Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Zheng Jiayi, who has changed a lot
On the afternoon of the 27th day of the lunar calendar, Feng Yiping, who had finished the book signing in Shanghai, hurried back to the provincial capital. Tomorrow morning, he would hold the last book signing of the year in the provincial capital.
The provincial capital is quite accommodating to this local young writer. The book signing event will be held at the best book store in the city, the Book World, which has just opened recently. There are more than 300 stores of various sizes, many of which sell educational books, and Feng Yiping's novels are also about these students.
Later, various statistics said that the average reading volume of adults in China in one year is less than that of adults in Europe and the United States in one month. We will not delve into the authenticity of this data, but if we look at another figure, such as the reading volume of junior high and high school students, including supplementary books, and look at the world as a whole, if we are second, then absolutely no one would dare to say that we are first.
The world of books is now very popular, and Feng Yiping feels very sorry for the children who have to spend the New Year with their parents. This is not a cultural New Year, and the parents are using culture to make these unfortunate children unable to have a comfortable New Year. It's just a short winter holiday of a few days, and not to mention the many homework assignments set by their school teachers, the parents also come and interfere. Still, as the saying goes, junior high school students and high school students really have no human rights!
The signing event was very well attended, with the longest queue of the three book signing events. As the saying goes, there is no place like home!
Feng Yiping glanced around and noticed that a large proportion of the crowd were university students. Well, they have already made it, and have the time and energy to spend or reminisce about the years before.
The host's slightly exaggerated introduction also attracted parents who had come with their children to buy teaching aids. Many parents took Feng Yiping as an example and encouraged their own children on the spot. However, the consequence of this kind of education was that Feng Yiping might have a few more young people with hostile attitudes towards him. The 'other people's children' mentioned by parents are not liked by everyone, such as the parents' own children.
Most of the people there were girls. Now that Feng Yiping had gained experience, most of the time, he just signed pens dutifully. He would politely refuse requests for more than one sentence, as he didn't have time, and besides, his best handwriting was in his name.
This time, he didn't expect to meet someone unexpected again. When he had signed more than 200 books, he accepted one without looking up and wrote his name without asking. At that moment, a female voice said, 'Write a sentence for me, classmate Feng Yiping!'
The little voice sounded a little familiar. He looked up and saw Zheng Jiayi, who was actually smiling at him. She actually knew how to smile? And she was with three other girls, who looked like they had come together. She actually knew how to make friends? Feng Yiping was very shocked.
It seemed that Zheng Jiayi was happy to see Feng Yiping showing such obvious emotions, and she smiled, saying, 'Old classmate, write me a message!'
Feng Yiping thought about it for a moment, without hesitation, and without blushing, he wrote down the name of a later very successful representative work of the coming-of-age movie genre, 'To Our Dying Youth! A Book for Zheng Jiayi.'
Considering the number of people in line, the organizers extended the book signing session by half an hour. In the two-plus hours, Feng Yiping signed a record-breaking 600 books.
He declined the organiser's kind offer of dinner and, swinging his arms, walked towards his car. As he was about to leave, he heard someone shouting, 'Feng Yiping!'
He looked in the direction of the voice and saw two girls getting out of an Accord. Zheng Jiayi and the other got out of a blue Beetle. This thing was not as common as it would later become, and seemed to cost 300,000 to 400,000 yuan, which was considered high-end.
Feng Yiping was a little surprised. Was she waiting for him? That didn't seem like her character.
'Hello Yiping, this is my friend.' She was still smiling. Strange, did she get a lot of red envelopes? No, it wasn't time for that yet!
'Sorry, I said you were my classmate, and they insisted that I bring them to you.'
'No, it's my honour, thank you for your support!'
'I've always wanted to ask you, I have a PolyGram album that I really like, and the songwriter's name on it is the same as your pen name. Did you write that too?'
There's no point in hiding it now, 'Yes, I wrote it.'
'Wow, you really wrote it!' She and her friends cheered a little, 'So you've met a lot of celebrities, right? Is Liu Tian Wang handsome?'
Feng Yiping was a little depressed. Is this not meant as a compliment? I said, can we still have a pleasant chat?
'He's quite handsome,' he said, a little offended by their infatuation. Then, shamelessly, he whispered, "He's not as good-looking as me.'
'Where are you going next?" Zheng Jiayi asked again.
'Back to the city, then back to the countryside for the New Year. What about you, are you going back to the city?'
'No, my hometown is in the provincial capital. It's just that because my parents work in the city, I'm studying there.' So that's how it is.
'Jiayi, why don't you invite your classmates to lunch? There's been a lot of people coming and going at the house these past few days, and they can't even eat in peace.'
'What do you think?' Zheng Jiayi asked him.
'My pleasure!' Feng Yiping repeated.
Eating with unfamiliar girls is always a hassle. They first met outside, then decided it was too windy, so they got into the car. After discussing for more than ten minutes, they still hadn't reached a decision. Feng Yiping and the others were about to fall asleep when Zheng Jiayi came over to tell him that they had finally decided to go to KFC.
