Chapter 55 I Have the Most Experience as a Son
Compared to children in big cities, children growing up in the countryside have a much freer childhood.
Whether they go swimming, fishing, catching cicadas or robbing bird nests, their parents usually don't bother to care and won't worry too much if they run out early in the morning or come back late. After all, the island is so small that they can't run far. Unless they haven't returned home after dinner is ready, they will definitely be criticized.
After all, nothing is more important than getting home on time for dinner.
Two bicycles appeared from the corner of the narrow country road, riding side by side, and finally stopped in front of two adjacent courtyard gates.
"Fang Wei, your bike is so smooth! How about we take turns riding it from now on?"
"What the hell are you thinking? You're going to trade my old car for my new one? Get out of the car and give it back to me."
"Stingy!"
"Shut up."
The girl made a face at him slightly, and then they switched bicycles.
"Would you like to go for a walk together after dinner?"
"No, have you done your homework?"
"...!!"
Xu Cailing's face was solemn. Perhaps she had spent such a comfortable time during the long summer vacation that she had even forgotten about homework when school started again.
Their seats were far apart, and Fang Wei had no idea how Xu Cailing had been doing in class these past two days. He didn't ask her to listen to the lectures attentively, but as long as she wasn't secretly reading comics in class, it would be considered progress.
Having known her for so long in two lifetimes combined, Fang Wei knew that Cai Ling was actually not stupid. She was very smart and thoughtful most of the time. It was just that she didn't focus on studying. If he were her father, he would be very angry.
But there is no other way. Learning is something that relies more on self-awareness and cannot be forced. This is the same for boys and girls of this age. Talking too much will only arouse rebellion. We must always adopt different strategies based on each person's different personality. We cannot blindly believe that strict discipline and strict education are the bible of education.
Fang Wei knew his childhood sweetheart's personality very well. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he knew her better than her parents.
To be shameless, Fang Wei thought that he still had a certain status in her heart. She had been his follower since she was a child. Many times, Xu Cailing would take him as the standard and trusted him quite a lot.
In this case, Fang Wei just needs to set a good example, which will subtly influence and change her.
Think what she thinks and think what she wants.
Understanding is actually a distance closer than blood relationship, but it is something that is more difficult to possess than blood relationship.
"Have you finished your homework?" Xu Cailing asked.
"not yet."
After hearing what Fang Wei said, the girl heaved a sigh of relief, and her solemn expression relaxed.
"Then let's do our homework together tonight! You are not allowed to do it secretly first!"
"Hey, I'm going to do it secretly first."
"you!"
Before the girl's slender legs could kick him, Fang Wei dodged with a smile, opened the yard door and returned home.
In the familiar courtyard, my father's motorcycle and my mother's bicycle are parked. The door to the living room is open, and I can hear the sound of the TV from inside. Smoke rises from the chimney on the roof, and I can faintly hear the sound of spatulas colliding in the kitchen.
Fang Wei parked his bicycle, took out a few salted dried peanuts from his bulging trouser pocket and peeled them to eat. He held the peanut shells in his hand and flicked them like glass balls. The peanut shells spun and flew far away, then landed accurately on the head of the cat that was lazily sleeping on the wall.
"Meow?"
July raised her head and gave him a bored look.
"Sleep all day, wake up and run out to play at night, right?"
"Meow……"
"Come down."
A big, chubby tabby cat jumped down from the wall. July was a whole size bigger than the average tabby cat, weighing about twelve pounds. When it landed on the ground, it was as if it was stepping on cotton, without making any sound.
Fang Wei didn't know whether July had any nicknames like "Sang Biao" or "Ba Hu" in the cat circle on the island. Anyway, when he saw it fooling around outside, he gave it face and didn't call it by its nickname. But this stinky guy often pretended not to know him and was very cool.
It's not like that at home. This Pineapple Island cat is like Sweetie. He comes whenever you call. He arches his big head and rubs Fang Wei's legs affectionately. He is also a very stubborn one, making "meow~meow~meow~" sounds.
"If you beat up someone else's cat again and get caught and have your legs broken, I'll see if I can take care of you."
"Meow~"
Fang Wei rubbed it hard and then threw it aside.
When I walked into the room, my dad was watching TV. Actually, he didn't watch TV much, he just kept it on as background music.
