Life in siheyuan era

In those days, people lacked entertainment, and after nine o'clock was the time when most people prepared to sleep.

Around ten o'clock, Zhou Zining put down his pen, crawled into bed, and casually pulled the lamp cord by the wall to turn off the ceiling light.

Zhou Zhiyuan, however, was about to put on his clothes and shoes to go out for some activity. Being active, Zhou Zining didn't suspect him and went to sleep on his own.

Zhou Zhiyuan turned off the desk lamp and walked out of the room. Standing in the courtyard, he looked left and right. There was an open space between the main house of the First Grandpa's family and the east wing of the Zhou family. Walking along the open space revealed a long corridor, which was the only way to the backyard.

Standing in this corridor and looking towards the back row of houses, he only saw darkness.

Zhou Zhiyuan felt relieved. The five toes of his feet lightly gripped the ground, his legs were shoulder-width apart, he straightened his body, took a light breath, and looked up at the east, following the arc to find the Dubhe star at the top of the Big Dipper.

He wanted to verify something. The Dubhe star in the star chart made him feel doubtful, wondering what connection it had with the Dubhe star in the sky?

When he was trapped on Z Peak, he looked up at the starry sky and focused on this Dubhe star. He was familiar with this star, and when he looked up at the sky, he would look in that direction first.

Looking up at the Big Dipper from the ground, their positions in the sky are not fixed. The book "He Guanzi" records: "When the handle of the Dipper points east, the world is in spring; when the handle of the Dipper points south, the world is in summer; when the handle of the Dipper points west, the world is in autumn; when the handle of the Dipper points north, the world is in winter."

Throughout the four seasons, the Big Dipper points in four directions, but the orange light emitted by the Dubhe star only points to the North Star. Finding the North Star can help locate the north and determine direction, so the Dubhe star is also known as the guiding star.

In the plateau, as the squad leader, Zhou Zhiyuan led the whole squad out on patrol, which lasted for three days. They camped in a vast snowfield at night, looking up at the Dubhe star in the starry sky to determine the road to take the next morning.

And the Dubhe star did not disappoint, extending its orange finger to point in a direction, telling him: "Go that way."

When he was trapped in that ice crevice, the first thing he saw was it, and then he knew where he was. Then he saw a shooting star streak across, seeing a flash of clear light.

This process was imprinted in his heart, this scene was full of magic, and it became the best way to concentrate his thoughts.

In his dream, he had practiced Tai Chi, as well as Zhan Zhuang Qigong and meditation, and knew the methods of mental cultivation. This scene allowed him to concentrate his thoughts and use the star chart rising in his heart as a concrete representation of his thoughts.

It had benefited Zhou Zhiyuan. Deep sleep made him energetic, and he broke through the bottleneck of the Dragon Whirlwind Style and developed the Dragon Whirlwind Force.

He was already satisfied with this benefit, but he didn't expect that the Dubhe star in the chart would actually shoot out an orange thread.

He knew that deep sleep was the result of this orange thread playing its role. Now he knew that this orange thread gave him the magical tracking technique, especially the concretization of "Ancient Investigation One," which made him ecstatic.

This orange thread gave him super learning abilities, and this ability was something he liked. If he had this ability earlier, his arithmetic wouldn't have been so difficult to learn. If he had mastered arithmetic, his ideal would have been to become a scientist.

But he no longer had the ideals of his youth. After regretting for a while, a question suddenly arose in his heart: "Is this ability mine or someone else's?"

Thinking like this, all kinds of ghost stories he had read before floated to his mind: possession, body snatching, ghostly possession... The ghosts and monsters in strange tales floated to his mind, making him uneasy.

Then, after thinking carefully, he raised another question: "Am I possessed by that Dubhe star in the sky?"

The Dubhe star in the sky, as the head of the Big Dipper, is related to many myths and legends, but these myths and legends cannot affect him. If it is not his own thing, no matter how magical it is, it is a time bomb that will explode with a bang at any time.

This thought lingered, so he had to verify it. At this moment, he looked up at the Dubhe star in the sky, took a light breath, closed his mouth and nose, and raised the star chart, turning his mind into eyes to stare at this Dubhe star in the chart.

After five minutes, he exhaled. The subtle thread of thought continued uninterrupted. After exhaling six breaths, the Dubhe star in the sky showed no reaction, and the Dubhe star in his heart remained motionless, with no connection between the two.

Exhaling this breath, Zhou Zhiyuan felt relieved. The Dubhe star in the star chart was his own, a progressive mode of concretizing his thoughts.

He created a new formula: Z Peak Trip — Tornado — Falling into the Ice Crevice — Observing the Starry Sky — Focusing on the Dubhe Star — Occasionally Seeing a Shooting Star — Seeing a Flash of Clear Light Again — More Than Fifty Years in a Dream — Returning to the Unit to Meditate on the Starry Sky — Two Years Later, the Star Chart Rises in His Heart — Focusing on the Dubhe Star in the Chart Again — An Orange Thread Appears — He Has Super Learning Ability and Magical Tracking Ability.

