When we first entered college, our counselor warned us that learning a foreign language might be more boring than other liberal arts subjects. Although we didn’t have the first class every morning in our freshman and sophomore years, we had to go to the classroom at 7:30 for morning self-study.
Every morning, I can see students from the Foreign Languages Department walking on the campus boulevard with soy milk in hand, earphones in their ears, and listening to the radio.
There is a sweet-scented osmanthus forest on the way from the dormitory to the fourth teaching building. We were freshmen when we entered the school in the golden autumn, so we walked through the sweet-scented osmanthus forest in the early morning, with the vision of new university life and hope for the future. At that time, I really felt that it was a very enjoyable thing.
I used to be such an ambitious young man, but as the newcomer became a veteran, I gradually became lazy.
Sometimes, I feel that when the four of us get lazy, it’s a bit infuriating.
If there are no classes on weekends or Monday and Tuesday mornings, no one in the dormitory wants to go out, but they are very hungry, so they will use rock-paper-scissors to send one person to the cafeteria to buy breakfast. What if they still don’t want to go out by noon? Then they will play rock-paper-scissors again…
We were closest to the third canteen, so we usually moved around there. There was a big bucket near the entrance of the canteen selling soy milk. One person punched in and one person scooped the soy milk. The person scooping the soy milk was very strange. If you brought your own cup, no matter how big the cup was, he would give you two-thirds of the cup, and there was no way around it.
So we used those 1.5-liter cups, and one cup could be divided into four portions.
As the weather gets colder, everyone has been staying in their dorms reading novels, watching TV, playing on the computer, and memorizing words. They are too lazy to even go out for lunch. What should we do? Keep playing rock-paper-scissors.
Generally speaking, Bai Lin is the most unlucky one.
Today, it's her again.
She held me and said pitifully, "Xiaotong, come with me."
I saw that she looked very miserable carrying four lunch boxes by herself, so I accompanied her.
She and I each took two lunch boxes and lined up at two meal counters in the third canteen.
Fortunately, it was not yet twelve o'clock, so the line for rice was not particularly long. When it was my turn, I watched the canteen chef bend down, scoop a large spoonful of rice, and then shake the hand holding the spoon. He looked at it and seemed dissatisfied. So he shook it again, and when there was almost no rice left, he covered my lunch box.
I swiped my card again and handed over another lunch box. The chef used the same trick again, but this time he gave me even less.
I looked at my left hand, then my right hand, and said with a sad face, "Master, you see I'm so thin, and you only give me so little food, can you bear it?"
The chef glanced at me, added a few more grains of rice very reluctantly, then waved his hand and said loudly to the person behind me: "Hurry up, next one." Then he muttered, "How much more do you want for a 40-cent meal?"
When I heard a boy at the back of the row laughing, I immediately turned around and glared at him.
However, I lost Bai Lin's meal card during this trip. I recalled anxiously, and I remembered that when I got the meal, I used my card to pay for it first, and Bai Lin's card to pay for it the second time. Then I never saw the card again. Bai Lin had deposited a lot of money on it, and I couldn't afford to pay for it.
Bai Lin said nonchalantly: "It's okay, it's fine if it's lost."
I still hurriedly took her to the logistics department to report the loss.
The teacher in charge of the business said, "Bai Lin, a junior in the English Department, someone just came to check and said they found your card. They checked your information and were about to send it back to you."
We looked at each other and thought, how great it is to meet Lei Feng.
In the evening, there is Mu Chenghe’s Russian class again.
The classroom was heated, and there were many people, and the doors and windows were closed. After he had been teaching for a while, he probably felt hot, so he rolled up his sleeves. After doing this, he was ready to pick up the chalk and write words on the blackboard.
Unexpectedly, he used his left hand.
He turned his back to us and wrote a word. Perhaps he realized the left and right problem, so he paused for a moment and then continued writing.
I knew that if he changed hands at this point, it would attract everyone's attention.
He finished writing the sentence, turned back to face the classroom, and then switched the chalk to his right hand. Everyone was busy taking notes, only a few people were still sitting there in a daze, and I was one of them.
Almost no one noticed the subtle situation just now. If I didn't know this habit of his before, I wouldn't have noticed it either.
In fact, I think Mu Cheng and him don't need to do this. If their classmates know about it, it will just lead to people talking about it behind his back, and it will actually add another point to his charm.
The more special the teacher is, the easier it is to arouse students' curiosity.
Mu Chenghe seemed to notice that I was staring at him, so he smiled at me.
I was stunned, lowered my head, and hurriedly took a pen to write down my notes, but unfortunately, my mind started to wander as I wrote. I thought of the math problem that Mu Chenghe had done: 3999×6888=
When I was little, I memorized the multiplication table. Later, when I was older, I memorized the square table, which was similar to saying 11×11, 12×12, 13×13 in one breath. That was purely an extra requirement made by our former math teacher to improve our mental arithmetic ability.
"Is there anyone who specializes in memorizing the answers to multiplication problems?" While Mu Chenghe was writing examples on the blackboard, I lowered my head and asked Bai Lin secretly.
"Multiplication table?" Bai Lin asked back.
