Uneasy daily life

The boy's gaming skills were not exactly superb, but practically nonexistent. While others could monopolize a game machine for over an hour with just one coin, he could only enjoy himself for about ten minutes before spending the entire afternoon craning his neck to watch others play in the noisy arcade. When he saw something exciting or thrilling, he would even stand on tiptoe to peer inside.

Until I was patted on the shoulder, I turned around and saw my father's gloomy face.

Although I didn't know why I was so scared at first, I was just really scared.

……

……

"That's it?"

Feng Bin and Hua scratched their heads and said, "You're not so scared that you've despaired, are you?"

“Everyone says I don’t know when I’ll despair.” Bai Ying shrugged. “Your words… are always compared to Hero Plus, until you have a big fight with your mother, run away from home to find Hero Plus, only to find that Hero Plus doesn’t recognize you as his sister at all. You’ll despair then, right?”

Shut up! Are you crazy?!

Feng Bin and Hua grinned and said, "My sister and I are very close!"

On second thought, I realized I couldn't possibly steal my sister's boyfriend... Sigh? If my sister stole my boyfriend, it felt... maybe... probably...

Unable to figure it out, Feng Bin asked simply, "Hey, was I here first?"

"Let me think..." Bai Ying recalled for a moment, "I knew Hero Plus before I knew you."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Feng Bin and Hua immediately denied it, continuing to watch the boy's life become increasingly confused, and asked in confusion, "Why does this quiet little guy seem completely different from you? Is this really your past life?"

Bai Ying nodded seriously and said, "Indeed, is that stick figure that always likes to stick on me the same person as you?"

"Get out of here! Don't even think about fabricating memories for me!"

Feng Bin and Hua complained irritably, but their gazes became increasingly absorbed.

A feeling that's both frightening and intimate...

……

……

The boy is increasingly resembling a student from the city.

Reading, studying, finding opportunities to go out and play, saving pocket money through various means, buying toys like spinning tops and yo-yos, occasionally playing chess with others in class, and moving with parents whose careers changed.

Moving wasn't exactly unexpected; it was rather simple and ordinary.

After taking a nap, I opened my eyes, rode in a car for a while, and was about to live in a larger apartment complex with iron fences. My always-busy father took me to the new school for the entrance exam.

The boy had some questions and confusion—before winter break, his classmates borrowed several novels from him, but how would he return them now that he was transferring schools? When relatives were leaving, his father always reminded him to say goodbye to each one, but he hadn't said goodbye to his classmates while transferring schools, had he? The school here was better; did that mean there were more high-achieving students?

These fleeting doubts didn't linger for long; they were simply thought about and then set aside.

The boy had long been accustomed to avoiding unnecessary discussions with his parents.

He quietly took the entrance exam and did very well. He didn't need to study abroad. His father seemed to be in a good mood and even bought him a Rubik's Cube on the way home.

Back home, the boy excitedly twisted and turned the Rubik's Cube, watching the colorful squares change in his hands and listening to the crisp creaking sound of the cube. It was all very new and interesting.

“You’re just messing around.” Dad rarely spoke up about other topics. “You need to learn to use your brain and solve the Rubik’s Cube so that each side is a different color. If you can do that before dinner, I’ll give you pocket money.”

Pocket money is a good thing.

The boy became interested and holed up in his room trying to turn the Rubik's Cube, but he still didn't know how to make each face of the Rubik's Cube the same color. As the time drew closer, he couldn't help but feel anxious and irritable - if he didn't get the pocket money he was supposed to get, wouldn't that be a loss?

Damn it! I absolutely have to get my allowance!

In his frustration, the boy suddenly noticed that some of the colored paper on the cube was peeling up. He reached out and peeled off the stickers on the surface of the Rubik's Cube bit by bit, and then he understood.

With his intelligence and ingenuity, the boy successfully completed the task of solving the Rubik's Cube.

