Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 10 Chen Family
Getting closer to home, I'm actually a little apprehensive.

After circling into the residential area and entering the first floor of the apartment building, Chen Xuejing was struggling to pry open the two deadbolts inside the house. Chen Xuebing, standing outside, looked at the upside-down "Fu" character pasted on the door and felt a pang of nostalgia.

It was covered with transparent tape.

This was put up in the last year before my father passed away. My mother sealed it with layers of tape, and it became the guardian of this family.

Later, they cut out the character "福" (fortune) separately, then cut it in half again, and made a pendant for him and Chen Xuejing each, sealing the "福" left by their father inside the pendant.

People who don't know better might see a piece of paper inside the pendant and think it's a treasure map left by his ancestors.

If her father were still alive, he would never allow her to be so superstitious.

Sigh, why didn't we go back to the first year of junior high... Back then, the old man was still...

despair.

The door opened.

People who are used to looking straight ahead will be startled because the door is open and there is nothing in front of them.

But when Chen Xuebing saw Chen Xuejing, who was five and a half years old and less than 1.2 meters tall, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. He immediately reached out and patted the boy's big head, beaming like a visiting relative:

Wow, you've grown so tall!

Chubby and fair-skinned, this is his adorable little brother!

The police officer Chen Xuejing, who was over 1.8 meters tall, got into Renmin University, and always verbally belittled his older brother, was not likable at all!
But Chen Xuejing, the police officer in front of him, wasn't idle either. He raised his head and looked at him with a resentful gaze: "Are you crazy?!"

After saying that, he turned and went inside, shaking his head as he went:

“You’re dead meat. Your uncle came over for lunch this afternoon and gave Mom a lot of money, saying it was for you.”

Chen Xuebing changed into slippers behind him, chuckling softly.

Uncle's quick on the uptake.

"Please say a few good words to Mom for me, and I'll buy you what you want."

"I don't want anything." Chen Xuejing leaned back on the sofa and changed the TV channel.

This place is old, but it's not small either, it's 120 square meters, but it's been divided into two halves.

Upon entering, you'll find the living room. A partition facing outwards from the apartment complex houses a convenience store, a kitchen, and a toilet. Inside, there's the bedroom for the three members of the family.

My brother's room has basically become a storage room for goods. Anyway, the kid is afraid of the dark and wants to sleep next to his mother.

So, as long as his mother didn't close the shop, he wouldn't sleep, and he could openly watch TV, living a happy life that Chen Xuebing could only dream of as a child.

The main thing is that this kid is smart, so his mother doesn't have to worry about him.

It took Chen Xuebing a long time to realize that Chen Xuejing wasn't afraid of the dark; he just needed a storage room because his family ran a shop.

The day he found out, he switched rooms with Chen Xuejing and said he wouldn't go home often anymore. When he did come back occasionally, he would sleep next to a pile of goods or on the sofa.

"You really don't want anything?"

Chen Xuebing changed into slippers, sat down next to his younger brother, and started playing with his head again: "You're going to school soon, aren't you going to buy some new stationery?"

"Blue Cat Stationery, I'll buy you a set, okay?"

Chen Xuebing raised his chin, clicked his tongue, and gave a seductive look.

Police officer Chen swayed slightly, dodging his hand, and said disdainfully, "I'm a poor student, I don't need stationery, paper and pen are enough for me."

Familiar disdain.

Chen Xuebing was startled to realize that his memory might be flawed. This kid's tendency to tease him didn't start when he grew up; it was just that he was still immature at the time and was used to letting things go in one ear and out the other, so he didn't care.

This kid isn't cute anymore.

Chen Xuebing put his hand down: "Where's Mom?"

"Pooping".

"Oh."

Chen Xuebing glanced at the door of the partitioned room and called out, "Mom! Are you done? I need to talk to you!"

"What are you shouting for? Wait a minute!" Yu Chunyan's voice was somewhat impatient.

"How long have you been inside?" Chen Xuebing asked his younger brother.

