Rebirth: Growing Up Together

"Beautiful, beautiful, my wife looks beautiful in anything she wears."

Xu Cheng rolled his eyes. Fortunately, he did not inherit his father's straight male aesthetic. He suggested, "Mom, how about I help you put together an outfit?"

"Okay, you come and dress up mom!"

Xu Cheng rummaged through boxes and drawers to put together a set of clothes for He Ying and threw them on the bed. A light pink cape, a white shirt underneath, a beige short skirt, black stockings, and finally a pair of white high heels.

It is more appropriate to wear clothes such as sweaters and skirts in casual occasions. While being dignified and elegant, you won’t appear too eye-catching. After all, you are visiting someone else’s home suddenly, and you can’t want to overshadow the host.

He Ying dressed quickly; her figure was still intact. Xu Cheng's outfit was casual yet fashionable, and she looked very impressive. However, her hair was tied up and fell along her left shoulder, which made Xu Cheng not very satisfied.

"Mom, your hairstyle looks very dangerous!"

At Xu Cheng's strong suggestion, He Ying combed her hair into a more common shawl. Xu Jianghe smiled and said, "Son, we are equal in genders, pick one for dad too."

Xu Cheng looked at his black suit and saw that he had not made the basic mistake of wearing more than three colors on his clothes. "Dad, just take off your tie."

Living in the same community, visiting each other is actually just a matter of going up and down the stairs.

Xu Cheng knocked on the door of Lin Wanzhou's house and quickly opened it. Standing inside the door was a strange man, who should be Lin Wanzhou's father.

Lin Wanzhou poked her head out from behind and politely greeted He Ying and Xu Jianghe, "Hello, auntie, hello, uncle."

Lin Wanzhou's father welcomed the family into the house with a smile. Gao Manman also came out to greet them with a smile on her face, but she looked at the two bottles of red wine brought by the Xu family and refused to accept them.

Sending wine was the idea of ​​the two adults. Xu Cheng gave them some advice and asked them to prepare a spare gift for Lin Wanzhou.

"Here, this is for you."

Lin Wanzhou took the Pink Panther doll that Xu Cheng gave her, and a strange light flashed in her eyes. "Xu Cheng, how did you know that I have wanted this for a long time? Thank you."

Xu Cheng smiled but said nothing. That time in the toy store, Lin Wanzhou stared at this for a long time, and Xu Cheng guessed that she liked it very much.

"It must have been deduced!" Lin Wanzhou looked at Xu Cheng with admiration, which made Xu Cheng feel quite embarrassed.

"Ahahaha, to some extent that's true..."

The adults were polite for a long time, but in the end Gao Manman took decisive action and made the final decision, inviting the three members of the Xu family to stay at home for dinner and drink the wine during dinner.

"Uncle and aunt, my mother's cooking is also very good. You can have dinner at my house." Lin Wanzhou tilted his neck and imitated the tone of an adult to enthusiastically invite Xu Cheng's parents.

"It's Lin Wanzhou... So cute!" He Ying had seen Lin Wanzhou before, but she only took a quick glance when she went to pick up Xu Cheng. This was the first time she had the opportunity to come into direct contact with Lin Wanzhou.

"I'm sorry, Director Gao."

After agreeing to stay for a simple meal, several people sat on the sofa. He Ying simply couldn't let go of the polite and lovely Lin Wanzhou, and rubbed Lin Wanzhou's head with loving eyes.

"Ah, girls are indeed cute, well-behaved, sensible, and caring. It would be nice if Xu Cheng was also a little girl..."

"Xu Cheng's mother, it's not too late now!" Gao Manman said from the side.

ha?

Xu Cheng, who was sitting in the corner, suddenly felt a chill in his crotch.

I am so angry! You crazy adults, what do you want to do to a tough guy like me?

Gao Manman continued to explain to Xu Jianghe and He Ying, "You are still young, and you can have a second child in time."

Xu Cheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was too scary to leave the words unsaid!

He Ying and Xu Jianghe looked at each other and smiled awkwardly, "Director Gao, you are joking. Old Xu and I are now at an age where we are busy with our careers. It is tiring enough to take care of Xu Cheng alone. How can we have the energy to give Xu Cheng a brother or sister?"

It was the same in the previous life. Xu Cheng was an only child, so there was no possibility that he could be reborn and send his brothers and sisters back into his belly.

Gao Manman went to cook, while Lin Wanzhou's father and Xu Cheng's parents sat on the sofa and chatted.

"Xu Cheng's mother, have you decided which elementary school Xu Cheng will go to?"

"Our Xu Cheng can only go to Chengguan Primary School. It's too difficult to get into Experimental Primary School. The admission ratio is more than 10 to 1, and it also depends on the admission scores. I heard that if the admission test scores are not good, they will say in front of you that your child has a low IQ."

