Chapter 870 Living Like a Roadside Weed
The little kids in Beihai Kindergarten have everything arranged clearly by Sister Doubao today.
However, this girl collected "entrance fees" from her classmates privately under the pretext of treating everyone. This was really not fair. Lin Weimin felt that he had failed in educating his daughter.
"Hand over everything!" Lin Weimin said.
Little Doubao was very reluctant and was hesitant. He tried to get away with it by hugging Lin Weimin's legs and acting coquettishly.
"Don't give me that! We agreed to treat you, so what's the matter with you asking for things now? Is that how I usually teach you?" Lin Weimin lectured with a cold face.
As a daughter-slave, he seldom was so strict with his daughter. When the little Doubao saw that her father was really angry, she didn't dare to act cute anymore and took out all the glass balls from her pocket with a wronged look.
One, two, three...
My goodness, this little girl charges such a high price for tickets, she has the potential to be a black-hearted businessman.
"What can I say about you? Why are you, a little girl, playing with these things?" Lin Weimin scolded.
The little bean bun said with a sad face: "Dad, these glass balls are not for me to play with."
"What is that for?"
She looked at Lin Weimin and stopped talking.
This little girl has even learned to hide her words.
"Tell the truth, or I'll tell mom."
Lin Weimin’s threat was indeed effective. When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. Sister Doubao understood this principle at a young age.
"The glass ball is very useful. With it, all the little boys in the kindergarten listen to me!"
Um?
Old Lin looked at his daughter and his expression became serious.
Well, at such a young age you have learned how to use sugar-coated bullets to corrupt your classmates.
Facing his precocious daughter, Comrade Lao Lin didn't know whether to be happy or angry.
But it is true that this little girl is lawless now. As a punishment, Lin Weimin first confiscated her glass ball, and then informed Tao Huimin that he would give this girl a good beating when he got home in the evening.
The next morning, Xiao Doubao woke up with swollen eyes. When she saw her old father smiling at her, she turned her little face away.
"snort!"
Last night, Lin Weimin and Tao Huimin's mixed doubles match caused a lot of trouble for Sister Doubao. She cried for a long time before she realized that it was her own parents who had done the harm to her. She quickly called for her grandma, grandpa and Grandpa Wan, but unfortunately the old comrades were too far to reach her.
Little Doubao received a good beating on his butt and finally fell asleep crying. When he woke up in the morning, he saw the face of Lin Weimin, the culprit. How could he be happy?
But Comrade Lao Lin was very unconscious and insisted on hanging around in front of his daughter and shirking his responsibility.
"How could Daddy bear to hit Doubao? But who made you make a mistake? Mommy has already said that if you make a mistake, you must accept the punishment. Daddy feels sorry for Doubao!"
Little Doubao was young and could not understand the hidden meaning in his father's words. After being coaxed by Lin Weimin, his anger subsided a little and he finally let Lin Weimin hug him.
After breakfast, the family packed up and drove to Shi Tiesheng's home.
The National Day holiday is supposed to be a time to go out and play, but in recent years, every tourist attraction has been crowded with people during the National Day, and the holiday that should have been a relaxing and leisurely one has immediately become a boring experience.
Therefore, it is better to have dinner, party and chat with a few good friends.
During the National Day holiday, friends showed up at Shi Tiesheng's home with their families. It was just over nine o'clock in the morning, but Shi Tiesheng's home was already bustling with people, a change from the usual deserted and quiet home, and full of life.
"Why do you look so bad lately?" Lin Weimin asked Shi Tiesheng.
Shi Tiesheng smiled and said, "Maybe I don't get enough sun exposure outside."
After hearing what he said, Lin Weimin didn't take it seriously.
While everyone was chatting, Qu Xiaowei complained that business had been bad recently.
Last month, Oriental Netscape adjusted its Internet access fees. Oriental Netscape is a telecommunications company established last year with the support of Yanjing Telecom, Bank of China, Shuimu University and other institutions. It provides Internet dial-up access services to citizens in Yanjing City.
This time, based on user feedback, Oriental Netscape adjusted its Internet access charges: the Class A monthly package of 300 yuan for 20 hours was adjusted to 75 hours, an average of 4 yuan per hour; a 150 yuan 25-hour usage period, an average of 6 yuan per hour, and the price for exceeding the time limit was changed from 20 yuan per hour to 10 yuan per hour.
