Ling Ran thought about it for a while and muttered in a low voice: "Actually, there is nothing bad about Ye Ling, but compared to you and Li Zhao, her willpower is a little weaker. Ling Ran thought to herself: And myself, they are all poor self-control, lack of will, eager for quick success, short-sighted, and a single flesh and bone will boo us around. Grandma's, so the two of us are so right, a pair of dog men and women.

Shao Chengzhi saw Ling Ran's thoughts, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. At this time, it was already a little faster, Shao Chengzhi was quite tired, so he leaned on the back of the sofa and took Ling Ranlou in his arms: "Willpower, yes, when a person is born with nothing, and the environment is particularly harsh, in order to fight for limited resources and get out of the desert where the material and spiritual are extremely barren, what else can he rely on except will." ”

"Over the years, I've been pushing myself to keep moving forward, moving forward. I have no childhood, no youth, all the time I have been studying and working hard, for 30 years, my life has been a blank, almost no memory You don't say that Ye Ling has weak willpower, in the face of shortcuts, a man who is in the stage of rapid rise is tempted by the huge interests that his eyes can see, it is really normal, too natural, this should not be a matter of character, it can only be said that this man has the ability and ambition, and is willing to pay the effort and price for his ambition. ”

Shao Chengzhi hesitated for a moment: "Ling Ran, do you think I am not tempted? Compared with the temptation that Ye Ling faced, my temptation is simply not worthy of being called temptation. He was at least for the future of his career, and the price he paid was also huge, his marital love, almost half of a person's life. I'm just facing an easier and easier life, the road to progress is too hard, I want to give up, I want to be lazy, you didn't think of it, I didn't give up for anything, I just want to live an easier life, but I am very troubled. ”

Shao Chengzhi explained: "When I was about to graduate from my bachelor's degree, 2000 years ago, it was the time when the world's IT industry was booming, and at that time, all the world's major IT companies came to Tsinghua to recruit people. No company offers an annual salary of 100,000 yuan, because the annual salary of 100,000 yuan is too low, too low, and they don't want to recruit people at all. At that time, you know, the wages of workers in Beijing were only a few hundred yuan, and the housing prices in Beijing's Third Ring Road were only more than 2,000 square meters. ”

"In Tsinghua University, unless you graduate from a bachelor's degree, if you don't go abroad directly, you will generally be guaranteed a doctorate, even if you can't get a bachelor's degree, there are other schools, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences. If you really don't have anywhere to go, you can also take the master's degree in engineering at this school, in short, you will generally continue your studies. At that time, one of the worst grades in our class didn't get anything, not even a master's degree in engineering, so I went to look for a job. He felt very embarrassed, and his resume was not well written, and even so, the big companies still interviewed him. At that time, there was a Chinese company that was not too big and now ranked in the top 10, and they came to interview him, and he was a little disdainful in his heart, and his attitude was a little ignorant, and the company asked him, "Do you think you are excellent?" He said, of course. The company said, "Why do you think so?" He said, "Because I'm good." As a result, the interviewer stared at him for a few seconds, and the interviewer said, "Then let's sign a contract." His starting salary is 10,000 yuan per month. ”

"This incident made my class go crazy at the time. This is the market price of the person with the worst level in our class, and the program he made up has always been a chatter and so many mistakes that it is impossible to read. Who is not higher than him? We who are studying for a Ph.D. can start to receive a graduate student allowance from September, when other schools are 200 a month, Tsinghua is 450, but he can earn 10,000 a month from August. Who is not tempted by cash?"

"Ling Ran, you don't know how poor I was at that time, I was 21 years old at the time, I only bought meat vegetables once a week, I didn't have a thick coat to protect against the cold in winter, and I didn't have slippers when I bathed. Do you think I can not think more about it when I am faced with such an opportunity to get out of poverty quickly? I really asked myself over and over again, should I continue to study in graduate school? Should I give up my studies and work immediately? Anyway, I can improve myself at work, do it for a year or two, save some money, accumulate some experience, I can start my own business, open a company, and I can be my own boss. ”

"But after all, people still pay more attention to the future development space, and the students, including me, finally chose the established route. But many people changed their minds halfway, gave up their degrees at Tsinghua University, and went to the United States. Because it was between 9700, there was a shortage of IT talents in the United States, and no matter which school in the United States had a CS master's degree, it would have an annual salary of at least $70,000 as soon as he graduated, as well as company shares. 70,000 annual salary, the exchange rate between China and the United States at that time was 1:83, which was equal to 5.6 million yuan"

"I know that at that time, my parents were in the suburbs at that time, and now they are outside the Fifth Ring Road, and they bought a villa for less than 1 million. Ling Ran interjected.

