Mrs. Zhao Zhilan was known for her love for her daughter.
Back then, in the whole neighborhood, she had been the only one who had always picked up Bei Yao from kindergarten to junior high school. In Zhao Xiu’s family, Teacher Fang—Fang Minjun’s father—would sometimes come to pick her up. Additionally, Chen Hu’s mother and father would take turns to pick him up. Only Zhao Zhilan was the one who never missed a single speck of Bei Yao’s growth.
She knew how old Bei Yao was when she lost her teeth, how old she was when she’d had her first menstruation, what color she liked, what color she hated. In Zhao Zhilan’s era, Bei Yao’s grandmother had had a patriarchal mindset that had been passed down through several generations and had deeply favored her younger brother. At that time, Zhao Zhilan had thought, if she had a daughter, she must be raised well and let her grow up happily like a precious pearl.
And Mrs. Zhao did treat Bei Yao this way.
With a bonus of 120,000 yuan, Zhao Zhilan felt like she was walking on air.
All these years their family savings had been less than 120,000 yuan. The main reason was because they had been spending it on that wastrel, Zhao Xing. Later, Bei Jun grew up, and they also needed money for daily necessities. Thus, the Bei family had no savings.
Zhao Zhilan mentioned this to Bei Licai when she went to bed: “Dear, my heart is thumping. How can there be such a good thing in the world? Our boss has never been so generous before.”
“Did you have a particularly good performance last quarter?”
“It wasn’t particularly good. There were times when it was better than this, and that stingy person never gave us a raise.”
Bei Licai thought about it, but then he saw his wife send a delighted and worried expression towards the “illegal money”. He could only comfort her. “Relax, since it’s from the company, it can’t be fraudulent money. It can be said that you’re lucky to win hundreds of thousands of yuan.”
Zhao Zhilan thought he was right, while Bei Licai was open-minded and didn’t think much of it. She then also became optimistic after thinking like this.
This year, there was no such word as “koi,” yet Mrs. Zhao said, “Dear, don’t you think I’m particularly lucky? Look at how lucky I am. Regardless of the lottery I join, I always get a big prize. How about entering the lottery tomorrow? Who knows, maybe we’ll win millions of yuan. Then we can buy a house and a car for our Yaoyao.”
Bei Licai: “….….”
Bei Licai sighed. “Zhilan, leave some of your luck to your daughter. Let her have a smooth life in the future. Let's not do lotteries or buy lottery tickets, okay?"
When it came to Bei Yao, Zhao Zhilan really gave up. “Yes, yes, leave it to Yaoyao. You see, our company’s welfare is really generous. Do you want to come to our company?”
Bei Licai, who had no welfare, covered his head and went to sleep.
Although Zhao Zhilan usually lived frugally, she wasn’t stingy towards her children and immediately sent a sum of money to Bei Yao. Fearing that her daughter couldn’t bear to spend money on clothing, she personally bought many clothes and sent them all.
This year, Mrs. Zhao was still unaware of online shopping as she packed the clothes as well as a letter written by Xiao Bei Jun with Chinese characters and romanization. Then, she mailed it to Bei Yao.
A few days later, Bei Yao received the beautiful new clothes and heard Zhao Zhilan talk about the lottery.
She felt weird. The summer camp tickets, Olympic tickets, and now 120,000 yuan in cash?
This routine was quite familiar, and Bei Yao subconsciously thought of her boyfriend in prison.
But it shouldn’t be him. After all, Pei Chuan’s house had been sealed up and nothing was left. That summer, she had gone to his apartment several times as she couldn't wait for him to return.
He shouldn’t have any money. The diamond in her hand and the card on Chen Hu should be his last funds. Besides, Pei Chuan was still in prison.
Then… was her mother really lucky?
She again opened the letter written by her brother. Xiao Bei Jun’s handwriting was very large, but the main point was—he missed Jiejie, come back quickly.
She felt warm in her heart.
Shan Xiaomai looked at Bei Yao enviously. She also had a younger brother, but at home, he was always the most important. When she was a child and when her brother cried, her mom would beat her. When she was older, whatever her brother asked, her mother would fulfill it.
