novelraw Chapter 4 How can I sleep with such a bright future?
Chapter 4 How can I sleep with such a bright future?
Lin Jing escorted Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao to the entrance of the residential area, watched them go inside, and then turned a corner to go buy groceries.
Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao stood there, looking at the neighborhood they remembered, overwhelmed with emotion.
These were employee housing units allocated by a former state-owned factory. The neighbors all knew each other, and it's no exaggeration to say that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative.
Upon seeing the two return, everyone greeted them warmly.
"Xiao Fan, Xiao Xiao, school's out!"
"Why are you standing here and not moving? Are there airplanes in the sky?"
"Hello Uncle Li, hello Aunt Chen..." Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao greeted each person in turn, all of whom were uncles and aunts who had watched them grow up.
Although they all suddenly "rejuvenated," they recognized every face.
Xu Qingfan glanced at Xia Xiaoxiao and noticed she was looking at him too. He asked, "Are you going straight back or going to the convenience store to buy something to eat?"
I used to run to the convenience store after school every day to buy spicy snacks and soda. Thinking back on it now, I really miss those days.
Xia Xiaoxiao's lips curled up slightly as she recalled the happy times they used to share spicy snacks and sodas.
A bag of spicy strips costing 50 cents and a bottle of soda costing one yuan, eaten on the way home, are enough to soothe the fatigue of a day at school.
"I won't eat it," Xia Xiaoxiao said calmly, her smile fading.
"Let's go then!" Xu Qingfan took Xia Xiaoxiao's hand and ran quickly towards home.
Both of them lived on the eighth floor, in a building with two apartments per floor, right across from each other.
Xu Qingfan pulled Xia Xiaoxiao up to the eighth floor in one go. Children have really good stamina; even with such strenuous exercise, they were only slightly out of breath.
"Mom!" Xu Qingfan inserted the key hanging around his neck into the lock, opened the door, and shouted loudly into the living room.
Xia Xiaoxiao didn't rush home, but followed Xu Qingfan into the house.
The living room is decorated much like a tenement building in Hong Kong, with a retractable iron gate and retro small square tiles on the floor.
On the wall, there are two calendars, one for the lunar calendar and one for the solar calendar, both already torn to the page for May.
"Is no one home?" After waiting for a while without receiving a response, Xu Qingfan searched the kitchen, bedroom, and balcony one by one, and sure enough, no one was home.
"My aunt and uncle are probably at the store. I'm going home." Xia Xiaoxiao grabbed her backpack strap and turned to leave. She was worried that if she spent too much time alone with Xu Qingfan, she would give herself away.
And she really does need to be alone to think about her future plans.
"Okay, I'll come find you to play later!" Xu Qingfan waved his hand, opened the rice cooker that was keeping the rice warm, and checked what dishes were on the menu for tonight.
To be honest, a single serving of stir-fried carrots with meat and stir-fried lettuce with garlic was not appetizing at all.
To be honest, we're lucky if we can even get food these days.
Xu Qingfan's parents used to work for state-owned enterprises, but they both lost their jobs during the massive layoffs in 98.
After losing their jobs, my parents started trying to sell late-night snacks at a street stall, and they actually made more money than they did when they were working.
But their good fortune didn't last long. Two years ago, a mischievous child knocked over a pot of hot porridge they were selling, suffering severe burns all over his body.
Because Xu Guoqiang and Yao Jinping were illegally occupying the road for business, the court ruled that their family was primarily responsible and had to compensate the victim's family 300,000 yuan.
And just like that, their family not only returned to square one, but also incurred debts of over 100,000 yuan.
That wasn't the end of it. Soon after, in 2005, the nationwide campaign to build civilized cities was in full swing, and street vending was banned.
Fortunately, Xia Xiaoxiao's family lent them a helping hand. On top of the 80,000 yuan they had already lent them, they lent them an additional 20,000 yuan to start their business.
Only then did the parents' late-night snack business pick up again.
Although the money borrowed was paid off before Xu Qingfan entered junior high school, he could never repay this debt of gratitude in his lifetime, so it's no wonder that Xu Qingfan was suppressed by Xia Xiaoxiao's bloodline.
Xu Qingfan was thinking about ways to make money, not because he wanted to pay off his family's debts, but simply because he didn't want to suffer.
Eating coarse food and wild vegetables every day, and sleeping without air conditioning—I can't live like this!
The simplest way to make money is, of course, to submit articles to magazines.
He's still too young to go back to writing novels, not even an 800-word essay.
But he can write poetry!
For example, like this:
"At night, I take a walk with a flashlight in my hand. When I get tired, I use it as a walking stick, leaning on a beam of light."
