Rebirth: Growing Up Together

A piece of colored paper was placed on each child’s desk, and Teacher Xiaoyang was speaking in a rhythmic manner on the stage.

"What is a dream? A dream is what children want to do when they grow up."

"Then let me ask you a question first. Is there any kid who would like to volunteer and take the initiative to talk about what he or she wants to do when he or she grows up?"

"Me! Me!" Li Qiuyang raised his hand very high again, "Teacher, I say! I say! There are so many things I want to do!"

Teacher Xiaoyang squinted his eyes and picked and chose, but he didn't look at Li Qiuyang.

"Oh, little Ren Jiaying is the most enthusiastic. Let's ask her to talk about her dream. Let's all give her a round of applause."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa."

The little girl stood up shyly and said her dream was to become a doctor.

Afterwards, Teacher Xiaoyang selected a few more children, again avoiding Li Qiuyang, and asked them to speak a little. Then he arranged for the children to write or draw their dreams on paper.

Xu Cheng casually wrote a few words on the paper. Just as he looked up, he saw Li Qiuyang in front of him turned his head to guard him. He turned back once every three seconds on average, which was more accurate than a timepiece.

So he erased the original words and wrote a new line of words on it.

Finally, a female reporter from the TV station conducted an interview and asked a child what his dream was. This segment had obviously been designed, and the person to be interviewed was Lin Wanzhou.

The female reporter half-knelt in front of Lin Wanzhou and said with a smile, "What a cute kid, could you introduce yourself to me?"

Lin Wanzhou adjusted her skirt slowly and politely said, "Hello, sister. My name is Lin Wanzhou. I am 6 years old and in the senior class at Jinghai Municipal Government Kindergarten."

It is rare to see a little girl who is not shy in front of the camera, and the female reporter was delighted when she called her sister.

"Ah, it's little Lin Wanzhou, what a nice name. Can you tell me what your dream is?"

The reporter once again handed the microphone to Lin Wanzhou's face.

Lin Wanzhou nodded gently, "My dream is to grow up quickly!"

The female reporter smiled and said, "Hmm? Why is growing up quickly a dream?" She didn't delve into the details and continued to ask, "Since little Lin Wanzhou wants to grow up, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

Lin Wanzhou, "When I grow up, I want to buy the delicious food I like, and watch TV at home without my mother's control, and then..."

Having said this, she suddenly became embarrassed, two blushes appeared on her cheeks, and her eyes kept moving towards Xu Cheng.

Xu Cheng, who was sitting in the audience, made eye contact with her and felt inexplicably uneasy. He picked up the AD calcium milk on the table and took a sip, recalling the conversation between them that afternoon.

Lin Wanzhou wouldn't say that...

"And then what?" the female reporter asked curiously.

Lin Wanzhou finally spoke hesitantly, "Then... I want to be Xu Cheng's bride..."

ha?

"I also want to have a daughter with him..."

puff!

All the AD calcium milk in Xu Cheng's mouth sprayed out, and Li Qiuyang, who was sitting in front, was sprayed all over the head. He shouted, "Teacher, Xu Cheng bullied me!" and started crying.

The female reporter burst out laughing and moved closer to Xu Cheng.

"This kid must be Xu Cheng, right? It seems like you and Lin Wanzhou must be very good friends. So, Xu Cheng, would you like to talk about your dream?" The female reporter handed the microphone to Xu Cheng. Before Xu Cheng could speak, she looked down and saw several words written on the cardboard on the table.

"Hmm? Have you finished writing it?"

She was quick and picked up the card Xu Cheng had written on the table.

"Ah? Don't read it!" It was too late when Xu Cheng said this. The female reporter had already read it out loud word by word with doubt.

"Li Qiuyang, please die quickly..."

……

The worst inspection in history was over, and Lin Wanzhou angrily found Xu Cheng.

"Xu Cheng, how could you do this?"

Xu Cheng thought about it and felt that it was indeed too much to say this about Li Qiuyang. Although he was a naughty boy, he was still a child after all...

"People say their dream is to be your bride, so you should also say your dream is to marry me. Mom said that love is a two-way journey for two people!" Lin Wanzhou puffed up his cheeks as he lectured Xu Cheng.

Xu Cheng scratched his head. Was it too early for Gao Manman to teach Lin Wanzhou these things?

However, such a thing cannot be allowed to happen again. Lin Wanzhou is innocent and won't feel anything, but it would be too embarrassing for Xu Cheng to be forced to die socially.

"Lin Wanzhou, can you please stop telling others that you want to be my bride?"

"Ah? Why? Don't you want to have a girl?"

"I'm afraid that when you grow up and think about it, you'll want to kill me to silence me."

Lin Wanzhou's eyes were filled with confusion. "What do you mean by killing you to silence you?" She paused, then continued to anxiously pull at Xu Cheng's arm. "Xu Cheng, don't you want me to be your bride?"

"I did think about it... Ugh! I meant that this is not a good idea... Oh, anyway..." Xu Cheng lost his ability to organize his words for a moment and didn't know how to explain to Lin Wanzhou.

