"Looking back now, it's clear that going to Beijing meant rapid advancement, but actually, at the time, it was hard to say which was better. After all, as a migrant worker, drifting north with no fixed place to live, how could I be sure that life would be good?
"It's just that fate played a joke on everyone. My brother met a noble person, and then everything started to change."
After hearing this, Lu Qingxuan finally understood a little.
Chen Sheng's story is not as dramatic as Chen Shimei's, but rather quite ordinary.
In that year, 600 million people in China experienced migration from rural areas to cities, and Chen Sheng was just one of these 600 million.
He didn't come to the capital with the intention of abandoning his wife and children. He came to the capital first, then met Lu Ruixiang, developed feelings for her, and finally soared to become a phoenix.
At the beginning, he may have come to Beijing to work in order to make money for his family, but after arriving in Beijing, he experienced more things and his mentality changed.
Chen Chi bit her lip. She had a deeper story hidden in her heart, but she was hesitant about whether to tell it to the eldest daughter of the Lu family.
After thinking it over again and again, she finally felt relieved. The past was the past, and now everything was different from what she had expected. Whether she said it or not, it wouldn't change anything.
"Actually, the person my brother wanted to take away at that time was not Chen Hai, but Chen Ya."
When Lu Qingxuan heard this, she immediately asked, "Really?"
Chen Chi nodded and said, "Because Chen Ya is a bit older. At the time, we thought that after the two children we brought to Beijing graduated, they could work and earn money with their eldest brother. Of course, Chen Ya was the more suitable choice."
Lu Qingxuan asked: "Then why did it become Chen Hai later?"
"There are two reasons. One is that Chen Ya will not go no matter what, and the other is that Chen Hai has to go no matter what." Chen Chi smiled bitterly.
“…”
Lu Qingxuan didn't expect this to happen. After a while, she asked, "Why didn't he go?"
Chen Chi said: "When my eldest brother told Chen Ya about their decision at home, Chen Ya was very unhappy. No matter how my eldest brother and sister-in-law explained to him, he firmly believed that this was tantamount to betrayal.
"I still remember what he said at the time. He said that making money didn't really matter, and there was no need to separate family members for the sake of money. He just wanted his family to live a good life together."
Lu Qingxuan said, "It sounds like something a child would say."
Chen Chi smiled and nodded. "Yes, so no one took his words seriously until he announced that if father really wanted to leave, he would sever the father-son relationship with eldest brother."
Lu Qingxuan raised her eyebrows.
Although she could empathize with Chen Ya now, she felt that this was a bit too extreme.
"Did he really do that?"
Chen Chi thought for a moment and said, "I think that even if he still considered my eldest brother his father in the beginning, after my eldest brother divorced and remarried Sister Lu Ruixiang, their family was already dead in name only."
Lu Qingxuan noticed a detail. The "sister-in-law" Chen Chi mentioned was still Chen Ya's biological mother, and she called Lu Ruixiang "sister".
It can be seen that in her heart, even though more than ten years have passed, this later "sister-in-law" still holds less weight in her heart than the previous one.
"During the first three years of his working life, my eldest brother only went back home once," Chen Chi said, "and that time he went back was to get a divorce certificate from my eldest sister-in-law.
"I was very worried that time, so I went back with him. I thought Chen Ya would have a big fight with my brother, but he didn't.
"He just stood there coldly, watching his elder brother rummaging through boxes and drawers looking for the marriage certificate, as if he had already expected this day to come.
"After finding the marriage certificate, the eldest brother saw Chen Ya standing nearby and wanted to touch his head, but he walked away. This made the eldest brother a little embarrassed.
"My eldest brother suddenly said to him, 'In fact, I wanted to take you to the capital from the beginning, and I still think that you might be more suitable for the capital. But Chen Hai is too cunning. He is afraid that I will abandon him here and take you away. So he will never come back.'
"You are smarter than Chen Hai, but not as cunning as him. Cunning is different from being smart. Smart people can figure out any problem, but cunning people are better at seizing opportunities."
"The capital city is a place that forces people to be cunning. If you want to survive in the capital city, you must be good at seizing opportunities, because opportunities are limited. If you don't grasp them, others will snatch them away and step on you until you are crushed to death, so that you will never compete with them again."
"I know you might hate me, but I'm sorry, I don't have a choice. This is the law of survival in the capital."
"I can still vividly remember Chen Ya's face after Big Brother finished speaking. He didn't look confused, nor was he grief-stricken. There was no expression on his face at all.
"He said to his eldest brother very calmly: 'So you think that if Chen Hai goes to the capital, he will definitely be more promising and destined to succeed?'
"My brother was embarrassed when he heard this question, because it's common sense for everyone. As long as you can stay in the capital, the education, medical care, and various resources will be hundreds or thousands of times better than in the countryside.
"He said, 'You'll end up in a big city, too. Everyone eventually ends up in a big city. I just want you to remember that you still have a home in Beijing. I'm here to lead the way.'
Chen Ya shook his head and said calmly:
"'If you have no choice, then my mother has even less choice than you; and even less choice than the capital is the countryside. Because no one cares whether the countryside has a choice or not; no one gives them the opportunity to choose.'
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