Chapter Ten

  "Scrambled eggs with rice."

  "Alright—"

  Chen Huasheng's pocket money was limited, and she wasn't happy to waste it on soda water that was made by mixing essence, coloring, and sweetener together, not even willing to add a little baking soda, so when going out to eat, she still brought her own tea.

  "Want a bottle of iced tea?" Someone sitting across from her was holding two bottles that were obviously taken out of the refrigerator.

  Chen Hua Sheng looked up, and the face was familiar, but the name and face didn't match. To be honest, she hated those self-proclaimed handsome young boys the most, and she didn't even bother to remember their names.

  "Thanks, no need. I don't drink beverages with added white sugar and additives much. And warm green tea, plus some honeysuckle or cassia seed to relieve the heat." She shook the sealed glass jar of sauce in her hand.

  The other party looked at the shabby cup and the complicated contents several times. "Chen Huicheng, you're really good... at nourishing your life."

  "I don't have much money either."

  "Do you drink coffee?"

  Chen Huaisheng shook her head, "Nowadays instant coffee is too hard to drink." In fact, she meant that if someone invited her to have good coffee, she would be happy...

  The noodles came with a topping of shrimp and mushroom sauce, accompanied by a side dish of vinegar and ginger shreds.

  。

  "Have you decided which school to take the exam for?"

  "If the grades are good, it's Fudan University's English Language and Literature Department. If they're a bit worse, then it's Sichuan University's English major."

  "...for convenience of working?"

  "It's convenient to get a scholarship by studying hard, and it's also convenient to work as a tutor. As long as you study well, you'll have something in your belly, and eating will never be a problem. If you do some investment on the side, you won't have to worry about food or shelter, or being laid off when you're older, and life will be fulfilling.

  As for living a long or short life, Chen Huan had thought about it seriously - as long as the quality of life is good, it's fine to live a few more years; if you're plagued by illness, then it's better to live a shorter life. As for marriage, he believed in going with the flow and would never get married just to meet others' expectations.

  Actually, his own life was pretty good in his past life, but because his old man still thought he had the charm of a mature man at 50 and was messing around outside, it was really embarrassing... If they had divorced earlier, his daughter wouldn't have been embarrassed by having a dirty old man as a father! But this life won't have a daughter like Nang Nang who is so sensible and obedient..."

  "...you're thinking very far ahead." Also simply infuriating. "I heard you didn't take the Beijing University exam because it's too far away?"

  "Sitting on a train for over ten hours is nauseating, dirty, smelly and with nothing to eat. The air conditioning in the bullet train is also too strong. Convenient and fast but somewhat expensive high-speed rail is still early... now's trains... forget it!"

  “……” I'm speechless! When eating noodles, even the most refined person will slurp. Looking at Chen Huasheng across from me, he's eating his fried rice with a spoon, slowly and steadily, occasionally taking a sip of tea, not even drinking the soup, until there's only a thin layer of rice left in the bowl before putting down the spoon. He takes two small paper towels provided by the counter, one to wipe his mouth and the other to absorb the oily sweat on the tip of his nose, and also wipes away the water droplets scattered on the table... Then he waits politely for him to finish eating! This girl is really not like what everyone thought before - a poor person pretending to be classy, and everywhere she goes, she's offending people. It turns out that someone who is very particular about maintaining a good image must have something special about them.

  "Are you also reading in the library?" Chen Haotian noticed that the male student opposite him had a locker key of the same style as his own.

  I am in the self-study room.

  "Oh, I'm in the periodical reading room."

  Then there was nothing more to say.

  The other person finished their noodles in two or three mouthfuls.

  。

  Chen Huaizheng bid farewell politely, put on his hat and wore a long-sleeved white shirt made of synthetic fibers, and walked back to the library first. Even now, she still can't remember what this person's name is.

  The end of August has arrived, and the weather is still scorching hot.

  Chen Huaixiang applied a lot of talcum powder under her arms, on her back and the back of her neck, then chose a spot that was just right for an electric fan. She spent the day reading books and newspapers, taking notes, and it was quite comfortable. But when she went home to cook dinner, she would sweat profusely and feel so hot that she wanted to lose her temper.

