The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China - Chapter 1015

  Kunming, Dongsi Street.

   Mei’s house.

   Mei Zutong, the second daughter of Mei Yiqi, brought a bowl of cakes and said with a smile, “Little brother Zhou, come and try the Dingsheng cake my mother made.”

   “Thank you.” Zhou Weilie nodded politely with a smile.

  Mei Zutong saw Zhou Weilie put the cakes on the table and didn’t move, thought he was being polite, and said, “Don’t look outside, treat this as your own home, the Dingsheng cakes made by my mother are delicious.”

   Zhou Weilie can only say: “Thank you Second Sister Mei, I don’t eat pastries and pasta.”

   Mei Zufen, the youngest daughter of the Mei family, was a little disgusted, and muttered, “As expected of the son of a big family, he has a very sloppy mouth.”

   “Don’t talk nonsense!” Mrs. Mei Han Yonghua reprimanded.

  Sun Yonghao quickly explained: “My young master has been allergic to gluten since he was a child. He has diarrhea when he eats pasta. Over time, he stopped touching rice cakes.”

  Mei Yiqi asked: “What is gluten allergy?”

  Sun Yonghao said confusedly: “It’s just what’s in the wheat. If you eat it, you will get sick. The wife also took the young master to London to see a British doctor. This kind of disease can’t be cured, but it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t eat pasta.”

   “It’s really pitiful, I got this disease at a very young age,” Han Yonghua said with his mother’s love overflowing, pulling Zhou Weilie and saying, “There is no flour in this cake, Xiao Zhou can try it.”

   Zhou Weilie took a bite of the pastry, nodded and said, “Well, it’s delicious.”

   “I’ll just say it’s delicious, many people in Kunming like it.” Mei Zutong smiled.

Han Yonghua was about to go out with a basket of cakes, and said to his son Mei Zuyan: “Zuyan, I’m going out to sell Dingsheng cakes, you take Xiao Zhou around. Don’t go too far, if there is an air defense alarm, run quickly, be sure to Take good care of Xiao Zhou.”

   “Okay, Mom, don’t worry.” Mei Zuyan nodded.

   Mei Yiqi’s eldest daughter has already started working, and the other three daughters and only son are still studying. Not long after Han Yonghua went out, the second daughter Mei Zutong took her younger brother and sister out to play with Zhou Weilie. Mei Yiqi also specially gave some pocket money to buy some snacks for Zhou Weilie.

   Walking on the streets of Kunming, Zhou Weilie asked curiously, “Second Sister Mei, why does Auntie still make her own cakes and sell them on the street?”

   Mei Zutong explained: “The teacher’s salary is too low, so he has to make money to support his family.”

   Zhou Weilie said, “Uncle Mei is the principal.”

“The principal is poorer than ordinary professors. Ordinary professors can find part-time jobs, but the principal must stick to his job,” Mei Zutong said, pointing to his younger brother Mei Zuyan, “When Zuyan ran the alarm last year, he lost his glasses and couldn’t see. He had to take a year off from school to clear things up. The new glasses he is wearing now were bought by my mother who made money selling rice cakes.”

   Mei Zuyan smiled and said, “Brother Zhou, we are still classmates in the same class. I was admitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the United Nations University this year.”

   Zhou Weilie said: “I am from the Department of Mathematics.”

   “Haha, I know, you are famous.” Mei Zuyan laughed.

   Zhou Weilie scratched his head and said, “I was on the phone with my family yesterday. My dad scolded me and asked me to bring gifts to the interview teachers to apologize.”

  …

   When the children had all left, Sun Yonghao said, “Principal Mei, I’ll go back to Chongqing right away. I won’t stay in Kunming to take care of the young master. Madam, please take care of me.”

   “No problem, let Wei Lie move to my house, but the house is too narrow.” Mei Yiqi said.

“Mr. Zhou wants to cultivate the child’s spirit of enduring hardship and autonomy, so he must let the young master live in the student dormitory,” Sun Yonghao said, taking out two checks, “This is the one that my wife quietly entrusted me to give to you, and I hope Principal Mei will do it every weekend. Order something delicious and give the young master a tooth sacrifice. Another large check was given by Mr. Zhou. He wanted to donate money to build dormitories for the teachers of the United Nations University. The husband said that there is not much money and time is tight, so he can only repair some soil. Wall thatched house.”

  Mei Yiqi glanced at the cheques. One was for a limit of 100,000 yuan, and the other was for 10 million yuan. He said happily: “Mr. Zhou has a heart. Mr. Sun…”

   “Call me Xiao Sun.” Sun Yonghao said quickly.

   “That’s good, little Sun,” Mei Yiqi said, “I have something I want to ask Brother Mingcheng.”

  Sun Yonghao said: “You said.”

Mei Yiqi said: “The United Nations General Assembly sent three representatives to Chongqing to petition the government, asking the government to raise salaries and ensure the minimum living needs of the teaching staff. They are still on the road and will not arrive in Chongqing until the end of the month. Please send my letter. Bring it to Brother Mingcheng, and let him have a few words with the Ministry of Education.”

   “I promise to bring it.” Sun Yonghao said.

