(Tomorrow, one thousand recommended votes, one thousand words update. You demons, dare you vote to fifteen thousand recommendations?)

  Life is only trivial and dull to people who are themselves dull and uninteresting.

  Life is a struggle.

  Chen Ergou was scolded by Zhang Xixi as a dog who can't spit out ivory from his mouth. These two sentences with such philosophical depth were not created by Chen Ergou, the first sentence is a famous quote by Chernyshevsky, and the second sentence is a famous phrase by Korolenko. Putting them together became Chen Ergou's motto, which sounds very rigid and outdated. When spoken out loud, it would make Zhang Xixi laugh so hard that her teeth fall out, and even Xiao Yao would think it's too old-fashioned. After all, this is a society where phrases like "noble is noble, humble is humble" are popular, and not many young people take books like "How the Steel Was Tempered" seriously.

  For example, Zhang Xuanxuan's QQ signature is "If one does not strive for oneself, heaven and earth will be destroyed", Xiao Mei is "A gun under the crotch, turning over the Huangpu River", while Xiao Yao is slightly more normal because she just went to Xitang Ancient Town with her parents and wrote "A small town with a river of smoke and rain, two people painting with ten fingers". If Chen Erdou knew how to play QQ, his signature would probably be something like "I want to strangle the throat of fate".

  Although Zhao Kunpeng gave him a solid warning at the Arrow Pavilion, at least in Xiao Mei's eyes, this indestructible Northeastern mantis did not lose his will to fight. Snooker was still played, archery was still shot, wine was still drunk and cigarettes were still smoked. His psychological resilience was no worse than his physical strength. It seemed that the dead man, You Xiongzi, really didn't plan to continue causing trouble for Chen Ergou. This made Xiao Mei secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Although his admiration for Chen Ergou had increased, that storm had extinguished the romantic feelings in his heart. He was basically certain that there were no hidden masters in this mundane society, and even if there were, he wouldn't encounter them. The idea of becoming sworn brothers with a mysterious figure and fighting together to achieve greatness was purely a daydream born of boredom. Xiao Mei took a closer look at himself and felt that being friends with Chen Ergou was more reliable than being brothers. He didn't have the kind of brotherly loyalty that would make him risk his life, so there was no need to pretend to be something he's not.

  Chen Ergou was not content to be a poor man who could only envy others' success, so he tried to seize every opportunity around him. He read books, newspapers and magazines as much as possible, explored one unfamiliar field after another, and came up with plan after plan for getting rich, only to ruthlessly reject each one in turn, never tiring of the process.

  He wouldn't just go to the SD bar to ogle a few twisted big butts or swipe a few packs of cigarettes like Wang Hu's thug. Chen Er Gou spent a lot of effort and thought into winning people over and making connections with potential customers he deemed to have digging potential. One thing that made him particularly proud was successfully peddling a clever bar girl to a certain big shot who had coincidentally come to SD. The girl wasn't bad, her figure was slim and not just a pretty face, she wasn't highly intelligent but had decent emotional intelligence, and the rarest part was that she was still a virgin. Her biggest flaw was spending money like water. The big shot was a middle-aged divorced uncle who was willing to spend money, humorous in conversation, and had a rich family background. Under Chen Er Gou's matchmaking, the two hit it off immediately, and reportedly were already planning their wedding. Chen Er Gou thought this was a potential goldmine, the happier and more fulfilling their marriage was, the greater his potential returns would be. If their relationship was a disaster, Chen Er Gou would just have wasted some saliva, but an intelligent girl who knew how to use her body's value to her advantage would likely keep that generous master wrapped around her finger for a long time, and wouldn't let Chen Er Gou down.

