mijobooks Chapter 26 The Gentle Knife
Chapter 26 The Gentle Knife
A week after the college entrance examination, Qi Jiahao, the executive deputy head teacher of Class 6, Grade 12, organized a party for the class.
Zeng Cheng did not go.
He didn't think he would have much interaction with his classmates in the future, and he didn't have the leisure to engage in such meaningless social interactions.
Well, in this life, what truly supports you is a healthy body and a wealth of knowledge, harmonious family relationships and financial reserves, and the invincible self within.
You really don't need too many so-called friends.
Having one or two close friends is enough.
For example, he and Li Xingzhi were each other's collectors of youth, which is a relationship worth cherishing for a lifetime.
Classmates are just that kind of thing, nothing special.
Zeng Cheng could even draw a direct inference—
No matter how sad everyone is at this class reunion, at most three to five years later, when they get together again, the main theme of the reunion will change from maintaining friendship to showing off and bragging.
He didn't go, but Li Xingzhi did.
Through Li Xingzhi's retelling, Zeng Cheng also learned roughly what had happened at the gathering.
The most common thing was confessing one's feelings.
On the day of the gathering, all the classmates, both male and female, drank quite a lot of alcohol.
Alcohol emboldens the timid.
Many usually reserved boys mustered up their courage and confessed their feelings to the girls they liked.
It's worth mentioning Mu Jiajia, who was usually treated like a maid by Xia Ning, but unexpectedly, she has three admirers in the class who lined up to confess their feelings to her.
One show-off even carried a guitar and sang "The Girl Across the Way".
None of the three boys were bad, but Mu Jiajia rejected them all.
Genetics dictates that girls in the 17-18 age group are more mature and rational than boys—even if it's just subconscious.
Ms. Mou felt that she would definitely meet someone better in college.
Of course, not all girls can be as rational as Mu Jiajia.
Many girls, under the combined influence of hormones and dopamine, accepted the boys' confessions of love.
Several couples formed in the class.
The young couples even held hands on the spot.
Xia Ning also attended the class reunion.
Qi Jiahao originally wanted to confess his feelings to her while he was drunk.
However, seeing Xia Ning's sullen and dejected expression because Zeng Cheng was not present, he immediately lost his courage and could only keep asking her how she was doing.
Xia Ning found it annoying and didn't say more than three words to him throughout the entire gathering.
She was now preoccupied with Zeng Cheng, wondering what he was busy with if he wasn't at the party.
As her best friend, Mu Jiajia could naturally guess what was on Xia Ning's mind.
Thinking to myself, Zeng Cheng must be having an affair with Yu Baiwei lately, right?
After weighing the options carefully, I still didn't dare tell Xia Ning about it.
She could tell that Xia Ning was becoming increasingly infatuated with Zeng Cheng lately.
If Xia Ning knew that Zeng Cheng stopped pursuing her and instead got together with Yu Baiwei, who was better than her in every way, she would explode with anger.
Before we knew it, the timeline had reached June 17th—the college entrance exam results were about to be released.
In Sichuan Province, the college entrance examination results will be released on the 18th, which means that the carefree days for many college entrance examination candidates are about to come to an end.
Many people began to feel anxious, including Li Xingzhi.
On the morning of the 17th, Zeng Cheng went to Li Ji Noodle Shop to help out. When the two brothers squeezed into one table to eat breakfast, Li Xingzhi kept shaking his leg, which annoyed Zeng Cheng.
"I'll break your legs sooner or later!"
"Cheng-ge, the results will be available after midnight tonight. Aren't you nervous at all?"
"Why should I be nervous? Have you forgotten that your father is a Golden Core cultivator who can get into a top-tier university with his eyes closed? Not to mention, I have great luck protecting me. I predicted the essay topic for the college entrance exam. If I'm lucky, I might even get into Tsinghua or Peking University and become a terrifyingly powerful cultivator who has transcended tribulation!"
"..."
Li Xingzhi felt that Zeng Cheng was showing off, and he had evidence.
After finishing breakfast, Zeng Cheng looked at Zhi Liao's father, who was busy cooking noodles for the guests, and his thoughts began to wander.
Zhiliao's father's name has a strong sense of the times; it's Li Jianguo.
Li Jianguo and Zeng Liqing were old comrades-in-arms who had shared a trench.
Unfortunately, the two brothers, though both wealthy, had vastly different fates.
