Yun Qing did not have much luggage, just a backpack containing a few changes of underwear and his computer. The Original Host's old clothes were at home, so there was no need to bring more. His valuables were all in his Space. When going out, it was best to travel as light as possible.
There was no High-Speed Rail yet, and plane tickets were too expensive. He took a red train with a number beginning with K. The Original Host had not even been willing to buy a sleeper ticket. Sleeper tickets were not discounted, after all, and the Original Host was a thrifty, well-behaved child who did not want to burden his parents.
The train ride would take twenty-three hours, an entire day and night. Yun Qing kept wondering whether he should upgrade to a sleeper ticket. But then he thought about how he had ridden green-skinned trains in his previous life. There was no reason for him to become delicate in this life, right? He was a grown man—what was there to fear?
After boarding the train, he found his seat. It was a window seat, too. Anyone who frequently traveled by train knew which seats were by the window. When buying a ticket, one only had to be a little sweet with the young lady selling them, and she generally would not make things difficult. She was not the one sitting there, anyway. Selling it to one person was no different from selling it to another.
As soon as he boarded, he discovered that there were many people from Northeast China in the carriage. The moment they opened their mouths, that familiar Northeastern accent came rushing toward him.
People from Northeast China had a distinctive habit when riding trains: they brought an especially large amount of food. White liquor, dried bean curd, green onions, soybean paste, peanuts, and drinking snacks. It was no exaggeration to say that as long as you were a little sweet-talking, you would not starve even if you brought nothing.
All you had to do was ask, “Big Brother, is that tasty?”
That settled it. All you had to do was wait to be fed.
Yun Qing naturally was not stingy, either. Although he had not prepared anything, his Space was not lacking in supplies. It had everything.
Along the way, he ate, drank, and chatted with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters sitting beside and opposite him. They talked about everything under the sun, and even the people in the neighboring seats joined in. The entire carriage was like one big family, lively beyond words.
His butt had gone numb from sitting, yet he was still reluctant to leave.
“I have to get off now. I had such a wonderful time on this journey. I wish you all a smooth trip!” When they reached Shen North railway station, it was time for Yun Qing to get off, and he said goodbye to everyone.
“Little Brother, you’re home now. Study hard. Once you start seeing patients, perhaps we can even go through the back door.” One Big Brother teased him.
“Don’t! If it’s drinking, you’re more than welcome, but let’s not meet in a hospital. That terrible place is best avoided for an entire lifetime, don’t you think?” Yun Qing said with a smile. Seeing a doctor was not a good thing; the less often, the better.
“Hahahaha, Little Brother is right. It’s best not to go there for an entire lifetime!” Laughter filled the carriage. That was a beautiful blessing, was it not?
As soon as Yun Qing reached the exit, he saw Shen's father and Shen's mother looking around for him.
A wave of bitterness welled up in his heart. Those were the Original Host's emotions. Yun Qing suppressed them and said silently, “I will certainly take good care of them in your place and be filial to them. Rest assured.”
After exhaling, the bitterness in his heart vanished. Yun Qing waved and shouted, “Dad, Mom, I’m over here!”
“Son!” Shen's mother spotted Yun Qing as well and waved happily.
Shen's father smiled from the side, took Yun Qing’s backpack, and carried it himself.
Shen's mother hugged him, her eyes slightly red. After letting go, she looked him up and down. “My son has gotten fairer and even more handsome. Just like me.”
“Hahaha, of course. My mother is a great beauty.” Yun Qing put an arm around Shen's mother's shoulder and walked outside with her, laughing as he spoke.
“Mom prepared all your favorite dishes. Eat well and make up for it. You’ve gotten so thin.”
In a mother’s eyes, her child was never fat. He was always too thin.
“Mm, I’ve been longing for Mom’s cooking. I’ve been craving it.” Yun Qing responded to Shen's mother's words.
Shen's mother and Shen's father prepared a huge table of dishes, all of them favorites of the Original Host. Yun Qing himself was not picky. Anyone who had lived through the Apocalypse and that era only needed food that could be swallowed.
