lcionline Chapter 14 People Stirring Up the Nest
Chapter 14 People Stirring Up the Nest
That evening, as Chen Sui's fingertips brushed against the pages of the book, the last student from Civil Engineering Class 1 pushed open the door to the study room. Chen Che, unusually, was in the study room for the evening session.
When Chen Sui looked up, she met the other person's gaze. She then looked down again, and for some reason, a feeling of relief welled up inside her.
"It seems my persistent encouragement has finally paid off." Thinking this, a smile crept onto his lips. After sitting down in the back row, he secretly glanced at the person a few more times.
Chen Che was lying on the table, holding his phone in both hands, looking at what books were still in the reading app and what novels he had been engrossed in.
The first hurdle was the insurmountable barrier for middle school students: the bestselling novel "Dragon Raja" by Jiang Nan, a famous author. For several years, whenever "Dragon Raja" was published, it would inevitably top the bestseller list at Xinhua Bookstore for several months. On weekends, primary and secondary school students would sit on the floor and lean against the bookshelves to read the book. Which lonely and depressed child didn't fantasize that they were one in a million, a top student, and that a red-haired senior in a Ferrari would come to tell them that they had been accepted by a prestigious foreign university?
That's awesome!
Unfortunately, people grow up and their mindset changes. Looking back, all I feel is annoyance and the scheming, sycophantic types should be kept away from harming others.
In contrast, there is another book, "How the Steel Was Tempered." When I was a child, I read it as a romance novel and felt sorry for the unfulfilled love between Pavel and Tonya. Only when I grew up did I realize that I had transcended time and space and had been having a dialogue with the great proletarian soul.
I must go to the library and borrow a physical copy to read carefully when I have time.
"What are you looking at?" Ma Xu asked, leaning closer to him, looking bored.
"Fullmetal Alchemist".
"The one with the big brother?"
"...No, it's 'How the Steel Was Tempered'."
"What are you looking at this thing for? Isn't this a required extracurricular reading list from before? Haven't you had enough? I'm tired of writing book reports about it."
"But no matter when I watch it, I always feel sorry for Paul and Tonya's missed connection," Ma Xu said with a touch of sadness.
Chen Che scoffed dismissively: "You don't understand. Your level is only good enough to see the missed love stories."
"When you reach the age of thirty, if you have accomplished nothing and are just going to work and coming home day after day in a repetitive cycle."
When you're lost in thought, pondering the meaning of life but finding no answer, and then slowly sinking into the emptiness of existence.
Returning to first principles, the only things that can't be wrong are unwavering will and noble character.
"Or you might be lucky enough to achieve great success and live a life of extravagance and debauchery."
That makes pure faith all the more necessary, so that you can avoid all kinds of traps and exchanges of interests.
"By the time you've tasted all the delicacies of the world and then reminisce about the deliciousness of sandwiches while sipping soft bread, it's all for naught."
Ma Xu frowned and thought for a while: "I don't understand, you're just pretending to be profound."
I sat in the classroom for another half hour, but my mood became more and more depressed. It was too much to ask an old hand like me to sit in the classroom and study like a student during evening self-study.
Chen Che nudged Ma Xu's arm and asked in a low voice, "Brother Ma, wanna go fishing?"
"Huh?" Ma Xu had just brushed his hand over the 59th girl he had met during the most helpless years of his life, the girl he most wanted to take care of. He glanced at the sky outside the window, which was already getting dark, and looked around the quiet classroom. His face was full of "Are you crazy?" expressions.
The word "fishing" seems completely out of place in the current atmosphere.
"Where to fish?"
Mirror Lake.
"You don't have a fishing rod, bro? Are you going to use your hands?"
Yes, there really is.
"Hmm..." Ma Xu hesitated slightly.
"Don't worry, I've already caught all the corn. I peeled some corn for the lady at the second window of the cafeteria at noon, and she gave me some. I scattered it all by the lake at noon. I was planning to go there tomorrow morning."
"Besides, it's too hot during the day for the fish to bite, so now is the perfect time." Chen Che coaxed patiently, his eyes full of expectant anticipation, "Come with me now."
After much hesitation, Ma Xu shook his head.
"Tsk, what an oblivious and unromantic man."
Chen Che rolled his eyes at Ma Ge with a hint of disappointment, then quietly slipped out of the classroom, went up from the first floor to the third floor, arrived at the back door of the teaching building, went down a big slope, passed the cafeteria entrance, and came to the Mirror Lake.
