During the summer vacation, after the provincial top scorer list was announced, Cheng Ran called Tan Qingchuan, his former class teacher at Shanhai.
I heard that Tan Qingchuan defeated Wang Qi, and he became quite famous in the grade and became the top student in the senior year. Shanhai was originally small, but now everyone knows Tan Qingchuan.
However, this "Brother Tan" in the Shanhai teaching community, when faced with a thank-you call from his former student, now a provincial top scorer, he was excited but a little embarrassed on the other end of the phone. Sometimes he was so embarrassed that he couldn't find a topic to talk about and could only ask about her well-being.
In fact, it is understandable. It is the first time for Tan Qingchuan to face a provincial top student whom he has never seen in his teaching career. All first times mean that he has no experience, will be nervous and restrained, and can no longer display his previous teacher's majesty.
Looking back at the time in Shanhai, it was full of sighs. Tan Qingchuan mentioned several people who transferred from No. 1 Middle School to No. 10 Middle School, Jiang Hongshao, Cheng Ran, and Yang Xia, all of whom were very good. Yang Xia was admitted to Tsinghua University, and there were also various news about Jiang Hongshao, who went to University College London to study for a foundation course.
I heard from Tan Qingchuan that during the discussion among the top management of No. 1 Middle School, someone proposed to make banners for all three of them, such as "Warmly congratulate our former student So-and-so for being admitted to Tsinghua University and winning the provincial championship". However, Shanhai No. 1 Middle School has its own pride. The principal said that although they were once our students, they have gone to other schools and were trained by others. How is this different from taking advantage of someone else's honor? Although there are schools that flatter themselves in this way, No. 1 Middle School, which has always been a nationally important school in Shanhai, has its own backbone. Besides, our school has students who have been admitted to Tsinghua University.
This year, one student from Shanhai No. 1 Middle School was admitted to Tsinghua University and one to Peking University. Song Shiqiu, who was admitted to Tsinghua University, scored 659 points in science, exceeding the admission score of 655 in Sichuan Province, and was admitted to the Department of Bioengineering at Tsinghua University. This was the content of the red list banner hung on Shanhai No. 1 Middle School.
"It's him, our old rival." Cheng Ran smiled when he heard this from Tan Qingchuan.
"In comparison, your score of 703 is the highest in the province. Your No. 10 Middle School is still amazing... You are still amazing." Tan Qingchuan sighed.
"But why did you choose Central South University of Science and Technology..."
This incident has spread and even made the news. Whether this behavior of the top scorer in science in Sichuan Province is rational or irrational has caused great controversy and discussion in the outside world. There are all kinds of opinions. Some people support it, some think that major is more important than school, and some people say that this may be a problem of vision. Some children from rural families cannot be expected to see things further and do not realize the importance of the circle.
Cheng Ran's family did not accept the interview. Fortunately, in this era, Cheng Feiyang had contacted the main media in Chengdu, so they did not dig deep into the family background of the provincial champion. At the same time, the outside world quoted this news, basically referring to the reports of the local major media, which was just a forwarding form. If it were in the future when all the people had their own media, Cheng Ran's family would probably have been dug up more details.
Cheng Ran said, "I still remember what you said to me when I transferred to No. 10 Middle School. You said that when studying, one should aspire to become a sage, not just pass the imperial examination. One day, one will be able to work, wear a crown, and bear the epaulettes. One should have one's country in mind, regardless of the coldness of the body. This sentence... I still remember it."
After Tan Qingchuan's voice was silent for a long time, he responded with a slight choke, "Just remember it, just remember it... Remembering these things, it will be the same no matter where you go. Alas..."
In fact, who would have known that this teacher who had taught in a small city all his life would shed tears in the corner because his former student who was the provincial champion remembered to call and say such words of thanks to him.
…
During the holidays, the Blue Dot team was still bearing the brunt of the US stock market crash. Cheng Ran occasionally went over to express his concern. Although he had sold his Blue Dot shares, 80% of Blue Dot's winter reserves and business were supported by Fulong, so Cheng Ran was not an outsider. On the one hand, they were impressed by Cheng Ran's luck in cashing out early and escaping the Nasdaq crash. On the other hand, everyone could see that the Blue Dot team still had funds to maintain itself because of Cheng Ran's help.
When Cheng Ran cashed out, Blue Dot's stock price was as high as $30. Now Blue Dot's stock price is $6. If it weren't for Fulong's business volume, the number would be even worse.
