood?" He Shuyao asked.

"More or less."

"That's rare."

"So what do you think I'm doing?"

"I thought you went to team up with some girls to play mixed doubles."

"Is there a competition?"

"Clubs, they have recruitment events every day after school, over at the gymnasium." He Shuyao looked at Li Zhao. "You don't pay any attention to them?"

Li Zhao was stunned for a moment.

The first week of school went well. Everyone got used to the afternoon break rhythm, chatted a lot, and paid attention to the Nokia flagship phone in Zhao Dabao's hand.

However, the intensity increased sharply a week later.

In addition, Li Zhao has been researching how to submit his novel to the press, maintaining the same pace of life he had in elementary school, and suddenly he felt like there wasn't enough time.

He didn't want to admit it, but he had to, that there was a lot more homework in junior high school—especially the various short tests that the school itself had created.

Then he began to notice the gap and tried to catch up with everyone's thinking speed to prove himself.

Then I failed, which led to me sitting here quietly by myself today.

Seeing that Li Zhao didn't speak, He Shuyao pursed her lips and remained silent.

—He Shuyao's thinking speed isn't fast either, but she can study in depth. She must be under more pressure.

Or maybe we should be honest with her?

"I sense you're under some pressure," He Shuyao said first.

Li Zhao slowly nodded. "A little."

"Can you tell me about it?"

Li Zhao took a deep breath and decided to be honest with him.

After saying this, He Shuyao sat a little closer to Li Zhao.

"I never imagined you would be under this kind of pressure."

"Um?"

"In everyone's eyes, you're the one who puts pressure on us," He Shuyao said. "Su Wan is the English class representative, and she admires you so much. She said she can't imagine how you have such a deep knowledge of English."

Li Zhao smiled but remained silent.

"But you actually consider yourself someone whose thinking speed isn't fast enough?" He Shuyao asked.

"It might not be slow, but it's definitely not fast."

"It's really not right for you to be so troubled by this issue."

"Um?

"Mingming told me before that there are two kinds of geniuses, and that's yourself. Thinking deeply is also genius, so I haven't been anxious lately. I didn't expect you to be under pressure."

Li Zhao wanted to say something, but couldn't utter a word for a long time.

"You know so much, I thought you were the kind of genius who could integrate and apply knowledge. You have your own set of understandings and your own learning methods. I didn't expect you to care so much about how fast you think."

"I just hope to do better."

"Then why don't you play to your strengths?"

He Shuyao moved closer, and Li Zhao could smell the fragrance emanating from her.

Their shoulders are almost touching when I feed them.

"I think thinking correctly is more important than thinking fast. Even in a competition that tests speed, as long as you think correctly, isn't that a form of speed? In exams, in the end, it's all about whether you write correctly or not. Who cares how fast you write?"

He Shuyao took the advice very seriously.

"Of course, I'm not you, with such a big halo." He Shuyao chuckled. "I definitely can't understand the pressure you're under, but I always feel that geniuses don't need to prove themselves."

These words struck Li Zhao hard; he swayed, and the two bumped shoulders.

He Shuyao was clearly taken aback for a moment, but she continued, "Even if you don't get first place in the midterm exam, I don't think I will think you're not a genius."

"Because you really know so much, I'm curious if one day a difficult point will arise that the whole class can't understand, and you'll explain it clearly in a nonchalant way, even coming up with angles that the teacher hadn't thought of."

You're indulging in wish-fulfillment fantasies about a young girl—

However, Li Zhao himself had actually fantasized about it.

For example, the combination of history and geography.

History is not a fictional story; it is actually closely related to geography. Why is a certain place a strategic location that is fought over by military strategists? Why does a certain dynasty suddenly fall into a period of hardship?

Both require the involvement of geographical knowledge. If two complete knowledge systems can be formed and then combined for understanding, Li Zhao will have a higher level of understanding in history and geography than others.

Li Zhao is working on this.

It's just that I haven't learned enough yet, and it's not time to form a complete system.

Therefore, it has not yet been transformed into a result.

They're getting anxious.

Human desires are truly endless.

After his rebirth, Li Zhao possessed the information gap that many people dream of. However, he was not satisfied with just relying on the information gap and wanted to become a "true genius." He could not be a deep-thinking genius that he had the potential to become; he had to be a dazzling genius who could solve problems with lightning-fast thinking and effortless ease.

View desires correctly, and cultivate the right desires.

It's truly a lifelong lesson.

No desires lead to unhappiness, too many desires lead to unhappiness, and unfulfilled desires also lead to unhappiness.

Li Zhao has already gone through several rounds of understanding of the question "What is happiness?"

But obviously, there is no fixed standard answer, just as there is no single standard answer to life.

No one can be happy forever, nor can anyone have a smooth life forever.

If you eat too many sweet things, you will become less sensitive to sweetness.

The idea that everyone's IQ has dropped a hundredfold while mine remains unchanged is something Li Zhao can't empathize with. It's like when he used to play games and would enter cheat codes to make himself invincible. It was incredibly fun at first, but it quickly became boring.

On the bright side, these classmates are very strong, and it's a good opportunity to observe the thinking of true geniuses; moreover, beating these classmates is obviously much more interesting than playing against elementary school students.

As for those reflections on genius, all I can say is that happiness isn't always sweet.

Just like youth, only when the flavors are rich enough are they worth savoring again and again later.

Happiness with only one flavor is not rich enough.

He is now sitting here chatting with He Shuyao. The sky is orange, and the setting sun casts dappled light through the treetops. A weekend is just around the corner.

I'm quite happy.

Li Zhao was reflecting on himself and suddenly he really looked like someone going through the troubles of adolescence. Wasn't that a manifestation of his involvement in his current life?

They are quite happy.

[The taste of happiness. Happiness +3, Total 27]

Wonderful.

Seeing that Li Zhao hadn't spoken for a long time, He Shuyao nudged him with her shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking that the taste of happiness isn't just sweet," Li Zhao said.

"Huh?" He Shuyao thought she had just been distracted and missed some conversation.

"Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty—all can be flavors of happiness," Li Zhao said. "Happiness is not static. Besides the things that everyone knows make us happy, some sour reflections, some bitter failures, and some spicy anger—perhaps—can all be transformed into happiness."

"?" A huge question mark appeared above He Shuyao's head.

Could it be that I've traveled through time?

Weren't we just having a chat about this?

"Of course, I'm not glorifying suffering. Making mistakes is unhappy, but reflecting and summarizing afterwards is happy; failure itself is unhappy, but learning lessons and tempering oneself from it, or even gaining strength, is happy; being angry about something is naturally unhappy, but if that anger can release some pent-up emotions or gain resonance from others, it can also be happy."

He Shuyao chose to abandon her doubts and directly follow up on the new discussion.

So she nodded.

"Just like bitterness, stir-fried bitter melon is bitter, but it tastes good; Nintendo cartridges are also bitter, but I don't think anyone would think that denatum is the taste of happiness."

Wait, what kind of strange metaphor is this?

Why did you even think of these things?

"My thinking is rather unconventional."

"And you say you're slow-thinking?" He Shuyao shook her head.

"I don't need to be a genius who thinks exceptionally fast."

The first principle of happiness: accept what you cannot do.

"You've come to terms with it?"

"But I still want to be the pinnacle of New Taipei First Senior High School."

The second principle of happiness: expect what you can do.

Then Li Zhao jumped down from the tree pit and said, "Let's sign up too, and play in the mixed doubles competition."

The third principle of happiness: experience what you can do.

He Shuyao suddenly crossed her arms and raised her head, "Who said I agreed to fight with you?"