When Nie Tianqing was thirteen years old, the bank suddenly withdrew loans and his family's small factory was on the verge of bankruptcy. The creditors were afraid that they would not be able to get their money back, so they gathered near the factory to cause trouble. People in the factory were in a panic and the workers stopped working. Nie Tianqing's father's hair turned white overnight due to worry.
The production line was interrupted, the factory could not ship the goods, customers kept calling the family, and the parents apologized and paid compensation. When the family was at their wits' end, the project manager of "Dami Construction Company" came to visit and took out an "Asset Acquisition Contract".
The project manager arrived at the right time.
They successfully bought Nie Tianqing's family factory - the ownership of all equipment, facilities, patents and land were transferred to "Dami Construction Company".
After paying off their debts, Nie Tianqing's parents sold the last house they had. They moved to the "Ancheng Community" in the provincial capital, where their quality of life plummeted.
"Ancheng Community" is a slum area in the city center.
Nie Tianqing's family is among the poorest of the poor.
There were few valuable electrical appliances in their home, and the empty two-bedroom and one-living room was filled with a gloom that even the sun could not illuminate.
Dad said: "Switch from rich to poor is the best way to test a person's character. As long as you have the green mountains, you will never run out of firewood."
Mom said, "There are also several students from Ancheng Community who go to the Provincial No. 1 Middle School. Why don't you keep them company, son?"
Nie Tianqing refused outright.
Every morning, Nie Tianqing goes out at 5:30. He rides his bicycle from "Ancheng Community" to "Taoyuan Riverside".
Taoyuan Riverside is a rich residential area where Nie Tianqing grew up. He pretends that he has not moved away from Taoyuan Riverside and does his best to weave lies every day.
He would push his bicycle, stand in the cold winter wind, and wait for more than ten minutes until a group of junior high school students showed up - this group of people were all serious residents of Taoyuan River.
Nie Tianqing will follow behind them.
When people asked him where he lived, he insisted, "Beside Taoyuan River."
Nie Tianqing is a sophomore in the Provincial No. 1 Middle School. He has outstanding looks, good relationships with people, and even better grades. His poor family background can never be a stain on him.
One evening, when Nie Tianqing was riding his bike home, he happened to see his father's electric bike in front of a familiar store. The electric bike was hung with a peace knot woven by his mother, so he saw it at a glance.
He thought his father was shopping in the store.
He pressed the handbrake of his bicycle and tilted his head to look inside the store - he saw a fashionably dressed aunt tying a scarf for his father. Neither the aunt nor his father did anything out of the ordinary, but he knew that things at home were going to change again.
As expected, my father did not come home for the Spring Festival that year.
To be precise, my father never came back.
In the old house in Ancheng Community, only Nie Tianqing and his mother were left.
The mother said to Nie Tianqing, "Mom is old and useless. She can't make much money. We should be frugal. You are studying in the Provincial No. 1 Middle School. Don't compare yourself with others and don't be vain. You should make a name for yourself and make your father regret it."
When my mother was talking, she was sewing insoles. Whenever she had time, she would set up a stall on the street, selling clothes, insoles, and hairbands. In the winter, her ears would get sore from the cold, and in the summer, her clothes would get soaked. She would quarrel with people on the street for fifty cents, with her hands on her hips, cursing, spitting, and using foul language.
But she wasn't like this before.
Nie Tianqing did not hate his father.
Because his father would send a living allowance every month - two thousand yuan a month, which was enough for Nie Tianqing and his mother to cover their daily expenses.
Nie Tianqing began to think, which is more important, "morality in poverty" or "dishonesty in wealth"
After years of hard study, Nie Tianqing passed the college entrance examination and was admitted to a nationally renowned first-class university. During his time at school, he madly expanded his network of contacts and shamelessly mixed in various groups. It was also at this time that he met his first love girlfriend.
The process of love has its ups and downs.
The biggest conflict between this young couple broke out in the month before their senior year graduation - their first love wanted to stay in Beijing to develop their career, while Nie Tianqing insisted on returning to the provincial capital. Neither of them would give in, and they ended up breaking up.
After Nie Tianqing broke up with his first girlfriend, he did not delete her WeChat. He kept her in his circle of friends and continued to follow her updates. He witnessed her and Chai Yang's acquaintance and love, and their rise to wealth - everyone's life was getting better and better.
Ever since his first love girlfriend posted photos of Chai Yang, Nie Tianqing has been trying to get close to Chai Yang.
At first, Nie Tianqing just wanted to figure out why his ex-girlfriend gave up on him and chose a fat, short guy.
Later, he discovered that Chai Yang did have some talent and could make great achievements in the computer industry.
The performance of Jiangke Software Company, which Chai Yang runs, is booming. According to Chai Yang's description, the actual controlling shareholder of Jiangke Software Company is Jiang Yubai, and Jiang Yubai's mother is Guan Xunmei, who is the behind-the-scenes boss of Damei Construction Company.
