pjbooks Chapter 2 A Letter from My Deceased Father
Chapter 2 A Letter from My Deceased Father
Emerging from the internet cafe, I found the empty streets shrouded in thick fog, making it impossible to discern the season or time of day.
Since the winter solstice, the fog has become more and more frequent and thicker, for reasons unknown.
With the winter break approaching, Mengcheng, located in the south, and Yongning, a town under its jurisdiction, being a coastal town, should have already passed its foggy season.
"Swish...swish!"
In the misty fog, the faint sound of tires pressing against water could be heard, growing louder and louder, accompanied by the melodious tune of Orchid Grass. Soon, a white car emerged from the fog like a giant beast, almost touching the roadside's line of sight.
"Holy crap, a water truck! Are you crazy? Who uses water trucks when it's raining all night?!"
Lu Yan kept complaining, not caring about the unreasonable combination, and hurriedly tiptoed to the side, but he was too late to react, and the jet of water from the water gun still splashed all over him.
Lu Yan took off his mud-covered coat and hurried to the school.
Passing by a steaming breakfast stall, the couple was busy working, while the vegetable farmer carried his bamboo basket and called out softly. On the sidewalk next to them, a creaky tricycle was climbing a hill, the driver pedaling with great difficulty. Lu Yan ran over and lent a hand, and was repeatedly thanked for his help.
On the white wall by the roadside, the words "If you want to get rich in the Bay Area, play less mahjong and practice more martial arts" and "One person practices martial arts, the whole family gets rich" are faintly painted. "Combating smuggling is everyone's responsibility." In the middle, there is also a sneaky GG: "Dan Zhong Dan: One is worth five, cultivation is effortless."
Your pill is equivalent to five pills in one, and its price is equivalent to ten pills in one!
Lu Yan kept walking without stopping, and half an hour later, he finally saw the large iron gate of Yongning No. 1 Middle School, with a bright banner hanging on the gray cement gateposts.
"Warmest congratulations on the establishment of the Xia Kingdom-Deep Blue Parliament Mengcheng Joint Construction Demonstration Zone."
Since the first Black Domain attack seventeen years ago, the global governance force, the Deep Blue Council, has been established. Why would the Xia Kingdom, located in the east, be one of its subordinate powers, need to display two signs? Isn't that pointless and redundant?
Lu Yan, at seventeen, clearly couldn't understand the entanglement and didn't bother with it. He stepped across the puddle in front of the door and strode away amidst the puzzled gazes of the security staff.
I've never seen a child leave without their down jacket in the dead of winter before. Is this kid a bit slow?
The security guard, holding a thermos, was both confused and sympathetic. He felt that his monthly salary of four or five hundred yuan, his early morning and late night shifts, and his task of catching petty thieves didn't seem like a big deal.
At 7:10, there were still few people on campus. Even though there were only 20 minutes left before morning reading, the students who occasionally walked by had eyes that were so sleepy they could barely keep open, and their bodies were stiff from the bulky winter clothes. Enveloped in layers of thick fog, they looked like fat zombies from Uncle Ying's movies.
A moment later, Lu Yan rushed into the classroom with his arms crossed, then slammed the door shut. Only then did he realize that he was almost frozen stiff, and his teeth were chattering uncontrollably.
"Phew, it's so cold today!"
Several martial arts students were doing splits on the cement floor behind the classroom, their bodies contorted into terrifying arcs. Sweat poured from their foreheads and faces, and even their vests were steaming, indicating that they had been practicing for quite some time.
Lu Yan stood still and watched quietly for a moment, then turned his head and sat back in his seat. After thinking for a while, he took out his history textbook and turned to the chapter on the first Black Domain Impact in modern history.
"On August 25, 1983, the Upside-Down World captured the trajectory of Blue Star and rapidly approached it. The collision between the two worlds triggered the first Dark Domain Impact, creating several intersecting areas of the two worlds around the globe."
In the same year, the Deep Blue Council was established, under which stood the highest authority, the Human Council; three major projects: Cornerstone, Voyage, and Watch; and executive bodies such as the Purge Bureau and the Global Defense Coordination Council.
Looking through the glass window, Lu Yan seemed to see the abandoned factory buildings not far away.
He sighed inwardly. Yongning Town was also severely impacted by the shock that year, with businesses leaving behind large areas of old factory buildings.
