Demon Lord 3

Chapter 1970 Childhood in a Dream

True God, slowly leave my dream. I can control my dreams now, returning to my childhood. I remember saying before that I loved watching cartoons when I was little. As a child, I dreamt of Bear Ridge; as an adult, I dreamt of Lin Feng Mountain. Sometimes I don't understand how important childhood is, how it's gone forever. Only after it's gone do I realize that what can't be returned to is called childhood. Childhood may have people or events, but those pains and joys will eventually become invaluable memories. Things that seemed like the end of the world when I was little are now just trivial matters. Yet, as an adult, I'm bound by many worries. If my younger self were here now, perhaps I would just smile slightly. Perhaps with my childhood mindset, these things wouldn't be a problem anymore. But the older I get, the more hesitant and timid I become, and the more worries I accumulate. When I was little, I was innocent and kind. After being deceived, I started to lie and complain. It's hard to discern genuine sincerity when you encounter it. Using such methods can hurt someone's feelings, and they might not want to play with you again, leading to many negative emotions. You might think you shouldn't lie, and secondly, you might feel like you've been deceived yourself. Often, people can't control their own lives. Childhood is often wonderful, especially watching cartoons during summer vacation. Winter vacation is short, and during the Lunar New Year, you watch the Spring Festival Gala for a long time. Summer vacation is different. During the hottest days, you rarely play under the sun with friends; you're usually sitting in front of the TV with half a watermelon, controlling the children's channel. When your parents are at work, you can change channels whenever you want, watching whatever you want. Back then, there were not only cartoons but also many TV dramas. Sometimes I thought the male and female leads were too silly—why did they love each other so passionately? Everyone must have love in their life! Back then, I even wanted to be a saint who never experienced love! Later I realized that humans are emotional beings and need love in many ways. For example, when we're sad, we need someone to confide in; when we're happy, we need someone to share it with. Some might say that friendship can replace it, and that's true. Emotions are something people embellish and beautify themselves, so we need to listen more, observe more, and take the time to consider whether someone's feelings for us are romantic love, friendship, or even familial affection. Often, because of a short time, we're too foolish to distinguish between them, mistaking friendship for love, and taking someone's kindness as something irreplaceable. But when we finally confess our feelings, we realize we were just being delusional. At this point, we should think back to when we were young and playing with others, it was all one-sided. I remember when I first started school, I was a transfer student—I've never mentioned it before—why did I start school so late? For a long time, I was in poor health. My family took me to the mountains to cultivate and improve my physique, which gradually helped me recover. That's why I was a little over a year late, less than two years behind. Later, I also skipped grades through hard work and exercise to get into this class. Thinking back, that was a long time ago. Actually, it's a long story, but not a long one. When I first started school, I was ostracized and couldn't fit into many groups. Others had close friends and friends, and when I tried to join in, they would immediately create their own private groups. So, almost all my friends were boys. Zhou Chuyuan was my classmate. The reason we were so close, besides being able to talk to each other, was because we worked well together. We didn't need to say much about the division of labor; we had a tacit understanding. When a task was assigned, I could quickly break it down, reorganize it, and then distribute it further. Later, I gradually gained positions and became quite prominent at school. For a time, those positions and prestige were merely temporary, labels used by teachers to differentiate students' ranks. When I was young, I thought teachers were supreme beings, but the older I got, the more I realized that teachers were just representatives of the school, the kings among the students. Many parents flattered teachers, giving them gifts and money, which is why some teachers thought about playing pranks on students, trying to embarrass them, and how to get more parents to give them more money. If this kind of atmosphere had been eliminated from the beginning, everyone would be equal. In our school, these things were still rare, but the further into the school district, the more prevalent this situation became. It is said that at that time, the price was clearly marked as 1000 yuan for each stripe. In those days, parents' monthly salary was only about 5000 yuan. The key was that they had to re-select every two semesters, and at the end of the year, they had to give at least five or six thousand yuan. It was really outrageous.