Xu Chen stood in the crowded subway, watching a stylish girl playing with her phone on the seat. It must be the latest iPhone 6s! Xu Chen couldn't afford it, but he knew about it.
He quietly touched the rare Nokia keypad black-and-white screen phone in his pocket. He feared that he was the only one still using this kind of phone in the whole university.
Indeed, Xu Chen was a first-year student at a well-known public university in Yangpu District. Judging by his dress, he lived in a remote old public housing community in Baoshan District, where the government arranged affordable housing for his family. Originally, his family had a house in Shanghai, but his father sold it without his mother's knowledge due to gambling and ended up losing everything, accumulating debts. He fled to Yunnan and never contacted them again.
His mother had been physically weak and applied for low-income support. In order to support Xu Chen's education, she still persisted in doing odd jobs for others.
Xu Chen also wanted to switch to a knock-off large-screen smartphone, but he couldn't bring himself to ask his mother, seeing her current condition.
Although he was envious of those beautiful high-end phones, they looked really good and fun...
Not to mention Xu Chen's dreams were limited to just owning a phone, everything else seemed even more out of reach, like having a girlfriend.
There's no need to elaborate on Xu Chen's family situation. They were basically at the bottom of Shanghai, living on low-income support. They had no money. Xu Chen wasn't bad-looking, but he was short, only 1.7 meters tall, thin, and his grades were average. He wasn't good at sports either. Well, how should I put it, he looked a bit like a girl, introverted, silent, and not popular with girls in any aspect.
So he didn't think about it too much...
After an hour and a half of travel, he finally arrived at the university. The university now was really different from what people usually imagined. The wealth gap within the school was huge! Many children from rural areas had good grades but extremely poor economic conditions. They didn't dare to order any meat when eating in the cafeteria. Just ordering two meat dishes in the cafeteria would cost 15 to 20 yuan. The cafeteria was now contracted by a catering company and needed to make money, so who could afford it?
But the rich students were truly rich. They didn't eat in the cafeteria either; they ordered takeout online. A single order costing tens or hundreds of yuan was nothing. While watching porn, they ate. That's not all; parking spaces were really scarce on the large campus. Why? Many students drove to school!
There were even Mercedes-Benz and BMWs among them! They were richer than the teachers. These students didn't usually study hard either. They played sports, played games, chased girls every day, and enjoyed their lives comfortably and freely in university!
But Xu Chen couldn't do that. He had to study hard! Because he wanted to get a scholarship to ease the burden on his family. However, as the poorest child from a big city, when it came to studying, Xu Chen had to compete with students from mountainous areas. Everyone knew that Shanghai high schools emphasized comprehensive quality education. When it came to achieving good grades in university, Xu Chen didn't have an advantage. Moreover, Xu Chen wasn't that type of bookworm. Sometimes, he also wanted to play, but even though he worked hard, he often couldn't focus on his studies...
"Damn it, this Annie is so hard to play! Why won't she come out of her hat!"
"Ah Mu Mu, jump higher! I'm f**king cursed!"
"Big Mouth, where are you going for a walk!"
Indeed, there was always this kind of loud noise in the dormitory, either that or discussing girls. How could Xu Chen concentrate on his studies like this!
Helpless, Xu Chen had no choice but to take his books outside to study, during the day at least.
The environment on this campus was really good. After all, the government had invested a lot of money. The economy wasn't doing well now, so investing stimulated GDP! The infrastructure here was first-rate, and the scenery was pleasant, with modern buildings, shade from green trees, and flowing water from small bridges. If he didn't have a relationship in four years in such an environment, he would feel guilty for the taxpayer's money!
However, all of this had nothing to do with Xu Chen. He had no money, no time, and was not good at interacting with girls... Instead, he stood by the lake, admiring the scenery in loneliness. Occasionally, he would see male and female students walking hand in hand, kissing beneath the picturesque willow trees by the lakeside, and Xu Chen couldn't help but feel a tinge of sourness in his heart.
Forget it, let's go study. The scholarship...this semester, he must surpass the three musketeers from Maotan Factory Middle School and win the annual scholarship for his first year!
