After staying in Chengdu for a few days after the exam, Cheng Ran and Xu Lan prepared to return home.
Xie Fei and the Bai family have also settled in Chengdu now, but considering that time is a bit tight, there is no need to cause them more trouble. Anyway, they may meet again in Chengdu in the future, so there is no need to contact them to bother them.
Cheng Feiyang and Fulun’s top management are staying in Chengdu temporarily. Fulun’s new factory site has been determined, and they have already started purchasing and adding facilities and have begun the relocation work.
Furthermore, the province will soon hold a publicity event for advanced models of flood control and disaster relief. Cheng Feiyang and Li Mingshi will accept this honor on behalf of Fulun. It is said that they will also have to attend several demonstration and promotion meetings in the future. It will become increasingly difficult to return home during this period.
Before Cheng Ran and Xu Lan left, Cheng Feiyang came to the hotel to help them sort out their clothes. It was obvious that because Cheng Ran came here for the exam and to visit relatives and friends, he did not participate in the whole process. Moreover, he did not accompany the two people who had finally come to Chengdu to go shopping for gifts or anything. He had a quarrel with Xu Lan the day before yesterday, probably because of this kind of thing. Now seeing that his son and wife are leaving again, he has to wait for another half a month in Chengdu before they will see each other again.
Now his usual rock-like expression had relaxed. He helped Cheng Ran pack his bag, then went down to the hotel and found a supermarket to buy a lot of food and bottled drinks. He carried them in plastic bags, came back, bent over, and stuffed them into their backpacks and luggage while saying, "Eat on the way. I have to go to the convention center for a meeting later, so I won't take you to the station."
Looking at Cheng Feiyang at this moment, Cheng Ran thought of a spring outing when he was a child. Because Xu Lan went to work early, Cheng Feiyang got up late to cook, and Cheng Ran still had to rush to school to catch the bus. Seeing that he was going to be late, Cheng Feiyang desperately rode his Type 38 bicycle to take him to school.
By the time they reached the school gate, almost all the students had gathered. There was no one at the school gate. Cheng Feiyang was still squatting in front of him, stuffing snacks into his pockets, pants pockets, and backpack, while Cheng Ran was loudly angry. Cheng Feiyang was very quick. At that time, his clothes were of poor quality, and the burrs on the zipper hooks scratched his hands with many bloody marks. He kept his head down and said nothing, as if he could only stuff snacks into his pockets during his temper to make up for his guilt at that time.
My father's awkwardness at that time was exactly the same as it is now.
Although Cheng Feiyang now has the entire Fulong standing behind him, it seems that at certain times, he is still as taciturn as before.
At this time, the train from Chengdu to Shanhai takes ten hours. Usually, you get on the train at the train station at night and arrive early the next morning. After arriving at the Shanhai train station and taking a shower at home, Xu Lan received a call. Liu Ying's family was hosting a dinner party for all the old neighbors and playmates in the compound at a chicken hotpot restaurant on Binhe Road, which is known as the "corruption street" in the area.
This kind of gathering hasn't been held for a long time, but Xu Lan brought Cheng Ran to attend that night. At the gathering, the adults chatted together, while the children from the compound sat at another round table.
Everyone knew that Cheng Ran went to Rongcheng a few days ago, but most people knew that he went to visit relatives and meet Cheng Feiyang who was on a business trip in Rongcheng. Liu Ying asked Cheng Ran whether Fu Long was going to move to Rongcheng, because many of the friends whose families had started working might have to move there with them.
Some people feel reluctant to leave. If that is the case, one of the adults in the family has to leave, and they go to study in the mountains and seas, and they are separated, so there will always be some changes in their lives.
The growth and development of Fulong seems to be unconsciously changing the children of these courtyards and their life trajectories.
However, this little depression or sadness was soon over, and everyone talked more about where to go for summer vacation. Liu Ying said that her mother might take her to Guangzhou... Yao Beibei was going to Hong Kong, Yang Xia would stay in Chengdu for a while, and then might go to the beach of Hainan Island, and even Yu Xiao might go to Kunming with his family this time... Fulong was rich now. The families present at that time all had shares or had people employed there, and they all received dividends to a greater or lesser extent, so they are generally quite wealthy now. At least among the employees who have joined Fulong, the average starting salary is now more than 2,000 yuan per month, not to mention a considerable half-year bonus and year-end bonus.
In short, let's roll up our sleeves and work hard so that we can all have a bright future.