"No, it's just a few thousand times a few thousand," I said.
"Why carry it on your back?"
"Uh... play, like exercise your brain or something." Don't some teachers always say that if you don't use your brain for too long, it will get rusty
Bai Lin rolled his eyes at me and said, "Train your brain? Are you brain-dead?"
Well... it's not very natural.
Russian classes are two consecutive periods. Whether it is Chen Ting or any other teacher, as long as it is an evening class, it is usually taught continuously without a break. If a student wants to go to the bathroom during the class, don't make too much noise and just leave the classroom quietly.
Everyone is happy with this and just wants to finish class early, go back to the dormitory, and do whatever they need to do.
But Mu Chenghe is not.
He is usually a very democratic person, but no matter how everyone resists, he insists on taking a ten-minute break in the middle of every class.
He said, "We take a break so that we can face the next forty-five minutes with more energy." As he spoke, his lovable smile appeared on the corners of his mouth, and naturally no one objected.
After the first class, I felt stuffy and short of breath because there were so many people in the classroom, so I wanted to walk to the other end of the corridor and lean against the railing to breathe secretly.
Then, I saw Mu Chenghe also standing by the railing, looking thoughtful. I wondered what he was thinking.
The night was cold, but the moonlight was very bright. Silver light poured down from the sky, casting his back on the ground, stretching it very long, almost extending to my feet.
I stepped on it a few times and then walked over to him pretending to be a lady.
"Aren't you cold standing here? What are you looking at?" I held the railing and stood side by side with him.
Following his sight, he saw the lotus pond next to the sixth teaching building. In summer, it was very beautiful, with the emerald pink and tender flowers complementing each other, making it a great attraction of the school. Unfortunately, it was winter now, and the pond was full of dead branches and desolate.
Without turning his head, he pointed at the scenery downstairs with his chin: "That pond, there used to be one in front of the library of our school. Later, it was filled in when the library was renovated. It's exactly the same, both are crescent-shaped."
"The headquarters library is being renovated? It seems like it's been many years?" I remember it seemed like it was a long, long time ago.
"Yeah." He responded.
After a while, he continued, "I don't come to the West District often, but seeing it reminds me of the pond at the former headquarters. I used to fish in it often." His face was bathed in the moonlight, with a faint smile, "I would take a basket, put some steamed bread crumbs in it, and soak it in water. Hang the other end with a rope, and after it has been stationary for ten minutes or so, pull it up all at once, and you will catch a lot of small fish. As a result, I fell into the pond once and almost couldn't get up."
I was surprised: "When you were a child?"
"My father is a teacher at A University. I lived with him in the dormitory at the main campus when I was a child. Didn't you know that?"
It turns out he is also a school teacher. Could it be that he was assigned to our school as a substitute teacher because of his father's relationship
"What does your father teach?" I asked.
"math."
"Mathematics?" Speaking of mathematics, I have a question, "You are really amazing. How did you solve the problem last time?"
He was happy: "There is a trick."
"What's the trick?"
"Actually, the two numbers you asked about happen to be very special and can be complemented. I have learned mental abacus."
"Pig, mental arithmetic?" Pigs can do mental arithmetic
“…” The corner of his eyebrow twitched slightly.
"Isn't it?" I wondered.
"It is a method of mental arithmetic that uses the principles of abacus, so it is called mental arithmetic."
"Abacus. I also learned to use the abacus when I was in primary school. Later, I learned to do accounting with my aunt using the abacus. I still remember the formula: one up, one down, five minus four, one minus nine plus one; two up, two down, five minus three, two minus eight plus one."
“It is common for people who are skilled in using an abacus, or trained professionals, to be able to perform arithmetic operations faster than a computer.”
"Yes, yes, yes. My aunt studied accounting. She can calculate faster than a calculator."
"Mental abacus is almost the same, except that when you do mental arithmetic, you need to turn the physical abacus into a virtual one in your mind."
“But it must be difficult to do.”
"It's quite difficult when you first start learning it, because you need to keep count while imagining the virtual plate, simulate the movement of the beads in your mind, and finally internalize the image of the beads."
"I feel dizzy just thinking about it."
He smiled and said, "This is the result of the comprehensive application of logical thinking, image thinking, and inspirational thinking. Therefore, it was later regarded as a training method to develop children's intelligence. If you are proficient in it, the speed can completely exceed that of ordinary calculators. Once the question is given, the answer can be obtained immediately." He paused and said, "So, human wisdom is unbeatable by any machine."
Faster than a computer? Sounds tempting.
I was a little excited: "Can I still learn it now?" If I really can do it, I can show it off in the future.
"I'm afraid it's too late. Four or five years old is usually more appropriate."
With a smile as bright as the sun, he instantly destroyed my only hope of becoming a genius in this life.
After a while, he suddenly asked me: "How many tutoring jobs do you do?"
"That one child."
“How many classes a week?”
"During the summer vacation, we had more schedules, but now it's just once a week."
“Is it hard?”
“It’s not hard, and I feel a sense of accomplishment.”
"You..." He looked at me.
"What?" I wondered.
"It's okay. Just study hard. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me."
