pjbooks Chapter 4 Faith and the Rubik's Cube
Chapter 4 Faith and the Rubik's Cube
Because it was the first Qigong class, Mao Xiaoming, following the usual practice of all teachers, extended the class by more than an hour, only stopping when the students were yawning repeatedly.
Finally, he pointed at Liu Liangping with a finger stained yellow by smoke and said, "Does having slightly worse aptitude affect one's ability to enter the Sensing Stage?"
Have!
How old?
It's nothing special, just take a couple more Lingxi pills!
In Haicheng, some wealthy young people even use this thing to feed their cats and dogs. Even their cats and dogs can enter the sensory stage and become cat and dog tyrants. Ordinary people may not be able to defeat them.
Don't just laugh at Liu Liangping. His father is rich. If eight coins don't work, he can just add another eight or sixteen. He'll eventually succeed.
To be discouraging, he's still the one among you with the best chance of getting into Wuhan University.
The students were deeply shocked. A pill costing 12 yuan, which everyone wanted, was being used to feed pets. They then felt ashamed of their own poverty and felt an inexplicable anger towards the dog tycoon.
On what grounds?
This is clearly a question without an answer.
Having not yet studied economics, they find it difficult to understand what hyperinflation of extraordinary goods is, nor do they understand that the only solution to this problem is the long-abandoned planned economy and distribution according to need.
Liu Liangping shook off his dejection and embarrassment, and instead became proud and self-satisfied, but unfortunately no one was willing to come forward to talk to him.
After teaching the ninth set of broadcast qigong and correcting some students' improper movements, Mao Xiaoming said, "If you don't understand anything, you can sign up for my winter vacation qigong intensive training camp, which is 90 hours long and costs 8888 yuan." Then he strolled away as the students watched him go.
The entire room fell silent.
Mao Xiaoming turned his back and smiled silently.
8888 yuan was a huge sum of money, considering the average wage in Yongning Town was only five or six hundred yuan at the time. But compared to the 12 yuan Lingxi Pill, it was definitely a result of Mao Xiaoming's overflowing sympathy.
He clicked his tongue, wondering if the school should give him a banner that read "Teaching and nurturing students, with noble professional ethics."
He started thinking about how to invite Teacher He to dinner again. After three years of being stationed in the Great Wall Army, his heart was like a wild donkey that had broken free of its reins, and he longed to end his self-sufficient state of being.
When school ended, it was already dusk. The light from the streetlights shone down from the treetops and mingled with the chilly evening breeze. Lu Yan felt a sudden chill and instinctively hugged his arms tighter, shuffling his feet even faster, even though his hands and feet felt weak at that moment.
After wandering through streets and alleys and crossing a desolate field, Lu Yan arrived at a five-story tenement building. He quickly lifted the cotton curtain that was blocking the cold wind, went upstairs, and took out his key to open the door.
"Woof, woof woof woof!"
With the door half open, a large black dog with unusually fluffy fur that covered half of one eye suddenly poked out half of its head and rubbed against Lu Yan, whimpering incessantly. Lu Yan gently called out "Pongqiu, Pengqiu" while pushing it away and putting down his schoolbag.
Pengqiu was a dog that Lu Keke, Lu's younger sister, picked up. Lu Yan and Lu's mother tacitly agreed to let it stay with her.
The room was pitch black. Lu Yan casually pulled a plastic rope by the door, and suddenly the surroundings were brightly lit.
The first thing you see is a small apartment of about 50 or 60 square meters, with two bedrooms and a living room. The walls are painted pinkish-white, and books, clutter, and storage shelves fill the space, but there is no sense of clutter. Instead, it exudes an indescribable warmth of home.
This is my home, Lu Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Yan called "Coco" a few times but no one answered. The house seemed deserted. Lu Yan didn't care and went into the kitchen as if he knew the way well. Sure enough, there was food heating on the coal stove.
It's rush hour at the market, and Mom is usually busy tending to her stall.
He placed a towel in his palm, bent over, and carefully carried the food to the table one by one. After setting out the bowls and chopsticks, he didn't start eating but slipped to the bedside in the master bedroom.
The embroidered cotton quilt has a small bulge in the center, like someone has fallen asleep. The only discordant element is that the quilt is moving, as if a kitten is hiding inside.
