Cheng Ran didn't sleep much that night. As he lay in bed, many things came to his mind.
He actually understood Jiang Mu's attitude towards him. After all, who would believe that rebirth could happen in this world? In fact, even if he had behaved today, or even if he knew that Tianxing Daoguan belonged to him in the future, with Jiang Mu's position, she could praise the rumored young man for building a commercial entity "Tianxing Daoguan" with board game cafes and Internet cafes as its main body without knowing that Cheng Ran was the founder...
But I don’t really take these things seriously.
The scene at Baoguo Temple in Mount Emei was still lingering in Cheng Ran's mind. In fact, from the inner building of the State Guesthouse that was powerful enough to keep out ordinary officials in Chengdu, to those luxury cars or public vehicles that were qualified enough to file in and whose license plates could inspire awe in those in the know, all of these showed the mountains and energy behind it that were difficult for ordinary people to touch.
Through what Xie Houming revealed and the marks he connected with it, Cheng Ran now knew what kind of family the Lu and Jiang families were.
The guests at the banquet at Jiang Hongshao's house were very easy-going and their conversation was very cordial. But in fact, whether it was Luo Kang, who smiled and said that he would go to Australia to enjoy a peaceful life after retirement, or Wei Xiuxian, who had extensive connections, or Wei Zhonghong, the father of Wei Weiqing, who won the second-class National Scientific Research and Technological Progress Award in the Shanghai Jiao Tong University research group, if they were placed outside, they would all be people who could mobilize a lot of resources and energy, promote the implementation of many careers, and even influence the life circumstances of many people.
The reason why they seemed so ordinary, intimate and enthusiastic at the banquet was because it was in front of Jiang's father and mother.
If Cheng Ran had not been reborn, he and Jiang Hongshao would have taken two completely different paths.
Even if he was reborn, if it weren't for Lao Jiang's precedent and encouragement, he might not have put so much effort into studying. With the vision blessed by his rebirth, he knew that since he didn't want to pursue a path of academic research, he didn't need to compete too hard for grades. It would be enough to maintain an excellent level so that he could enter a good university in the future.
However, Jiang Hongshao was different. No matter she was the top student in the school when she graduated from junior high school, or she was competing for the top position in the province after entering No. 10 Middle School, she always seemed to be struggling to move forward.
If it were the old Cheng Ran, he might not know what this feeling was.
But now, after experiencing the scene in Baoguo Temple and learning about the affairs of the Lu and Jiang families, he understands that when you stand on a platform that is recommended and supported by everyone, your starting point is already at that height, and you can only move higher.
Behind the warm and tender feelings that everyone expects, there actually lies the cold and cruelty that is difficult to examine in the cracks of the world.
Cheng Ran also didn't know what Jiang Hongshao's future life would be like as she was in such a family, and where their intersecting life trajectories would eventually lead to.
Even though he was reborn, Cheng Ran had no idea how things would change in the future. In fact, he found that what lay ahead of him was not a smooth road, but a rugged chasm like the one from Jinggang Mountain to Tiananmen Square.
The jumping Sonic icon Cheng Dachui and the smiling girl icon Jiang Tianchang on CQ also hope that their icons will bounce like the beating of a heart and continue as always.
Being able to hear each other's heartbeats is the most important thing in the world.
…
In the blink of an eye, No. 10 Middle School welcomed the start of the school year. However, from the day when they had dinner at Jiang Hongshao's house to the next week when school started, Cheng Ran often asked Jiang Hongshao to come out and play. Jiang Hongshao, who had spent most of the winter vacation in the capital Beijing to celebrate the Spring Festival, seemed to be making up for the missed period of time. As soon as Cheng Ran called or texted her to make an appointment, she came.
There is no spring without skirts. When we first met, Lao Jiang was wearing a light blue pleated skirt, a pair of white flat shoes below her calves, short cotton socks showing through her ankles, and a gray-white sports jacket with cuffs rolled up over a T-shirt to protect her from the cold of Chengdu in spring. Lao Jiang was used to rolling up her sleeves to reveal a section of her smooth forearms, which made it easier for her to move around.
