To be exact, Qiu Zining became a rich woman only in this year.
When she secretly made a wish to become rich on her 25th birthday, she did not expect that the wish could be realized so quickly.
But she had not wanted to get married for a long time, long before she became rich.
This idea came into her mind when she was a girl.
Before she was 85 years old, Qiu Zining and her relatives lived in a self-built house in the suburbs of a small city. The residents did everything they could to occupy the land, building the house higher and closer, and the distance between the buildings was so close that only one person could pass through. The only scenery outside Qiu Zining's bedroom window was the bedroom of the middle-aged couple in the next building. The adolescence in her memory was noisy. Upstairs were the newly married uncle and aunt, and upstairs were grandparents. On the first floor were the restaurant kitchen and the public living room. Her parents and younger brother lived next door to her. The best bedroom was reserved for her parents and younger brother, and her room was separated from the living room by a thin layer of wood. Anyone's voice had the right to get into her ears.
She spent every day of her adolescence surrounded by the sounds of daily life, quarrels, and TV of a large family of all ages.
When she occasionally wanted to breathe, she would open the window, draw the curtains, and peeking through the gap in the curtains, she would see the middle-aged man opposite her smoking with his upper body naked, his dark and dirty skin pressed against the window sill, and then she would see the man pressing the cigarette butt on the dying cactus on the windowsill, and then he would use his throat to force loudly and spit out a mouthful of phlegm from the cigarette butt.
Then one day, Qiu Zining saw the bodies of her uncle and a married woman entangled in the bedroom through the curtains.
Quarrels, pots and bowls, and the quarrels of a large family, the sound of TV, the phone, and the neighbors whispering...
In all her impressions, home was a noisy and bustling place.
At this time, Qiu Zining would write furiously at the table, wearing cheap headphones and playing soft music, silently telling herself - I want to read the book to death! I want to leave this place.
Then, it was Qiu Zining ten years later.
She became a successful college student in her family.
A 25-year-old graduate from a 211 university, she worked for a new media company and earned 8,000 yuan a month. She rented a house in an old community outside the third ring road of Beijing. The location was not bad, but there was no elevator. It was an old public housing unit facing demolition. She and two girls squeezed into a three-bedroom apartment. Qiu Zining was assigned a second bedroom with a small window and a monthly rent of 2,500 yuan. Every night, she worked overtime with her laptop computer to write articles. Her desk was piled with messy reference materials and second-hand books bought from Duozhaoyu at her own expense. Qiu Zining still wore headphones when she worked overtime. She didn't expect that after leaving her hometown, she would still be noisy around her.
Several girls next door also worked in nearby companies. After get off work every day, their noises of playing, drinking, and TV dramas could be heard through the cracks in the door.
She still has to share the bathroom with several people, endure the hair on the floor, divide the shared refrigerator into sections, and mark and label the fruits and food she bought.
25-year-old Qiu Zining keeps telling herself every time she wears headphones to finish her manuscript, check information, and strive to improve herself: make money. For example, her first small goal is to rent a studio facing the sun, so that the morning sun can shine warmly on the newly bought four-piece suit, and she will replace the window with transparent gauze curtains, and when night falls, she can fall asleep in her own nest with the moonlight.
She will check the second-hand house rental in Beijing before going to bed every day, just like watching food videos in the middle of the night when she was extremely hungry while losing weight in college. What is jumping on her fingertips and the screen is her deepest yearning.
The monthly rent of her dream apartment is more than 5,000 yuan. According to the formula that the rent should not exceed one-third of the monthly rent, her income should be at least 15,000 yuan.
According to the boss's promise, Qiu Zining's salary would increase by 15% every year, which means that after the fifth year, she could realize her dream and rent a dream house in Beijing.
Of course, she forgot to calculate inflation and the rising housing prices in Beijing, which was a small problem.
But what she didn't expect was that one morning she was awakened by the intense vibration of her phone, and when she woke up with a frown, she saw a group message: the company's Douyin public account was blocked for violating relevant policies and regulations.
The last message came from the boss: Everyone can come and pack up, it just so happens that the office will expire in January.
Someone else asked: Boss, what about our salary this month...
The system shows that the boss has disbanded the group.
