Chapter 193: Just like that, it arrived
Farewells between men could often amount to nothing more than a pat on the shoulder and a few words.
How should success be defined? At least, growing up, Xue Yiyang had never given it much thought.
Back when he played on a PS2, he had imagined that having an Xbox at home someday, so he could play Pro Evolution Soccer whenever he wanted, would be satisfaction enough. In middle school, he had thought getting into high school would be incredibly lucky. In high school, admission to a second-tier university had seemed like a bright future. Once he started university, he began to think that earning around fifteen hundred yuan a month and smoking a few packs of premium Baisha cigarettes each month would mean comfort and happiness.
He had scarcely planned beyond that. He could hardly pursue something even more elusive. His parents, far away in Xiahai, had told him there were two paths. If he returned to Xiahai after graduation, they could use their connections to find him a civil service position or a job at an enterprise or public institution. Their decades of savings would also buy an apartment in the small city. Then he could marry and settle into a stable life.
Alternatively, if he ventured out after graduation, whether he stayed in Changsha or went wherever his work took him, the family's money, combined with some savings from his own earnings, would cover a down payment.
He entertained no myths of getting rich overnight. After thirty years of reform and opening up, those destined to strike it rich were now fathers to second- and third-generation rich kids. That iron pyramid was something he could scarcely shake even if he battered himself to death against it. Nor did he indulge