CHAPTER 37
After talking to the two children, they stopped selling things on campus and started selling outside the school gate after lunch and in the evening after school. They sell everything from pencils, erasers, knives, and eggs to pencil cases and clipboards for exams.
“This is how much money they have saved up. They even bought big items like pencil cases.”
Yiyi sighed at the side: “My brother took all my pocket money, saying it was for investment.”
Li Xia smiled and said, “Where did he learn this? Could it be that his grandfather taught him?”
Shen Haiyang looked towards the backyard and said, “Maybe he has also invested in it.”
The whole family is obsessed with money. Is this really good? She herself has a low level of education and attaches great importance to learning. She talked to the two children in the evening and solemnly explained to them.
“If your academic performance drops, you will not be able to run this business. I will confiscate all your money. Do you understand me?”
Huihua nodded obediently and said, “I know, Mom. I didn’t miss any practice. Look at my handwriting. The teacher said, I have made progress.”
The child said as she handed the big characters she had written to Li Xia. The neat handwriting made Li Xia ignore the ink stains on her sleeves. It was not easy to learn a talent. There was not a single piece of her clothing that was not stained with ink. It was very difficult to wash it.
“Okay, don’t slack off on writing every day.”
“Okay, I know. I’ll urge you to recite the words one by one after I finish writing them.”
Li Xia smiled and turned her gaze towards Shen Hui. The little boy’s eyes rolled around, and then he smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry, Mom. If my score is lower than 98, I won’t do anything. You can confiscate all my money.”
“Okay, remember what you said. We are going to do great things in the future. If you are uneducated and can’t manage well, then I will give you up one by one.”
“Mom, are you going to open a factory?”
“That’s a possibility. I’m attending night school now because I’m afraid I won’t be able to manage something big in the future. When mom gets old, you’ll have to take over. If you don’t have any education, what you learn in night school will definitely not be as good as what regular college students can teach you.”
“Yes.” After hearing that he could earn money by learning knowledge, Shen Hui nodded more seriously this time. “I will study hard and won’t fall behind.”
After giving the two children a shot of prevention, Shen Haiyang paid attention to their study problems in the following days. Li Xia was busy setting up the stall and attending classes every day. Time passed quickly in the busyness, and the children had their summer vacation. Shen Hui’s grades remained the same, and he scored more than 80 in painting, which was an improvement over before.
“It’s better to teach in the city!”
The first grade was over. Huihua picked up the blank math test paper that the teacher had left behind and coaxed her younger brother to do it in the afternoon. She promised to buy him a popsicle when he finished.
Yiyi took the pencils sharpened by his sister and worked hard for the popsicles. He had been learning mental arithmetic for less than half a year, but his calculation skills were envied by Huihua. He lowered his head, stretched out his fingers, and quickly wrote down the standard answers for the 20 calculation questions in the first attempt.
He couldn’t read the following questions, so Huihua explained them to him. Most of the first-grade stuff was still about calculations, and the following questions were just a change of format to test the child’s thinking. Huihua found that her brother was younger than her, but his comprehension ability was better than hers. He understood the basics at a glance, and when she read out the last word problem, he quickly wrote the formula below, calculating clearly.
The boy was given an hour to answer a math test paper, but he only took half the time to finish it. After finishing, he didn’t care whether he was right or wrong, and he dragged his sister to buy popsicles. There was a refrigerator at home, but Li Xia didn’t let them eat too much, so she didn’t buy any popsicles at home.
Huihua used her pocket money to buy her brother a popsicle, and the little guy tore off the package and licked it eagerly. “So cool, so refreshing, sister, why don’t you buy one for yourself?”
“Eat yours.”
Fulfilling her promise, she took the paper her brother had written and ran to find Shen Hui. “Brother, let me use your final exam paper.”
Shen Hui had just finished memorizing ancient poems, which were extra homework his father gave him during the summer vacation. There were two ancient poems a day, and there was an extra pile of books on the bookshelf. The complete collection of 300 Tang poems, appreciation of Song poems, as for what to memorize, it was up to him to decide. He was busy playing, practicing piano, and thinking about what to sell when school started. How could he have the energy to choose? He just memorized one book after another.
“Why do you want my test paper? To copy it? I don’t think the teacher gave me this homework. Homework for those who score above 90, above 80, and below 80 is all different, okay?”
Really ?? You got full marks yourself; the teacher didn’t ask you guys to do summer homework at all. You just need to hand in your calligraphy practice when school starts. How can you understand how much a poor student like her has to write?
“Okay, okay, if you can’t finish writing, just bring a copy here and I’ll help you write it, okay?”
“I do not want it.”
“You don’t want this, but it’s not that I, as your brother, won’t help.”
Huihua took the pen, put the two test papers on the table, and began to compare the answers. She didn’t say a word about her brother’s words. This guy was from Versailles.
Right, right, right… As he ticked the boxes one by one, Huihua’s face turned gloomy, and he was really shocked. Shen Hui also saw the test paper at this time. There were basically no Chinese characters except numbers. Such questions were not answered well. If you don’t answer the application questions in full, you won’t get full marks.
“Who wrote the number? Why does it look so much like one by one?”
The Huihua was also shocked at this time. Except for the last four application questions, which were about not being able to write Chinese characters because they had not learned them, the rest were all correct.
“Just write them one by one.” After saying this, the little girl sat in silence on the chair. Shen Hui raised his hand to pick up the paper and looked at it, then spoke nonchalantly.
“He’s good at mental arithmetic, but his handwriting is terrible and crooked. But mom said he’s still young and can’t hold a pen and write too many words. He’ll have more practice with his handwriting when he goes to school.”