Shan Xiaomai sometimes felt that she was just like an extra, a servant to her brother. Since his birth, her entire life had been ruined. Even the reason why she worked hard to get into university was because of her younger brother’s poor health.
She fainted upon seeing blood, was timid, and disliked studying medicine.
Wang Qiankun patted Shan Xiaomai’s shoulder and smiled. “Xiaomai, don’t be envious. All of us here will always be your sisters!”
Shan Xiaomai was moved and nodded vigorously.
~
In the summer of 2010, Bei Yao and the others were already in their third year.
Every major in the university would have mandatory courses, and one of them was Marxism-Leninism*. The teacher who taught them this course was very fond of talking about the philosophy of life.
*t/n: Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology and was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century.
The teacher wrote two words on the blackboard, “career” and “future”.
Originally, he shouldn't have talked about career either, but all teachers who taught these courses were passionate. He cited the history of a world-class billionaire and recited the information about this great man.
"This great gentleman dropped out of school after his second year of university and founded Microsoft. He then became the richest man in the world. To us, his path to success is legendary. He possessed a brilliant brain and a top-level programming ability in that era. The BASIC* language code he wrote was formidable. He often made himself into a human IDE**, quickly finishing high-quality code.”
*t/n: BASIC = Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
**t/n: IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. It normally consists of a source code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. This sentence basically means that he could do what IDE does by himself with high efficiency.
The teacher sighed. “Some industries are indeed awesome. Intelligence and advanced technology not only promote the era’s developments but also created our community today. He himself became the richest man in the world.”
A classmate below grinned and said, “Teacher, we are from medical faculty! Not from the computer faculty."
The teacher became stunned for a while. “Oh, oh, so you are from the medical department.”
This was embarrassing. Every major in the university must take the Marxism-Leninism course; he had looked at the wrong schedule.
The teacher hurriedly fixed the situation. “Medicine is even greater, saving lives and treating the injured. It is a profession that will never decline no matter which era.”
The students muttered, “But it’s tiring and only generates a scanty wage, ah.”
This small incident led to the following discussion. Qin Dongni made a ‘tsk’ sound. “The people who can write programs are very powerful. I’ve seen it on the news for several years. A good software can sell for millions or more. It’s really amazing, so cool. Look at our profession: it’s tiring. Even if we exhaust ourselves for a lifetime, our income can’t compare to selling one of their software.”
Qin Dongni said so, but Wang Qiankun didn’t care. “I like to study anyway. Seeing patients rescued under my scalpel makes me satisfied.”
Shan Xiaomai was unhappy; she didn’t like this profession! She thought that becoming a documentalist* was good.
*t/n: A documentalist is a kind of librarian, trained in documentation science and specializing in assisting researchers in their search for scientific and technical documentation.
Qin Dongni asked, “Yaoyao, what do you think?”
Everyone looked at Bei Yao. After all, everyone in the dorm was clear on her situation.
A boyfriend who was still in jail; he was estimated to become an unemployed person in society. It was hard to study medicine and even more so to get rich. Will it be possible for Yaoyao to raise that “unemployed young man” in the future?
Bei Yao was a little confused. “What do I think?”
“It’s hard to get rich, ah. It’s also very tiring.”
Bei Yao said, “I know, but it’s very stable.”
Doctors and teachers would never be out of jobs.
Bei Yao laughed. “I agree with Qiankun, it’s good to save people. Our lives will be more fulfilling. What’s more, Dr. Yu, who you mentioned before, is also great. No matter what profession, there will always be a geniuses. I think this profession is quite good.”
Qin Dongni was frustrated.
~
They had a five-year system, and right now they were in their third year. It could be considered that they had finished half of their study.
Summer was particularly hot. There was a pair of short denims—up to the thighs—inside the package that Zhao Zhilan sent over. Bei Yao felt nothing when she wore these pants, but after she showed up, the whole classroom became a little restless.
The school flower, Bei Yao, had beautiful legs.
How to say it? They were long and straight, with proportional thickness and looked so white.
Wang Qiankun let out a cry when she saw them, and wanted to touch them.
This summer was very dry. When Bei Yao sat down, there were countless people staring at her dazedly.
Wang Qiankun said, “Yao, do me a favor. Let me touch for a bit.”
