Shengsheng

Back to half a month ago, City Y.

Ever since Liang Sheng and Lao Cao went to the provincial capital to fight for a new investment project next year.

Xiao Liangsheng, who stayed at home, devoted his spare time to attending classes, tutoring, helping Jin Ping look around the store, and doing chores within his ability.

[Monday, Friday, get up at 5:00, read the text aloud, and practice pen calligraphy. 】

[11:30, canteen lunch, [-] cents rice, mustard and soup brought at home are free, no stir-fried vegetables, you can save [-] yuan and [-] cents. 】

【Wednesday, physical education class, don't buy soda to drink at the canteen, bring your own thermos bottle for free, you can save 1 yuan. 】

[Target: 85 points in the physics quiz, 90 points in the mathematics quiz, and the total average score at the end of the semester is not lower than the top [-] in the class. 】

This is vaguely the daily schedule he set for himself when he officially became a junior high school student at the beginning of this semester.

For the past three or four months, he has strictly enforced this standard military training-like work and rest time for himself almost every day. Even if Liang Sheng is away and no one supervises him, he still behaves very seriously and consciously.

Now the first thing he does every morning is to brush his teeth and wash his face, and then run from his home behind the old vegetable market to take the lead to help Jin Ping open a store.

Because Jin Ping suffered from lumbar muscle strain due to too many injuries in the past, Lao Cao and Liang Sheng usually do this kind of thing at home.

Now that they are not here, Xiao Liangsheng takes on the responsibility of being the only male in the family.

He is still growing, but his strength is not small. Usually, Liang Sheng helped to do the work of pulling the shutter door, moving the frozen goods, and cleaning the freezer at home. He can also stand on tiptoe and learn to do it.

After finishing the chores that adults usually do at home, he will go to school with his schoolbag on his back after breakfast.

After school, she voluntarily goes to cram school after dinner, and never makes Jin Ping worry about it. Sometimes she looks exactly like her capable elder brother.

"That Xiaosheng of Dasheng's family, not only looks like his brother, but also looks more and more arrogant, and his brain is also as smart. He has helped you so much inside and out, and looks a little different from ordinary children. He really deserves to be brothers..."

I usually listen to the neighbors in the vegetable market say this to me in private.

Jin Ping, who also saw all this in her eyes, was both happy and worried about this child's precocity that was completely beyond the normal age group.

On the one hand, she is also a mother herself, and has two children who are still studying in her hometown.

But the two in her family don’t say they finish their homework before going out to play, even if they are usually lazy to help with housework, Xiao Liang Shengneng is definitely rare among his age.

But on the other hand, she was a little worried that the child had been so bored since he was a child, whether it was not good, and it was not conducive to the normal growth of this childhood.

In particular, Liang Sheng is expected to be away from home often in the next few years, whispering whether this half-old child will be withdrawn and rebellious without his brother's daily care, which also makes her a little sad.

Liang Sheng seemed to understand Jin Ping's thoughts.

But although he is young, he also understands that compared to himself who is educated and can study with his peers without worry, the burden on the shoulders of adults is actually much heavier than he imagined.

It is precisely because he understands that he doesn't want to be a drag and trouble, making tired adults who have already made money worry about themselves.

He knew that Liang Sheng's troublesome trip to the provincial capital with everyone's hopes must be to do those "big deals" written in the investment plan he wrote day and night.

After all, during this period of time, Jin Ping wished to burn incense and pray to Buddha at home every day to bless the men so that they could run the family business smoothly when they were outside.

In particular, his brother also went back and forth between the factory and the house from dawn to dusk to toss and fiddle with the tender, which made Xiao Liangsheng feel a little worried when he looked at it.

"...If this matter doesn't work out this time, and the Industrial and Commercial Bureau won't be able to move around, 'Maojin' will probably have to worry about it next year."

"Then you should help Ah Sheng more. I will also take good care of Xiao Sheng at home. We must not become his burden."

"That's for sure, everyone is a family. Even if it doesn't work in the future, the worst thing is to start from the beginning, but no matter what, they can't be separated casually."

He had heard Uncle Cao and his wife talking about these things in private, and it could be seen that they really regarded him and his brother as a family in their hearts.

Compared to the others, they were more or less worried about whether Liang Sheng would be able to bring back the good news that the investment case had passed smoothly.

