Chapter Eighty-Five: Facing Reality

  Time is the most mysterious thing, it can erase hatred, but also make unforgettable love fade away.

  These days, his relationship with Ji Xin'an has become more intimate, and the heart that had already lost hope has reignited its expectations. However, Zhou Weiguo's words today were like a basin of cold water that suddenly drenched him.

  He didn't lose in terms of emotions, he believed that if given time to let Ji Xin'an see his true heart, she would accept him, but he lost to time, he had no more time.

  There are still half a year before the college entrance examination, after that, Ji Xin'an will go their separate ways, one in a rich and colorful music school, the other in a strict and rigid military academy, may also be in two different places, just like his father said, they will be in two worlds, two circles, the people they know, the things they do, values ??will all be vastly different.

  Not to mention whether Ji Xin'an has accepted him or not, even if they are together, being apart from each other in two different places, Ji Xin'an is alone with no boyfriend by her side to care for and comfort her, only having the torment of longing. Can he really bring happiness to Ji Xin'an and comfort her wounded heart?

  Perhaps Ji Xin'an had thought of these long ago. What did she say back then? It's better to not start than to have a painful breakup.

  It seems like everyone else has seen through it, but I'm still so naive and think that as long as I work hard, there will still be opportunities.

  This time Zou Ze was really sober and thought that he might have to let go.

  Ji Xin'an returned home after the New Year and stayed at home for a while, not going anywhere. At home, she accompanied her mother to watch TV and played chess with her father.

  It's not that I have a lot of free time, but the college entrance exam is getting closer and closer. After entering university, there will be less time to stay at home quietly, so now that I still have some spare time, I'd better spend more time with them.

  "Hey, I see that our classmates from the same grade in our neighborhood have already gone back to school these past few days. Why are you still at home being so idle?" An Chu Hong sat on the sofa watching TV with a handful of melon seeds, turned her head and saw Ji Xin An even more leisurely leaning against the leg rest drinking good tea brought by Song Jiang Liang. On the other side, she was also playing chess with Ji Liang, couldn't help but ask.

  "How can your daughter be treated the same as them when she's so excellent? Don't you know that the main character always appears last?" Ji Xin'an said with a smirk, slapping down the chess piece in her hand.

  The school has indeed started classes, but it's not the official start of the semester, just a pre-semester supplementary lesson. Although there is talk of reducing the burden, few schools can genuinely implement it, especially in the third year of high school. Whether it's winter or summer break, or weekends, they are all used for supplementary lessons for students, and the actual vacation time is very short. However, Ji Xin'an rarely attends these informal classes because she has never fallen behind since entering high school. So the teachers also turn a blind eye to this.

  "Although you study well, don't be too careless. What if you fail the exam?" An Chuhong said to let her not be careless, but she herself didn't take it seriously either, because since Ji Xin'an entered junior high school, no matter big or small exams, she had never failed an exam, so this remark was just a reminder, and not meant for her to go with them to make up classes.

  "I know, mom, don't worry, although I don't dare to guarantee that I'll be the top scorer, but the college entrance exam will be fine... General." Ji Xin'an said while following An Chuhong. The chess in her hand was not disturbed at all, and she quickly checkmated Ji Liang, knowing that her father liked playing Go. In her past life, although she also knew how to play, her level was very average. Accompanying him to play chess basically meant being a pawn, so she rarely played chess. This life, however, in order to spend more time with Ji Liang, she specially went to study chess strategies, so her chess skills greatly improved, and now when playing against her father, she won more often than lost.

  "This move doesn't count, let's start again." Ji Liang saw that there was no way out and wanted to take back his move.

  "No way, a great man never regrets his moves. How can you regret your chess move?" Although it was just for fun, the two of them were extremely serious, often getting up and arguing after each move.

  "You two are at it again, An'an don't play chess with your dad anymore, come and watch TV with me, 'Love to the End' is on in a bit." An Chuhong saw that the two were at it again, but took the opportunity to pry up the corner of the wall.

  "No way, let's play another round." Ji Liang had heard enough, he had played five or six rounds today and hadn't won once.

