Volume Four: High Mountains and Flowing Water - Chapter Forty-One: The College Prodigy

High school life still carried a hint of green innocence, along with a touch of youthful purity and naivety.

Spontaneous romantic feelings would occasionally flutter into being, only to be quickly reined in, for that was a student stage where early romance was strictly forbidden.

Upon seeing a teacher or the principal walking past the campus, students would hurry to straighten up. Even if they had been holding each other tightly, they would hastily let go and pretend not to know one another.

Chen Chen studied in high school, and once he entered, he stayed for three full years.

High school life coincided with the stage of surging hormones, a time filled with fantasies and infatuation with the opposite sex.

Yet, constrained by strict school rules and the intense pace of life, there were not many noteworthy romantic episodes to speak of.

After all, that was a place of learning for students. Even as Chen Chen passed through, he merely shook his sleeves, without stirring up too many ripples.

Relying on the college entrance examination, Chen Chen was admitted in one fell swoop to a well-known local higher institution.

As the only university in M City, it was viewed as sacred and inviolable in the eyes of students.

Chen Chen received his acceptance letter from there, his score barely scraping past the admission line.

Fortunately, Chen Chen had worked hard enough and was fortunate enough to enter the local junior college campus to continue his advanced studies.

Chen Chen was not like those peerless protagonists in other novels, who were so arrogantly brilliant that they strolled straight into Tsinghua or Peking University.

With a wave of their hand, they would effortlessly become top scholars of the imperial examination and waltz into elite national or provincial universities.

Chen Chen spent two months resting during the vacation, and during those two months, he went out to work.

He traveled far away to work in distant places, solely to scrape together some tuition funds so he could enter higher education.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, Chen Chen reached his early twenties.

By this time, he had traveled hundreds of kilometers away to a strange land to make a living.

Money was merely a superficial appearance; no matter how much one worked, life itself always came first.

Stories of making a living and seeking love could be found everywhere. Chen Chen was not necessarily striving to outshine others, nor was he stubbornly determined to make a lifelong career out of those jobs.

Fortunately, Chen Chen was a diligent boy. In the industry he worked in at the time, he served as a miscellaneous laborer in a garment factory.

Usually, he would trim threads, affix labels, and ride along on delivery trucks to carry heavy loads to various places.

Now, more than a month had passed, and following the rhythm of the assembly line, the time for the university to start suddenly drew near.

Chen Chen negotiated with the boss of the garment factory, hastily collected his wages for the month, and with a small sum of money, embarked on the journey back to his hometown, heading toward the distant city where his university awaited him.

Countless dreams of the mortal world, packing the bags to head to distant lands.

Though distant lands hold ten thousand ounces of gold, the foreign soil is not where I belong.

Walking until reaching the storied pavilions where people are forgotten, the wandering guest awakens to find himself returning home.

Ahead, no one awaits to keep you company, but the companion leading you forward is the campus.

Chen Chen was naturally happy, perhaps there were still soulmates waiting along the endless road ahead.

Or perhaps, when the song ended and the guests dispersed, returning home was the best path in life.

Returning to the right track of students pursuing their studies, returning to that kind of higher institution he had longed to attend ever since he first walked out of the mountains.

The threshold of a university is not elevated in a single day; how could anyone manage to study in a university after just a fleeting moment or a year or two?

Chen Chen still had many life experiences awaiting him. In a university, it was a relatively open learning environment.

Compared to elementary school, it was loftily out of reach.

Compared to junior high school, it was still distant. Yet with diligent study, there was still hope of entering such an institution one day.

Compared to high school, it was right before one's eyes. Through the intense cramming of the third year of senior high, there was still hope of entering it for further education.

Fortunately, Chen Chen entered high school, and through his university days, living up to the hardships along the way, he finally became a member of the higher institution.

Chen Chen became a student of that institution, growing taller within the campus, interacting with a broader crowd of people, and studying more specialized knowledge.

When all the dust finally settled, Chen Chen proved to be simply someone who knew only how to single-mindedly focus on his studies. He had no desire to cozy up to the upper echelons, nor any inclination to cultivate personal connections for his future.

Whoever treated him well and interacted with him, he would treat kindly and interact with in return.

He had never thought that life required so many sophisticated rules, or that academic pursuits needed their own specific peaceful arrangements.

In high school, he could follow the school's learning pace and keep up with the rhythm.

Upon reaching university, everything seemed somewhat free, yet one could not be overly forced or fastidious about it.

Chen Chen spent an indescribably wonderful academic year there, surrounded by classmates and teachers, along with life and social interactions outside the school gates.

Everything was fine; he treated people and things just as he had in the beginning, remaining true to himself.

During his campus career at university, Chen Chen gained a wealth of extra knowledge and friends.

Aside from the lessons imparted by the teachers on campus, he had to learn and grow much more by facing the vast society of people.

At that time, Chen Chen possessed advanced software tools and state-of-the-art learning devices.

