When Huang Lingshan heard him say that, she felt as if her world had come crashing down. She immediately collapsed onto their sofa and started throwing a tantrum, showing not a single shred of ladylike grace.

Liang Xiaomei and Huang Yuda could only shake their heads, helpless in the face of their niece’s childish antics.

But in truth, the older couple knew that even if Huang Chong forgot their gifts, he would never forget a gift for his little cousin.

Soon, after Huang Chong finished his shower and changed his clothes, he made an excuse to visit a logistics company. In reality, he just took a short walk, retrieved the items from his system’s storage space, and carried them home.

When his parents saw that he had bought a pile of clothes and a heap of expensive nutritional supplements, they chided him for spending money so recklessly on things that were too pricey, but inwardly, they were deeply gratified.

Their son was filial and successful. How could they not be happy?

So, Liang Xiaomei took the opportunity to ask about Huang Chong’s salary and whether it was enough to cover his usual expenses.

Of course, Huang Chong had no reason to hide anything from his parents. He said frankly,

"I barely spend any money when I’m with the team. In the six months since I graduated from university, my total income from salary, bonuses, and the like has been around 200,000."

This statement immediately swept away all of Liang Xiaomei’s worries.

Her son had just become a professional athlete, yet he could earn 200,000 in half a year. That was no less than the quarterly net profit from their own small supermarket.

’Our son is truly accomplished.’

Most importantly, her son had won a provincial championship and a national championship, and both victories were covered on the television news.

The national championship win was particularly noteworthy. CCTV News ran a brief on his victory, and even the General Administration of Sport published a report on his achievement.

Now, was there anyone among their relatives or neighbors who didn’t know that she and her husband, Liang Xiaomei and Huang Yuda, had raised such a successful son?

’Now this is what it means to bring honor to the family name!’

This was something that mere financial income could never compare to.

Therefore, Huang Chong’s trip home for the New Year this year was destined to be a smooth and pleasant one.

His parents would no longer be like they were in his past life. Back then, they were terrified he couldn’t make a living in the big city and would suffer, so they took matters into their own hands and forced him to stay in their small county town to inherit the family supermarket.

Huang Lingshan’s gift was the top-of-the-line flagship phone she had been dreaming of for a very long time.

Its specs were, of course, a world apart from her two-thousand-yuan, entry-level phone.

These days, people young and old can’t live without the internet—scrolling through short videos, playing games, and so on.

Although Huang Chong knew that giving her a new phone would almost certainly cause her grades to plummet, it wasn’t as if she had much room to fall.

’She’s destined for a junior college anyway. Might as well let her be happy.’

The moment Huang Lingshan got the phone, she was ecstatic. Like an octopus, she leaped onto Huang Chong and started planting slobbery kisses all over his face, leaving him covered in drool.

Annoyed, Huang Chong could only pry her limbs off him in disgust and toss her onto the sofa.

But Lingshan was far too happy with her new phone to care. She immediately connected to the Wi-Fi and fired up a match, picking Angela.

Unfortunately, no matter how good the phone was, her skills were still atrocious.

Her moves were as fierce as a tiger, but one look at her record told the real story: 1-9-3. She was, without a doubt, the team’s weak link.

Not only did she lose a star in a rage, but she was also reported on the spot, losing five reputation points.

...

「Two days later, the Spring Festival had passed. It was now the second day of the Lunar New Year.」

Relatives began visiting each other’s homes to offer New Year’s greetings.

Huang Chong’s grandparents had all passed away, and his father was the eldest of his brothers, so it was customary for others to visit their home first.

His various cousins all showed up on the second day of the New Year.

They all knew, of course, that their older cousin had become a professional road cyclist and had even won the national championship.

So, they had all followed his example, pestering their parents to buy them road bikes.

Now that the champion himself was right beside them, how could they possibly miss this golden opportunity to challenge him and see just how big the gap was between themselves and a national champion?

The moment they laid eyes on Huang Chong’s racing bike, their eyes lit up with excitement.

"Damn, Bro! This road bike of yours... it’s gotta be worth 100,000, right?"

These were middle schoolers who were used to riding bikes worth a few thousand yuan; seeing a top-of-the-line road bike now, they were practically drooling.