  "You're always so lazy, I'm not going to play with you anymore. I'll go watch TV dramas with my mom." Ji Xin'an made a face and ran over to the sofa to sit down next to An Chu-hong. This TV series was still invested in and produced by Song Jiangliang, she hadn't seen it before and didn't know what differences there were compared to the version from her past life.

  Ji Liang saw that today's revenge was hopeless, so he could only shake his head, put away the chessboard, and sit on the sofa to watch TV with them.

  Ji Xin'an found that the inertia of history was still great, although the investors had changed, but the actors were mostly still those from the previous life, and the plot hadn't changed either. Knowing this, continuing to watch didn't make sense anymore, so she started chatting with her parents about something else.

  As they talked, the topic turned to Ji Xin'an again. "By the way, Anan, there are only a few months left before the college entrance exam. Have you thought about which university to attend and what major to study? It's time to think about it now. If you wait until the registration period, it will be too late." An Chu Hong suddenly realized that they had never discussed this issue before. The college entrance exam was approaching, but she didn't know where Ji Xin'an wanted to go. She wasn't trying to dictate what he should do like other parents, but just wanted to offer some advice. After all, the final decision still rested with Ji Xin'an himself.

  "Mom, do you think it's good for me to take the military school exam?" Ji Xin'an also remembered that she hadn't discussed this with her family members yet, thinking that it was really a failure, outsiders already knew what she wanted to do but her parents were the last ones to know.

  Actually, Ji Xin'an also didn't want to tell her family so early in her subconscious mind. In everyone's impression, joining the army means suffering, and if her family is afraid that she will suffer and opposes it, it might even lead to a dispute. So since her parents didn't ask, she never mentioned it.

  "How did you think of taking the military school exam?" An Chuhong looked at Ji Xin'an with curiosity, she had never heard her mention such an idea before.

  "It's just that you're a girl, why must you be a soldier? What's wrong with doing something else?" Ji Liang also looked at her in surprise, seemingly unexpected.

  "It's great to attend a military school, not only is it free, but you also get an allowance every month and save money on clothes. The uniform looks so cool on me." Ji Xin'an said jokingly, mainly wanting to gauge his parents' attitude first.

  "Are you short of those two hundred yuan?" An Chuhong was clearly incredulous, although she didn't know how much money Ji Xin'an had now, but she knew that her annual pocket money wasn't enough to cover that amount. There was no way she would believe that Ji Xin'an would take the military academy exam just to save that little tuition fee.

  Ji Xin'an smiled slightly and then became serious, "Mom, actually I've already thought about it for a long time. I want to take the military academy exam, I want to be a soldier, this is the only thing I want to do now."

  "It's too hard to be a soldier, not only is it tiring. From the beginning of the year to the end, there isn't even a single holiday, and it's not easy to take a trip back home. With your grades, you can get into Peking University or Tsinghua University. After graduation, you won't even need to find a job, you can just continue doing what you're doing now, isn't that good? An Chu Hong really didn't want her daughter to suffer like that, people say 'good iron isn't made into nails', and 'good people don't become soldiers'. An An already has the ability to start a company and have her own career, so why bother going to the army and working hard?"

  "What I'm doing now is fine, but the company has already taken off. There are specialized people for everything like promoting new artists, releasing albums and filming TV dramas. When 'Paradise' wasn't built yet, they needed me, but now it's officially open and whether I go or not makes no difference. If I get into Tsinghua University, four years later when I come back, these things will be even less relevant to me. At that time, all I can do is stay at home waiting for my allowance, driving a BMW, wearing designer clothes, going out to stroll around and hang out in bars. Isn't this the life of a spoiled rich kid? University students should be striving hard after graduation, but I have nothing to do, how sad is that?" Luckily, Ji Xin An only said this to An Chu Hong, if Song Jiang Liang knew that he was working hard to make money for Ji Xin An, while she was complaining about being bored, he would definitely come and challenge her in person.

  "Then being a soldier would be interesting?" An Chuhong heard Ji Xinan's words and also felt that if her own daughter lived such a life every day, although not hardworking, it was up to her to be happy. If she wasn't happy, then no amount of money would be useful.