Dad smiled happily: "No matter how difficult something is, it can be done as long as you work hard and use your brain. Learning is the same. Not being able to straighten a Rubik's Cube is the same as not being able to solve a problem. As long as you think carefully and focus on your efforts..."

The boy listened attentively to his father's instructions.

I'm happy to have received some pocket money.

……

"They actually came up with this kind of idea..."

Feng Bin and Hua couldn't help but smirk: "You were quite clever in your past life, weren't you?"

Do you know the consequences of trying to be clever?

Bai Ying asked with a smile.

"The end?"

Toyohama Kazuka was somewhat puzzled as she watched the boy continue his life. His home life remained dull, but his school life was lively. He gradually grew tired of studying and preferred to find things to do and play around. As an observer, Toyohama Kazuka could see that the boy's family was gradually improving. His father had started a small company, and when he occasionally brought the boy to the company to play, adults would often jokingly call him "Young Master." However, the boy always maintained a quiet and composed demeanor in front of adults.

Although he had an extra younger sister, Xiao Fuqiang didn't seem to notice anything. On the contrary, Feng Bin and Hua, who were watching from the sidelines, could vaguely see some things, such as the fact that everyone in the family was taking better care of the baby sister.

"Is it because you're jealous of your sister that you've become desperate?"

"Hey, don't bring your story into 'me'." Bai Ying gestured to Xiao Fuqiang, who was having a great time. "Do I look like I'm jealous and sad? During that time, my family didn't pay much attention to 'me'. I was actually happier."

"It really is……"

Feng Bin and Hua pouted and began to ponder seriously.

The only change is that, compared to playing games, Xiao Fuqiang has also developed a hobby of reading.

Because his parents wouldn't nag him for reading, the boy bought a lot of popular novels at street stalls for very cheap prices. The pages of those books were yellowed and curled, and there were occasionally some printed typos. It was hard to tell how many times they had been read.

Perhaps it was because he had read a lot of books and gradually gained some understanding, coupled with the occasional complaints from classmates at his new school about his name, that the boy finally embarked on the great undertaking of changing his name.

First, he rejected his grandfather's suggestion of Xiao Jinlong, and then, before his parents could come up with any ideas, he chose a name for himself that was the same as the character in the novel.

……

"My name is Xiao Yun!"

The boy thought the name was super cool.

This is the protagonist of a novel, who does great things like sweeping across the eight wastelands and cutting through the six directions, and is even called the Supreme Emperor!

Although I don't quite understand it, it's really cool.

After lending the book to other classmates, the boy became even more proud of his name. Occasionally, when he was playing around with his classmates, he would throw out the "I Am the Only One" punch. Of course, his classmates would not be outdone and would strike back with the "Heartbreaking Palm". They would go back and forth, which was very enjoyable.

Unfortunately, the book was confiscated by the homeroom teacher.

As teenagers enter middle school, they increasingly realize the importance of pocket money.

Good food at restaurants costs money, buying interesting books costs money, going to the arcade costs money, buying things at the school store costs money, and my classmate's cool gaming phone costs money...

But there was no money.

The teenager experienced the troubles of adulthood at a young age.

I always feel scared to ask my family for money, because I feel like they won't give it to me. So I can't tell my family or ask them for it. I can only take it myself and do it secretly.

When the boy went to his father's company to play, he took some loose change from the office. As for the large, bright red banknotes that were tied together with paper strips and were quite rare, he didn't touch them, because the money he took was enough to buy himself a game console.

This is theft.

The boy received the most painful slap he had ever received and knelt on the hard floor of his home for an hour.

Dad angrily put the game console on the ground and chopped it into crooked shapes with a kitchen knife right in front of him.

"We work so hard to earn money outside, just so you'll learn to steal?!"

"You don't study hard all day, but you're quicker than anyone else to go astray!"

"A person should stand up straight! You can't do these petty, underhanded things! Your theft has made us all ashamed!"

"You want money? Why didn't you ask us? You just had to steal it!"

