February 15th, New Year's Eve.
When the Chinese welcome the New Year, there will be many activities, such as sweeping, pasting window grilles, and even making dumplings...
But these activities are here in Lao Lin... none of them.
Lin Zhaoxi got up in the morning, and Lao Lin just came back from grocery shopping.
There were already children setting off firecrackers in the alley, and with the crackling background sound, she ran out excitedly to look through the vegetable basket, and found that Lao Lin only bought a piece of fish, soybean sprouts, and a handful of vegetables.
Lin Zhaoxi: "..."
"What's your expression?"
"Dad, it's Chinese New Year, why don't you eat something?"
"There is more than enough every year to make a fortune as you wish, what else do you need?"
"Such as thriving and academic success?"
"You are already good at reading, there is no need to improve."
Lin Zhaoxi: "..."
As Lao Lin said, he was going to carry the vegetable basket into the kitchen. Lin Zhaoxi quickly put on the padded jacket, pushed Lao Lin and walked out of the house: "Go buy some more, I want to eat beef with sauce!"
"Already very fat."
"Don't worry if you won't get married." Lin Zhaoxi responded with a smile.
There was a lot of people in the vegetable market, and many people were preparing the ingredients for the New Year's Eve dinner.
With bacon hanging vertically and all kinds of bright vegetables and fruits, the vegetable market is probably the most year-like place in her mind.
She said that she wanted to go out to buy delicious food, and she also wanted to be with Lao Lin, so she didn't buy anything instead. Just passing by the fried chicken stand, the aroma was really tempting, she grabbed Lao Lin and expressed that she wanted to eat some fried chicken legs.
"Master Lin brought his daughter again?" The stall owner greeted enthusiastically, "Your daughter looks smart, how many legs do you want?"
"Hello, boss, let's have three." Lin Zhaoxi glanced at the price tag of 6 yuan each, and three of them were exactly 18 yuan. "I have two and you have one." She said to Lao Lin.
Lao Lin took out 20 yuan, and the stall owner hurriedly handed them the chicken legs, but when he was looking for money, he looked through the change bag and said, "Too much business this morning, I don't have any change, does Master Lin have any change?"
"No."
"Then after you celebrate the new year, I will give you the money."
"Hmm..." Lao Lin didn't say anything.
Lin Zhaoxi gnawed on the chicken leg, feeling a little flattered in her heart: "Dad, that boss just now seems to be waiting for you to say 'don't look for it'."
"Why don't you look for it?" Lao Lin said aggressively, "I've been waiting for him since the first day of junior high school."
"But he just praised me for being smart."
"Do you know what 'looking smart' means?"
"Is it because my knowledge has infected my temperament?"
"No, Boss Li usually praises others for their beauty."
Lin Zhaoxi turned her head and left.
"What are you going to do?" Lao Lin called to stop her.
"Go and wait in front of him. Someone will definitely pay the change later, and I will go and get back the money he lost to us!"
If it was another parent, they might not go crazy with their children. But Lao Lin is different, Lao Lin is relatively free. So when the two of them stood in front of the fried chicken stand, each of them gnawed on a chicken leg and waited for change, the boss still collapsed. He quickly took out two coins from the collected money and stuffed them into Lao Lin's hand: "Master Lin, I owe you money, I'm really sorry."
"It's okay." She and Lao Lin said at the same time.
After walking around the vegetable market, thinking of Lao Lin's cooking skills, Lin Zhaoxi decided to only buy cooked vegetables.
The two of them couldn't eat anything, and in the end there was only a small bag of sauced beef and cold seaweed.
On the way back, Lin Zhaoxi had already eaten the last chicken leg. Every household in the alley is full of Chinese New Year atmosphere, posting couplets and cooking vegetables, but Lin Zhaoxi and Lao Lin walked together, but somehow they didn’t have any enthusiasm and excitement that should be there during the New Year, but were very calm. And she suddenly found that if she didn't speak, Lao Lin wouldn't ask her anything.
In order to alleviate the deserted atmosphere between father and daughter, Lin Zhaoxi specially found a topic: "Don't you ask me how the training team is doing?"
"What is there to ask?" Lao Lin asked back.