  "Enlisting in the military is certainly interesting, and once I arrive at the barracks, everything starts anew. I believe that even if I start from scratch, I can still make a name for myself in the army, and it's this process of going from nothing to something that's the most enjoyable." Ji Xin'an said confidently.

  "Don't think you can bully us because we don't understand. Your company might not need you, and that's because you're still in school. Even if they wanted to use you, they couldn't. But once you graduate, will they let you be so idle? Let's say, even if they really didn't need you to do anything and just gave you a share of the money, you could still do something else and start anew. Why do you have to go to the army and start from scratch?" Ji Liang heard the inconsistency in her words. If making money was that easy, wouldn't everyone be like her, staying at home and having money fall from the sky?

  "Dad, you're right. I can start another company in a different field from scratch. As long as I have enough money to spend, why bother running around every day for the sake of a little bit of dirt? And those deceitful tricks on the business scene aren't what I want either. Every day, facing people who wear masks, I feel like I'm living an unreal life, and my life has no meaning."

  Ji Xin'an saw that Ji Liang had already understood, so she didn't hide it anymore. "But the military is different. I think life there is more beautiful, and people are more real. You can entrust your back to your comrades without reserve, without worrying that they'll stab you in the back when you're not paying attention. Maybe life in the troops will be very hard and tiring, but that feeling of living for your ideals every day must be great."

  "An An, do you really want to join the army? Once you're in, it'll be too late to regret it. Not to mention how hard it is, but even after a year, you won't have any days off, and we won't even get to see you. Don't you miss your dad and mom?" If An Xin really wanted to join the army that badly, they wouldn't be so strongly opposed to it. But thinking about how difficult it would be to even see their daughter's face made them reluctant, so they wanted to make one last effort.

  "I think, how can I not miss you guys? You're the most important people in my world now. But I really yearn for that passionate and exciting life, even if it means regret later. And I won't be a soldier forever, I'll struggle outside for a few years first, then you two can travel all over the country, we'll do our own things separately. When I'm discharged and come back, I'll stay at home with you guys and not go anywhere else. What do you think?" Ji Xin'an sat down between them, putting one arm around each of their arms.

  "You've already arranged everything, it seems we were too lenient with you in the past. If only we had controlled you like other families do, making you do what we say, things wouldn't have turned out this way." Ji Liang saw that her mind was made up and couldn't say anything more, but still grumbled in dissatisfaction.

  "Other people's kids are obedient, but none of them are as excellent as your daughter. This proves that your education is still successful." Ji Xin'an smiled and flattered them.

  An Chu Hong slapped Ji Xin An's head with a bad temper, "However, you must think carefully, taking the military school exam is very hard work, it will be tiring and your body can take it or not."

  "Don't worry, I've thought it through and won't regret it. My physical strength is beyond your imagination now, the amount of exercise in military school is too easy for me." Ji Xin'an said with a nonchalant tone, and indeed her physical strength had already surpassed that of many people of the same age. At first, the military school wouldn't be able to train them according to the standard of the troops, so it was impossible for Ji Xin-an not to find it easy when she was with them.

  "You can stop pretending, I finally understand. You had planned this a long time ago, didn't you? You found a master to teach you all those things just for today's preparation, right?" An Chuhong was initially puzzled when she heard that she had found a master, but now after hearing her words, she completely understood.

  "It's still Mom who is the most formidable, you guessed it all." Ji Xin'an smiled sweetly, "Mom, have you agreed?"

  "I don't agree, is it useful? You've been preparing for so many years, if you didn't go because I disagreed, wouldn't you hate me to death?" An Chuhong glared at her, but in her heart, she sighed, the child has grown up and wants to leave, can't be kept back.

  "Mom, you're so great." Ji Xin'an jumped up and gave An Chuhong a big kiss on the face.

  "Is your mother better than me?" Ji Liang was still angry with her, but seeing Ji Xinan like this made him start to get jealous.

  "Okay, Daddy is fine too." Ji Xin'an came back and kissed Ji Liang again.

  The three of them burst out laughing, and Ji Xin'an's college entrance examination plan was passed.