All of this happened so suddenly that it's no wonder Cen Dongsheng felt like he was "in a dream," doubting whether everything that had happened before was real, or if he was just having a beautiful dream—
If there was anything he found believable, it was that the plot of the "dream" itself was too absurd, something his past self could never have imagined, so it was all the more reason to be certain it was reality.
The accomplishments Cen Dongsheng achieved were ones nobody in his past life could boast of, and he should rightfully feel proud of himself:
Even if it meant clinging to someone's coattails or living off a woman, when he was clinging to the thickest thigh in the world and eating the tastiest soft rice, then he too had "crafted his own destiny"—no one would dare look down on him.