On the day Qiu Zining lost her job, she still had 30,000 yuan in her bank card. She put down her phone and slept all day. When she woke up, the light of dusk shone through the small window. She heard her roommates getting off work, laughing, and cooking. Qiu Zining heard them say loudly: "You have to cook well, otherwise you won't be able to get married in the future." "Hey, I met a crush in the subway today..." Then she got up and did two things. She created a public account and used her ID card to identify her name. The name was Qiu Ning'er. Then she remembered that she had a courier at the post station. She picked up her phone, scratched her hair casually and went out to pick up the courier. At dusk, the light from the horizon shone obliquely on the road. When Qiu Zining was passing by the community park with the courier box in her arms, she was suddenly stopped by someone. It was a strange man. He was wearing a sports shirt and loose casual pants, and looked neat. He was about 175 cm tall. He was holding a bottle of plum wine in his arms. Seeing Qiu Zining looking back, he smiled, shook the wine in his hand, and said to her: "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Qiu Zining was stunned for a moment, then pointed at herself, "You called me?"
The man said: "Yeah. Didn't we agree to treat you to a drink?"
Before Qiu Zining responded, he continued, "I've found a place, it's in the park next door." He pointed with his finger, motioning Qiu Zining to go with him.
It was getting darker, and the street lights came on, shining on the man's face. His skin was very white, and his eyebrows were very thick. The two eyebrows were almost connected by the wine. He looked like an honest man with thick eyebrows and big eyes. She admitted that his appearance made people unprepared, so Qiu Zining, who was holding the express delivery, took two steps closer and said naturally: "You should find someone to shave your eyebrows for you."
"Can you do it?"
"Any woman can do it."
Perhaps because she was in a very bad mood that day, she really followed him to find a bench in the park and sat down. The moonlight and street lights shine on the winding path, surrounded by people walking and walking their dogs.
So Qiu Zining told him: "I lost my job today." Feeling that the people around him were stunned, Qiu Zining continued: "The company went bankrupt. There is no way. It's like this for self-media. A makeshift team makes a lot of money all of a sudden, and then, the ban comes down, and everything is gone."
"What do you write?"
"Celebrity gossip."
The man widened his eyes: "Are you in the entertainment industry?!"
Qiu Zining shook his head, "I'm just a lousy copywriter. I only know how to check Weibo, Douban, and Xiaohongshu every day."
"Then how do you know gossip?"
"I made it up."
"Oh——" The man showed some sudden realization, he seemed to want to say, no wonder it was blocked.
"But my boss made a lot of money before. He bought a new car in just over a year. The house is also very good." Qiu Zining lowered her head: "I just hope to rent a good house."
The man comforted her: "What are you going to do next?"
"Do it yourself." She said: "I created a public account and a blog, and plan to write an emotional column, or learn fortune-telling... whatever... Anyway, I hope I can make money."
"Do you understand emotions very well?"
Qiu Zining nodded, "Of course. I understand very well."
"Oh--" The man's tone lowered.
Qiu Zining added inexplicably: "Then do you know which type of people understand emotions the most?"
"Hmm?"
"I haven't been in love much." Qiu Zining smiled: "After all, wise men don't fall in love. Things like emotions are still clear to bystanders."
The man was stunned and laughed. He shook the wine in his hand and said: "Come on, I wish you good luck in making money in the future."
Only then did he realize that he didn't bring a cup.
The two of them were stunned, looked at each other for a moment and laughed out loud. Qiu Zining suddenly remembered the express box in his hand and slapped his thigh: "Hey! How could I forget that I bought a pair of cups in this express." They drank plum wine in the park in early summer. They talked a lot. When they were slightly drunk, they said goodbye at the entrance of the park. The man said: "It's a pleasure to meet you today, so I'll contact you when I get back?" The drunk Qiu Zining also nodded and responded: "Okay. Contact me anytime." Then the man got in the car. At the moment the car started, the cool breeze made her sober up a little. Qiu Zining suddenly remembered something very important: "No! He doesn't have my contact information. This is the first time we met?!" And this man whose name he didn't know was also given the code name "Plum Wine" in Qiu Zining's later narration. Sheng Yiqing also teased: It's worthy of being plum wine, leaving you a slightly drunk night. Qiu Zining saw "plum wine" again at the nugget restaurant a year and a half later, at the wedding of a couple named Chi Wei and Lin Shan.
It was around eight o'clock, and the courtyard was bustling. It was past dinner time, so there were not many places that needed waiters. The guests were busy with their own things, and the remaining waiters were just happy to be idle. They each found a dark place to fish. Looking out through the French window, the bride was beautiful, but it was a pity that she spoke and behaved like a domineering woman. The man next to her was tall and strong, but his ears were soft. He was obedient to his wife. Qiu Zining observed while thinking about whether he could dig out some materials from it and update the official account.