Experimental Primary School is the strongest school in Jinghai City, without a doubt. It dominates the joint examinations among more than a dozen primary schools in Jinghai City. It not only has strong faculty, but also elegant environment. Naturally, parents are scrambling to send their children there.

The school had a limited number of students to begin with, and a large portion of the places were taken by students with connections. The remaining places were all based on academic performance. So, they didn't have much hope for Xu Cheng, He Ying, and Xu Jianghe, who were not very smart in kindergarten.

"Xu Cheng's parents, your idea is wrong. It is difficult to get into a good school, which just shows its value. No matter what we do as parents, we can't let our children lose at the starting line." Lin Wanzhou's father persuaded Xu Cheng's parents in a soft voice.

"Auntie, I also want Xu Cheng to go to the same primary school as me." Lin Wanzhou said to He Ying with hope in his eyes.

"Ah...Xu Cheng, do you want to go to Experimental Primary School?"

Xu Cheng coughed twice.

"Mom, I think I can probably, maybe, possibly, pass that entrance exam..."

Chapter 14 Two Children

"Dear teacher, I have a lot to tell you:"

"When I first arrived here, I was still naive and sometimes had a bad temper."

"Today, I am still standing here, my face is no longer covered in mud, and I wash my own handkerchiefs and socks."

"I can sing, dance, draw, tell stories, and understand a lot of things."

"Dear teacher, thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

At the kindergarten graduation ceremony, Xu Cheng held Li Qiuyang's chubby hand, and under the guidance of Lin Wanzhou, they recited the "Graduation Poem" together.

Like other children, Xu Cheng's face was rubbed white with a red dot between his eyebrows. If you look closely at his cheeks, you can see a few broken diamonds sparkling in the sun.

The atmosphere of farewell infected many people. Even the most mischievous Li Qiuyang burst into tears. "My father insisted on making me come today and beat me with a belt all morning! Woo woo~"

Except for the more special experimental primary schools, the admission lists of other primary schools have been announced. Many children asked each other which primary school others would go to, and those children who could not go to the same school would make pinky promises with red eyes to comfort each other and promise to be good friends in the future.

Lin Wanzhou emerged from her "circle of friends", searched around, found Xu Cheng squatting in the shade eating a banana, and ran over anxiously.

"Xu Cheng, did your mother take you to take the entrance exam for Experimental Primary School?"

"He's gone."

"So how did you do on the test?"

"The results haven't come out yet, so I don't really understand."

The primary school entrance examination was Xu Cheng’s first experience. Sitting in front of the interviewer, he felt like he was sitting in front of the HR when looking for a job.

The difficulty of the test questions varied, from simple ones like introducing yourself to difficult ones that made even an adult like Xu Cheng stunned for a long time...

Draw dozens of objects on a picture and ask you to recall what they are; draw a pattern and then erase it, asking you to draw it again; use cubes to make a shape and ask you to calculate how many cubes there are in total...

Xu Cheng deeply realized that the gap widened at this moment. For those children from dependent families to make up for a matter of just a word, ordinary families would have to make twice the effort.

You even need to think divergently!

For example, there is a question where the interviewer suddenly asks: "If a ball falls into the river, how would you solve it?"

Xu Cheng thought for a long time, and finally replied weakly, "Aren't children not allowed to play by the river?"

God knows what the correct answer is!

Anyway, after answering this question, the teacher's face turned dark. Xu Cheng had no choice but to work harder in the final poetry recitation session to give himself a chance.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”

"Old age should burn and roar at the close of day"

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light..."

Xu Cheng memorized this poem by Dylan Thomas after watching "Interstellar". He never expected that it would come in handy here.

"How did you do in the exam?" Xu Cheng deliberately asked Lin Wanzhou a question. In fact, he knew the result. Lin Wanzhou would definitely be admitted to the Experimental Primary School.

"It feels pretty good." Lin Wanzhou thought for a moment, "I have prepared for all the questions the teacher asked."

Then she thought of something, and fluttered her eyelashes like butterfly wings as she stared at Xu Cheng nervously, "Xu Cheng...did you miss the information my mother gave you?"

Xu Cheng never imagined that he would have to look at practice questions and prepare for a primary school entrance exam.

He originally thought that it was a sure thing, but now he was not so confident that it would succeed. Just in case, he gave Lin Wanzhou a shot of prevention first.

"Will you be mad if I don't get in?"

“Yes!” Lin Wanzhou pouted and tapped Xu Cheng’s forehead angrily, “I asked you to prepare well. If you don’t pass the exam, Xu Cheng will be a big stupid pig!”

Xu Cheng finished eating the last piece of banana and asked, "Then are you still going to give birth to piglets for me?"

