During the few days of Chinese New Year, Yuan Yuan has been thinking about this, but until the start of school, Zhao Guogang never made that phone call at home again. Every day, he would also take advantage of Zhao Guogang to take a shower and flip through his bag to look at his mobile phone and sundries.
There was nothing unusual, Yuan Yuan gradually felt relieved, and one day, when he was looking through Zhao Guogang's things, he was caught by Tan Ruikang.
Tan Ruikang: "Xiaoyuan, you..."
Distant: "… "
Tan Ruikang frowned and said, "What are you doing?"
Yuan Yuan thought badly, if Tan Ruikang thought he was stealing from Zhao Guogang, would it cause unnecessary trouble? You can't hide this kind of thing from him, you have to make it clear, maybe there will be more allies, and he immediately grabbed Tan Ruikang and said, "Listen to me, come."
Yuan Yuan pulled Tan Ruikang into his room, took two exercise books and stuffed one into Tan Ruikang's hands. He held the other and whispered what happened.
Tan Ruikang was confused and didn't know what Yuan Yuan did with the exercise book. What Yuan Yuan said next made his expression more complicated.
"So I have to find out." Yuan Yuan said, "I don't know which woman wants to cheat him of money..."
"Wait." Tan Ruikang said anxiously, "Xiaoyuan, listen to me, you can't treat your uncle like this, you know!"
Yuan Yuan: "What! Even if someone likes him, it can't be sincere, it's all for his money!"
The door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and Zhao Guogang said, "Xiaoyuan? Are you here?"
Yuan Yuan frowned and said, "What are you doing! Can you knock on the door?"
Tan Ruikang was startled, and when he was about to say something, Yuan Yuan lowered his head to the prepared disguise exercise book, and said to Tan Ruikang, "What did you choose for the seventh question."
Tan Ruikang glanced at it and reflexively said, "D." At the same time, he secretly thought that the exercise book was a disguise! Far away is really personal, too smart!
Zhao Guogang didn't realize that one of the workbooks in their hands was in Chinese and the other was in English. He nodded and took them out, not daring to disturb them. As soon as the door was closed, he threw the workbooks away and whispered to Tan Ruikang, "Listen. Do you understand?"
"No no." Tan Ruikang said, "Xiaoyuan, listen to me."
Yuan Yuan frowned slightly. Tan Ruikang thought about it for a long time, and then said seriously: "Xiao Yuan, I used to live with my dad for a while, I really want him to marry another one."
"What's this called?!" Yuan Yuan almost didn't believe his ears at all.
Tan Ruikang said: "My dad is alone, and no one wants to marry him. I often think about finding him a partner. Unfortunately, my family is poor, and I have this oil bottle with me, as well as my grandparents to take care of. Don't want to come. You think, the father is also a man, Xiaoyuan. He should have his own life, or who will take care of him when he gets old?"
Far away: "You..."
Tan Ruikang said: "The people of the past have passed, and we have to look forward."
Yuan Yuan got up and didn't know what to say for a long time. When he was about to go back to his room, he couldn't help but turn around and said, "I don't know what you think, but that's my dad, I'll take care of him! My mom told me, Let me take care of him for the rest of my life! That's it!"
Tan Ruikang got up and pulled Xiaoyuan and said, "Xiaoyuan, think clearly, don't be impulsive..."
Yuan Yuan pushed Tan Ruikang away. He was about to explode with anger. He couldn't think from the same angle as Tan Ruikang. He rushed back to the room and locked the door.
"Xiaoyuan!" Tan Ruikang chased after him, and Zhao Guogang came out of the room and asked, "What? The two brothers quarreled?"
Tan Ruikang hurriedly said nothing, and went back to the room.
Yuan Yuan was so full of grief and anger that he couldn't vent, he just wanted to find something to fall, and finally heaved a sigh of relief and sat down to call a friend.
Qi Huiyu answered the phone there and said lazily, "Come to my house to sleep at night?"
Yuan Yuan just wanted to talk to someone, but when Qi Huiyu said this, he wanted to go to his house and said, "Come pick me up, call Zhang Zhen, how about we go to the entrance of Litchi Park to drink soda and chat."