The Blue Dot team no longer had the drive to dream of wealth from an American listing. They had witnessed the corpses scattered all over the floor after the bubble faded, and only then did they realize how naive the dream was. No one bought Blue Dot's stock, and the stocks listed in the U.S. Third Board Market were almost stagnant and had lost liquidity. The disaster in the U.S. stock market clearly told them that they were once only one step away from becoming billionaires, but now they were a world away. The biggest goal now was to keep Blue Dot from going bankrupt in the future. If they wanted to survive, they had to do their best to do things, and Cheng Ran could only comfort them.
Compared with the overall loss of Blue Dot, CQ is in a different situation. With the cash cow of Spirit Realm, CQ is not worried about the increasing server capital expenditure. On the other hand, the CQ team led by Li Mingshi reached an agreement with China Unicom in June. The first batch of 10,000 STK cards of China Unicom's "Mobile New Life" service in Chengdu and Yuecheng were embedded with the "Mobile CQ" menu. This move is of far-reaching significance to many CQ and China Unicom mobile phone users. In this card, the "Mobile CQ" service includes functions such as sending messages, querying messages, querying friends' status, and querying CQ users by different conditions. At the same time, China Unicom in the two places opened the short message service function to all users for free, which makes it easier for CQ and mobile phones to communicate by short message.
Then in August, Li Mingshi copied China Unicom's model with the China Mobile Company, which was established in April, and signed a trial operation agreement for the "Instant Messaging - Mobile CQ" service in Shenzhen and Chengdu.
After the trial operation in Shenzhen, the business will soon be expanded to cover many cities in the southwest and coastal Guangdong. Li Mingshi also stood on the stage, accepted the honor of "New Economy Internet Figure" in Chengdu, and attended some high-level government meetings.
A few months later, China Mobile launched a mobile Internet value-added service called "Mobile Dream Network" in the "i-mode" mode. This service was not well received at first because there was no precedent in the United States. However, who would have thought that because a text message costing only 10 cents was more cost-effective in China at that time when mobile phone calls were expensive, and people were more willing to express their emotions through short greetings, it became a huge business model with the rapid popularization of mobile phones.
In the second half of 2000, few people could see the potential of this pattern.
Tianxing Music's executive, Qin Xizhen, who has collected a large number of digital music copyrights and is also working tirelessly on this, also took time to come to Chengdu. Qin Xizhen came to Chengdu to discuss business. In order to avoid being recognized, she wore a mask and invited Cheng Ran to eat fried chicken, hamburgers and fries at the window on the second floor of McDonald's. Before coming to McDonald's, she was still in the sky restaurant of Jinjiang Hotel to discuss business with a music industry boss. Now she is dressed lightly, wearing a simple shirt and casual pants, like a young female college student, wearing a mask and a cap, lifting the bottom of the mask to eat fries and suck a Coke tube, which is really funny. How can she look like a famous singer-songwriter
After learning about Cheng Ran's college entrance examination score and ranking, she stopped chewing the fries in her mouth, and the pair of eyes above the mask widened, "How come you are so amazing..."
"So, now the provincial top student is in front of me and wants to eat a hamburger with me?" Qin Xizhen looked around, as if he wanted to show off to someone.
Cheng Ran smiled and said, "If you take off your mask, I'm afraid no one will pay attention to a provincial champion."
Qin Xizhen chuckled twice and asked with concern, "Which university are you applying to, Tsinghua or Peking University? You are such an outstanding student."
Cheng Ran said, "It seems you didn't read the news. I applied to Central South University of Science and Technology."
"I don't have time to read the Chengdu newspapers, and I never thought you would get this score. What do you think?"
"It was quite unexpected, right? Someone slapped me for this."
"It's not unfair at all. How many people want to enter those two universities." Qin Xizhen frowned, looked at Cheng Ran, and sighed, "But your ideas have always been wild and unconstrained, which can only explain that there is something about Central South University of Science and Technology that attracts you. I always feel that Central South University of Science and Technology is dangerous..."
Cheng Ran was speechless.
Qin Xizhen raised his head again, "Let's talk about it again. Can I make a lot of money in the future? I heard that the market in the United States is not good now. If you make a wrong judgment, the money I spend now will be counted on you."
Sure enough, he asked for money within three sentences.
Cheng Ran said with a smile, "Nasdaq did suffer a stock market crash, but the scale of the domestic Internet is expanding. Now the price of digital music copyrights has increased compared to before. If you sell the copyrights you have in your hands at a high price in the future, you will make much more money than you do now. Are you still pushing me for more?"
