To prevent Su Xiangli from writing a self-reflection, our humanitarian classmate Simon ate the rest of her noodles for her, and greatly praised the 'blessing' and deliciousness of the 'cooking'.
It was the weekend in a flash. Zhang Yingxuan was dragged by Zhou Ping to the New District Central Library to do homework, while Simon and Su Xiangli took their robots on the capsule train to Luoshan New District.
The interesting thing was that when the train announced its destination, it called Luoshan New District 'Luoshan New District'. A middle-aged man on the same train heard it and made a complaint call to the traffic bureau.
Linhai District and Luoshan District are quite far apart, and their climates are not entirely the same; it's noticeably warmer here.
At half past ten in the morning, the sky was half cloudy, half clear, with clouds blown by strong high-altitude winds into torn cotton quilts, clearly distinct in strands, their edges dazzling in the bright sun.
Su Xiangli saw Simon looking up in a daze, and she followed suit, looking up as well, "What's so good about clouds?"
"Do they look like cotton quilts to you?"
"But clouds are water vapor."
"Oh, can hot water vapor from the sun be used as a blanket?"
"I don't know, but I want to try it. It sounds so interesting. Won't it be like steaming buns?"
Simon followed Su Xiangli's train of thought and realized it was indeed possible.
The high-altitude temperature is low, and the clouds are white, not absorbing much heat, but if they were to reach the ground and form such cloud vapor, it would definitely be very hot.
At that point, it wouldn't be covering oneself with a blanket, but rather inflicting torture upon oneself.
"You're such a buzzkill," Simon grumbled.
Su Xiangli retorted angrily, "This is called a citizen's scientific literacy!"
At this moment, an unnamed security robot passing by gave Su Xiangli a thumbs up.
"Thank you, thank you, hehe," the young girl giggled for a while.
Simon shook his head, holding her small hand, "Let's go, take the bus."
Following the satellite map navigation, they transferred three times and walked several hundred meters.
As the surrounding scenery became increasingly strange, the tall buildings were still tall, but they were old and dilapidated.
Having been accustomed to buildings covered with glass screens, suddenly seeing houses plastered with lime mortar like this inevitably brought a sense of temporal dislocation, like seeing gravel embedded in a mirror, very abrupt.
This was an urban village, nominally still part of the city, but in reality, it was an area where Grade 1 social credit personnel gathered.
It was different from Lu Xuefeng's situation; they had property deeds, and their houses hadn't been designated as agricultural areas, so they could stay in the city.
However, unable to find work, they could only band together into communities, living self-sufficient and isolated lives.
After entering here, the streets were bustling with people, and the atmosphere was vastly different.
Almost all were elderly men and women exercising and strolling, some walking birds, playing chess, drinking water, and enjoying tea, leisurely and simple.
There wasn't a single robot shuttling back and forth, which was surprising, as if time had flowed backward.
Actually, this place was considered a country of the elderly, mostly inhabited by seniors who didn't want to go to nursing homes and had no children to support them.
Even the roadside trees were old, lush and green, their canopies casting large areas of shade, with lounge chairs and tables placed on the ground, presumably a good spot for cooling off.
"Is there really a video rental store here?" Su Xiangli scratched her head.
She trotted up to an old man practicing Tai Chi and asked for directions.
The old man's age was clearly in his eighties or nineties; his hearing was definitely not good, and he wasn't wearing a hearing aid.
He probably wouldn't hear a circle of firecrackers lit around his waist.
The old man squinted, then suddenly lifted a leg.
They say that old people can't rely on their muscles and bones, but he lifted his foot all the way to his head in a flash, fast as lightning, enough to truly scare two or three onlookers to death.
Su Xiangli plopped down, genuinely a bit stunned.
When the old man lifted his leg, she felt a gust of wind pass by her face.
Then she saw the old man standing there on one leg like a golden rooster, his supporting leg as thin as a straw, his kung fu pants swaying as if trembling.
If he lost his balance and fell, it could really be fatal.
Simon ran over to help Su Xiangli up.
He had already found out the location of the video store, and now all he had to do was stay away from this old master, so as not to disturb his practice...
Walking a few dozen steps away, the young girl was still shaken, "There really are martial arts masters! I thought Great-Grandfather was lying to me."
"That's not a martial arts master, that's just a Tai Chi old man," Simon gestured, "A martial arts master can walk on walls and rooftops, and do a spinning kick when they squat down."
"Oh, how do you know?"
Martial arts dramas and such were truly not something Simon could access now; they were all considered "historical materials."
Knowing that Xiao Lu and Baiyang Yangzhen were following, he couldn't say anything like peeking, so he playfully said, "Because I am a martial arts master! Quick, use nunchucks, hum hum ha hey!"
"Eww, you're listening to really old songs, you're so dumb," Su Xiangli frowned.
The song Simon was singing was one her Great-Grandfather liked.
Simon pouted, thinking that in his previous life, this song was a hit across the country back then, "This is called nostalgia, understand?"
"Hehe."
Xiao Lu was so ironically affected by a single 'hehe' that his demeanor changed.
Walking under the bright sun, he seemed like a lost soul, his heart full of sorrow.
This nostalgia, ah, it's like fate; those who understand, understand, and those who don't, he's too lazy to explain it to them.
That subtle feeling is like three hundred glances in a crowd exchanged for one moment of eye contact, making the little heart pound like an electric shock.
Just as Simon now walked into that small, dilapidated audio-visual store hidden around the corner of a residential building, with its dirty tiled floor, cramped room, shelves piled with records and discs, and behind the counter, a chubby boss in a sweaty shirt peeling pine nuts, drinking an energy drink, his eyes fixed on the computer screen, unblinking, the background music playing.
"Off work at six in the evening, changing out of my factory clothes, my wife is making porridge, I'm going to have a few beers..."
Simon truly felt as if he had been struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, a large area of numbness spreading from the top of his head, down his spine, making his whole body tremble.
He had heard this song before, and it was Great-Grandfather's favorite song.
"Kill That Shijiazhuang Man."
Alas, fate is just that kind of fate!
Simon exclaimed in great surprise, realizing he had been slow to grasp it.
This song was often listened to by one of his university roommates, a boisterous yet introverted guy from the Northeast, who felt that this song perfectly captured the rise and fall of the Northeast after the founding of New China.
From being the 'eldest son of the Republic' to a forgotten, crude, and wild land, countless stories of blood and tears had flowed eastward.
"Boss!" Simon called out, craning his neck.
The greasy Fatty man in the sweaty shirt turned his head, but his eyes remained fixed on the screen, the spitting image of a middle-aged internet addict.
His eyes were already small, and due to his heavy, obese eyelids, he looked even more pitiful, though his eyelashes were very long.
The boss caught sight of the robot out of the corner of his eye and cursed, "Get out! Robots out, people can stay!"
The righteous companion Su Xiangli was indignant upon hearing this and was about to step forward, but Simon already sent Xiao Lu and Baiyang Yangzhen out.
The boss's expression calmed down, and he leaned back again, took a sip of his drink, and asked wearily, "What are you little brats doing here?"
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