He didn't say anything, just waited quietly to the side.
Sure enough, less than two minutes later, a round head popped out. The tiny figure quickly crawled out of bed, without even taking off its clothes.
"Brother, I've eaten." Lu Keke looked up at Lu Yan and said.
Lu Yan looked at her silently.
"Coo coo..."
A faint groan came from the little girl's stomach, and she had to look shyly at her brother.
Lu Yan carried her to the table, handed her chopsticks, and said, "Sit down." After thinking for a moment, he got up and took an apron off the wall to tie it for her.
He then rested his elbow on the table and said earnestly, "Coco, you don't need to wait for me anymore, understand?"
The little girl's cheeks were bulging from being stuffed, and she could only make "uh-huh" sounds. It was unclear whether she had heard him clearly. Seeing this, Lu Yan smiled helplessly and picked up his chopsticks to start eating.
After finishing his meal, Lu Yan quickly cleaned up the leftovers, mixed a cheap calcium tablet with the leftovers, poured it into Pengqiu's dog bowl, then left the big black dog who was munching away nearby, picked up his schoolbag, and went into the second bedroom.
He closed the door, plopped down on the bed with one foot hooked on the ground, hesitated for a moment, unzipped his backpack, and tiptoed out the envelope.
He opened the envelope and took out the letter paper. The brownish-yellow sheets were actually the straw paper used to print paper money for ancestor worship during the Qingming Festival. He held it in his hand, and the surface still had the texture of straw pulp.
It is said that once ink is applied to this material, the writing will spread out layer by layer, dispersing into clusters of black halos. However, the strokes on this material are clear, crisp, and easy to read. It is really strange.
"Yan Yan: "
"To my father, Lu Jianguo: How have you and your mother been these past years? You must have suffered greatly, otherwise this letter wouldn't have been sent."
As Lu Yan read this, his eyes welled up with tears. Whether it was true or not, we had been wronged, which was why we almost absurdly expected you to write to us.
What great injustice must you have suffered to go to such lengths to cross the divide between life and death to write to us?
"...I've never mopped the floor or washed the dishes at home, nor have I cooked a hot meal for you. I haven't even managed to put you to sleep. I don't know if your world is full of storms or sunshine."
I just happened to become your father and her husband; I left nothing else behind. I'm sorry to you, and even more sorry to her.
Lu Yan silently thought to himself, "That's not how it is, Dad. You left behind a sum of compensation money that helped us get through the most difficult days."
"...I can understand your pain, anxiety, confusion, and even those indescribable feelings, as a father."
But I can't give you an answer, because I'm just an ordinary person, unable to guide you further down the road. The torrent of fate is unstoppable; your life will be much broader and richer than mine, and you'll see scenery I can't even imagine.
"...In the end, listen to your father, find a woman who can love you, keep you company, and help you raise your children to spend your life with."
Like your mother, she is wonderful. In the whole of Yongning, the whole of Mengcheng, the whole world, no one is better than her.
"Of course, Liao Yulan is also very good; um, she's your grandmother."
"That damn childhood sweetheart, even in death he still feeds me dog food," Lu Yan couldn't help but complain, his eyes already red-rimmed.
"As night falls, Yongning, located in a corner of the world, will probably never be at peace again."
I've asked someone to bring you two things, but due to space limitations, I won't go into details. Try them yourself; I hope they'll ensure your lifelong safety.
When I receive this letter, it will probably be my last day, but don't worry about it.
Last week, I dreamt that the three of us were lying together on the hillside behind our building, wrapped in the embrace of green grass and wind, chatting and eating dried shrimp and crabs.
How delightful! This one-minute dream is something I will cherish for a lifetime throughout my reincarnation.
Son, hang in there. Take good care of yourself and your mother. December 3rd, 1999.
Lu Yan clutched the letter tightly, his shoulders heaving, sobbing uncontrollably in the light of the incandescent bulb. He didn't know whether it was the joy of talking to his father for the first time or the sorrow of losing him.
"Knock knock, knock knock knock!"
With a flick of his wrist, a square object rolled out. It was a 3x3 Rubik's Cube, less than three centimeters long and wide, with red, blue, yellow, green, orange and white faces that kept flipping back and forth. Strangely, even though no one was turning it, the six faces kept switching back and forth.