"Then why are you so worried about me?"
"Do you want to hear me say that I am very relieved of my daughter, or do you want to hear me say that your team teacher often calls me to give you a small report?"
"I... don't... don't want to hear it." = =
After walking a few more steps, Lin Zhaoxi looked at Lao Lin, and just as she was about to speak, Lao Lin preempted her: "Comrade Lin Zhaoxi."
"exist!"
"Has the relationship between you and your old father reached the point where you can't find anything to talk about?"
Lin Zhaoxi felt that there was no way to talk today. She finally wanted to be a filial daughter, buy vegetables and chat with her father, and let Lao Lin feel the family happiness, but found that no matter what she talked about, she was the only one who was killed by Lao Lin.
The spring sun was warm and warm. As soon as she got home, Lin Zhaoxi was going to go back to her room to continue doing her homework, and treated Lao Lin who didn't want to chat with her with a cold attitude.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the house, Comrade Lin, who was sitting on the stone bench in the small courtyard, would pick soybean sprouts and call her, "The weather is so nice, why don't you come out to accompany Dad?"
Lin Zhaoxi: "I don't!"
"You said it yourself. I need to care about your current study situation."
Ten seconds later, Lin Zhaoxi was sitting in front of Lao Lin holding books and textbooks.
"How are you doing?" Lao Lin asked.
Lin Zhaoxi was silent for a while.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm trying to describe it, but no matter how I describe it, you will say that it is not precise enough."
"It makes sense." Lao Lin threw the selected bean sprouts aside, "College mathematics is quite difficult, isn't it?"
"Dad, it's okay to have an awkward chat, you should have an awkward chat first."
Lao Lin was stunned: "Your old father is thinking seriously: what kind of beautiful language should I use to bring you into the wonderful world of mathematics, how can you hurt your old father's heart like this?"
"I read the "Calculus" that you asked me to borrow." Lin Zhaoxi removed the notebook, revealing the textbook underneath, "There are many beautiful insights in it."
"I didn't write that." Lao Lin blushed.
"But the handwriting is yours?" Lin Zhaoxi opened the title page, "If we have to say that modern human civilization is based on a definition, then its name must be - Limit.
she read aloud.
"That's all young and ignorant." Lao Lin coughed.
"I think it's beautiful."
"That's right." Lao Lin slowed down the action of picking soybean sprouts, "But mathematics, as you get later on, it's not enough to just think it's beautiful. What you dream of, but the down-to-earth work every day will gradually wear away your hobbies and enthusiasm.”
Lao Lin's words were very leisurely, coupled with his action of picking soybean sprouts, it was more like a casual chat.
But Lin Zhaoxi fell silent suddenly, and Lao Lin said this specially for her.
As smart as he was, he must have sensed her difficulty in learning this. Lin Zhaoxi didn't know how to describe this difficulty. It never came from the high mountain, but from the distance between the climber and the mountain top.
"Calculus" is a compulsory freshman course in the Department of Mathematics, including many science and comprehensive subjects. Everyone knows that it is the foundation and that it should be quite difficult, but after opening the book, they find that it is still a little more difficult than they imagined.
The definition of the limit of light is long and difficult. Various symbols, "assuming" "if... exists... making" and "as long as... and" are mixed. Compared with the knowledge before high school, the length of the definition of light is completely different.
Although Lao Lin prepared courses in mathematical thinking and mathematical language in advance, which largely eased her unfamiliarity with these defining languages, advanced mathematics is still an unfamiliar field.
But when she carefully read the book and annotations, thinking that she understood the definition of the limit, she took out a pen and paper, and prepared to prove it again by herself according to the method of notes, but her mind suddenly went blank.
She almost forgot what she just learned.
When she really understood the definition of limit, mastered the method of proof, and turned to the next page, she suddenly discovered that her understanding of the definition just now might not be deep enough.
Going on like this little by little, she kept going back and forth between "I thought I had mastered it" and "I didn't know it", which even made her feel panic. After all, calculus is only the foundation of college mathematics.
"Dad..." Lin Zhaoxi said slowly, "Why is calculus so difficult? Didn't you think it was so difficult when you learned it?"
