Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 410 Caught by an Acquaintance

"It's not the weekend, why are you taking a break? Don't you usually take weekends off?"

As Cao Sheng drove away, he casually asked.

Jiang Xiaoshuang fastened her seatbelt and looked over with a smile, "Weekends are more likely to make the news, so we usually take time off during the week. Some of us also get weekends off, but not many."

Cao Sheng nodded, not dwelling on the topic, "Have you been busy with work lately?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang opened the makeup mirror above her head, examining her makeup as she replied, "It's alright! I shouldn't be as busy as you."

Cao Sheng was a little surprised and glanced at her. "Oh? What do you mean?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang closed the makeup mirror and looked over. "You've started a new book recently! You have to start a new book on top of teaching every day. Just thinking about it, I know you're very busy!"

She paused for a moment, then said, "Sometimes I really admire you. You earn so much money and still go to class every day. I wonder if you even like going to class? Do you even like going to class?"

Cao Sheng chuckled.

He glanced at her and said, "Just get a diploma! It can broaden your horizons and benefit your writing."

Jiang Xiaoshuang looked at him, smiling for a while. She leaned back in her seat, gazing at the scenery ahead, and sighed, "It's true what they say, different people have different fates! We, his peers, are still struggling in the workplace, working hard and trying to build good relationships, and we don't even earn much. And you? You go to school just to get a diploma and broaden your horizons. It sounds like you're just bored and looking for something to do!"

At this point, she looked at Cao Sheng and asked with a smile, "Do you often feel bored?"

Cao Sheng chuckled and shook his head.

"It's impossible to be bored. You don't have the habit of reading novels, so you don't know that for us bookworms, as long as there are novels we can't finish reading, we will never feel bored. Time seems to fly by when we're reading, so it's impossible for us to be bored."

Jiang Xiaoshuang: Is this why you haven't asked me out since we kissed?

These were the thoughts that flashed through her mind, but she didn't say them aloud.

But her eyes already conveyed this emotion.

However, Cao Sheng, who was driving, did not look into her eyes, and even if he had, he might not have been able to understand the meaning in her eyes.

Jiang Xiaoshuang did not respond to him immediately.

Many thoughts flashed through her mind.

For example: Is one of the main reasons why men pursue women because they are bored?

Is it because I'm bored that I'm chasing after a woman to make my boring life more interesting?

Therefore, men who don't usually get bored lose interest in pursuing women.

For example, the bookworm that Cao Sheng just mentioned?
For example: a top student who is obsessed with learning?

For example: a scientist who is obsessed with researching a certain technology?
and many more.

These people always feel like they don't have enough time and never get bored, so naturally they have no interest in women.

But his kissing skills are so adept!

As this thought flashed through her mind, Jiang Xiaoshuang looked at Cao Sheng, recalling that night when she took the initiative to kiss him and he responded skillfully.

Perhaps because she had been silent for a while, Cao Sheng turned to look at her and asked with a smile, "Why aren't you saying anything? What are you thinking about?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang snapped out of her reverie and noticed that his car was heading towards the suburbs, so she casually started a conversation, "I was wondering where we're going? Are we really just going to drive around like this? Your time must be very valuable, right? Are you really planning to waste it all on the road?"

Cao Sheng: "..."

After thinking for a moment, Cao Sheng asked, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang thought for a moment, "Since you want to go for a drive, let's keep driving until you don't want to drive anymore. Then we'll find a small restaurant nearby, order some dishes, have a few drinks, and not come back tonight. We'll just find a place to stay. Do you think that's interesting?"

The last time she kissed him was when they were both drinking, so she hoped to recreate that night's experience tonight.

only……

Cao Sheng glanced at her and shook his head, saying, "I'm writing a new book lately, so I can't be this carefree. Maybe next time! I'll go crazy with you next time."

Jiang Xiaoshuang was a little disappointed.

But she didn't act spoiled or coquettish, because reason told her that Cao Sheng wouldn't like a woman who would affect his novel writing.

Or rather, career-oriented men don't like women who hold them back or affect their work.

In her eyes, Cao Sheng was a typical career-oriented man.

"Okay! Let's go for a one-hour drive, then head back, and when we get back we can find a place to eat, right?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

Since he brought her out today, he wouldn't be stingy enough to treat her to a meal.

……

Huizhou is mountainous.

As the car drove out of the city, rolling hills could be seen everywhere along the way, but in this season, the vegetation was withered, and the scenery was desolate.

After looking at the scenery for a while, Cao Sheng also found it a bit boring.

So they found a place to turn around and drive back.

He glanced at Jiang Xiaoshuang in the passenger seat and saw her leaning back, staring at him blankly.

That blank stare touched Cao Sheng. "What are you thinking about?"

He looked away, focusing again on the road ahead, and asked in a low voice.

Jiang Xiaoshuang was silent for a few seconds before saying softly, "I was just thinking... How could someone as smart as you fail the college entrance exam? How did you end up at Huizhou Teachers College?"

Cao Sheng chuckled to himself.

He used to dislike hearing anyone ask him that kind of question.

But with the magnanimity of someone who has lived two lives, he has long since come to terms with these things.

He even smiled and asked in return, "I want to ask you the same question. When you were in school, you were hailed by many as the most talented woman. Logically speaking, you are also very smart. How did you end up getting into Huizhou Teachers College?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang smiled gently.

There are two main reasons!

Cao Sheng glanced at her.

Jiang Xiaoshuang continued: "The first reason is that I chose the wrong path in high school. In my first year of high school, I felt that my physics and chemistry grades were okay, although my biology grade was a bit worse, but it wasn't a big problem. The key is that I don't like memorizing things, while many humanities courses require rote memorization. So, when it came time to choose between humanities and science, I chose science, and the result was..."