Xiao Liangsheng vaguely felt that with the other party's ability in business, he didn't need to worry about him as a little kid or anyone else.

Because in his eyes, that person has always been the most powerful and smartest 'Little Flying Dragon' in his heart.

He thought so when the two of them set up a small stall at first, then he thought so when everyone sold canned food together, and now he feels the same way when the whole place is doing business together.

In his eyes, that person, no matter what happens, will always be a great hero who will take him to fly higher and farther sooner or later.

"The little cat said to Wuyun, Wuyun Wuyun, do you know where my parents have gone - Wuyun said, silly boy, why do you always have to rely on your parents weakly, why don't you try to grow up by yourself ?”

"Growing up? What is growing up?——Growing up is greedy like a wolf and cruel like a snake. A newborn child becomes a cruel adult, and innocence becomes sinister. Only by killing the original self in the bottom of my heart, Weak cats will no longer need the protection of your parents."

The nightmares about 'growing up' that often haunted him when he had just lost his parents seemed to have not appeared in the company of the other night for a long time.

It seemed that there were no more scary dark clouds and weak cats in his dreams.

Only a shining golden 'dragon' appeared every time he was in danger, and led him to travel in the sky with a sword in his hand.

【"One day, the little kitten was no longer afraid of dark clouds and thunder. He finally grew up, but he neither became as greedy as a wolf nor as cruel as a snake as in the story. Instead, he changed completely. became a—”]

The night before leaving home, it was still the crowded and damp container rental room next to the toilet in the vegetable market.

Under the corrugated floor of an old-fashioned large light bulb lit up under the eaves, under the wire bed covered with a quilt, there are two pairs of cartoon slippers, one large and one small.

Under the bed is a large flower pot for two people to wash their feet and a kettle, showing the warmth of an adult and a child living together everywhere.

Accompanied by the "creak creak" struggle and noise, Xiaoliangsheng's small head and Daliangsheng's big head first came out of the bed together.

Then, only a certain little one who would show the nature of a child at such a time would lie on his brother's back and listen to the story while knocking hard on his back.

【"...Change, what has become! Tell me quickly!"】

【"Oh? Shengsheng really wants to know, haha?"】

【"Brother, brother, hurry up, tell me—"】

【"He has really grown up! No longer crying alone! No longer having nightmares and being afraid! He can defeat those bad guys on his own! Bravely break into the outside world! Kind, brave, confident, and even become I found a dragon that can scare the dark clouds into hiding! Do you think it's powerful haha?"]

There was a warm smile on the young man's always cynical face. He had an ugly red scar on his forehead, but his eyes were so shining that people could see the stars inside. The same moving light.

Xiao Liang Sheng liked to see him laugh.

As long as the other party looks at him and smiles, he also feels that his heart is full of satisfaction and happiness in life, and there is light and hope everywhere.

——I want my brother to be so happy forever, be proud of me, and be protected by me when I grow up.

The thoughts that come to mind on such a night are not just a whim, they seem to be consistent after many years.

And Xiaoliang, who was carried on his back like a little snail, didn't speak after listening to it. He covered his sweaty head and pursed his mouth with his brother for a long time to have fun.

【……Um!You have to trust him!He also believes in you, we will definitely... definitely work hard! 】

……

【"Also, you must go home early! I, I am waiting for you!】

……

"Hush, come on, eat more egg yolks. Before Ah Sheng leaves, let me supervise you drinking milk every day. From now on, you can try to surpass your brother in size. By then, your brother will cry..."

At this moment, the previous large section of memories is over.

Waking up early in the morning, Jin Ping came to the vegetable market to open a shop, and cooked porridge for him to eat. Jin Ping was peeling boiled eggs for Xiao Liangsheng.

Today is Wednesday, August 11.

It had been more than half a month since Liang Sheng and Cao Maocai went out.

During this period of time, everything in the factory and at home was basically operating normally.

Mrs. Wang Xia, the accountant who recruited Liang Sheng before leaving the house, and arranged for the on-the-job training, and the cashier manager and others helped a lot in the factory. Even the old Pang who led the third factory praised Liang Sheng several times for his good vision. The person who recruited the second time was very good.

From the initial anxiety, Jin Ping gradually turned into thoughts and small complaints about why Lao Cao and Liang Sheng haven't come home yet, and the men forget home as soon as they go out.

