He and Shen Shi came from similar backgrounds; both were teenagers from small counties who were admitted to universities in big cities, studied the same major, and were assigned to the same dormitory.
The only difference is that, comparatively speaking, Li You grew up in a more loving environment.
This doesn't mean that Li You lacked love; on the contrary, the reason he developed his awkward personality was that he received so much love and care that it became unbearable.
Li You has three older sisters. Just from this statement, you can tell that his family is extremely patriarchal.
As the only male in his family, Li You was cared for and raised by the entire family from birth.
His three older sisters became his personal servants, watching over him 24/7 without any blind spots. If Li You suffered even the slightest bump or bruise, his mother would either withhold food from her three daughters or beat and kick them.
Strangely, Li You, who grew up in such an environment, did not grow into a crooked tree, but rather grew into a slender poplar. From entering school to taking the college entrance examination, he consistently ranked at the top of his class and was very grateful to his three older sisters.
As the older generation often says, this is a case of a bad bamboo producing a good shoot.
The neighbors all said: Old Li's family is blessed to have such a promising son. They can look forward to enjoying a peaceful and happy life from now on.
But only Li You himself knew how much he hated his parents and how much he wanted to escape his family.
Ignorance weighed on his house like two mountains, and he tried to move them, but to no avail.
Since it cannot be changed, escaping becomes the only option.
Of course, escaping is no easier than changing one's circumstances. The primary condition for achieving one's goal is sufficient financial support; without money, all plans are in vain.
From the moment the train stopped in City A, Li You, who had set foot on this land, had been looking for ways to make money.
But as an ordinary college student, Li You had neither outstanding looks nor any remarkable skills. Apart from working part-time at a fast food restaurant and tutoring middle school students, he had no other options.
This is perfectly normal. After all, opportunities aren't like those small ads on telephone poles that everyone can spot!
Anxiety and resentment grew wildly in Li You's heart, and he waited helplessly.
Opportunity truly favors the prepared mind. Heaven rewards those who persevere. On an ordinary afternoon, Li You finally got the opportunity he had been dreaming of.
This opportunity is when things are quiet.
On the first day of reporting, Li You noticed his roommate. In fact, it wasn't just him; everyone who had seen Shen Shi couldn't help but be drawn to him. The reason was simple: his exquisitely sculpted face was so striking that it was impossible not to notice him.
At first, Li You thought he was just a good-looking fool, but after spending more time with him, he also discovered that Shen Shi was a nice person.
T's real change came in the second semester of his freshman year. At that time, Chen was tinkering with his computer in the dormitory. Because he was wearing headphones, he did not hear Li You push the door open when he returned. He continued to type away on the keyboard, his eyes fixed on the screen.
Li You, returning from the library, was quite surprised. He hadn't expected his carefree roommate to be so focused. Driven by intense curiosity, Li You quietly crept over...
Then he saw a huge anime character on the computer screen, 3D and incredibly lifelike. The aesthetic impact was so great that he didn't even notice the scale.
Li You had forgotten how long he had been stunned at the time—a minute or two? Or perhaps half an hour? It could be anything.
"When did you get back? I didn't hear a sound." It wasn't until Shen Shi took off his headphones and asked that he finally came to his senses.
"Just...just..." Li You stammered as he spoke the simple two reduplicated words. His eyes never left the screen as he spoke.
A hot-blooded young man was so engrossed in watching anime models that he naturally misunderstood his roommate. He never imagined that his bookish roommate was interested in beautiful women; he really thought his only concern was studying.
He gave Li You a knowing look, then pulled him closer to the screen and boasted in a cheeky tone: "If you liked this, you should have said so earlier! I have a whole bunch of these."
As he swiped the mouse, Li You saw countless 3D models and more beautiful women than he had in the previous twenty years.
Chen clicked the mouse from time to time, and with his movements, one perfect model after another was displayed on the screen.
The more Li You looked at Li You, the more surprised he became. It was true that they were studying software programming, but it had only been half a year since the start of the semester. Most of them were still stuck in the books, and people like Shen Shi who could independently build models were extremely rare.
Half an hour later, Chen Shi's 3D modeling show finally ended, and the computer screen switched to the desktop. However, Li You was still staring intently at it, as if he were looking at another world through the small electronic screen.
For some reason, he felt a tightness in his throat, and it took him a few seconds to find his voice: "If you have this skill, why don't you exchange it for money?"
That was the first thing Li You said, and it was also his most sincere thought.
If he had Chen Shi's skills, wouldn't he be able to easily amass wealth? But Li You knew in his heart that he was just thinking about it. Even if he had Chen Shi's ability to write code, he was completely ignorant of art, that is, drawing lines, and he would definitely not be able to complete such an exquisite work.
"Where do you exchange it?" Shen Shi was puzzled after hearing this. After a moment of confusion, he seemed to have thought of something and asked with his eyes shining, "Do you have connections in this area?"
"No." Li You sincerely shook his head.
Shen Shi was greatly disappointed and rolled his eyes at him, saying, "I thought I was going to make a fortune, but you made me happy for nothing."
After hearing his words, Li You was a little confused. He asked with a puzzled look, "These works are so good, they're not much worse than game models, so why can't they be sold anywhere?"
"Dude, I never expected that someone who looks so old-fashioned would have such naive ideas."
Shen Shi chuckled and patted Li You on the shoulder, then explained in a knowing tone, "It's 2025 now. Technology and the internet are so advanced. Everyone has seen all sorts of things. This thing looks nice, but it's not new at all."
"Whether I'm emailing Tencent or hailing Blizzard's CEO's car, without connections, I'm nothing!"
After listening to Shen Shi's words, Li You fell silent. Reason told him that Shen Shi made sense, but from an emotional point of view, he could not accept this fact.
Although it wasn't his property, Li You, who already regarded Shen Shi as a gold mine, couldn't believe that gold was actually just a stone that could be found everywhere.
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