Peng Xingwang's grades are not bad.
There is nothing to pay in the first grade, but the small town is also following the fashion, and children generally learn English early, and he is a bit behind.
Jiang Wang is the adult version of this kid, and he doesn't need to take the level 4 exam to practice speaking in the army, and his level hasn't improved much after all these years.
"Ai, Xake, Dart (I think that—"
Peng Xingwang touched his lips and said, "Hey wake up—"
The final exam is only a few days away, and it is a little bit to make up for it.
In Jiang Wang's office, there are senior parents in this field, who teach him to cut cigarette boxes into word cards while knitting, and teach children.
"It's that simple?"
"Hey, enlightenment, you have to accompany him to develop interest first."
After Jiang Wang came home, he took the word cards and taught them in a decent way.
"The card, then, ah, broken."
Peng Xingwang sat upright.
"The card, ah, then, broken."
"Wrong, wrong, try again."
After ten times of teaching, Jiang Wang turned over the word cards.
"What about pineapple?"
Peng Xingwang was full of confidence: "Ah, the card is broken!"
Before Jiang Wang's tutoring, he could still take the exam at 62, but after the tutoring, he directly dropped to 48.
The child's nose was red from crying, and he wiped away his tears before he dared to go home. When he handed the paper to Jiang Wang, his mouth was pursed, ready to show his butt for him to slap at any time.
Jiang Wang didn't have the slightest urge to condemn.
It's not that he is more in favor of encouraging education or other things, it's purely because he has passed lower exams in junior high school.
... Geography twenty-nine.
Peng Xingwang watched the man's expression carefully like a searchlight when he was reading the test paper.
Jiang Wang showed no expression: "Where to sign?"
Peng Xingwang hesitated and said, "Aren't you angry with me?"
… Why should I be angry with myself.
Seeing that he didn't respond, the child took the initiative to confess his thoughts.
"Brother... you are so busy now, you still remember to help me with my homework, and I did even worse in the exam... I'm sorry."
Jiang Wang touched his chin, and suddenly remembered something: "What did Teacher Ji say?"
Peng Xingwang's eyes turned red again: "Teacher Ji criticized me."
"He asked me who I learned these pronunciations from, and I said my elder brother." The child was particularly aggrieved: "Then he asked me to listen to the tape more, and check my reading text next Monday."
Jiang Wang finally realized what the point was.
The tail of the crane cannot guide the tail of the crane, indeed.
"Well," he rubbed the child's head, and took out milk candy from the drawer for him to eat: "I'll contact Teacher Xiaji later to see if he can make up for you on weekends, okay?"
Peng Xingwang decided to punish himself for not eating candy, and put the candy in the pencil case very carefully: "Will Teacher Ji hate me, I'm so stupid."
Jiang Wang laughed: "Do you think big brother is stupid?"
"… not at all!"
"Brother is not stupid, you are not stupid, remember?"
The child didn't understand the logic at all, so he nodded obediently.
When he went back to the living room to watch TV, Jiang Wang sent Ji Linqiu a text message.
It's really inconvenient not to have WeChat, and he really wanted to see what Teacher Ji's circle of friends would post.
[Excuse me, Mr. Ji, Xingwang's English foundation is relatively poor, I wonder if it's not convenient for you to give him extra lessons in private? Thank you very much for your hard work. ]
After about fifteen minutes, the other party came back.
[Mr. Jiang is polite, I am always free on Friday nights, just ask him to come over at 8:00. ]
The conversation should have stopped at this point, but Jiang Wang was still looking at the screen.
He didn't really want to talk about money with this man.
Even if the image of "Teacher Ji who is gentle and handsome" in Jiang Wang's heart is transformed into "Teacher Ji who is occasionally wet", the pure white aura is still inseparable and should not be tarnished by any trivial matters.
The man didn't think about how to repay him for a moment, and the phone vibrated again.
[Does Mr. Jiang often go to the provincial capital on weekends? ]
[If it is convenient, can you give me a ride, thank you very much. ]
Jiang Wang's eyes lit up.
