CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 42: LIFE LIES IN ACTING

There were only two peaches in the bag, meant for the two little demons.

Zhou Li thought that since they were so small, they probably couldn’t eat much anyway, and he had to go out every day regardless.

Carrying the remaining bag home, he changed into slippers, washed the peaches clean, and placed them on the fruit plate. "I saw someone selling these on the street, so I bought a few," he said. "They’re quite tasty."

Old Zhou and Aunt Jiang were sitting on the couch watching TV. As he bent down to put the plate down, Aunt Jiang asked, "Have you finished filling out your university preferences?"

"I have."

"That’s good. It’s relatively close. What about Caiyun University?"

"I also put down Chunming Institute of Technology."

"That’s it? Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

"Zhou Li is playing it safe," Old Zhou chimed in.

"Hmm," Aunt Jiang acknowledged.

Zhou Li had also done his research. This year’s cutoff score for the first-tier universities was only one point different from last year’s. His score was already close to the highest score Caiyun University’s School of Engineering had accepted last year.

Aunt Jiang then asked about the major he had chosen and whether he was willing to be reassigned if necessary. She showed concern but didn’t try to interfere. Soon, Aunt Jiang’s range of questions began to broaden.

"I see that Yan City Middle School did pretty well this year. When I went out for square dancing this morning, I saw your school had arranged a parade. They had a banner stating how many students had reached the first-tier university cutoff, complete with gongs and drums. How many of your classmates made it to a first-tier university?"

"About ten or so."

"Well, that’s pretty good!" Aunt Jiang nodded. Then she suddenly remembered someone. "Right, what about your deskmate? Did they make it to a first-tier university?"

"They did. I’m kind of tired; I’m going to sleep now."

Zhou Li picked up two peaches and headed to his bedroom.

Huai Xu followed him, snickering. He even imitated Aunt Jiang’s voice and tone, "So, which university did your deskmate apply for?"

Zhou Li silently entered the bedroom. After closing the door, he glared at Huai Xu and tossed him the peaches.

He turned on his phone and found a movie for Huai Xu.

「June 24th, Monday morning.」

Zhou Li had gradually been waking up later and later each day. Last night, after Huai Xu finished watching *The Return of The Great Sage*, he had watched two episodes of *Bright Sword*. Sleeping in noisy environments had never been an issue for Zhou Li. The problem was that this demon always liked to share exciting plot points with him, stirring up his fragmented memories of the shows.

Breakfast was laid out on the table. Zhu Shuang had already gone to school, and Old Zhou hadn’t woken up yet, so the house was very quiet.

Huai Xu had gone to bed later than Zhou Li but woke up earlier. He was eating peaches in the living room when he said to Zhou Li, "Aunt Jiang went out. There’s still food for you in the pot: preserved egg and lean pork congee, scallion pancakes, and boiled eggs."

It sounded exactly like something Aunt Jiang would have instructed him to pass on to Zhou Li.

After a pause, he added, "Aunt Jiang didn’t even eat breakfast before she left. It seems like she has something on."

"Oh," Zhou Li replied calmly.

Aunt Jiang had gone to Brother Nan’s home to eat noodles.

He had to pretend he didn’t know.

That way, Aunt Jiang would pretend she hadn’t gone to Brother Nan’s home for noodles this morning.

Once these middle-aged women have some free time, you never quite know what they’re thinking about all day.

Zhou Li silently went to the kitchen and served two bowls of congee.

Ever since his ’appetite had supposedly increased’ recently, Aunt Jiang had started cooking an extra portion, enough for one more person.

Midway through the meal, Old Zhou came out.

Still groggy, he washed up and brewed some soy milk in his super expensive thermos to take to the office later. Then he sat down and eyed Zhou Li curiously. "Why are you eating from two bowls by yourself?"

"I’m eating a lot. I’m eating one bowl slowly while the other cools down."

"But why are there two pairs of chopsticks?"

"One pair fell on the floor."

