Chapter 182

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Mom, the college entrance exam scores are out..."

That evening, Wang Erhai walked out of the internet cafe and made a call home.

The mobile phone he was using now was still the one his mom gave him money to buy when he went out to work a summer job.

"How many points?"

Li Xiulan's tone was actually calm.

She actually knew what level her second son was at.

"389 points, very low."

Wang Erhai answered honestly.

Li Xiulan wasn't surprised in the slightest, didn't reproach him at all, and instead comforted him:

"The score is a bit low, if you didn't test well then you didn't test well, it's no big deal, life doesn't only have the college entrance exam this one thing, you're working a summer job in Dongguan, you have to take good care of yourself, if it's too hard and you can't keep doing it, then don't do it, come home and rest for a while before going out to find work."

With Li Xiulan saying it like this, Wang Erhai felt even more guilty.

He knew his mother had it very hard.

When they were young their father went out to work elsewhere, gone a whole year without coming back, and the three brothers were all raised by their mother alone.

Mother worked so hard to raise the three brothers, yet now Wang Erhai actually used a score like this to repay Mother, he felt he truly wasn't human.

Why didn't he understand to study hard before?

If only he could be like his youngest brother, calm down and study hard.

It's just a pity everything is too late now.

"Mom, don't worry, I'll take good care of myself, I'm not going back for now, I'll stay in Dongguan and work, wait until I've earned money then go back, then I'll let you live a good life."

Wang Erhai spoke these words from his heart.

His mother's nurturing grace, he would definitely repay.

"Erhai, you've grown up, become sensible, Mom is very happy in her heart!" Li Xiulan was smiling, the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes like old tree roots clinging there, deep and clear, "You don't need to send money home, your dad and I can still work construction sites, we're not short on money, you save what you earn, don't spend it randomly everywhere, later when you marry a wife, that'll need quite a lot of money!"

Li Xiulan instructed him so.

Li Xiulan actually didn't have much expectation for her children, she also didn't demand they repay her nurturing grace, she only hoped the children could be self-reliant, could stand on their own in society, could marry and have children, have a stable family and career.

That was already enough.

"Mom, I'll definitely earn lots and lots of money in the future, I'll definitely send money home!"

Wang Erhai gritted his teeth, making this promise.

After he hung up the phone, he couldn't help but want to cry a little.

This summer job now, working hard for a month, was only a bit over two thousand yuan in wages.

With his current earning ability, supporting himself was a problem, let alone earning money to send home?

After the college entrance exam scores came out, it was soon time to fill out the volunteer applications.

Back then for volunteer applications, you still had to go back to the school to fill them.

Wang Erhai originally didn't plan to go back and fill applications, with his score there wasn't anything good to fill.

But even if not filling applications, he still had to collect his high school diploma, he'd studied hard for three years of high school, this diploma he had to get.

So in the end he still went with Yang Xiaoxiong, asked the Group Leader for a day off, and made a trip back to the County High School.

On the application form Wang Erhai casually wrote a few choices, first choice he put Tsinghua University, second choice Peking University, then starting from the third choice he filled in some junior colleges that matched his score line, as for majors, he just wrote randomly, whichever major looked pleasing he filled in that one.

He didn't research any application strategies at all.

Anyway he wasn't planning to go to university, so everything was done very willfully.

After he finished filling applications and got his high school diploma, that very day he hurried back to the Dongguan Shoe Factory.

When he returned to the Dongguan Shoe Factory, he received a call, surprisingly from his eldest brother Wang Dashan.

Wang Dashan asked about his college entrance exam score and his current situation.

Wang Erhai told Wang Dashan honestly, he only got 389 points, he was now working a summer job in the shoe factory.

Wang Dashan said:

"Second Brother, if you have any difficulties, just speak up to me, my work is considered stable now, besides daily expenses I can still save some money normally, if you can't make it in Dongguan, you can also come to Guangzhou and find me."

Wang Erhai was grateful in his heart, but he still said:

"No matter what, I'll finish these two months of summer job, after finishing the summer job I'll make other plans!"

Wang Dashan said:

"Alright then, you persist, my Instructor used to tell me often, persistence brings harvest, persistence brings victory!"

Wang Erhai indeed made up his mind to persist and finish the summer job.

No matter how bitter or tiring, he wanted to persist.

But some principles are always easier said than done.

The word 'persist', put into practice, is really not as easy as just saying it.

He'd only done it for less than twenty-plus days when Wang Erhai really couldn't do it anymore.

The shoe factory work was really too boring!

If the Group Leader hadn't told him they wouldn't pay his wages if he didn't do a full month, he probably would've quit and run off long ago.

The Group Leader was actually threatening him, if he insisted on leaving with a firmer attitude, the factory couldn't possibly withhold his wages.

But he was still a young man fresh out of school, who didn't understand anything, not even what the Labor Law was, so in the end he could only endure and keep persisting.

Until he had completed a full month, only then did he resign.

This one month of summer job, he earned two thousand one hundred yuan in wages.

Actually the factory gave wages of over two thousand six hundred, but the intermediary needed to take a cut, so what reached his hands was only two thousand one hundred.

After resigning, he didn't know what work to do, and was too embarrassed to go home.

So together with Yang Xiaoxiong, they rented a house in Housha, Dongguan to live in, went job hunting during the day, and went to the internet cafe at night.

Watching the money about to run out soon, he still hadn't found a job.

And right at this time, Yang Xiaoxiong told him, he had a same-village childhood friend, who used to play together well, now doing the 1040 Project in Beihai, heard it earned quite good money, one month could earn one to two ten thousand yuan.

What Wang Erhai needed most urgently right now was to earn money, he was penniless, and too embarrassed to ask his family for money, so upon hearing he could earn this much money, he was immediately tempted.

Only, what is this 1040 Project?

He had never heard of it, and didn't understand it.

Yang Xiaoxiong said, he wasn't too clear either, heard it was a national project, its purpose being to let everyone earn big money.

It sounded quite high-end, that side was just short of people, so his primary school classmate came calling to recruit people, a rare opportunity, if missed there would be no more.

Yang Xiaoxiong also said, that was his same-village childhood friend, absolutely would not deceive him.

Wang Erhai heard these words, then no longer hesitated, and then decided to go to Guangxi Beihai together with Yang Xiaoxiong, preparing to earn a big sum of money in the 1040 Project.

However, he did not know, this one trip of his, would cause a major irreversible influence on his life...