Rebirth 09: Synthetic Male God

Chapter 1034: Normal Mind

Science Expo, somewhere outdoors.

Zhou Rui whispered something to Gan Yuan beside him, who nodded slightly and left.

Then Zhou Rui also sat on the bench and asked curiously: "Come to see the exhibition?"

Zhang Xin nodded: "I guess so. It's also work. The company needs materials for the Science and Technology Expo."

Zhou Rui crossed his legs and asked curiously, "It's been a long time since we last met. What are you busy with now?"

Zhang Xin smiled and said, “That’s a long story.”

He seemed to have no idea where to start, and after hesitating for a long time, he decided to start from the beginning.
"After Du Quan's mess was over, I was detained for 15 days for instigating others to pretend to be police officers. Fortunately, at that time, only the security uniforms were found. Later, I gave a confession and made meritorious contributions, so I was detained symbolically. But later, the school still felt that the influence was bad, so they persuaded me to drop out, so I simply dropped out directly."

His voice was calm, as if those thrilling stories were someone else's.

Maybe this is the power of time. No matter how special the past is, it will eventually become ordinary.

"Most of the money I saved was gray income and was confiscated. I was left with about 100,000 yuan, which was my salary. I took the 100,000 yuan to Shenzhen, but I didn't make any money for several months. My savings were all gone. Then I went to Guangzhou and wasted two months, but I didn't make any money either. Guo Sheng, do you remember?"

Zhou Rui was stunned. This name was even more old and he couldn't remember it for a moment.

"That guy was working in Yangcheng, and I stayed with him for a month."

Halfway through the conversation, Zhang Xin took out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to Zhou Rui: "Do you want to smoke?"

Zhou Rui hesitated for a moment, but still took it, took out his special lighter from his pocket, lit it and took a puff.

Maybe it was because the cold wind was too strong, but Zhang Xin himself couldn't light it for a long time, until a hand reached out to him. He turned around and saw Zhou Rui, who was looking forward with one hand supporting himself.

Zhang Xin used Zhou Rui's lighter to light the cigarette and took a puff. When he blew out smoke rings, he realized that he was standing right in front of the back of the "Fu Rui Hall" and even facing the staff passage.

No wonder Zhou Rui passed by. He was in a hurry to turn around and came to such a "dangerous" place.

Or is he actually looking forward to someone passing by?
Zhang Xin continued:
"My dad wanted me to go back to Qinghe, but I wanted to try again, so I borrowed 50,000 yuan from my dad and went to Beijing. Sometimes I find it funny that I have been to all four first-tier cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Yangzhou and Shenzhen. But I was lucky in Beijing, and joined a startup company that deals with social media."

Zhou Rui looked down at the cigarette in his hand and it was indeed "Zhong Beihai".

No wonder it's so hard to draw.
"and then?"

"Then? Startup companies place more emphasis on execution. I may have seen more of the gray areas before, and I have managed to gain a foothold with a 'college diploma'. Now I am responsible for some local promotion and content management."

Zhang Xin patted his belly, and the rebounding feeling made him laugh:

"I have since settled down. Starting a business is not that easy. It is good enough to have a stable job and not have to worry my parents. Now I am a typical migrant worker in Beijing. After two years, I have been promoted quickly in a small company. Now I am a 'general manager', but the pressure is high. I have to work overtime and stay up late every day. It is hard not to gain weight."

Zhou Rui also smiled and blew out a smoke ring.

"Very good, looks much more stable than before."

"That's right. I've learned a lot, but my appearance is getting worse and worse. Just now a college student called me uncle and I was so angry that I wanted to kick him."

Zhou Rui nodded, indicating that he understood this feeling: "I feel relieved if you can have this mentality."

Zhang Xin glanced at Zhou Rui: "Don't worry? Are you really worried about me?"

Zhou Rui said honestly: "If I met you, it would bring back some memories. If I didn't meet you, what would I think about you, a grown man?"

