1994: From a young man from a small town to a second-generation resident of Shanghai

Just a few days after the start of the semester, the freshmen's university life officially began.

Chen Qingqiao, who was far away in Wuhan, sent a letter to Chen Yong as soon as she arrived at school.

In the letter, she said that she really liked Wuhan University, that the campus was beautiful, with its Republican-era architectural style and cherry blossom trees all over the campus.

He even added a flirtatious line at the end: "Unable to fall asleep at one in the morning. The cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet, and it feels like we're still high school classmates."

Chen Yong is too busy and hasn't replied yet.

On the first weekend, high school classmates will visit each other's homes.

Among the students from Xina County who were admitted to universities in Shanghai were Wang Chengbo, Ye Huiling, and, surprisingly, Guo Hao, who also got into a junior college.

In 94, getting into a junior college was already considered quite an achievement. The undergraduate admission rate was less than 10%. Higher education was mainly at the junior college level.

Later, with the expansion of enrollment, universities began a wave of mergers, and one after another, mega-universities were born.

Some junior college students took the opportunity to merge into prestigious universities at that time, and became top students in 985 universities.

Ye Huiling took the initiative to contact Wang Chengbo and Guo Hao, and also contacted her senior classmates who had come to Shanghai to study, in order to organize a fellow townsmen association of Xina County.

These resources were not available to other students; the principal gave them to County Magistrate Ye's daughter.

Even if you give it to Chen Yong, people might not necessarily want it.

In all these years at Xina County High School, he's the only one who got into Fudan University. When the older students heard about Chen Yong, it was already a good thing if they didn't try to curry favor with him.

In previous years, the one who did the best in the exam got into Tongji University and studied civil engineering.

This man, named Chen Hui, was immediately attracted to Ye Huiling, this beautiful junior.

Although his circumstances were average among the boys in his school and his family was not outstanding, he was confident that he could easily win over Yeh Hui-ling with the experience of studying for two more years.

The female freshman was like a blank sheet of paper, knowing nothing. He could easily win her favor with just a little guidance.

He even took the initiative to help gather his high school classmates.

The appointment was made for the first Sunday of the university semester, September 11th.

Before China joined the WTO, it implemented a single-day weekend system, with only Sunday off and working Monday through Saturday.

Capitalism isn't kindly offering you weekends off.

Later, even with the implementation of the two-day weekend system, China was still able to become a global industrial behemoth with the world's largest industrial output.

If we continue with the one-day-off-weekend policy, capitalists will never eat, and China will become the world's number one industrial behemoth.

The alumni gathering was held in a coffee shop outside the South China Normal University.

There are only ten people in Shanghai, not many.

It's already very difficult to get into a university in Shanghai.

Unless they are willing to give up better schools for the sake of the region.

Schools and regions have always been a difficult choice for students.

If you want to balance both schools and regions, you can only do what Chen Yong did: get excellent grades so you can choose any school you want, no matter where you apply.

Guo Hao showed up at the class reunion today in a Santana.

She dressed herself in a Hong Kong style outfit, paired with sunglasses, and stole the show in front of her alumni.

"Guo Hao, did your dad buy you this car?"

This guy insisted on being modest, saying, "I told him not to buy it for me, but he insisted. Huiling, want to go up and test drive it?"

Ye Huiling did give him face and sat in his car for a while.

The senior student from Tongji University standing nearby was not happy about it. "Actually, a Santana isn't a big deal. Many students at our school can afford it. After you graduate, you'll earn tens of thousands a year, and you can buy a car in two or three years. You can buy an apartment in Shanghai in a year."

Chen Hui was deliberately exaggerating to show off.

Guo Hao originally wanted to argue with this senior, to tell him not to think he was so great just because he was a senior.

When he heard that the other person was from Tongji University, he immediately deflated.

Students who haven't yet entered the workforce often have a biased view of highly educated people, believing that these people will definitely be very successful in the future and that they shouldn't offend them now.

Therefore, Guo Hao could only endure it and watch helplessly as Ye Huiling was "snatched away" by Chen Hui, and the two were chatting happily.

At this moment, Guo Hao thought of someone. If he were here, he would definitely not let Chen Hui be so arrogant!

In terms of school, Chen Yong is miles ahead of Chen Hui; in terms of looks, Chen Hui is nowhere near as good-looking! And in terms of family background, Chen Yong's biological parents are from Shanghai!

Wang Chengbo felt anxious seeing Ye Huiling and Chen Hui getting so close.

He believed that only Chen Yong was worthy of Ye Huiling, the school's most beautiful girl.

Who does Chen Hui think he is, this senior? He's just taking advantage of his age and the good school he attends.

The men Chen Hui brought along, in an attempt to curry favor with him, showered him with compliments.

Chen Hui was the top scorer in his year's college entrance examination, and his school was also the best.

These people didn't go home for summer vacation, so they don't know the results of Chen Yong's college entrance examination this year.

"Are all the alumni from the county high school here? Can we begin today's class reunion?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a Mercedes pulled up outside the coffee shop.

Upon seeing the Mercedes, Chen Hui immediately pretended to be knowledgeable and explained to Guo Hao, "Junior, that kind of car is a good car. The Santana is just average; many taxi drivers drive Santanas. But there isn't a single person driving a Mercedes as a taxi."