"Playing games? You'll have plenty of time to play games later, why do you want to play now?!"

The boy was so frightened that he didn't utter a sound. The pain on his face was only momentary, and he gradually got used to kneeling on the ground. However, the tense atmosphere in the air made him breathless, and cold sweat broke out all over his body. It felt as if a needle was piercing his heart and constantly stirring, causing his body to tremble from time to time.

Grandpa and Grandma didn't speak up either. After Grandma scolded him a couple of times, she turned to Dad and said that kneeling for a while was enough, as kneeling for too long was not good for the child.

Compared to the scoldings and slaps he received from his father when he was caught in the arcade before, this was the slap he remembered most vividly.

……

"...You haven't given up hope yet?"

Feng Bin and Hua had been watching quietly for some time, only occasionally making a sound.

She thought about her relationship with her mother... Stealing was wrong, of course, and running away from home was wrong, but the feeling of preferring to do wrong rather than communicate with her mother was also weighing heavily on her heart.

Why despair? How can you despair because you did something wrong?

Bai Ying simply smiled: "What's truly despairing is not being able to distinguish right from wrong."

Can't tell right from wrong?

Feng Bin and Hua were a little confused, but they soon understood.

Children who have entered middle school have already begun to vaguely remember things and start to think.

Xiao Yun received another slap.

……

During the holiday.

My mother and some other elders discussed going to the zoo.

Xiao Yun didn't want to go; she just wanted to stay home during her holidays.

"Go and have some fun," Mom persuaded. "Look, everyone's going together, Jinfeng wants to go too."

The little girl, still quite young, made two "Aba Aba" sounds while being held in her mother's arms.

Xiao Yun still didn't want to go, but couldn't give a reason. She just shook her head with a sullen expression and casually offered an excuse: "I need to do my homework and review..."

"Studying can't go on for too long; you need to balance work and rest," Mom advised again. "It's a rare holiday; how can you stay home all day?"

Xiao Yun didn't reply, indicating he didn't want to go, which made the situation awkward for a moment.

"Xiao Yun!"

Suddenly, his father called him by his full name with a gloomy face. The boy subconsciously felt guilty and looked up to meet his father's furrowed brows. He pursed his lips and stubbornly remained silent.

Then I got slapped.

"What are you crying for? Hold your piss back! A man should just say what he wants to say! How are people supposed to know what you mean if you don't talk?! What are you doing staying at home like a silent gourd all day? You don't even want to go out and have fun?!"

Xiao Yun wiped away her tears and went out to play with them.

The zoo was indeed very interesting. Mom tried to comfort herself, saying that she had bought a lot of things and Dad was too busy to come, so her mood was quickly dispelled.

Emotions come and go quickly, but leave a lingering question in the heart.

It was clearly two slaps, but this time it felt completely different from the last.

Why were you attacked?

……

……

“Mom is strict and anxious, but she wouldn’t do something like this…”

Feng Bin and Hua, who were watching from the sidelines, naturally understood better than Xiao Yun—because Xiao Yun's father was clearly very angry about something else at the time. When he saw that his son was not going to the zoo and the situation was very tense, he angrily slapped him.

Bai Ying laughed and said, "Right and wrong are determined by fighting, and they can also be destroyed by fighting."

"So, you feel hopeless because you can't figure out what's right and what's wrong?"

Feng Bin and Hua frowned and guessed.

"Hmm... I do remember those two slaps clearly, but it must have happened afterward," Bai Ying speculated. "Those who judge right and wrong in 'my' eyes are also caught in a vortex of not knowing whether they are right or wrong."

Toyohama Kazuka: "?"

What strange things are you saying?

Feng Bin and Hua rolled their eyes and continued watching intently, realizing that the boy had unknowingly changed his personality.

Or rather, for the life that is being relived, the teenager is unaware, but for the quiet observer, this change is very obvious.

As we grow older, we gradually understand more, and with that understanding comes the troubles of conflict and contradiction.