From then on, the once thriving "New Factory Town" gradually degenerated into the lifeless "Old Factory Town," and people's vitality also decreased. Because she had taken care of herself and adopted Coco, her mother was unwilling to leave her hometown. She was subsequently laid off from the textile factory, and life began to become tight.
Phew, thankfully I'm graduating soon. With my current top grades, I can go to a liberal arts college, work harder, win the national scholarship, and do odd jobs to ease the burden on my family.
A glance out of the corner of his eye caught sight of the martial arts student groaning on the ground, and a dark feeling welled up inside him, replaced by a sudden surge of inexplicable resentment:
I didn't lose to myself; I lost to poverty and my environment.
But... Mom has already done her best, and I can't add any more pressure to her.
Besides, her younger sister Lu Keke is also of school age. The little girl is kept at home all day, watching her peers go to kindergarten one by one, and she must be very envious.
I can't be so immature! Humanities is humanities, after all!
Most people don't have the aptitude or resources to learn martial arts, yet they still manage to get married, have children, and live peaceful lives. What's there for a real man to be so fussy about!
After the noisy morning reading session, the first class was physics.
Lu Yan listened to the teacher explain wave-particle duality:
"Microscopic particles such as electrons originally exist in the form of waves. Once observed, they collapse into particles. The act of observation directly determines their form of existence. This is the observer effect, where the subjective influences the objective and consciousness determines the result."
As my thoughts drifted aimlessly, I thought, "I want to learn martial arts, but I have no money. According to my intuition, money should fall from the sky right now."
"Hmm, not much, just enough to cover the Qigong practice."
Just as he was lost in thought, the bell rang, signaling the end of get out of class. Class monitor Wu Yin leaned closer and patted Lu Yan lightly, whispering in his ear, "Lu Yan, Teacher Zhao is looking for... it shouldn't be a bad thing."
Lu Yan looked up and smiled, "Thank you." He thought to himself that it was probably because that bastard Wang Kai skipped class.
He jumped up, grabbed his slightly dried cotton coat, stepped aside to let several classmates pass behind him, and jogged to the teachers' office at the other end of the floor. He then knocked on the door and entered.
Teacher Zhao is known as the "Black-Faced God." His face is dark due to his stubble, and his features are thick and square. Although he is only in his early twenties, he looks like he has experienced many hardships.
Zhao Zhicheng leaned to the side, took down four or five lesson plans, pulled out a bulging envelope and handed it to Lu Yan, "Here's a letter for you, take a look."
When Lu Yan took the envelope, he saw that it was addressed to "Lu Yan, Yongning No.1 Middle School" but had no address or specific class written on it.
"Teacher, this..." He held the envelope and glanced at Zhao Zhicheng.
Zhao Zhicheng laughed and said, "I don't know who sent it. They probably didn't know your home address, so they sent it to the school. They didn't even know which class you were in. What a careless person."
Lu Yan frowned slightly and looked through the writing for a while. The handwriting didn't seem to be from familiar relatives or friends, and besides, after his father passed away, he didn't have many relatives left.
How strange and wonderful!
Could it be... a guaranteed admission qualification from a certain liberal arts school?
A thought struck him, and he quickly tore open the letter. Only a section was visible when his eyes widened in shock, as if it were burning his hand. He hurriedly stuffed it back in, and saw a note written on a corner of the pristine letter:
"Yan Yan: From her father, Lu Jianguo..."
It's a letter from my father!
A sudden, almost absurd expectation welled up in his heart, not only for himself but also for his mother.
With a sudden change of heart, Lu Yan gritted his teeth, his anger reaching its peak.
Who on earth is joking with him, and in such a vile way? It's like asking for trouble! If I don't beat him to a pulp, I'm not a Lu!
My father has indeed passed away sixteen years ago, without a doubt, and is buried on the small hill behind our building!
However, apart from his own family of three, there were probably few people in the world who remembered his father's name. When he looked at it again, his heart skipped a beat. The handwriting on the envelope was quite similar to the love letters his father had written to his mother that he had found while cleaning the house.
He thought to himself with a glimmer of hope, "Could it be true?"
Wow, the dead are writing to the living. Could it be that they've stumbled upon some legendary eerie event?
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He couldn't help but shrink his neck, and in a daze, he felt that the whole office was emitting a chilling aura. Old Zhao's big face was becoming more and more like a real black-faced god.