A laptop was one of his greatest loves, and through the computer, he came to understand many affairs far beyond the campus walls.

Through the computer, he mastered many skills for making a living.

The path of survival was so long that even after reaching the higher institution, Chen Chen still had not found the root cause of why he had come to this human world to achieve greatness.

Every day, Chen Chen had to walk a great deal, go to many places, and experience numerous episodes.

Even when he was completely penniless, he still had to walk onward with great resilience.

Outside of his studies, Chen Chen took up a part-time job at a nearby bar.

Working to earn money for his livelihood, working to earn money for his education.

Love was such a hazy thing, hard to put into words, yet seemingly not so difficult to seek.

There were still many precious things worth learning and possessing.

There were countless people, events, and objects that remained lingering attachments we could never shake off in our lives.

A strong physique cannot be built into seven chi overnight.

A beautiful appearance relies on steadfast self-preservation to remain lovely.

A graceful and alluring exterior undergoes eighteen transformations through self-improvement.

Standing on the threshold of the high terrace, the guests finally scatter to the ends of the earth.

The time Chen Chen spent lingering in the higher institution was not long. After passing through those fleeting years, those short two-plus years turned into a slightly regretful dream.

Chen Chen had been to many places, walked many roads, experienced many homecomings, and held many deep attachments. It was only a pity that these had all passed away.

As the stars shift and the constellations turn, everything ultimately refuses to be governed by individual will.

Amidst a thousand transformations, every single cause and reason originates from the decree of past and present lives that commanded my arrival.

Chen Chen lived as a temporary guest in that higher institution for a little over two years before leaving.

For the sake of love, for the future, and for a better tomorrow, he traveled to even more distant lands to survive.

Sometimes, the turning points of fate are so bewildering, intriguing, yet sacred and inviolable.

Chen Chen was caught within the game, every single day caught within the game.

There is no absolute freedom, and having no grand designs, but simply being able to properly pave the way for the past, present, and future, is already quite good.

All things are predestined, ultimately sown by one's own hands.

All past lives across three incarnations—doubt not the karmic fruits cultivated over three lifetimes.

All visions of hope constantly repeat themselves and draw near.

All laws of destiny transcend form and entity, ultimately rounding themselves out when the time comes.

Chen Chen came and went, lingering and turning within the higher institution for over two years. At that time, his name was Chen Chen, and at that time, he had yet another name, hidden very deeply.

amidst the fog, for the sake of survival, for studies, for love, and for work.

It was not a matter of how much money constituted a livelihood, nor was it a life of endless ignorance and repetition.

Chen Chen still had much of life to live, and all of this was built upon attaining a sufficiently high level of spiritual cultivation.

The mysterious figure behind Chen Chen faded away, and he felt himself to be like a marionette on strings.

Surviving in the mortal world, lingering in the human realm.

Back then at Five Fingers Mountain, the Buddha suppressed Sun Wukong, and that suppression lasted for five full years.

In the vast expanse of time between fingertips, the void trembled and heaven and earth shook. With a light tap of a finger, how many past and present lives were struck straight onto the keyboard.

The flowing years of wondrous dharma, endless creations coupled with karmic opportunities.

Chen Chen walked through the mortal world, where those rushing years were mottled and left him nowhere to plant his feet.

Chen Chen tramped forward along the path of life, looking before and behind him, only to realize he had few friends by his side, and confidantes in the red dust were exceedingly rare.

Everything was proceeding in full swing, or perhaps the mysterious heavens above were also scheming and recording the karmic causes and effects of those years.

Amidst grudges and romantic entanglements, so many grievances had already become yesterday's theatrical plays.

Along those winding paths, through the arduous efforts of countless pairs of hands, they had ultimately been traversed with difficulty.

In that bustling metropolis, amid the ceaseless stream of traffic, times of great peace and prosperity sometimes turned a mere step into the ends of the earth.

Chen Chen finally bade farewell to his university career, and after leaving the campus, he reached even more distant places.

Perhaps many people had once fantasized that Chen Chen could walk steadily through all three years of university in that higher institution.

Only after walking this leg of life's journey to the end did Chen Chen finally understand.

Chen Chen was merely a code name, a twist of destiny. He was simply transporting another person to the place he was meant to reach.

He knew not how much right and wrong, merit and fault still lay ahead, nor how much love and hatred remained before him.

Everything would pass, and in the future, everything would become nothing more than a memory.

Chen Chen felt no lingering reluctance; the two-plus years of study had finally drawn to a close.

Carrying his youthful green innocence, Chen Chen returned to the flowing years of time, fulfilling his true self entirely through his own strength.

That three-life body, accumulated incarnation by incarnation.

You say you are Chen Chen, but who Chen Chen is, only Chen Chen knows.

You say you are Chen Chen, but your identity and destiny are known to your elders.

You say you are Chen Chen, but who Chen Chen is, the heavens above know.

You say you are Chen Chen, and Chen Chen is here, offering his gratitude to all living beings.