Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

At noon, Miao Zhe came back from outside as usual.

He went to the multimedia room, picked up his phone, and was ready to chat with his online girlfriend.

In this cold world, only an online romance could give him a sliver of warmth, making him momentarily forget the pain of being surrounded by the 'golden flowers' of his class.

Miao Zhe swiped the lock screen's pattern grid, drew a cool pattern, but the screen didn't unlock—the password was incorrect.

Miao Zhe didn't care; he thought he'd just entered it wrong, after all, his unlock pattern was quite fancy, and it was easy to make a mistake.

Miao Zhe's forehead wrinkled a bit. He breathed on his hand, wiped it clean, and earnestly drew a pattern—one hundred percent correct, he thought—but it was wrong again.

"This is impossible!"

"Absolutely impossible?"

Miao Zhe continued to attempt to unlock his phone with the pattern. It was wrong again. He wanted to try more, but the phone indicated that the password had been entered incorrectly too many times, and he would have to wait a few minutes before trying again.

Miao Zhe was extremely frustrated; he felt betrayed by his phone.

Cui Yu sat next to Ma Shicheng, letting out a laugh, looking smug as if he were reveling in another's misfortune.

Ma Shicheng remained indifferent; he had seen too much. Every time he went to Yucai Internet Cafe to use the wifi killer, he dominated utterly, leaving those students who tried to piggyback on the connection just as stunned and frustrated.

Miao Zhe waited a few minutes before trying to unlock his phone again, but the results were the same, and his phone locked up once more. Only then did he realize something was wrong with his phone.

"How could there be a problem?" Miao Zhe couldn't figure it out for the life of him—had someone tampered with his phone?

'Who would possibly mess with my phone?'

'It must be someone who holds a grudge against me.'

Several classmates sprang to Miao Zhe's mind, and he became even more confused. Half the class had a grudge against him; where could he even begin looking for the culprit?

Miao Zhe rubbed his hair in agony; his online girlfriend was still waiting for him, and now he was too late to even wish her a good afternoon.

Miao Zhe was not willing to give up. When the chance to unlock his phone came again, he tried once more, and yet again it didn't open. He was so mad that he smashed his phone against the table, nearly going insane.

Cui Yu was laughing uncontrollably.

Seeing Miao Zhe suffering, Ma Shicheng thought he had probably gotten the punishment he deserved, so he said:

"Look, he's about to cry. Why don't you go unlock it for him?"

Cui Yu paused, puzzled: "The password I set for him was too complicated, I forgot it right after the deed."

Ma Shicheng just stared at him blankly.

Then, Cui Yu added, "If I go back and use RE mode to unlock it for him, he'll definitely suspect me!"

"And then I might get caught by him again."

Ma Shicheng nodded, thinking it made sense.

Having no other options, Miao Zhe left the classroom with his phone, intending to find a phone shop to unlock it.

As Miao Zhe walked away, Cui Yu burst into hearty laughter:

"That idiot, just let him try to get me!"

Ma Shicheng was also in a good mood. To him, crushing someone like Miao Zhe was as easy as putting him under his thumb.

"Is he going out to get his phone fixed?" Cui Yu asked.

"Most likely."

"How much does that kind of repair cost?"

Ma Shicheng said with expertise: "It starts at twenty-five yuan. Those shops outside are so overpriced, but in reality, it's easy to fix. Just redo what you did earlier, and it would unlock directly."

"But you formatted his data. Not only will he have to spend money, but he'll also need to connect to wifi and redownload all the apps. Things like photos and messages are tough to recover."

Ma Shicheng talked on and on while Cui Yu praised his advanced phone-handling skills, impressed by his prowess.

...

During the big break of the evening self-study, each student in the classroom was occupied with their own things.

Jiang Ning talked to Geng Lu, assuring her that he could provide plenty of cultivation materials in the future and that he planned to cultivate Geng Lu's talent:

"Geng Lu, I think you're pretty good at drawing. The picture you gave me last time was really well done."

Geng Lu said, "Of course, I've loved to scribble on the ground since I was little. My dad saw that I liked it and specially bought me a small drawing board and watercolor pens."

"Could you help me out?" Jiang Ning asked.

Geng Lu was more than willing to help: "How can I help?"

"I'll describe something to you, and you draw it out."

"Sure."

Jiang Ning chose a type of cultivation material and began to describe it orally.

Geng Lu held a paintbrush, and started to draw on paper according to the scenes described by Jiang Ning.

At this moment, someone suddenly came in through the classroom door.

A male student, probably around 175 cm tall, wearing a smile on his face, holding a stack of items in his hand:

"Hello everyone, I'm Shen Xu from class 9 next door, sorry to interrupt for a minute! I'm here to sell some things."

He lifted up a cotton pad in his hand: "This is a cushion, very soft. The benches in the classroom are too cold in the winter. If you buy these, you can put them on the benches. They're very comfortable to sit on!"