As for Xiao Liangsheng himself, besides waiting for his brother to return home as soon as possible, there is another very important thing coming to him.

Because of the almost 18-day countdown, he will officially usher in the final exam of this semester and the winter vacation that will follow.

- final exam.

These four blood-red and gigantic characters, I have to say, made Liang Sheng tense for a long time, and then inexplicably became tense again.

After all, I have passed the 'Waterloo' of the small monthly exams just before the start of school.

In his heart, any exams involving official rankings are already ranked No. 1 in front of the prehistoric Tyrannosaurus rex and teacher Wan.

The.

But rankings, scores, and grades are always related to the exams in the student days.

Liang Sheng felt great pressure again.

It was also because he still felt extremely unconfident due to the previous bad rankings.

In addition, Liang Sheng was not at home during this time, so he finished his homework alone at night and slept in the hut behind the vegetable market.

He even had several nightmares because of this, dreaming that he failed to review the important points in the book again this time, missed a certain big question in the test paper, and then took the last test again.

"Whisper, why have you been in a daze recently? Did you read and review late last night? Are you too nervous about the final exam?"

"No, no, I went to bed early yesterday, thank you, thank you, auntie, it's all right..."

Faced with Jin Ping's concerned and questioning gentle eyes, Xiao Liang Sheng, who was a little embarrassed on his face, was embarrassed to say that he had another nightmare in the middle of the night last night, so he just shook his head and hurriedly brought this topic to the past.

But the palms of his hands that were actually hidden under the table were slightly sweating.

The parotid glands under the ears are also a little swollen due to poor sleep, and the two eyes are also a little blurred.

During this period of time, as long as he thinks about the upcoming final exam, he will suddenly start to do this. This is obviously not due to physical reasons, but more from his psychological factors.

As if there was some kind of shameless 'disease' because of the previous things, there was always a layer of fear and tension about the exam in the depths of my heart.

And at the small wooden table for two, he and Jin Ping had pickled melon, fermented bean curd and a bottle of pure milk next to their bowls. I booked it for him before my brother left.

Regarding the matter of making him nourish himself during puberty, Xiao Liangsheng once felt that his own brother had a mysterious, unimaginable obsession.

Because, to some extent, the other party who has been "besotted" sometimes, but he almost didn't buy some supplements and stew them all in his stomach to force the seedlings to grow.

He doesn't understand the "regret" and "obsession" of a hard-working adult who has a height of 1.79 all his life and has stopped secondary development, about his lack of nutrition.

But fortunately, Xiao Liangsheng has always been a good boy who listens to his brother, so he never wasted the bottle of fresh milk that he fixed every morning.

In addition, before leaving, his brother specially paid him a tutoring fee of 400 yuan for half a semester in advance, plus winter vacation, with Mr. Peng Anliang.

The two brothers had already discussed and reached a consensus at home about going to cram school and finding a teacher for one-on-one tutoring.

As mentioned earlier, this teacher Peng Anliang was born as a professor of geometry at Zhejiang University, and now he has retired to teach middle and high school students in an adult night school in this city. His teaching level over the years must be unquestionable.

During the period when I first went to Mr. Peng's home to take supplementary classes, Xiao Liangsheng, who had just made up his mind, was still afraid, and there was a trace of anxiety mixed with nervousness.

Prior to this, he had only met Teacher Peng Anliang at close range once under the guidance of Mr. Liang.

The first or two impressions made on him by the old teacher were terrible.

The face is longer than the blackboard eraser next to it, and there is a long ruler next to the hand all the year round. It is said that it is specially used to punish disobedient students who desert their jobs.

He obviously has his own set of unique and rigid rules for teaching.

Most of the students who don’t abide by the classroom discipline, copy the correct answers casually to deal with him, and don’t follow his after-class guidance go home to preview before coming to class, most of them will not even be given the opportunity to tutor alone.

And the teachers at No. [-] Middle School were stricter when teaching, but now it's a new era, but there are few who really get angry with the students like Mr. Peng.

Especially Mr. Peng's eyes are like those of an old owl, and he stares at people unhappily all day long. His unsmiling look can almost compete with those old masters who are full of words in old society TV dramas.

But even though he was afraid in his heart, Xiao Liangsheng gradually overcame the difficulties and problems that troubled him in the first place.

