Chapter 00077: Embarrassed Again
# Embarrassed Again
Chapter 77
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 77: Embarrassed Again
Although Xue Wenshu's name sounded gentle and refined, his appearance was actually quite wild.
Li Chengxi remembered that Xue Wenshu was already 185 cm tall in his first year of high school.
Now, he had shot up even more, perhaps close to 190 cm.
It wasn't always obvious, but when he went out to play basketball with his classmates, you could clearly see he was half a head taller than everyone else.
With a physique like that, just standing on the street corner gave off an intimidating pressure, like dark clouds gathering overhead.
He didn't look like someone to be trifled with.
But on second thought, Li Chengxi realized you couldn't judge a book by its cover.
Although it felt a bit like badmouthing Xue Wenshu, based on what Li Chengxi knew of him, the kid was just a tall, sturdy, goofy simpleton...
"On such a hot day, and my AC at home is broken too. It's much cooler here at your place, Brother Li."
Xue Wenshu didn't notice anything amiss in the convenience store at all.
He grabbed a Coke from the cooler by the door and was muttering to himself as he headed to the cash register to scan the code.
Then he saw Lei Lei standing in front of the cash register.
The happy expression on his face vanished on the spot.
"You... uh, Classmate Lei Lei, what are you doing here?"
"I live nearby, just came to buy a few things."
"Oh, I live nearby too, just next door. Uh... well, it's been good since cram school stopped, right?"
Behind the cash register, Li Chengxi couldn't help but facepalm.
The conversation was so awkward it made his toes curl.
He knew that what Xue Wenshu actually wanted to say was, 'Cram school has been out for a while and I haven't seen you.
How have you been lately?'
But because he was too nervous, he ended up skipping a part of it.
This could be considered one of Xue Wenshu's bad habits.
His nervousness was understandable.
It was the first time in his life Xue Wenshu had developed feelings for a girl his age, but those feelings were nipped in the bud before they could even sprout.
Although it was just a one-sided crush, it was enough to deal a critical blow to a young boy experiencing his first pangs of love.
He took two days to get over it and felt like he didn't care anymore, even thinking he had excellent mental resilience.
In reality, it was just that Lei Lei had already made contact with Li Chengxi and had dispelled the spell affecting Xue Wenshu.
But the spell's influence was one thing; the matter itself wasn't so easy to just forget.
That's why Xue Wenshu's reaction to seeing Lei Lei in the store was so cringe-worthy.
Lei Lei was the only one present who knew the full story, and she was also the calmest in her reaction:
"I'm fine. I just moved, and the neighbors are all very warm."
"That's good..."
Xue Wenshu quickly scanned the code with his phone:
"I have to go back and do my homework. If you need anything, feel free to find me anytime."
It seemed he couldn't take it anymore.
After speaking, he tried to slip away without even waiting for Lei Lei's reply.
And at that very inopportune moment, Audel emerged from behind the shelves, holding a bag of snacks.
"My Lor..."
She had just started to speak when she saw both Xue Wenshu and Lei Lei were there and immediately corrected herself:
"My... my, are these konjac noodles tasty? Brother Li."
As expected of a Mage who has to learn everything, look at that adaptability.
But Xue Wenshu, who had been in such a hurry to go home just a moment ago, saw Audel and immediately screeched to a halt, turned around, and asked Li Chengxi:
"Who's this? An acquaintance of yours, Brother Li?"
Li Chengxi had no choice but to use the excuse he had prepared long ago:
"This is a cousin of mine, she's staying with me for a few days."
Xue Wenshu was no longer in a hurry to leave.
He quickly moved closer:
"Hello, hello, I'm Xue Wenshu. What's your name?"
"Audel."
"Are you a foreigner? But your Chinese is so good, are you mixed-race? Why is your hair blue? I don't mean to be discriminatory, I just find it really novel. Where did you get it dyed? Are you cosplaying?"
Listening to Xue Wenshu's barrage of questions, Audel's eyes showed a hint of confusion, as if to say, 'Who is this overly familiar guy? What's his deal?'
