Chen Jiaxian spoke three times. Guan Xi spent some time revising her speech script and then asked her to speak it again.
Chen Jiaxian knew that Guan Xi was very busy, but she devoted a complete amount of time to herself.
After she finished speaking, Guan Xi took out three suits of different colors from the cabinet in the office and tried them on her. And each suit is worth several months of Chen Jiaxian's salary.
Does she deserve to be treated like this?
What if I forget the words for my campaign speech?
Just thinking about this possibility made Chen Jiaxian breathless.
Guan Xi's movements suddenly stopped. She stretched out her hand and lightly touched Chen Jiaxian's collarbone with her fingertips.
"You." Guan Xi said, "You have hives."
Chen Jiaxian lowered her head.
Guan Xi's fingers were dry and warm, and he slowly stroked Chen Jiaxian's collarbone, then turned to the back of her neck. Such warm hands. Chen Jiaxian's tears almost fell.
Guan Xi looked at her with pity: "Do you know what urticaria is? It's an emotional disease. People who are stressed, worried, and don't sleep enough will most likely have urticaria."
She opened the drawer and took a stick of ointment to her: "Go and apply it."
…
Chen Jiaxian stood in the bathroom, looking at her neck and chest, which were all red. Large swathes of hives and red patches appearing on her light skin seemed to silently mock her ugly emotions, dark jealousy and repressed low self-esteem.
At this moment, Chen Jiaxian knew that she was in a mess, that she was inferior, jealous, and stubborn. But she also knew that this was how she was, no matter how hard she gritted her teeth, no matter how much she hated herself, she would absolutely, absolutely, absolutely go on.
She will break down but never give up.
no way.
Chen Jiaxian tensed her face, unscrewed the cap of the ointment, and applied it on the ugly red patches.
While wiping, her hand stopped hesitantly.
So, why.
There will also be a stick of ointment in Guan Xi's drawer.
…
An ointment.
Guan Xi sat at his desk and stared at the computer.
The computer screen went off. So Guan Xi saw his face, neck, and chest in the black reflection.
She saw large hives breaking out on her chest. Looking up again, the top of her neck turned into Chen Jiaxian's face.
Guan Xi blinked.
Then, in the black reflection, her teenage self appeared.
Guan Xi and Chen Jiaxian are both people with little chance.
…
In the wave of layoffs, quality education comes. The "primary school to junior high school" exam has been canceled and admission will be based on area.
Some people change their color after hearing about the exam. But the exam is Guan Xi's only chance.
She lives in a shanty town with laid-off workers. Exams have been cancelled. She can only go to a junior high school for workers’ children in the area, with almost no chance of getting into higher education.
Guan Xi vaguely knew that entering college was the only chance for children like her.
How to seize the opportunity?
The girl Guan Xi has never seen quality education and can only do questions.
She became obsessed with doing questions. In the second grade of junior high school, she worked on the exercise book and only slept three to five hours a day. It seemed that if she solved one more question, she would be closer to her goal.
Huo Ye helped Guan Xi go to key junior high schools to find out information. He has a friend whose family is wealthy and can afford a house in a school district, so he naturally attends a good junior high school. The friend laughed and told Guan Xi that everyone bought a certain exercise book for 368 yuan.
The combined monthly income of Guan Xi's parents is less than 1,000 yuan.
…
During the most difficult time, Guan's mother chose to go to the furniture store to pull a trolley.
Guan's mother was once a college student full of hope, with excellent grades, and was also the class president. When students are assigned after graduation, they will naturally be assigned to the best units.
Guan's parents were herdsmen in the mountains of Inner Mongolia and didn't know anything. Guan's mother had no one to guide her, so she naturally didn't know how to keep an eye on her quota, nor did she know how to find people, give gifts, or build relationships. It wasn't until the official announcement of the list of destinations in the auditorium that she realized that her good The quota in the unit has been filled.
Guan's mother was sweating profusely. She rode a red bicycle from Shenyang south to Shenyang north with files, water, and steamed buns, looking for units to take them over one by one. After riding for a month, a small chemical factory finally agreed to take her. Her first reaction was not happiness, but relief.
So be it. she thinks.
In this way, Guan's mother went to the chemical factory in a daze, got married in a daze, and gave birth to Guan Xi.