At this moment, Fang Xianfeng was like a primary school student doing homework, bending over to write and calculate something in a small notebook on the coffee table. The calculator next to him was beeping: [Reset! Reset!]
Fang Wei knew that he was doing the accounting. After all, he was a fishmonger and he had to carefully count the day's accounts after work every day.
My dad only has an elementary school education and never went to junior high school. My mom read a little more books than him, but only a little more. She dropped out of school after the first year of junior high school. This was a very common phenomenon for their generation. Even many of my dad's peers did not even finish elementary school.
From this we can see how valuable Liu Zhiyi's father was as the first college student in the county at that time.
College students in the 1980s were not like the college students that filled the streets in later generations. They were really popular back then. Even now, in the millennium, college students are still quite precious. The whole island knows if a family has a college student.
Fang Wei was not quite sure what kind of job Liu Zhiyi's father did in Shanghai, but the fact that he could settle down in Shanghai was already a remarkable thing for someone who came from a remote and poor island.
Hearing the noise, Fang Xianfeng, who was counting the accounts, looked up.
"came back?"
"Well, Dad, what about the settlement?"
"Yes, I have calculated it several times, but it doesn't add up to 80 cents. It's strange..."
Don't underestimate these eighty cents. Normally when collecting fish at the dock, the price is calculated to the cent. If it is eighty cents more, it's okay. If it is eighty cents less, the old man will probably complain about it all night.
Only his father could understand his account book, and the records were disorganized and chaotic. Anyway, Fang Wei was unable to help.
When Fang Wei was thinking about saying something to remind him, the old man slapped his thigh and his whole expression relaxed.
"Yes?"
"It matches. I recorded one of the numbers incorrectly!" Fang Xianfeng felt relieved. If the amount was eight dollars short or something, he wouldn't have worked so hard to find the difference. After all, the amount was large and it would be easy to find the problem. He was most afraid of the small amounts of a few cents. Sometimes he would make mistakes or miss out on the entries, which would give him a headache for a long time when reconciling the accounts.
Fang Wei was both angry and amused, and said, "How about I go to the bookstore someday and borrow you an accounting book to learn from? Dad, your account book is so messed up that I can't understand it."
"It's not normal that you can't understand it. It's enough that I can understand it."
"You have to be more standardized. What do you do when there are too many accounts?"
"I have never been to school, so I won't understand it even if you ask me to learn it. I have been doing this for so many years, and I haven't made any mistakes, right?"
"Here we go again, empiricism, huh?"
"..."
His son's words made the old father fall into deep thought.
After a while, he frowned and said helplessly: "The key is that I can't understand the books you mentioned. I'm already old, what else can I do?"
"That's wrong! It's never too late to learn. The entrepreneur reported by CCTV before, Zong Qinghou, started from scratch at the age of 42. Wasn't he also a migrant worker before? He did farm work, repaired dams, and carried manure. Now his company is so big."
"The Wahaha one?"
"Yes, Dad, you are only 38 years old, still young, and you have a bright future ahead of you!"
"Haha, now that you put it that way it makes sense."
"Seriously, Dad, you should take some time to learn about finance. Just reading books is definitely useless, but you have plenty of opportunities to practice. How can you not learn by reading and learning?"
"Makes sense."
"Okay, I'll go to the bookstore and borrow some books for you next time, so you don't have to play games at night. Are you tired of playing Contra?"
"I still have to play games. I'm exhausted after a whole day..."
"Stop arranging things and do something practical."
"Fine……"
Fang Xianfeng suddenly felt ashamed, and then he thought of something. He was stunned... No! Damn it! Who is the boss? Why is this brat teaching him a lesson? !
But what this kid said was well-reasoned and logical, and he couldn't find any way to refute it.
No, I have been a son before, and it was fine that I acted like a son when I was with my father; but now that I have finally become a father, why am I still like a son when I am with my son?
Fang Xianfeng was filled with question marks and some facts that went against the will of Heaven, which made him very depressed. He almost slammed the table and rebelled.
"Where did you learn all these messed up things, kid?"
"The teacher taught me that. Our new head teacher is from a big city and has seen a lot of things. What she often says is that learning is like planting trees. It's never too late to start."
"..."
