"A bottle of Nutrition Express, a bucket of instant noodles, and a ten-yuan machine." Lu Mingfei walked into the Internet cafe, took out a crumpled twenty-yuan bill and placed it on the front desk.
"Which flavor do you want? Pickled pepper or braised beef." The shirtless boss, smoking a cigarette, sat on a chair, reached for the banknotes and threw them in the drawer.
"Just braised beef, Master Kong's." Lu Mingfei looked into the Internet cafe and said casually.
"Would you like to add ham sausage and braised eggs?"
"Oh? Is there any more service? Do you want money?" Lu Mingfei turned around and came back.
"Do I look like your dad?" the boss asked, pointing his thumb up at his face.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the cold face as if he had been slaughtering pigs for twenty years in a slaughterhouse and shook his head decisively, "How much does it cost to add braised eggs?"
"A braised egg costs three yuan, and ham sausage costs two yuan. You have enough money left to add a braised egg, and you will get an extra dollar back."
Lu Mingfei looked up at the braised eggs and ham on the shelf behind the boss, hesitated for a moment, muttered something about the increasing cost of Internet access, took out an Iraqi war-damaged one-dollar bill and handed it to him.
After passing it, the boss didn't look down upon anything after taking it. After all, the only people who could come to his Internet cafe were poor students, and the entire Internet cafe's turnover was supported by these students.
As soon as the universal card in the cigarette case was swiped, a face that looked like a murderer and Lu Mingfei popped up on the switchboard. Even if the phone was successfully turned on, Lu Mingfei wrote down his phone number, patted his empty trouser pocket on his butt and walked in
In the smoky Internet cafe, smoke drifted up like clouds and dragons under the fluorescent lamp, and was shattered by the whirring electric fan. Some people cheered, some cursed, some danced excitedly, and some angrily cursed that the Internet connection was interrupted.
Most of the screens in Internet cafes are filled with a 2.5D side-scrolling action game. It is produced by a Korean company. In recent years, it has become as popular as Legend around 2002. Nowadays, young people with some spare money play this game. They go into Internet cafes every day and start the game with their mouths full.
I downloaded dungeons and exploded equipment, and occasionally cursed a certain female NPC's family tree, and then honestly downloaded dungeons again.
Lu Mingfei couldn't remember the name of this game very well, but people in the class like Zhao Menghua and Xu Yanyan were playing it, and it was quite crazy. A single charge into it was enough for Lu Mingfei to use the Internet for a week.
He added the nutrition express money, his eyes were full of envy, and he knew that this thing was not a game that a poor guy like him, who had to think twice about adding instant noodles and ham sausage, could play.
Furthermore, he doesn’t like this way of earning money to become stronger. Compared with the most popular online games, he still likes the purest e-sports, either "StarCraft" or "DOTA". No matter how bad it is, it can only be played against the local area network.
"Red Alert" was an FPS game that someone took me to play for a while in high school. Playing gun battles without plug-ins was quite a test of hand speed and nerve reflexes.
Thinking of these things, Lu Mingfei, who was just sitting in the Internet cafe, couldn't help but sigh. He touched the unfamiliar keyboard and mouse and lamented that things and people have changed. It is said that the earth will not stop turning if someone leaves it.
, some people have left, and their lives still have to go on, but it has to be said that life will be less exciting and more boring.
He opened "StarCraft" and stayed in the lobby for a long time. After hesitating for a long time, he opened a Zerg 1v7. The difficulty was as cold as Red Alert 7. He couldn't get out of the door at all in the early stage. In the middle stage, the air force appeared opposite the blockade.
There are still some opportunities to play the human race, with two houses, bunkers, and tanks, but playing the Zerg is basically making yourself uncomfortable, and the air force gas mine is simply not enough.
But Lu Mingfei didn't care. For him, this was just a way to kill time. He sat on a hard chair that was a bit expensive and drooped his eyebrows. He held the keyboard with his left hand and rubbed the mouse pad with his right hand. There were constant battles on the screen, big crabs.
Tweet the picture, airdrop Mad Dog, and within half an hour the victory window of [Thereplay hasfini shot d] popped up on the screen, followed by a close-up of the Zerg CG, and the data settlement page
He exited the interface and was about to exit the game when the private chat window suddenly jumped. The avatar was a giant panda who looked very similar to the classic viral picture of pandas burning incense. The ID remark was "Old Tang".
"Online so early today?"
"Ah, I'm on home leave. I don't live on campus, but I still take advantage of the students who live on campus. I surf the Internet when I have nothing to do." Lu Mingfei answered carefully. Old Tang is the self-proclaimed number one player in their channel of "StarCraft"
, we have had nearly a hundred friendly matches with him, and although we have never met in person, our relationship is better than real friends.
"I remember 'clearly' you are a high school student, right? What higher grade are you in?"
"Senior year of high school, senior year of high school."
"Do you still play games online now in your senior year of high school? The college entrance examination will be held in June or July in China, right?"
"Uh-huh."
Old Tang, who usually plays games the most cheerfully, rarely cares about the real life of netizens. This makes Lu Mingfei a little uncomfortable, not to say that he is bored. At this time, no matter who he sees, relatives, friends or people from the newsstand downstairs.
The uncle would chat about these things when he saw him, as if everyone in the world suddenly cared about his future, but he was the only one who didn't care about himself. This inexplicably made him feel guilty.
The feeling of guilt that one is not responsible.
"It doesn't matter if you don't get good grades. On the bright side, you can still make a living by playing e-sports after you fail in the exam. Although we have never met, if you are willing to believe it, my buddy will still have channels to help you find a club to play in games or something.
At least I can still beg for food in the future.”