Police officer Chen glanced at the wall clock: "22 minutes."

Chen Xuebing laughed: "It seems like you're getting a sore throat."

Yu Chunyan suffers from constipation.

Moreover, it comes in waves, like a psychological illness, and often occurs when the mother is in a bad mood. Because she once fainted while squatting in the toilet, the doctor said to try not to stay in the toilet for more than half an hour, and to get up and move around if she can't go. So every time Mom goes to the toilet, the two brothers will subconsciously check the time.

As Chen Xuejing grew older and more sensible, her bowel movements became smoother. She had been having regular bowel movements for the past two years, but today she was constipated again, which probably means something is wrong.

Police officer Chen glanced at him and said, "Isn't this all your fault? What do you need so much money for?"

“Make…” Chen Xuebing almost blurted out “Make money, huh?” but then he remembered that Xiao Deng would definitely reply with “You’ll lose money, won’t you?” So he changed his words, patted Chen Xuejing’s head, and said with a grin:

"I'll give you money to marry a sister-in-law."

He thought to himself, "With this answer, the kid won't be able to argue back."

Then Chen Xuejing looked at him with that same look again: "Your uncle said it's only 10,000 yuan, not enough to marry a sister-in-law. You're not thinking of aborting the child, are you?"

Chen Xuebing: ...

I feel like my patience has reached its limit.

"Who taught you that?! Huh? Who taught you that?"

Police officer Chen picked up a small orange from the coffee table and started peeling it: "I overheard you talking to your friend on the phone."

A bullet from over twenty years ago hit him right between the eyebrows.

Chen Xuebing suddenly remembered that he had a girlfriend in his second year of high school who was also a sophomore in college, and that they had a child together.

When I was little, I liked older sisters, and I didn't know anything about safety measures back then.

Actually, 800 yuan is enough to beat a child, or even 300 or 400 yuan. But Bing Ge is a meticulous person. He asked about the hospital's price list and learned that a better procedure would cost 2000 yuan, so he raised 2000 yuan.

He told his mother that he had cheated out of 1,200 yuan in tutoring, and a group of his brothers went out and looked for people saying, "My brother is in trouble," and found him 800 yuan.

I got drunk and slept with that woman once. I felt like I was the passive one the whole time. A few days later, she said she was pregnant. Now that I think about it, it's normal for her period to be a few days late. Why would she go for a test right away? I really don't know who she had the abortion for.

"...Don't tell Mom! Do you understand?" Chen Xuebing said fiercely.

Police officer Chen waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Mom already knew. Otherwise, would she have given you 1200?"

Chen Xuebing: ...

"secret".

It's a secret again.

"...This time I'm really going to start my own business."

Chen Xuebing didn't know what was the point of explaining to a little kid, so he deliberately raised his voice so that his mother in the bathroom could hear him: "Internet projects, Taobao, you know? You can make a lot of money by opening an online store at home."

He thought of countless projects that day. Making money on the internet in 2004 was really just a few ways: registering website addresses, creating your own website, or using other people's websites.

He simply didn't have the memory or the skills for the first two. He already had all the valuable websites he could remember, or they were far from being valuable. The era of making money by opening a portal website was over. Even if he had an idea for a Web 2.0 project, he didn't have enough start-up capital to hire a team to implement it.

After much thought, the most reasonable option seems to be to use 10,000 yuan, taking advantage of the rise of Taobao.

Sell ​​some things.

It's about hitting the user's pain points.

How to crack it is still up in the air. Anyway, if you want to make money, you have to look in the vast counterfeit market.

"Taobao, Jack Ma? I've seen it!" Chen Xuejing suddenly stood up, looked around, as if recalling something, and skipped into his mother's room.

Speaking of Chen Xuejing, he only looks like a child when he runs. When he talks, he likes to put his hands behind his back in an old-fashioned way, and the content of his speech is like he didn't drink the Meng Po soup properly.

Moreover, they have a photographic memory for everything they've seen.

Is this it?

