Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 1 Do I have a chance to become the originator of online literature?
"Ah Sheng! Ah Sheng? Get up and eat. What time is it and you are still sleeping? Get up and eat!"

Cao Sheng was pushed a few times by his mother while he was sleeping soundly. As soon as he opened his eyes, he heard his mother scolding him. He stared at his mother blankly, suspecting that he was still dreaming.

Because the mother in front of me looked much younger, and the lime walls in the room, the old wooden wardrobe in the corner, the old desk beside the bed...

It looks like his old house.

"Hurry up! Hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, make fried rice candy with your dad! Hurry up!"

After saying this, the mother turned and left his bedroom.

Cao Sheng still suspected that he was dreaming.

But the coolness in the air, the touch of the quilt, and everything in my field of vision were so clear that it didn't feel like a dream at all.

He frowned and sat up.

When he took out the quilt with both hands, he clearly felt the coldness in the air. He subconsciously looked down at his hands and found that his hands had become delicate and at least twenty years younger.

cross?

Reborn?

This thought flashed through his mind.

His clothes were on the bed: a sweater, jeans, and a black cotton jacket.

He put on a woolen sweater first, then a cotton jacket, then reached out to pull his jeans over and touched the pocket of his jeans, but didn't feel his cell phone.

He wanted to find his cell phone to check the date, but now he found that there was no cell phone in his pocket.

Don’t I have a cell phone yet?
What year is this?

Unconvinced, he touched several pockets inside and outside his cotton-padded jacket, and then touched under the pillow, but still couldn't find the phone.

He remembers that he bought his first mobile phone in 2003.

Could it be that now is earlier than 2003?
With this question in mind, he put on his clothes and pants, got out of bed and put on the black cloth slippers beside the bed. When he saw the pair of black cloth slippers, his heart skipped a beat, because he vaguely remembered that he had worn these black cloth slippers before 2000, and they were handmade for him by his mother.

After getting out of bed, he walked to the desk and looked at the rectangular mirror on the desk.

In the mirror, a young face appeared.

He has a head of jet-black hair divided in a 3:7 ratio and has a pleasant amount of hair.

His facial features were distinct, and beneath his sword-like eyebrows, a pair of clear eyes sparkled.

He has a fair complexion and looks like a scholar.

So young?

He looked at himself in the mirror with mixed feelings. This was how he looked when he was young, a look that could make girls chase him.

"Ah Sheng! Come out to eat soon. Are you up yet?"

Suddenly, his mother's urging voice came from the main room, bringing Cao Sheng's thoughts back to reality. He responded, calmed down, turned around and left the bedroom.

The air outside is colder than in the bedroom.

Mother and father were already sitting at the 8-person table eating breakfast, a very simple breakfast - pickles and porridge.

Seeing him come out, his father glanced at him and said nothing, and his mother urged him to wash his face and eat.

Cao Sheng didn't say anything. He just nodded and went out through the back door. His kitchen was behind the main house.

I also scoop water from the kitchen to wash my face.

After he finished washing up and filled a bowl of porridge and returned to the main room, his father, who was a very fast eater, had already finished his meal and got up to take the dishes to the kitchen.

Cao Sheng sat where his father had just sat, picked up two pickles and put them in his bowl, then lowered his head and started drinking porridge.

After drinking a mouthful of porridge, he casually asked, "Mom! You just said you wanted to make fried rice candy today?"

The mother nodded.

Cao Sheng came to a conclusion in his mind: It’s the end of the year.

Because his family used to make fried rice candy only when the Chinese New Year was approaching.

This is true for every household in the village.

In normal times, no one would make fried rice candy.

"How many days are left until the New Year?"

After taking two more mouthfuls of porridge, he asked casually.

Mother: "Not much time left, maybe just a week or so!"

After a pause, she urged him again, "Eat quickly! Go light the fire and make fried rice candy with your father. I have to go out. Your father hasn't received his wages from the kiln factory this year. I have to go again to ask for it. If I don't get it before the New Year, it will be even harder to get it after the New Year."

Upon hearing this, Cao Sheng looked up at his mother and nodded slightly.

His mother's words just now made him even more certain that it was before 2000.

Because he remembered that his father stopped working in the kiln factory after 2000.

reason?