"At that time, the price of goods in the United States was not high, and there was also the installment payment system in the United States, with an annual salary of 70,000 yuan, and I had all the houses and car tickets after working for half a year. At that time, other places in China may not know much about the United States, but in Tsinghua University, they know the income and price situation in the United States very clearly, because we have too many brothers and sisters to tell us the details At that time, no matter what major Chinese students studied, after arriving in the United States, they all changed to a CS master's degree, which was short and fast, graduated in one and a half years and two years, and as soon as they graduated, they were large companies with high salaries. What's more, we are computer majors in the first place. So our classmates left one after another, and there were 4 people in our dormitory, and only two people remained. ”

"If I give up my degree at Tsinghua University and go abroad, with my level, I can get a master's degree in one year, at that time, I can't go to any company I want to go to. If I had a job for a large American company with an annual salary of $70,000, my life would never have been lacking again. Shao Chengzhi glanced at Ling Ran a little shyly, "I even thought of that Chinese female classmate, if I had an annual salary of $70,000, I would be able to accept her."

"At that time, I repeatedly said to myself: my goal is to go to a top university in the United States, complete the highest degree, go to the top of the ivory tower, and become a world-class cybersecurity expert, not to become the most ordinary and mediocre programmer, sitting in a hundred pigeon cages every day and breaking the same code. I relied on this self-praise to persevere until I graduated with a master's degree. ”

"Then there is going abroad for a PhD. It was 2000, the year before the world IT bubble burst, when the whole of America was crazy, the NASDAQ index was skyrocketing, and a small broken company with 40 people could sell for more than $100 a share. Silicon Valley companies can't recruit people from this program, and students who graduate from any major can get a job after taking a computer training course. At that time, it was very difficult for Chinese students to go to the United States to finish their Ph.D., and they all changed to CS halfway through the study, and they could find a bad school for two years, and work quickly, and they were looking for a job in a small company, because that kind of small company gave 1 million shares to the stock, and once it was listed, it was at least a million dollars. Not to mention those who are already studying CS, the boss is begging the doctoral students not to leave, because no one is doing the subject. ”

"When I arrived in the United States, I didn't have to go to school, I could just find a job in a company, whether it was Microsoft or IBM, I just had to show them H's offer, and I didn't believe they would reject me. ”

"I started doing my PhD, and then things took a turn for the worse. In 2001, the IT bubble burst, the stock market plummeted, and countless people killed stocks that they were reluctant to sell and became waste paper overnight. The entire U.S. economy has fallen into a slump, with countless large companies going bankrupt, countless IT engineers losing their jobs, and countless working immigrants leaving the U.S. to return home. From 2001 to 2005, American IT students did not dare to graduate at all, because graduation was unemployment. At the same time, China's economy is booming, housing prices are rising, salaries are doubling, prices are starting to soar, and private cars are starting to enter the family. ”

"I was deeply troubled by these thoughts, I went all the way, all the way to ask myself, is my choice the right one, what is my goal? I found that I was really at a loss, I just kept moving forward, moving forward, and I was suppressing my own ** all the way If I work in China after graduating from my bachelor's degree, if the salary is high enough, maybe I will choose her; if I trip halfway to go to the United States to study for a master's degree, I can ask her to wait for me, and when I graduate in the United States and find a job, this is more painful for me than to let me give up my low-hanging fruit and high salary, after all, I give up my immediate interests for the future development, I give up her, it is a man who gives up love and believes that I love me and I am willing to entrust my life to a girl who is willing to entrust my life to me because I dare not take responsibility？”