After more than ten seconds of silence, Old Tang came over with a long string of words in a comforting tone. Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously typed a reply, "You haven't seen my transcript, how do you know?"
My grades are bad?"
"There are people who are good at games and get good grades, but I can only say that people who are particularly good at games and get good grades are either geniuses or monsters. But from the time I've spent with you, you really don't look like one of the two.
Any of them, so you can only be a game wizard and learn rubbish." Old Tang analyzed pertinently.
"Fuck." Lu Mingfei could only reply with this word. After feeling aggrieved for a while, he prepared to save face for himself, "I'm going to study abroad. I took the TOEFL test and sat next to a classmate. I was lucky enough to get good grades.
OK, I submitted a lot of applications to foreign universities.”
"Study abroad? Yes, I'm abroad. Where are you going to take the exam? If we live in the same city, I can treat you to a meal or something." Old Tang became interested upon hearing this.
"I don't know, it depends on which university wants me." Lu Mingfei's answer showed his timidity, and his true colors were revealed, and the dignity he had built up suddenly collapsed.
"Which companies did you apply for?"
"The University of Chicago, Auburn University, and the University of Washington are all a mess."
"Are you submitting an application based on the ranking of American universities? To be honest, I think it's a bit mysterious. Brother, you should prepare for the college entrance examination. Don't cut off your own future."
"No one wants me to take the college entrance examination. I will do whatever I want in the future. If I don't get a bachelor's degree, I will get a junior college. At least I can learn technology. My ability is greater than my diploma." Lu Mingfei said with great Ah Q spirit.
"Ability is indeed greater than a diploma, but you also need a diploma to have a platform to show your ability." Old Tang said, "I have experience in this. Let alone college, I came out to make a living without even going to high school.
You need a diploma to be a waiter, and only go abroad if you can't make it in China. Unless your future job relies only on ability and not diplomas like I do now, then you should just work hard for that piece of paper.
Otherwise, you will be severely beaten by society."
"Old Tang, are you so sophisticated in social experience? I always thought you were the kind of social idler who lives in the basement."
“A 120-square-meter rental house next to the elevated light rail is for one person to live in. Although the noise is sometimes annoying, the advantages are that the rent is pleasant and the transportation is convenient. When the time comes, if you really go abroad and have no place to live, you can still come to my place to build a floor.
"
"Your house is only 120 square meters, do you want me to lay the floor?"
"You have to pay the rent to sleep on the bed, otherwise others will think you have some kind of physical transaction with me. Americans are no less gossipy than the Chinese."
"Depend on."
"If you haven't been admitted to a foreign school, just go to the college entrance examination honestly. I remember you mentioned that the high school you went to was pretty good in your city? No matter how bad your grades are, they are not hopelessly bad. Try your best to take the exam.
Then let's see, I haven't played games much lately." Old Tang kindly consoled me.
"Okay, okay, you really sound like my uncle and aunt." Lu Mingfei replied with a sigh.
"Not like your parents? You live with your uncle and aunt?"
"You're so good at reasoning, why don't you go work for a bitch?"
"I don't care about people with a bachelor's degree or below, and the same goes for F-boys, brothers who want a diploma." Old Tang gave Lu Mingfei another pressure sledgehammer, "It seems that it is not easy for us, let's encourage each other, I will get it as soon as possible
No. 1 in the whole server, you can get admitted to a good university as soon as possible, that’s it, the master from the next server will ask me to play a friendly match soon, I wish me success in winning."
"Don't cry if you lose!"
"I'm fighting with the honor of our server, how could I lose?" Old Tang said and left a long list of LOL (loudoflaught, abbreviated for chatting) and then stopped responding.
Lu Mingfei sat in the game lobby looking at the screen for a while. For some reason, he felt increasingly impatient. There was something inexplicably turbulent deep in his heart, as if there was an annoyance pressed in his throat that he couldn't spit out.
He can't swallow it, and makes people want to sigh but can't find a reason to sigh. It feels like everything he is doing is a waste of time. He should do more important things and make his reasons for action full of meaning. He will not just
Even I feel like my life is passing through my fingers on the mouse little by little.
Do you want him to go home, take out the textbooks, and start the sprint before the college entrance examination?
He scratched his head, and the little fire that surged in his heart was instantly extinguished by the sigh that followed. He exited the game hall and returned to the desktop. He skillfully opened the chat tool to log in to his account, and clicked on the group he was particularly interested in.
There are two people in the special list in the chat tool. Their avatars are a girl wearing a baseball cap and a Disney castle.
Hmm? Disney’s castle?
Lu Mingfei paused for a moment and clicked on the friend information of Disney Castle. After seeing the familiar ID and account number, he was sure that there was nothing weird in his special concern group. He just didn't know when the owner of this account changed his avatar.
. This is quite strange. He clicked on the profile picture and found that it was a photo. There was no real person in the photo. It only took a photo of the castle scenery with cherry blossoms. It looked quite poetic, and it fit the guy's sultry personality.
character.
He opened the chat bar, entered something, scratched his head and didn't know what to say as a prelude, and finally just typed, "Are you there?"
After posting it, he felt stupid again and regretted that he had harassed others when he had nothing to do. There must be a time difference between the United States and here. What is the current time on the other side? It is inconvenient for Fang to answer himself.
, after taking the time to answer yourself, will you be perfunctory if you find that there is nothing important?
It was a pity that chat did not have a withdraw function. He thought that if the appeal suggestion was really effective, he would definitely propose a function to the chat software company that could withdraw comments, so that it would benefit a lot of people who rush to express their feelings and then send them out again.
Regretful poor boys.
A few seconds after the chat was sent, Lu Mingfei was still thinking wildly when the word "typing" actually appeared next to the ID on the opposite side. He sat up straight and looked at the other party who replied almost instantly, "In