   “Thank you.” Mei Yiqi clasped his fists and smiled.

   Last year, the salary of a top professor at Southwest Associated University could meet the living needs of a half-adult. Prices have skyrocketed this year, professors are struggling to support themselves, and their wives and children can only starve. This is still the treatment of top-level professors, and ordinary professors, lecturers and teaching assistants are even worse. No one can go to eat out in style.

  Mei Yiqi is pretty good, she doesn’t need to support the elderly, her wife and eldest daughter have a working income, and she only needs to raise four children who are still studying.

  The wife of the physicist Mr. Wu Dayou fell ill. He had to go to the vegetable market to beg, and begged for bone soup from the butcher who sold the meat to make up his wife’s body. Not long ago, the house was also blown up. With difficulty, he dug out broken crock pots in the crater, and added water to filter the flour mixed with mud to wash the gluten before eating.

  Sun Yonghao put away the letter and said, “Principal Mei, I’m leaving tomorrow, there is one more thing I need your help with.”

   “Please speak as soon as possible.” Mei Yiqi said.

   “Young master likes to study mathematics, and wants to worship under Professor Hua Luogeng. Mr. Zhou asks you to take the young master to visit the teacher.” Sun Yonghao took ten pieces of bacon from the box, “Here is a gift from Mr. Zhou.”

  Mei Yiqi laughed loudly: “Brother Mingcheng is very respectful of the ancients, and he is even ready to repair.”

   The next day.

  Sun Yonghao left Kunming, Zhou Weilie temporarily lived in Mei’s house, and then moved into the school dormitory when the school officially started.

  Early in the morning, Mei Yiqi personally took Zhou Weilie to the western suburbs, walked more than ten miles on foot, and finally came to the place where Hua Luogeng lived.

   Zhou Weilie’s eyes widened: “This is Professor Hua’s house?”

   “It’s very simple, isn’t it?” Mei Yiqi said.

   “How can this be possible, Professor Hua is a great mathematician.” Zhou Weilie was shocked and puzzled.

  Hua Luogeng’s whole family lives with cattle. The ground floor is the cattle pen of local farmers, and the second floor is used for stacking hay. This kind of building is called a cow pen building. It is cold in winter and hot in summer. It is extremely simple. There are so many mosquitoes, rats and ants that even the local farmers can’t live there.

  Especially when the temperature is high, the smell of cow dung is overwhelming, and the taste is indescribable.

  Mei Yiqi roughly understands what Zhou Hexuan means. Judging from the brief contact, although this young master Zhou is very smart, he is inevitably spoiled and has a somewhat withdrawn personality. Zhou Hexuan just wanted his son to have a deep understanding of the sufferings of the world, to experience the hardships of life, and to correct all his character flaws.

Mei Yiqi suddenly recited a poem: “It’s not just that the two families share difficulties when it comes to arranging the houses and sharing the knees. The archaeology of Budong is based on the Western calculations, and the majors are not of the same heart and the same hatred. This poem was written by Professor Hua Luogeng. What do you think? Sample?”

   “Not so good,” Zhou Weilie laughed. “Professor Hua is very good at mathematics, but his poetry writing skills are about as bad as mine.”

  Mei Yiqi found another shortcoming of Zhou Gongzi, he said: “Professor Hua is your superior, you should give enough respect, and you can’t speak so shamelessly.”

   Zhou Weilie said: “But what I said is the truth.”

   “Facts belong to facts, and morality belongs to morality. This is the basic bottom line of being a human being.” Mei Yiqi taught.

   Zhou Weilie said: “My dad said to be sincere.”

Mei Yiqi said: “If an old mother is said to be old and ill, she will not live long. Her son died on the battlefield. If she tells the truth, the old mother may be heartbroken and die prematurely. You Do you think this situation should be told the truth or a lie?”

   “Of course it’s a lie.” Zhou Weilie said.

   Mei Yiqi smiled and said, “This is called a white lie.”

Zhou Weilie shook his head again and again: “Uncle Mei, you are secretly changing the subject. Professor Hua’s situation is different from that old mother. Even if I tell him that his poems are not well written, I will have no loss to Professor Hua. It’s just irrelevant. I don’t think Professor Hua is that small.”

  Mei Yiqi was dumbfounded, this kid is too smart to be educated. He could only explain: “Professor Hua’s poem has a special creative background. Early the previous year, the house where Professor Hua rented was bombed, and Professor Wen Yiduo took Professor Hua’s family to live with them. The 14 families were crowded into a 16-square-meter house, with a curtain in the middle. This is not only their bedroom, dining room, kitchen, but also the study of the two professors, so there is the phrase ‘Budong Archaeological Buxi calculation’.”

Zhou Weilie’s focus was obviously different. He thought about it and said, “How can a family of 14 fit in a 16-square-meter room? There’s no room left for two beds, not even a table. Where do the people below sleep?”

  Mei Yiqi resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said speechlessly, “Play the floor!”

   “What is a floor covering?” Zhou Weilie asked.

  Mei Yiqi shook his head helplessly: “You really don’t know the hardships of the people. The ground floor is to sleep with mats and sheets on the ground. I heard that there are shacks all over the city of Chongqing, so you didn’t go to see it?”

