The family of three spent a warm and "pleasant" evening.
Having not seen each other for years, Chen Mo kept chatting with his parents until they were truly too exhausted and went to bed, whereupon he reluctantly returned to his own room.
The next day, it was close to noon when he finally woke up upon hearing the front door open.
Scratching his bird's-nest hair and rubbing his sleep-heavy eyes, he walked into the living room to find his mother busy in the kitchen.
A sudden wave of warmth filled Chen Mo's heart.
He hadn't experienced a scene like this for many, many years.
"Mom, why are you back already at noon? Doesn't the hospital have a cafeteria and dormitories?"
He Yunlan worked at the Wen County Maternal and Child Health Hospital. In her youth, she had long served as the head nurse and was repeatedly named an outstanding advanced individual.
As she grew older and could no longer handle the high-intensity shifts that required frequent staying up all night, the hospital transferred her to the infusion room. The work there was not only much lighter, but she no longer had to pull night shifts.
At that moment, He Yunlan walked out of the kitchen carrying two plates of stir-fried dishes. Catching sight of Chen Mo's beggar-like appearance, she said with utter disgust written all over her face, "How on earth did your father and I end up giving birth to such a lazy bum? Just look at what time you've woken up."
Of course, Chen Mo knew that Comrade He Yunlan was all bark and bite. Coming all the way back home right in the middle of the day when the cafeteria was open obviously meant she was worried he would go hungry.
Truly, there's nobody quite like one's mother in this world!
Without exposing her, Chen Mo scratched his head and said, "How am I lazy? During regular training, I'm always the first one on the sports field."
As he spoke, he pinched a piece of garlic sprout with his fingers and popped it into his mouth.
A mother's cooking—delicious!
Carrying a bowl of rice out of the kitchen, He Yunlan shot him a look of utter contempt. "You still say you're not lazy? Others might not know you, but I do! When I was pregnant with you, you never once kicked me—I honestly thought you were dead."
Chen Mo instantly felt the garlic sprout in his mouth lose its flavor. "Mom, I'm your biological son. How can you talk to me like that?"
"I didn't raise you thinking you were adopted, either. Stop talking nonsense and go wash up; we'll be eating soon."
Scorned, Chen Mo washed up briefly, returned to the dining table, and immediately dug in, eating voraciously as if he hadn't tasted such good food in lifetimes.
Watching him eat, He Yunlan looked at him with a mixture of disgust and affection. "Slow down. Nobody's fighting you for it."
Acting as though he hadn't heard her, Chen Mo kept devouring the food like a starving ghost.
He Yunlan rolled her eyes at him and continued, "Your father and I discussed it and decided to take you out this weekend to buy a phone, and we'll pick out a few sets of clothes while we're at it. You're heading off to college soon; what other kids have, your father and I won't let you go without."
"Great, thanks Mom and Dad." Busy shoveling rice into his mouth, Chen Mo gave a perfunctory reply, though his heart felt overwhelmingly warm.
He Yunlan didn't mind. Looking at Chen Mo's messy hair from his recent slumber, she said, "Just when do you plan to cut that bird's nest of yours?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Mo immediately raised his head and caught the sly look in Comrade He Yunlan's eyes.
Of course he knew his mother had hidden meaning behind those words.
After all, Chen Mo had never hidden his crush on Lin Zhitong from his parents.
Besides, it was impossible to hide anyway.
Bringing breakfast to Lin Zhitong almost every single day, and walking her home every night after evening self-study.
Any reasonably clever parent would figure out what was going on.
Let alone someone as shrewd...
No.
Let's call her the remarkably clever and virtuous Comrade He Yunlan.
Therefore, Chen Mo had confessed to his parents long ago, promising that he wouldn't truly date before the college entrance examination and that it wouldn't affect his academic performance.
He Yunlan and her husband were quite open-minded and had always trusted their son's character, so they didn't interfere too much.
However, they would still occasionally probe here and there in everyday conversation as a form of "humanitarian" care.
Thus, everything Chen Mo had done over the years—including why he grew his hair long—was crystal clear to them.
Now, meeting his mother's sharp and cunning gaze, Chen Mo answered honestly, "I suppose I can cut it now."
"Huh?"
Taken aback, He Yunlan set down her chopsticks and asked, "You confessed?"
"Yeah."
"And... you failed?"
"Yeah," Chen Mo said very casually.
He Yunlan was shocked once more. She knew her son's personality.
To be rejected by a girl he had liked for three whole years—Chen Mo should have taken at least some sort of hit, perhaps even sinking into a slump for a while. He definitely shouldn't have been this breezy and unbothered.
How could she possibly know that in his past life, being struck down and sinking into a slump was the least of it—it had practically ruined his entire life.
Looking at his mother's puzzled and worried eyes, Chen Mo understood.