Shen Xu's eloquence was decent, not shy at all, introducing the small goods to everyone:

"One cushion for fifteen yuan, guaranteed to be cheaper than those sold in small shops outside. I'm just making a little money for the effort."

After the introduction, some students asked questions, Shen Xu explained with care, and managed to sell three cushions, making forty-five yuan.

Once Shen Xu left, Dan Kaiquan, holding a cushion, found Bai Yuxia and shamelessly said:

"Desk mate, thanks for explaining the problems to me. This is for you."

Bai Yuxia, coming from a well-off and well-educated family, wouldn't easily accept things from boys:

"No need, if I want it, I'll buy it myself."

Dan Kaiquan, having no other choice, kept the cushion for his own use, sat for a while, and then ran off to play in the back rows.

There was, however, quite a bit of discussion about Shen Xu in the classroom.

Some girls said, "He's really capable. We still ask our parents for living expenses, but Shen Xu is already selling stuff."

Guo Kunnan from the back heard this and felt annoyed. Seeing someone else make money hurt more than his own losses. He said to a few people at the back:

"That kind of cushion costs just over seven yuan online. He's doubled the price."

"Dan Kaiquan, you idiot, if you wanted to buy, couldn't we have just ordered it online?"

When Dan Kaiquan heard Guo Kunnan revealing the cost price, he immediately regretted his purchase.

Earlier, acting on impulse, he only thought of buying it for Bai Yuxia; he hadn't even managed to give it to her. If he weren't too embarrassed, he'd want to go back to Shen Xu and ask for a refund.

Ma Shicheng, however, felt it wasn't too bad: "After all, it's sold to students, most of whom do not shop online. The price is actually okay, cheaper than the stores outside."

Hearing this, Dan Kaiquan chimed in: "I could do this job too, just buy a batch online and resell it in different classes."

Dan Kaiquan fantasized that if he got the goods, he could casually sell a few and have money for snacks at night.

And by making money through selling, surely some girls would speak of his abilities behind his back.

So, Dan Kaiquan actually felt a bit excited.

Ma Shicheng glanced at him, thinking deeper than Dan Kaiquan:

"The goods are easy to get, but not so easy to sell."

Just thinking about going around to different classes to peddle goods, he felt it would be too embarrassing.

There would definitely be people gossiping behind his back. Ma Shicheng cared about his reputation, and he would never do such a thing.

He said, "Selling cushions now you're definitely too late, the market has been cornered by Shen Xu. You'd have to think of other goods to sell."

Wang Longlong nearby said, "I heard Shen Xu is doing well. Don't be fooled by his pleasant demeanor; he was famously a troublemaker in middle school. You know Deng Xiang, right? Shen Xu was from the same middle school, they were on the same level."

Hearing the name Deng Xiang, Dan Kaiquan's expression turned awkward. He remembered the day when he sincerely asked Gong Xuan for her QQ, and then Deng Xiang stormed into their class during evening self-study. If it wasn't for Jiang Ning stepping in, he would have definitely been beaten up.

Last time it was Deng Xiang's bad luck that he slapped Xue Yuantong's desk. If this time he interfered with business and offended Shen Xu, he wouldn't be so lucky.

Thinking of this, Dan Kaiquan felt indignant.

"What's Deng Xiang, what's Shen Xu in front of Jiang Ning? They're just a kick away for my Brother Jiang." Saying so, as if he had Jiang Ning's abilities, made him feel a lot better inside.

At this, Ma Shicheng glanced towards the south side of the classroom. Jiang Ning was talking with Geng Lu. He really admired Jiang Ning: good character, tough in a fight, and had good grades too.

"I heard Shen Xu is dating a girl from the experimental class, who is very pretty," Guo Kunnan said enviously.

The girls in the experimental class each had top grades. The girls in their own class with good grades, like Bai Yuxia and Shen Qing'e, almost had their noses in the air, but their grades were only mediocre in the experimental class.

Ma Shicheng said, "Seeing how well Shen Xu can sell stuff, you can tell he's good at talking. It's no wonder girls like him, but I feel he's not reliable."

Although Ma Shicheng had never interacted with Shen Xu, he could tell with just one look that this guy wasn't his type, and he disliked him.

Dan Kaiquan, with a sense of shared enmity, said, "Don't girls just love this kind of troublemaker?"

He was a bit sour.

The boys chatted and the topic drifted, no longer discussing small businesses, instead shifted towards girls, becoming more and more excited, until the bell for class rang and Dan Kaiquan bid his farewell to leave.

He returned to his seat, looked back at Ma Shicheng and the others who continued to chat in the four-joined desks, and felt a bit empty. He thought it was a wrong choice to have moved here to chase Bai Yuxia.

But he couldn't let go just yet, having moved here for a month, pursued for a month, spent countless hours—if he gave up now, it would be too much of a loss.

So, Dan Kaiquan rallied his spirits and went over to Bai Yuxia again for an awkward chat.