Lei Lei whispered to Li Chengxi, "See? This is why I don't ask people my own age for help."
"Uh... that's actually very convincing."
From being toe-curlingly awkward just moments ago to rushing forward with a flurry of actions now, Xue Wenshu's transition was almost seamless.
To be fair, his mental fortitude was indeed impressive.
"Where do you go to school? Are you in high school yet? If you're at City No. 3 High, you can come find me anytime you need anything."
Although Audel didn't understand what "high school" meant, she figured it must be some kind of school.
Coincidentally, Audel's own profession was also at a school, except she was a professor, not a student.
Because she looked quite young, she had run into misunderstandings at her school before, so she immediately understood her current situation.
"I'm 23."
Audel interrupted Xue Wenshu's long spiel.
While he was still stunned, she repeated:
"I'm 23."
"..."
Xue Wenshu turned to look at Li Chengxi with an 'I've embarrassed myself again, haven't I?' expression on his face, and saw him nod.
"I... I think I'll go back to my homework now..."
It was too pitiful, truly too pitiful.
So pitiful that Li Chengxi didn't even have the heart to tease him.
Watching Xue Wenshu flee the convenience store with his Coke as if his life depended on it, Li Chengxi guessed he would probably go home and do an embarrassed handstand on his bed.
"I should also grab some snacks and go back to my homework. School is about to start soon."
Seeing Xue Wenshu leave, Lei Lei also went to grab two bags of potato chips.
"Wait, I have something to ask you."
Li Chengxi quickly stopped Lei Lei, who was about to leave after paying:
"Qian Sen said you're an immortal cultivator..."
"A cultivator."
"Right, a cultivator. Do you think I can cultivate? Can you teach me?"
Who doesn't have a Xianxia dream?
"I can teach you the basics, but you're too old. Your innate aptitude has long since solidified."
"But I'm very healthy."
"This has nothing to do with being healthy or not. Think about it, even for martial arts, you have to start practicing horse stance and other fundamentals from a young age. Once you're grown up, no matter how hard you try, your body's flexibility just can't keep up."
That did seem to make sense.
"Uh... so I can't learn it?"
"It's not that you can't learn it, it's just that there's no point. You could practice for a lifetime and never even reach the entry-level. The only benefit would be improving your physical fitness, but you'd get better results just by taking more walks."
"..."
Although Lei Lei had used many methods to try and get close to Li Chengxi, this time she really wasn't talking nonsense.
A cultivator's training begins at the age of six or seven, no earlier and no later.
Furthermore, during the foundation-building period, it must be supplemented with all sorts of spiritual pills and miraculous elixirs.
If you think you can achieve immortal cultivation with just a book of chants, you might as well just lie down and sleep.
After all, you can have anything in your dreams.
Lei Lei gestured with her chin toward Audel, who was approaching:
"If you really want to learn something, you could try learning magic. That doesn't have an age limit."
When it came to this topic, that was Audel's area of expertise.
"An adult's ability to learn isn't as good as a child's. You would spend a lot of time on the basics, probably needing ten to twenty years just to be considered a novice mage who's gotten their foot in the door."
Hearing Audel say this, Lei Lei was also a bit surprised:
"I thought magic was like in the movies, where you just chant a few spells and wave a magic wand."
Although Audel didn't know what movies were, she still explained:
"The execution does indeed look that simple, but before you can do that, you must have an incredibly vast foundation. Otherwise, you're just chanting nonsense."
Studying for ten or twenty years... never mind that Li Chengxi would be over forty by then, whether he could even maintain the passion and perseverance for that long was a whole other question.
"So you're saying I can only watch from the sidelines?"
Actually, Lei Lei was hiding something.
For instance, the overly dense spiritual energy surrounding Li Chengxi made her highly suspect that he was a humanoid Earth Deity.
Although he couldn't cultivate and grow stronger like a cultivator, he should be able to use many of a deity's abilities himself.
However, Lei Lei was still in the process of observing this matter and had no intention of telling him just yet.
(End of chapter)