He paused, then continued, "As a result, when I got to my junior and senior years of high school, I found that the difficulty of physics, chemistry, and math increased dramatically, and I found it increasingly difficult to learn. To make matters worse, I wasn't in good health during those two years. Have you ever heard of allergic purpura?"

Cao Sheng was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head honestly, "Never heard of it. Is this disease very serious?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang chuckled self-deprecatingly, "It's not that it's very serious, but it's very troublesome. Local clinics, county hospitals, and even city hospitals are not very good at treating this. Some doctors can't even tell what this disease is. They see that I only have some small red bumps on my calves and think it's just a common skin problem. It wasn't until my parents took me to a hospital in Nanjing that I was diagnosed with this disease, and the treatment was quite effective."

She paused and sighed, "After that, every time it relapsed, I had to take leave to go to that hospital in Nanjing for an IV drip. It happened repeatedly, back and forth. I was already struggling with science subjects, and with all this illness every few days, my grades naturally fell behind."

Cao Sheng: "..."

Cao Sheng subconsciously turned to look at her, but no matter how he looked at her, she didn't seem like someone who was often sick.

"What was that illness you were talking about called again?"

"The main problem with my allergic purpura is that I've never been able to find out what my allergen is, so I've never known how to prevent it from recurring."

Cao Sheng nodded.

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "We've known each other for so long, and I don't think I've ever seen you have a relapse?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang nodded with a wry smile, "Yes! The doctor said back then that this kind of disease rarely recurs after adulthood, and that's really true. I haven't had a relapse since I finished high school. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if it's my destiny that I can't concentrate on my studies in high school?"

Cao Sheng shook his head.

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "You just said that you came to Huizhou Teachers College for two main reasons. What illness did you mention? What is the other reason?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang smiled and replied, "I have relatives at Huizhou Teachers College. After the college entrance examination, when I was filling out my college application, my parents were worried that I would still have relapses of that disease from time to time after I got to college, so they strongly suggested that I apply to Huizhou Teachers College, hoping that if I had another relapse, my relatives could take care of me a little, or notify them to send me to Nanjing for treatment. The funny thing is—after I got to college, I haven't had a single relapse."

Cao Sheng smiled and comforted her, "It's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. Actually, it's quite good that you came to Huizhou Teachers College. If you had gone to another school, you might not have been called the number one talented woman, don't you think?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang chuckled and nodded slightly.

Then she looked at Cao Sheng and asked, "You still haven't told me why you failed the college entrance exam! I remember there was a news report saying that you were very unbalanced in your studies during high school, is that the only reason?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

"Pretty much! I'm different from you. I chose humanities in high school. When we were choosing between humanities and sciences, I felt that I always failed chemistry, my biology grades were average, and only my physics grades were among the top in the class. I was afraid that my chemistry grades would not improve in my junior and senior years, so I chose humanities because my grades in politics, history, and geography were okay."

As a result… in my junior and senior years of high school, I suddenly realized that when it came to rote memorization, I had no advantage over many of the girls in my class. Memorizing for long periods would make me bored and increasingly irritable, while the girls' emotions were generally very stable. They were very patient when memorizing. Plus, I had a serious imbalance in my academic performance, and English consistently dragged me down. No matter how hard I studied, I hovered around the passing mark in English. But there were twenty or thirty students in my class who scored above 120 on English tests. That's when I realized that girls also have an advantage in English, because this subject also tests memory, right?

Jiang Xiaoshuang chuckled.

Cao Sheng looked over and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Jiang Xiaoshuang: "I was just thinking, when you were in high school, were you impressed by our girls' learning abilities? Did you often feel powerless, like you had the ability to do something but couldn't?"

Cao Sheng recalled those years, smiled self-deprecatingly, and nodded slightly. "Yes! Only after studying humanities can you truly realize the advantages that girls have in studying humanities. Chinese, math, English, politics, history, and geography—six subjects. Except for math, the other five subjects basically test your memory. Every day I had to memorize all kinds of knowledge points. I felt like I was going to die from memorizing them. Only when I was doing math problems could I refresh my mind."

Jiang Xiaoshuang laughed so hard her shoulders shook.

After a long silence, she sighed, "Looking back now, we all chose the wrong path in high school: arts or sciences."

It's probably because we talked about these things along the way.

When Cao Sheng drove back to the city and stopped in front of a restaurant on Binjiang Road, he suddenly felt much more familiar with Jiang Xiaoshuang and had a sense of psychological closeness.

It gets dark early in winter.

It was already sunset, and dinnertime.

Cao Sheng and Jiang Xiaoshuang walked into the restaurant chatting and laughing. Just as they entered the lobby, a man who was paying at the counter turned around unintentionally, saw Jiang Xiaoshuang, paused, and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Jiang Xiaoshuang? You...you guys are eating here?"

As he asked the question, his gaze swept back and forth between Jiang Xiaoshuang and Cao Sheng's faces.

Cao Sheng was a little surprised. He smiled and nodded at the man, saying, "Hello!"

Jiang Xiaoshuang was also quite surprised. She subconsciously turned to look at Cao Sheng, and nodded with a slight blush. "Yeah, I just happened to run into him today. We're from the same school, so we came here to have a meal together. By the way, you should know who he is, right?"

The man was about the same age as Cao Sheng and Jiang Xiaoshuang.

Upon hearing this, he nodded and smiled, "Cao Sheng, the one from Zhongyuan Yidianhui! I know him! Of course I know him! Is there anyone in our school who doesn't know him? Right?"

As he spoke, he extended his right hand to Cao Sheng, saying, "Cao Sheng! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

(End of this chapter)