"Ling Ran, you don't know, after I returned to China, I went back to my hometown first, and I stayed for a total of three days, and my middle school classmates invited me to a party, but I didn't dare to go, because I was afraid that I would meet her. In fact, she has been married for several years, and she is so happy that she doesn't take me to heart at all. It's that I can't let go, and when I see her, I will ask myself: Am I wrong, am I missing the happiness of my life. Shao Chengzhi looked at Ling Ran, "I think if I go home for the New Year this year, I will go to the class reunion, and I am no longer afraid to see her, because I have you." ”

Shao Chengzhi continued: "In order to resist the demons in my heart, when I was in the United States, I copied a sentence of Hayao Miyazaki on paper, pasted it on the computer, and read it every day. Hayao Miyazaki said: No matter how hard the road ahead is, as long as you go in the right direction, no matter how bumpy it is, you are closer to happiness than standing still. ”

"Actually, I don't know the path I've chosen, whether it's the right direction or not, I'm just going forward, going forward, and going forward. Over the years, I have repeatedly told myself that the path I have chosen to take must be completed before it is proven wrong, and that I cannot give up because of the temptation of a little scenery on the side of the road, if this happens, I will achieve nothing. I pursue the highest degree in order to give myself a commanding height, to go higher, to see further, which is not something that can be measured by a little salary or a little bit of shares now. I was still young, and I was able to endure material deprivation, spiritual loneliness, and these were only temporary. ”

Ling Ran's tears slowly flowed.

Actually, these are my comforting words. Shao Chengzhi smiled, "I still don't know whether my choice is right or wrong, if I take another path, whether life will be smoother or bummer, more exciting or bleak." If I had worked after graduating from my bachelor's degree, would I have been the founder of a big IT company or a big website in China, or would I have opened a small shop in a crowded electronic city in Beijing, hired a few employees, and washed poisoned old computers for customers every day? , all kinds of applications to go back to school for a doctorate or immigrate to Canada to cut raw beef in a Chinese supermarket but people can't walk two ways at the same time, these things that didn't really happen, if they happen, who knows how fate will arrange them, what kind of surprises or setbacks will give me. ”

"Before the summer of 2005, I finished my project and started writing my graduation thesis, and I told my boss that I planned to graduate by the end of the year. At that time, the job market in the United States was still very bad, there were no openings, and I sent resumes to various universities in the United States before the interview period. My boss has always been very good to me, so he persuaded me to slow down, he said that he still has a funding fund, and it is no problem to support me for three months to half a year, and I can delay it any longer. But I don't want to delay any longer, since 2001, the funding of various universities in the United States has been tight, so why should I waste his money and my time. I just said one thing: I can get a job. In the professional world, I have always been confident in myself. ”

Shao Chengzhi sighed: "Actually, if you really think about it, I haven't encountered any particularly important temptations that can make me stand out and soar to the sky, just like Ye Ling faced, just the choice of life path has made me so miserable." Sometimes I really hate to have to choose by myself, whether it's career, direction, love, marriage, if I don't have the ability to choose, I can only resign myself to fate, then I will lose a lot of suffering?"

Shao Chengzhi hesitated for a moment and tightened his arm: "Ling Ran, I'll be honest with you, don't be angry." I don't know if it's right to be with you, I really don't. Li Zhaota, against us being together, because he felt that we were not suitable. But I want to be with you, I have decided, unless you change your mind, otherwise, I will never give up, whether it is right or wrong, whether the future is smooth or not, I have never done anything as I want in the past, this is the first time in my life to do a willful thing, completely obey my own heart"

Ling Ran smiled: "Did Li Zhao suggest that you marry Wang Xia?"

"Well, he's like that, he likes to impose his ideas on others. However, he just hasn't been in contact with you, he doesn't know you, and he attaches more importance to the relationship between his fellow villagers" Shao Chengzhi was nervous, for fear that Ling Ran would have thoughts about Li Zhao.

