"I have another question."
Lin Yu thought about it for a while before shamelessly asking, "What if I still can't focus?"
He had lost all hope of his Slacker's Disease as he had not been able to learn anything lately even after becoming adamant to change himself. Five minutes of focus might be possible, but 25 minutes were too much for him… He was still in doubt about its feasibility.
"If you still can't focus?"
Zhao Xiaolu was shocked. She thought about it for a moment before saying with disapproval, "If you really can't do it, then meditate."
"Meditate? Why don't you tell me to cultivate myself into an immortal instead?"
Lin Yu felt a little speechless.
However, soon after he said that he had a realization.
Superpowers were happening around him, and there were plenty of incidents lately that seemed as if there was a spiritual energy rejuvenation. Meditating or cultivating himself into an immortal did not seem impossible.
Lin Yu could not help but stare at Zhao Xiaolu in doubt.
Could this be the legendary
"What cultivation? I'm serious. It's meditation from yoga. It's not the meditation described in novels about witches or magicians."
Zhao Xiaolu rolled her eyes at Lin Yu.
"Uh… Can yoga meditation really help you focus?"
Lin Yu snapped out of it. He had been thinking far too out of the box lately amidst the superpowers and peculiar incidents.
"No."
Zhao Xiaolu shook her head.
Lin Yu was stunned. "Then why did you tell me that?"
"Meditation can't help you concentrate, but it can train you to realize if you're losing focus."
Zhao Xiaolu continued explaining, "To put it bluntly, concentrating means focusing on something without distraction. You'll train yourself to be aware of when you become distracted."
"Noises from the outside world, any thoughts in your head, associations, worries, your gains and losses, and so on. Feel them, acknowledge them, and develop an instinct toward them. With that, you should be able to react as soon as they appear."
Lin Yu nodded without fully understanding what she had said and asked, "What happens after I acknowledge them?"
"After that? It depends on your willpower to ignore them, repel them, and focus your attention back on what you should be paying attention to."
Zhao Xiaolu shrugged. "At the end of the day, everything depends on your willpower. Methods only make things slightly easier for you."
"... Fine."
Lin Yu was left speechless and continued to ask, "How do I meditate?"
"Find something to focus on and train yourself. For example, breathe, relax, empty your mind, and focus on your breathing. Feel the sources of distraction: noises from the outside world, the emotions, thoughts, worries, where you're eating later, which game you're playing later, and so on. Name those sources of distraction and ignore them. Focus your attention on breathing."
Zhao Xiaolu continued, "This is a training process to train yourself in detecting whenever you lose focus and bring your attention back with the help of your own determination."
"Thank you."
Lin Yu thanked her with gratefulness.
"No worries. Do you have any other questions?"
Zhao Xiaolu smiled.
"No, that's all."
Lin Yu could not wait for the conversation to end.
Chatting with an academic genius felt like his intelligence was being looked down upon and he felt pressured. Although he did not want to admit it, he felt like a wimp deep down.
Nonetheless, he did gain some insight from the conversation. After hearing Zhao Xiaolu's advice, he had a clearer vision for his 'Academic Genius System' idea.
After ending the conversation, the duo was headed back to the room. However, as they turned around, they found a few heads popping out of the door staring right at them.
The door to the karaoke room was made of wood, but there was a rectangular shaped glass window in the middle of it, so one could look outside through the window.
Upon seeing Lin Yu and Zhao Xiaolu turn around, the ones who were peeping at them rushed back to their seats in the room.
"Third Brother, you're doing pretty well after all. What did you talk about?"
"Lin, what an animal. You did it fast."
After Lin Yu walked in and took his seat, Zhou Jie and the guys approached him, curious and envious.
The guys could only tell that Lin Yu and Zhao Xiaolu had a 'good conversation' given the loud music around them. They could not hear what the conversation was about.
"We talked about how to improve my studies."
Lin Yu rolled his eyes.
"Pfft, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. You talked about studying? You?"
Zhou Jie and the guys scoffed at Lin Yu.
Lin Yu shrugged helplessly. The truth was apparently no longer believable in this day and age.
"What do you guys know? This is how smart our Third Brother is."
Xu Zhaoyang came over with a frivolous smile and said, "He did his homework. Of course, he had to talk about how to study well when he's talking to an academic genius. You guys should learn from him."
"So that was the case!"
"Professional! So professional!"
"Master! Please take me in as a student!"
The guys came to a realization and gave Lin Yu their thumbs up.
"All of you have dirty minds. If you have the courage to do it, try my tactic yourselves!"
Lin Yu said sarcastically.
He was beaten up pretty badly within the short time he had spoken to Zhao Xiaolu—even with the 'tricks' he had up his sleeves. If Zhao Xiaolu talked to super slackers like Zhou Jie and the others, they would be destroyed completely.
"We shouldn't do that, we need to respect the brotherhood. We can't do that to a sister-in-law."
"Why did I hear you saying that we 'can' do that?"
"As the saying goes, nothing tastes better than dumplings, and no one is better to fool around with than..."
"Cough, be mindful and stop talking shi*t. There are girls here and they might know how that sentence ends."
…
The group continued drinking and screamed into the mic once in a while. The girls sang a few songs as well. A few hours went by in the blink of an eye.
"Let's go, the dorm's going to close."
The group got ready to leave at around 10pm.
Changhai Vocational College's dorm shut its doors at 11pm. Although the guys could jump over the fences to get in, they could not let the girls do the same. That was why they had ended the party early.
They walked past a huge supermarket on their way back to the dorm. Zhou Jie and the others went in and started shopping for snacks.
Of course, buying snacks was just an excuse for the guys to spend more time with the girls. Under the influence of alcohol, it was usual for young men to act on their hormones.
The group of tipsy guys went into the supermarket with the girls.
Although it was already past 10pm, the supermarket was still full of people.
This was the biggest supermarket in the area. It had two floors and was surrounded by schools and business areas. Students in this area who wanted to look for snacks or daily necessities would usually come here.