The Class B billing system was also adjusted based on the opinions of the majority of users. Since most users use the Internet between 19:00 in the evening and 1:00 in the morning of the next day, the original price of 15 yuan per hour can no longer meet market demand, so this time it was adjusted to 12 yuan per hour.
At the same time, in order to facilitate users to open accounts and pay fees, Oriental Netscape will also set up business counters in many shopping malls such as Yansha, Landao, Chengxiang, Xidan, etc., and the 28 post offices in the city will act as agents for collecting fees.
To summarize Oriental Netscape's network fee adjustment this time, Class A billing has reached an average of 5.75 yuan per hour, and Class B billing has reached 9 yuan per hour.
Compared with the 40 yuan per hour when the Internet dial-up access service was first launched in early 1995, the current reduction in network charges and speeds is huge.
This is certainly good news for ordinary people, but it is not so good for Qu Xiaowei, a black-hearted businessman.
The cost of Internet access is getting lower and lower, the threshold is getting lower and lower, the competition in Internet cafes is becoming more and more fierce, and business is becoming more difficult than before.
"Just be content. It's not like you're not making any money now, so stop crying poor here." Lin Weimin teased.
Yu Hua said: "The current Internet access fee has indeed dropped significantly. It was 40 yuan two years ago, 20 yuan last year, and less than 10 yuan this year. Do you think it can be reduced to 1 yuan in the future?"
Qu Xiaowei said disdainfully: "Can you guys surf the Internet for free? No matter how low the price is, there has to be a limit. I'm not saying this because I own an Internet cafe. Telecom and operators also have costs and operating expenses, okay?"
Zheng Guo shook his head and said, "The cost of telecommunications will continue to decrease as the number of users expands. There are only a few hundred thousand Internet users in the country now. If it expands to tens of millions, it may really be possible."
"Tens of millions of users? How long will it take? Hasn't it only reached a few hundred thousand people in the past two years?"
"You can't look at it that way. The popularization of the Internet will definitely accelerate. Just because it has developed hundreds of thousands of people in the past two years doesn't mean it will be the same in the future. You should all have paid attention to the content in the newspapers in the past two years. How many computer companies have been born in China alone!" Zheng Guo said.
Qu Xiaowei and Zheng Guo are in the Internet cafe business, and they are both well aware of the booming computer market in China.
Qu Xiaowei said: "That's right. Computers are cheap now. You can buy a computer for a few thousand yuan. But the price is still expensive. The average working class can barely buy one with a year's salary without eating or drinking, not to mention the cost of Internet access."
In the years before the millennium, the Internet and computers have always been one of the most reported topics in the media, causing many people to pay close attention to this field. As everyone talked about it, they began to imagine what changes the Internet would bring to everyone's lives in the future.
After a while, Lin Weimin went to Shi Tiesheng's study to catch Xiao Doubao who was rummaging through the drawers.
"Don't mess with your uncle. Look how you turned things over. Aunt Ximi will have to rearrange them later."
Lin Weimin stopped Xiao Doubao's actions and put the things she had turned out back to their original places one by one.
Suddenly, a hospital examination report came into view. He looked at the contents of the report with a frown.
There was a stack of examination reports, and he couldn't understand the contents, but he could understand the final conclusion: early uremia.
Lin Weimin came to the living room with the report in his hand, "Tiesheng, what's going on?"
Shi Tiesheng was a little surprised when he saw the report, "How did you find this?"
"It's Doubao's fault." Lin Weimin replied, and then said, "Don't interrupt me. How can this be uremia? Wasn't he fine a few months ago?"
Shi Tiesheng's face was calm, but the people around him became nervous when they heard this. The atmosphere that was lively just now froze in an instant, and everyone's eyes fell on Lin Weimin, full of concern.
"Weimin, what is uremia?"
Lin Weimin shook the list in his hand and said, "Ask him!"
Everyone looked at Shi Tiesheng again. He smiled bitterly and said, "Oh, I'm not going to die. I've been sitting in a wheelchair for so many years. This is the aftereffect. I'm lucky that I didn't get this disease until now!"
After Shi Tiesheng finished speaking, combined with Lin Weimin's words just now, everyone present had roughly understood it.
They came to Lin Weimin eagerly and checked the pile of inspection reports in his hand.