Qin Xizhen waved her hands and said, "I'm a woman, working hard on my own, it's very hard... You don't allow me to save more money?"
Cheng Ran knew that with Qin Xizhen's series of business activities, she not only purchased copyrights, but also supported many independent creators to a certain extent. Her status in the industry rose invisibly. This meant that to Cheng Ran, this thin woman who would even yell "I don't have enough money" in front of her was actually a big sister with dignity in the eyes of many people. It had to be said that this was a strange contrast.
Cheng Ran said, "Now is the time to sow seeds, and we have to wait for the harvest."
"Okay." Qin Xizhen stretched lazily, revealing her figure, which immediately attracted the attention of some people at the surrounding tables. She quickly crawled down and smiled at Cheng Ran, "I'll reward you when we make money!"
"What's the reward?" Cheng Ran was curious.
"When you go to study abroad, choose a good university like Harvard or Stanford, don't hesitate, I will pay your tuition to make up for your regrets in the college entrance examination. No need to thank me, I am beautiful and kind, I am so generous and magnanimous."
"… "
Qin Xizhen wiped his mouth and picked up the Coke cup. "I'm going home for dinner this afternoon. Come with me to buy groceries. I'll let my dad entertain you, the top scholar."
Cheng Ran was pulled out of McDonald's by Qin Xizhen and got into the Mercedes-Benz parked outside. A middle-aged man in front looked over with a smile. Qin Xizhen said to Cheng Ran, "This is my second uncle. This is Cheng Ran."
Qin Xizhen's uncle nodded, drove the two to Carrefour supermarket, and waited outside. Qin Xizhen's uncle used to be a driver for the government, and knew a lot of tricks. After Qin Xizhen became famous, he acted as her full-time driver in China. In fact, it was a job Qin Xizhen gave him. Although she was his niece, Qin Xizhen's uncle still strictly maintained the boundaries of subordination. After Qin Xizhen and Cheng Ran came back from shopping, Qin Xizhen's uncle helped her load the large and small bags on the cart into the trunk, and then drove her home.
From beginning to end, Qin Xizhen's second uncle did not show any surprise or inquiry towards Cheng Ran.
Then after sending Qin Xizhen home, he refused to come into their house for dinner and just said, "You know your father's temper, I dare not..."
After hearing this, Cheng Ran felt that he should not have agreed to this "family meal".
Later, Qin Xizhen asked her second uncle to drive the car directly back to his home to rest.
Qin Xizhen's family bought a small villa in Chengdu. There is a yard outside, a rockery, a lotus pond, and Chinese-style decoration. It has an ancient flavor. This is the property she bought in Chengdu when she was earning money. When Cheng Ran asked her to borrow money for stock trading, Qin Xizhen mentioned this property.
After the house was completed, Qin Xizhen strongly encouraged his mother to bring his father from Shanhai to Rongcheng, as he was worried that his father would become autistic. Qin Xizhen even planned to buy houses in various places so that the two of them could travel around every year. But in the end, they still had to travel between Shanhai and Rongcheng. Qin's mother complained to Qin Xizhen about his father's temper more than once.
Cheng Ran still had a headache about this. It would not be easy to get along with an art master who had once made great achievements in art but later became cynical. It was a pity that he had promised Qin Xizhen to go to her house for dinner, so now he could only bite the bullet.
Qin Xizhen's father was as tall and thin as he had seen in the photos and videos, with prominent cheekbones and an arrogant temperament. Although Qin Xizhen had heard about his father's strange temper, Master Qin still behaved normally when Cheng Ran arrived. He nodded, asked him to sit anywhere, and even got Cheng Ran his favorite tea and brewed it for him to taste.
Cheng Ran was so flattered that he took a sip of the tea, nodded, and said it was delicious. There was no need to add various adjectives. The situation was unclear, so he didn't say anything that shouldn't be said, otherwise he might touch the nerves of this master who was said to have a bad temper, so he shouldn't act rashly.
In contrast, Qin Xizhen's mother was much more easygoing and gentle, and was quite enthusiastic towards Cheng Ran. She then went to the kitchen with Qin Xizhen to prepare meals, leaving Cheng Ran and Qin Keguang in the living room, chatting about random things. Cheng Ran, who was talking about folk art, naturally couldn't compare with the experts, and the atmosphere was awkward.