Chen Xuebing took out a newspaper and spread it on the coffee table. Chen Xuebing saw a photo of a square head in the middle of the large page, with the headline "Taobao - eBay, Ants Challenge Elephants".

Yes, this is it.

"Hmph, there's something else I don't know." Chen Xuejing said smugly, his voice still childish, "If you want to do this, let me test you! When was Taobao founded?"

“May 2003.” Chen Xuebing rolled his eyes.

"Oh?" Officer Chen was surprised, then asked, "How big are they now?"

"..." Chen Xuebing smiled: "I'm going to Taobao to do business, not to apply for a job. I only focus on the model and the opportunity."

Chen Xuejing paused for a moment.

"You've become smarter!"

Chen Xuebing gritted his teeth, stood up and started swinging at Chen Xuejing, pulling down his pants with one hand.

Damn it, kids still need to be beaten; otherwise, their childhood isn't complete.

"mom!!"

Just as Chen Xuejing was about to scream, the sound of water flushing came.

Click, the door opened.

"Why are you bullying your brother?!" Yu Chunyan came out of the cubicle, nimbly snatched Chen Xuebing from his arms, and put him on the ground.

Chen Xuebing saw his young mother and didn't say anything for a moment.

In my past life, I always felt that my mother aged too early, with gray hair starting to appear in her forties. Now it seems that looking old and actually being old are really different.

"Hey, let's tease him a bit."

Chen Xuebing smiled and put his arm around his mother's shoulder, massaging her neck and shoulders: "Did you poop?"

The Chen family's way of greeting people is just that unique.

Yu Chunyan actually felt that her son's massage was comfortable. She hissed a few times, enjoyed it for a few seconds, and then became aggressive again, slapping Chen Xuebing's hand away and sitting on the sofa.

"Thinking about you makes it impossible to poop!"

Seeing that his mother wasn't going to go to the side room to watch the shop, Chen Xuebing turned around, went into the side room, closed the window, and drew the curtain.

Normally, the window doesn't need to be closed. The toilet is on the side, and there are several ventilation gaps on the toilet door, so even if my mom is squatting in the toilet, she can always see what's going on in the store.

My dad bought the house here because his workplace was just over 100 meters away, so there weren't many petty thieves around.

But the window needs to be closed at night; Mom forgot she needed to poop.

When she returned to the living room, Yu Chunyan's complexion had improved considerably.

Chen Xuebing knew she was preparing a barrage of criticism and nagging. A child asking his uncle for ten thousand yuan was a huge deal, even twenty years later. So, his first words were a change of topic:

“Mom, I recently consulted a fortune teller who understands the I Ching and the Three Life Connections. He said that the police officer’s element is fire, while the character for police officer is wood, which is incompatible. We need to find a character with the same or compatible element to change the name of Chen Xuejing.”

"What?"

Chen Xuebing's carefully prepared move completely baffled Yu Chunyan.

Ten thousand yuan is not easy to obtain. Chen Xuebing prepared for going home as a business negotiation, aiming to gain the upper hand in the conversation from the outset.

The topic needs to be important enough, and you also need to be able to win.

He knew that Chen Xuejing had always been dissatisfied with his name and wanted to change it, which was a matter of concern for his younger brother. Chen Xuebing had even consulted a fortune teller, but by then Chen Xuejing was already an adult, and all the relevant information and school records used that name. It would require proof for everything, which was very troublesome. After discussing it with the family, they decided to put it aside.

So let's talk about what happened in later generations today.

“I said, let’s change Chen Xuejing’s name.”

“That won’t do! This was named by your father!” Yu Chunyan shook her head repeatedly.

Chen Xuebing shook his head: "The old man is uneducated and busy with work. He was too casual in choosing the name. He doesn't want my brother to be a policeman, nor does he want me to be a soldier. Why did he choose this name? Mom, my brother will be starting school next year. It's best to change it as soon as possible. The word 'police' really doesn't suit my brother. I am the eldest son and can speak for Dad. You should listen to me on this matter."

"Then tell me, what character does it combine?"

