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"The bride price is three hundred thousand. Not a single penny less!"
"I do not care about the money. I just want to know how important I am to you."
"Also, your apartment cannot have your mother's name on it. You must transfer it to my name."
Shenzhen, at a window seat in the Gray Whale Coffee Shop.
Jiang Qin, thirty-eight years old, looked at the woman sitting across from him. He suddenly felt that her face was somewhat unfamiliar.
They had met through a blind date and had been together for about half a year. Because neither of them was young anymore, they did not have time to delay. Therefore, they had been discussing marriage recently.
To be honest, Jiang Qin did not have much affection for her. He believed she felt the same way about him.
After all, they were both nearing forty. Was the purpose of getting married and having children still for the sake of love?
They simply did not want to die alone...
However, he did not speak. He silently drank the water in his cup and looked out the glass window. His ears automatically filtered out her voice.
He felt that life was actually quite a mess.
Because his parents said that knowledge could change one's destiny, he had studied hard since he was a child. He thought he would surely be wealthy and extraordinary in the future.
But after he started working, he realized that he did not even count as an ordinary man.
In 2016, when he first entered the workforce, he was forced to drink with a table full of clients. He ended up in the hospital and missed seeing his grandmother one last time before she passed away.
In 2019, a project failed. He was forced to take the blame. He stayed in a rented room eating instant noodles for five months, unable to distinguish between dreams and reality.
The job he found later was relatively stable, but it was very far from where he lived. He worked so hard that he felt his liver was breaking from the grind. He was so diligent that he would save up his trips to the bathroom just so he could save enough to buy a car.
In 2022, he finally bought the car. Then he discovered he could not afford the gasoline, and his health was failing.
After he turned thirty, he found that the rent was rising faster than his salary. So he saved money desperately and told his parents he wanted to buy a house in Shenzhen.
From that day on, meat never appeared on his parents' dinner table again.
But they still could not gather enough for a down payment. His father kept it a secret and worked a day job while driving for a ride-hailing service at night. He almost suffered a brain hemorrhage.
Is poverty really related to laziness?
Jiang Qin had been thinking about this question for all these years.
He felt that he had been diligent enough. He had truly lived up to his name.
But where was the money?
Who exactly was earning all the money?
When he was a child, his parents told him earnestly that as long as he was willing to endure hardship, he would surely succeed.
But the fact he discovered after growing up was that as long as you were willing to endure hardship, you would have an endless supply of it.
Now, his blind date wanted a bride price of three hundred thousand.
"Jiang Qin, are you even listening to me?"
"Yes, I have been listening."
"Then why are you not saying anything? I have been talking for so long that my throat is hoarse, and you do not even care!"
Jiang Qin put down his water cup. After a long silence, he spoke. "This marriage... how about we just do not go through with it?"
The woman froze for a moment. Then she flew into a rage. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. I just feel very tired. I want to go home and sleep."
"Jiang Qin, you coward! No wonder you are thirty-eight and no woman wants to be with you!"
Jiang Qin ignored the woman's roaring. He stepped out of the restaurant and walked aimlessly along the road.
When he reached a construction site, he saw a banner hanging on the wall. It said: 'The wage earner is the elite.'
He lit a cigarette. After taking two puffs, he burned a hole in the banner with the cherry.
He did not actually have many grievances against that woman. He even felt that her demands were normal.
She was already thirty-five. What was wrong with being a bit realistic?
He was just thinking about one question.
When would these kinds of days end?
People who have never been a wage earner desperately claim that the wage earner is the elite. Those who have been a wage earner their whole lives do not dare to say anything. They can only nod and agree.
But how exactly did he look like the elite?
In this life, he only managed to get two pairs of AJs, and they were both knock-offs. You call this being the elite?
As for love?
Jiang Qin did not even know if such a thing existed.
He had gone on several blind dates and met girls introduced by friends. He could make do with any of them, but the saddest part was that it was limited to just making do.
Looking back at his life, there were truly too many regrets...
Jiang Qin sighed. He took his phone out of his pocket, wanting to find a friend to drink with. But after opening it, he saw four text messages.
One was a credit card payment reminder. One was a phone bill overdue warning. One was a spam message saying, 'Big brother, I am nearby, and no one is home today.'
The last one was from his direct supervisor. He used earnest words to tell him that the company's performance had been poor lately. He hoped the employees would voluntarily take a pay cut to help the company through these difficult times.
Jiang Qin instantly lost the mood to drink. He continued smoking under the construction building.
In this era, if you want to be rich, you absolutely cannot be a wage earner. This was because the distribution of resources in this society was inherently unfair.
But when he thought of his age, Jiang Qin could not help but laugh.
It was a bit unrealistic to start a business at thirty-eight, was it not?
His back had been broken from exhaustion these past two years. He had problems with his cervical spine. His nerve pain was more frequent than his need to urinate.
Dragging this broken body to start a business... even if he succeeded, he would be fifty. What would be left to enjoy in life?