Guo Hao was thoroughly annoyed by Chen Hui's words. He had driven the Santana to show off, but the guy kept criticizing him.

Immediately afterwards, a handsome young man got out of the car. The people present widened their eyes when they saw him get out of the car.

"Brother Chen is driving a Mercedes now!"

Wang Chengbo had just heard about Mercedes-Benz from Chen Hui.

Ye Huiling looked more closely and noticed that the license plate on the Mercedes Chen Yong drove was different from the one Chen Fang had driven back last time.

What does this mean? It's very likely that Chen Yong's relatives in Shanghai bought him a Mercedes-Benz. How rich must someone be to buy another Mercedes-Benz?

Moreover, Chen Yong now looks more confident and more handsome than he did in high school.

He's just like a kid who grew up in the city—handsome and rich.

Chen Yong's dramatic transformation made Ye Huiling completely accept him. She thought she should give him a chance and perhaps treat him better in the future.

Chen Hui noticed that after the boy in the Mercedes appeared outside, Ye Huiling subtly distanced herself from him.

The two of them had been chatting quite happily just now, which gave him the illusion that the junior might have fallen for him.

Unexpectedly, reality slapped her in the face so quickly: "Does the junior know that guy who drives a Mercedes?"

"You don't even know him!" Guo Hao said sarcastically from the side. "Chen Yong, he's the top scorer in our year's college entrance exam. He's always been number one in our grade. He could have easily gotten into Tsinghua, Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, or Shanghai International Studies University, but he chose Fudan University."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Chen Hui and the other senior students were also surprised. "But how come he's driving a Mercedes?"

Chen Yong walked in at that moment. "Sorry, I'm not too late, am I?"

"It's not too late! Chen Yong, you're driving a Mercedes now, who bought it for you?"

"Besides my aunt, who else is there? I drive a Mercedes, and I'm still your classmate, so how are the arrangements for today's class reunion?" Chen Yong asked Ye Huiling.

In an attempt to curry favor with Chen Yong, Ye Huiling countered by asking him, "Do you have any good ideas?"

"My opinion is simply to chat and have coffee, that's all."

Chen Yong's words immediately garnered support from most people, which made Chen Hui feel ignored!

He was very unhappy with Chen Yong, who had stolen his thunder.

We need to curb this kid's arrogance.

During the conversation, we inevitably started talking about our experiences in college.

It's only been a week since school started, and Ye Huiling and the others haven't adjusted yet.

Chen Hui knew his chance to shine had come. "I'm currently the vice class monitor and also the vice minister of the student union. I can share my university experience with you freshmen and hopefully it will inspire you."

Ding Zhong, who came with Chen Hui, immediately flattered him, saying, "Chen Hui, you're already the vice minister of the student union? That's so fast! I remember you were just a member last semester. And now you've been promoted to a department."

Judging from Ding Zhong's exaggerated manner and his particularly loud voice, anyone who didn't know better would think that Chen Hui was already a deputy minister in some organization!

"It's nothing special. It's not surprising that someone in their third year of university becomes a vice minister."

Guo Hao wanted to retort, but realized he wasn't qualified. Perhaps even Chen Yong wasn't qualified.

He had already witnessed firsthand the vast difference between students from rural areas and those from the city.

Chen Yong didn't want to pay attention to Chen Hui's boasting, and the two kept to themselves.

But Chen Hui fell in love with Ye Huiling and couldn't stand seeing her getting so close to Chen Yong, even to the point of throwing herself at him.

She even personally poured him coffee and handed it to him, a treatment that even Chen Hui didn't receive.

"Junior, I heard you're from Fudan University, but I still have to advise you to keep a low profile in your freshman year and leave a good impression on your classmates so they will support you later. Otherwise, no one will vote for you as a class officer even if you want to be one throughout your four years of university."

"Senior is wrong." Chen Yong doesn't tolerate his senior's behavior. He naturally gives way to a person who deserves respect, but if someone tries to put him down to elevate themselves, no way!

"I'm the class monitor now. This is my class monitor badge; you can see for yourself if you don't believe me."

Chen Yong took out his squad leader badge and placed it in front of everyone.

Only the class monitor and the Youth League secretary have badges. The class monitor badge at Fudan University is gold-plated and passed down from generation to generation. Losing it will result in a deduction of credits and the need to pay for a new one.

Ye Huiling was the first to get her hands on it and start looking at it; no one tried to take it from her.

"Chen Yong, you're amazing! You got elected class monitor right after the start of the semester. You're so ambitious!" She held it in her hands, clearly delighted.

"How can you attract girls if you're not ambitious?" Chen Yong said casually. It's normal for a guy to say that, right?

But Ye Huiling's mind was filled with thoughts. Could Chen Yong's ambition be just for show?

Chen Yong, you've done it!

So she replied, seemingly out of nowhere, "You've already done it, keep up the good work."

These words shattered the hearts of Guo Hao, Chen Hui, and several other boys.

Chen Yong thought to himself, "Ye Huiling, your misunderstanding goes quite deep."

However, he wouldn't try to explain anything at this time; it would be a waste of effort.

After learning that Chen Yong had been the class monitor since his freshman year, Chen Hui stopped pretending in front of him and became much more obedient.