Because his goal is to improve his academic performance with Mr. Peng.

For this result, he is willing to sacrifice his spare time and spend a lot of children's energy. He has perseverance and perseverance in his bones.

Therefore, every Saturday, Sunday and after school, Xiao Liangsheng would first go to Mr. Peng’s house with his schoolbag on his back. Under the supervision and correction of the elderly tutor, he would go home after finishing all the homework for the day.

This process usually lasts until eight or nine in the evening.

Mr. Peng's old house is in the new district in the north of the city, and Liang Sheng's rental house is in the south of the city for convenience.

Later, in order to be able to catch up with the remedial class on time and not let Teacher Peng wait too long at home, Liang Sheng ran to Teacher Peng's house for remedial classes before going home for dinner several times.

At first, they just followed the schedule of the regular cram school, every Saturday and Sunday, plus three hours on weekdays, one-on-one lessons.

Mr. Peng will try his best to explain the topic patiently to him, and Xiao Liangsheng will ask him if he doesn't understand in class every day.

But for some reason, after the first two-week tutoring round, when the next mid-term exam came, Liang Sheng's progress was still not very obvious.

Class 31, grade 310 five, mathematics is [-] points lower than the class average.

In this regard, Mr. Peng has to say that he has doubts in his heart.

After all, he is also an old educator who has been a teacher for many years. It can be seen that this child with a bright voice usually works very hard, and he listens carefully to the key points he speaks.

It doesn't make sense, it will keep standing still, without any decent progress.

The key is that as an old teacher, while he sees all this in his eyes, he also has to find a way to help this child who is obviously very motivated and hardworking.

And with such doubts in mind, one day, teacher Peng Anliang, who happened to be at home to give papers to other senior students he was tutoring, sent a paper to Liang Sheng, and told him to let him sit on the small bench in front of him. done.

The test papers for the first random exam that were temporarily decided were actually not difficult.

These are the most basic and common question types in junior high school textbooks. The teachers in the school have also mentioned them in class. Teacher Peng thought about it at the time, but he just wanted to get his bottom line again and see what specific aspects he has. short board.

But this time, he really understood the crux of why Liang Sheng's grades had not improved for a long time.

Because obviously this random test paper is very basic.

In the process, I was immersed in the problems, and Xiaoliang Sheng, who was so nervous that the sweat was about to drip, was inexplicably difficult all the time.

In his eyes, seeing the familiar test paper in front of him, he would think of the previous test after test.

Thinking of the grades and rankings that made him uneasy, this made him unable to look at the actually very ordinary paper in front of him with a normal sense of gain and loss, and his usually very organized thinking about solving problems was also disrupted.

So in the end, as expected, the result of this random quiz was also very bad, so that the old teacher who tried to correct with a red pen, but couldn't write the pen at the end, looked at the curly brow that was shaking and fluttering all over the handwriting It's almost unsolvable.

"Liang Sheng, are you afraid of doing questions and exams?"

At that time, Teacher Peng, who had been tutoring him for more than a month, seemed to be the first sentence he asked him.

But Wen Yan's trabecular voice was obviously terrified, the sweat on his nose kept sliding down, and his mouth, which was usually closed as tightly as a stuffy gourd, couldn't say a word for a long time.

Seeing this, Mr. Peng Anliang looked even more 'dissatisfied' through reading glasses.

But in the end, he didn't say what he taught the youngest "milk doll" junior high school student so far, but frowned silently, and left such a sentence in a serious tone.

"If you want to continue your education and develop into a better school in the future, you have to accept from your heart that a student must face the exam with a normal mentality."

"..."

"I have taught many students. Some of them failed to improve their grades because of partial subjects, and some because of wrong learning methods. You are very different from what I expected before. Starting from next week, our one-on-one tutoring will be changed. mode, I won’t give you questions when I come to class in the future, and you will give me questions instead.”

"...I, shall I come up with a question?"

"Yes, you can go to the bookstore to buy mock questions, or borrow the textbooks for senior grades. In short, before the next class, you bring me ten complete papers. The question types are not allowed to be repeated. You are the teacher, and I am the student. You come to give me the test paper to test me, and if you fail me, let's continue to the next stage of study."

Upon hearing Teacher Peng Anliang's earth-shattering words, Xiao Liang's voice was obviously frightened.

