Li Shi hold up the item with both hands. The volume of a kilogram of pure gold was not big, just half the size of his palm, but it was heavy.
He places it on the table and gives it a couple of knocks, producing a distinctive clanging sound.
His heart thumps in sync, it's real! Everything was real!
After a moment of rubbing it, he abruptly grabs his phone and looks up the current price of gold on his browser. The price rise today was pretty good, it had already reached 405 yuan per gram.
He pulls up the calculator:
"405 yuan per gram, a kilogram would be 405x1000, which is 405,000 yuan."
"Based on my previous understanding, recyclers generally deduct ten yuan per gram, that would still be 395,000 yuan!"
Looking at the figure on the calculator, he couldn't help but smile. 395,000 yuan, with this money, the remaining debt of 40,000 yuan means nothing...
For a moment, Li Shi felt as if the whole world was laughing with him.
He also laughed along, but mid-laugh, he spotted the box of instant noodles beside his desk. A sudden lump formed in his throat and tears began to roll down his cheeks.
"I must be such an idiot, why am I crying over such good news."
There exists a golden house in the books, it's time I study, I must hurry up and study!
Li Shi fetched his laptop, placing it directly onto the gold bar, opened it, and resumed reading his first-year middle school Chinese textbook.
"Reading, 'Spring,' by Zhu Zi Qing..."
"Anticipating, anticipating, the East wind arrives, the footsteps of spring are near..."
He hadn't even finished reading the text when he extended his hand to touch the gold bar tucked underneath his computer. After a while, he touches it again.
"No, the gold bar being underneath is too obstructive."
He lifted his laptop, removed the gold bar, hid it under his blanket, and decided out of sight, out of mind.
Having retaken his seat, although his hands could finally stop their incessant movement, his eyes couldn't help but glance constantly towards his bed.
It took him seven or eight minutes to flip through and read two texts.
His study efficiency had dramatically dropped.
He sighed, "This is what happens when a poor man suddenly becomes rich, sigh, poverty over the past few years has been too overbearing."
He reflected, "I need to gradually adjust my mindset, I now have a study panel! 1 wealth attribute can exchange for any material object I once possessed, that's right..."
Suddenly, he remembers - while gold was valuable, there were plenty of things in the world more precious than gold.
Since his mood wasn't quite right for studying at the time, he took out his phone and separately searched on Zhihu, Douyin, and Bilibili: What are the most expensive substances in the world?
"The top ten most expensive substances in the world, the first being the radioactive metal element Californium... scarce in nature and almost fully synthesized by man-made means, the cost per gram was as high as 27 million US dollars."
After around ten minutes, Li Shi couldn't help sighing. The most valuable substances leading the pack were either radioactive rare elements or custom expensive medicines, the price for one kilogram of these materials could range from several million to even several billion US dollars, but, it would be difficult to get a sample of these, and even if he could exchange them, it would be hard to sell these conspicuous items and he wouldn't be able to explain where they came from.
"Precious jewelry might be a choice, nevermind thinking too much, better hurry back to studying!"
After this little detour, Li Shi's mindset had calmed quite a bit. He retrieved the gold bar from underneath his blanket, placing it beside his laptop on the dining table, and resumed studying.
Upon reaching junior high, the breadth and depth of material studied significantly increased, meaning he had to slow down his studying pace.
Junior high's first-year textbook consisted of 149 pages, a lot of which were ancient poems and idioms. Just reviewing them took over an hour before he completed the last section, starting the final "Classic Literature Guide".
—————
"Sun Wukong Adjusts the Banana Fan"
...
"After bidding farewell to Ling Ji, he mounts his somersault cloud to rush back to Cuiyun Mountain, arriving in the blink of an eye."
...