School will start in a few days. Two bicycles are leaning against the overpass. Zhang Zhen just came back from playing football. Qi Huiyu, Yuan Yuan, and Zhang Zhen went to the overpass in the dark and sat on the side of the overpass drinking Coke and chatting.
"Have a dollar? Give him a dollar." Yuan Yuan found a beggar not far away.
Qi Huiyu popped out a coin, and it fell into the beggar's bowl on the straw mat in the distance with a bang.
The families of Qi Huiyu and Zhang Zhen are a bit similar to Yuan Yuan. Qi Huiyu's father took the last train of reform and opening up, and went to this city to do business. In the past, I paid alimony to my two mothers and sons every month, and I spent my time playing outside.
Yuan Yuan knew that Qi’s father opened a leather bag company. It belonged to the kind of company that registered a company in the early days of the reform and could go to borrow money to cheat partners. Can't afford alimony, and people run away without a shadow. The rest of Qi Huiyu's mother worked as an accountant in a company and took him to live.
Zhang Zhen's father likes to play mahjong and gamble for money. When he was a child, there was often domestic violence in the family. When his father lost money, he would quarrel and beat his mother, and he did not speak to him for several days. If he wins, he will be given a few hundred dollars, and if he loses, he will not be given a penny for living expenses for half a month.
Zhang Zhen's money is often low, and he usually doesn't dare to ask his mother for money, and he has to raise a girlfriend. A person far away is equivalent to supporting a large group of brothers.
Qi Huiyu heard Yuan Yuan's words and said, "Is your brother's brain caught in the door?"
"I think so too." Yuan Yuan said helplessly.
Zhang Zhen said: "Kangkang's words actually make sense, and we can't say that completely."
Qi Huiyu comforted: "Your dad may just received a text message and found out that it was an unfamiliar number. He called and asked. He heard that it was an old friend. We just chatted for a while. What are you doing so nervously?"
Yuan Yuan didn't say a word, and drank his soda. Zhang Zhen added, "If your father remarries another... Hey, it's hard to say. It's going to rain, and my mother wants to remarry. There are many things in the world that can't be helped..."
Zhang Zhen didn't dare to say more, but Qi Huiyu said, "Is there anything I can't say, do you want it? I'm definitely not willing to change it, it's a light word. My mother said that she and my father divorced, and I must not let me marry. My dad. If he wants to marry his stepmother, he must listen to that woman's advice. No matter how much his son kisses, his wife is no better than his wife. The stepmother will tell you what you want by the pillow every night, and it will be enough for you to drink a pot..."
Zhang Zhen winked and told Qi Huiyu to stop talking, but Yuan Yuan said, "It doesn't matter, you say it."
Qi Huiyu said: "Yuan Yuan, if your father finds you a stepmother, you can come to live with me and I will support you. My daily living expenses are enough for the two of us to eat in the cafeteria..."
Yuan Yuan was both amused and moved, and said, "Can you be serious?"
Zhang Zhen said: "distant father won't listen to stepmother, don't say that."
Qi Huiyu said: "You don't have to listen to it once. How about saying it twice? How many times? What about saying bad things about you every day? What you don't have will become something. Yuan Yuan's family is rich, she will definitely say it, and his father doesn't like it. He, in the future, the money will be all his own... To put it in a bad way, if your father gets sick and dies, the first heir will also be the remarried spouse, the spouse will share half of it, and the rest will be divided between the spouse and all the sons."
Distant nodded.
Qi Huiyu thought for a while and said, "And now he treats you as his only son, when your stepmother has another one?"
Yuan Yuan hummed, thinking that if Zhao Guogang had two sons, he would definitely pamper the little one, how cute the little one is, soft and obedient, and will open his mouth to call his father every day, pestering him to act like a spoiled child... He also Knowing that he has a bad temper, if Zhao Guogang has another good child, he will be insignificant in the distance, and after his father gets married, he and his stepmother are a family, what is he
Zhang Zhen sighed and said: "When I was a child, my mother and my father also said when they were fighting, that if you don't let me and my father get divorced, you will get divorced. The money must be calculated clearly, and an unknown woman will come to live in her house and sleep in her house. Her man spends her money, sleeps on her bed, beats her son... She has to go crazy thinking about this. She doesn't let me be with her stepmother, and she doesn't want to be someone else's stepmother. Those who can get along well with their children, the mother's nature is to protect her calf, and it is difficult to have both."
