I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

How to solidify one's Dao heart?

Shen Kang had his own way.

After finishing his cigarette, he threw away the butt, took out his phone, stood next to the old man, and dialed a number in his contacts.

"Hey, Old Ou, what are you doing?"

"Packing up, getting ready to go home. Something wrong? Is there anything else at the bubble tea shop I need to do? Developing a new bubble tea? A Lunar New Year version?"

Shen Kang said with great distress: "Old Ou, why are you always thinking about milk tea? Don't forget why you came to my milk tea shop in the first place! Did you really come here to develop milk tea? It's one thing to fool me, but don't fool yourself too."

Ouyang Yu on the other end of the phone sounded a little confused: "Isn't it what you said, Lao Shen, that you have to be a career-oriented man to truly achieve your goals?"

"But you can't be too career-oriented; you need to find a balance."

As Shen Kang spoke, he naturally revealed his purpose, "Perfect timing, I'm free right now and in a good mood. How about this, tell me about your past with Qin Zhen, and I'll help you analyze it further and make the plan I've prepared for you more detailed."

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Yu, who had been feeling a bit lazy, suddenly perked up when Shen Kang surprisingly offered to give her relationship advice.

Even the way they addressed Shen Kang changed.

"Okay, Teacher Shen!"

Shen Kang thought to himself, "You really only use people as 'Teacher Shen' and not as 'Old Shen'. Isn't that a bit too realistic?"

However, he didn't say anything, he just listened to Ouyang Yu's story.

Then Shen Kang actually learned a lot of things he didn't know before.

Ouyang Yu and Qin Zhen met during their freshman year of college.

Qin Zhen was suffering from heatstroke and was sitting under the shade of a tree. Ouyang Yu happened to have some Huoxiang Zhengqi Water (a traditional Chinese medicine for heatstroke) in his pocket; his mother had insisted on packing it in his suitcase before school started, saying it was because the south is humid and hot, and it was good for preventing heatstroke. He opened a bottle and handed it to Qin Zhen, who took it and drank it, frowning in pain. Ouyang Yu then handed him his own bottled water. Qin Zhen rinsed his mouth, looked up at him, and said thank you.

That one glance, that one thank you, and Ouyang Yu was gone forever.

Shortly after the military training ended, Qin Zhen told Ouyang Yu that she had a very good friend from high school who was also at Yang University of Science and Technology, named Chen Hao, who was her male best friend.

Ouyang Yu said, "Oh, male best friends are good. Having a male best friend shows that she is a loyal and affectionate person."

Qin Zhen said that Chen Hao had recently broken up with his girlfriend and was in a bad mood, but she was in military training and didn't have time to keep him company. She asked Ouyang Yu if she could go and chat with Chen Hao for her.

Ouyang Yu agreed without even thinking about it.

That evening, Ouyang Yu went to Chen Hao's dormitory with a bag of snacks.

Chen Hao, still engrossed in his game on the bed, didn't even look up. He said, "You're the Ouyang Qin Zhen mentioned, right? Sit down." Ouyang Yu sat down, placed the snacks on the table, and took Chen Hao's roommate's chair—Chen Hao's roommate had gone to an internet cafe for an all-nighter, leaving the chair empty.

Chen Hao played the game for a while and ignored him.

Ouyang Yu sat there, watching Chen Hao finish one game of Warcraft P, and another, and another.

During this time, Chen Hao said "water," and Ouyang Yu got up and went to the water dispenser to get him a glass of water.

Chen Hao took it and drank it, saying, "It's not iced."

Without saying a word, Ouyang Yu went downstairs to buy an iced bottle and then climbed five flights of stairs back up. Chen Hao took it, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and said, "It's alright."

When Shen Kang heard this, his fingers tightened involuntarily as he gripped his phone.

Yes, yes, yes, that's the taste!

He knew then that he had made the right call to Ouyang Yu...

That night, Ouyang Yu stayed in Chen Hao's dormitory until 1 a.m.