"The walker then pulled back his limbs and said: 'Did you finally recognize your uncle? Considering Brother Bull's feelings, I'll spare your life for now. Just hand me the fan. The Rakshasa said, 'Uncle, here's the fan! Here's the fan! You can take it and go!'… The walker reverted to his original form, took the fan, and exclaimed: 'Am I not here? Thanks for lending me! Thanks for lending me!' With a flick of his footsteps, he walked straight ahead. The little ones hurriedly opened the door and let him out of the cave."
After reading the first excerpt from "Journey to the West", Li Shi couldn't help but recall the television adaptation of "Journey to the West" that he watched as a child.
"Just like people say online, even with so many beautiful actresses in the TV show, I was solely focused on the monkey. That just proves Brother Monkey's charm is simply irresistible."
"Actually, if Brother Monkey had an attribute panel, his physical attributes would probably be over a hundred thousand. Otherwise, he wouldn't have survived the elixir flame in Tai Shang Lao Jun's Eight Trigram Furnace... With no limits on attribute points, continuous learning can lead to a continuous accumulation of points. So, in the future…"
That night, Li Shi studied until after one in the morning and managed to review the entirety of his junior high school's Chinese textbooks.
He took a shower and lay down on his bed. The gold bar was next to his pillow within his reach. He then called up his learning panel—
Name: Li Shi
Physique: 9.5+1[Fusion?]
Wealth: 0
Currently learning: Chinese (Beginner +)
Completed Learning Library: None
"Having completed the first year, the Chinese language level (Beginner-) has now become (Beginner). Now that I have finished the entire junior high school's Chinese textbooks, it became (Beginner+). I'm almost at the (Proficient) level. I'll keep working hard tomorrow!"
He shifted his attention to "Physique". He set his phone to wake him in six hours, then touched the panel with his mind:
"Choose to merge 1 physique point."
Suddenly he felt a warm feeling throughout his body, extremely comfortable. His entire being immediately became lazily relaxed, almost like those childhood autumn afternoons when he would lay in his mother's arms, basking in the sun on the stairs of their courtyard in his hometown. The sunlight was warm, but his mother's embrace was even warmer.
His eyelids felt so heavy. In a matter of seconds, Li Shi was unable to resist the growing drowsiness. He closed his eyes, and his breath became long and deep.
A dreamless night. At half-past seven, before the alarm on his cell phone went off, Li Shi naturally woke up, stretched his limbs, and felt invigorated.
"I haven't slept that well in a long time."
He stood up and moved his body around, suddenly realizing that his shorts were a bit loose. Looking down, he saw that the small belly he had gained from eating cheap fast food over the past two years had significantly flattened overnight, revealing the abdominal muscles hidden by fat.
He threw a few punches and jumped around.
A single physique attribute brought an increase of about 10%. He could clearly feel himself getting stronger, becoming more resilient... etc. He had improved in all aspects.
His overall condition was excellent, full of energy, comparable to when he was 18 or 19!
He called up his learning panel—
Name: Li Shi
Physique: 10.5
Wealth: 0
Currently learning: Chinese (Beginner+)
Completed Learning Library: None
"Physique point 10.5, already exceeded the standard healthy adult male by 0.5. In the future, I can improve this by continuing my studies!"
Li Shi sent a WeChat to Li Gui Ming to prepare a sick note for him to submit to HR at his company. He then cleaned up and researched some learning apps on his phone. Around nine o'clock, he put the gold bar in his backpack, which he had bought for 99 yuan and used for over three years, and went out the door.
Downstairs, he spent three yuan at DeYuan Fast Food to buy two meat buns. Just as he was about to hail a cab on WeChat, his phone rang. It was his female superior, Wei Shu Lan.
Wei Shu Lan was an attractive, full-figured, business type woman. She was quite strict with her subordinates, so seeing her number made Li Shi instinctively tense. But, considering she was calling probably about his leave request, and now that he had the learning panel, he didn't really need that salary grind job anyway. Even if she didn't approve his leave, it didn't matter.
With these thoughts in mind, he felt a sense of relief.