Huang Chong could clearly see the envy in their eyes. But he wasn’t Zhou Ming; he couldn’t afford to just give away a bike this nice. The best he could do was let them take his for a spin to scratch the itch.

He, in turn, would ride one of their bikes, worth only a few thousand yuan.

But even with the bike swap, a national champion was still a national champion.

He didn’t even have to try. On the winding mountain roads near Xianyun County, with just a few casual turns of the pedals, he left his utterly hopeless cousins so far behind they vanished from sight.

Leaving his cousins to shout desperately from behind:

"Wait for me, Bro!"

"Holy crap, what kind of legs are those, Bro?! How are you so fast going uphill? You must have motors in your legs!"

In the end, riding his cousin’s entry-level, aluminum-wheeled bike, he single-handedly completed a training segment through his hometown’s terraced fields scenic area. The route had an average gradient of 7%, a total elevation gain of one thousand meters, and a length of 16 kilometers—a segment equivalent in difficulty to the Taizi Peak HC Level climb.

His total time was just 37 minutes.

How was this merely double his performance from when he’d climbed Taizi Peak?

It was several times better, at least.

He remembered that back when he climbed Taizi Peak, his average climbing speed for the entire mountain road was just over ten kilometers per hour.

But now, facing a climb of similar difficulty, he easily brought his average speed up to over twenty.

And that was without even riding at full strength!

By the time his cousins had only climbed a quarter of the way up the slope, he had already returned from the summit.

However, the bike was so shoddy that he didn’t dare to descend at full speed.

Only after swapping back to his own bike did he let loose on the descent.

His downhill speed, topping 80 km/h, nearly left his cousins dumbfounded.

Especially when cornering—his smooth leans and perfect racing lines made his cousins seriously wonder if they were even riding the same type of bicycle.

Why was it that when they descended at 50 km/h, they were already breaking out in a cold sweat, their legs turning to jelly, feeling as though they could fly off a cliff at any moment?

Finally, after the ride was over and they had returned home, those who had once dreamed of becoming professional road cyclists like their big cousin collectively snuffed out that presumptuous dream in its cradle.

This short ride with their cousin had delivered a sobering realization:

There are real, fundamental differences between people.

Even if they came from the same family, there were still vast disparities even among the direct bloodline.

They were born with ordinary talent, while their cousin was a one-in-a-million talent, a ’heavenly spiritual root’!

It was truly the difference between a mortal and an immortal.

...

Time spent with family always flies by.

In the blink of an eye, the official seven-day Spring Festival holiday was drawing to a close.

Huang Chong had to pack his bags once more and begin his journey north.

His mother, Liang Xiaomei, was naturally reluctant to see him go, but she was afraid of burdening her son.

He still had a long, arduous ride back to Hangcheng, so she forced a smile at their parting, pretending to be more cheerful than she felt.

As for the quiet and honest Huang Yuda, his way of expressing himself was as simple and unadorned as ever.

Before his son left, he simply patted him on the shoulder, smiled warmly, and said,

"When you’re out there on your own, remember to eat your meals on time.

If you run into any trouble or find yourself short on cash, just call home. Your mom and I both support what you’re doing.

You’re so successful now, and that makes us happier than anyone.

Ride carefully on your way back. The journey isn’t a race, so don’t rush. Safety is what matters most.

And when you get to Hangcheng, remember to call your mom and let her know you’ve arrived safely!"

Huang Chong nodded firmly.

In his past life, having achieved nothing, he had been forced by his parents to stay in their small county town, and he had felt suffocated.

He had felt that he was still in the prime of his youth, yet was being forced to live the life of a retiree—

Now, his parents no longer tried to control him; they even actively supported him in chasing his dreams.

And yet, he now felt what a blessing it was to be able to stay by his parents’ side, watching them slowly grow old.

’Human nature truly is greedy,’ he thought. ’Always craving the life you can’t have.’

However, if Huang Chong had to choose again between the two completely different lives—his past and his present—he would choose his current life without a moment’s hesitation.

The reason was simple. He was destined to spend most of his future thousands of miles away from his parents, perhaps even on the opposite side of the world.

Where one was in daylight, the other might already be in darkness—

But at least in this life, he could make his parents proud.

He wouldn’t be like he was in his past life, where he could only cause them to worry.

This only strengthened Huang Chong’s resolve to one day reach the absolute pinnacle of the professional cycling world.

...