"Why is it that no one minds when a child wets the bed, but an elderly person does? Because his mother is no longer here."
Given his current age and his knowledge base, any song he throws out would be a game-changer.
"If I, a mere child, write poetry to earn a little money to improve my life, my parents wouldn't dare to object, would they?" Xu Qingfan rubbed his chin, feeling that this idea was quite good.
It's too difficult to become famous nationwide just by writing poetry; he also needs marketing!
Xu Qingfan immediately set his sights on the Experimental Primary School.
The full name of Experimental Primary School is "XX Experimental Primary School". It is a private primary school group with great influence in the "Guangdong" region.
There happens to be a branch school in Licheng, but the tuition is ridiculously expensive.
However, in order to attract outstanding students, the school will also waive tuition fees for students with excellent grades, and even provide additional scholarships.
Xu Qingfan needs marketing, and Experimental Primary School needs GG (Golden Goose), so it's a perfect match!
What's that so bright?
So it was about his future!
Xu Qingfan opened his eyes again. It was a pity that Xia Xiaoxiao wasn't there, otherwise the two of them could have plotted together.
He had only been sitting in the living room for a short while when his forehead was already covered in sweat. Xu Qingfan grabbed his keys and went out to Xia Xiaoxiao's house to enjoy the air conditioning!
"What?" Xia Xiaoxiao heard the knocking and looked through the peephole. Sure enough, it was Xu Gouzi.
"I came to play with you." Xu Qingfan ducked down and squeezed through the crack in the door. Sure enough, the small house had air conditioning on. How comfortable!
Xia Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes in disgust. This guy really doesn't even bother to pretend anymore. He definitely wasn't this shameless when he was a kid.
Xu Qingfan washed a peach and returned to the living room, sat on the sofa, picked up the remote and turned on the TV: "Why aren't you watching TV?"
"Cook rice." Xia Xiaoxiao sat down next to him, deliberately squeezing him.
"I haven't eaten yet. I'll bring my dinner over later, and we can eat together."
"You're here." Xia Xiaoxiao hadn't realized he wanted to freeload a meal.
Xu Qingfan's eyes darted around, and another mischievous idea came to him: "Let me tell you, I had a dream yesterday. I dreamt that when you grew up, you couldn't find a job and became unemployed. I was the one who took care of you."
He wasn't lying; Xia Xiaoxiao was indeed unemployed before her rebirth, and she did live and eat at his house for free.
However, there are some reasons for this.
Xia Xiaoxiao majored in mathematics at Tsinghua University for her undergraduate degree and then pursued a combined master's and doctoral degree at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. What would normally be a five-year program, she completed in just three and a half years.
After graduation, she was recommended to a department that she said was very prestigious, but Xia Xiaoxiao left the department after working there for a year.
Xu Qingfan asked her why she resigned. Xia Xiaoxiao gave him a disdainful look and sighed, "There are so many geniuses like me in one building, and there are plenty of geniuses more talented than me."
"So what? You're actually feeling inferior?"
"I'm insecure, my foot! Do you think I'm insecure? You wouldn't understand anyway."
"How am I supposed to understand anything if you don't tell me!"
"The results of so many of our life's work might just be to save the next Gauss an afternoon, and suddenly it all seems meaningless."
"That's just low self-esteem."
"roll!"
...
Back to the present.
Xia Xiaoxiao pouted. "I don't believe you! You old rascal!"
"What I mean by 'helping out' is that you're eating and living at my house for free, and you won't do any work at all, you're so lazy!" Xu Qingfan thought she hadn't understood, so he added again.
"They say on TV that dreams are always the opposite of reality, so you'll definitely be unemployed when you grow up, and I'll be the one to take care of you!" Xia Xiaoxiao glared at him.
Xu Qingfan suddenly stopped talking and stared at Xia Xiaoxiao.
Xia Xiaoxiao got goosebumps all over her body. The soldier leaned back and asked, "Why are you looking at me?"
"So you've always been this smart since you were little," Xu Qingfan said listlessly.
Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly raised her hand and slapped him across the face.
Xu Qingfan: "???"
He was dumbfounded.
"No matter who you are, get off Xiao Fan!" Xia Xiaoxiao jumped up suddenly, put one hand on her hip, pointed at his nose and shouted loudly.
Xu Qingfan almost believed it, until he saw Xia Xiaoxiao's unconcealed smile.
"Xia Xiaoxiao, I'll fight you to the death!"
"Xu Qingfan, if you dare hit someone, I'll tell Aunt Yao!"
Xia Xiaoxiao yo-yoed and ran smoothly back to her room, locking the door behind her.
How much cunning can beasts possess? They only bring laughter!
"What a disaster!" Xu Qingfan stood outside the door, furious and powerless.
......