She finished talking and seriously started to have a feel. Yo, so soft and tender. They feel good to touch. Wang Qiankun felt her firm and tough legs, and started to doubt life.
Bei Yao did not know whether to laugh or cry and was rather shy.
Bei Yao's old clothes were more conservative. Compared to them, Bei Yao had worn corduroy pants as a child. This was the first time she had changed into shorts. Several surrounding girls were stirred up, too, not to mention the boys in the class.
Afterward, Wang Qiankun insisted on touching Qin Dongni. Shan Xiaomai watched with envy; she didn’t dare to touch them.
The girls started to tease her. Qin Dongni said, “Hey, Yaoyao, that boyfriend of yours whom we’ve never seen must love you to death, huh?” Qin Dongni thought that she wasn’t as beautiful as Yaoyao, but her boyfriend really liked to kiss and hug her. How ‘blessed’ would Yaoyao’s boyfriend be?
Bei Yao’s face flushed red. She blocked her face with her book, dying with embarrassment. “We’re in class, behave yourselves.”
Qin Dongni couldn't stop laughing. "You're so shy. He must’ve never touched them or seen them before. Why don't you wear this the next time you see him?"
Bei Yao didn’t say anything, but the tips of her ears were a little red.
After so long, her dormmates had gradually accepted the fact that Bei Yao had a boyfriend who was still “in jail”. To be honest, they were still a bit curious. Was he extremely handsome or were there other good things about him?
Bei Yao could only see him once every three or four months. After her dormmates teased her, they also felt sorry for her, so they did not continue to persuade her to break up with him.
After all, it wasn’t easy to meet your loved one, and it was even more difficult to maintain their relationship.
The time for this “prison visit” was in early September, and it was still possible to wear summer clothes.
Bei Yao was very hesitant. She wore a pair of long pants, changed to the super short pants, then changed again to the long ones. Finally, she put on the super short pants.
It was too difficult for her to see Pei Chuan. Like Qin Dongni said, even the girls liked her this way. Pei Chuan would like it too, right?
When she went out, the weather was exceptionally sunny. Pei Chuan didn’t want anything she brought, and Bei Yao didn’t want to force him, so she just went to see him.
Chu Xun hadn’t come to pester her anymore. Fortunately, most men still used a gentlemanly attitude. They weren’t like him in that they would unreasonably and forcefully pursue someone.
She was walking towards the maple tree at the university when she saw two people approaching while talking and laughing.
Among them, the young man stood upright, and many girls around secretly looked at him.
Bei Yao frowned. She felt that this person was like an evil spirit lingering around. She didn’t want to have any conflict and planned to walk around.
When Huo Xu saw her, he became stunned for a moment. His eyes fell on her face dazedly. It was a man’s instinct as his pair of eyes inadvertently glanced at that pair of straight and beautiful jade legs. He moved his eyes away, his mind in a mess.
The first time he had seen her was when she had been sixteen. The girl under the umbrella had looked gorgeous.
Bei Yao directly left from the small road, as if she didn’t remember the last time he had helped her block Chu Xun.
Her aversion to interacting with him was very obvious. Not to mention Huo Xu—the person involved— even the school director who was talking with him noticed that this pretty girl had walked around to avoid them.
Huo Xu stared at her back in a daze, extremely dejected. He didn’t understand why he was hated by this girl.
~
Bei Yao was the only person in the “Seventh Prison” this time.
This was the usual “release time” in the “Seventh Prison”. Bei Yao always came, so the prison guard knew her.
The prison guard went to notify him. “Pei Chuan, someone is looking for you.”
Everyone winked then watched this cold young man calmly wash his hands and push his wheelchair out.
Cheng Zhenghai said, “Pei Chuan, ah, your collar is lifted.”
Pei Chuan could not help but look down at his collar. It was neat.
The crowd guffawed.
You’re still young, why are you so lacking in vigor? You’re even more serious than that group of “old people”.
It was only at this time that the youth had some spirit. Everyone remembered the lip print from before, and patted his shoulder. “Quick, go. We know you’re anxious. You’re already handsome.”
Every time before she came, Pei Chuan would apply to get a haircut.
He knew he cut a sorry figure, but it was always good to look a bit better in front of her.