During the process, Yao Beibei intentionally or unintentionally asked Cheng Ran if he would go out to play again, and where to go? Cheng Ran shook his head. He had no intention of going on vacation at the moment. After experiencing all kinds of modern conveniences in his previous life, he now felt that going anywhere might not be a vacation, but torture. It is always difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Of course, the bigger problem is that there is no news about Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School. If it comes, he will have to arrange for moving and other matters. Going out to play will be put at the end.
But as expected, when Cheng Ran shook his head, Yao Beibei curled her lips. He was indeed a country bumpkin. Even though Cheng Ran's family had a Fulong business, he still had no vision. Yao Beibei felt more and more that what her father said at the time made sense. People should keep walking and seeing more, and don't mind going a little further, so as to broaden their horizons.
Sometimes she felt that a person's vision was really important. For example, Cheng Ran had not been able to go out much before because of his family's financial situation. When his friends talked about the biggest swimming pool, the Canton Fair, the World Expo, tourist attractions, landmark buildings, and delicious food, Cheng Ran was often speechless. This was the limitation of vision...
Liu Ying smiled enthusiastically at Cheng Ran and said, "You should go out and play more often. The summer vacation is so long. If you don't go out for a walk, won't you feel bored staying in the mountains and seas? When I think about the first half of the school year starting in more than a month, if I don't go out to relax, I will be suffocated to death in that cage!"
This then resonated with many people, and they started talking about where they were planning to travel.
Yang Xia looked at him from the side and seemed to find Cheng Ran's silence a little abnormal.
…
After dinner, they returned to the yard and Yu Xiao dragged Cheng Ran over, but not to the Internet cafe or something like that, but directly to the flower bed.
The Fulong compound had been renovated, but the flowerbed with lush yellow orchids was preserved. They often chatted under this tree, with the warm yellow street lamp shining obliquely beside them, under the stars. Today was no exception. Yu Xiao pulled Cheng Ran aside and asked hurriedly, "Did you take the exam at Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School this time? How was it?"
He knew that Cheng Ran was going to take the transfer exam for Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School. It was he and Cheng Ran who went to get the exam materials. But at that time he just thought that Cheng Ran was just in a whim and did not expect that he had such great perseverance and carried it through to the end.
He didn't reveal it during the meal just now, because he knew the difficulty of the transfer exam of Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School. If he said it, it would not only shock the world and disrupt the atmosphere, but also make Yao Beibei and others attack Cheng Ran. Of course, subconsciously, although Cheng Ran was very strong in the No. 1 Middle School, Yu Xiao still had reservations about whether he could pass the transfer exam.
Tenth Middle School, Tenth Middle School, this is the super middle school in the province that I have been taught since I was a child. Only a handful of students from Shanhai can enter through the transfer exam.
"I'm not sure. We can only wait for news." Cheng Ran said.
Yu Xiao nodded, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Cheng Ran, gazing up at the starry sky through the lush branches of the big tree on the flower bed behind them.
Neither of them said anything more. It was a rare long period of silence, with only the cool summer night breeze blowing past them.
Yu Xiao fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled box of cigarettes. He looked around like a thief, took out a cigarette and handed it to Cheng Ran. Cheng Ran waved his hand, so he put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it himself. He looked a bit like Leslie Cheung holding a cigarette in Happy Together.
After blowing out a smoke ring, Yu Xiao said, "Cheng Ran, sometimes I envy you. You know so clearly where you are going, and you are not afraid of being shattered. Sometimes I really hope you can succeed, because then I will be proud, but I am also afraid of your success, because that means I will be getting farther and farther away from you. I read a story in a book the other day, which roughly said that friends of different levels will one day be separated from each other by various different ideas. That is actually the cruelest way of separation, because it is not the distance caused by our inability to meet, but the spiritual barrier. There is no need to say goodbye, you know that you can't go back to the beginning."
Yu Xiao took a few more puffs of his cigarette. It was obvious that Cheng Ran's "feat" of running to Rongcheng No. 10 Middle School to take the exam had stimulated him greatly.
Cheng Ran was stunned for a moment, then said, "Don't be too anxious. Everyone is a seed. You never know when you will bloom, or what you will grow into. Some people are like bamboos, growing up quickly and becoming successful soon, but some people bury their heads in the ground, growing stronger year by year, and decades later, they will be lush and leafy, blocking out the sun and the sky."
"Don't worry about the bullshit that your peers are abandoning you... Even if everyone abandons you..."
Yu Xiao pinched the cigarette and looked at his profile with shining eyes, "What? Can I hang out with you..."
Cheng Ran said calmly, "Even death will not abandon you."
Yu Xiao stammered for a moment, then squeezed out two words from between his teeth, "Your sister..."
On my last day in Japan, I ate and drank too much, but I still managed to code. Don’t be too touched.