"Xu Cheng, are you shy?" Lin Wanzhou imitated the tone of an adult to comfort Xu Cheng, "I was wrong, I didn't know you were so shy, I won't say this in front of others in the future, mom said that girls can't just care about their own feelings, they should also think about the other person."

"What? I'm shy?" Xu Cheng was about to retort, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. He coughed twice and said, "Ahem, if you think so, then so be it. Don't tell anyone else about it in the future."

Lin Wanzhou agreed, and seemed to feel disappointed. After a while, he pulled the corner of Xu Cheng's clothes again, and said with hope in his eyes, "Then can you tell me about the birth of a daughter?"

"Of course not!" Xu Cheng immediately refused.

Lin Wanzhou lowered her head and pinched her little hands, "Do you want to give birth to a boy? But I don't like boys..."

"That's not the point. It's not about boys and girls!"

It was already four o'clock and parents had already started to come and pick up their children.

He Ying came very early today. She was very happy when she saw Xu Cheng. Her face was full of smiles. She hugged Xu Cheng high and shared her good news happily.

"Chengcheng, it's born! It's born! Mommy has given birth..."

Chapter 12: Life continues to improve steadily

I talked with Lin Wanzhou about the issue of having children for a long time, so much so that I misunderstood what He Ying was saying.

"Promotion! Mom has secured the position of regional manager this time!"

Looking at He Ying's excited face, Xu Cheng felt sincerely happy in his heart. After all, all his hard work was worth it.

Alas, I have paid too much for this family!

He Ying naturally would not tell Xu Cheng the specific process. It was Xu Cheng who heard it from his parents' conversation at the dinner table.

"Last time, when Xu Cheng was making trouble in the kindergarten, he copied a price list from the toy store owner. I thought it was interesting, so I applied it to my sales plan."

"The price of the electronic version is A, the price of the paper version is B, and the price of the electronic and paper versions is B."

"We submitted this plan to Director Gao for review. Guess what, Old Xu? He thought it was very well done!" He Ying clapped her hands and swayed back and forth with laughter. "That's what Director Gao said, cough cough cough."

He Ying imitated Gao Manman's expression and tone, sitting upright in a chair. "Under the current environment, promoting the upgrading of the publishing industry's marketing strategy is a necessary means for the long-term development of the paper book industry. On the other side of the ocean, the Nasdaq index is about to break through the 2000-point mark. How to reconcile the impact of the unprecedentedly prosperous Internet on our traditional cultural publishing industry? He Ying's sales plan provides us with a direction for thinking..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Cheng secretly pondered in his heart that although He Ying's promotion was due to his own manipulation, the reason why it went so smoothly was probably also due to Gao Manman's efforts behind the scenes.

Is it because you appreciate your mother's organizational skills and marketing thinking?

It seems that Lin Wanzhou's mother wants to win over my mother to be her own person. If this is the case, then my mother will probably not be far from being the deputy director!

"Wife, congratulations on making it one step further." Xu Jianghe raised his cup filled with Coke, and Xu Cheng also raised his cup, her mouth much sweeter than her father, a straight man, "Congratulations, Manager He!"

He Ying was in a good mood after hearing Xu Cheng say that Manager He was so beautiful, and she said to Xu Cheng.

"I confiscated the 45 yuan from you before. Since you earned it yourself, I will return it to you first, but you must not spend it recklessly!"

Xu Cheng was overjoyed and called out "Manager He" a few more times, and the price rose from 45 yuan to 50 yuan.

He Ying drank a sip of Coke and excitedly said to Xu Jianghe, "Old Xu, I heard from Director Li that the regional managers can probably get up to four figures every month, excluding performance bonuses!"

For sales management positions like regional managers, part of the salary is linked to sales performance. As long as you don't get sick, it is normal to get a monthly salary of thousands of yuan.

"I can take care of the family expenses by myself now. If you want to try what you said before, just go ahead and do it. I absolutely support you! Don't leave any regrets."

He Ying had naturally seen all of Xu Jianghe's struggles during this period. She wanted to fight for this position this time, perhaps with the intention of letting her husband work with peace of mind.

"Dad, I support you too!"

Xu Cheng was much more excited inside than he appeared. It would have been fine if he didn't know about this, but he knew. It was just like drawing cards in a certain game. You knew that you could win the game if you drew it, but you just didn't draw it. Tell me, how uncomfortable it is.

"Well, there's no need to rush. Let me think about it carefully. This is not a small amount of money." Xu Jianghe did not agree immediately.

"Oh, there's one more thing." He Ying said, "My company wants to buy me a computer, but I don't know if they will reimburse half or all of it. Old Xu, do you want a desktop or a laptop?"

"A notebook! Mom, you must have a notebook. Look at today's business people, who doesn't use an IBM notebook? A notebook can be carried with you, and it is very convenient whether you are on a business trip or in a meeting." Xu Cheng hurriedly persuaded.

He had planned to have his parents get a computer at home, but with the current conditions at home, it would be difficult to accomplish this small goal. After all, a good machine would cost at least five figures, so he never mentioned it.