Zeng Liqing joined the army while in college. Because of his education, he was quickly promoted to officer and was given a job by the local government after his discharge.
Although he's not doing so well now, only holding the position of deputy director of a subdistrict office—Old Zeng's personality is still too upright—he's already better off than most people.
Li Jianguo, on the other hand, suffered from his lack of education. When he was discharged from the army, he only received a meager discharge pay, which he used to open this breakfast shop, which he has been running for twenty years.
From Zeng Cheng's perspective, running a breakfast shop is too hard work. Uncle Li isn't that old, so he could easily switch to another career path.
[For example, how about opening a hot pot restaurant? Later on, you could expand it into a large-scale chain...]
In 2009, Southeast University was at the peak of its economic boom, and many industries still had vast untapped potential.
There's no shortage of hot pot restaurants in Texas, but there's a lack of unique ones. In other words, we need to find a differentiated niche.
In terms of taste and reputation alone, it definitely can't compete with established brands like [Huangcheng Laoma], [Dezhuang], and [Liu Yishou].
We need to break through the limitations in our marketing model.
Without much thought, a term popped into Zeng Cheng's mind—"internet celebrity store"!
For example, emerging brands like [Shu Da Xia], [Tan Ya Xue], and [Xiao Long Kan], which appeared 10 years later, all have their own gimmicks.
If Uncle Li listens to advice and changes tracks, he can completely adopt the "take-it-as-is" approach.
Of course—that's all for later.
Zeng Cheng was self-aware; he knew that before he had achieved anything, no one around him would believe anything he said.
Although the law stipulates that people are adults after the age of eighteen, in the eyes of most parents, even if someone is twenty-eight, they are still just a child, let alone eighteen.
After pondering for a moment, Zeng Cheng asked Li Xingzhi, "Hey, how old is Uncle Li this year?"
Li Xingzhi was a little confused, and turned to look at his elderly father: "Um, Dad, how old are you this year?"
Zeng Cheng: "..."
Zhiliao, you are truly your father's good son.
On another note, how old was Lao Zeng again? Forty-five or forty-six?
Okay, let's not argue about who's the other, we're both damn filial sons.
"You're forty-three this year, but you're eating forty-four? What's wrong, Zeng Cheng? Why are you asking this?"
Li Jianguo said with a smile.
The eldest son couldn't remember his own age, but he didn't seem to care.
"It's nothing," Zeng Cheng smiled. "Uncle Li, I just wanted to say that your forties are actually the time to strive. Uncle Li, you look like you're destined for a prosperous old age. Who knows, you might even become a soulless rich kid in the future!"
To ease Li Xingzhi's anxiety before checking his scores, the two brothers spent the afternoon playing games at the arcade. Zeng Cheng didn't get home until 7 p.m.
After hastily eating a few bites of the food Sun Feng had left for him, Zeng Cheng returned to his room and logged into QQ on his phone.
I don’t know, I’m scared.
Yu Baiwei actually sent him more than a dozen messages.
Today, Mom took me to visit a very distinguished old professor... Zeng Cheng, what are you doing?
【It's been ten minutes! Why haven't you replied yet?】
I'm so bored, please reply to me...
[Zeng Cheng, I really want to talk to you, but it's not a big problem, I can still hold back, but I can only hold back for half an hour at most (three smiling emojis in a row)...]
Looking at the three smiling emojis that Yu Baiwei posted at the end, Zeng Cheng felt a chill run down his spine; it was truly getting more and more unsettling.
Fortunately, it's 2009 now, and the smiling emoji is just a simple smiling emoji without any other implied meaning.
However, he quickly replied to Yu Baiwei's message.
[Zeng Laoshi: I just went to the arcade with Li Xingzhi and saw this message.]
I definitely didn't expect Yu Baiwei to come back.
It's 7 PM here, but with a seven-hour time difference, it's already 2 AM where Yu Baiwei is.
He knew this girl's schedule perfectly; she was already asleep by now.
“Ding Di—”
Unexpectedly, Yu Baiwei replied a few seconds later with her signature three-smile emoji combo.
Zeng Cheng was very surprised and quickly typed.
"Yu Baiwei, it's already 2 AM where you are, and you're still not asleep?"
No.
"Why aren't you sleeping? You never stay up late, right?"
"Because... I'm afraid that if I don't reply to your message right away, you'll be unhappy."
"..."
An old man looked at the sentence on the screen and felt as if those words had turned into gentle little knives, piercing his heart and from which many colorful bubbles emerged.