"Xu Cheng!"

Lin Wanzhou gave a shy sound and pretended to pinch Xu Cheng's arm, but Xu Cheng dodged nimbly, and the two began to chase each other around the campus, like many childhood sweethearts bickering with each other.

Whenever the summer sun shines brightly, summer dreams slowly unfold.

That IBM laptop had been kept at home since it was bought. Since He Ying didn't need it anyway, Xu Cheng simply moved it to his bedroom and it became his personal property.

In the future, perhaps many computer enthusiasts can easily do such a simple task as designing a web page.

Unfortunately, Xu Cheng was a mechanical dog who only knew CAD in his previous life. He had never worked in the computer field and had not learned many computer languages. The only one he had learned was VB, but because the VB language had been eliminated, he returned it to the school after graduation.

Fortunately, he has other advantages. Now he has plenty of time to improve himself. He can just learn whatever he doesn't know. No matter whether it will be useful in the future, it is always a good idea to improve himself.

Xu Cheng searched the Internet for some of the things he probably needed to learn, and made a list on paper. At around three or four in the afternoon, when the heat was not so strong, he packed his huge sum of 50 yuan, made an excuse to go play downstairs, and then sneaked out of the community alone.

The destination was the Xinhua Bookstore in the city. Unlike the toy wholesale market last time, the bookstore was in the city center and quite far away, so Xu Cheng chose to take the bus.

A six-year-old has his own conveniences, and children under 1.2 meters tall do not need to buy a ticket.

"I need you, I am a fish"

"Air in the Water"

"You are petty and bad-tempered..."

The city center seemed much more lively. The newly built Xinhua Bookstore building was very grand and modern. A song "I am a Fish" was playing on a loop at the entrance. Xu Cheng couldn't help but sigh at Ren Xianqi's current popularity.

Why is it a fish? Shouldn't it be a fish?

With all these questions in mind, he took the elevator to the adult area and took out books such as "Java Language Tutorial" and "HTML Language and Web Site Development Technology" under the surprised eyes of many adults...

"This boy will become a great person!"

"My son is still playing with toys in the children's area. Look at other children."

Xu Cheng, who became one of the children of other people's families, was not in a hurry to take the books to pay. He first found a secluded place on the first floor, squatted in front of the floor-to-ceiling window to ponder the contents of the books, and picked out more detailed ones from the books with repetitive content, so as to avoid finding out that he had spent a lot of money in vain when he got home.

After doing all this, Xu Cheng left time for entertainment. After all, it was not easy to come to the library, and he also wanted to feel the cultural atmosphere of this era.

Among the densely packed books, a comic magazine caught his attention - "Cartoon King".

It was simply that the dead memories began to attack me.

Xu Cheng clearly remembers that he was obsessed with it when he was in elementary school. He and a few friends secretly bought it with pocket money and took turns reading it. Later, when he grew up and thought about it again, he found that it had been discontinued for many years.

Dragon country's comics also experienced such a golden age, which was roughly the five years from 95 to 00. Its representatives were "Western Boys' Comics" and "Cartoon King", which corresponded exactly to the saying "Northern Boys, Southern Cartoons", and their status was no less than that of later "Zhiyin Manke" and "Manga Party".

In order to reminisce about his childhood, he took down a book and leaned in front of the floor-to-ceiling window to read it. Although it was just black and white lines, the subject matter was very fresh and was in no way inferior to the online literature content at some point in later generations. It soon attracted Xu Cheng's interest.

He was immersed in it for who knows how long, and when he looked up by chance, he happened to meet the eyes of the little girl outside the window.

It should be the little girl from the grandma's family who was pushing a cart selling sweet potatoes outside. She looked about the same age as me, wearing loose old clothes, with black hair, and a pair of watery eyes like peach petals, just like pear blossoms in spring with rain, and her eyes seemed drunk and pitiful.

"What beautiful eyes."

Xu Cheng sighed, lowered his head and turned to the next page. He finished reading it quickly, and while turning the pages, he raised his head and looked at the girl outside the window curiously, only to find that she was looking at him anxiously.

"Uh, haven't you finished watching it yet..."

As the girl was looking forward to it, he turned the page back. Seeing that the girl was having difficulty reading, he simply turned the whole book sideways so that both of them could read it while leaning sideways.

The girl's mother-in-law seemed to have poor eyesight. When someone came to buy sweet potatoes, the girl had to go back to the stall to help her mother-in-law look after her. Xu Cheng waited for her and continued to look through the pages when she was free.

So, throughout the colorful summer afternoon, the two children shared the contents of a comic book through a piece of glass.

The singing outside the window continues.

"Without you I'm like a fish out of water"

“I can’t survive anymore”

“We can’t swim around together”