"Is there a sentence in the book?" Lao Lin asked.
"Which one?"
"He first explained the movement and images of the planets, the orbits of comets and the tides of the sea with almost god-like thinking power." Lao Lin emphasized, "I didn't write this."
Lin Zhaoxi turned to that page, and found that it was written with a ballpoint pen on the exercises in the first chapter, and it really did not belong to Lao Lin's font.
"Um?"
"This is Newton's epitaph." Lao Lin asked, "Do you know why there is this sentence on it?"
"have no idea."
"Because some people also find it difficult." Lao Lin said, "Students of Sanwei University."
Lin Zhaoxi nodded slowly.
"Do you know how high the IQs of Newton and Leibniz are?" Lao Lin asked her again.
"have no idea."
"Then Archimedes, Fermat, Descartes, Roberva, Desargues, Barrow, Wallis, Kepler, Cavalieri..." Lao Lin spit out world-famous names one by one, and the more he said The faster, even Lin Zhaoxi has never heard of some names.
"What about the IQ of these people?"
"I don't know either." Lin Zhaoxi sat up straight and answered seriously.
"We don't know." Lao Lin is also very serious, "but what we know is that from the 7th century BC to the 17th century AD, all the great names just now have followed one after another, constantly asking questions, thinking about problems and solving problems, making 'almost magical' The person with the same thinking ability finally established this discipline in the 17th century." Lao Lin paused, "And he is only one of the founders recognized by history.
"But all of this is just the beginning of calculus being called a 'discipline'. For hundreds of years after that, mathematicians are still perfecting it." Lao Lin stopped what he was doing and looked at him with soft eyes. It made Lin Zhaoxi feel that he wanted to pat her head, but in the end he didn't.
He just said: "It is almost no exaggeration to say that it allows you to have airplanes above your head and railroad tracks under your feet, so that the world can finally become what it is now. Now you can slowly learn it and understand it. How fortunate it is." Isn't it the most natural thing?"
What Lao Lin said made sense, and then he continued to choose soybean sprouts.
And for a long time after that, Lin Zhaoxi didn't speak, and there was only the slightest "click" and "click" in the air.
She turned the calculus again, and she thought that the biggest difference between her and Lao Lin in mathematics might not be talent. It is Lao Lin's attitude when he looks at mathematics, which is far more sincere and humble than her.
After that, she began to calm down to read books and do problems. She no longer suffered from difficulties or troubled by ignorance. Lao Lin continued to do her own housework.
They sat in the small kitchen and ate a simple New Year's Eve dinner. Lao Lin told her things from time to time, and teased her with various words from time to time.
Here they are, as usual, completely devoid of New Year's flavor.
Only after eight o'clock, Lao Lin's phone kept ringing.
His students called one by one to pay New Year's greetings. At the busiest time, the phone rang again just after they hung up.
There were Hanajuan, Lu Zhihao, An Beibei, Yao Xiaotian, Chen Chengcheng, and even Zhang Liang called. Although they didn't chat for a few words, Fan Guzi still said "Happy New Year" very seriously.
In this atmosphere, Pei Zhi's phone calls became very common.
Lao Lin didn't talk much to anyone, including Pei Zhi, Lin Zhaoxi chatted with him for a while, and hung up the phone naturally.
Crucian carp and tofu soup was warmed on the gas stove. It was already late, and the sound of firecrackers continued to explode outside the window, and the laughter of every household floated.
The zero o'clock bell rang together with the sound of firecrackers.
Lao Lin brought two glasses of dark red liquid in transparent glasses, which looked very similar.
Lin Zhaoxi found that there seemed to be no bubbles in the cup that Lao Lin handed her.
"Coca-Cola or wine?"
"Coca Cola."
Lin Zhaoxi didn't believe it.
They raised their glasses and clinked them lightly.
"Happy New Year!"
"Fun."
Lin Zhaoxi took a sip carefully...and almost spit it out, it was really Coca-Cola.
"Minors are not allowed to drink alcohol." Lao Lin said righteously, "Blame Pei Zhi, I answered his call yesterday and forgot to cap the bottle, but it's a waste if you can't finish it."
Lin Zhaoxi: "..."