Because his father worked in the kiln factory, the red bricks in the cave were often still hot, and the workers who worked in the kiln had to transport all the bricks out of the cave.

It's okay in other seasons.

But it’s also the same in the summer, it’s especially hard.

Imagine that it is already very hot in the summer, and the bricks in the cave are still hot. The temperature in the cave is at least forty or fifty degrees, and the air inside is also very bad, stuffy and hot.

In such an environment, you still have to do physical work. People with weaker health simply cannot persist.

His father had worked in the kiln factory for more than ten years, all because of the pressure of life. After 2000, Cao Sheng was about to graduate from college, and the salary of other jobs outside was not much less than that of working in the kiln, so his father didn't want to work in the kiln anymore.

After breakfast, Cao Sheng's mother went out.

Cao Sheng came to his parents' room and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall.

January 1998, 1?

January 1 is New Year’s Eve?

So, according to the lunar calendar, it is still 1997?
I am still a freshman?
1997...

Cao Sheng didn't know what to feel.

He felt that this timing was not a good time.

If he had started two years earlier, he would have had a chance to work harder and get into a better university.

But now?

The Huizhou Teachers College where he studied was not up to standard at all, it would be embarrassing to tell others about it.

If it were a few years later, he would have graduated from college, been able to earn his own money, and lived a more comfortable life, but now it is the end of 1997.

My family gives me 120 yuan per month for living expenses.

On average, that's only 30 dollars a week.

The 30 yuan covers his food expenses and all other daily expenses.

He had experienced that kind of day once in the original time and space. If he were to go through it again now, he would feel scared just thinking about it.

"Ah Sheng! Have you finished eating? Come and light the fire!"

From the kitchen came my father's call.

Cao Sheng responded, smiled bitterly and went to the kitchen.

He is very familiar with making fire.

I've been used to burning since I was a child.

Take a bundle of straw, light it with a match, put it into the stove, and then add firewood to the stove little by little.

This is not a mountainous area, so they usually burn rice straw, rapeseed straw, or soybean straw.

But every year when making fried rice candy, it takes a long time to burn the fire and the fire must be strong, so usually some firewood is burned when making fried rice candy.

Every household has little firewood.

It’s only when the Chinese New Year is around the corner that people are willing to burn a few bundles of firewood.

He was burning a fire at the stove, and his father was pouring sand into a large iron pot. After a while, when the sand was hot, he would use the sand to fry the steamed and dried rice.

The rice fried with sand will expand into fried rice.

This kind of fried rice, combined with heated maltose, can be made into their traditional snack - fried rice candy.

Families with better conditions would add some sesame seeds and peanuts to the fried rice candy.

Fried rice candy with sesame seeds is called sesame candy.

The one with peanuts added is peanut candy.

They only do this during the Chinese New Year.

Cao Sheng's father was busy in front of the stove, and Cao Sheng was burning a fire at the stove. His father was so busy that sweat appeared on his head, and Cao Sheng was warming himself by the fire at the stove, his face became red, and he felt very comfortable.

His thoughts were wandering again.

He came back from 2024, so naturally he couldn't get used to the hard times in 1997.

When he thought about going to school after the New Year and having to live on only 30 yuan a week for living expenses, he wanted to make money.

What can you do with 30 yuan?

If it were 2024, 30 yuan would barely be enough for his daily food expenses.

Although prices and consumption were low in 1997.

But in school, a meal costs at least one dollar.

If you want eggs or shredded or minced meat in the dishes, the meal will cost you $1.50. If you want chunks of meat, the meal will cost at least $2.

What can I buy with 30 yuan a week?

Wanting to make money, the first thing he thought of was to start a new book as soon as possible.

Because before he traveled through time, he had been writing full-time for more than ten years.

Typing is his livelihood skill.

Although in the original time and space, he has been writing for more than ten years, but has not achieved any decent results.

In the eyes of readers, he is an old flop.

But he believed that if he published a new book in 1997 or 1998, the results would be better. After all, there were probably not many people writing online articles at that time.

There is little competitive pressure.

Suddenly, Cao Sheng frowned and a hint of suspicion appeared in his eyes.

Because he suddenly thought of a question: Was online literature born in 1997?
If I write an online novel now, will it become the originator of online novels?
In which year did the first online novel of the original time and space appear?

(End of this chapter)