  The SD bar is the only place where Chen Ergou can fully utilize his skills, where he can apply all the clever tricks he learned from Zhangjiacun and put into practice the theories from "Thick Black Theory" or Xiao Tian Shi's "Analysis of Successful Secrets of World Greats". He benefits greatly from this, mastering the art of manipulating people like a dog trainer, with seven parts control and three parts indulgence. This is Chen Ergou's greatest realization. Although the SD bar is small, it has all the essential elements, allowing Chen Ergou to gain insight into the human relationships and social dynamics of Shanghai. In short, Chen Ergou puts in his best effort to manage the complex web of relationships among the people around him, treating them like chess pieces with different roles and energies. Chen Ergou may not be knowledgeable or skilled in theory or practice, but his greatest strength is that he can make the most of what little he has, using 120% effort to complete a task with 100% dedication.

  Chen Ergou is a moth lying on the window, looking at the future, always thinking that success is far away from him, but heaven knows whether he will stumble into the circle of successful people with a single stumble.

  A lot in store, but little comes out.

  These four characters were written on a banner and posted on the wall, next to which hung Grandfather's old pipe.

  Zhang Sanqian is a very interesting kid, Chen Ergou has never seen that kind of guy who is invincible in the emotional arena, and he doesn't know what kind of amazing style the master of the emotional arena is. But he thinks Zhang Sanqian has this potential, from the 70-80 year old elderly women in the neighborhood to Li Wei's age group of fashionable girls, they all like Zhang Sanqian who has a harmless face. This kid is always replacing Wang Jie to work at Ah Mei's restaurant during his free time, he is diligent and clever, willing to eat bitterness and endure hardship, making boss Ah Mei want to drag Li Sheng out to beat him to death and then adopt this kid as her own son. If Zhang Sanqian wasn't just over ten years old and really too young, she would have married Li Wei off to him.

  Today, boss's wife A Mei and three middle-aged women of similar age played mahjong on the second floor. Zhang Sanqian was serving tea and water beside them, from start to finish, he was constantly being flirted with by these four women in their prime. Mahjong is a profound subject, but Zhang Sanqian just stared at them for a few days and figured out some tricks. To him, this was a game of "defending the upper house, watching the lower house, and killing the opponent's house; one round of mahjong, three people die, only I win, only you lose". Little did he know that his words had already revealed the true essence of mahjong. Zhang Sanqian's brain must not have inherited his father's dullness, everything is probably thanks to that poor woman who was sold to the Zhang family village.

  In the evening, Wang Hu found Chen Erdou playing Go, with Zhang Sanqian watching. When Chen Erdou went to the toilet, he asked Zhang Sanqian to take his place, but accidentally let Wang Hu's boat capsize in the gutter. Wang Hu was unwilling to give up and played another game with a child under ten years old. Although he won easily, Wang Hu kept staring at Zhang Sanqian's face, marveling and saying strange things. Chen Erdou and Zhang Sanqian didn't take his nonsense seriously and ignored him. Wang Hu neither got angry nor explained himself, but instead sighed and looked at Zhang Sanqian with a sly smile: "Sanqian, why don't you follow me? I'll teach you all sorts of useless things that can't be shown off. You'll master everything, guaranteed. All you need to do is kowtow once, acknowledge me as your master. No need to kowtow three times, too much trouble."

  "Not learning."

  Wang Hu was furious and asked: "Why don't you study? I guarantee that for the rest of your life, you will enjoy wealth and glory. If you want a woman, there is a woman; if you want fame, there is fame."

  Busy putting away the chess pieces, Zhang San didn't even lift his head and said indifferently: "Apart from my mother, I don't kowtow to anyone."

  Wang Hu's face suddenly fell, like an eggplant that had been frostbitten. He was at a loss for words to refute, and could only say sullenly: "Your father isn't any better!"

  Zhang Sanqian calmly said: "No."

  Wang Hu's face turned red with rage as he shouted: "You stupid dog, you don't know what's good for you!"

  Zhang Sanqian curled his lips and squatted on the ground, learning from Chen Ergou to play chess, saying: "If you don't learn, if you have the ability, bite me."