Chapter 18 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Do you dare say that there aren’t moments when you wish you had a girlfriend?” Luo Xiyun stared at Chen Xu, searching for signs of him lying from his face.

Chen Xu put down the chopsticks in his hand, grabbed a tissue, wiped his mouth, and began talking about something irrelevant, “When I was in high school, I studied extremely hard because I was determined to enroll in an excellent university. In my third year, I exercised until midnight and woke up at around five to memorize some vocabulary. Guess how many points I got in the college entrance examination.”

“520 marks. Forget important universities, my marks didn’t even meet the bottom line for a bachelor’s at ordinary universities. The people around me gave me advice, saying that I was only a few marks away and that I shouldn’t give up. They also said that it would be a good idea for me to repeat a year.”

“But I didn’t take their advice. Many of my relatives and friends felt sorry for me. My parents understand that high school had been hard for me. In all honesty, I’m not afraid of hardship. If repeating would’ve guaranteed me a place in an excellent university, I would have done it without hesitation.”

“But I knew that I was already at my limit. Even if I had repeated the year, I wouldn’t have made any improvements.”

Luo Xiyun opened her mouth, wanting to say something. But Chen Xu didn’t give her a chance and continued, “Later on, I graduated from college and was lucky enough to join our company.”

“The year when I first joined the company, I worked very hard and tried my best to establish ties with my other colleagues. It has been almost three years since then. All the people who entered the company at the same time as me, aside from those who resigned, either were promoted or got a raise.”

“I, on the other hand, just got a small raise on my basic salary. Even those who joined the company a year later than I got promoted faster than me.”

Having said that, Chen Xu shook his hands, not giving Luo Xiyun the chance to interrupt. He added, “Humans must know their place. You must know the limits of your abilities.”

“In both studying and working, I use a hundred percent effort just to get a score of 520 and get a raise of a couple hundred dollars on my basic salary. So, even if I were to work harder in my life, at the very most, I would raise my score by a few points and get one or two hundred bucks extra towards my basic salary.”

“But the question is, what for? What I put in would be disproportional with what I’d get. After I accepted this fact, my life became much easier.”

At this point, Chen Xu let out a sigh and continued, “The same goes for finding a girlfriend. In our society, men are the disadvantaged party in a relationship between a man and a woman. If you are not handsome, not rich, have no assets, are not skilled at being in a relationship, and don’t know how to win a woman’s favor, it will be extremely difficult for you to woo the girl you like.”

“You would have to impress the girl with other things, forsake your dignity, spend every single cent you have on her, and give her all your time and energy. You would even gouge your heart out to present it to her if you could.”

“But even so, she will at most regard you as expendable.”

“You will finally come to your senses and think it through. Being realistic, you will plan to find a girl who is mediocre in all aspects.”

“Later on, you’ll discover that she always gets angry for no reason, and when she’s angry, you will have to comfort her because women are animals of emotion.”

“When the two of you get into a fight, no matter who’s wrong and who’s right, you will have to apologize first. Because she’s a woman, you should humor her.”

“During special occasions, you must not forget to get her a present, or else there will be grave consequences. If what you got for her doesn’t suit her taste, she will accuse you of having a straight man’s aesthetics.”

“When you are with her, it will either be eating out or ordering food delivery. She can’t cook because she is a modern woman. Isn’t it entirely normal for modern women to not know how to cook?”

“Finally, when it is time to talk about marriage, her parents will dish out demands, ask for betrothal gifts, and that the man should buy a house, a car, hand over his credit card after marriage…”

“In order to marry this woman, not only that you will have to submit your everything, but you will also have to expend a huge portion of your parents’ lifetime savings.”