I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 240 Pulling out the tubes

"Hey, Sister Chestnut, have you read 'The Way of Heaven'?"

"Drive carefully and stop chatting with me about random things."

"We've entered the city; the roads are much better than the country roads."

“There are even more reckless drivers in the county town, and you also have to watch out for tricycles and electric bikes.”

"I know, I know." Su Cheng paused. "So, Sister Chestnut, have you read 'The Way of Heaven'?"

"Yes, I've seen it. Is it the one starring Wang Zhiwen, the one where the main character's name is Ding something?"

"Yes, yes, Ding Yuanying."

"I've seen a bit, what's wrong?"

Su Cheng thought of the TV series adapted from the novel because she was talking about Zheng Jiawei.

Su Cheng didn't watch it when he was a child; he watched it when he was in his twenties.

Su Cheng went to watch this 05 TV series mainly because there were a lot of short video clips of it for a period of time, and the comments section was full of praise for it, as if it were a very popular TV series, so Su Cheng went to watch it.

But after watching ten episodes, I couldn't continue watching Su Cheng.

His only feeling was: ? ? ? That's it?

The protagonist is named Ding Yuanying, and the whole story revolves around his boastful antics. He boasts about having 400,000 impressions, and when the female lead sees him, she's shocked to find that he lives in a rented apartment, wears a tattered vest, and has a broken stereo system worth 400,000!
There are many similar scenarios, such as writing poems at a banquet in treachery or predicting stock price increases.

I haven't read the original novel, but just watching the TV series, it's basically a feel-good drama about showing off and getting slapped in the face.

The typical trope is the "pretend to be weak to fool others" trope found in online novels, followed by a display of brilliance in public.

Who would have thought that this TV series, which had been dormant for a long time and had not stood the test of time, would be repackaged as a men's bible by short video platforms more than a decade later?

Su Cheng even felt that it wasn't as substantial as the old man's "Wolf Nature".

Wang Zhiwen's acting was so good that many viewers felt it was really convincing.

This kind of character is completely out of touch with reality. There is absolutely no person like Ding Yuanying in real life. Ding Yuanying can only exist on paper.

However, there is one part of the story that Su Cheng agrees with.

That was the part where my father was seriously ill and returned to his hometown.

When his father was critically ill and might become a vegetable, Ding Yuanying, the youngest brother in the family, uttered the famous line, "How can I make my father die?" Then, upon returning home, he suggested that once his father was confirmed to be a vegetable, the medical expenses would be stopped.

The screenwriter intended to use this moral choice to highlight Ding Yuanying's character and unconventional way of doing things, and also to rationally engage in a debate with his siblings on the theme of 'filial piety'.

Ding Yuanying's stance is: if raising children is only for old age security, then there's no point in mentioning how great the father is.

When faced with a seriously ill family member: it's not that children are unfilial if they can't afford to give their parents money; the standard is to do their best.

If we only watch these few episodes, the quality is still there.

But later on, it basically became a pretense of mystery. Whenever something happened, Ding Yuanying would use his "unique" logic to launch into a long, impressive speech in front of the camera, putting on a very impressive show.

"I'd like to ask you, Sister Chestnut, if you were Ding Yuanying, would you pull out the tube?"

Ye Li: ???
What kind of epic problem is this?

If we disregard moral pressure, she would definitely pull it out.

There are two main reasons why Ye Li pulled out the tubes.

First, she can escape the torment of her family of origin.

Secondly, even if a person in a vegetative state is cured, they will spend the rest of their life in a hospital bed, which will only add a burden to their family.

Even the person in a vegetative state might not want to live like this and would rather be dead.

"Anyway, I will definitely tell my children that if I unfortunately become a vegetable, they can just pull out the tubes for me."

"Sister Chestnut, you won't become a vegetable, quickly spit it out."

"And you, do you know how to pull out the tube?"

Su Cheng chuckled: "It's guaranteed."

"What's the reason?" Ye Li pressed.

He thought for a moment and decided to tell a little lie: "The reason... is the same as yours."

Su Cheng will definitely take charge.

He also wanted to escape the torment of his family of origin.

To be more precise, it should be said that he escaped the torment of his biological father and smashed those cameras shoved in his face.

but.

In her previous life, Su Cheng never had the chance to pull it out.

The old man was already confused as he lay dying.

After playing the role of a foolish old man for so many years, blurring the lines between truth and falsehood, he didn't even know who he was before he died. He passed away before Su Cheng even had a chance to choose whether or not to remove the tubes.

Ye Li will pull out the tube.

Su Cheng can also pull out the tubes.

But Ye Li felt that Su Cheng's childhood friend would definitely not pull the trigger.

"That's true. If he had pulled the plug, his family's financial situation would be much better now."

