Mature

Before Su Yingxue left the school, she saw Li Mu at the door of the telephone booth. She thought about what he said during class today, and she felt a little bit conscious in her heart.

A thought came to her mind.

Is it possible that Li Mu is waiting for her, and she wants if ask him if what he said was true, that he was going to the National People's Congress.

She didn't expect that before she could get to him, he suddenly ran away and disappeared.

Su Yingxue watched Li Mu run away, and she felt a little bit lost. She thought that with his normal results, getting into the National People's Congress was quite a stretch seeing that he only scored 630 in previous mock tests, but the passing score was 630.

Thinking about it, she thought that what he said was a joke. She felt weird and that Li Mu wasn't to her taste.

Li Mu went back to the internet cafe and continued working on making the plug-in. Within ten minutes, Zhao Kang arrived as well.

After Zhao Kang sat down, he asked, "Little Mu, how much do you think you got?"

"More than 620 marks, how about you?"

"... Really?"

"Really."

"Li Mu, I thought about it for a while, and we should stop being friends."

"Why?"

"You're handsomer than me and smarter than me. We shouldn't be friends anymore."

"That makes no sense. How much do you think you got?"

Zhao Kang hesitated for a second, and said a little bit sullenly, "If there's nothing unexpected, 490 to 500."

"Seeing your unconfident look, 490 marks might not let you pass the three cut off lines. If you aren't completely sure, you might want to be cautious when you apply to colleges."

Zhao Kang asked tentatively, "Should I apply for a better college in the province?"

Li Mu said, "Since you want to go to college, it might be better to go to a developing city. What do you think of Yanjing?"

"Yanjing.." Zhao Kang scratched his head. "What can I do there?"

"Go to school, pick up girls, make money, and reach the pinnacle of life."

Zhao Kang didn't talk for a long time.

"My parents won't let me go to college."

"Aren't you reluctant to repeat?" Li Mu was forced to say, "Didn't I say we were going to earn enough money for your tuition? Don't you remember that?"

Zhao Kang suddenly realized.

It turned out that his good brother had already been planning for him. He knew that he wouldn't be able to go to an undergraduate school. He also know that he and his families had different ideas for his future. He could only work to earn his own money to support himself during college.

Zhao Kang was touched, and when the two went out of the internet cafe, he asked one last time.

"Xiaomu, can this plug-in really work?"

"Yes."

"Alright, Yanjing's college, here I come!"

Li Mu saw that Zhao Kang was persuaded by him, and he felt a lot more relieved when developing his plug-in.

When he was working on it, he saw that he received a message on QQ from a penguin wearing a pink flower. After Li Mu opened it, he saw that the penguin was actuall Su Yingxue.

Su Yingxue's name was the same as he remembered, which was the English word Snow (雪).

Li Mu's name on QQ changed frequently during his lifetime, but he didn't change his password.

Snow's message read, "How many marks do you think you got on the exam?"

Haunted by a Dream: "Between 625 and 630."

Snow: "That sounds fake. Is it really that high? Don't lie to me."

Haunted: "Why would I lie to you?"

Snow: "It would be great if that was true."

Seeing that Yingxue didn't believe him, he asked, "How about you? How much do you think you got?"

Snow: "Between 640 to 660."

Haunted: "Congrats, congrats, you'll definitely make it to Renmin University."

Snow: "Why did you suddenly change your username before?"

Haunted: "I felt like it was a bit too vulgar."

Snow: I don't think so, it was fine."

Li Mu was responding, but Snow said, "My mom told me to get off my phone, so I'll talk to you another day."

Li Mu saw that pink penguin icon turned black and went into his offline friends' list. He felt empty in his heart. He felt hurt for half a minute, but went back to working on the plug-in.

At 5:30 PM, he saved his progress and said to Zhao Kang, "I'm going home for dinner today, what about you?"

Zhao Kang rubbed his eyes. "I'm going home to eat too."

Uh...

In his last life, he drank liquor with his father for the first time after he graduated from college.

At that time, he decided he wanted to go to Yanjing for work. He was going to leave home and travel over 1000 kilometers. During this time, there were no high speed rails. For a few hours, his parents weren't willing to let him travel alone, but after a few days, they respected his choice.

That night Li Mu and his dad got drunk. He still remembered that night, he vowed with tears on his bad that he would make his parents proud in Yanjing, but he never got anywhere for a few years. He lived in the basement, kept on changing jobs, and went through many homes.

In this life, he was able to drink with his dad four years earlier.

Dad Li took out two bottles of Luzhou Laojiao, which was made in the 1980s. They only had two bottles, and his dad wanted to drink them when Li Mu got married and when he got his first child.

However, he was happy today and opened a bottle in advance.

Both of his parents had good alcohol tolerance, and they were really happy. They evenly divided the bottle of wine, and no one was drunk. So in the end, his mother went out to buy a couple of beers to drink.

At the table, he said that he was applying to Renmin University. His parents were worried at the beginning because it was a bit risky,but Li Mu insisted that they didn't have to be. Dad Li was immediately in a better mood.

"Okay! Young people must have courage! Dad supports you!"

After three rounds of drinks, Li Mu suddenly said, "Dad, it seems like the mine is almost exhausted, isn't it getting worse everyday? What are your plans?"

Dad Li looked surprised. "It's okay. Your dad has been a technician for twenty years. I can take my work somewhere else."

"There are very few coal mines south of the Yantze River." Li Mu said slightly. "There is only one coal mine in Haizhou. If the coal mine stops, Dad, you won't have another chance at another mine."

Most of the coal mines were north of the river, and coal mines were rare south of it. After his father got laid off in his last life, he thought about going to work at a coal mine in the north or find a construction team to contribute to.

Dad Li was a traditional man. His dad's parents were still living in the country, and his mother still has her parents to take care of. He couldn't leave the house and work somewhere else.

Li Mu's words left Dad Li in deep contemplation. He found out his son matured overnight, and he could discuss adult issues with him now.

"I estimate that the mine won't last long." Dad Li realized he couldn't hide it anymore. "I may be laid off near the end of the year with your mother, but it's not a big deal. I'll still have my layoff salary, and I can work part time. I can retire a few years after that."

Li Mu smiled slightly.

"Dad, I already have a way of earning my college tuition. You and mom don't have to worry about it. The reason I'm saying this is because I don't want both of you to hide that you got laid off, and have to work hard to fill up the income."

Dad Li was stunned. Li Ma asked in wonder, "Do you know how much it costs to go to college? Your Dad and I calculated it to be 60,000 to 70,000 yuan for all your expenses in Yanjing."

Li Mu said, "I'll find a way. The internet is really popular right now and many people have made money from it. I've been doing research in my spare time and I think I can do it."

"What is that?" Dad Li frowned. "The internet" Is that the thing where you spend money on at internet cafes?"

"Um." Li Mu nodded.

"Isn't that just giving money to internet cafes?"

Li Mu laughed. "I can give money to the cafe to use their computers and their internet, and then make money from there."

"Don't let people rip you off. Liars are everywhere now." Li Mu didn't believe it.

Li Mu wasn't too confident about how much he would make but he didn't say that, so he laughed and said, "There's no cost eitherway. It doesn't matter if I try since it just means I just need the internet."

"That's true." Dad Li sipped his drink and said to Li Mu. "Anyways, you can play as much as you want this summer vacation. If you're short of money, you can tell us. Although we don't have much money, we will find a way."

Li Mu didn't say much, but nodded and cheered his beer with his dad.