Chen Hao got tired of playing games and said he wanted to eat instant noodles. Ouyang Yu took out the bag of snacks he had brought, rummaged through it and found a cup of Master Kong braised beef noodles. He boiled water in the electric kettle, made the noodles, and brought them to Chen Hao.

Chen Hao took a bite and said, "I forgot to put in the braised eggs." Ouyang Yu said, "I'll bring you some tomorrow."

After finishing his instant noodles, Chen Hao leaned against the headboard and said he didn't want to play games anymore, he wanted to chat.

Ouyang Yu agreed, and then Chen Hao started talking to Ouyang Yu about his ex-girlfriend, saying how wronged she was and how she ran off with someone else. As he talked, he actually started crying.

Ouyang Yu sat by the bed, handing him tissues and listening to him cry for two hours. After he finished crying, Chen Hao said he was sleepy, and only then did Ouyang Yu leave.

Before leaving, Chen Hao said, "You're a really good person. No wonder Qin Zhen said you're reliable."

Ouyang Yu was happy for several days after he returned—not only because he had been praised, but also because Qin Zhen had praised him in front of others.

From that moment on, Chen Hao was fixated on Ouyang Yu. Needed someone to play games with? Called Ouyang Yu. Hungry and didn't want to go downstairs? Called Ouyang Yu. Feeling down and wanting to drink with someone? Still called Ouyang Yu.

Once, Chen Hao stayed up all night at an internet cafe. At 3 a.m., he messaged Ouyang Yu saying he was hungry. Ouyang Yu got out of bed, climbed over the wall out of the dormitory building, went to a 24-hour convenience store, bought two servings of fried noodles and six cans of Coke, and delivered them to the internet cafe.

Chen Hao took the fried noodles, stuffed them into his mouth, and mumbled, "Old Ou, you're closer to me than my own brother."

In the latter half of her first semester of freshman year, Qin Zhen started dating her first boyfriend.

He's from the Computer Science department, his name is Zhou Yu, he plays basketball, he's very tall, and he has two prominent canine teeth when he smiles.

When Qin Zhen told Ouyang Yu about this, Ouyang Yu was silent for a few seconds, and then asked, "Is he good to you?"

Qin Zhen said, "That's good."

Ouyang Yu said, "That's fine then."

A few days later, Qin Zhen came to see Ouyang Yu again.

She said Zhou Yu's birthday was coming up soon, and she wanted to give him a pair of basketball shoes, but she wasn't very good at picking out men's shoes, so she asked Ouyang Yu if he could go to the mall with her to take a look.

Ouyang Yu said okay, and then he accompanied Qin Zhen to the mall.

The two spent over an hour browsing in the Nike store. Ouyang Yu meticulously helped her choose, analyzing everything from cushioning technology to fit, and from whether it was suitable for a guard or a forward to Zhou Yu's foot shape and playing style.

Qin Zhen listened from the side, nodding occasionally, and finally chose the pair recommended by Ouyang Yu.

When Qin Zhen paid, Ouyang Yu stood beside her watching. The shoes cost over six hundred yuan after the discount, which Qin Zhen said was a bit expensive, but worth it.

Ouyang Yu said, "Yes, when I play basketball wearing these shoes, every step I take reminds me of the shoes you gave me."

Qin Zhen then asked if a card should be put in the shoebox.

Ouyang Yu said, "Let's put one out; it will show more sincerity."

Qin Zhen said, "Then you write it for me."

Ouyang Yu took the pen, thought for a while, and wrote a line on the card: "May every step you take on the court feel like you are running towards your dream."

After reading it, Qin Zhen patted him on the shoulder and said, "Where did you get this idea? It's so well written!" Ouyang Yu replied, "It's nothing, I just wrote down whatever came to mind." Qin Zhen put the card into the shoebox, closed it, and said, "I'll treat you to dinner another day."

He never invited her to that meal again, but Ouyang Yu said he didn't mind.