Su Cheng didn't really want to use "blind filial piety" to describe Zheng Jiawei.

But... Big Fatty is truly blindly filial.

Su Cheng had once seen a theory somewhere, but he forgot the source. However, he remembered that sentence very clearly:

When people reach a certain age or stage in life, they will feel a deep sense of guilt towards their parents, feeling that it was not easy for them to raise them and that they have not been able to let their parents enjoy life. Then they will do their best to make up for it with the rest of their lives.

but.

These people are basically raised with repressive education and moral coercion.

They choose to actively forget those painful memories, and the memories that remain in their minds are all about how good their parents were to them.

This is a protective mechanism of the human brain.

There's no way to forget!
It was so painful.

Su Cheng thought about it for a while.

He felt that this was one of the main sources of the feeling of blind filial piety.

Repressive education and moral blackmail played a crucial role.

Even if you treat your child badly when they are young, and even if they exploit you when they grow up, the child will still be filial.

The child will live with guilt for the rest of his life.

I felt guilty as a child, I felt guilty in my youth, and I still feel guilty even after I am buried in the ground.

The only advantage of this is that it truly allows you to raise children to provide for you in old age!
They are the only beneficiaries.

Su Cheng felt that this might not be something these parents did intentionally.

Given their level of understanding, they certainly wouldn't be able to grasp this point, nor could they possibly comprehend the outcome that would benefit them.

It's simply that he's a bad person with a dirty heart; he's just gotten old.

Only a few people can escape this cycle of guilt.

Some fled, but not completely. They just treated the elderly badly, but still gave them food. However, outsiders saw this as unfilial and criticized them harshly.

Some people simply disappeared, such as a certain doctor from Alexander.

When Su Cheng saw this kind of news before, she thought, how could there be such children in the world?

But now, Su Cheng's first thought is that the old man and woman must have treated this son or daughter extremely badly when they were children, so much so that the child has remembered it for a lifetime.

"Sister Chestnut, when you see my childhood friend later, please don't mention this matter."

"I know, I'm not stupid."

soon.

Su Cheng met Zheng Jiawei at the agreed-upon bronze statue.

"Hey! Cheng-ge! I'm here!"

Zheng Jiawei stood next to a white Baojun 730, waving to Su Cheng.

"Jiawei, let me introduce you, this is Ye Li..."

This isn't the workplace in Jingzhou. Back home, friends don't usually shake hands when they meet. Zheng Jiawei greeted her warmly and tactfully, "Sister Li."

Ye Li was also very enthusiastic: "Su Cheng mentioned you to me, Jiawei, right?"

"Yes, yes, it's me."

The three chatted enthusiastically for a while.

Although Su Cheng didn't explain his specific relationship with Ye Li to Zheng Jiawei, anyone with a brain could guess that she was 99% Cheng's girlfriend! Otherwise, why would he bring her back to his hometown?
Zheng Jiawei was even smarter than the old man; he immediately treated Ye Li the same way he treated 'Sister Su'.

"Let's pick a place. I promised to treat you to dinner. You can choose whatever you want to eat."

Ye Li seized the opportunity to retaliate against Fu Cheng: "Jiawei, pick an expensive place. Your brother Cheng is making a fortune in Jingzhou."

Su Cheng readily admitted, "Yes, I've made some money, but it's just a little bit. You can choose whatever you like, no matter how expensive it is."

This left Zheng Jiawei completely bewildered.

"Ah, I don't know what's expensive. Besides, expensive things aren't necessarily delicious."

"If it doesn't work out, let's go to the city."

"Let's not go to the city, it's too far. Let's just grab something to eat, shall we? Same place as always?"

"Uh, that's fine."

In the county town, a restaurant that costs 80 yuan per person is already considered high-end, and you can eat very well.

The place Zheng Jiawei and Su Cheng mentioned was a home-style restaurant where the average cost per person was 50 yuan.

Just after sitting down, Su Cheng suddenly remembered to ask Zheng Jiawei:
"Hey, where's your girlfriend?"

"Why don't we call her over? We can go together."

"She's busy today."

"No holiday for New Year's Day?"

“She’s on holiday, but she went back to her hometown.” Zheng Jiawei said his girlfriend’s hometown is more than ten kilometers away from the county seat, in a village in a certain township.

"Is it the girl you mentioned?"

"Correct."

"So you've been dating for quite a long time, haven't you? If I remember correctly, it started in high school, right?"

"Yes, it's been eight years."

The three chatted and ordered food at the same time.

Su Cheng ordered six dishes: egg noodles, braised tofu with scallions, dried bean curd sticks, stir-fried pork with eggs and vegetables, braised pork intestines, and the last dish was braised carp with noodles.

"Brother Cheng, there's no need to order so much. We can't finish it all. I'm on a diet right now."

