“… In the eastern section of the Pyrenees Mountains in southwestern Europe, a group of sports cars sped along the Garonne River, alarming the French police…” The sweet voice of the female host on TV sounded, and the screen behind her was playing today’s news headlines.
Sports cars were speeding past, and in the night sky, helicopters were chasing them. Police cars could be seen chasing them from behind. "… The police suspected that the motorcycle gang was from an oriental country, and the identity of the car owner has not yet been determined…"
As soon as the female host finished her words, the screen behind her quickly zoomed in, and the originally suppressed sound of whistles and the sound of helicopter propellers turning came in, mixed with the sound of sports cars whizzing past, and the room was suddenly noisy.
The thin wall could not block the sound of the TV outside. Jiang Se got up. In the narrow living room, Du You, who had turned on the TV, had disappeared. On the TV, groups of sports cars were speeding past the screen.
As the camera switched, she saw a white sports car running in the front. She paused as she was about to turn off the TV. The door on the left behind her was banged open, and Du Honghong's angry voice rang out:
"You're playing it so loud in the middle of the night. Do you know that I'm about to take the high school entrance exam?"
Jiang Se turned her head and saw that the girl in the red nightgown had impatiently slammed the door shut again, causing the paint-chipped windows in the living room to shake.
She turned off the TV and went back to her room. The weather at the end of May was already hot. A fan facing the single bed was turning slowly, bringing out cool breeze.
She climbed onto the bed and stared at the dim light bulb above her head. She recognized the arrogant white sports car that had just driven in the front. It belonged to Pei Yi.
"Thunder."
Her mother Jiang's voice calling her interrupted her thoughts. The door was pushed open, and Jiang's mother Zhou Hui leaned halfway in and pointed at the lamp on her bed:
"It's past nine."
She nodded, propped herself up and pulled the light cord beside the bed, and the room suddenly became dark.
In the night, Zhou Hui's face looked a little timid under the dim light outside:
"Honghong is about to take the high school entrance exam. The electricity bill is high recently. Your uncle Du's factory is not doing well this month. Please turn on the fan for a while and turn it off when it gets cold..."
Jiang Se interrupted her and responded, "I know."
Zhou Hui stopped talking and closed the door.
The room was pitch black and there were no windows. Jiang Se couldn't help but turn over in bed.
She hadn't thought about what happened before for a long time, but the news headlines she saw tonight made her feel a little upset again.
Half a month ago, she was Feng Nan, the daughter of the Feng family, but when she woke up, she became Jiang Se.
Her grandfather Feng Zhongliang had served in the military in his early years. During the Chinese Revolution, Feng Zhongliang immigrated to Hong Kong with his family and acquired hotels. Until now, the Feng family has been considered a well-known figure.
In his later years, Feng Zhongliang could not bear to leave his hometown, so with the help of his former colleagues and friends, he brought Feng Nan back to China to live permanently.
Compared with Feng Nan, Jiang Se is worlds apart from her.
Jiang's mother Zhou Hui met the wrong man in her early years. After divorcing her husband, she remarried Du Changqun and took her daughter Jiang Se with her, and gave birth to another pair of children.
My stepfather Du Changqun works in a factory. After working there for more than 20 years, he is still a low-level salesman. He earns a meager salary but has to support a large family.
After all, her surname is not Du, so Jiang Se is in an awkward position in the Du family. Du Changqun doesn't like her very much, and even her two half-siblings don't think highly of Jiang Se.
Jiang Se is seventeen years old this year, which is the second semester of her senior year in high school. However, she has no interest in studying and only wants to enter the entertainment industry with her pretty face and make a name for herself.
Jiang Se slowly figured out these situations on his own over the past half month.
She didn't know that she had become Jiang Se and who Feng Nan was at this moment. She couldn't come to a conclusion after thinking for a long time. She sighed and turned over again. The steel bed made a creaking sound.
Du Honghong from next door knocked heavily on the wall again:
"Is it over yet?"
The Du family lived in the capital of China, where every inch of land was valuable. The whole family, including Du Changqun's widowed mother, a total of six people, were squeezed into an old building of less than 15 square meters. The rooms were partitioned again and again by Du Changqun with wooden boards. Jiang Se's room was in the corner, with only room for a single steel bed and a stool. There were no windows, and during the day, it was pitch dark when the door was closed.
Above their heads was the sleeping area where Du Changqun and his wife lived, so the ceiling was very low.
When Jiang Se opened his eyes, he couldn't believe that there were such old houses in the imperial capital.
Du Honghong was still cursing, Jiang Se closed her eyes. She had a very beautiful face, like a gift from the Creator, which also made Jiang Se very eager to enter the entertainment industry. The narrow space beside the bed was covered with posters of various stars, and a notebook under the pillow was filled with the girl's desire for success.
Jiang Se was awakened by a cough.
Du Changqun was coughing upstairs. He had had a cold for several days. Zhou Hui quietly advised him to take a day off and go to the community clinic next door for an IV drip, but Du Changqun angrily said:
"Where's the money? Do you know how much will be deducted from your salary if you take a day off? A whole family is waiting for my salary, and you can just take a day off just like that?"
Jiang Se blinked and gradually woke up.
Du Changqun was still cursing, somewhat disdaining the daughter Zhou Hui brought with her when she remarried:
"She's seventeen, but she still doesn't do anything. She only knows how to spend money. When I was seventeen, I already went to work in a factory. How can I be like her?"
Zhou Hui remained silent. When Jiang Se got up, Du Changqun came down the stairs with a gloomy face. When he saw Jiang Se, he ignored him. After washing up, he turned around and went out.
"Your Uncle Du has been under a lot of pressure lately."
Zhou Hui pulled the corner of her mouth and glanced at her daughter. Under the light, Jiang Se was only seventeen years old, but she was already very graceful. She wrung out a towel and wiped her face with the water Du Changqun used to wash his face, then walked to the kitchen:
"I see that you have no interest in studying even after studying for so long. Your brothers and sisters are still young..."
Jiang Se understood what she meant.
In English class, she took a pen and unconsciously drew on her notebook, a little distracted.
What Zhou Hui said to her this morning meant that she should drop out of school after her third year of high school and earn money to be independent.
When she was with Feng Nan, she had never worried about money.
She was thinking about something, but she was keenly aware that something was wrong. She turned around and saw Lu Baobao at the next table holding a pen and reaching out to poke her arm.
Lu Baobao is one year older than Jiang Se. She and Jiang Se were originally friends with similar interests. She has a slightly round face and looks cute. She is very curious about all kinds of gossip, especially the various celebrities in the entertainment industry, and she knows them all.
Originally, Jiang Se was determined to enter the entertainment industry and become a big star, so he naturally had a lot to talk about with Lu Baobao.
Lu Baobao took off the pen cap, lowered his head and quickly wrote a line of words on his homework book: What are you thinking about? I see you have ignored me for a long time. (To be continued)