The day Zhou Yu received the basketball shoes, he took a picture and posted it on his QQ space with the caption, "A birthday gift from my wife, so thoughtful."

Several people commented below asking if Qin Zhen wrote the card herself. Qin Zhen replied, "I don't have such good writing skills. My friend Ouyang wrote it for me."

When Ouyang Yu saw this reply, she was making instant noodles in her dormitory. She stared at the two characters "Ouyang" for a while and thought to herself, "She forgot that her surname is Ou again, not Ouyang. What a silly little fool."

However, what bothered Ouyang Yu the most was that Qin Zhen referred to him as a "friend" in public and took the initiative to mention his existence—this was to introduce him to her social media.

I forgot to eat the instant noodles after soaking them for five minutes, and they clumped up.

He didn't feel sorry for it.

Later, Zhou Yu and Qin Zhen broke up.

The night they broke up, Zhou Yu drank two cases of beer at a barbecue stall on the back street, until he was so drunk he collapsed on the table and couldn't get up.

The person next to him was not his roommate, nor his sports buddy, but Ouyang Yu.

As Zhou Yu poured alcohol into his mouth, he cried and said, "I really don't know what I did wrong." Ouyang Yu sat opposite him, pouring him more alcohol and listening to him repeat Qin Zhen's name over and over again until the barbecue stall owner started packing up the tables and chairs.

At two in the morning, Ouyang Yu put one of Zhou Yu's arms on his shoulder and helped the drunk man, who was half a head taller than him, all the way back to his dormitory from the back street.

Zhou Yu vomited all over Ouyang Yu on the stairs. Ouyang Yu's jeans, even after being washed three times, still had a sour smell of beer and stomach acid mixed together. But he didn't say anything. The next day, he even messaged Zhou Yu to ask if he had a headache and if he wanted Zhou Yu to bring him a bowl of porridge.

After Zhou Yu sobered up, he said to Ouyang Yu, "Old Ou, you are the most loyal person I have ever met."

From then on, Zhou Yu also became Ouyang Yu's good friend.

The two would occasionally meet up to play half-court at the court. When Zhou Yu introduced Ouyang Yu to people on the court, he would say, "This is my brother."

Nobody knew—and nobody cared—that this "brother" had once picked out a pair of basketball shoes for his ex-girlfriend and even wrote the birthday card that he had praised to the skies for her.

Near the end of the second semester of her freshman year, Qin Zhen told Ouyang Yu that she had met another boy, Sun Tao, from the sports department. He played basketball and knew Zhou Yu.

Qin Zhen said they were still in the ambiguous stage and hadn't officially gotten together, but she had a good impression of Sun Tao, finding him sunny and cheerful, and feeling very relaxed with him.

Ouyang Yu said, "That's good. As long as you're happy."

At the start of her sophomore year, Qin Zhen asked Ouyang Yu for help again. She said that Sun Tao's English was particularly bad; he only scored a little over 300 on the CET-4 mock exam and was worried about failing the final exam. She asked if Ouyang Yu knew any classmates who were good at English who could tutor him.

Qin Zhen then said, "Haven't you always been good at English?"

Ouyang Yu said, "My English is so-so." Qin Zhen said, "The journalism and communication literature you translated for me last time was praised by the teachers." Ouyang Yu said, "Okay then."

Then Ouyang Yu tutored Sun Tao in English for half a semester. Twice a week, two hours each time.

Sun Tao's English foundation was indeed poor; he couldn't even understand basic tenses. So Ouyang Yu explained it to him from the beginning, from the present simple tense to the subjunctive mood, from reading comprehension to essay templates.

Before the final exam, Sun Tao said he still couldn't write an essay, so Ouyang Yu prepared a universal template for him overnight. Each type of question had two sets of sample essays, totaling twelve essays, all of which were written by Ouyang Yu himself.

Sun Tao studied for three days and scored 68 on his final English exam, nearly 30 points higher than his mock exam.