This sentence instantly pierced the weak underbelly of Yuanyuan, and Yuanyuan said: "Yes."
Tears were already rolling in his eyes, looking at the endless stream of vehicles under the overpass, the circular halo of lights criss-crossed, turning into countless rings in the tears.
At the beginning of the lanterns, the neon lights were flashing. Three teenagers were sitting by the street. No one said a word. Qi Huiyu put one hand on Yuan Yuan's shoulder, and the call came.
Qi Huiyu took the mobile phone that Yuanyuan gave him and pressed the call button, and Tan Ruikang was talking.
"Your dad asked you to go home to sleep." Qi Huiyu said helplessly, "Your brother is coming to pick you up."
"Then I'll go back." Yuan Yuan took a deep breath and stretched out. After the three of them smoked, Yuan Yuan rolled the box into a ball and threw it out.
Tan Ruikang came and said, "Xiaoyuan, go home."
Yuan Yuan said goodbye to their friends. Qi Huiyu and Zhang Zhen pushed their bicycles and took them to a taxi. Yuan Yuan went home and took a shower and went to bed without saying a word.
After turning off the lights at night, Yuan Yuan was still on the phone with Qi Huiyu in the bed. Finally, he yawned and couldn’t talk anymore. He hung up and got ready to sleep. When he saw the phone flashing, a message came: [Xiao Yuan, think about what I said, you always One day you will grow up and face all your problems by yourself.]The letter is from Tan Ruikang.
The distant thought is neurotic, not a person from a world at all.
At the beginning of the new semester, in the last semester of the third year of junior high, everyone was nervous. The head teacher said every day, "I won't cry if I don't see the coffin."
"It's an honor to be recommended to go to the high school of your alma mater!" said the leader of the class at the weekly meeting after the school started: "It's an affirmation of your strength, high school is not for everyone..."
The team leader repeatedly instilled the mobilization for the high school entrance examination, which made everyone tense in an instant, and immediately felt like a big enemy. For several days after class, no one left their seats, and they read the workbooks for self-study, as if they used a few minutes to live. Yes, you can get good grades in the high school entrance examination.
Yuan Yuan has not been very worried. There must be a recommendation in the high school of his alma mater. The incident with Zhao Guogang has passed, and no suspicious signs have been found, so he relaxes and starts studying.
Tan Ruikang's English shortcomings are finally fully revealed. His language talent is not good. Last semester, he was able to get up to 120 or 12 by relying on the question sea tactics.
Yuan Yuan’s study habits are very good. After completing a reading question, he will comment on the original text. Tan Ruikang waits for him to do it again after covering the answer to make it clear. However, as soon as the school started, language, mathematics, and English materialized politics, and the six subjects were pressed together. The papers were overwhelming, and even far away was a bit difficult to do, and there was no time to analyze them one by one.
All the papers are passed through like water, fill in one by one, just like a robot, even if the answer is correct, most of the time the teacher doesn't even have time to talk. This time, Tan Ruikang suffered a lot. English is like a book from heaven to him. He can't understand why foreigners think this way or that way.
Several teachers quarreled in the office in order to rob the late self-study. In the end, the new political teacher reportedly cried for a long time in private.
In the last test before the mock exam in the whole district, Tan Ruikang got only three of the four readings correct, and the composition scored fifteen points, almost despairing.
Tan Ruikang: "Xiaoyuan, how did you learn English, why am I so bad?"
Yuan Yuan said: "You have to watch more English programs, usually speak English more, speak English, try to express your ideas in their language, and think in English."
Tan Ruikang: "?"
Yuan Yuan asked: "What words do you use when you think about questions?"