Sheng Yiqing, who was beside him, would call from the afternoon until now. She stole a small basket of pre-meal bread from the kitchen and placed it between the two of them, and invited Sheng Yiqing to join.
Just at this time, the restaurant door was pushed open, and a man in a sweatshirt poked his head in, "Hello, is the waiter here? I left a pair of airpods here yesterday. Does anyone pick them up?"
Qiu Zining quickly put down the bread and said, "My colleague was here yesterday. I'll ask for you."
The man didn't move, didn't speak, just took a step closer, and looked at Qiu Zining quietly.
Qiu Zining realized that something was wrong, turned around, looked at each other, widened his eyes, and blurted out: "Plum wine?!"
"Huh?"
It was plum wine that sent Qiu Zining home that day, and Qiu Zining also knew that plum wine's real name was Sun Yixun. He also knew that on that day, he mistakenly recognized Qiu Zining as his blind date.
"We made an appointment to meet, but she went to another gate of the park and mistakenly thought I was late. After waiting for ten minutes, she went home directly and told the introducer that I was not punctual..." Sun Yixun touched his nose, "Later I found out that there was a problem with the navigation."
"This navigation is really hateful." Qiu Zining laughed.
"No." Sun Yixun shook his head and looked at Qiu Zining seriously: "This navigation is really good. The bad thing is the wine. I was confused after drinking too much and didn't even leave my contact information."
Qiu Zining lowered her head and pursed her lips and smiled. Then she heard Sun Yixun ask her: "What about you? Are you okay now?"
She thought she would live a good life.
For example, in the past year and a half since the last meeting, the number of fans of the public account she created has reached 20,000, and her Weibo fans are approaching 100,000. She will also shoot a home show for her T sisters who run Taobao stores to earn some pocket money. She also opened a crystal healing business and met some white-collar workers, such as Sheng Yiqing. She is still working hard, writing and reading in her rental house, learning operations in the free courses on Bilibili, and even memorizing words when she has free time. She still lives in the second bedroom of the old public housing, but her roommates have changed a group-
They are in love, and some have been promoted. They each found a boyfriend and moved into a slightly better house.
The new roommate who moved in was still very noisy. He was a few years younger than her. The young people were noisy, so she still wore headphones, and the books on the bedside piled higher and higher. She still couldn't see the moon in her small window. However, she couldn't even afford to live in such an old public housing. The house was about to expire, and the house price rose faster than she thought. There were always countless rich people growing up in Beijing. The rent of the house she wanted to rent in her dream had changed from 5,000 to 5,500. The new house she liked required a deposit of two and a payment of three. She couldn't find so much money at once. The harder she worked, the poorer she was than before. The income was unstable, and the bonus of the official account was over. She wanted a lot, but had very little. If she had to say, the only stable income at present was 3,500 yuan from working as a waiter at nugget. But she still smiled and said to Sun Yixun: "I'm okay. I can still make it in Beijing." When he left, he added her WeChat, QQ, Weibo, official account, Xiaohongshu, Alipay and even Douyin... a series of mutual attention. He only said: "Just in case, the same mistake cannot be made a second time."
When he waved goodbye at last, he couldn't help asking: "Qiu Zining, can I come to take you home tomorrow?"
The next day, Sun Yixun arrived on time. The only difference was that he seemed to be dressed up solemnly, and even tried to drive an Audi into the narrow alley. Qiu Zining was stunned when he went out and asked: "Newly rented?"
Sun Yixun didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I bought it, I bought it last year."
Qiu Zining's eyes widened: "Why didn't you drive when you went on a blind date? If you said you drove, the girl would probably be willing to wait for you for ten more minutes."
"Then you don't really like me." Sun Yixun turned the steering wheel and looked for an opportunity to reverse: "The male peacock only spreads its tail in front of the opposite sex he likes."
It was not until Qiu Zining drove in Sun Yixun's car for more than 10 minutes that she suddenly reacted: "By the way, isn't this the direction to my house?"
"You didn't eat?" Sun Yixun smiled.
"Did you book a restaurant?"
"Hmm." Sun Yixun touched his nose, "You'll know in a moment."
The car drove east along Jianguomen Street to Jianguomenwai Street. When passing Huamao Apartment, the car slowed down. The bright lights of the Huamao office building and SKP shopping mall next door shone down. Qiu Zining couldn't help but stick his head out to take a look, "It looks quite shabby. Can you imagine that this community is so expensive?"