He has to go to the provincial capital every weekend to meet with clients and hold meetings. He basically drives here and there by himself, and the seats are very empty.
[Convenience, where is Teacher Ji going? ]
[There is often a weekend book market near the Normal University, and there will be some lectures, and I have always been very interested. ]
[Okay, see you then. ]
Jiang Wang has always had some obsession with Ji Linqiu.
He had inquired secretly, and the feedback from the neighbors was also consistent with his memory.
Ji Linqiu and his colleagues are polite and friendly, but they don't have many friends.
Such a good teacher, why should he live alone until the age of forty or fifty
Every time he thinks of him, a childish obsession will emerge deep in his heart.
I want to make the teacher happy, and I want the teacher's life to be more lively and comfortable.
They are sure to be able to talk a lot on the road over the weekend.
While thinking about it, Jiang Wang glanced at a small dot out of the corner of his eye.
"What are you thinking?" Peng Xingwang spoke first, "I've been laughing."
The man glanced at him: "What's wrong?"
The child held back at the door for a while, then walked to his chair in two or three steps, and held back for several seconds.
"That... big brother, don't be angry."
"I'm not angry, just speak up."
Peng Xingwang's skinny and cheerful aura disappeared a bit, he looked down at his toes and said, "I... I want to go home sometime."
He was afraid of hurting the heart of his respected elder brother, so he quickly raised his head to look at the man's expression: "You must not misunderstand!"
"I... I'm very afraid that my father will die."
"Although he often beats me, Grandma Huang still said that he drove my mother away...but I'm very afraid that he will die."
Jiang Wang was silent for a few seconds, and reached out to hold him.
"I'll take you there tomorrow, okay?"
He knew what his young self was afraid of.
Alcoholics don't care about others, and they don't take responsibility for themselves.
Once a person is deeply drunk, his self-awareness will continue to disappear, and he will be easily choked by vomit.
When Jiang Wang was a child, he used a hot towel to wipe his father's face many times.
The towel was originally a new towel that Aunt Zhang next door gave him to wash his face. It was snow-white with pears printed on it, and it was later stained with yellow vomit into a tattered rag.
So much so that Jiang Wang will stay for a long time when buying towels in the supermarket many years later.
But no matter what, you still have to accompany Peng Xing to watch it in person, so as not to make something out of the ordinary.
The next day school was over early, and the sky was still clear and bright at four o'clock in the afternoon. Jiang Wang and Peng Xingwang walked slowly towards their old home.
Children now have many things they could only dream of.
Neat and clean room, desk lamp and favorite books, after finishing homework, you can watch two episodes of Blue Cat's Naughty Three Thousand Questions.
But he still misses his father who never treated him well.
The alleys are still crowded and lively, the auntie is standing in front of the open-air vegetable stall with a bag of tomatoes chatting, and the peddler is sweating profusely grilling lamb kebabs.
Jiang Wang walked in step by step, imagining what his father was doing now.
The two roles of parents, like teachers, have a nihilistic and unbreakable aura to children.
It seems that as long as they are mentioned, the blood will evoke a lot of longing and joy, even if they know it shouldn't be like this.
Peng Xing seemed to be alive and kicking when he was vaccinated, and he became more and more nervous as he walked in.
"Actually, my dad is pretty good sometimes," he suddenly defended himself. "When dad doesn't drink, he will take me to the park and fry fish for me."
"Dad, he... the work pressure is too great, and there are always unhappy things, so he drinks so much."
The man listened quietly, and yellowed memories emerged one after another.
"Really, big brother," Peng Xingwang smiled embarrassedly: "Would you... hate my father?"
Jiang Wang looked down at his young self and thought for a long time.
"I don't know," he replied, "Maybe I, too... don't know him very well."
The two walked deep into the shanty town and suddenly smelled the aroma of pork ribs and seaweed soup.
The child's eyes lit up all of a sudden: "It's the soup made by Dad! I drank it a long time ago, brother, did you tell him in advance that we are coming??"
"It's good that he didn't drink." Peng Xingwang tried to act naturally, rubbing his eyes and laughing all the time: "I told you, don't tell Dad, really..."
