In the living room.

After the aunt finished cleaning up, she walked to the entrance, changed her shoes, and said, "I won't contradict you just now in front of the child."

"But Shen Cheng, you have to think carefully. Yingying will enter Jiangnan High School soon, and it will cost a lot of money. Including if she can be admitted to Ewha University in Ewha City in the future..."

The second uncle was sitting on the sofa, holding a cigarette in his hand, still watching the news on the TV screen.

"Shen Ran is a miserable child, but our family has been extremely kind to him. His own mother doesn't care about him anymore."

Seeing that the second uncle didn't speak, the aunt made her words more straightforward.

"My brother's family only has one descendant, Shen Ran, and our family only has one girl, Yingying."

Immediately, the second uncle had no choice but to reply, "If you and I don't plan to have a second child in the future, Shen Ran will be the only child of our old Shen family. How can we watch his life become like that?"

"I can't tell Shen Cheng, you are quite feudal. In what age are you still practicing clan culture? What about the old Shen family? It sounds so rich and wonderful."

Auntie changed her shoes at this time and her tone was deliberately surprised.

"You don't understand."

On the sofa filled with smoke, the second uncle replied.

"I don't understand. I only know that the family's financial income and expenditure have reached the red line." Auntie didn't understand, "Shen Cheng, the idea is certainly good, but weren't you awakened by reality when you were in college? Come here?"

With a sudden force of his fingers, he extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

The second uncle didn't want to talk about his past incident with Shen Ran.

"Bang"

The door opens.

The aunt said her last words before leaving, "Shen Ran said just now that he will work hard to settle down. I also think that the child should not... but we still have to consider Yingying's future."

The second uncle was lying on the sofa with a sad look in his eyes.

In the smoke, helplessness was written on that face.

In today's era, the technological tree of human civilization has grown very tall and dense, like a bottomless sea.

It is just a common subject. Even if a normal person starts learning it from birth, studies it every moment, and continues to learn it until old age, it is impossible to learn it to the end.

There is simply too much and complicated information. Without the aid of a chip, it would be difficult for Shen Ran to keep up with his learning progress no matter how hard he worked.

As the elder of Shen Ran's generation, I and his third uncle both graduated from well-known universities, especially Ewha University, where his third uncle studied. But if we go back further, the first batch of Shen family ancestors to reach Mars were human beings. The elite among the elite are professor-level senior engineers.

Nowadays, Shen Ran, the only child of the Shen family and the only boy, has trouble even attending a public high school in the same district.

Educational level is equivalent to socioeconomic status. From this perspective, the Shen family is a typical family's class decline process. And when Shen Ran passed the watershed of university education, it meant that the Shen family has completely fallen into the A quagmire from which I can never rise again.

This was the real reason why Shen Cheng smoked one cigarette after another. He tried his best to deny this, but in the end it only increased the pressure. After thinking about it, he had mixed feelings in his heart.

...

"Bang"

The sound of the door closing came from the living room. For some reason, it was particularly loud tonight.

Shen Ran knew that her aunt had gone out to work again, and she was so tired almost every day.

In a quiet room.

Shen Ran was sitting on the edge of the bed. There was an opened cardboard box on the ground, and a small black box in the center of a pile of foam air mattresses.

He was holding a handwritten letter in his hand. It was from his third uncle. The handwriting was quite beautiful.

For me, Third Uncle is a symbolic figure full of mystery.

I have some vague impressions about my third uncle in my mind, which happened when I was very young. After that, the other person suddenly disappeared.

No one knows why Uncle San suddenly ended his studies at Ewha University and gave up a future that was the envy of countless people.

Third uncle said he wanted to see the sea?

My father did not believe the reason for leaving, and firmly believed that there must be a conspiracy behind it——

The third uncle probably offended some noble sons of the Huoseong chaebol at Ewha University!

This is also an important reason why my father hates everything in Fire City.

His proudest brother suddenly disappeared from the upper class circles overnight. What was the reason?

Shen Ran also occasionally thinks about what kind of person his third uncle is? What happened to him while he was at Ewha University?

Shen Ran looked through the cardboard box again, trying to find a thread connecting the other party.

But there was only information about myself on that cardboard box, as if the sender didn't exist at all. Like a ghost.

In the end, Shen Ran could only focus on the letter in his hand, and based on the content above, he came up with some basic and simple information.

"The third uncle is still alive. His situation is not optimistic and he faces enemies."

He thought, and then became distressed, feeling as if he was in a fog with no trace at all.

There is quite a sense of helpless loss in my heart.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped at that line of text again, "I hope you can feel less sad. Third uncle actually sent this gift very early...Happy birthday, Shen Ran."

Shen Ran's originally empty heart was slowly filled with warmth, and a faint smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.

...

A cluster of orange flames burned the letter.

In the blazing light, the three words "Chen Xiuzhu" at the end are particularly dazzling.

Shen Ran did not throw away the ashes, but put them into a small box in the drawer.

Although the third uncle stated in the letter that he would burn the letter after reading it.

But for Shen Ran, every good thing in his life should be carefully treasured, even if it turns into ashes.

Then, he looked at the small black box in the cardboard box.

I didn't rush to open it immediately.

Shen Ran didn't know what would happen after opening the little black box, but according to what his third uncle said, the contents inside could change his life.

Shen Ran swallowed his saliva first, and then, a novel feeling that he had never experienced before came over his body.

A young man who was at the lowest point in his life and in the most confused period suddenly received a mysterious birthday gift...

It sounds like a poor boy who one day suddenly discovers that he is the illegitimate son of a wealthy man living abroad.

Of course, he will not be the heir to a large plutocrat.

Although the Shen family did have a relatively prosperous period, if there were really any treasures to be discovered, her mother would not have been so determined to leave her father in the first place.

As a child whose parents are divorced and who has seen the cold side of the world since he was a child, he does not believe in miracles and has never been willing to spend even a little money to buy lottery tickets.

This is not God's sudden mercy and charity.

This is a special birthday gift given to me by my third uncle. There must be a special reason behind it.

"What could be inside?" Shen Ran suppressed her mood and thought curiously.

Compared with the moment of getting the gift, the curiosity and expectations before opening the gift are often more memorable for a person.

Chip?

The first thing Shen Ran thought of was chips, because as the saying goes - technology changes life.

If this gift really contains the latest top-notch chip, then your current life predicament will indeed be changed immediately.

But Shen Ran gave up this speculation.

Because the second uncle had just said that for some unknown reason, the third uncle, like his father, also rejected having a chip implanted in his brain.

"If it's not a chip, what could it be?" Shen Ran pondered.

After the thoughts dispersed, my mind began to think about more things.

If your life becomes a different world as a result, how should you face it? If your life remains the same without any changes, how should you accept it?

If you become good, will that woman suddenly appear outside the door one day carrying a birthday cake?

If possible, could the second uncle and aunt not work so hard, and the family could have a better life?

There were so many thoughts. Just thinking about them, Shen Ran suddenly felt that his life was not completely gloomy. There were obviously so many places that could be brightened up.

Interrupt thoughts.

Shen Ran stood up.

Taking a deep breath, the boy opened his birthday gift.

...

...

Click...

The lock of the small black box was opened.
To be continued...