2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 5 Growing up
"No rush, let's talk about it after Mom gives birth. Let her rest at home for a while first," Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

To be honest, being a brother at almost 20 years old, even if it was only his second experience, Tan Jincheng still found it quite novel, let alone having a younger sister.

What man could resist a cute little sister?

Speaking of this, Tan Lihua became a little embarrassed and then changed the subject, saying, "Then you should get some rest tonight and go to your grandmother's house tomorrow."

The Mid-Autumn Festival was only included as a statutory holiday in 2008; in 2004, there was no concept of a holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

However, since their son is back and it's an important traditional festival, the family is taking it quite seriously. Tan Lihua has already asked for leave from work today.

"Okay, but we can't sleep this early. How about we go out for a walk as a family?" Tan Jincheng suggested.

"Go talk to your mother yourself and see if she's willing," Tan Lihua said noncommittally.

"it is good."

In fact, Tan Jincheng really wanted to go out and explore. His memories of Yicheng were mostly from his childhood. In his previous life, he was busy with business and always came back in a hurry, never staying for more than a few days.

Tan Jincheng can recount the history of this city in detail; however, when it comes to his actual life, apart from his parents and relatives, it's like a blank slate.

"Mom, do you want to go shopping? Let's take a walk as a family."

"I'm not going. I feel heavy and don't want to move. If you can't stay at home, go out and play for a while."

"Okay, I'm going to find Pengya to play now."

"Okay, come back early, don't stay out too late."

"Okay, I have some gifts I bought for you in my box. The password is 707. Dad, can you take them out for me?"

It was not yet seven o'clock, and Tan Jincheng was getting restless at home. Since his parents didn't want to go out, he would call Zhang Xupeng out and ask him what his plans were.

In my past life, I started doing business with Zhang Xupeng.

This is a close friend who has been my classmate from elementary school to high school, what people in northern China call a childhood friend.

I used to set off firecrackers to blow up cow dung with Tan Jincheng, skipped class to play arcade games, and discussed which girl in our class was prettier.

This friendship could have ended because of their different grades and the fact that they were in different cities after the college entrance examination.

As time goes by, the two may live in different cities, with work and family taking up more of their time, and their feelings may gradually fade.

This is probably the ultimate fate of childhood friendships for most young people in small towns.

However, due to a magical cruise ship experience, the friendship between the two best friends lasted for the first half of their lives, until Tan Jincheng was reborn.

They grew up together, went to school together, and then started a business together until they amicably separated their households before getting married; however, the two, who lived in the same city, still often met up.

In today's fast-paced society, it is truly rare for someone to maintain a childhood friendship even in middle age.

Zhang Xupeng's father was also a worker at the petrochemical company, and the two lived in the same community. Tan Jincheng strolled over to his apartment building.

Go upstairs and knock on the door.

Zhang Xupeng opened the door. Seeing that it was Tan Jincheng, Zhang Xupeng's face lit up with joy; he had been bored at home. Tan Jincheng winked at Zhang Xupeng as he walked into the house.

After greeting Mr. and Mrs. Zhang and sitting for a while, the two of them went out arm in arm.

After leaving the residential building and walking out of the community, the two headed towards the main street. There is a saying among some people in Yicheng: Yicheng's economy was made and destroyed by petrochemicals.

This statement is somewhat biased, but the fact that a large petrochemical company is located in the city center seems somewhat out of place in the context of the environmental protection concept advocated in later generations.

From a livability perspective, the environment in urban areas is far inferior to the clear mountains and green waters of the surrounding counties.

A gray, gloomy sky is the norm in Yicheng.

Arriving at the main street and looking around, Tan Jincheng was greatly disappointed. He then realized that it was 2004 and the city's appearance was much worse than he had imagined.

"Let's go to an internet cafe," Tan Jincheng said to Zhang Xupeng.

"Okay, let's go. It's been so long since I played Legend of Mir." Zhang Xupeng said excitedly, rubbing his hands together.

Luxury cruise ships are like five-star hotels at sea, and they certainly have all kinds of entertainment facilities, but those are only for the rich; for the lower-level employees, besides their endless work, it's wishful thinking to sit down and play games in peace.

Since the Blue Speed ​​incident in 02, various regions have strengthened supervision, and there are far fewer unlicensed internet cafes. However, internet cafes are still ubiquitous on the streets. I randomly picked a relatively large internet cafe.

Tan Jincheng estimated that there were about 50 machines. It was only 8 o'clock, and more than half of the machines in the internet cafe were already occupied.

It cost three yuan an hour. After paying at the counter, Zhang Xupeng hurriedly went to find a machine. This kid could be said to be the first generation of internet addicts. Since he started playing computer games in his second year of high school, he has abandoned the arcades on the street.

Tan Jincheng wasn't particularly interested in computer games, but he had played Legend of Mir before. Like an observer, he followed Zhang Xupeng deeper into the internet cafe, where he was greeted by a dazzling array of lights and shadows.

Although cheating and private servers are rampant now, it doesn't affect the game's popularity. After turning on his computer, Zhang Xupeng couldn't wait to log into his game account and go to the Shabak he had been longing for.

Tan Jincheng also wanted to log in and play for a while, but unfortunately, he couldn't remember his account. It had been more than 20 years; it was impossible to remember a game account that hadn't been logged into for so long.

Since I can't play games, I can only read the news.

"Why aren't you playing games?" Zhang Xupeng asked curiously, noticing that he wasn't logging into a game but instead opening a webpage.

"I don't remember the account number. You can play by yourself. I'm going to check the news."

"You haven't played for just over a year and you already don't remember your account? What kind of memory do you have? You didn't forget your QQ number either, did you?"

"Ha, I remember that." Tan Jincheng replied with a smile. He had been using the QQ number in his previous life and would occasionally send files.

Immediately, Tan Jincheng logged into his QQ account, an eight-digit number he had registered in 02. After entering the password, he was greeted by an unbearable QQ nickname: "Black Horse Prince".

Holy crap, was I this chuunibyou back in the day?
I need to change this awful nickname right away. Besides some classmates, my QQ account also has some online friends I added while playing games, but not many people.

After not logging in for a long time, the accumulated messages kept flashing. Tan Jincheng cleared them one by one. The latest message was from today. In the high school QQ group, the class monitor asked everyone what their plans were for the National Day holiday and whether they wanted to get together.

"Hey, what are you doing during the National Day holiday? Everyone in the class group is discussing the National Day party."

(End of this chapter)