Tan Ruikang looked bewildered.
Yuan Yuan said: "Let's put it this way, when you think about a topic, do you use Mandarin or vernacular? I use Cantonese to think about questions when I communicate with my friends, how about you? What is your thinking language?"
Tan Ruikang: "Hunan dialect."
Distant: "… "
Yuan Yuan said: "You have to think in English, don't translate English into Chinese first when you do the questions... Uh, I see, you translate English into Hunan dialect first, then use Hunan dialect to solve the problem, and then solve it out. The lake...Hunan dialect translated into English, and then answer the question, my God, hahahahaha-"
Yuan Yuan couldn't help laughing like crazy.
"When thinking about a problem, it is not 'Why', but 'Why', and the next series of processes are all inferred in English in my mind." Yuan Yuan said.
Tan Ruikang seemed to understand something, but he didn't fully understand it.
Far and unfathomable, he said: "This is the secret of learning English well, Think in English. Don't tell other people."
The mock test in the whole district began. Everyone was scattered and divided into many classes just like the official high school entrance examination. Tan Ruikang began to run to the toilet non-stop.
The most frustrating thing was that the tape recorder in their exam room was very bad, and they had to eat tape while they were on the air. There was a full five minutes of blank time at the beginning of the listening session. When the pencil rolled the tape, Tan Ruikang even had the heart to die.
But in the end, the tape was not allowed to be played again, and he had to admit that he was unlucky.
This time, the standard score of the whole district is 900 points, and Tan Ruikang's English only got 540 points.
When the rankings were released, everyone was nervous. After all, it was related to the issue of recommended places, and the whole class was shocked on the day the rankings were announced.
There is no composition in the mock English test. Yuanyuan English won the first place in the district with a perfect score of 150. Among the nine junior high schools including the Foreign Language Middle School, there are only 12 full marks, and Yuanyuan is one of them.
Tan Ruikang, on the other hand, got a perfect score in mathematics, one essay and one theory, and the two top names in the mock exam were in this class.
After the final ranking came out, Yuanyuan ranked in the top five of the whole grade, while Tan Ruikang was dragged back by English and dropped to the 17th place.
However, both of them have guaranteed places on the recommendation, and the question becomes whether to go to the high school of their alma mater.
There are 17 recommended students in the first class. Lin Zibo and Qi Huiyu also got the recommended places. Zhang Zhen was recommended to high school because of his sports skills, but he was not in the same class as them.
With the strengths of Yuan Yuan and Tan Ruikang, as long as they don't perform abnormally in the high school entrance examination, they can go to a better high school. They each received a form, and when they returned home, Qi Huiyu said, "Don't go to the third high school, and take the first high school entrance examination. Bar."
Yuan Yuan said: "You don't want to go up?"
Qi Huiyu said: "My mother told me not to stay in the third middle school. Do you know that the team leader wants to keep us, and we will fill in the spots in Tsinghua and Peking University in the future. I heard that senior high school students only need to go to a Peking University, and all teachers in all grades will be taught. His teacher was rewarded 10,000 yuan per person and invited to travel to Europe."
Yuan Yuan said: "The third middle school is actually similar to the first middle school, only a little bit worse, and the conditions are not much better, and you need to stay."
Qi Huiyu said: "They had several Peking University students last year, and the No. 3 middle school only has one every year, and sometimes they don't."
Yuan Yuan said, "But you think you'll be one of those few. No."
Qi Huiyu shrugged and asked Tan Ruikang, "How about you?"
Tan Ruikang said, "I want to go back and ask my uncle's opinion."
Qi Huiyu put his shoulders on the far side and said, "Let's go to the first high school. My mother told me to take the first high school. It's good to be better."
It's far away, and he doesn't want to go to No. 1 Middle School. No. 1 Middle School is too far away, it takes 45 minutes by car, and the environment is unfamiliar. Although the teachers are the best in the city, they are not much better than No. 3 Middle School.
No. 1 Middle School is full of diligent and diligent students, most of whom are like Tan Ruikang, who climbed up on their own. Unlike the students of No. 3 Middle School who generally have good family conditions, they can learn and play.