After going around in circles for a while, it turned out that the two companies that Nie Tianqing was most concerned about were both closely related to Jiang Yubai.
During that time, Nie Tianqing's mentality was very unbalanced. He got drunk at an important drinking party, and after drinking, he also spoke ill of "Jiangke Software" - Nie Tianqing was in the financial industry, and speaking without restraint was a taboo in their industry.
Nie Tianqing originally thought that his career was over.
Unexpectedly, someone in the industry found Nie Tianqing and entrusted him to help "Jiangke Software" separate from its parent company and go public independently. The huge profits behind it are very considerable. As a good friend of Chai Yang, Nie Tianqing should shoulder the corresponding responsibilities.
Nie Tianqing agreed.
His relationship with Chai Yang is getting better and better.
But he also grew increasingly disgusted with Chai Yang.
At noon that day, Chai Yang sat on the window railing on the top floor of the building. Before Nie Tianqing could react, he pushed Chai Yang down with both hands. He foresaw a bloody scene, but he did not expect Jiang Yubai to rush over to save him immediately.
By accident, Jiang Yubai became Chai Yang's savior.
Chai Yang took a break for a while and continued to run the "Yangyang Live" company. He stopped posting hot reviews and following Internet current events. He seemed to have retreated behind the scenes and devoted himself to planning the development path of "Yangyang Live", and unexpectedly snatched a small piece of the pie from the market. He could not make a lot of money, but he could not starve his team to death. The entire company was able to maintain its operation.
In comparison, Nie Tianqing's situation was even more difficult - he took the initiative to apply for an overseas assignment and was sent to Pakistan by the company, and could only return to China after seven years.
Nie Tianqing and several colleagues live in a southern city in Pakistan. He followed the local customs and wore the local robes. He also posted a status on WeChat Moments: "It was my first month in Pakistan. I didn't bring enough clothes, so I had to wear the local robes."
The next afternoon, his mother told him via WeChat: "Son, yesterday morning, I found all your clothes, washed them, dried them, packed them in vacuum bags, took them to the post office, filled in your address, and mailed them to you. The post office can deliver the package to your doorstep. If you need anything, just tell me and I'll mail it to you."
Nie Tianqing replied immediately: "How big is the postal package? Mom, you don't have to worry about it, it's big enough to wear."
After putting down his phone, he was in a trance for a moment.
Half a month later, Nie Tianqing received two packages—one from Beijing and the other from the provincial capital.
The package from the provincial capital was very large, and the crooked handwriting on it was written by his mother.
The packages in Beijing are smaller, and the fonts are in a flamboyant style, belonging to Chaiyang.
Nie Tianqing called his colleagues and asked them to help him open the package - he lied that he didn't have a paper cutter.
The enthusiastic and kind young colleague tore off the cover of the Beijing package without saying a word, and two brand new Buddhist scriptures fell out of the plastic bag. The Buddhist scriptures just rolled to Nie Tianqing's feet, and he suddenly laughed, his mouth stiff.
Nie Tianqing's colleagues like reading. They don't have a TV, the Internet is not good, and there is no better way to pass the time except reading.
The colleague asked happily, "Brother Nie, the Buddhist scriptures are new, do you want to read them? If you don't read them, I will take them away."
"You take it." Nie Tianqing agreed.
My colleague quickly thanked me: "Thank you. I have a good book here too. I just finished reading it. I'd like to exchange it with you."
Before he finished speaking, a colleague pulled out a French novel titled "Remembrance of Things Past" from the bookcase and placed it in front of Nie Tianqing's desk.
Nie Tian glanced at the cover. He only saw the title "Remembrance of Things Past".
The weather in Pakistan was hot in June. The outdoor temperature exceeded 40 degrees. The sun was as bright as a burning fireball. Nie Tianqing felt a little sleepy.
He lay on a bamboo chair in the office and took a nap, and time seemed to flow backwards in his mind.
He missed the bubble ball battle he played at Jiang Yubai's house when he was thirteen years old, and he missed the summer vacation when he was twelve years old even more - the rain in the summer vacation washed away the summer heat, his mother was making pork ribs and lotus root soup in the kitchen, his father was sitting in the living room watching the game, and Nie Tianqing was lying on the small bed in the bedroom, fiddling with an unfinished puzzle.
Raindrops were hitting the windows, and my mother called out, "Dinner is ready, Lao Nie and Xiao Nie, come and eat!"
Nie Tianqing quickly put on his slippers and ran to the kitchen.
He didn't know at that time that the moment before his eyes would be the happiest time of his life for the next thirty years.
Author has something to say: Okay, Xiao Nie's extra chapter has also ended! Surprised! I actually shed tears for Nie Tianqing! But I still don't like him
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The next chapter is Xia Xia's happy family gathering
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Red envelopes will be distributed as usual, thank you for reading