He didn't understand how he became Mr. Peng's 'teacher' in a daze, but because his tutor didn't say anything, he could only bite the bullet and follow suit.

But as a child who is still in school, he is completely blind to the issue of test papers, let alone ten sets of test papers.

He didn't know how many points-worthy questions should be mixed in a type of questions, what is the proportion of each question type, which are compulsory questions, and which are bonus questions.

So in those few days, even Lin Tong's nervous little guy could see that Liang Sheng, who was in a state of desperation, was lying on the desk with a pen frantically clattering the test papers, obviously being tossed badly by his tutor, the "old devil" teacher. .

"Sound! Sound! Let's play football in the small playground after school! My grandma steamed a big pumpkin today! It's so sweet! I'm waiting for you to eat it!"

The stalker 'Sister Lin' started to bug him like a follower again.

"No, I have something to do."

Although a little tempted, Xiao Liangsheng reluctantly rejected him.

"Ah!! Why? Are you going to that old man's house to do papers again?"

"No, this time... I'm going to issue papers."

"Ah? What does this mean? You? Exams?"

Probably for ordinary people, it is difficult for a child to "produce papers" to adults.

Because of this, Liang Sheng, who was isolated and helpless, had no choice but to go to the Xinhua Bookstore near the school on weekends, and scanned all the necessary book list simulation questions that Teacher Peng had mentioned before.

For reference books like "Three Thousand Sets of Olympiad", "Five Hundred Sets of Junior High School Basic Physics", "Six Hundred Volumes of Beijing Chemical Simulation", Liang Sheng studied them one by one.

However, it is still a bit difficult to find old textbooks for the first and second semesters of the second and third semesters of the People's Education Edition.

Later, there was no other way, Liang Sheng blushed so much that he ran to find the seniors, such as the second and third students who borrowed old textbooks from there, and wrapped them in two plastic book covers one by one, thinking that after the tutoring class, they would have to complete it for others. It was only after returning home that all the troubles in front of me were solved.

But the next Saturday, which is terrifying but must be dealt with head-on, is coming.

When the uneasy Liang Sheng was carrying a small schoolbag and brought the childish "examination paper" that he had pieced together with a ballpoint pen, he knocked on the iron door of Mr. Peng Anliang's apartment.

This old teacher who gave him a "big problem" but was very at ease put on his presbyopic glasses, sat at the dining table carefully, read and took a pen to make this picture given by the students After reading his 'test paper', he slowly asked him a strange question.

"How is it? Do you think it is more difficult to produce the test paper now, or is the test paper more difficult?"

Hearing this question at first, Liang Sheng was a little hesitant at first.

But Mr. Peng Anliang obviously didn't give him too much time to think. Instead, he bent down and pulled him to sit on the edge of the table like a grandfather treating his grandson. Then he took out a piece of paper with the pen in his hand. A question was drawn on the test paper and came out, slowly opening his mouth and saying,

"The teacher gives out the test papers, and the students make the test papers from completely different starting points and their respective perspectives. The teacher sets up difficulties, and the students use their own talents to solve the difficulties. A paper is placed in front of you. First, it is You can't be afraid of him, you have to beat him down like little monsters..."

"..."

"Like this multiple-choice question, there are four answers in total, and three of them are paper tigers. You have to use your piercing eyes trained in the alchemy furnace to see which one is the real little monster like Monkey King... Another example is this fill-in-the-blank question. If you make a root of this number, you will think that there is an ax in my hand that Erlang Shen Taoshan rescued his mother, and just hit this little monster's head like this--won't it be--"

I have experienced this kind of class process in my life. Listening to Mr. Peng's witty and patient explanation of Xiao Liang's voice, I only felt a little sweat on my back at first.

Gradually, gradually, he really began to listen with fascination.

It seems that he no longer regards exams and doing questions as a complete burden as before. On the contrary, he can feel the thinking, process and fun of solving the questions from Mr. Peng Anliang's words.

"Do you believe it, kid? As a quasi-third-tier city, our city still doesn't have a university with a major in mathematics after the resumption of the college entrance examination for more than 30 years."

"Do you know what this means? It means that our city's enrollment rate is not enough to retain these good seedlings that are increasing year by year. It means that advanced mathematics still lacks a better new generation of talents in China. It means that the educational soil in our place is still scarce. .”

