Sharing Equally
Xiao Qi looked at the sliced beef with black pepper sauce and sesame seeds in front of her and hesitated.
In such a short time, Brother Lin Min had actually made 10 million yuan. He's so capable, even more so than her who had a system.
She wondered, what was Brother Lin Min's future like originally?
As she pondered over this question, a scene suddenly appeared in her mind.
After graduating from Qingmeng University, Lin Min did not continue with postgraduate studies, because his family's financial situation was just average. His younger sister did not get good grades on her college entrance exam and went to a vocational college.
Qingmeng University's medical students could do internships at the best hospital in Meng City, but Lin Min was not able to stay.
At the very least, that kind of major hospital only recruited graduate students, or those with powerful family backgrounds, or those with exceptionally outstanding capabilities.
Lin Min did not meet any of those criteria. He didn't have the money or time to pursue postgraduate studies. His family background was lacking. Although he was considered outstanding among his peers, he was not extraordinarily remarkable.
After graduating, Lin Min found a job at a second-tier hospital in a third-tier small city. His family's burden was heavy. His father was an alcoholic. His mother's street food stand was shut down and not allowed to operate anymore, so she worked as a janitor at the hospital. His younger sister just got by after graduating from vocational college. He was the most successful one, after all he was a doctor. Then after working for two years, his colleague introduced him to a match and he got married in that city. Soon he had a child, took out a loan to buy a house, and his salary increased bit by bit, yet his finances became more and more tight. His in-laws and parents both needed money when they got sick, and his child needed money too. Left with no choice, he slowly got used to accepting red envelopes, working overtime, and performing more surgeries.
When he returned home, he had to take care of his child and had no time to rest. He was exhausted. During one surgery, he made a small mistake accidentally. The patient's family made a big fuss about it. In the end, he was fired. As he walked along the street, he felt weary. He didn't go home, but went to a roadside food stand, ordered some wine and a few small dishes and drank alone quietly. The more he drank, the more he resembled his alcoholic father.
The youthful handsomeness on his face was gone, replaced with stubble, fatigue, and despair. After drinking several bottles of wine, a gust of wind blew by. He coughed violently, then blew his nose and casually wiped it with some tissue, throwing it on the ground. He also wiped his body with it...
Very late, he got up and staggered back. At a dark street corner, he saw someone robbing a woman's handbag. The woman held on tightly to her bag and ended up being stabbed by the robber. Blood splattered everywhere. The robber got scared and ran away with the knife. The woman writhed on the ground. Seeing him, she wanted to ask for help but couldn't make a sound. She just looked at him longingly. He glanced at her, hesitated for a moment, then walked away indifferently. The next day, the headlines reported an unexplained death of a 28-year-old woman at a street corner.
The next night, he went to the roadside food stand again and drank. Life was just hopeless like this, living was merely extending the hopelessness.
"Xiao Qi, what are you thinking about?" Lin Min saw that Xiao Qi had been staring blankly at him for a long time and couldn't help asking.
"Oh," nothing much. Xiao Qi's body shuddered and she came back to the present.
She looked up and saw Lin Min with a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. He was clean and neat, without any haggardness. His eyes were very bright, shining with a determined radiance.
He was completely different from the cold and decadent person in her mind just now.
The person in that scene had already been worn down by life.
The person before her eyes became more and more brilliant after being polished by life.
"Brother Lin Min, you are so amazing to have earned so much money already. Will you still become a doctor in the future? If someone gets injured, will you save them?" Xiao Qi asked.
"My dream is to become a doctor. Of course I will provide aid. Not to mention a doctor's basic professional ethics, this is basic human decency," said Lin Min.
Lin Min, who lived in the dark basement of the hospital, always harbored a dream of becoming a doctor.
His initial dream stemmed from hearing his parents speak admiringly of doctors, making him feel that doctors were godlike beings who led happy and dignified lives, able to save lives.
He wanted to become a doctor. He felt that he would make a very good doctor.
Being praised like this by Xiao Qi made Lin Min a little embarrassed.
Although he felt a bit awkward being alone with Xiao Qi, his emotions were quite relaxed overall.
