The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"Sir, this phone is equipped with an octa-core processor and has 12GB of RAM. Now, with the national subsidy, the price is only 1199, making it the most cost-effective model available today."

"Are there any cheaper options?"

"No, sir."

In the mobile phone store, Xu Nian's gaze lingered on the mobile phones displayed in the showcase.

Since his release from prison, he has not been able to buy a mobile phone, and his life is full of inconveniences.

Many stores have begun to refuse cash payments, citing various reasons such as not being able to give change.

Therefore, he had no choice but to use his meager savings to buy a mobile phone.

"Let's go with this one."

Xu Nian pointed to the cheapest model.

The salesperson nodded in agreement, and after taking the money, smiled as she unpacked the phone and activated the device.

Xu Nian held the new phone, lost in thought.

Ten years have passed, and even his cell phone has become unrecognizable.

The entire screen has no back button or home menu button.

He stared at the welcome screen after booting up, scratching his head for a long time, but still couldn't figure out how to exit.

Excuse me, how do I close this page?

He had no choice but to ask the salesperson who had spoken to him earlier for help.

"Oh, you can do it like this, this is how you do it."

The salesperson swiped lightly on the side of the phone and returned to the home screen.

"Oh, okay, thank you."

"You're welcome."

The salesperson responded with a smile, but inwardly she was starting to have doubts.

In today's society, how can there be people who can't even use a smartphone properly?

They're not old men or women.

Xu Nian noticed the disdain in his eyes and left the mobile phone store feeling embarrassed.

He sat on a step, staring blankly at his phone screen.

Having been out of touch with society for ten years, he found himself not even knowing how to download software.

Fortunately, the phone manufacturers pre-installed some popular apps.

WeChat and Alipay are software programs he is familiar with.

He didn't recognize the software with the musical note icon; it was probably a recent release.

Two software programs caught his attention.

I miss the cafeteria, I miss the shopping mall.

Judging from the names, they were all developed by that girl, right?

He lightly tapped the icon for the Missing Shop.

In an instant, a dazzling array of goods was displayed in front of him.

It has everything: food, drinks, clothes, and daily necessities.

Major brand appliances, imported goods, and luxury items are all available.

He browsed through it all, and seeing the sales figures of hundreds of thousands or millions of units sold in the lower right corner of each product, a sense of satisfaction welled up inside him.

She must make a lot of money selling so many.

That's great, that's amazing.

Even if he couldn't afford anything here.

The savings I had accumulated from working in prison were almost gone after buying this phone.

Since I haven't found a job yet, I'll have to be very careful with the money I have left.

He applied for a new SIM card before the service center closed.

As night deepened, he returned to Xu Hu's house and, amidst the aroma of other people's cooking wafting from outside the window, prepared the instant noodles he had bought.

"Slurp!"

He ate with great relish.

In prison, the food was bland and watery every day, and they often went for days without eating meat, leaving them with no taste in their mouths.

On his days off, eating a bowl of instant noodles at the convenience store is the only treat he can enjoy in his daily life, which he counts down the days on his fingers.

A drop of soup splashed onto the open phone screen.

Xu Nian reached out to wipe it, and accidentally touched the software with the musical note pattern.

"Look closely, the man in front of you is called Xiao Shuai..."

Oh, it's just video playback software.

The content of the video quickly caught Xu Nian's attention.

He stared intently at his phone screen, pausing his chewing.

It's quite interesting.

After one video finishes playing, the page prompts him to swipe up to watch the next one.

Xu Nian did as instructed and started watching the new video.

In one short video after another, he sometimes laughed, sometimes cried, sometimes was moved, and sometimes was sad.

He was completely immersed in short videos, as if he had escaped the mire of reality and forgotten his empty wallet and the troubles of not being able to find any work.

Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared on his screen.

"Ms. Xu Xi, during this 618 shopping festival, how many times higher is the target sales volume of Sinian Mall compared to Taobao?"

"We do not have this goal. The Sinian Group's goal has always been the overseas market. In the second half of this fiscal year, we plan to double our export earnings, allowing more global users to experience the quality of domestic products and driving the development of our country's manufacturing industry."

"What a grand ideal," a netizen asked. "With such a large company as Sinian Group, why has its chairman's name never appeared on the global rich list? Does Ms. Xu Xi not like money and have no interest in it?"

"I'm just not interested in the so-called rankings. Eighty percent of the annual revenue of the Sinian Group is invested in charity and rare disease drug research and development."

"In our country, there are still many people who are struggling to make ends meet, many children who are of school age but have no means to go to school, and many patients who are seriously ill but have no money for treatment and can only lie in their hospital beds, waiting for death to come."

"In comparison, a ranking that is neither here nor there is any meaning."

"As expected of the leader of an emerging industry leader, his vision is truly admirable."

"No wonder Ms. Xu Xi, despite being a businesswoman, enjoys popularity comparable to that of entertainment stars and is revered as a national goddess."

"This netizen joked, 'With such a stunning appearance and a massive business empire, Ms. Xu Xi is the dream girl of countless men. Could she please reveal her criteria for choosing a partner? He wants to provide material for his dream self.'"

That stunningly beautiful figure fell silent for a moment.

"I have a fiancé..."

......

Xu Nian turned off her phone, finished her instant noodles in a few bites, and drank every last drop of the soup.

As dusk settled and the moonlight dimmed, a cool night breeze blew the man's thoughts back to reality.

He lay in bed, staring out the window with his eyes open.

The night sky tonight is hazy and there isn't a single star in sight.

Like his life, it was bleak and uneventful.

The criminal label was affixed to his head, like a heavy mountain.

He was an outcast in this society.

For a moment, he had the thought of committing another crime and returning to prison.

Xu Nian shook her head with a wry smile, dismissing the unrealistic idea from her mind.

He also wanted to earn money to support Officer Zhang, who had given him a second life.

I absolutely have to find a job tomorrow.

Otherwise, if things continue like this, let alone offering gifts to Officer Zhang, he himself might not even be able to afford instant noodles.

He rubbed his temples, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

Lying in bed, he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

I kicked the blanket off and covered myself again, rolling from one end of the bed to the other, always feeling like ants were crawling on my body.

Until he turned on the light and turned the brightness to the maximum.

Under the bright lights, he regained his familiar feeling and fell asleep peacefully.