'If only I could start over. I would not work as anything. I would become a boy toy for a rich woman if I could.'
'If that did not work, I would start a business. I would believe that if the money is gone, I can earn it again, but if my conscience is gone, I can earn even more.'
Jiang Qin took a deep breath. He massaged his aching neck. He could not help but glance upward.
Hmm?
What was that black mass? Why was it falling right toward his head?
"..."
"Give him a shot of adrenaline, hurry!"
"..."
"Welcome the Olympics, speak civilly, establish new trends!"
"..."
"Where is Director Liu? Ask if the operating room is ready. Hurry up!"
"..."
"My front door is always open, waiting for you with open arms."
Jiang Qin suddenly felt the light before his eyes was piercing. His ears were noisy, his skin felt hot, and his head was dizzy.
In the blur, he saw a very beautiful young girl. She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old.
She wore a puffy floral dress that revealed a small section of her fair, smooth calves. She had a pert nose, rosy thin lips, slender curled eyelashes, and a pair of bright eyes.
Jiang Qin smiled.
In all the years he had been a diligent wage earner to help his big boss buy new cars and villas, he had never even dreamed of such a beautiful girl.
'A girl this beautiful... if I slapped her, she would probably cry for a long time, right?'
"Jiang Qin, I really do not want to date anyone. I am sorry."
Jiang Qin could no longer smile. He discovered that the young girl before him was becoming increasingly vivid and clear.
The floral dress she wore was printed with daisies. She stood gracefully on a red plastic track. She used her snow-white arm to slightly block the sunlight so she would not have to squint.
Even so, the scorching weather still made this youthful and beautiful girl look a bit irritable.
"If you do not speak, I will assume you agree. We are still good friends, right?"
Jiang Qin's brow began to tighten. A hint of gravity flashed in his eyes.
He knew this girl. She was the class beauty from his high school days, Chu Siqi. She should be someone's wife by now.
From high school through university, he had pursued her for seven years. He was rejected so many times that he almost doubted his own existence.
Actually, Jiang Qin was not a die-hard simp. He was not the type to pester someone relentlessly.
The problem was that Chu Siqi constantly intervened in his life as a friend. She asked him to do this and that. She did not allow him to date other girls. From time to time, she would give him a little hope or a few pieces of candy. She had truly tortured the young Jiang Qin.
'I will consider being your girlfriend after my freshman year!'
'I did not expect the coursework in sophomore year to be so heavy. Let us talk about it in junior year.'
'There are many competitions to participate in during junior year. I do not have time for romance.'
It was not until the second semester of her junior year that she arrived holding hands with a tall, thin boy while wearing matching couple's outfits.
That day, her face was full of tenderness. Her eyes were like a sea of stars. She smiled and asked him if her boyfriend was handsome.
After that, he sealed his heart. He never had the thought of falling in love again. That was how the story of a thirty-eight-year-old man reluctantly finding someone to marry began.
In 2008, the concept of a spare tire did not exist yet. It was not until later, when the internet became developed, that Jiang Qin understood. It turned out he was just a spare tire.
She simply had not found someone suitable yet, so she kept him at a distance. When she was happy, she would tease him. When she was unhappy, she would ignore him.
To put it bluntly, to her, he was just a tool to pass the time when she was bored.
The past events were vivid in his mind, but Jiang Qin felt dizzy and heard a ringing in his ears.
The South City High School in his memory. The class beauty from her youth.
'Is this... a rebirth?'
'Or am I dreaming?'
'If it is a rebirth, where is the "ding"? Why is there no "ding"?'
Jiang Qin tremblingly reached out his hand. He clawed at the air a few times. He did not wake up any virtual screens.
'Is this a fake rebirth? They did not even provide the equipment?'
"Jiang Qin, did you hear what I said? I really do not want to date right now."
"Fine. I will do as you say."
Jiang Qin replied casually. Then he closed his eyes. He wanted to see if he could use his mind to awaken a Golden Finger. Unfortunately, he failed. There really was no System.
Hearing his blunt answer, Chu Siqi was somewhat surprised. Jiang Qin's attitude was full of indifference. This made her feel as though her punch had landed on cotton. It was a feeling of sudden powerlessness.
"Did you not hear me clearly? I just rejected you!"
"I heard you. I am not deaf."
"Then... then do you have nothing to say to me?"
Jiang Qin accepted the reality that there was no System. His gaze landed on Chu Siqi's hand. "What is that thing in your hand?"
Chu Siqi raised the envelope in her hand with a proud look. "This is the love letter you just shoved at me. I already said I did not want it, but you gave it anyway. Do not write them anymore."
"Then can you give it back to me? I have a use for it."
Jiang Qin did not wait for her to agree. He took the love letter back. He pulled out the page inside, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he unfolded the envelope, flattened it on his knee, and wrote two lines of text.
[Don't be a wage earner. If you can, find a sugar mommy. If not, start a business.]
[Money can be made again, but you can make way more if you lose your conscience.]