30: The wind of youth is more valuable than gold

Putting away his phone, he suddenly seemed to remember something, realizing he had forgotten about his driver, Xiao Xu. He hadn't seen him at all. He pushed open the main gate and only then saw Xiao Xu sitting in the car.

When Xiao Xu saw Jiang Chen push open the door and walk out, he immediately opened the car door, got out, and greeted him. Jiang Chen motioned for him not to be so formal, then pulled out a cigarette and offered it to him.

Xiao Xu, flattered, accepted it. He didn't dare refuse what the boss gave him, but he didn't dare to smoke it.

"Xiao Xu, find a place to stay for yourself first. Leave the car. If I need anything, I'll contact you."

At the same time, Jiang Chen took out his phone and had him add him on Feixin. Then, without allowing him to refuse, he transferred ten thousand yuan to him, telling him to arrange his own accommodation in town. He also thoughtfully told him that there was a noodle shop in town with very delicious noodles, suggesting he try them.

Xiao Xu couldn't refuse, so he reluctantly clicked to receive the money. After handing the car keys to Jiang Chen, he stated that he would be online 24 hours a day and that Jiang Chen could call him anytime, anywhere if he needed anything. Meanwhile, he walked towards the noodle shop Jiang Chen had mentioned, wanting to try the boss's recommendation.

After sending Xiao Xu off, Jiang Chen leaned against the front of the car, looking at the familiar streets, and lit another cigarette. Just then, Jiang Yan walked out.

"Brother, why are you smoking out here? I was wondering where to find you."

Jiang Chen smiled, "Finished washing the dishes? Where's Mom?"

Coming to Jiang Chen's side and leaning against the car as well, Jiang Yan said, "It's all your fault for getting Dad drunk. Mom went to take care of him."

Jiang Chen, hearing this, claimed it had nothing to do with him; he hadn't drunk much. Dad had been drinking glass after glass, which was why he got drunk.

It had little to do with him!

In July in Chongqing, even the wind was cool, blowing away much of the alcohol. Jiang Chen tossed his cigarette and extinguished it with the sole of his shoe. "Little brother, let's go for a walk."

(It's a rural area, not a big city, and his doorstep would be cleaned by someone, so don't criticize me for littering cigarette butts.)

He wanted to take a good look at the familiar, yet now unfamiliar, streets of his hometown.

Jiang Yan: "Okay, okay."

The two walked for a while and arrived at the center of the town. Jiang Yan stopped and pointed to a place, asking, "Brother, look at this bubble tea shop. Do you still remember that incident?"

Jiang Chen looked in the direction Jiang Yan pointed and sighed, "I can't believe it's still open after so many years."

At the same time, a memory surfaced, and recalling that incident, he burst into laughter.

That was when Jiang Chen was in high school. He had secretly taken a hundred yuan from his parents to go online. Fearing discovery, he had told Jiang Yan, who was still in elementary school, that if their parents found the money missing, he should take the blame. Afterward, he would treat him to bubble tea for three days.

The result, of course, was that they were found out.

And so, tempted by bubble tea, elementary schooler Jiang Yan endured Zhao Fen's clothes hanger beating his bottom without a sound. Even though he cried, he didn't betray Jiang Chen.

"Now that I think about it, it really wasn't worth it. Three days of bubble tea got me a beating from Mom, but you got a hundred yuan."

"And in the end, you only bought me bubble tea for one day. I only got one cup of bubble tea." Jiang Yan thought of this and complained speechlessly.

He also sighed that his older brother had taken advantage of his youthful ignorance.

Jiang Chen's lips curved upward, and he put his arm around his brother's shoulder, hugging him: "Let's go, let's go, brother will make it up to you. I'll treat you to bubble tea, and I'll treat you to a lifetime of bubble tea from now on."

"No, that won't do. I'll get diabetes."

Jiang Chen laughed heartily: "Hahahahaha."

Entering the bubble tea shop, Jiang Chen ordered two familiar bubble teas. Perhaps he had grown up, but Jiang Chen felt that the bubble tea no longer tasted the way it used to.

Hmm, it wasn't as fragrant.

Then Jiang Chen dragged Jiang Yan to stroll around the familiar campus. Fortunately, it was summer vacation, so even in the evening, it was open for people to walk and exercise.

They then went to the internet cafe where they often skipped class as children, and the bookstore they visited every Friday to buy "Zhiyin Manhua" comics, though they mostly just looked and didn't buy.

And the snack street, and so on—

This place held most of his time and beautiful memories of his youth.

Everything was still so familiar, yet so distant from the impression in his memory, appearing so unreal, like a dream.

Time really flies.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Time was more tumultuous than floods and beasts. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Chen was no longer the boy he once was; he had entered the age of thirty.

He recalled the innocence of his childhood, the spiritedness of his youth, the soaring ambition of his young adulthood, the acceptance of reality when he entered society, and finally, the helplessness of having to compromise with the monster called "life."

Fortunately, all of this had been changed by the system.

"Brother?"

"Big brother!"

"Brother, what are you thinking about? So engrossed." Jiang Yan called him several times when he saw Jiang Chen spacing out.

Jiang Chen came back to his senses, looked at Jiang Yan drinking bubble tea, and said, with what seemed like both emotion and nostalgia, "I'm thinking, if I were your age, would I still be so spirited?"

Jiang Yan just thought his older brother was strange: "What are you talking about, brother? I don't understand, and you're not old either."

Jiang Chen smiled, but said nothing.

The wind of youthful gallop is more precious than gold, and the spirit of youth is an irreplaceable thing; once extinguished, it can never be found again.

And you, my foolish little brother, don't need to understand, because I will pave the way, an infinitely broad path, so that you won't fall into the same shameful quagmire I once did.

"Let's go home!"

The streetlights cast long shadows of Jiang Chen and Jiang Yan, and also drew Jiang Chen's heart to a higher, more distant place.