She is youthful and beautiful, yet has an elegant temperament that is rare in someone of her age.
Even when walking on Chunxi Avenue and the city center in Chengdu, which is known for its beautiful women, Jiang Hongshao would receive countless glances, including some pretty girls who were looking at her.
They were standing in front of a small vendor in New City Square, each holding an ice cream cone, and the one who treated the guests was still Jiang Hongshao, because she lost the finger-guessing game. As the two licked the cones, the circle of ice cream foam on Jiang Hongshao's upper lip made Cheng Ran laugh, which often earned him a cold stare from Jiang.
They also went to the movies together. They watched The Truman Show, which was the inspiration for countless literary and film works, Saving Private Ryan, which was full of fighting, and The Legend of 1900, the ancestor of otakus, in which his beloved piano was destroyed along with the exploding ship. There were many such great movies and great lives...
Once, when the movie ended at around 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., Jiang Hongshao's mother called. Cheng Ran then hurriedly went out with her, got a taxi to send her home, and then went back himself.
To a certain extent, Cheng Ran found that after visiting Jiang Hongshao's house that day, Jiang's mother showed the greatest tolerance for their meetings. The fact that he came home late after watching a movie and that Lao Jiang could go out to meet him every time without any obstacles all explained the problem.
It seems that people still need to understand each other in order to get rid of inherent cognitive biases.
Of course, the two of them didn't go out just to have fun. Sometimes Jiang Hongshao would ask Cheng Ran to accompany her to go shopping for stationery. If she saw a nice pen, she would buy one for Cheng Ran. Sometimes, Cheng Ran would ask her to do homework in a small cafe on the old street with vines climbing on the walls, under the pretext of "changing the environment."
In fact, the view of Lao Jiang's villa facing Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Canglang Lake is probably unparalleled, but Jiang Hongshao still came as scheduled without exposing it.
At the beginning, they would make a phone call to explain their plans for the day. Sometimes, they didn't need to communicate too much. They would often chat on CQ and say "see you at the old place" or a simple word "slow", and then they would pack up and go meet. Because the private cafe with ivy-covered walls where they often did homework and read books together was called "Slow Time".
Time passes slowly, but it also flies like flowing water.
In the cafe, Jiang Hongshao also told him that an American university had sent her an email introducing the school. Although it was not a formal offer, the implication was that if she went through the formalities, the other party would definitely give her priority in admission.
Cheng Ran was shocked. Nowadays, many top students in many schools are proud of being able to apply to foreign universities, but in Lao Jiang's case, others had already sent her their introduction materials in advance.
Jiang Hongshao also found it strange. Although there were many students in No. 10 Middle School who were actively applying for foreign schools at that time, she had never applied. So why did they still send her introduction emails? But she guessed that it was because she performed well in the competitions she participated in at No. 10 Middle School. Just like the science and technology innovation competition in Gangcheng last year, it was international in nature. Although the participating countries were all not very successful, this did not prevent American universities with strong intelligence and analytical capabilities from targeting top students like her.
On another level, Cheng Ran guessed that Lao Jiang's family background might be one of the hidden reasons why these universities targeted her.
Jiang Hongshao finally said that she did not plan to study abroad, so she put those so-called letters of introduction aside.
These days, the two of them spend their time doing homework together, reading books together, or discussing current hot topics.
They discussed the boundaries of literature. Jiang Hongshao even said that she read both vegetarian and vulgar books. Besides, there were many banned books among the classics displayed at home, so she would sometimes read those books first. The more she blushed, the happier she read them. She blushed when she said this, and she didn't shy away from it.
They talked about literature, movies, philosophical issues, financial phenomena, and everything in between...but the only thing they didn't talk about was the future.
Perhaps both of them know tacitly that the future depends on their own down-to-earth efforts, rather than on illusory castles in the air or illusions.
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Easy to read