"It's okay, you can take the leftovers home."

Su Cheng considered Zheng Jiawei one of her own, which is why she suggested that he pack up the leftovers.

In addition, Su Cheng ordered a few bottles of beer, as he wanted to have some with Zheng Jiawei.

"Just park your car here and let your sister Li drive you home."

"it is good."

The dishes were served one after another.

Su Cheng inquired about Zheng Jiawei's current income: "How's it going? Your income should be alright, right?"

"Not bad, we should be able to pay off the debt this year," Zheng Jiawei said with a smile. "If we're careful with our spending, we should be able to save around 30,000 to 40,000 a year."

"Not bad, not bad," Su Cheng praised.

Zheng Jiawei's ability to develop a small grocery store into a fresh food supermarket is commendable.

"Hey Cheng-ge, Li-jie, is that a Volkswagen Passat?"

"Correct."

"330 or 380?"

"380, that's your sister Li's car."

"How's it driving, Sister Li?"

Ye Li didn't know much about this, so she passed the topic to Su Cheng: "I don't usually drive much, but your brother Cheng drives a lot, let him tell you."

Su Cheng naturally took over the conversation to answer Zheng Jiawei's question: "It's great, very good. German cars are especially good at sound insulation on the highway, with almost no noise."

"can!"

Zheng Jiawei's eyes were filled with envy.

His current car is still the old Baojun 730, and it's a manual transmission. He's thinking of getting a new car.

However, it's not possible to change it this year. I might consider taking out a loan to buy a new car next year or the year after.

But it doesn't necessarily mean I'll switch to a Magotan. Even the 330 version of that car would cost over 100,000 to 200,000 yuan on the road.

There are still many expenses at home, so he estimates he'll only need to buy an SUV around 100,000 yuan. He thinks the Haval H6 and Changan CS75 are pretty good options.

Based on Zheng Jiawei's needs and situation, Su Cheng offered his subjective advice: "Then I think you should buy the Tiggo 8; the price difference isn't that much."

"Is it from Chery?"

"Correct."

"Isn't it said that there's a long line of people waiting to get a Chery car repaired? Won't it break down easily?"

"That's all ancient history. They did a great job."

"Okay, I'll see then. It's definitely not going to be changed this year."

"Brother Cheng, how are you doing in Jingzhou?"

"It's alright, still the same job, no changes, just that I was promoted to a permanent position and received a small bonus."

"Brother Cheng, does my uncle own a renovation company?"

Su Cheng frowned.

Ok?
How did Zheng Jiawei find out?

Su Cheng didn't tell him that.

"The last time I passed by that street full of home renovation and building materials, I saw my uncle holding an opening ceremony there. He even hired people to perform lion dances and such."

The county town is very small.

You can run into acquaintances every few days.

Especially since those industries are clustered together.

A whole street could be dedicated to home renovation, restaurants, or even mobile phone repair and sales.

"Yes, he's a boss now, but I don't know if he can make money. I'd probably lose a lot. There's nothing I can do to dissuade him!"

Su Cheng did try to persuade her.

He genuinely tried to persuade them.

But if his father is determined to get money out of him, what can Su Cheng do?
That's all I can do.

To Su Cheng's surprise, her father didn't mention his renovation company at all when she went home this time.

“Let me tell you, Jiawei, over 80% of people his age who start a business want to be their own boss. They take some savings, dive in headfirst, and then lose everything before they can get out.”

"Huh? Uncle wouldn't, would he?"

"Hard to say."

At the dinner table, Su Cheng and Zheng Jiawei were the main conversationalists, while Ye Li ate her meal quietly, occasionally playing the straight man for Su Cheng.

Chatting and chatting.

The conversation then turned to Zheng Jiawei's father.

How's your dad?

"It's still the same, nothing's getting better. Last year the doctor said we could stop rehabilitation because there's no possibility of improvement. This is how it'll be for the rest of my life, sigh..."

Zheng Jiawei sighed as he spoke and downed the wine in his glass.

"It's okay, don't worry. After we finish eating, we'll drop you off and then stop by to see your dad, okay?"

"Sure, my dad's minding the shop right now."

Su Cheng turned to Ye Li and asked, "How's it, Sister Chestnut? Is it delicious?"

Ye Li gave the restaurant a high rating: "It's great, very delicious. It tastes even better than the table that Lao Zhang booked for our last get-together."

After dinner.

Ye Li drove Su Cheng and Zheng Jiawei, who had been drinking, to his family's fresh food supermarket.

"Sister Li, this is the place. You can park anywhere. Nobody issues tickets here."

Su Cheng reminded her, "No, it's almost Chinese New Year and everyone is short of money. Let's park in a parking space. There's a parking space over there."

(End of this chapter)