She is smart and hard-working, and is a college student. She became the youngest mid-level cadre before the age of 30, and the youngest director of a research institute. Like veteran cadres in their fifties, she earns a monthly salary of 660 yuan. Veteran cadres have criticized this. She was happy for half a year, then the factory closed down and she was laid off.
Not all factories closed down. The factory she was supposed to be assigned to was still running smoothly until 2023, and naturally there was no hardship or suffering like being laid off.
…
For Guan's mother, 368 yuan is not a small amount of money.
Even Guan Xi knew that it was just a book of exercises, but she couldn't control herself. In the girl Guan Xi's constant imagination, that expensive exercise book has become her train. If she can't catch up, she will be left behind.
Guan Xi was very insistent and forced Guan's mother to buy it.
Guan's mother bought it.
Huo Ye's friends found out and laughed.
He was just kidding.
Together they entertained the children in this poor junior high school because poor children lived too hard. And when people exert too much force, their posture is really ugly and makes people laugh.
Guan Xi thought silently, this book is really too expensive.
She does the questions. She makes timetables. She thought it was a waste of time to wash her face, which resulted in acne on her forehead. She announced that from now on I would not sleep in bed, only at the desk.
Until one day, Guan Xi asked Guan's mother, "I heard that so-and-so injects himself and injects stimulants into his blood vessels, so that two hours of sleep at night is enough. Can you give me injections too?"
Guan's mother finally found Guan Xi's class teacher, a young and upright mathematics teacher, to help her with her ideological work. The math teacher advised Guan Xi to rest properly and do less questions. The next day, the results of the city's joint entrance examination came out. The math teacher was ecstatic and couldn't help but tell Guan Xi again that if you keep up the momentum, continue to study questions, and work hard for a few years, you will definitely be able to go to university and change your life.
Even at the cost of health? Guan Xi didn't ask, and the math teacher didn't mention it.
The two of them have a good understanding.
Because a child like her has empty hands and has no choice but to sacrifice her heavy body.
Finally, the math teacher told Guan Xi:
Princes, generals and prime ministers, would you rather have the seed?
…
Guan Xi became the only child from a declining school for workers' children to be admitted to a key provincial high school in decades by doing test questions, all at public expense.
Three years later, she won a scholarship by solving questions and went to a 985 university in Yuecheng.
Four years later, she continued to solve problems, enrolled in graduate school, and graduated with all her credits ahead of schedule.
After graduation, she relied on her excellent problem-solving skills to continuously get promoted, keep changing jobs, invest in assets, and get a generous salary.
After years and years of hard work, her posture of exerting herself was ugly. Urticaria accompanied Guan Xi's adolescence like a shadow, and appeared on her skin at every important moment when she struggled to move forward.
Now, Guan Xi has understood that life is not about solving problems. Most of life's problems are actually unsolvable and there is no point in solving them.
The gesture of exerting force is neither elegant nor good-looking. Even if you go through all the hard work to get into a good university, you will only get the self-deprecation of "a problem solver in a small town". The high housing prices are a slap in the face of ambitious young people.
Nowadays, no one mentions "Princes, generals and prime ministers would rather have their own kind". What has cooled down along with the era of real estate speculation is the ambition of young people to climb upward. Class barriers are beginning to take shape, and the shadows of the poor are retreating from social discourse like a tide. All that can be seen is the "relaxation" of the rich.
Guan Xi thought about it, took the ointment returned by Chen Jiaxian, and put it in the drawer.
Chen Jiaxian looked at her and hesitated to speak.
Guan Xi asked directly: "What do you want to say?"
"Thank you Sister Xi for helping me. Please get off work as soon as possible." Chen Jiaxian hesitated for a long time and then said, "I can practice alone."
Guan Xi looked at Chen Jiaxian.
The girl in front of me was very tired. But Guan Xi knows that when a person's heart is burning, no one can stop her.
She is, and so is she.
Guan Xi didn't say "go to bed early".
"Princes, generals, and ministers would rather have the seed." Guan Xi stretched out his hand, patted Chen Jiaxian's shoulder, and said gently.
…
Desire, what is it.
Probably this is the fire that is always burning, always unwilling, and always stubborn.
And a single spark has the power to start a prairie fire.
