76: Chapter 76 The Young Teacher

Chapter 76: The Young Teacher

December 26th.

Higher Education Park, Dongdu Library.

In the bright and clean reading hall, almost every seat was taken, and the rustling sound kept ringing out.

Most of them were young people burying their heads in studying and writing furiously.

There were also a few retired people wearing reading glasses, leisurely flipping through books.

Fang Cheng picked up his thermos cup brewed with wolfberries and took a sip.

On the desk in front of him lay a large pile of books and classics, basically all thick heavy tomes.

While drinking water, as his gaze swept across the figures of those young people, he felt a slight stirring in his heart.

"There are still 4 days until the preliminary examination date for the postgraduate entrance exam."

"Among them, there must be quite a few people on the same front as me, right?"

However, Fang Cheng had long been fully prepared for the battle.

The main purpose of coming to the library this time was simply to look up some information.

On the postcard sent by a stranger, the strange words and strange symbols had always been like a stone resting in his heart.

Making Fang Cheng vaguely have a bad premonition.

He rushed over early this morning, and after the library opened, he soaked himself in the reading room.

In nearly five hours, he had leafed through dozens of academic works involving various languages and archaeology.

He made comparisons and searches among them, trying to obtain useful clues.

Only until now, there was still no clue at all.

It seemed as if those strange text symbols were actually just random graffiti by someone else.

While pondering, Fang Cheng vaguely sensed a gaze drifting over and falling on his face.

So he raised his head and took a look.

He saw a young woman sitting in the front right also raising her head and looking towards him.

That woman had a pretty face, shoulder-length short hair, and wore a pair of black thin-rimmed glasses.

As their gazes met, he saw a slight smile appear on the corners of her mouth, and she politely nodded to signal.

Fang Cheng remembered her.

The last time he came to the library to self-study knowledge about health preservation, he had met her.

Today, she was still sitting in her usual spot.

Holding a fountain pen in her hand, with a few books placed in front of her, she seemed to be taking reading notes.

Fang Cheng had extraordinary eyesight and could clearly see the handwriting she wrote.

She seemed to be a college teacher preparing lessons.

Probably because his book-flipping speed was too fast, disturbing her?

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng also nodded and made an apologetic gesture.

Actually, with his current spiritual sensitivity, it was very easy to perceive the negative emotions transmitted by the surrounding crowd.

However, after using Focus, he always consciously ignored the noise and interference brought by the outside world.

[Speed Reading Lv1 (196/250)]

[Focus Lv1 (213/250)]

Glancing at the skill growth progress, Fang Cheng finished his water and stood up.

He stacked a dozen books on the table into a pile and held them in his arms.

Then he strode towards the bookshelf area not far away.

After all the books were returned to their original places one by one, he then walked over to another row of bookshelves nearby.

"Let's look around a bit more?"

Fang Cheng pulled out a foreign-language book and pondered inwardly.

If that really doesn't work out.

Perhaps he could go to colleges to find some real professionals and consult them for advice.

Or consult the administrator to see if they could help borrow books from the ancient book area on the top floor.

Rustle.

Opening the cover, Fang Cheng simply stood by the window and started reading the book in the sunlight.

The large double-sided wooden bookshelves were stuffed with various books and classics, blocking the view and exuding a special scholarly fragrance.

Readers borrowing books passed by from time to time, and the atmosphere was leisurely and cozy.

Just as he lowered his head and read intently,

A faint fragrance of jasmine perfume suddenly drifted into his nose.

Afterward, a delicate and melodious voice sounded.

"Are you very interested in linguistics?"

Fang Cheng was slightly surprised and looked over upon hearing the voice.

He saw that bespectacled beautiful teacher standing in front of him at this moment, her eyes revealing a bit of interested look.

"Excuse me."

She raised her hand to smooth the hair by her ear and took the initiative to explain:

"I just saw that you borrowed many foreign language books. A situation like yours where you study several languages together is really rare, so I'm a bit curious."

Looking at the woman who regarded him as a "weirdo," Fang Cheng silently complained in his heart.

In fact, through previous observations, this teacher was no better either.

The books she borrowed were equally miscellaneous, including economics, political science, history, religious studies, folklore, archaeology, and so on.

Every single one of them was read through one by one!

The breadth of the span made one couldn't help but doubt whether she could really understand them all.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Cheng half-truly and half-falsely answered her:

"My girlfriend mailed me a postcard from abroad with some weird texts written on it, and I really want to understand their meaning."

"Oh."

The beautiful teacher nodded in sudden realization, and then said again:

"I have some research in linguistics. If it doesn't involve privacy, you might as well show it to me."

Fang Cheng thought for a moment, then pulled the postcard out of his pocket and handed it to her with a bit of hope.

The beautiful teacher took it and gazed at it carefully.

After a long silence, she slightly opened her red lips with a hint of hesitation:

"I have never seen this kind of text before..."

Before Fang Cheng could feel disappointed, she continued:

"But one thing can be confirmed: they are not simple symbols, and should belong to the category of writing."

"Why?"

Fang Cheng had previously suspected that these characters might just be random graffiti.

"Language and writing all follow certain rules. Even if you don't understand unfamiliar text, you can still feel a vague resonance from it."

The beautiful teacher raised her bright eyes and looked at Fang Cheng:

"Because this is an Innate talent of human beings. Through writing, not only can surface information be conveyed, but Advanced thinking activities can also be supported, making it easier for humans to master multiple different languages."

"Linguist Chomsky calls this Innate skill the 'Language Acquisition Device,' comparing it to an organ inside the brain, which stores a certain regularity common to human languages, namely 'Universal Grammar.'"

Hearing this, Fang Cheng couldn't help nodding.

Thinking back carefully, when he first saw these characters, his first impression was that someone wanted to tell him something extremely special.

"Writing does not only belong to countries and nations; an ethnic group or an industry can also create its own writing. Nüshu, Daoist Talismans, and unbroken cliff-side heavenly scripts that appeared in history are all like this."

"They seem to have no meaning, yet they exist with many meanings, being used as a medium for specific groups to communicate with each other."

"I recommend that you can read some folklore books; perhaps you can find similarities from some local traditional cultures to inspire inspiration."

The beautiful teacher said methodically.

Suddenly remembering something, she specifically added at the end:

"Right, during the New Year's Day holiday, the library will hold many popular science lecture events."

"One of the lecture hosts is a world-renowned paleoanthropological linguist. You can go and listen, and perhaps you will have unexpected gains."

Fang Cheng felt that when she said this sentence, the gaze behind her glasses was unusually bright.

It seemed to flash with a hint of slyness, disappearing in a flash, as if it were just an illusion.

"Thank you for your help. May I ask your name?"

Fang Cheng retrieved the postcard and thanked her politely.

"Let's get acquainted, my name is Lin Chuqiao, a humble lecturer at Dongdu University."

The beautiful teacher puffed up her proud chest and gracefully extended her hand.

"My name is Fang Cheng, currently a boxing gym sparring partner."

Fang Cheng gently pinched her slender fingers and then let go.

He could feel the plump softness emanating from her palm, just like the feeling her name and appearance gave people.