But now that there is such a good opportunity, he must strive for it. If it is a desktop, He Ying will definitely keep it at the company, but if it is a laptop, Xu Cheng will try to get it when the time comes, and He Ying can use it at home after get off work.

"You kid... where did you know all this?" Both parents looked at Xu Cheng, feeling very strange. "You also know IBM?"

"I... I saw it on TV. That's what people said in the commercials." Xu Cheng knew that he had spoken too quickly and regretted it deeply. Fortunately, He Ying and Xu Jianghe didn't dwell on this issue too much and were just being mushy and affectionate with each other.

Xu Cheng hid back in the bedroom and took a deep breath. "Fortunately, I didn't directly say the model of the ThinkPad just now, otherwise I wouldn't be able to explain how I learned English."

With a yearning for high-tech products, Xu Cheng and his family went to the computer mall one weekend and bought an IBM ThinkPad 600E, which is the most classic notebook in IBM's history. Its sales volume exceeded 200 million that year, and the price was as high as 4090 yuan, which is almost enough to buy an RTX!

What made Xu Cheng feel a little embarrassed was that when he reminded the store owner to install the win98 system, the store owner said with a confused look on his face that he had never heard of it. When he went back and searched carefully, he found that win98 was still not online.

He Ying's enthusiasm for this computer lasted less than ten minutes. She felt that it was clumsy and heavy, and very difficult to carry in her hands. It was completely different from the elegance she had imagined for a business person, so she let Xu Cheng play with it.

Xu Cheng got the hang of it quickly. The functions of the old system were very clumsy, but he could understand them after a little thought.

Computers are a necessity for Xu Cheng. For so long since his rebirth, he has been thinking about what opportunities of the times he can seize. He has a lot of ideas, but his six-year-old body has given him too many limitations.

After much thought, the best place to enter is the Internet. After all, a carrier like the Internet can provide a layer of protection for his identity.

The Internet was just emerging in Longguo at that time. In those early days, Sina, Sohu, and NetEase, known as the three giants of portal websites, had not figured out how to play the game themselves. They did not have the monopoly power like BAT in later generations. There was almost no threshold, and it was very easy for Xu Cheng to enter this world.

However, today's Internet still follows the same old rules that came from America: proposing concepts, attracting venture capital, and burning money to expand. This is roughly the model. This is invisibly discouraging Xu Cheng. A child who hasn't even finished elementary school is going to venture capital to discuss financing. It's simply laughable!

In desperation, Xu Cheng thought of a person: the most successful network administrator in history - Li Xingping.

His situation is extremely similar to Xu Cheng's, both of them are small characters who are ignored by venture capitalists.

So it is entirely possible to replicate his path to success!

Many people have heard of the legendary story of Li Xingping, a network administrator with only a junior high school education, who casually created the navigation website hao123, which was eventually acquired by Baidu and sold for tens of millions of yuan, as well as tens of thousands of Baidu's original shares.

Although many people have come forward to say that the price was inflated by marketing accounts and was not actually that much, even if it shrunk ten or a hundred times, it would still be a considerable amount of money for the young Xu Cheng.

How old is he? There are so many opportunities and trends waiting for him to participate in the future, such as the World Cup, Bitcoin, and the stock market. Even if he cannot participate in the 519 artificial bull market next year, there will be so many bull markets in A-shares in the future, and he will always be able to reap the dividends one by one.

There is still a long way to go, just keep improving steadily.

Chapter 13 I don’t want to be a girl!

The hustle and bustle of summer is always accompanied by the chirping of cicadas, and the old times of 1998 are gradually becoming hot.

In the yard of the government kindergarten.

Xu Cheng held his cheek helplessly, watching a few ignorant little boys exchange their experiences in "sword practice" and occasionally compete with each other in fencing.

Yes, that's the fencing you were thinking of.

As Children's Day was approaching, the teacher began to rehearse the program with the children, and Xu Cheng was forced to wear the same colorful one-piece tights as them.

Apparently, Xu Cheng was not the only little boy in Buchuan Neiku. The tight clothes made it very convenient for them to discuss swordsmanship. The ignorant little boys just thought it was fun and did not feel ashamed.

"You pants-wetting guy, take my sword!" Li Qiuyang saw Xu Cheng coming and drew his sword to chop him.

Xu Cheng was so frightened by him that he broke out in a cold sweat. He shouted "Get out!" with a chill and kicked him away.

"Wow, teacher, Xu Cheng bullied me again~", Li Qiuyang brushed the dust off his butt and ran towards Teacher Xiaoyang's office while crying.

Xu Cheng was not worried. The teachers were already used to Li Qiuyang pestering them to report Xu Cheng. As long as she didn't make too much trouble, they basically didn't bother to say anything about her.

In the afternoon, Xu Cheng returned home. He Ying and Xu Jianghe were both at home. The clothes they wore were different from what they usually wore. It was obvious that they had dressed up carefully.

Both my parents are very knowledgeable about the ways of the world. They know that Gao Manman had helped He Ying in her promotion, so they had to go and thank her.

He Ying was playing with her hair and posing in front of the mirror. "Old Xu, do I need to buy a special dress in the future? Do you think I look good in this one?"