"Mom, don't worry. I'm really fine. Your son is already grow... grown up."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, extremely sure."
"Oh."
Though still not entirely reassured, she didn't see any other abnormal behavior from Chen Mo, so He Yunlan's worries subsided somewhat.
After all, with how much this rascal ate and slept, how badly could a setback really hit him?
The two remained silent for a moment when He Yunlan suddenly let out an exclamation.
"Wait, if that's the case, then the breakfast you delivered every single day for three whole years went straight to the dogs!"
Hearing this, Chen Mo froze instantly, stared straight at Comrade He Yunlan, and shouted, "Mom?!"
"Sorry, sorry, my tongue slipped, my tongue slipped, I'm truly sorry," He Yunlan realized she had indeed spoken out of turn and quickly apologized. Then she added, "The one acting like a dog was you, not Lin Zhitong!"
"Mom?!" Completely exasperated, Chen Mo felt whatever maternal love remained in his heart gradually evaporate.
"Eat, just eat..."
...
Having finished an extremely "pleasant" lunch together, He Yunlan prepared to head out.
"Didn't you say work isn't that busy right now? Why are you in such a rush to go back to the hospital?" Chen Mo asked.
"There's a patient scheduled for an infusion this noon. I'm going back to work overtime."
Even though she was busy, she had still rushed home in the middle of the day just to cook a meal for him.
The maternal love that had just perished in Chen Mo's heart sublimated once more.
"Then make sure to be careful on your way back."
"Right, remember to take a shower," He Yunlan instructed while putting on her shoes.
"Got it, I know."
He Yunlan opened the front door, but before leaving, she dropped one last remark: "Liking someone doesn't necessarily mean you're suited for each other, and being suited doesn't necessarily mean you like each other. Don't hold anyone hostage 'in the name of love.' The rarest thing in life is this: you are willing, and she is worth it."
With that, without waiting for Chen Mo's reply, she closed the door and left.
...
Standing by the doorway, Chen Mo ruminated on his mother's words before heading off to take a shower.
Back in his room, as he blew-dried his hair, he pondered how to spend the days ahead.
After all, the start of the semester was still a while away, and though he had roughly mapped out his future entrepreneurial plans, he couldn't just idle away this entire period doing nothing.
Wen County may have been small, but there were always opportunities suitable for making some money.
He turned on his outdated computer, and the moment he logged into QQ, countless notification sounds chimed.
Chen Mo opened every single chat box and looked through them one by one.
The first was from Luo Botao: [Xiao Mo, are you awake yet? When are we teaming up to play 3C? Let me crush you again (cuckold.PNG).]
Chen Mo cursed as he closed the chat box.
When he saw the second chat box, he paused in surprise. It was actually from Lin Zhitong.
[I'm sorry, Xiao Mo. Yesterday's events were too sudden, and I—I—I just didn't know how to react...
Actually, I didn't mean to reject you. I really just don't want to date too early.
The two of us have always been good friends, and we'll be at the same university. Can't we just keep getting along like before?
If that's okay, I can consider being with you after we graduate from college.
So, please try to understand me, okay?
Xiao Mo, I...]
Too lazy to read the rest, Chen Mo closed the chat box directly. He laughed inwardly.
"You keep talking about considering a relationship after college graduation.
Yet in my past life, it seemed you hooked up with some guy not long after the semester started.
If this isn't making a fool of me, what is it?
Forget it, Lin Zhitong.
The world in the eyes of most adults is strictly black and white; yes is yes, and no is no.
Who in their right mind would charge forward blindfolded while knowing full well they're heading in the wrong direction?
We can remain friends; after all, we've been classmates for years.
But just ordinary friends.
Staying 'just like before' is completely unnecessary.
Nobody has that much time and money to keep wasting on meaningless things.
So.
From now on, you walk your single-plank bridge.
And I'll stride down my invincible, widened, bright and glorious, kick-ass grand highway."
Withdrawing his thoughts, Chen Mo checked the remaining message windows.
The rest simply contained well-wishes from a few decent classmates checking up on him. After briefly expressing that he was fine and thanking them, Chen Mo closed those windows as well.
He opened a web browser and searched for information related to electronic network technology.
The top-ranking and most eye-catching headline read:
[With the Popularization of Dual-Core CPUs, the Hardware Market is Set to Unleash a Major Revolution]
The content below stated: At the beginning of 2005, Intel and AMD successively launched their flagship dual-core CPUs, prompting major software and hardware manufacturers to upgrade their products accordingly.
Consequently, this would trigger a massive upgrade wave for personal PCs. Especially in industries like internet cafes, with the increasing number of large-scale games, the demand for hardware upgrades was particularly urgent...
Reading this, Chen Mo suddenly recalled a memory from his past life, and the answer to making money seemed to dawn on him.
He turned and ran to the living room, picking up the landline phone and dialing out.
"Hello?"