But surprisingly, I gained something, because there were several artistic photos of Qin Xizhen on the museum shelf in the living room. They were not the professional ones taken after she became famous, but probably those taken when she was in college. Some of them were aged. She was wearing a short white silk skirt, which still showed her youthfulness. The scale was a little seductive. They were the kind of "self-pity" pictures that one had to pose for in the photo studio in those years.
When Qin Xizhen brought out the washed fruits from the kitchen, she happened to see where Cheng Ran was looking.
"The cantaloupe is quite sweet, and I have already peeled the pears. You can try some."
By the time Cheng Ran and Qin Keguang were chatting politely and turning around, Qin Xizhen had already taken the photo frames back to his room without him noticing. He took one last look at Cheng Ran, his ears slightly red.
Qin Xizhen was looming in the kitchen with a homely look. Qin Keguang, who had already seen her behavior, said, "You know my daughter. Because of her work, she rarely brings friends home for dinner..."
"yes… "
"I heard... you used to be a student of Xizhen at Shanhai No. 1 Middle School?"
"yes… "
Qin Keguang picked up the tea, blew away the green on it, and took a sip. "It's not easy for a teacher-student relationship like yours to be free from social interference. You are welcome to visit your teacher often in the future. After you finish your studies and work, if you need any help, you can tell your teacher. Between teachers and students, support is the most important thing."
Cheng Ran nodded, "I understand."
Qin Keguang glanced at him. He believed that the smart man had already understood the meaning of his words, so there was no need to explain more.
The food was served and the meal started. The four of them were eating at the table. Qin Xizhen's mother kept looking at Cheng Ran with a smile, but she couldn't help complaining to Qin Xizhen, "Hey, you can't stay for a few days. You've only been back for a few days, and you'll have to leave again."
"What can I do? I have to work and run business at the same time. Who told me that I have a boss above me and I am working for someone else?" Qin Xizhen said, glancing at Cheng Ran opposite her.
Qin Keguang also did not forget to teach at this time, "Others have invested money in you, so you have to be worthy of them. This is beyond doubt."
Qin Xizhen glared at Cheng Ran several times.
It just so happened that Sichuan Province's Channel 4 was broadcasting the news on TV, and the scrolling text news at the bottom of the TV was broadcasting information about the college entrance examination.
Qin Keguang looked at Cheng Ran again, "Are you studying at a university or something?"
"The college entrance examination has just ended."
"Oh, how did you do on the exam..."
"It's OK."
"oh."
The scrolling news on TV was: Cheng Ran won the top spot in Sichuan Province with 703 points.
Qin Keguang thought for a moment and said to Cheng Ran, "Your name is... Cheng Ran, right?" After getting a positive answer from Cheng Ran, he asked again, "How many points did you get this time?"
"703."
"So you are... the provincial champion?"
Looking at Qin Xizhen's smile that seemed to show he was eager to create chaos in the world, Cheng Ran nodded to Qin Keguang and Qin's mother who had stopped eating.
Qin Keguang was so angry at Qin Xizhen that he almost threw his chopsticks, "Why didn't you say so earlier? Are you deliberately making fun of me? "
Qin Xizhen stuck out his tongue. It was obvious that Qin Keguang was suppressing his anger. If it was normal, he would have thrown his chopsticks and walked away. But now it was different. Qin Xizhen even wanted to laugh when he asked Cheng Ran about his study methods and the books he read. It seemed that even his father, a master who was noble and cynical, could not escape the common recognition of success.
However, my father, who has always been aloof and self-righteous, would probably feel sympathy for people of the same kind.
It's just that when Cheng Ran said goodbye after the meal, Qin Keguang came out in person to see him off. As they walked along the cobblestone road, Qin Keguang said, "In fact, my daughter, despite her age and pretending to be mature, is actually kind-hearted and simple, and she still hasn't grown up... You are the top scholar in Sichuan Province at such a young age, which reminds me of myself in my youth. I can understand that you are honored now, but honor is only temporary. You must guard against arrogance and impatience, and continue to hone your professional field in the future. The top scholar is your highlight moment of honor, but I hope that when you look back on your life in the future, you will find that this is just a slightly different beginning."
"I understand. Thank you for your guidance, uncle."
"I'm not teaching you, it's just my immature little advice," Qin Keguang smacked his lips, "I have the same advice for Xizhen, don't look at the honor you got today, don't be obsessed with the present. You and Xizhen still have a long way to go in the future, you should support each other."
At the opening of the new volume, this chapter was overturned twice, but it was decided to enter in a relatively smooth way.
Let us go gently into this good night.