Rebirth 08: A Happy Life Begins in Elementary School

When we were in elementary school, we always liked to imagine what we would be like when we grew up.

As we grow up, we try our best to recall what it was like to be a child.

Li Zhao had made thorough preparations to integrate into the higher ranks, but the result was such a close-range challenge.

He was stunned for quite a while.

He really knew what he would be like twenty years from now.

However, it's not easy to write.

Li Zhao wanted to put himself in the shoes of a primary school student and imagine himself twenty years from now.

It turns out that it's still unimaginable now.

Because he was reborn, his rock-solid financial freedom alone makes it difficult for him to imagine the next twenty years in a normal way.

If I write it down, people will laugh at me for dreaming big.

Why not... write down the truth?

Write about the wonderful future you imagined when you were in elementary school, the obstacles you actually encountered in the future, and what you would like to say to your elementary school self twenty years from now...

Of course, the parts that need to be integrated into the segments should still be integrated.

All real experiences, when presented in an essay, become "possible encounters".

However, Li Zhao had completely forgotten how he imagined the future when he was in elementary school.

Perhaps it's too naive, or perhaps there are too many variables. Just like how many kids these days say they want to be "scientists," but then struggle with a few more subjects in junior high and can't even get into the top ten of their class. They've long since lost their confidence.

A naive dream that has never been connected with real life is far too fragile.

At first, I wanted to be a top figure in human society. After entering junior high school, I realized that I didn't seem to be a genius. As I learned more, I started to turn to the glamorous celebrities on TV or the good jobs that my parents and teachers talked about. In high school, I found that the college entrance examination was not my stage at all. I was lucky if I could even get into a top university. Then I started the painful process of choosing a major. I was completely clueless. Finally, when I entered university, I found that my major was not what I had imagined...

Until then, "what kind of person you want to become" might still be related to your major. Just like Li Zhao's classmates at the time, almost every one of them felt that they would become the head of a well-known design firm and become the next big name in the industry.

As soon as you graduate, the harsh realities of society come crashing down like a torrential downpour after you've weathered the initial period of confusion.

At this moment, with your face bruised and swollen, you finally realize that "what kind of person you want to become" is actually a very real question.

I used to think that following the path set by adults—buying a house, a car, getting married, and having children—was really boring. I hoped to forge a more valuable and different path in life.

It's now clear that those who can follow this predetermined path are already winners in life...

This is the situation of most of Li Zhao's classmates.

Li Zhao fared relatively better; he worked incredibly hard and managed to achieve success and status in his professional field, and he also amassed a considerable amount of wealth.

However, he was also relatively lacking because he didn't have things that many of his classmates should have.

"What kind of person do you want to be?" Li Zhao, who is in his thirties, can't say for sure. He has even forgotten the answer he had when he was a child, but now he can put himself in that position and give an answer.

A happy person.

The so-called "genuine feelings" have always been a powerful tool for writing. When you can truly put your emotions into your writing, the words you produce will naturally have a moving quality.

But Li Zhao wrote too fast. When he looked at the draft paper, he realized that he had only just started writing 400 words. This wouldn't do.

So the challenge became how to express what I wanted to say and convey the emotions I needed to express in just 400 words.

When I was little, I didn't have many words to say, so filling these squares with words was a challenge. Now that I'm older, I have so much to say, even a small dot can spark a lot of thoughts, so fitting the words into these squares is another challenge...

This was practically Li Zhao's first challenge in dealing with elementary school students since his rebirth.

He first made an outline, then realized that the outline was already 300 words long, so he began to drastically cut it down.

Cut off all the extraneous details, keeping only the core points, and then further eliminate the less crucial parts. After this process of filtering, the outline was finally reduced to one hundred words.

Conciseness, that's truly a very advanced expressive technique...

The first draft was 800 words, then it was reduced to 600, and rewritten to 453. Finally, it met the standard, with a total of 500 grid lines on the graph paper.

Li Zhao looked at it again and couldn't help but click his tongue.

Isn't that too awesome?

Li Zhao is not boasting, but the quality of an article has both subjective and objective aspects.

The writing quality of this article is so poor that it would be considered unfair to students in elementary school.

Because of his struggle with the essay, Li Zhao didn't perform exceptionally well in the Chinese exam, while Chen Nian was still a little excited after handing in his paper.

The genius showed a side that wasn't so genius after all...

?

He saw the draft paper that Li Zhao had placed on the table.

It was densely packed with words: the beginning, the outline, the revisions, the second draft, the third draft...

Goodness, this is just showing off.

Does that mean they handed in their English and math papers early because there was really nothing left to figure out?

Chen Nian suddenly realized something terrifying.

It seems like Li Zhao suddenly had a stroke of luck in the math mock exam, even though his Chinese mock exam was just average. Now it seems like his Chinese has also been blessed.

That's right, this is his first Chinese exam since his math placement test!

Li Zhao didn't know why Chen Nian was making such a fuss, and just assumed it was a primary school student's inexplicable desire to perform.

After the exams, the students were in a classic state of flux: some sighing and groaning, some immediately checking their answers, and others excited, only feeling relieved about the exams and the upcoming weekend.

This happened every time after exams in junior and senior high school.

In his past life, Li Zhao was always the one checking the answers. After checking, he would find that there were mistakes, and then spend a long, rainy weekend.

Now... no one dares to come over and ask for the answer.

One of the joys of finding the right answer lies in the space for discussion, especially when someone more knowledgeable than you has a different answer. You can stick to your opinion, and once you analyze the situation, you're actually right. That feeling of satisfaction can last you a whole weekend.

Forget about Li Zhao.

Over the weekend, Li Zhao's parents were running around to the store to complete various paperwork, leaving him alone at home.

Thank you so much to all the window staff who have to work on weekends.

Li Zhao woke up early Saturday morning and lay in bed, somewhat dazed.

Judging from his later requirements for his own home, the small room was a huge problem.

The clothes hanging there were very damp, the bed was so narrow that it creaked even when he turned over in bed, and the curtains were so thin that they let in light, barely better than nothing.

In this kind of environment, I didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

"The overall environment forces one to adapt." Li Zhao got up, stretched, and walked out of the room.

It was very quiet at home, but I could hear the sounds of neighbors haggling over prices at various stores outside the window.

On the table was a bowl of white porridge cooked by Zhou Xiaoyun, along with a fried egg and a side dish.

Li Zhao plugged in the rice cooker to heat up the slightly congealed porridge, then went to the living room and stared blankly at the television that wouldn't turn on.

This was a scene that Li Zhao was very familiar with in his previous life; he had spent his high school holidays like this.

Without smartphones or computers, Li Zhao would spend his days alone at home, reading and writing, unless he had a pre-arranged outing.

It's too quiet.

It's not the environment, it's time.

For the first time, Li Zhao even felt that time was moving very slowly.

The attention that had been fragmented by work and short videos in his previous life was now slowly returning to Li Zhao's brain.

It's like a form of spiritual practice, like drawing energy from the slow flow of time.

Li Zhao's previously active but chaotic thoughts began to gradually come together.

The essay topic resurfaced in my mind.

What I will be like twenty years from now.

How can we make these twenty years of this life worthwhile?