Zhang Xin laughed: "That's good. Your worry, Master Zhou, will only make me more stressed. If I think of fighting again, I'm afraid I'll die suddenly with my current physical condition."

The two fell into a brief silence, both staring blankly ahead.

Zhou Rui was still digesting Zhang Xin's past, while Zhang Xin was still digesting meeting Zhou Rui.

While he was in a daze, Zhou Rui saw a woman who looked like a reporter in the distance, introducing the exhibition to the camera. Looking at the logo, it seemed to be "Xinglang".

Zhou Rui suddenly felt that the woman looked familiar.
What do you call the person? Yan...er...Yan Xueyi? That doesn't seem right either.
He doesn't have "super memory", and it does take him some time to remember some unimportant people.

It seems that this "Science and Technology Expo" that has attracted the attention of the whole country and millions of visitors may be hiding more people he once knew.

Or perhaps, those who have met along the way would subconsciously want to come to the "CHITEC" to take a look because Master Zhou is here.

Looking forward to a passing by, or a chance encounter? This feeling is hard to describe.
However, Zhou Rui is not interested in meeting everyone.

As if he felt the silence was a bit long, Zhou Rui blurted out, "How is Uncle Zhang?"

"It's fine. I'm just a small civil servant in the county. I don't fight or compete. As long as my son doesn't cause trouble, it's fine."

After hunching his back for a while, Zhang Xin stretched out on the bench and spoke in a straightforward voice, as if speaking to himself:
"Before you stood out, I always didn't want to be outdone by you. I always felt that I was special too. To put it bluntly, it was just an unrealistic fantasy. And then I made myself feel bad."

"Later, I discovered that no one could keep up with your pace of progress. We were all just an insignificant footnote in the era you pioneered."

Zhou Rui shook his head and said, "Don't say that. Everyone is the protagonist of his own life and the footnote of others."

Zhang Xin smiled and said, "Maybe. Anyway, I have reconciled with myself now. I will do my job well, marry a woman who is neither so pretty nor so ugly, have a child, take good care of my parents, and finally grow old amidst the quarrels of my family. Well, I feel like I am starting to get old."

Zhou Rui glanced at the stubble on Zhang Xin's face and said, "Even if you shave your beard, you're just a young fat boy."

"Then I'd better not shave it, otherwise I won't be able to control those people below, they all graduated from prestigious universities."

After finishing a cigarette, Zhang Xin stamped it out, looked at his watch and said, "It's time for me to meet up with my colleagues. We can talk again next time we meet."

Zhou Rui nodded: "Next time we meet, I will call you again, but you may not recognize me." Zhang Xin was about to get up when a tall figure looked over here, his eyes lit up, and ran over.

It was the college student who had stepped on his backpack just now.

Wei Hang said a little embarrassedly: "Uncle, I was a little rude just now and I want to apologize to you."

Zhang Xin was stunned for a moment, and could hardly remember which of the other party's words was "more aggressive".

Maybe this is the difference between adults and students. Adults forget things as soon as they turn around, but students will keep brooding over them and keep looking for them for a long time in the Science and Technology Expo.

Zhang Xin smiled gently: "It's okay, they are all small things, just keep a normal mind."

Wei Hang took a deep breath, and then said: "The life advice given by my elder brother is also correct. I shouldn't have too high expectations for myself. However, I think it's a good thing to have a goal to pursue."

"Even if we can never catch up, at least we have made progress, right?"

When Zhang Xin first heard it, he just thought it was full of the pretentiousness of college students. Office workers and this kind of thing were incompatible.

Just like young people don't want to listen to daddy's life advice, adults can't listen to young people's sentimental pretentiousness.
But after a while, he was actually a little absent-minded.
Wei Hang heard the teacher behind him urging him to apologize again and leave, but suddenly he felt a sense of familiarity with the figure wearing a baseball cap beside him.
After a while, he suddenly shouted, "Big brother? Are you the big brother from the Zhuhai Air Show? KFC?"