"Oh." Old Zhou started eating his meal.

Zhou Li waited until they had finished eating and then washed the dishes before he went out to continue his morning exercises.

「In the evening, he went to Liu Xuehan’s house again.」

Today, Zhou Li planned to observe the cat more closely.

The young girl’s family seemed to eat dinner quite late. When he arrived, they had, once again, just finished their meal. While chatting with the little girl, Zhou Li steered the conversation toward the cat. According to her, Tuanzi didn’t eat cat food at all, only a little freeze-dried food. At other times, it would eye the dishes on their table. For instance, tonight they had a luxurious seafood feast, and Tuanzi had actually jumped onto the table to nibble on some steamed crab and caviar.

Tuanzi was the name the young girl had given the cat.

The Liu family’s parents were both very amiable. Perhaps because Tuanzi was so endearing, it had been allowed on the table these past few days.

At this point, the young girl sounded quite resentful. "All the money spent on it comes from my allowance I saved up! And it’s all wasted. It doesn’t play with the many toys I buy, sleeps in a cardboard box at night instead of the big cat house I bought for it, and only took a couple of bites of the most expensive cat food—which it chose itself!"

"My allowance is almost gone! BOO HOO..."

Whenever the conversation took this turn, the young girl would start acting cute, but Zhou Li could clearly see she was actually enjoying it.

At that moment, Tuanzi walked over with an elegant stride and rubbed its head against the young girl. She immediately squinted her eyes and smiled.

Zhou Li was speechless. "Let’s start the lesson," he said.

"Right away!" The young girl petted the cat. Although Tuanzi only allowed her to touch it for two seconds, she was quite content. She turned to Zhou Li with a triumphant expression. "I took it out to play today! Can you believe it? We just met a few days ago, but it follows me closely without needing a leash. Wherever I go, it goes."

Zhou Li nodded. "Impressive."

The tutoring began, and the white cat started causing trouble again.

It was interested in the shaking pen, constantly reaching out to hook it with its paws. Otherwise, it would treat the young girl’s hand as prey, creeping over from afar and then suddenly pouncing.

Over the next three days, Zhou Li visited the young girl’s place twice. Each time, he listened to her praise the white cat’s numerous virtues—

It never chewed on cables;

It was never mischievous with its paws;

It was very quiet;

It didn’t bite or scratch people.

The only problem was its aloofness. It didn’t like to be touched and was overly picky about its food and supplies. It also loved to ’window shop’ at pet supermarkets, which was expensive.

It wasn’t just her; her parents also seemed to be captivated by the cat.

「On the evening of the 27th, Zhou Li returned home and received a message from Brother Nan—」

Li Daimao: Which major is fun?

Zhou Li: You haven’t chosen yet?

Li Daimao: I’ve been swamped lately, plus I’m hopelessly indecisive.

Li Daimao: Seriously, help me out! I’m freaking out here!

Li Daimao: The deadline is tomorrow!

Li Daimao: What do you think about the School of Art and Design? Should I go into design? Maybe I could draw some incomprehensible scribbles?

Li Daimao: [Picture]

Zhou Li: ...

Li Daimao: Then how about studying computer science? The computer science department must have a computer lab where I can play games, right?

Li Daimao: Or go to the agricultural college and learn farming?

Zhou Li: ...

Li Daimao: Hey, doesn’t your major also teach about planting flowers and plants? What’s that botany all about? Is it about growing rare plants? Is it difficult? It must be much harder than growing crops, right? Do they organize trips to the tropical rainforests of Xishuangbanna for research?

Li Daimao: The flowers and plants I’ve been growing on my rooftop are doing pretty well. I bought them after the exams, and they haven’t died in half a month!

Li Daimao: So what do you raise in your Biological Sciences major?

Zhou Li could see that Brother Nan was really panicking. After some thought, he initiated a voice call with her.

After all, botany is usually a subject for graduate students.

He thought he could explain things to her more clearly that way.

Probably.