  Then she made a big pot of winter melon, yellow bean and corn ribs soup, which the whole family had to eat for three meals!

  "Niang niang, no spare ribs soup today!" Mom saw that there was no familiar white ceramic large bowl on the table and her eyes sparkled with excitement. Even if it's delicious food, eating it every day is also tiring!

  "Today there's only wood ear fish slice soup and braised eggs." Actually, the food at home is already quite good. Chen Hui has been racking her brains to think of food that is both economical and nutritious without spending too much money.

  "Great, great! Mushrooms are a good thing!" Mom carefully and thoroughly served the rice, dishes, and chopsticks. After dinner, Dad washed the dishes. The kitchen was always kept clean, Chen Huai-cheng cleaned up as he cooked, so the sink and countertops were always spotless.

  Chen Huaixing finished eating half a bowl of rice and ate away one-third of the dishes, then threw his hands to read books and sort out notes.

  School is about to start!

  She, and her parents' hard days are about to begin again!

  "Niang niang, would you like to send us to school?" Dad asked without any hope.

  "No way." It's too humiliating, I really owe it to myself for all the hard work I put in. "I'll write it as my second choice. As for my first choice, hmm, I'm thinking of writing Fudan University's English Language and Literature major.

  Dad and mom exchanged a glance, nodded repeatedly, "Good, good university. Work, should also be easy to find."

  Chen Huasheng hammered out a sound, and from then on, he didn't bother with his parents' nagging, and instead focused on reading the questions.

  I guess Dad went to ask about the admission score, enrollment number, employment situation and other practical issues. Chen Huai Sheng was too lazy to care about his father's excited mood: F University is his alma mater.

  "Baby, are you going to pursue a master's degree or not?" Mom's consideration was leaning towards the other direction.

  "In that case, it's better for us to have a house in S city. If you work there in the future, it will be more convenient..."

  Chen Haoteng wasn't very clear about how much savings his family had, but both his parents' incomes were increasing and should be higher than the growth of commodity prices. So with current housing prices, perhaps his family could buy an old apartment.

  "Mom, it's cheap to buy a house now, and it will definitely get more expensive later. Instead of earning interest on savings little by little, it's better to buy a house. I guarantee that its value will appreciate!"

  Mom's current workplace has changed companies and is getting closer to the market. As soon as she heard her daughter say it, she took it seriously. "Nangnang, you said, will the house price rise?"

  "The bigger the city, the more people want to go there, but the downtown area of big cities is just a small place, how can it accommodate so many people? So, it's definitely going to be that residential areas are getting bigger and bigger, houses, especially those in good locations, are getting more and more expensive."

  "That's right! We have to go to the biggest city to buy a house!" Old mom is indeed an engineer who is often pulled by the sales department to participate in marketing, and her brain is really flexible.

  "Well, as long as you can afford it, putting money in a bank is no better than buying a house."

  "Is this what you've learned from reading books every day?"

  "Mom, they don't dare say it outright in the journals, but they've been talking about reform and marketization all along. Isn't that just going to make prices rise?"

  "Alright, I'll discuss it with your dad."

  "Mom, wait until I get into college first." The current commodity housing system is still far from perfect.

  "Right, right! Oh, I'll just go take a look at the bankbook and ask around about the neighborhood and housing prices." Mom happily ran off, completely ignoring Chen Huai's words "Let's talk about it after you get into college". What a joke, with such hard work, being one of the top students in an international class, and still worrying that getting into F University's most popular major isn't guaranteed?

  After a while, mom came back: "Don't worry, dear, your dad will go find his alma mater's teachers and classmates." Then she left decisively to rummage through the drawers for deposit slips.

  Chen Huaixing was stunned for a moment, shaking his head. Grades are still the most important thing. Those with good family conditions, such as the ones she met at KFC last time, didn't they all take the high school entrance exam obediently? Hmm, those people, it seemed that the guy who asked her to drink on the day of Dong Xuemin's birthday was the one she met during the day, and she only remembered Pang Hua, who had severe dandruff and later got acne. She didn't remember any other non-classmates at all.