Upon hearing Zhao Yutong's question, Ye Linchen lowered his head, took a sip of soy milk, and glanced at her.
“My dad used to work in a steel factory, but he’s been laid off. My mom used to be a housewife, but I don’t know what she does now.”
"Laid off?" Zhao Yutong asked in surprise.
But beneath that surprise lay an undisguised glee.
In the 1990s, the word "laid off" was equivalent to the sky falling for a worker's family.
This means the loss of a secure job, the end of income, and a bleak future.
Zhao Yutong's sense of superiority increased even further.
Compared to Ye Linchen's family, her family's conditions are much better!
No wonder Ye Linchen wanted to start his own business consulting business; it turns out he couldn't rely on his family and had to earn his own tuition and living expenses.
I used to think she was capable and ambitious, but it turns out she was just struggling to make a living.
When Zhao Yutong looked at Ye Linchen again, her eyes held a faint pity and condescension that she herself was unaware of.
Ye Linchen wasn't stupid; she keenly noticed the change in Zhao Yutong's emotions.
From the moment she started speaking, Zhao Yutong's tone and the way she looked at her had an inexplicable strangeness about them.
Now, looking at her plate, the faint smile on her lips betrayed her true feelings.
Ye Linchen sighed softly to himself.
She had seen far too many of these hierarchical distinctions based on family background in both her past and present lives.
I just didn't expect it to happen to me so soon.
However, she was too lazy to explain or even bother to argue.
She only regarded Zhao Yutong as an ordinary roommate and business partner, and they hadn't reached the point of being close confidants.
Other people's opinions cannot dictate her life.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Ye Linchen waved his hand in front of Zhao Yutong, interrupting her reverie. "What can you see in a steamed bun? Hurry up and eat so you can go to class."
"Oh, oh!" Zhao Yutong seemed to wake from a dream, a hint of awkwardness flashing across her face. She quickly lowered her head to drink her porridge, trying to cover it up, saying, "No, I was just thinking about our studio. Is there a meeting this afternoon?"
"Okay." Ye Linchen nodded, his expression immediately becoming focused. "Two o'clock this afternoon, at my apartment. Don't forget."
Ye Linchen's demeanor changes whenever work is mentioned.
Since Gu Jingran gave her the pointers last time, she, along with Lin Xuemei and Li Hongying, stayed up for several nights in a row, scrapping the entire plan and starting over, keeping a close eye on the latest policy trends.
After the new proposal was submitted, the Sanmu Software team was overjoyed.
Riding this wave of opportunity, their order volume surged and profits multiplied several times in just two months.
The small company that was once struggling on the verge of bankruptcy has now been transformed, with more than twenty employees hired, and is preparing to rent a larger and more impressive office.
Meanwhile, Wang Lijun and his partners also received several invitations to give entrepreneurship lectures, asking them, as dark horses in the industry, to share their entrepreneurial experiences.
Wang Lijun now admires Ye Linchen immensely, and in several entrepreneurship lectures within the industry, he has spared no effort in promoting Ye Linchen's "college student entrepreneurship consultant" as his own secret to success.
The effect of this live advertisement was immediate, and several early-stage tech companies soon approached them.
“We’ve approached five companies this time,” Ye Linchen said, eating a fried dough stick. “I reviewed their information last night. With our current manpower and energy, we can only take on one more at most. I’ve shortlisted two that seem promising: one is a company that makes accounting software, and the other is a company that develops Chinese language systems. We’ll have a meeting this afternoon, and the four of us will discuss it and set our final target.”
Listening to Ye Linchen calmly arranging the work and talking about those "software" and "systems" that she only half understood, Zhao Yutong's newly established sense of superiority began to waver again for some reason.
She discovered that her family background, which she was so proud of, seemed a little inadequate compared to Ye Linchen's personal abilities.
Even if her family is in dire straits, she can still live better than most people on her own.
This feeling left Zhao Yutong feeling very uncomfortable, like she had swallowed a fly, feeling suffocated.
“…I understand,” she replied listlessly.
The two finished their breakfast in silence and went to different teaching buildings.
The morning classes went by in a flash.
As soon as the bell rang, Ye Linchen packed up his things and was about to go to the library to study.
As soon as I stepped out of the classroom, I was stopped by two people.
They were two young men in police uniforms.
One of the older men, with a square face and sharp eyes, took out his ID and flashed it in front of Ye Linchen before speaking to him very politely.
"Hello, are you Ye Linchen?"
Ye Linchen nodded: "Yes, that's me."
“We’re from the Municipal Public Security Bureau.” The police officer took back his badge, his gaze lingering on her face for two seconds. “Regarding the case of Meng Xuejun, the suspect arrested this morning in front of your school cafeteria, we need to ask you some questions. Please come with us.”
Ye Linchen was already familiar with this kind of situation and readily agreed.
"good."
The police officer then led her to the police station, through the bustling service hall, and into a room with a sign that read "Interrogation Room".
Before even reaching the door, Ye Linchen spotted several familiar figures.
Meng Xueyun and her twin brothers Ye Linnan and Ye Linbei were sitting on a row of peeling metal benches.
"sister!"
"Sister, you're here!"
Ye Linnan and Ye Linbei spotted her almost simultaneously, and their eyes lit up immediately.
They immediately jumped up from their chairs and rushed to Ye Linchen in a few steps.
Unlike her two younger brothers, Meng Xueyun simply raised her head and stared blankly at her.
Ye Linchen's gaze swept over her, and a hint of surprise rose in his heart.
The Meng Xueyun before her was completely different from the Meng Xueyun she had last met.
She was wearing a faded old shirt, and her hair was haphazardly tied into a bun at the back of her head, revealing a thick patch of white hair.
He seemed to have lost all his energy; his back was hunched and his face was covered with fine wrinkles.
His eyes were cloudy and tired, as if he had aged ten years in such a short time.
Meng Xueyun's lips moved several times, as if she was organizing her thoughts, or perhaps she didn't know where to begin.
Her gaze fell on Ye Linchen's face, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
There was guilt, regret, and even a hint of barely perceptible ingratiation.
Finally, she managed to squeeze out a dry sentence:
"Xiao Chen...you're here."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com