After watching it, everyone was silent.
"It's not a fatal disease. Looking at your expressions, I feel a little stressed!" Shi Tiesheng said casually.
"How can it not be a fatal disease? This is uremia!" Liu Haiyan looked a little sad.
Shi Tiesheng shook his head. "You only know one side of the story. Uremia is a serious disease, but there is a way to deal with it now, and that is dialysis. Dialysis is very effective, and I have experienced it."
Qu Xiaowei complained: "Why didn't you tell us about such a big thing?"
"What's the big deal? I've been sick for a long time. If you guys don't get annoyed by the mobilization of troops just because I have a headache or a fever, I should be annoyed too."
Everyone's faces were gloomy and a little sad. The more he said this, the worse everyone felt.
Fate has been treating this optimistic and strong man badly for too long, and now it has dealt another heavy blow to his already unfortunate life.
If it happened to someone else, he would have probably cried and tried to commit suicide by now, but for Shi Tiesheng, he just treated it as an ordinary thing.
In silence, the food had been prepared and everyone sat down to eat, but the atmosphere was still dull.
While eating, Lin Weimin suddenly said, "I'll take you to the United States next month."
Everyone looked at Lin Weimin after hearing this, and Qu Xiaowei echoed, "Yes, the medical technology in the United States is much more advanced than that in China. Let's go to the United States and see if there is a solution."
Shi Tiesheng shook his head and said, "Don't bother. Lizhe has asked for my help, and the United States doesn't have any good treatment for my disease."
Lizhe’s surname is Sun. He is Shi Tiesheng’s junior high school classmate. They both went to Shaanxi as educated youth. Later he was admitted to university to study medicine. Later he went to the United States, where he spent some years doing business and became wealthy.
For two years, when everyone came to Shi Tiesheng's house to pay New Year's greetings during the Spring Festival, they all saw Sun Lizhe who also came to pay New Year's greetings.
After hearing what Shi Tiesheng said, the atmosphere at the table became low again.
Zheng Guo sighed and said, "What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of our lives?"
The meaning of living, or the meaning of life, the ultimate question of mankind, was asked, and the expressions on everyone's faces tightened again.
Shi Tiesheng smiled and said, "Didn't you say it? 'What' is the meaning!"
Qu Xiaowei naturally took over the conversation, "So, the reason why we live is for that?"
"Yes, it's for that." Shi Tiesheng's expression was a little mischievous, and he made faces.
"That thing" has a profound and extensive meaning in Chinese. It can bring about countless associations in one go, and they are usually not so positive and sunny.
Everyone's tense faces couldn't help but show a bit of relief when they heard that.
Lin Weimin said solemnly: "There is nothing to worry about in the world, only mediocre people worry about it. Meaning is something that we humans have artificially created, just to add some nice tunes to our monotonous and boring lives."
"That's not the case." Shi Tiesheng said slowly, "Life is indeed meaningless, but because of 'I', life has meaning. 'I' makes life meaningful, which means that 'I' and life are not the same thing, and life is greater than 'I'. Survival without mental activities is also called life, such as vegetative state, so life can refer only to the body. But it is obviously unrealistic to say that a pile of rotten meat has any meaning. So the meaning obviously cannot be separated from the body."
"Why can't we talk about it apart from the body? Human thoughts can be immortal. The immortality of those great philosophers, thinkers, and artists is the meaning of life," said Zheng Guo.
Shi Tiesheng waved his hand, "You are talking about the result, but can the process of pursuing meaning be achieved solely in spirit, without the body?"
The topic at the table changed course because of Zheng Guo's unintentional sigh. Everyone who had just been immersed in Shi Tiesheng's misfortune fell into a discussion of a grand proposition again.
In the face of these grand propositions, personal birth, aging, sickness, death, love, hate, and emotions all become insignificant and not worth mentioning.
When Shi Tiesheng was immersed in such discussions, his originally gloomy face became lively and he spoke with high spirits.
To him, life and misfortune were two sides of the same coin and inseparable. Whenever he dissected them with his wise thoughts, the pain in him seemed to be alleviated a little.
You can see this as a form of self-anesthetization, or you can see it as a form of self-salvation.
Who knows?
Anyway, such a person is still alive like a weed on the roadside.
(End of this chapter)
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