After all that time, they ended up going to a fast food restaurant. Why didn't you just say so in the first place!
Last year, a KFC restaurant opened in the provincial capital, and it is currently the only one in the entire province. It is now considered a fashionable place to go, especially for young couples on dates, and it is now their first choice.
In today's society, there is no longer the argument that these foreign fast foods are all junk food. A place where the average cost per person is tens of dollars is considered a place of class.
As for junk food, Feng Yiping doesn't care at all. We're not like those foreigners, where meat is the staple food for every meal. What's the big deal about eating a meal with such high calories occasionally? We're not afraid of gutter oil or melamine, so what's there to be afraid of?
It was said that Feng Yiping was treating Feng Yiping to dinner, and of course Feng Yiping paid the bill. This is our national situation. As for the fact that when a girl and a boy go out together, the boy pays less, sometimes it's because she needs to be recognised, and the fact that a boy is willing to spend money on her shows that she is quite attractive.
One advantage of eating fast food like this is that you don't need cutlery, so everyone just gets straight to it and the atmosphere is very harmonious. If you go for pizza, most people will probably pretend to use a knife and fork, making it seem like eating pizza is the same as having an Italian meal.
'By the way, old classmate, there are now Yoshinoya restaurants all over the city, are they also your family's?' Zheng Jiayi asked him.
Feng Yiping was just finishing off a burger. To be honest, it had been a while since he had eaten one, but he found the taste acceptable.
'You're quite well informed. Yes, it's our family business, but it's a small business, nothing to write home about.'
Zheng Jiayi's friends were amused by this, and looked at her with raised eyebrows. They felt that her classmate didn't know her own identity.
'I heard that this is no small business. If it develops, it has a very good future.'
Feng Yiping was a little puzzled. Did someone else see this as a blue ocean opportunity? 'Where's the future in that? Our family doesn't have much money. If you want to open a big supermarket, you don't have the strength. There's no other way but to open a small shop like this.'
Zheng Jiayi was quite amused when she heard this. If she hadn't listened to her cousin, she might have been fooled.
'You don't have much money, but that's not necessarily true. Didn't your family merge with a factory in the city?'
Feng Yiping was even more puzzled. How did she know about that?
'Oh, that? It was just a coincidence. We happened to have that plan, and the city happened to provide us with such an opportunity. It was just a coincidence. It was convenient for ourselves, and it also contributed to the city.'
Confused about Zheng Jiayi's background, Feng Yiping kept his mouth shut. He didn't even mention Mayor Fang or Secretary Wu. Fortunately, he didn't mention them, or else his superiors would immediately know that someone was using her name to pull strings.
From the way Zheng Jiayi splashed Feng Yiping's tablemate in the face with water and then let the matter drop, as well as the Audi that often picked up and dropped off Zheng Jiayi, Feng Yiping guessed that her family might be involved in politics, but he didn't feel comfortable asking directly, 'Hey, what kind of official is your father?' Their relationship wasn't quite there yet, so he was a little uncomfortable with this kind of conversation. The information was completely asymmetric.
At that moment, his phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw it was Huang Jingping. The call came at just the right time. 'Sorry, I have to go. I'll invite you all out to dinner next time I have the chance.'
'That's definitely a cop-out. There's no sincerity at all. He didn't even leave his phone number,' a girl said with a smile. Zheng Jiayi listened and looked at him with a smile.
I'm going, I know it's just polite talk, but do you really have to be so direct? He took out a pen and paper, left them a phone number, and hurriedly left. There was no choice, Zheng Jiayi had changed so much, she was well informed, and some of her friends were quite aggressive, so it was best to avoid them.
'Jiayi, that's a good friend of yours!' After Feng Yiping left, Zheng Jiayi became the centre of attention for her friends.
'Didn't you get his number? Feel free to contact him if you think he's nice, but I'd like to remind you that he's still a high school student.' fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
'What's wrong with being a high school student? Isn't he the same age as us? I don't believe he hasn't been in a relationship before.' This is truly worthy of Feng Yiping's fierce assessment of them.
'It seems like he hasn't. When he was at school, he rarely talked to female classmates.' If Feng Yiping heard this, he would breathe a sigh of relief. It turns out that Zheng Jiayi doesn't know everything.
'Really? No way!' Although dating hasn't become popular since kindergarten, it's still rare for a high school student to have never dated before.
'That's really interesting. He doesn't even know your identity, so you've done a good job keeping it a secret!'
'Yiping, are you coming back tomorrow?'
'Yes, I'm going back to the city now and leaving early tomorrow morning.'
'I miss you!' Huang Jingping must have gone outside to make the call again, because she definitely wouldn't dare say something like that at home.
'But tomorrow my father is taking us back to the countryside, and I won't even see you when you come back.'
If Huang Chengzhong had heard his daughter's complaints, he would have been pretty depressed!
'Isn't it fun at home during the New Year? Hang in there, there's only ten days left at most.'
However, in the afternoon, after Feng Yiping returned to the city, he looked at the empty house and was not used to not seeing the familiar figure.