Quick Travel System: Age Strategy

I was born on a snowy day. My father named me Lin Zheng, which means a prosperous family business and strong and enterprising spirit. He hoped that I could carry on the earnest hope of the Lin family and develop the family.

My family is a traditional scholarly family. My grandfather's generation was a school teacher. My father went abroad to study and came back to inherit my grandfather's legacy and become a teacher.

I was taught to read and write when I was very young. Every time I made a mistake in a question, I would be hit on the palm. In order to avoid being hit on the palm, I studied diligently and hard.

Because of the family education I received since childhood, I have always had good academic performance.

My family is also an upper-middle class in Pingyang County. I am good at studying, have a good family, and look good. I have always been the envy of others.

My parents are both teachers at Pingyang County Central Middle School, one teaches mathematics and the other teaches politics. They love each other very much, never quarreling and rarely getting angry.

In any occasion, outside or at home, the atmosphere between them is one of love and tacit understanding. I have always longed for such a relationship.

I also successfully entered Pingyang County Central Middle School in high school. Although my parents and I were in the same school, we rarely met at school.

They didn't want me to grow up relying on the halo given by my family. They wanted me to prove myself with my own strength. Facts have proved that I have indeed succeeded.

In school, I am considered a top student and a genius in the eyes of my classmates. But what they don’t know is how much I have paid behind the scenes to achieve this.

The first time I met Chengcheng was when the classes were divided in the second year of high school. She was assigned to the same class as me.

Of course, I didn’t pay much attention to her when I first entered the class. At that time, I was the kind of person who turned a deaf ear to the outside world and was only focused on reading the books of sages.

What made me pay attention to her was the announcement of the results later. I went to the bulletin board to look at the ranking on the red list and saw that I was ranked first in our class.

I looked at the list with satisfaction and was about to go back to class, but I bumped into her who was looking at the list. She blushed and said, "I'm sorry, classmate."

My heart was moved when she looked up at me, and I quickly replied, "I'm fine. Classmate, what's your name? Which class are you from?"

She said, "My name is Li Chengcheng, and I'm in Class 1." The moment I heard her reply, I started to pay attention to her.

After that, when I arrived at school, I went to find her and approached her shamelessly. I could see that she was shy and didn't know how to say no.

We went to eat together every day, and rumors about us gradually spread around the school. I neither admitted nor denied these rumors. I thought we would be together sooner or later, maybe after graduating from high school or college.

She didn't come to school that day and didn't tell me the reason.

I asked the teacher and found out that she was on sick leave. I wanted to go to her home to see her, but I didn't know where she lived, so I had to wait and see if she would come to school tomorrow.

The next morning, I came to the school gate and saw the back of a girl walking in front of me. It looked like her. I hurriedly called her. She turned around and it was indeed her. I hurriedly ran towards her.

I asked her if she was sick yesterday, and she simply said that she felt a little uncomfortable in her head. I saw her peach blossom eyes flickering, and I could tell that there was something she didn't want to talk to me about, so I didn't ask in detail.

After class at noon, I was going to ask her to go to the cafeteria to eat, but she said that I should go and eat because she had no appetite. How could she not eat? I touched her head and the temperature was normal, she didn't have a fever.

She said she didn't learn the knowledge in class, so I offered to tutor her, but she refused.

I suggested turning my grief and anger into appetite again and asked her to go to the cafeteria, and this time she agreed.

In the cafeteria, she told me with a guilty look on her face that I didn't get to eat meat because of her, but eating meat was nothing compared to her mood.

After the meal, she insisted on giving me money and refused to let me treat her, so I had to accept it, thinking of taking it home to keep and treasure it. This was the first time she had given me anything, and I cherished it very much.

After school, I asked her to walk with me, thinking of escorting her home safely.

But I didn't expect to meet that man when I left the school gate. He said he was Chengcheng's boyfriend and wanted to shake hands with me to get to know me.

I tried to hold back my sadness and smiled and said hello, but I ended up with a stiff smile.

Seeing her sitting in the back seat of that man's car, I walked home dejectedly, touching the money she gave me in my pocket.

After that, I didn't get close to her anymore and quietly moved away from her.

She didn't ask me the reason. I heard that she got married after graduating from high school and became a film projectionist in the county town.

After graduating from high school, I was admitted to a university in Pingyang City and officially became a college student. In that era, college students were very precious, with only one in a thousand people. The elders in my family were also very proud of me.

My father also planned for me to become a teacher after graduation, to carry on the family's scholarly tradition.

I thought my life would remain the same: graduation, marriage, having children, and growing old...

But I didn’t expect a catastrophe to happen. My family was sentenced to drinking alcohol and I was suspended from university studies.

The elderly grandfather was beaten by Hong Weibing and died with a bloody head.

Before my parents and I had time to grieve, we were taken to a remote mountain village.

We were assigned to do heavy work, pick up cow dung, and live in a thatched hut next to the pigpen.

After they lived in the hut, it leaked every time it rained, and the cold and damp air penetrated into their bodies. Within a few years, their legs and feet were infected with rheumatism.

My parents are not very strong, they don’t eat well, and they can’t work.

I asked for help from fellow villagers everywhere to find a way to improve the difficult living conditions for my parents.

Unexpectedly, no one was willing to help us. When I approached them, the children in the village threw stones and spit at me.

I had no choice but to rely on myself to get through it. Having been at the bottom of the village for more than a decade, all my previous glory and pride had been worn away.

People don't grow up slowly, they grow up in an instant. I began to accept my fate and accept all the blows that life has dealt me.

Until everything started to turn around, we were no longer the drunkards that everyone hated, and we could go back to the city.

Now that I am over 30, I moved back to our old house with my parents, who look to be in their 70s but are actually only 60.

Looking at our desolate home and recalling the past, the three of us hugged each other and cried.

Memories are a punishment, punishing those who don’t move forward.

I think time can really change everything, including people's feelings. As time goes by, the feelings for the person you once loved but couldn't get will gradually fade, until they disappear without a trace.

After going through so much pain, I can no longer feel the excitement of my youth, and I no longer believe in love...