Investment Life

CHAPTER 32

When he woke up the next day, there were no voices in the room. A long life of nine to four had changed Chen Yuanming's biological clock, and he could no longer get up from bed at 6:00 am in the morning. However, he did not expect to be able to sleep so heavily that he did not even hear his parents leaving for work.

The table was still placed in the middle of the room with several dishes on it as well as a note which said that both had left for work, the brazier was still burning outside, and that on getting up he should eat the food in the pot. In this short sentence, there were two misspelled words. Chen Yuanming smiled, put down the note, and opened the door.

January in the north was completely different from Zhuhai and Shanghai. Some days were cold and windy.

As the cold wind stirred, Chen Yuanming shivered. He took his towel and toothbrush and walked towards the public bathrooms. At this time, morning rush hour had passed and there was no one in the corridor. The smell of cooking smoke in the morning had also dissipated, leaving only the inexplicably stale smell of the old dormitory. Though the water from the tap was cold and numbed his fingers, it was sufficiently refreshing. After washing up quickly, Chen Yuanming straightened and was about to return to the room when unexpectedly a figure appeared in front of him.

"Doudou? It's really Doudou!" An old lady, wearing a flowery brown cotton padded jacket, exclaimed in admiration, "When did you come back? Your mother told us that there was still two weeks left!"

"Grandma Wang, I just returned home last night, I haven't had time to say hello to everyone ..." Chen Yuanming responded with a smile.

This Aunt Wang lived in the first apartment at the west end of the corridor, next to the public bathroom, and was considered an old resident. She spent this period living with her son and daughter-in-law and this floor belonged to their family.

The people here were not bad except for a little tendency to gossip. In this era, neighborly relationships were not like those of future generations where, when the security door was shut, no one would know anything. On the contrary, the residents were all employees of the factory and mine. Half of their meals and drinks were consumed publicly and there was no entertainment at night. To go out was to head out with a stool to play chess. Within this sort of overly close neighborhood relationship, the big and small details of each family was easily known.

"It's good to come back! It's good to come back!" Aunt Wang praised repeatedly, "At such a young age, how could anyone go out to work? You don't know how hard it was on your mother at the beginning. People from the school came to look for her twice. No one can afford to raise a child at this time but at least they will still finish junior high school. How many people criticized her behind her back? Your mother couldn't lift her head in the courtyard for a few months. Later when they found out you made money, it got better. Who would have thought that such a young child would be so prosperous..."?

Her words were full of compliments, yet her eyes were full of gossip. Chen Yuanming's eyebrows wrinkled slightly, but the smile on his mouth did not fade. "It's because I'm young and ignorant, that I worried my family. Thanks to Grandma Wang for your care. Though I am not at home because of the neighbors' help ..."

"Well! Where did you go?!" Aunt Wang waved her hand heroically, "Your parents just live in the courtyard and do not rely on the neighbors in the community! It's just that, Doudou, you won't be leaving this time, right? Since you can do business like this, you can make money at home, why run so far...?"

Faced with such exhortation, what else could Chen Yuanming say? With a smile and a few perfunctory words, he turned around and returned to the room. Putting down the towel in his hand, Chen Yuanming looked at the room, which was still narrow and cramped, and looked at the corridor, which was full of clutter making movement rather inconvenient, and gave a bitter smile.