It's still a closed residential school. If you want to go to school, you can't go to the third middle school. Zhao Guogang will definitely let him live with Tan Ruikang. When he is hungry in the middle of the night and wants to eat supper, he has to climb the wall.
The most important thing is that he doesn't want to leave Zhao Guogang-although his father comes back very late every day, he can meet him, say a few words, and ask him if he has studied... Only a few words with his father, when he went to school, he knew he was next door Sleeping in the room and saying "Dad, we're going to school" can also make Yuan Yuan feel a lot more at ease.
To sum up, far away do not want to go.
But he was reluctant to bear Qi Huiyu, and said, "Let's stay in the third middle school, why do you run so far?"
Qi Huiyu said: "I can't help it, I have to listen to my mother. She is only my son, and she is counting on me."
Yuan Yuan said, "I'll think about it again."
Qi Huiyu said, "Let's go together, Xiaoyuan, you said that we should be friends for life."
Yuan Yuan said: "Okay now, don't rush me."
Qi Huiyu looked at Yuan Yuan at the intersection in disappointment and said, "Zhao Yuan Yuan!"
Yuan Yuan didn't answer him, standing on the side of the road waiting for the bus, Tan Ruikang squatted like a handsome migrant worker, looking carefully, there was a different kind of handsome temperament. He began to earn face for Yuan Yuan, and the two brothers always attracted a lot of admiring eyes when they walked on the road. There is a youthful and clean beauty between talking and laughing.
Tan Ruikang stroked his sleeves and said, "Xiaoyuan."
"Huh?" He gave him a distant look.
Tan Ruikang said: "Listen to my uncle. He said we can read whichever one we want to read. He has the most experience."
Is this even a question? Yuan Yuan knew that Zhao Guogang would definitely let them go to high school. Yuan Yuan knew a lot of things, but he didn't want to think about it. Qi Huiyu was also right. A little bit better is also good. Go to a middle school is the smartest person.
However, after returning home at night, Zhao Guogang just glanced at the form and said that he knew, and let them continue their studies.
Yuan Yuan has no interest in studying at all. If he is recommended, he can take the summer vacation now and play until he enters the first year of high school in September. When spring came, he couldn't help being a little impetuous. He called Lin Zibo with his extension. When he pressed it, he heard Zhao Guogang and a friend from the Education Bureau talking about his recommendation.
The man's voice: "It's okay to recommend. Wang Guangcheng has done a good job in the third middle school in recent years. The third middle school has enough teachers. This year, we have hired two super teachers. The rest is the problem of student resources..."
Zhao Guogang: "Baby, hang up the phone."
Far away hung up the phone boredly and switched to a mobile phone.
Lin Zibo's grandfather was deaf, shouting for a long time before handing over the phone.
"I..." Lin Zibo said, "It should be a walk. My dad asked me to walk, so I can save some tuition. Do you want to take the first high school entrance exam? Are you going with him?"
Yuan Yuan absently hummed for a while, said that he hadn't thought about it yet, so he hung up, and asked a few classmates who were generally good in general, and basically chose to send him.
"Xiaoyuan, Ruikang." Zhao Guogang put down the phone and spread the two delivery tables side by side on the dining table.
Yuan Yuan knew that Zhao Guogang was about to make a decision, Tan Ruikang came out, and Zhao Guogang said, "Bring the pen in the room to my uncle."
Far away is a little nervous, this is the first time in his life that he has participated in a major decision.
"Your brother said it doesn't matter, it's mainly to see you." Zhao Guogang pondered for a moment, then took the pen handed by Tan Ruikang, signed the following first, but did not write his opinion on whether to go directly to his son, "Ask you first. Do you want to be admitted to the first high school or recommended to the high school of your alma mater?"
Yuan Yuan hesitantly said: "I can do it too."
Zhao Guogang said: "Speak the truth."
Yuan Yuan is indeed difficult to decide, frowning, Zhao Guogang said: "If you go to No. 1 Middle School, your brother will follow you, you can take care of each other when you live on campus, and you are not afraid of loneliness. No. 1 Middle School has always had a slightly better rate of college entrance examinations than No. 3 Middle School. Safer to read."