Zhou Rui raised his head awkwardly. After several years, it was still awkward to be called "big brother" by this guy.
"Yes, it's me. Nice to see you again? How's your Six Qigong training going?"

Wei Hang's excitement was beyond words: "Oh my god, you are so naive! I practiced hard and it always refreshed my mind."

Zhou Rui looked at his clothes, which had the "Harbin Institute of Technology" logo on them.

"I'm glad I can help you. If you have a chance, you can go to Qingcheng Mountain in Rongcheng. This martial art was passed down there."

Wei Hang: "It's so important? I knew it must be something special! Are you visiting the exhibition, brother?"

After chatting for a few more sentences, the urging voices from the back became louder and louder, and even a few classmates joined in the shouting.

"Wei Hang! Hurry! We're leaving!"

"Wei Hang, it will be too late if we don't leave now!"

"Wei Hang! Everyone is waiting for you! Don't be disorganized and undisciplined!"

Wei Hang had no choice but to quickly take out his phone and said, "Big brother, can you leave me your contact information? We can talk later."

Zhou Rui smiled and took out his phone: "Then add WeChat."

His WeChat nickname is "Arui", and his profile picture is not his real self, but a picture from the Internet, a picture of a man fishing from behind. I forgot why he chose this.
Anyway, it won’t be because I have the [Aquaman] entry.

After choosing "Block Moments", Zhou Rui accepted the friend request.

Wei Hang waved his hands in a hurry: "Big brother, let's talk later! The teacher is going to explode!"

Then he stretched out his long legs and ran all the way. It seemed that due to long-term exercise, his physical fitness was particularly good and his speed was extremely fast.

Zhang Xin asked curiously, "You won't tell him your true identity?"

Zhou Rui spread his hands and said, "Why bother? We just met by chance, and he already has a good starting point. We will meet again if we are destined to."

Zhang Xin was still looking at Wei Hang's running back, his schoolbag swaying up and down, and finally joined the laughing classmates. He was even scolded by the teacher leading the group.
The figure gave Zhang Xin a sense of déjà vu.
I even remembered a song Zhou Rui sang back then. What did the lyrics say? Run forward? Where to?
It seemed to have been sung at the college entrance examination mobilization meeting that year, but he could no longer recall the content, nor could he remember the faces of his classmates or the names of his teachers.

After a long time, Zhang Xin also put on his backpack and said to Zhou Rui:

"I'm leaving too."

"By the way, I received a lot of help from you back then, but I was too shy to say thank you when I was young. Later, I became thick-skinned and you reached such a high position that it would only make me laugh if I said it. But now that I have met you, Zhou Rui, thank you."

"At first, I was trying to catch up with you, not wanting to be outdone by you, but I forgot that I'm just an ordinary person. The most important thing is to learn to keep a normal mind, otherwise I'll break my leg."

We will meet again if we are destined to. It's not like we are just casual acquaintances.

But after walking two steps, he couldn't help but turn around and ask, "By the way, what song did you sing at the mobilization meeting? The one with the voice-breaking roar and the hideous face."

Zhou Rui curled his lips, feeling that the memories of the death were attacking him.

Helplessly said: "Chasing dreams with a pure heart."

Zhang Xin wanted to go back and listen to it, but when he heard the name, he felt that it had nothing to do with his current appearance.

As a social animal, I feel sick when I hear "Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart".
I could only shake my head and said as I left: "I remember it sounded pretty good, but it seems to be only suitable for students. I am a social animal now, and I can't get excited anymore. I'm afraid it will break my mood."

Zhou Rui's voice came from behind.

“A normal mind is a pure mind.”

Zhang Xin turned around and looked.

The other party also only had a back view.

So they smiled, took a step forward, and went their separate ways among the crowd.

Zhang Xin weighed the backpack and felt it was a lot lighter.

(End of this chapter)