Just like when he was curled up on the bed in that dreary little room in the basement, and saw that the room had been redecorated, with posters on the walls, he felt very warm and secure.
"You are also very outstanding and great," he said.
The girl before him studied diligently and excelled in her schoolwork. Although she was at Huan University, she was no worse than him at all. She didn't let herself deteriorate just because she was at Huan University. On the contrary, she worked even harder at her studies.
She often posted on Huan University's official Douyin account for everyone to see her brilliance, but what he saw was the details behind that brilliance. She spent every bit of free time reading. She went running every day. She paced around below the stage, waving her hands. She was cheering herself on.
He could even hear her soft shouts of "Keep it up!" to herself in the corner.
No one is born outstanding. It requires continuous effort.
Especially for people like them, they needed to put in twice the effort.
He had seen her cry and seen her disheveled state.
She had also seen him silent and disheveled.
After eating, Xiao Qi wanted to take Brother Lin Min to tour Huan University.
Huan University campus didn't have any ancient relics or stories, after all it had only been established for a little over ten years, but the scenery was quite nice.
Xiao Qi first took Lin Min to a temple near the new district. From the temple they could overlook the entire school's layout and the view was beautiful.
Then they went to the equestrian center.
It was also Lin Min's first time at the equestrian center, so he was very curious.
Although he now had some wealth to his name, when he saw those horses and learned their prices, he still gasped in surprise. His bit of money couldn't even afford one of those horses, let alone run an entire equestrian center.
He was still of the struggling grassroots class, completely different from those who had family wealth to inherit.
Yet those people somehow could turn their hobby of raising horses into making money. Money just naturally gravitated toward rich people, as if it had its own power of aggregation.
Whereas poor people would have a much harder time making money.
He was fortunate. His fortune was built on him scheming, observing, and exerting himself every day, even befriending trash collectors sincerely. When others got off from school and rested, not him, he worked. When others went out to play with girls on weekends, not him, he worked. On scorching hot days when others lay in the dorm fanning themselves and playing games, he worked.
Money was hard earned, so he cherished it greatly, didn't dare try recklessly, didn't dare make mistakes. Opportunities were scarce, so when he got one, he had to work even harder.
Xiao Qi took Lin Min to the stables and picked out Taylor for him. Although Taylor was tall and had been a bit temperamental before due to an old injury, he was actually the most docile now after recovering from that injury. She taught Lin Min how to get on the horse while leading Taylor.
Lin Min was a bit apprehensive too, since he had never been around horses before. But once he got on and Taylor walked a few steps, then broke into a gentle trot, he felt completely different. This was another world altogether.
It's easy for guys to fall in love with the feeling of riding a horse or driving a car.
Galloping and soaring.
Xiao Qi rode Ink nearby.
After circling around once or twice, Xiao Qi went to groom the horses and Lin Min followed to watch her work.
Not only did she have to wash and brush the horses, she also had to clean up the manure, and muck out the stalls. Xiao Qi carried buckets of water and worked very skillfully.
Lin Min lent a hand occasionally.
The afternoon passed quickly like this.
It could be said that this was the most relaxing day Lin Min had experienced since coming to Meng City, even more so than the day he got venture capital funding. Back then, holding all that money, the pressure was immense. His hands even shook when signing the agreements.
He was also afraid of failure, afraid of so many things, even suffering from insomnia and hair loss, lying awake all night unable to sleep.
Now he's not afraid anymore.
Since Huan Hua left, after getting on the bus to the city center because there were still seats available when he was leaving, he waved goodbye to Xiao Qi from the window.
As the bus drove away, he could still see her standing there.
The bus was a little chaotic, with more local residents who spoke the local dialect, chattering away. He didn't understand but felt strangely at ease.
He felt he was different now, different in some way he couldn't put his finger on. Anyway he felt very relaxed, liberated. He would keep working hard, there were so many things he could do, the future looked bright.
As Xiao Qi stood by the road waving, the mechanical voice in his head sounded again: "The host's positive attitude to life has brought the moderately corrupted teenager an uplifting influence, slowing down the speed of his corruption, rewarding the host with a healing smile."