Ling Ran knew how important Li Zhao was to Shao Chengzhi, so she quickly dispelled his concerns, so she pursed her mouth and coquettishly: "Li Zhaozhen, what kind of wife did he marry, and he had to force his friends to marry what kind of wife, he should wear a couple's clothes." You tell him that you are different from him, you pursue benefits, you have to do something to get married, not to be young and beautiful, but also to have a house and a car, otherwise this marriage certificate is not really white-collar. Why do you marry Wang Xia, does she have good looks, figure, or dowry? Isn't there a diploma? You told Li Zhao that you don't want to marry a female doctor who worries about her thesis during the day and marries at night, you just want to marry the only daughter of a billionaire family and the heiress of her father-in-law's terminal cancer. Does he have any, to introduce one. ”

Shao Chengzhi was taken aback: "This, let's get rid of it, I don't dare to think about it." ”

"What should be thought, what should be thought. Ling Ran hurriedly cheered him up, "Ye Ling dreams every day about what kind of person his father-in-law should be, you have to surpass him, otherwise I won't be very faceless, you have to think every day about when your father-in-law should become a dead man." ”

Shao Chengzhi smiled.

Ling Ran also smiled at him, and suddenly asked: "Chengzhi, you went abroad in 2000, and at that time China was going abroad, especially Beijing and Shanghai, because other small places may be closed to information, and I don't know how big the gap between the two countries is, while Beijing and Shanghai have many people going abroad, and they are well-informed, and they know what kind of living standard is there." ”

"At that time, the daughter of a doctor in my father's hospital, who graduated from college, was beautiful, and had a good family condition, and was introduced to marry an auto mechanic in the United States. The man's parents were smuggled to the United States to open a restaurant in his early years, he graduated from junior high school, and he immigrated through relatives when he was almost 18 years old. That's it, the girl is willing. The man came back from the United States to marry him, and he drooled with envy from a group of people. At that time, as long as they could go abroad, the girls were willing to marry any man, and it was a big deal to change them in the United States. ”

"Cheng Zhi, you went to the California Institute of Technology to study for an IT doctorate with a full scholarship, and the scholarship was equivalent to 16,000 yuan a month, and at that time, working in China for a month could earn 23,000 yuan was considered a high salary. No, I went to Tsinghua to play, and I saw that there were girls from other schools in front of the cafeteria, and it was written: I would like to be a companion. When I saw it, it really flashed in my head: Wow, I didn't think of pinching, it's so stupid. I almost knocked on the door of the dormitory to recommend myself. ”

Shao Chengzhi smiled: "Knocking on the door of the bedroom one by one, this is really there, almost every day." It was the parents who accompanied their daughter to the Tsinghua boys' dormitory to knock on the door and send us photos. ”

"Yes, at that time, Shuimu Tsinghua was also a bunch of advertisements for friends sent by girls from other schools every day, what to tutor English, and what to find Tsinghua boys who are good at mathematics to help write papers. It made me very depressed, because at that time, I couldn't post photos on BBS, and my advantage was too obvious. Ling Ran said, pushing Shao Chengzhi with his hand, "Say, did you introduce you to someone at that time, is it that Beijingers don't have the brains and know marketing as your middle school principal." Say it quickly, be lenient in your confession. Ling Ran has always felt strange about this, if Shao Chengzhi is looking for a wife before going abroad, why not find it in Beijing.

Shao Chengzhi was helpless: "Well, yes, my friends introduced me to a number of female doctors in school, some of whom worked, the bank of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of the Taxation Bureau, and the daughter of a deputy minister, but I was dirty and stupid, and I didn't have decent clothes to wear on a blind date, so people didn't look down on me." I have self-knowledge, so if I can't go, I won't go, I can't be forced, and I go to perfunctory once, and the result is naturally death. ”

Ling Ran's heart suddenly jumped: the daughter of the deputy minister.

Of course, this is not surprising, and there are so many vice ministers in Beijing. What introduced Li Zhao was the daughter of the director, Shao Chengzhi went to a top university in the United States to study for a doctorate, and it was too logical for others to introduce the daughter of the deputy minister, and it was illogical to introduce no one.

Shao Chengzhi looked at Ling Ran a little nervously.

Ling Ran smiled: "You are returning to China now, the conditions are better than when you went abroad, has anyone introduced you to the daughter of the minister." ”

Shao Chengzhi couldn't cry or laugh: "How can there be such a thing, I am an IT migrant worker who eats technical meals in a foreign company, who can look at it." ”

"Then who are you on a blind date for half a year?"