Fang Xianfeng glanced at him doubtfully. This brat of his had been more mature than others since he was young, and he had gotten used to it over the years. Perhaps it was because he had never experienced the troubles of being a father. Compared with his peers, the 38-year-old seemed to have a much younger mentality.
"Then your teacher will come to visit us someday, and I will have to ask him for advice."
After turning his son's lesson into a teacher's lesson, the old father suddenly felt much more acceptable.
Fang Wei didn't care. Country people respected teachers very much. He was afraid that if Wen Susu really came to visit his home one day, the old man would not know what to say except being polite.
These days, primary and secondary school teachers in rural areas often organize home visits to students. Although they are called home visits, they are actually similar to visiting and chatting.
The teacher who was supposed to be at school showed up at his home. It was a strange feeling. Fang Wei still remembered that when he was a child in his previous life, when the teacher came to visit his home, he was too embarrassed to come out to the living room and sit with them. He secretly hid in the room and eavesdropped on the conversations between the teacher and his father.
Many parents will also take this opportunity to give something to the teacher. They are all from the same village. The things they give are nothing more than some eggs, vegetables, salted fish, homemade dried radishes, salted peanuts and the like. It is not meant as a gift or a favor, but just a favor and gratitude to the teacher. Of course, in most cases, the teacher will not accept it. When he really can't refuse, he will at most grab a handful of peanuts and no more.
Seeing Fang Wei take out a bunch of salted dried peanuts from his bulging trouser pockets like a little squirrel and put them on the coffee table, Fang Xianfeng was stunned for a moment and asked curiously:
"Where did you get all those peanuts?"
"Your teacher gave it to me."
"...Huh? What do you mean my teacher...which teacher? Uncle Liu who lives in the neighboring Shayang Village?"
"Yes, it was given to me by Uncle Liu."
My goodness, he didn’t even have time to give a gift to the teacher, but this brat actually took the gift from the teacher’s house and put it into his own pocket?
"You are not polite at all, kid!"
"Hey, Dad! Uncle Liu forced it on me! How dare I take someone else's things casually? You taught me that, and I remember it."
"...Why did Uncle Liu give you so many peanuts?"
Fang Wei simply explained the matter.
Fang Xianfeng had heard about Liu Xuelun, Liu Zhiyi's father. After all, the island was so small, and the incident happened not long before everyone in the village knew about it. But it was only after Fang Wei talked about it that he realized that Liu Zhiyi was in the same class with them and was this boy's deskmate.
Liu Xuelun and Fang Xianfeng are of the same age and were classmates in elementary school. They were also good playmates in childhood. However, Fang Xianfeng was not good at studying and later dropped out of school. Since then, the life trajectories of the two gradually diverged.
But no matter what, Fang Xianfeng has great respect for this college student who once made a sensation in the entire county, and he also feels regretful and sorry about this incident.
Sometimes I even can’t help but wonder, if Aaron hadn’t read so many books and seen so much of the world, would this have never happened?
Fang Xianfeng didn't know, but if this opportunity to get out had been in front of him...
Haha, you're overthinking. This kind of opportunity will never fall on him. He is just an ordinary person who is not good at studying and has no special skills. Like most people living on this island, he works from sunrise to sunset. After several years of hard work, he married a satisfactory wife and had a sensible son. He lived an ordinary life like this and had no intention of going out again.
Fang Xianfeng took out a cigarette from the Hongtashan cigarette box and lit it. After a long while, he said earnestly:
"Liu Zhiyi has had a hard time too. We are all from the same village. It is only natural for you to help her. Not to mention that Uncle Liu was my teacher before. Don't take her things next time."
"Understood, Dad."
Fang Wei naturally understood the truth, and he had no intention of refutation at all when faced with his father's teachings. After all, his father had his father's care and Uncle Liu had his own politeness. This kind of tug-of-war was probably the so-called local favors.
"Study hard! Learn from your Uncle Liu. He was a very remarkable man in his time. If you have the chance in the future, go out and explore the world as soon as possible. Don't be like your father and me, staying in this small place for the rest of our lives."
Perhaps Fang Xianfeng himself no longer had the intention to go out, but he still told his son this.
"Understood, Dad."
"time to eat--"
Tian Xilan's voice came from the kitchen.
Fang Xianfeng stood up and put out the half-smoked cigarette.
(End of this chapter)
