Era: Rise from the Wilderness

The meal took more than an hour to eat.

When it was time to pay, Cui Yanyan took out her wallet and found that she had spent a total of eighteen yuan and fifty cents.

In an era where monthly wages are only a little over a hundred yuan, this is indeed a large sum of money.

"Thank you, Sister Yan Yan!"

Everyone expressed their gratitude in unison.

"Don't mention it!"

Cui Yanyan waved her hand, "I'm happy today."

"Good heavens! No wonder she's the only daughter of the general manager of the town's only shopping mall!"

"Another young heiress!"

Li Yunjing secretly admired him.

After leaving the restaurant, everyone went home.

Lu Ruoxi pushed her bicycle and walked side by side with Li Yunjing.

Will Gao Fu retaliate?

She finally couldn't help but ask.

"He wouldn't dare."

Li Yunjing said confidently, "This beating today will be enough to make him remember for a while. Besides, if he really wants revenge, I'll take it too."

He spoke with a calm gaze, yet his eyes exuded an undeniable confidence.

Looking at him, Lü Ruoxi suddenly realized that this young man had really changed.

Become mature, become strong, and become someone who puts others at ease.

"Then be careful."

That was the last thing she said.

Don't worry.

Li Yunjing chuckled and retorted, "Even if I'm ambushed and injured, won't the beautiful Ruoxi take care of me? Right?"

"screw you!"

Lu Ruoxi blushed and pushed him away, "Who wants to take care of you!"

"Hehe, if you don't take care of me, what am I supposed to do?"

The two chatted and laughed as they turned a street corner and saw seven or eight junior high school students playing cards together.

It wasn't playing cards, but those round cardboard cards with cartoon images from "Journey to the West" and "Calabash Brothers" printed on the front.

This type of card game was all the rage in the 1990s, and its gameplay was simple and straightforward.

Place the cards on the ground and use the cards in your hand to fan, slap, or knock them. If you can flip the opponent's cards over, you win.

Li Yunjing's eyes lit up, and he stopped in his tracks: "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong?"

Lu Ruoxi asked curiously.

"Watch me."

Li Yunjing leaned his bicycle against the wall and walked over to the group of children.

A chubby little boy had a huge stack of cards in front of him, clearly the "big winner".

"Young man,"

Li Yunjing squatted down. "Want to borrow a card to play?"

The chubby boy looked at him warily: "What are you going to do?"

"Let's play a couple of rounds."

Li Yunjing pointed to the pile of cards in front of him, "If I win, your cards are mine. If I lose..."

He took a dollar out of his pocket.

These days, one yuan can buy twenty popsicles.

The chubby boy's eyes immediately lit up: "Really?"

"real."

Li Yunjing borrowed a single-sided card and placed it on the ground.

The chubby boy also chose a double-sided card.

It's two medium-sized cards, glued together on both backs to create a double-sided card, giving you two chances to live.

These cards are relatively heavy and not easily overturned.

Clearly, the chubby boy had ulterior motives; he wanted to use his best card to defeat Li Yunjing in one fell swoop and win a dollar.

"You go first."

The chubby boy spoke in a very confident and relaxed tone.

"All right!"

Li Yunjing looked at the chubby boy with a half-smile and nodded.

He held the card, flicked his wrist slightly, and the card flew through the air in a flash, its edge precisely grazing the edge of the chubby boy's card.

"Clatter!"

The chubby boy's cards flipped over immediately.

"Wow!"

"That's amazing!"

The children around gasped in surprise.

Then, Li Yunjing played a second time, and unsurprisingly, he won the card.

"Again!"

The chubby boy was unconvinced and took out another one.

Li Yunjing used the same method again, and once again, he killed the target with a single blow.

In less than ten minutes, Li Yunjing had won all the dozens of single-sided, double-sided, large, and small bills in front of the chubby boy.

The chubby boy looked at his empty hands, grinned, and burst into tears: "My cards... all my cards are gone..."

Looking at the stack of cards he had won in his hand, and then at the chubby boy crying sadly, Li Yunjing suddenly felt that he was bullying the child.

Seeing the chubby boy crying so sadly, Lü Ruoxi couldn't bear to watch anymore.

"How old are you? Why are you bullying a child?"

She gently nudged Li Yunjing: "Quickly give the cards back to them!"

Li Yunjing shook his head helplessly and shoved the cards in his hand back into the chubby boy's arms: "Alright, alright, here you go, stop crying."

The chubby boy, clutching his recovered cards, stopped crying, though his eyes were still red.

Li Yunjing squatted down and rubbed the chubby boy's head: "Kid, do you know why you lost?"

The chubby boy shook his head.

"You played your cards too aggressively."

Li Yunjing picked up a card to demonstrate, "It should be like this: a slight flick of the wrist, using finesse, not brute force. Understand?"

The chubby boy nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"besides,"

Li Yunjing pointed to the pile of cards in his arms, "Don't always think about using your best cards to beat others in one go. Sometimes, an ordinary single-sided card, if used correctly, can still beat a double-sided big card."

These words were a bit profound. The chubby boy blinked, as if he understood, yet also as if he didn't.

"Here, buy some popsicles."

Li Yunjing stood up, took out the one yuan from his pocket, and stuffed it into the chubby boy's hand: "Practice hard from now on, and come back to compete with me when you've improved."

The chubby boy clutched the money, glanced at the cards, then at Li Yunjing, and suddenly burst into laughter through his tears: "Thank you, brother!"

"I'm gone."

Li Yunjing patted him on the shoulder, and pushed the bicycle with Lü Ruoxi to continue walking forward.

After walking a dozen meters, Lü Ruoxi couldn't help but laugh: "You're quite good at coaxing children."

"That's right."

Li Yunjing proudly raised his chin, "I'm a master."

The sunlight cast long shadows of the two people.

Li Yunjing glanced back and saw that the group of children had gathered together to play again, and the chubby boy was excitedly talking to his companions.

This scene reminded him of his childhood.

He played cards like that back then, but he didn't have a chance to cry. He didn't buy a single card; he won a deck of cards that filled several cardboard boxes with just one borrowed card!

Even now, the cardboard boxes are still under his bed.

Li Yunjing felt a pang of nostalgia for the game he used to be best at, which is why he played a round with the kids.

People of their generation didn't have cell phones, game consoles, or high-tech gadgets. Playing marbles, cards, skipping rope, exercising, and even fighting became ways for young people to vent their energy.

Having been reborn, many things have changed.

But some things seem to have remained unchanged.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I asked Lu Ruoxi."

"It's nothing."

Li Yunjing shook his head. "I just feel that it's really great to be a child."

"Aren't you a child too?"

Lü Ruoxi laughed at him.

"Me!"

Li Yunjing looked at the distant sky, "Perhaps it's no longer like that."

His words sounded somewhat melancholic, and Lü Ruoxi glanced at him in surprise but didn't ask any further questions.