The lake water is clear, and there is a circle of weeping willows along the north bank, their branches hanging down to the water and swaying gently in the wind.
In the corridor on the opposite bank, a couple leaned on each other, heads touching, whispering to each other for a while, and then quietly listened to the cicadas chirping in the summer. A breeze blew through, bringing a refreshing coolness, making one feel immersed in this beautiful summer night.
Chen Che sat down on the lawn opposite them across the lake, holding a super-quality fishing rod that was handcrafted with the spirit of craftsmanship. With a gentle flick, he sent the fishhook with a grain of rice into the water.
Chen Che had actually made the fishing rod himself over the weekend. There were bamboo trees everywhere on the mountain near the school, and after looking around, he chose a bamboo rod that was about four meters long and had good strength.
Theoretically, the greater the stiffness, the smaller the bend of the fishing rod, and the smaller the range of struggle of the fish after it is hooked, so the fish can be retrieved quickly. However, in reality, if the rod is too stiff, it will not be able to effectively buffer the impact of a large fish, causing the line to break and the fish to escape. The waist strength is the point that balances the two.
Chen Che picked up a feather in the peacock garden to use as a float, and unsurprisingly found some discarded lead weights and fishing line by the lake. He cut off the knots, and this legendary fishing rod was born.
The moonlight spilled onto the lake, illuminating a bright line. The fishing line twitched slightly, the force transmitted to the palm of the hand, and with a gentle pull, a small white fish leaped from the water.
Chen Che didn't expect to catch any big fish; he wasn't there for the catch anyway. He just wanted to get some fresh air and clear his head.
Before releasing the fish, I held it in my hands, took a picture, and posted it in the dormitory group chat.
"Holy crap, Chezi, are you really fishing?" Brother Ma replied instantly, adding a shocked emoji.
"I told you, but you didn't believe me."
"Where is it?"
"West of Mirror Lake."
A short while later, Ma Xu arrived, followed by the students from dormitory 404, their faces full of curiosity.
"Chezi, did you make this yourself?" Ma Xu looked at the fishing rod in Chen Che's hand in surprise.
"Um."
"That's awesome, let me give it a try."
Ma Xu enthusiastically took the fishing rod and sat down next to him, but ten minutes passed without any fish biting.
"Chezi, why aren't any fish biting?" Ma Xu asked impatiently, turning to Chen Che. "Didn't you catch one right away?"
"You have to build a relationship with the fish. Once the relationship is right, the fish will jump up on its own, just like in the movie 'Hail the Judge'," Chen Che said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.
"Tch, you're just kidding."
The group sat down on the ground, chatting and waiting for the fish to bite. After a while, Old Wang caught another fish, much bigger than the last one. He excitedly took out his phone, snapped a picture, and posted it on his WeChat Moments.
Not long after, the students from room 405 across the hall came over.
Not long after, an entire group of people from dormitory 403 arrived...
Chen Sui was engrossed in her book in the classroom, not paying much attention to the noise around her, until she turned her head to the left and right to get a drink of water.
Why are most of the students gone?
What's going on?
She asked He Qi, who was standing next to her, and He Qi showed her her WeChat Moments. It showed how Chen Che was the first to sneak out of the study room, and how most of the class ended up running to the lakeside to watch the excitement.
She was so angry her teeth were itching.
This guy, he usually doesn't come by himself, but when he does, he takes half the class with him.
"Then it would have been better not to come at all!" Chen Sui became angrier the more she thought about it, and her chest heaved slightly.
No, I have to go and see for myself too.
On the shore of Mirror Lake, the fishing rod was finally returned to Chen Che's hands.
However, as the crowd grew, Chen Che felt it was getting noisy. He sniffed, cast his line again, and the hook, along with a grain of rice, fell into the water once more, creating a ripple. Then, he stared blankly into the void.
Like the Ninth Prince, he had only the great affairs of the world in his mind: "recovering Liaodong, expelling the Jurchens, resolving the peasant uprising in Shandong, and quelling the bandits." He carried the weight of the country's two capitals and thirteen provinces on his shoulders, and didn't even notice when the fish took the bait.
So when the line was pulled and the force from the fishing rod was transmitted to his hand, Chen Che didn't even have time to see the feather float up. He didn't think about letting go, and the spool didn't release the line on its own to relieve the force.
With a "splash," a perfect splash followed by several "Holy crap!" This was the scene Chen Sui saw when she finally arrived.