Sun Yixun seemed to have no reaction: "Ah?"
"Huamao Apartment." Qiu Zining pointed to four dark green characters: "The monthly rent is almost 20,000. I often look at the rental app when I have nothing to do. Do you know? I really want a one-bedroom apartment of my own, but the housing prices in Beijing are really too expensive. A studio near the subway within the Fourth Ring Road starts at at least 5,000. I thought about it that day. How expensive can this one-bedroom apartment be! As a result, I bought a house according to the price from Select from high to low, the one closest to me is this Huamao Apartment!"
"Really?"
"It's so shabby..." Qiu Zining was a little disappointed, "If this appearance is placed at our place, the rent will probably be 2190 a month at most. Do you think only rich people would buy a house here..."
Qiu Zining said this, as if Sun Yixun was also curious, and the car speed was slowed down. He actually drove towards the gate of Huamao Apartment. Qiu Zining saw this and hurriedly stopped him, "Hey, don't go in, outsiders are not allowed to enter. Xiaohongshu said that the security guards are very fierce. Someone wanted to take a photo before.
was stopped..."
But while they were talking, the car had already driven to the gate of the community. The security guard at the security booth smiled at Sun Yixun, the gate opened, and a female robot voice said: "Welcome home."
Qiu Zining's head buzzed, and she turned her head suddenly to look at the people around her.
She didn't expect Sun Yixun to take her home for dinner.
She didn't expect that Sun Yixun lived in the Huamao Apartment.
That was the first time Qiu Zining stepped into a serious high-end community in Beijing, but soon her sacred expectations began to be shattered - it was much more dilapidated than she imagined, everything was old and outdated, and with the high housing prices near the CBD, the lobby of the apartment seemed crowded and cramped, not even as impressive as the new community in her hometown in the third-tier city. But soon, a tall and thin woman with a Hermès platinum bag and a fragrant body came out of the elevator door, which made Qiu Zining dazed again: the dilapidated here is a kind of old The smell of money.
Sun Yixun's home is decorated in the most popular log style five or six years ago, with wooden floors, wooden tables and chairs, and wooden sofas. A square TV is hung on the snow-white wall, the curtains are also plain, and a few IKEA 19.9 yuan cushions are randomly placed on the sofa. A house where he has been single for a long time.
His bedroom and room are facing south, and the huge windows can bask in the sun all day long. At this moment, the white transparent gauze curtains cover the lights of thousands of houses outside the window, and she can see a moon hanging faintly on the window.
She looked around and said, "Isn't this rent expensive?"
"To be honest, I didn't pay much attention. My parents bought it early. At that time, Beijing's housing prices had not risen yet. " Sun Yixun took out a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator and handed it to Qiu Zining. He sat side by side with her on the sofa.
Sun Yixun had always felt that the room was a little empty, but because she sat next to him, he felt that everything was just right.
But Qiu Zining felt that everything was still a little short. She took the orange juice and pointed to the opposite side and said, "It would be great if there were speakers in the room. There, on both sides of the TV, you can put one each. When you get home, you can sit and listen to music."
Sun Yixun smiled and said, "How do you know I've always wanted it? ! It's a pity that I never had the chance to pick a good-looking one. I don't know much about decoration, so everything in my home is the simplest."
This sentence encouraged Qiu Zining, she stepped on the ground and said, "There can also be a carpet. Wool is best. It's popular to have a carpet in front of the sofa."
Sun Yixun smiled, "What else?"
Qiu Zining continued: "The windowsill is still missing some green plants. Now the house is too plain. "
Sun Yixun nodded, his eyes glued to her.
"Also, there are a few paintings missing on the wall. Yours looks like a bachelor's home."
He noticed her unusual excitement, her face flushed, so much so that he couldn't help but cover her hand and asked her: "Ningning, can I pick you up from get off work every day in the future?"
Qiu Zining returned her gaze to him. She heard him say to her: "I mean, pick you up and bring you back to my home. Be the mistress of this home, okay? "
It is difficult for people to understand what they really want when they are young.
Although Qiu Zining once thought that she had figured everything out, she thought that what she wanted was to stay away from everyone and live the life she wanted in an apartment that belonged to her alone.
Qiu Zining is certainly not a 100% single person.
Because at a certain moment in her life, to be precise, when she was the poorest and most hopeless at the age of 27, she looked at Sun Yixun's hand that seemed to be redeeming, and her heart was quietly shaken:
If I could marry him, it would not be bad.