On the day the results came out, Sun Tao happily sent Ouyang Yu eight "thank you" messages on QQ, followed by a string of exclamation marks, saying that without you, he would definitely have failed this semester, and that you were his best friend at Yangko University of Science and Technology.

Ouyang Yu said, "It's okay, as long as you passed the exam."

Ouyang Yu also saved the screenshots of Sun Tao's eight "thank you" messages.

……

What were you thinking at the time?

Shen Kang, sitting in the guardhouse on the other end of the phone, couldn't help but speak up.

As for why he was sitting in the security room, it was because a security guard who knew him had returned.

When the security guard saw that the college student, Mr. Shen, who often gave them cigarettes, was "standing in the cold wind" making a phone call, he quickly invited Shen Kang to sit in the security room.

After a slight refusal, Shen Kang eventually agreed and sat down.

So now, Shen Kang sat in the security room, looking out the window, listening to Ouyang Yu's story on the other end of the phone while watching the students leaving the school one after another.

If he were to change into a green military overcoat, he would really look just like a school security guard.

"I didn't have any particular thoughts at the time."

Ouyang Yu's voice continued to come from the other end of the phone, answering Shen Kang's question: "I just feel that the fact that her boyfriend used 'best' to describe our relationship for the first time proves that I have surpassed many classmates and friends in their social hierarchy."

"..."

Shen Kang felt once again that he had made the right call.

After saying that, Ouyang Yu mentioned something else, "By the way, Teacher Shen, do you remember? The day we first met, I helped Zhenzhen deliver a package to one of her male friends. I know you probably thought he was Zhenzhen's boyfriend, but he wasn't. If he were, she would have told me."

Shen Kang nodded, "Indeed, my thinking was too narrow at the time."

Indeed, Qin Zhen doesn't even hide from Ouyang Yu who she's dating. If that person were really her boyfriend, Qin Zhen would probably tell him too.

I guessed wrong back then... Who could have known you two had this kind of relationship!

After correcting Teacher Shen's mistake, Ouyang Yu continued speaking.

The week Sun Tao received his final English grades, Chen Hao also marked the one-year anniversary of his breakup.

Ouyang Yu set a reminder on the calendar, and that evening she took the initiative to bring a bag of snacks and a case of beer to find Chen Hao, saying that today was their anniversary and she wanted to have a drink with him.

Chen Hao was so moved he almost cried again.

This time, I'm not crying for my ex-girlfriend, I'm crying for Ouyang Yu.

He put his arm around Ouyang Yu's shoulder and said, "You're the most worthwhile person I've met in my four years of college. No ex-girlfriend or Qin Zhen are as reliable as you."

Ouyang Yu patted him on the back and said, "I know."

This was the first time Chen Hao had placed him above Qin Zhen.

At this point in the story, Ouyang Yu paused. He made a sound like he was taking a sip of water on the other end of the phone, then his tone suddenly became serious, as if he were about to give an important summary.

"Teacher Shen, do you know? From freshman year until now, all the boys around Qin Zhen—Chen Hao, Zhou Yu, Sun Tao, and a few classmates she's close to—I'm too lazy to list them all, I'm friends with every single one of them."

"Chen Hao had his birthday last month, and I bought him a mechanical keyboard. He almost kissed me while hugging it. Zhou Yu still plays basketball with me all the time. As for Sun Tao, needless to say, after tutoring him in English, he always greets me and calls me 'Brother Ou' whenever we meet."

"I'm not bragging—at Yangko University of Science and Technology, besides Zhenzhen, I'm the one who understands Chen Hao the most. Besides Zhenzhen, I'm the one who understands Zhou Yu the most. Besides Zhenzhen, I'm also the one who understands Sun Tao the most."

He paused, then spoke in a confident tone the words that Shen Kang would never forget.

"I'll be friends with whoever she's dating. If she breaks up with her boyfriend, I'll be friends with her next one."

"..."

Shen Kang sat in the security room, unable to understand what was being said, but deeply shocked.

On the other end of the phone, Ouyang Yu continued talking.

