readsfreenovel Chapter 5 Breakup
Chapter 5 Breakup
As soon as Lingyun arrived at the dormitory building, he spotted a familiar figure from behind, a figure that had haunted his past life: Li Wenli, Lingyun's girlfriend.
Li Wenli was Ling Yun's classmate, the most beautiful girl in the Foreign Languages Department, with a lovely face and outstanding temperament. The two started dating in their sophomore year and were once an enviable couple on campus. But at this moment, she was wearing a floral dress, holding a canvas bag with the word "USA" printed on it, and staring sharply at Ling Yun as he walked towards her.
"Lingyun, we can't go on like this." Li Wenli cut to the chase, her tone icy, devoid of any of her usual warmth. "I received an acceptance letter from Stony Brook University, State University of New York, with a full scholarship. I'm leaving next month."
Ling Yun looked at her, not particularly surprised. There seemed to be a similar scene in the hazy fragments of his past life's memories. He simply watched her quietly, wanting to hear what she would say next.
"I'll give you two choices." Li Wenli took a deep breath, as if announcing a major decision, her chin slightly raised. "First, come to America with me. I've already inquired; you can apply for a dependent visa, or get a tourist visa and find your way there. Washing dishes, working as a decorator, a caregiver… you can do anything! It'll be tough, but that's America! Opportunities abound! As long as we're willing to work hard, we'll definitely be able to establish ourselves, and it'll be a million times more promising than staying in China!"
Her tone carried an almost religious fervor of longing, and her eyes shone with a yearning for that distant land.
Ling Yun frowned, about to speak, but Li Wenli raised her hand to interrupt him, continuing in a sharper tone, filled with obvious dissatisfaction and accusation:
"Secondly, if you can't bear to part with your so-called family and friends, and this run-down city, then we'll... break up."
She spoke the last two words with both lightness and heaviness, like a small hammer striking the already fragile emotional bond between the two.
"Wenli," Ling Yun finally spoke, his voice so calm it surprised Li Wenli, "I support you pursuing your studies. But why must I give up everything to work illegally in America? There are opportunities in China too, and..."
"Opportunity? What opportunity?!" Li Wenli's voice suddenly rose like a lit firecracker, attracting the attention of a couple of students passing by. "You mean you'll get a job in a public institution, work nine to five, earn a few hundred a month, just coast along, and live a life you can see the end of the road? Ling Yun, wake up! You can earn more washing dishes in America than you would as a county party secretary!"
Her words were like knives, cutting into Lingyun's self-esteem and their differing perceptions of the future.
"Look at our lives now!" Li Wenli waved her arms, pointing around. "Riding beat-up bicycles, living in dilapidated dormitories, eating food that tastes like pig swill in the canteen! And the future? Even if you're lucky enough to get assigned to a unit, you'll only earn a few hundred yuan a month. After decades of hard work, you might get a tiny apartment of a few dozen square meters? Is this the life you want?"
Her face was filled with disdain and resentment towards the status quo.
"And in America!" her voice blared with passion. "There you'll find the most advanced civilization in the world! Highways, supermarkets, wealth and freedom beyond our imagination! Once we get there, we can breathe the air of freedom, and through our own efforts, live in houses with lawns and garages, and drive our own cars! That's the life people should live!"
Ling Yun looked at her face, slightly flushed with excitement, and felt a chill in his heart. He understood the blind worship of the West among many young people in this era, but he never expected that the girl his predecessor had loved for three years was the same, and was trying to impose this value system on him.
"Wenli," Ling Yun's tone remained calm, but his eyes had turned cold, "I will go to America, but not now, and not as an illegal worker."
"Are you waiting for someone to come and fetch you in a grand sedan chair? Do you think you can get a visa on your own?" Li Wenli scoffed, her laughter filled with sarcasm. She took a step closer, staring into Ling Yun's eyes, and said, word by word, "I'm asking you one last time, are you coming with me or not?"
The atmosphere was so tense it almost froze.
Looking into her eyes, Ling Yun saw the unwavering resolve and complete surrender to the "American Dream," and knew that any attempt to persuade or explain would be futile. From this moment on, their lives had taken completely different paths.
He suddenly smiled, a smile that carried a hint of weariness, but more so a sense of relief and resolve.
"Li Wenli," he called her by her full name for the first time, his voice clear and firm, "I have my own path. I am not your slave. Don't even think about working illegal jobs to support your schooling."
Li Wenli was stunned. She seemed not to have expected Ling Yun to refuse so decisively. She looked at Ling Yun's eyes, which had suddenly become deep and unfamiliar, opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a cold snort filled with resentment.
"You'll regret this, Lingyun! You'll definitely regret your choice today!" She threw down these words, turned around abruptly, and her high heels clicked crisply and resolutely on the concrete as she walked away.
Ling Yun stood there, watching her disappear at the end of the tree-lined path, watching her completely walk out of her own life.
Ling Yun was too lazy to argue with Li Wenli, nor was he bothered to reason with her. She was his predecessor's girlfriend, and he had no feelings for her whatsoever.
Such a woman will definitely pay the price for her own perceptions; sooner or later, she will be chewed up into nothingness by the cannibalistic society of America. Weren't Soong Ai-ling's family powerful? Weren't H.H. Kung's family powerful? Weren't Elaine Chao's family powerful? Didn't their families ultimately meet a bad end in America?
Fools like Li Wenli, brainwashed by Western breeding techniques, will become nourishment for American society. When they are young, they can have social value and contribute to the prosperity of the United States. Once they lose their social value, wandering the streets will be their destiny. After they die, they will become Gundams and do their last bit of work for the scientific research of the American Empire.
Ling Yun had seen much more in the future, in that era of information explosion, like Sun Weidong, a physics PhD who was homeless on the streets, and a senior programmer in Silicon Valley living in the sewers...