   Zhou Weilie said: “I have seen the shack, but I haven’t seen it in the shack.”

  Mei Yiqi said: “The poem I talked about, and the deeds of Professor Wen and Professor Hua, wanted to say that one must be persevering, have fun through hardship, or surrender to reality. Do you understand?”

“Understood,” Zhou Weilie nodded and said, “I will definitely work hard. If I have the ability, I don’t need to live in a small house and build a floor, and I can help other people live a better life. I have saved a lot of pocket money, and I will donate it all today. Give Professor Hua a good house.”

Mei Yiqi put his hand on his forehead. He found that the child’s thinking was very strange, and patiently explained: “People are dignified and understand each other. Why did Professor Hua move to the cattle pen? It was because he felt that he lived in Professor Wen. The home is too inconvenient and will disturb the normal life of others. He has no money himself, so he can only rent the farmer’s cattle pen. You are a child, send money directly to Professor Hua, and ask him to move to a better house. It hurts his self-esteem and makes it difficult for him to get along with you.”

   Zhou Weilie said suspiciously: “But my father often donates money too. He donated a lot of money to Southwest Associated University.”

Mei Yiqi said: “First, your father is a famous scholar, and he is friends with many teachers. His donations belong to friendship relief. And you are just a child, so what’s the point of donating money to teachers? Second, your Father rarely donates directly to someone, which is to take care of the dignity of the recipient. He is donating to the United Nations General Assembly as a whole, and the recipient is the school, and teachers and students who receive benefits will not be embarrassed.”

   Zhou Weilie murmured, “Is face so important? This is not a meal for me, but a student’s concern for the teacher.”

  Mei Yiqi said: “This is not just face, but also dignity. Just like when you were interviewing, the five interviewing teachers just joked and laughed, which made you feel disrespected.”

   “Understood.” Zhou Weilie really understood the truth this time.

   When they were talking, they had already walked to the cowshed.

   There are cattle on the first floor, Hua Luogeng’s family lives on the second floor, and there is a wooden staircase to go up. The second floor was originally used for stacking hay.

   “Is Professor Hua there?” Mei Yiqi shouted.

   Wu Xiaozhi took a look when he went out and said quickly, “I’m here, please come in. Lao Hua, Principal Mei is here!”

   When Zhou Weilie followed Mei Yiqi into the room, Hua Luogeng came over with a lame leg and greeted, “Please take a seat.”

  Mei Yiqi raised the bacon in his hand and said with a smile, “I’ll bring you a student, and my father also prepared a bunch of repairs.”

“This can’t be done, what is the age, how can I still receive gifts from students,” Hua Luogeng glanced at Zhou Weilie and smiled, “This is the little genius from Mr. Zhou’s family. I read his math test papers, and they are very good. future.”

Mei Yiqi didn’t say any big reason, and smiled: “You can’t accept gifts from other students, but you don’t need to give them from Zhou Da capitalist, and he doesn’t lack the small money. Besides, this is a ceremony for apprenticeship, people I entrust my son to you as a disciple.”

  Hua Luogeng shook his head and said, “I treat students equally, and I won’t admit them to my roommates.”

Mei Yiqi said: “This student is different. He is young and ignorant. Now he is studying in a different place and his parents are not around. You have to teach him not only knowledge, but also the spirit of learning. In these aspects, you spend a lot of money. Don’t worry, it’s nothing to get a few pieces of bacon.”

  Hua Luogeng is still insisting: “It’s right to care more about the students, but Shuxiu definitely can’t. Let’s do this, after the school starts, I will send these bacon to the cafeteria to improve the meals for the students.”

   “You, do whatever you want.” Mei Yiqi threw the bacon down.

   Not only Hua Luogeng, but Mei Yiqi himself is also a principled person.

   Two years later, the daughter of Wang Longyun from Yunnan did not get admitted to the Southwest Associated University, and sent someone to intercede with Mei Yiqi, but she still could not enter the Associated University. Long Yun was furious and went to Mei Yiqi’s house to find trouble in person, only to hear that Mei Yiqi’s youngest daughter also failed the exam, so he gave up with embarrassed laughter.

  Hua Luogeng called Zhou Weilie to him and asked, “I read your math test paper, have you learned calculus?”

   “It’s almost done, I understand the basics of calculus.” Zhou Weilie said.

Hua Luogeng said: “You must guard against arrogance and impatience. I only have one requirement, you must not miss class. Even if you have already learned the knowledge taught by the teacher, you must listen carefully and complete your homework carefully. There is still one month left before school, what is the problem? You can come and find me here.”

   Zhou Weilie said: “The teacher’s side is too far away. It’s a waste of time. Can I live here? I will pay the living expenses.”

   “Don’t you think the cow pen is too dirty and smelly?” Hua Luogeng said.

   Zhou Weilie said: “It was a little stinky at first, but I got used to it after smelling it a lot. Now it’s not as stinky as when I first came here.”

“Ha ha ha ha!”

   “The children can be taught!”

   Mei Yiqi and Hua Luogeng laughed at the same time.