Shao Chengzhi had a headache, and the woman was really inquisitive and hysterical: "Well, it's the same as the last time I was in Wangjing, and the blind date was going to meet the one who didn't see the traffic jam and didn't see him, with similar conditions, relatively young, passable appearance, and some assets at home." This type of girl is more popular in our company, because everyone wants to go out and start their own company after two years."

Ling Ran suddenly realized, it turned out that what people wanted was start-up capital, not how big the father-in-law was, which was only attractive to Li Zhao. Men are very rational and targeted, they know what they lack and what they want, they will not be untargeted, and they will be like women with socks on the stall, such as Ye Ling, what people are looking for is the second generation of finance, not the daughter of the deputy director.

Ling Ran was silent. Shao Chengzhi sighed: "Ling Ran, is there anything to discuss about this issue? Blind date is a condition, so no matter who you meet on a blind date, if you are not qualified enough, people still don't look down on you." If I want to be like Ye Ling, find a father-in-law who can help me on horseback and give me a ride, I will not come to pursue you; if I want to be like Li Zhao, find a wife who is the same kind as myself and live a rough life, I will not come to you. But I just like you, I want to marry you, I have spent 10 years of my youth waiting for you to appear, will I still give up the woman of my dreams because my father-in-law is a little powerful or the girl has more dowry? ”

Ling Ran couldn't help but smile: "That's not what I said, people are still begging to remarry his ex-wife, his father-in-law is also supporting him, and at the same time, his ex-girlfriend is back, and he doesn't forget to come and take a bite again." You look at people, this is called career and love, father-in-law support and personal freedom, what is a winner in life, this is called a winner in life. ”

The two looked at each other and smiled. Ling Ran's heart was full of emotion, she now understood that the reason why Shao Chengzhi had never mentioned this question was because she was afraid that she would be nervous about the harm she would suffer from Ye Ling, and Shao Chengzhi had been carefully caring.

Ling Ran didn't know what to say: "Well, it's late, it's too late, you go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow." "It's a little bit more.

Shao Chengzhi shook his head: "No, I can't go to sleep." I'm going to leave tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m., and if I go to bed at this hour, I won't be able to get up tomorrow morning. Go to sleep, I'll do some work now and leave at half-past four. ”

"Then you stay up all night, how can you still drive, it's too dangerous. ”

"I don't drive, I'll take a nap tomorrow morning. Shao Chengzhi said.

Ling Ran thought for a while, brought her mobile phone, and set the alarm clock: "I will wake you up on time at half past four, but now, I will let you sleep for a while." ”

Ling Ran got up and turned off the light, then slowly walked back to Shao Chengzhi and stood to look at him. Shao Chengzhi was a little inexplicable, he didn't know what she wanted to do, and at the same time he felt a little uneasy.

Ling Ran slowly knelt down in front of Shao Chengzhi, parted his legs, and pulled his pajama pants.

"Don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. What do you want. Shao Chengzhi was nervous.

Ling Ran whispered, "Let me do it, Chengzhi, you deserve it from me." ”

Shao Chengzhi squirted out in less than five minutes, but his brain was completely dizzy. Ling Ran sucked him carefully: "Okay, now go to your room and sleep." It's okay to sleep for a few hours, and tomorrow the phone will wake us up. ”

Shao Chengzhi walked into his room dizzily, fatigue and the nervousness and excitement that he had never felt before just now made him fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Ling Ran put the quilt on his armpits, closed the curtains, and then walked out of the room lightly.

Ling Ran silently said in her heart: Ye Ling, I don't need you anymore, because I have found a better one. You have convinced me, but he has broken my heart even more. I know that in your heart, the future is more important than mine, and success is sexier than mine, and in the same way, in my heart, the man who can control himself in the face of temptation and persevere in the face of hardship is sexier than you.

In a three-bedroom apartment on the edge of the Fourth Ring Road, although it was so late and the lights were not turned on, a man stood in front of the window, toasting to the non-extinguishing neon lights of Beijing outside the window.

This is the first time Ling Ran has missed an appointment. Ye Ling asked Bihai Qingtian: Ranran, have you really forgotten me, can you really live without me and let life be broken from now on