After practicing his martial arts, his appetite had grown as well. Shen's mother, worried about him, thought he had been starving at school every day and kept piling food into his bowl until it was heaped high.
No wonder the Original Host's wish had been for his parents to enjoy their later years in peace. Parents like these deserved it. Their every thought centered on their child; one could imagine how desperate they must have been after the Original Host's death.
The summer vacation was very comfortable, but Yun Qing was not idle. He had to review everything the Original Host had learned during the previous two years and make it his own, while also earning some money.
Shen's father was a machinist at the First Machine Tools Factory, with a salary of just over one thousand yuan. Shen's mother's salary was only eight hundred yuan. Together, they made less than two thousand yuan, and there would certainly be many places to spend money in the future.
Buying a house or a car would cost a fortune. His major required not only one extra year for the undergraduate degree, but without completing Doctoral Graduation, he would not even be able to find a good job. To put it plainly, he would be living off his parents until he was thirty.
Yun Qing was not the sort of person willing to live off his parents. He had to make money. For now, he could only use the knowledge he already possessed to earn it, such as making a small game.
At the same time, he had to take revenge. The firewalls of this era were truly pathetic; to him, they were as fragile as paper. He also had to collect evidence of the Su Group's crimes. Yun Qing did not believe they were so clean that they had never evaded taxes or committed other offenses.
During a single summer vacation, Yun Qing made a little penguin game that everyone was familiar with: “Stealing Vegetables.” He sold it to the Penguin Company, including the copyright, for five hundred thousand yuan.
He then used the money to speculate in stocks. In just over a month, the money in Yun Qing’s hands had quadrupled to more than 1.5 million yuan—a tremendous fortune for that period.
One had to understand that housing prices in Shen City were only around three thousand yuan per square meter at the time, and that was for new developments.
He would definitely return in the future. He had never even considered staying in Shanghai.
Cherish your life and stay away from the male and female protagonists. They were accident magnets; who knew when one might become Cannon Fodder?
He only wanted to live well. He did not want to become their catalyst.
“Dad, Mom, I have something to tell you. Don’t be shocked.”
After dinner that day, Yun Qing said this to Shen's father and Shen's mother.
“What is it? Have you found someone?” Shen's mother asked excitedly.
“Oh, it’s nothing like that. No, I don’t want to date before I start working. My goal is Doctoral Graduation.” Yun Qing frowned helplessly.
“Wouldn’t that make you thirty? If you only look for someone at thirty, aren’t you afraid all the good girls will have been chosen and you’ll end up a bachelor?” Shen's mother raised her voice.
“Mom, you have to trust your son. With a mother as beautiful as mine, how could I possibly end up a bachelor? You’re far too lacking in confidence.” After just a few words, Yun Qing had Shen's mother smiling from ear to ear.
Seeing that the mother and son were about to get sidetracked, Shen's father quickly brought them back. “Son, what did you want to tell us?”
Looking at his helpless-looking father, Yun Qing smiled, took the computer, opened the stock-trading software, and said, “Haven’t you always wanted to know what I do at home every day? This is how much I earned in a month and a half.”
“Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions… More than 1.5 million? Son, is this real?” Even Shen's mother's voice grew quiet. The old family apartment had no soundproofing, and everyone understood the principle that one should not flaunt one’s wealth.
“After deducting the transaction fees, this is the total. I want to buy two apartments in the new district. Once I graduate, I’ll come back and look for a job. I don’t want to stay in the south; I’m not used to living there.
The climate in the north is better. Summers are cool, winters have heating, and I can stay close to you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
Yun Qing’s words nearly brought tears to Shen's mother's eyes. She had assumed her son would certainly stay in a major metropolis. She had never expected him to be willing to come back.
“All right. You earned the money, so you get to decide. This weekend, we’ll go look at houses. My son is so capable—he can even buy new homes now. Mom is so happy.”
Shen's mother had the final say. As for Shen's father's opinion? That was not important!
Yun Qing nodded. It happened that withdrawing the money after clearing his positions would take three business days, so the timing was perfect.