Listing this new formula in his heart, Zhou Zhiyuan felt completely relieved. He had spent two years developing the orange thread, which had nothing to do with others, but for safety's sake, the Dubhe star in the star chart had to be renamed.

After carefully pondering for a while and rejecting several names, he named it "Orange."

Oranges are fruits that people love to eat, with the benefits of quenching thirst and enhancing resistance. More importantly, they have nothing to do with the Dubhe star.

After completing the naming ceremony, Zhou Zhiyuan felt tired, as if he had just gone through a life-and-death struggle.

Half an hour later, he entered a state of "nothingness." This time of learning did not make him feel tired or dizzy.

Zhou Zhiyuan fell into a deep sleep, but Shen Lanbo couldn't sleep.

His heart was full of contradictions. From a sentimental point of view, he hoped that Zhou Zhiyuan would become Shen Lanyin's husband.

But rationally, he hesitated. Zhou Zhiyuan was promoted to deputy company-level officer, and after two months, his transfer was approved, which was full of mysteries.

At that time, Shen Lanbo was staying in the army hospital, but he had his own channels for information, knowing that the detachment leader Liu Qianjin and political commissar Zhang Limin planned to establish a deputy company-level commando team, and the officer they jointly recommended was Zhou Zhiyuan.

He agreed with the leaders' decision that it was definitely the right decision to have Zhou Zhiyuan serve as the captain of the commando team.

Li Wu also thought so, and he, who had been promoted to platoon leader, wanted to be the deputy captain.

According to Li Wu, this plan was approved by the higher authorities, but the "Captain Recommendation Letter" was not approved.

This situation puzzled Shen Lanbo. Zhou Zhiyuan was not only the beloved general of Liu Qianjin and Zhang Limin, but also affirmed by the leaders above. How could it not be approved?

Just as he was wondering, a month later, the situation suddenly changed. Zhou Zhiyuan was transferred, and the commando captain was taken over by the deputy company commander of the first company, and Li Wu became the deputy captain.

When a stunned Li Wu ran to the hospital to tell him this news, he felt that there was something mysterious here.

And his own transfer was also tinged with mystery.

Having injured his lungs, he needed to recuperate. The original intention of the army leaders was to let him serve as a company-level staff officer in the military department.

But he didn't want to be a staff officer. Unable to be a military commander, he submitted a transfer application, but it was returned, and Zhang Limin gave him a thought education.

But after repeated deliberation, he still wrote a second "Transfer Application." This time, there was no movement. A month later, the "Transfer Application" was officially approved, and the order approving Zhou Zhiyuan's transfer was issued at the same time.

This could not but make him suspect the mystery inside.

But he would not discuss this matter with Zhou Zhiyuan. Zhou Zhiyuan, who was transferred, was overjoyed because he missed his home. Why should he interfere with his happy mood?

He buried his suspicions deep in his heart, unwilling to implicate Fang Nan, and would not actively promote the emotional development of Shen Lanyin and Zhou Zhiyuan.

After returning home, he asked Zhou Zhiyuan to report as soon as possible, and let Fang Nan intervene. The allocation result made Shen Lanbo even more confused: "Are Zhiyuan and I normally transferred? But why should Zhiyuan be promoted to deputy company level?"

This was a huge loophole. The army leaders could not possibly not know that being transferred at the deputy company level would be treated as a platoon level in the local area.

Moreover, Li Wu clearly told him that Liu Qianjin and Zhang Limin recommended Zhou Zhiyuan to serve as the captain of the commando team.

With their personalities, if the higher leaders disagreed, they would pester and badger them; if Zhou Zhiyuan dared to act up, they would knock him to the ground and step on him with both feet.

But these two people actually approved Zhou Zhiyuan's transfer?

At this time, Shen Lanbo still couldn't figure it out, so he put aside this question and thought of Shen Lanyin.

Shen Lanbo had no good feelings for Hao Zhiwen, but on this matter, Shen Lanyin did not accept his opinion.

He was also helpless about this. Shen Lanyin had her own opinions since she was a child, and when she recognized something, his influence was limited.

Shen Lanbo couldn't sleep, considering Shen Lanyin's affairs.

And Shen Lanyin couldn't sleep either. She tossed and turned in bed for more than an hour, then reached out to the bedside table and pulled the cord of the lamp.

With a snap, the lamp turned on. Shen Lanyin picked up this medical book, got up, leaned against the headboard, and opened the pages.

But she couldn't read it. Shen Lanbo's words and deeds reminded her that she suddenly realized that she had reached the age of marriage.

But she didn't want to get married. She had her own career, immersed in it and getting pleasure from it.

But Shen Lanbo had spoken, and he wanted to promote her and Zhou Zhiyuan to get together.

She refused, but couldn't help but consider one thing. Her parents didn't speak today, but would they speak tomorrow?

What she feared most was that her parents' old comrades-in-arms would propose marriage, such as Fang Xiang's parents proposing to her parents. What would she do?

Thinking about this made Shen Lanyin upset, and she was destined to be sleepless tonight.