"Relative." Zhao Guogang thoughtfully tapped the table with his finger and said, "You can only go home once a week at most, leave your father early, and experience collective life..."
Yuan Yuan said, "Qi Huiyu asked me to accompany him to the first high school exam."
Zhao Guogang added: "Your grades at the same table are also good. If you are recommended for the high school of No. 3 middle school, it does not mean that it is much worse than that of No. 1 middle school. Your principal should improve the admission rate, and evaluate the key points of the province, such as high school, which will be higher than in previous years. All focus on work.”
"The advantage of walking is that you don't need to adapt to the environment, and you two can go home every day. The rest environment at home is better than accommodation, and it is not noisy and will not be disturbed. High school will invite an aunt to cook for you, and you will go home three times. Eat, stew soup every day, nutrition can keep up, you can watch TV properly, adjust your mentality, and don’t have to live a closed study life.”
"What do you think?" Yuan Yuan looked up at Tan Ruikang.
Tan Ruikang smiled indifferently and said, "I can do it. I'll accompany you wherever you go."
Looking at Zhao Guogang in the distance, he thought that he was going to go to college in the future, and he could only go home to accompany his father during the winter and summer vacations every year, which made him feel a little distressed.
Although it is said that he will go out to the society after graduation, he must still live with Zhao Guogang, live with him, and provide him with old age.
But if he went to boarding high school now, he would be separated from him for a full seven years.
Knowing his son Mo Ruofu, Zhao Guogang understood what Yuan Yuan was thinking and said, "Xiao Yuan, you and your brother are both men, and there will always be a day when you will leave the nest. A good man is determined to be in all directions, and you will have your own wife and children in the future..."
Yuan Yuan was stimulated by these words, and immediately said: "No, I am in the third middle school."
Zhao Guogang smiled, nodded and said, "Then leave Dad later and stay at home for another three years? As for Rui Kang, if you want to take the first high school entrance exam, you can just let it go and don't be influenced by Xiaoyuan."
Tan Ruikang said with a smile, "No, I don't want to leave my uncle either. I can save tuition fees by studying in the third middle school."
Yuan Yuanchao said to Tan Ruikang, "Go to No. 1 High School, don't be influenced by me."
Yuan Yuan just said this casually. He knew that Tan Ruikang would definitely say no, so why not ask? He suddenly found that Tan Ruikang was also quite good. He had only spent half a year at home, and he seemed to have become his inseparable partner. He didn't reject Tan Ruikang as much as before.
Unexpectedly, Tan Ruikang replied, "Okay, then Xiaoyuan, you can walk it yourself."
"Ah?" Yuan Yuan was stunned when he got an unexpected answer, and then Tan Ruikang laughed as if he had succeeded in a prank, and went to watch TV on the sofa.
Distant: "… "
Zhao Guogang couldn't help but smile, filled out their referral form for the two teenagers, and sat on the table far away for a while, feeling sorry for Qi Huiyu.
He regretted it a little bit again and said, "Qi Huiyu and I have been at the same table for three years, so we are about to separate."
Zhao Guogang said, "There's your brother."
"Yeah." Tan Ruikang pressed the remote control on the sofa and said casually, "I'm with you, Xiaoyuan."
Yuan Yuan thought: You? Are you comparable to Qi Huiyu
He peeked at Tan Ruikang from the side of his arm, and found that he was also very personable. For half a year, he seemed to be reborn. If he grew up with him, went to kindergarten, elementary and junior high school together... Maybe he would become a more intimate person than Qi Huiyu. 's partner.
He is empathetic, has his own principles and positions, and most importantly, is reliable.
Yuan Yuan remembered the characteristics of Hunan people mentioned by the math teacher.
It was in Hunan that Zeng Guofan established the "Xiang Army". There is a place where talents are born in large numbers. They endured hardships, were tyrannical, willing to die, and studied diligently. They all have the same good qualities. Tan Ruikang's character seems to be a certain kind of person. microcosm.