"I've now turned every one of her relationships into my social connections. Do you know what that means?"

Shen Kang held his phone without saying a word.

Because Ouyang Yu answered for him.

"This means that I have become the common solution, the greatest common divisor, of all her alternatives. No matter who she is with, I am in that person's circle of friends. She can't delete me because I am the only constant in her social system that spans all relationships."

After speaking, Ouyang Yu remained silent for a second.

Then, in a more serious tone, as if stating a theorem that had been repeatedly verified, he added a sentence, word by word.

"Some people say I'm a spare tire, but I'm not a spare tire. A spare tire can only be used on one wheel; I'm the chassis. No matter what tires she uses, she puts them on me."

Shen Kang paused for a moment, then sincerely praised, "I underestimated you, Lao Ou. I didn't think of this approach."

He felt that future generations of sycophantic, warm-hearted men should learn from their senior brother Ou—being a backup isn't warm enough, you have to be the foundation! Only then can you become the legendary ultimate warm-hearted man.

Just as he was thinking this, Shen Kang's gaze suddenly froze, fixing on a couple walking out of the school.

The boy was quite tall and handsome. Like many couples, he was pulling a suitcase in each hand, and had two bags hanging on his back and shoulders.

The girl was a beautiful woman, and she was Qin Zhen, whom they were talking about on the phone.

They said something, and Qin Zhen smiled and lightly punched the boy next to her on the shoulder. It was more like a playful punch than a playful gesture. The boy smiled and was not annoyed at all. Instead, he was quite happy and moved even closer.

As Shen Kang watched, he heard Ouyang Yu's voice continuing to come from the other end of the phone.

"You flatter me, Professor Shen. Actually, this is just a small idea I had before I met you, Professor Shen. It's nothing special, and the results seem to have been mediocre. I'll still need your valuable advice in the future. If I marry Zhenzhen in the future, Professor Shen, you'll definitely be sitting at the first table..."

Shen Kang thought for a moment, then decided not to tell Ouyang Yu what he had seen—what would be the point? Would he give Ouyang Yu another good brother?

Old Ou has so many good brothers, he's already busy enough, let him take a break.

After Ouyang Yu finished speaking, it was Shen Kang's turn to "diagnose the illness".

Shen Kang used the same old rhetoric about "prioritizing career" and "increasing personal attractiveness," only this time he said it in a different way, which made it seem a little different, but in essence it was still the same.

Amidst Ouyang Yu's words of thanks, Shen Kang hung up the phone, stood up, and felt refreshed.

His Daoist heart was so stable that it was as firm as a rock.

The security guard who knew Shen Kang and had invited him in to sit down, seeing this, said, "Boss Shen seems to be in a good mood? What good news is it?"

Shen Kang said, "It's nothing, I just suddenly realized that even dogs don't date, so let whoever wants to date date."

Upon hearing this, the security guard deeply agreed and nodded repeatedly.

He recently had a nephew who's only in middle school, but he's already dating a young girl. As a result, they got jealous and he beat up his rival, and not badly at that, causing his sister's family a lot of trouble lately.

So why bother with dating? When you get to that age, just go on blind dates, find someone to date, and get married and settle down—that's what the security guard, who's been single all this time, thinks.

Just as the security guard was thinking, he saw Shen Kang pick up his phone and make another call.

"Hey, Boss He, your laundry room is about to close for the holidays, you should go and check on your employees, give them a speech, and hand out red envelopes... Don't bother with the red envelopes, I've already prepared them here, just come over and take them to hand them out... Why are you eating ice cream in the middle of winter?... Okay, okay, I'll go buy some for you..."

I wouldn't even date.

But what's wrong with asking my sister to come out and talk about work?

"..."

The security guard was watching from the side.

He had also met "Boss He," who was often with Boss Shen; she was Shen Kang's girlfriend.

Looking at Boss Shen's helpless yet indulgent expression, he thought to himself, "Boss Shen, are you schizophrenic?"