While we were talking, I saw a strange boy walk to the door and poke his head into the classroom. It was not unusual, as there were many boys visiting the Foreign Languages Department, and everyone knew what was going on.
But the strange thing is that the man caught a student and asked, "Excuse me, are you a junior in the English department?"
"Yeah, what?"
"Is there a person named Bai Lin in your class?"
When I heard the name Bai Lin, I immediately became alert and pricked my ears to pay attention.
"Bai Lin..." the person being questioned shouted at the top of his lungs, "There's a man looking for you."
I saw Bai Lin walk up to the boy and ask, "What do you want from me?"
The boy looked at her, then looked at her again: "Your name is Bai Lin?"
"yes."
"Not you." The boy shook his head.
"Why isn't it me?" Bai Lin asked him impatiently.
"Is there anyone named Bai Lin in your class?"
"Who else can have such a nice and rare name? In the entire Foreign Languages Department, I'm the only one with this name, no one else!" Bai Lin overwhelmed the other party with her usual aura of a strong person.
Seeing her like this, the boy felt embarrassed and said hesitantly, "I'm looking for that girl named Bai Lin, who is not tall, has big eyes, wears a ponytail, and has tiger teeth on both sides when she smiles..."
Mu Chenghe suddenly looked at me.
"What's wrong?" I touched my face and couldn't help asking.
"Tiger fangs."
"Do you have canine teeth? I have ones too," I said.
He smiled faintly: "I don't, but I know you do."
At the same time, Bai Lin, who was not far away, pointed at me and said to the boy, "Classmate, she is the one you are looking for."
It turned out that the boy’s name was Liu Qi, and he was from the Computer Department.
He was the one who queued behind me to get food during the day, and laughed at me along with the canteen chef, and then I gave him a fierce look.
Later, I squeezed out of the crowd and lost my meal card. He happened to pick it up and wanted to call me, but he didn't expect that I slipped away like a puff of smoke and disappeared in the cafeteria.
In desperation, he went to the school to check the student information on the meal card, and then asked me to come to my house and return it to me.
That meal card belonged to Bai Lin, so he thought my name was Bai Lin.
After class, on the way back to the dormitory, Bai Lin and I both made up our minds to repay Liu Qi's kindness and treat him to a meal if we had the chance.
This Saturday, I didn't have to go to Peng Yu's house for class, and my mother's day off finally overlapped with mine. She worked in a women's prison 30 kilometers away from City A. Our school and their prison were separated by 80 to 90 kilometers in the east and west of City A, and it was inconvenient to go back and forth. So, although we were in the same city, we rarely saw each other.
Many people think that the police are the public security and the public security is the police. In fact, the public security is only one type of police. There are also prison guards and judicial police.
My mother is a real prison guard. She wears a police uniform to work, and the word "Justice" is embroidered on the police badge on her armband.
Bai Lin often said enviously: "Xiaotong, your mother looks so heroic in her uniform."
But my mother is clearly a pear-shaped figure, with three fat circles on her belly, and I can't associate her with the word "heroic and valiant". So I have been thinking and reflecting on whether there is something wrong with my appreciation level or whether there is something wrong with them.
She was busy on weekdays, and the job of a prison guard was special. She could only take turns to rest and often had to work at night, regardless of holidays, so she rarely went home. So I just stayed in school and visited my grandparents occasionally.
On the way home, I stopped by the market to buy vegetables and fish, preparing a hearty lunch for her. Usually, they finish their shift at nine in the morning, so if they take a little time, they will get home at eleven.
When my mother came home, I was serving fish. Seeing that she went home without even changing out of her uniform, I asked curiously, "Why are you in such a hurry?" Because in most cases, they are not allowed to wear police uniforms.
"Well," she washed her face, "your Aunt Wang and the others sent a female prisoner from our prison area to the city for medical treatment. She will probably need to be hospitalized. After dinner, I have to go to the hospital to keep watch for them."
“Oh…” I responded weakly.
While eating, we sat opposite each other and the only sound we could hear was the sound of chewing food.
She said, "I'll drop by to give your grandma some money later. There's an extra four hundred dollars. I'll put it on your desk. It's your living expenses for next month."
"No, you can keep it. The money I saved from working is enough."
"Then just put it aside for now. You don't have to keep it. Otherwise, buy something for your grandfather when you visit him."
I lowered my head and ate my meal in silence.
She asked again: "What's going on at school recently?"
"No, everything is fine."
Then, they had nothing to say to each other anymore.
After dinner, she left in a hurry.
I stared at the four RMB bills on the desk for a long time, and finally went out and put the money in the bank, then bought some fruit and went to the hospital.
When I walked into the ward, grandma was not there. I only saw grandpa lying there quietly, with no sign of opening his eyes. I put down my things, sat down beside the bed, and touched his snow-white temples.
Sometimes my memory of the last time he spoke to me is a little fuzzy.
The ventilator was placed next to it, but it was not used.
Two years ago, my grandfather became a vegetable due to lack of oxygen in his brain. Now his condition has improved, and the ventilator is not used most of the time. Instead, he practices his independent breathing ability. Every day, he is fed with liquid food such as sesame paste and milk through a tube through his esophagus.