Shen Hui finished speaking, folded up the test paper, and put it away. He turned around and saw Huahua’s disappointed face. “Everyone has their own strengths. I needed your help to pass my art homework. I even had to scribble so that the teacher wouldn’t notice. You were so confident back then. Why are you sulking here over a few points?”
“But Yiyi is several years younger than me, and he can do everything right. Why can’t I do it?”
“Maybe you were careless.” The boy smiled and took her out to play. “Come on, don’t think too much. Mom said that as long as you can pass the exam, it’s fine. You’ve exceeded the passing line by more than ten points this time. You’re good at drawing, and you learn piano quickly. If you study well, you’ll be able to survive.”
The little boy was good at comforting people. Just a few words made Huihua smile. The brother and sister went out to find Yiyi, and they played together with a few friends outside the street. The girls jumped a rubber rope, and the boy picked up a brick and threw it at his father.
After a while of playing, a car stopped in front of his house. His friends called out to them subconsciously, thinking that he was the only relative on this street who had a car. Oh, yes, his grandfather also had a car, which was unique on this street.
Shen Hui stopped Huihua and turned around to see Shen Yaozong. With him was his wife, who had come with him once before. The woman was holding a boy who was about five or six years old.
As soon as the mother and son got off the car, they frowned and looked reluctant. The woman even waved her hand in front of her nose to fan the air, as if the air here made her very impatient. In fact, the pollution on the mainland during this period was not serious, and the air was absolutely fresh.
“Honey, are we really going to live here?”
“At least until the old man changes his mind.” The old man likes his children and grandchildren to be around him. He also has a wife and child. It’s not only Shen Haiyang who can provide this kind of emotional value.
“Oh my God, I can’t survive this.”
“If you don’t care about that property, then you can leave now.”
Shen Yaozong had a gloomy face and was too lazy to coax his wife. She only knew how to enjoy herself every day and couldn’t help at all. The child next to him was also very dissatisfied with the ground under his feet. He wanted to say something but didn’t dare to say it now.
“Let’s go in and have a good talk with the old man.”
When they arrived, Shen Hui and Huihua looked at each other and went to inform their parents. It was already evening, and Li Xia and Shen Haiyang arrived home quickly. They heard the noise in the backyard from the front yard, and the couple walked to the backyard.
“Dad, I advise you to turn back and not go down this path. What can be developed on such poor land? If you get stuck in the quagmire, it will be too late to get out, and you won’t even have a place to cry.”
Shen Yaozong was obviously not optimistic about the investment environment on the mainland. Not only was it backward now, but also the shadow that the chaos over the past decade had cast on his mind. If the mainland were to do the same thing again, the title of capitalist would be gone.
“Yes, father, just listen to Mike. It’s not bad to go back to the United States. It’s so backward here. What if your old illness relapses?”
The couple really did their homework, and every word of persuasion was very practical. The old man remained silent in front of his son and daughter-in-law and raised his hand to hand his grandson a few lychees.
In this era of underdeveloped logistics, many people in the north don’t even know this. But the boy didn’t care about the rare fruit that Shen Haiyang asked someone to bring. He thought its rough skin was a bit ugly and threw it on the ground.
“It’s ugly. I don’t want it.”
The old man took a deep breath, stood up, and picked up the lychees himself. He looked at Shen Haiyang with a bit of apology and then did not answer the couple’s previous words. Instead, he peeled the lychees and ate them slowly while explaining to the brat.
“Lychees grow in the southern region with a mild climate and prefer a high temperature and high humidity environment. Lychees are sweet and warm in nature and can stimulate the appetite. The flesh of lychees is white and sweet. In ancient times, when transportation was not well developed, we could not eat such fruits at all due to our geographical location.”
The little boy had never eaten lychees before. He thought it was not a good thing because of its rough skin. But after listening to his grandfather, he realized that it was very rare. And after peeling off the skin, the flesh inside was white and delicate, and he could smell a refreshing fragrance.
“Grandpa, isn’t it said that the mainland is very poor? Why does it have such good things?”
“China is a vast country with abundant resources. It stretches from Mohe, Heilongjiang, at 53 degrees north latitude in the north to the Nansha Islands at 4 degrees north latitude in the south. It stretches from Fuyuan County, Heilongjiang, at 135 degrees east longitude in the east to the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang, at 73 degrees east longitude in the west. The time difference is more than four hours. It spans 49 degrees from north to south and is 5,500 kilometers long.
With such a large latitude and longitude, China is rich in products, including almost all kinds of tropical, temperate, and cold zone animals and plants. The lychee you just ate is a tropical fruit. Although we are located in the temperate zone, because of the vast territory of the country, we can enjoy it without importing it. ”
The little boy chewed the delicious and juicy lychee flesh and nodded to his grandfather, “It turns out that China is not that poor. Then grandpa, besides lychees, do you have apples, avocados, and black currants here?”
“Because of the different geographical locations, the types of fruits and vegetables are also very different. There are no avocados and black currants here, but there are cantaloupes, pears, and grapes, all of which are produced in Xinjiang. In the south, there are also lychees, longans, oranges, mangoes, etc. The products are very abundant.”
“oh!”
The little boy showed a surprised expression and had a different understanding of this strange country, the hometown his grandfather mentioned. He had disliked lychees just now, but now he enjoyed the delicious taste.
His parents were not interested in talking about products with the old man, and they sneered at what the old man said. No matter how big this country is, its industry is seriously backward, and the living standards of the people are far behind those of the United States. Forget about cars; it’s already good enough for people here to be able to afford bicycles.