"The Education Bureau said it was distributing funds to support the construction of schools, but as of this year, there is only one University of Posts and Telecommunications Technology, and one computer adult school. They have made no achievements for many years, just like me, a bad old man who is no longer useful in his bones. It is said that he has been teaching and educating people all his life, but in fact, he has not taught a few decent students in his life, who will win me a little bit."

"..."

"Back then, when I was your age, China had not yet been liberated. My family was in Zhejiang, a village that had been farming for generations. There were not many literate children in the village. The first time I knew mathematics was from I learned from my private school teacher that his surname is Wang. His ancestors were scholars in the previous dynasty.

"..."

"At that time, Chinese people generally didn't understand mathematics, they only knew basic arithmetic. No one tried to understand advanced mathematics, let alone scientific progress. Under the condition of underdeveloped industry and science, even in the war of compatriots against foreign enemies, our country It’s all at a disadvantage, and the first time I knew the words pi and geometry was in the class he gave me.”

"..."

"He told us the stories of Gauss and Eugen, the king of mathematics, and said that if one day the war in China ends, we will also have the soil for the growth of excellent students and mathematicians in the future. Our teacher is so good, every story he told me I remember one sentence, learning is a lifetime thing, never give up learning because of the little difficulties in front of you, you are as smart and excellent as any child in the world who grew up eating white rice, understand?"

On this day, with a completely different and unfamiliar mentality, Xiao Liangsheng, who finished the ten sets of papers, did not leave Mr. Peng's house with his small schoolbag until very late.

This time, Mr. Peng, who taught him for almost two hours, took the initiative to keep him at home for dinner.

Liang Sheng knew earlier that Mr. Peng had retired for many years but had no wife or children. He cooks by himself every day. The three meals are extremely poor. One dish and one bowl of soup are enough to survive a day.

But today, obviously living alone for a long time, the old teacher who doesn't seem to like children specially cooked three dishes for himself and his milk doll students, there are fried eggplant boxes, steamed meatballs, stir-fried cabbage hearts, and a plain roast Winter melon soup, poured half a glass of white wine for myself, and filled the small square table on the balcony of the old unit room with its delicious fragrance.

"Did your brother go out of town and haven't come back yet?"

Asking these words, Teacher Peng Anliang also gave Liang Sheng a piece of food with his chopsticks.

"Well, it seems that it will take a few days to come back."

In front of Teacher Peng, Liang Sheng, who was obediently eating like a kitten, didn't dare to talk nonsense, and nodded to him honestly.

"Oh? Have you done a good deal recently?"

"No, I don't know. I can't quite understand what he said to me."

"Well, after that, come to my house directly for dinner after school. I can just add a pair of chopsticks here, so that you don't have to run back and forth home to eat, which makes it difficult to digest and affects your efficiency in making papers."

"..."

Hearing Mr. Peng's deliberately stern face, Xiao Liang, who was eating with a big rice bowl, froze for a moment.

Before that, he had always felt that Mr. Peng was not satisfied with his qualifications being worse than ordinary people, and it was because of the expensive tutoring fees his brother paid that he reluctantly taught him homework.

But this time, he felt that the old teacher in front of him who patiently explained a lot of truths to him today made him feel a little different.

In fact, Mr. Peng...is also a very kind, serious, responsible and lovely teacher.

After the meal, Mr. Peng gave him homework as usual in front of the clean small dining table.

If Liang Sheng can't do it, Mr. Peng still tells him the method first, and then asks him to continue doing a few similar questions.

Although the other party was still as serious, rigid, unsmiling, and scary like an old master in the old society, for the first time, the boring tutoring atmosphere between the teacher and the student seemed to be much better.

Going home that night, Liang Sheng didn't have any more strange dreams about exams.

But for the first time in his life, after finishing his homework and practicing two sets of exercises, An Anxin, lying on the small bed, felt like he missed his brother a little bit.

"Brother... why haven't you come home yet... I, I dreamed that I got [-] points in the test this time...you...have you seen..."

The child's sleepy talk hides the longing for the relatives far away.

And two weeks, that is, December 12rd.

The first semester final exam, which caused mixed joys and sorrows for the middle and high school students in the city, and the winter vacation bell was slowly ringing, finally came——