Before the words were finished, a woman with a strong perfume smell walked past them, rubbing their shoulders, her small high heels were sharp and thin, and her voice was clear and crisp.
Peng Jiahui was tasting the food in the kitchen, when he heard footsteps, he hurriedly brushed his hair twice and went out to meet her.
"Sorry, I'm sorry, I should come out to pick you up Xiaoyan, are you tired from walking, may I peel an apple for you?"
The woman let him hold her waist, and walked in with a coquettish smile: "Brother Peng~ You're so nice."
The child stared blankly into the distance, suddenly not knowing what to do.
He was only seven years old, and he seemed to have great ideas in everything he did, and it was only at this time that he finally showed a panic that fit his age.
Two steps forward, you can see the balcony and the living room through the window.
Jiang Wang calmed down and breathed for a few seconds, wanting to bend down to pick up the child.
But Peng Xingwang took the first step and walked back, his voice lowered a lot: "Brother, it's getting late, I'm going home to do my homework first."
Jiang Wang wanted to say something comforting, but Peng Xingwang walked faster with his back turned: "Okay, I'm relieved that he didn't choke, thank you brother for coming with me."
It wasn't until the child was sent home that the man went downstairs with his coat on and returned to the shanty town alone.
He stood not far away and smoked, not so much smoking, but more dazed by the smoke.
The stewed kelp soup is very fragrant, and it can be smelled more than ten meters away.
He also hasn't had rib soup for many years.
Obviously, there is a large pot of dozens of yuan in the restaurant, but he has never drank it.
He didn't know how long he had stood there before Peng Jiahui, who was seeing off the woman, came back and was startled when he recognized Jiang Wang.
"Huh? Is that you?"
Jiang Wang leaned against the wall and blew out a smoke ring, but didn't look at him and didn't speak.
Peng Jiahui, who was in his early thirties, smiled awkwardly, knowing that he had seen it.
"Xing Wang... is he okay?" Peng Jiahui also knew that he had no face to raise a child, so he explained in a dull tone: "I just changed jobs, and now I drink less than before."
"Everyone envied you for making money, and said that you managed him well. I have always been very grateful to you."
The middle-aged man didn't know that Jiang Wang was a blood relative from the future, so he talked a lot to himself.
"I also know that drinking too much is not a good thing, but I have been too dependent on it in the past few years, and I can't quit it."
"When I can buy a decent house, I will definitely..."
Jiang Wang interrupted him suddenly.
"Xingwang was worried that you were choking, so he asked me to take a look."
"No, no," Peng Jiahui smiled embarrassingly, quickly said "wait a minute", ran home to get a few things, took out a wad of broken money from his arms, and tried to choose a few large ones, Pass it to Jiang Wang together.
"This is the exercise that Xing Xing didn't finish. This is the lamb he likes to hug and sleep... and this notebook. I used to vent my anger on him when I drank too much. Now it's all glued together."
Jiang Wang looked at him silently for a few seconds, took out five hundred yuan from his pocket with a cigarette in his mouth, and stuffed it back together with the stack of broken bills.
"I'll take the things, you take the money, at least buy a few decent clothes so as not to embarrass the child." His voice was hoarse, as if he was suppressing a lot of words: "Let's go."
Peng Jiahui stood blankly at the end of the alley with the money in his hand, and did not leave until Jiang Wang left for a long time.
Jiang Wang went to the barbecue booth and sat alone for a long time.
There are some things he doesn't want to distinguish too much, and he is not someone who can think about philosophical family problems.
He just drank two cans of beer, smoked a few more cigarettes, and packed a fried pancake with ham sausage to go home.
The child had already finished his homework and fell asleep, his pocket money remained unchanged, and he didn't even eat the newly bought potato chips in the living room.
Or maybe she wasn't asleep and just didn't want to face him.
Jiang Wang didn't speak, leaned over and stuffed the dirty and old lamb next to the child's face, after thinking about it, he also tucked the lamb in a quilt.
He heard faint sobbing as he left the room.