An interesting thing I found on the first night after moving into Sister Qian's room was that, right by the bedside, a letter "Z" was etched into the brick wall.
Quite amusing—well, I suppose it's not hard for a teenage boy to have someone special in his heart, or in this case, in her heart.
Though, I suppose it probably didn't bloom, as I don't have any memory of such a figure, and if memory serves right, Uncle Qian would have made sure that everyone knew about it.
Today is the eighth day since I was discharged from the hospital and moved into Sister Qian's room.
The first thing I did was check to make sure how pregnancy works in this world, and thank goodness, it has not come to the worst. I can relax and marry without worrying about pregnancy issues—a big weight removed from my chest.
The second thing was: what am I going to do with my life? In this world, women have to work while men have a choice between working or being a stay-at-home dad. While not working is tempting, I knew that to gain convenience I would have to lose something—freedom. So, that was naturally out of consideration.
Even if the system had not arrived, I would have worked to earn a living. Well, I would have obviously taken advantage of the policies that made finding work easier for women than for men. I wasn't an idealist; the world is not a nice place. When you can get an advantage in life, you should grab it with both hands.
The problem was that my college entrance exams were nearly a month away. Also, I don't remember the questions from my college entrance exam, as it was a long time ago. But there was hope, as I remembered that for some reason the examiners decided to change the pattern a little bit while keeping the syllabus the same. They asked nearly 80% of the questions from specific parts of the syllabus.
So, I decided to put in the effort to get at least a decent mark. Even though I have a system now, the situation could change in the future.
For this reason, I have been waking up at 5:30 a.m., just as the darkness recedes, to go for a run. After I come back, I study all day, focusing on the topics that I vaguely remember.
It was hard to study again after I had nearly forgotten all of the subject matter. But I kept my head down and worked diligently. By the fourth day, I was getting the hang of it. Looks like I will get into a better college than in my previous life—that's what I hope, at least.
In my previous world, I found, to my utter dismay, that like most people, I am a morning person. Though most people don't acknowledge it, since it is easier to stay awake late into the night and get extra work done without being disturbed.
I used to believe the same until I started studying deep into the night on some days of the week and, on other days, had to wake up early for part-time work. Through this experience, I found that my retention rate was much higher in the morning, and after a deep night study session, it drops rapidly the following day.
With my limited time, I can't waste a minute; I have to be as productive as possible.
It seems my efforts have not gone unnoticed, as just the previous day, Uncle Qian approached me about attending the wedding of an acquaintance's daughter with them. From our conversation, I could understand that my sudden, extreme change made it seem like I was pushing myself hard to bury the sadness within me.
Although I was sad that my uncle died, I had already dealt with it long ago. Also, life had beaten me so thoroughly that I had no self-pity left. So, I was doing fine.
But seeing Uncle Qian worry so much, I agreed to go with them.
We are currently on our way to the wedding reception. The event is hosted in a nearby town, about an hour away by bus. Being a boy in this universe means I get to sit on the crowded bus, even though Aunty is standing.
Feeling uneasy, I insisted that she should sit, as I had heard about her back problems during my stay. She declined, of course. The more I stay with them, the more gratitude I feel toward them. Even though their financial situation is not stable, they took me in. On my morning run a few days back, I saw Aunty haggling with a fishmonger about the price of the fish. Then later that day, when the food was served, only I ate the fish, as they insisted that it would not sit well on their stomachs.
That day, I made a promise to myself to repay their kindness as soon as possible. I hope that, with my system, I can do so sooner rather than later.
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Such a boring event—it is going on and on. When will it end?
My name is Zao Ling, and I am currently living in Yan City as a successful Mutuber.
On behalf of my mother, I came to this wedding reception in her stead.
At first, I thought that, maybe just maybe, this could be a good topic for my Mutube channel, as rural weddings are not something you see often. But come on—there is no way I can spin it into something interesting.
Some members of the groom's and bride's family will sing. After that, they will ask the children to sing to finish. They have set up a small, slightly elevated stage for this, with one microphone and two speakers.
I was hoping that this would produce some funny moments from the adults and some quiet moments from the kids. As for someone singing well, that wasn't even under my consideration.