Yu Chunyan also acknowledged the principle of "the eldest brother is like a father," but her attitude became somewhat hesitant.

Chen Xuebing patted Chen Xuejing on the shoulder: "Do you want to change?"

Chen Xuejing's eyes brightened slightly, and after a long while, he nodded solemnly.

"think."

This softened Yu Chunyan's gaze.

Chen Xuebing then found a pen under the coffee table and wrote "Chen Xuejin" on the newspaper on the table.

"The character '瑾' belongs to the fire element in the Five Elements theory. It represents beautiful jade, purity, and nobility. It has 16 strokes, which is an auspicious number that signifies prosperity and the help of benefactors. Mom, you hope that my younger brother will become a scholar, and this character is a perfect match for him. It also sounds similar to what everyone is used to."

As Chen Xuebing spoke, he looked at his younger brother and asked, "Do you like this character?"

Police officer Chen put his hands behind his back, walked to the newspaper, and stared at the name for a long time.

"it is good."

Yu Chunyan swallowed hard, said nothing, and after a while, tears welled up in her eyes. She got up and went back to her room.

The sound of the television in the living room brought a moment of silence.

About ten minutes later, Yu Chunyan came out wiping away her tears, took out a black and white photo of her father wearing a peaked cap, and placed it on the dining table.

“Students and police cadets, come and offer incense to your fathers.”

Chen Xuebing chuckled.

My mother is a woman without her own opinions; she always knows to ask my father for help when something happens.

Chen Xuebing offered incense first, followed by Chen Xuejing, while his mother muttered incessantly beside him.

"If you agree, then appear in my dream."

Chen Xuebing kowtowed while retorting, "If you agree, why send a dream? If you don't agree, then send another dream."

The chosen filial son angered Yu Chunyan so much that she wanted to curse.

When Chen Xuejing was offering incense, he looked at his father's smile with a bit of confusion, then turned to look at his mother and brother.

Chen Xuebing knew that in Chen Xuejing's mind, the image of his father was not so concrete; he had no impression of him at all. Perhaps in the concrete image of the word "father," there were his uncles, his brothers, and those uncles in peaked caps who would come to visit during holidays.

Chen Xuebing is lucky; he has a father.

Chen Xuebing didn't want Chen Xuejing to feel a sense of loss, so he touched his father's photo and then touched Chen Xuejing's head, saying, "When the old man was alive, he loved you the most. He would hold you and never let go. You are so smart because he touched your head every day, and he passed on all his skills to you."

Police officer Chen stared at the photo and slowly nodded: "Then how about... we don't change the name?"

Yu Chunyan's tears fell down with a thud, four drops falling in four separate drops.

Chen Xuebing touched the old man's photo, shook his head firmly, and said, "That's two different things. The name is your own. Your father can't take care of you, your mother can't, and neither can I. You have to walk your own path from now on."

After a while, the younger brother nodded seriously.

Yu Chunyan cried even harder and went into the house, covering her eyes.

……

This time it took about half an hour to come out, and Chen Xuejing even fell asleep on the sofa while waiting.

Yu Chunyan said in a low, hoarse voice, "Xuebing."

Chen Xuebing stood up and picked up the newspaper on the table: "Mom, there's something else."

Yu Chunyan waved her hand, her throat a little dry, and said, "I know, I heard it in the bathroom. You can take this 10,000 yuan whenever you need it, but just this once. You can't ask your uncle for it again, your aunt will have a problem with it... If it's really not enough for your business, then you can ask your mother for it."

Chen Xuebing laughed: "That's enough. I'll figure out the rest myself. Don't worry about it. I'm eighteen now. I'll take care of you from now on."

Yu Chunyan had already cried all her tears. She just patted Chen Xuebing's head and carried Chen Xuejin into the house.

Chen Xuebing turned off the TV, made a cup of tea, and sat on the sofa.

Turning his head, he saw the portrait on the dining table, and a smile returned to his lips.

Old man, from now on I'm in charge of the Chen family. You can rest in peace.

(End of this chapter)