I am a Big Player
Chapter 289 - 287, The Shadow in the Heart, Moth Flying into the Fire! (Second Update)_1

Chapter 289: 287, The Shadow in the Heart, Moth Flying into the Fire! (Second Update)_1

By the beginning of April, everything was ready, and Ren He, with his purchased sick leave note in hand, went to see Yang Lan to ask for leave. Yang Lan glanced at the sick leave note and looked at Ren He oddly, "Severe depression?"

"Yes, teacher," Ren He said earnestly. There once was a student at No.4 Middle School who took a sick leave note and asked for two weeks off, and the class teacher, also a unique character, immediately paid to take the student for a medical check-up. To avoid the same happening to him, Ren He opted to choose an illness that couldn’t be detected through examination. In fact, No.4 Middle School allowed students to go home for psychological problems.

"Which part of you looks like a patient with severe depression?" Yang Lan said, seeing Ren He’s serious look and feeling overwhelmed. Just yesterday, I saw you happily running laps on the field with the Qinghe Club. If you have severe depression, I might as well jump off a building and commit suicide right now, okay? I have depression!

"Teacher," Ren He said solemnly, "if you keep saying that, I’m going to kill myself."

Pfft, right there and then, Yang Lan felt she was going crazy. What kind of person is this?! Sure, I know the most typical symptom of depression is suicidal tendencies, but do you really think it’s credible coming from your mouth?! How can I not feel that no one is more cheerful than you, alright?!

However, had he been Ren He’s junior high school teacher and experienced that kind of baptism, he might actually believe that Ren He had some mental issues... Over time, he would even start to doubt his own mental stability...

Carefully choosing her words, Yang Lan said, "Approving the leave isn’t really a problem, but I don’t have the authority for a month’s leave. For a month off, you need to speak with the administration office, right?"

To tell the truth, Ren He also knew that asking for a month’s leave without parental involvement was indeed difficult—as this was a school, not a company. In a company, it would be hard to get a month off too. Ren He was also quite troubled; he would need at least a month, perhaps even more, but he couldn’t possibly ask Ren to help him ask for leave, could he?

Since he couldn’t manage it himself, he had no choice but to trouble Elder Zhou. Ren He explained his intentions clearly: he needed to request leave and have Elder Zhou speak to the principal on his behalf. He didn’t mention that he was going to climb Mount Everest; otherwise, Elder Zhou wouldn’t have agreed to do this for him.

Elder Zhou was a bit confused: "What do you need such a long leave for?"

"You know I’m from Luo City. My family’s dog is seriously ill, and I must go back to accompany it through its last days," Ren He said with a heavy, mournful voice. Falling ill is not something you can include your family in, or it becomes a curse, so he had to fabricate a dog... He couldn’t think of any other reasons at the moment; after all, he really didn’t have much experience with asking for leave.

Elder Zhou was taken aback upon hearing this. It was normal for a creative person to be more emotionally intense and sensitive. He no longer viewed Ren He as just a student. Still, out of curiosity, he asked, "What illness does your dog have?"

This question left Ren He stumped... How the heck would I know what illness...?

In his previous life, Ren He had owned a dog that got lost, and in over eight years it was with him, it never became sick, so he had no experience in this area!

He hesitated and then said, "Cancer?"

Slam, Elder Zhou hung up the phone right then and there...

Ren He sucked on his teeth in frustration, listening to the busy tone on the phone. Dogs can’t get cancer? Who decided that?!

Lack of experience indeed!

What now? If he disappeared without a trace, No.4 Middle School would definitely call Mrs. Ren and Ren. By then, there was no way to keep it hidden. After some thought, Ren He decided to go directly to the principal.

After all the preparations and spending over a million, it wouldn’t make sense if he couldn’t leave because he couldn’t get the leave approved!

In fact, apart from An Si, he hadn’t mentioned his plans to climb Mount Everest to anyone else because of that nightmare.

The dream was so vivid; dark clouds rolled in as he descended from the summit, and he could feel the cold slowly penetrating his body, from his fingertips to the skin on his body, all gradually growing cold.

The snow and ice hitting his face felt like knives, and he was completely lost on Mount Everest, only able to hide under a small cliff and slowly wait for death.

It was as if he had experienced death in that dream. Waking up to find his hands and feet cold, he even doubted if he would die in the dream, just like those legends said, dying in a dream.

The truth was, on the journey to the summit of Mount Everest, the most terrifying thing was indeed the weather. It is unpredictable, and a black storm may strike without any signs half an hour before. But by the time you realize it, it is already too late.

So, this dream cast a shadow over Ren He’s heart, yet still, he intended to go. That was his choice.

If he faltered, Ren He didn’t know if the life he had struggled to change in this lifetime would revert back to its old trajectory. It was like when he initially intended to challenge the Catpaw Limit by leaping across a distance of 8 meters, but when he reached 8.5 meters, he still didn’t back down.

Only that time, even if he failed, at worst he’d be disabled, whereas this time, if something happened, he might really be laid to rest there forever.

This feeling was like a moth drawn to the flame.

What is faith? Is it religions like Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism? Yes, but it’s not just that.

Actually, your worldview is your faith. You can firmly believe that you won’t fail, can believe that if you do fail, you can still stand up again, these are all faith, and religious faith is just one way to have a mature understanding of it.

Our faiths are too niche to be systematically named.

Is spending 52 years guarding his wife’s tomb a kind of faith?

Is adopting 102 stray dogs in memory of a beloved dog that passed away a kind of faith?

Is repeatedly playing AI games to reminisce about the past, even if Dota one day disappeared, a kind of faith?

Yes, these are all faith.

And now, challenging the limits of life is Ren He’s faith, a steadfast faith.

So even if he knew he might die up there, he had to go.

Ren He stood at the principal’s office door and knocked, the principal’s calm voice arose, "Come in."

By the time Ren He walked in, the principal had already stood up as usual. Ren He got straight to the point, "Principal, I have something very important to do, and I’d like to ask for a month off... maybe even longer."

"Is it about your puppy getting cancer?" The principal asked with a hint of amusement as he glanced at Ren He.

Ren He’s face turned green at the time, it seemed that although Elder Zhou had hung up the phone, he had still spoken up for him, but this was too blunt, wasn’t it, just a joke, right?!

Ren He earnestly said, "It’s true, I have an important matter to attend to."

The principal looked up at him with a smile, "Student, the most important thing in the end is still studying."

"There are ways to learn outside of school too, right, Principal? Our No.4 Middle School has always supported students to go out and see the world, it’s just that I’m going out a bit earlier..." Ren He explained.

"Yes, over two months before the summer break," the principal said with a laugh: "Actually, I’ve always been curious, you do seem a bit different from the other students. I heard from Zhou that you took the Qinghe Club to teach in a rural village over the winter break? Any impressions, what did you learn?"

"I learned to cherish the present," Ren He replied. In truth, he took the kids from the Qinghe Club to teach in the mountain village not just for the children’s sake, but also to let the members of the Qinghe Club realize how fortunate their current lives were. The biggest change was Liu Jiamin, whose mindset had completely turned around and was now unbelievably optimistic. Right, there were so many people worse off than him, what was there to be pessimistic about?

Just for that alone, their trip was not in vain.

The principal was taken aback. He thought Ren He would talk about how hard life was in the mountain village, but instead received such an answer. After pondering a while, he found it quite interesting and said with a smile, "Alright, I’ll grant your leave. Go."

Just like that, he agreed? Ren He thought he’d have to put up more of a fight!

...

As usual, have a bite.