Chapter 45 Do I Have to Have a Dream? My older brother said I can't write without a dream...
"What's wrong?"
Wen Min was playing with Wen Xinglan in the living room on the second floor when she heard An Fusheng howling downstairs, so she ran to the balcony to ask.
An Fusheng looked up and saw Wen Min, then quickly picked up Wen Xingmou and rushed upstairs.
"Style Xingmou's hair in a princess style." An Fusheng handed the comb to Wen Min.
Wen Min took the comb. "One dares to shout, and the other dares to comb."
“I only saw my older brother downstairs,” Wen Xingmou said resentfully. “Who knew that my older brother, who is such a big man, doesn’t even know how to comb his hair.”
An Fusheng: "..."
Wen Min helped Wen Xingmou sit on a small stool. "How about we braid two fishtail braids today?"
"Okay!" Wen Xingmou loves braids the most. If she doesn't have braids, she likes to tie her hair up in a high ponytail so that it swings back and forth when she walks.
Wen Min skillfully sectioned Wen Xingmou's long silver hair and braided it. Her fingers twirled and turned the hair, and in the blink of an eye, a clean and neat braid was born in her hands.
An Fusheng held Wen Xinglan beside him, their big heads overlapping as they observed intently.
"It's really just about dividing your hair into three sections. You press down on me, I press down on you, and you keep doing it. It's very simple," Wen Min tried to teach An Fusheng.
An Fusheng: "..."
I don't understand it at all. The hair doesn't just look like three strands; it looks like there are countless strands.
Wen Min quickly braided Wen Xingmou's hair and tied it with a pretty velvet bow. "Okay, it looks beautiful."
"Thank you, Mama Wen." Wen Xingmou's eyes crinkled into a smile.
The others changed their clothes and came down one after another, but none of the students who were doing their homework showed up yet.
"I'll go take a look." An Fusheng floated to Wen Min's office next door.
In the office, Bai Mangmang and Wen Xinglin sat facing each other at a large mahogany desk doing their homework.
"How's your homework going?" An Fusheng asked, leaning against the doorway.
"I haven't finished yet," Bai Mangmang said listlessly. "The essay is too hard to write."
An Fusheng walked in. "What essay are you writing?"
"My dream."
An Fusheng walked up behind Bai Mangmang and saw that her notebook only had a title written on it: "What is your dream?"
"I don't know," Bai Mangmang said dejectedly. "Do we have to have dreams? Can't we not have them?"
An Fusheng: "I can't write an essay without you."
A vast expanse of white, sighing and lamenting.
An Fusheng patted her on the shoulder, "Young people should cherish their dreams."
Bai Mangmang asked curiously, "Big brother, what is your dream?"
An Fu replied matter-of-factly, "I didn't."
Bai Mangmang retorted, "Why don't you have one?"
An Fusheng: "Because I don't need to write essays."
Bai Mangmang: "Okay..."
An Fusheng peeked at Wen Xinglin again, who was engrossed in writing characters.
"Xinglin's handwriting is so neat!" An Fusheng praised.
Wen Xinglin scratched his face, feeling both happy and ashamed.
I was happy because my older brother recognized my handwriting, but ashamed because he chose to do handwriting first because he didn't know how to do the other assignments.
Seeing that he couldn't be of much help, An Fusheng wandered around and went to the living room to play with the others.
...
"Mother Wen, why aren't we leaving yet?" An Shisi asked, he had been waiting for a long time.
"We're not leaving until ten o'clock. Could you check with Aunt Wen to see if we've arrived by ten o'clock yet?" Wen Min asked.
"I don't know either." An Shisi glanced at the large clock on the wall. "I don't know how to tell time yet. Brother Xinglin said I can only do it when I'm in second grade."
"Didn't I teach you before?" Wen Min instructed earnestly, "The shortest and largest hand is the hour hand, and whichever number its tip points to represents the time."
The clock in the orphanage was conventional, without any artistic elements. The numbers were large and clear, and the hands were distinct, making it very suitable for teaching. Wen Min had only taught An Shisi how to read the hour hand, so he didn't ask him about the other hands.
"right!"
The hour hand was short and far from the numbers, so An Shisi gestured for a while before loudly announcing, "Mama Wen, it's 10 o'clock!"
There were still six minutes to go until 10 o'clock.
Bai Miaomiao has finished her homework and come downstairs.
An Fusheng said, "I'll go check on how their writing is going."
Wen Xinglin was putting his workbook and books into his schoolbag when he saw An Fusheng come in and said, "Big brother, I've finished writing."
"Yes." An Fusheng nodded.
Bai Mangmang was still scratching his head in frustration.
Seeing that Bai Mangmang's essay had made no progress, An Fusheng asked her, "You had already written the title when I came here, so why is it still just a title?"
"I haven't decided which dream to write about yet," Bai Mangmang said.
"You didn't have any dreams just now, but now you have so many that you don't know which one to choose?" An Fusheng asked. "Just pick one randomly. It'll be ten o'clock in five minutes. Are you planning to stay home alone and write your essay?" An Fusheng asked.
"Impossible!" Bai Mangmang grabbed a pen and began to write furiously. "I'll write right now!"
An Fusheng stood by with his arms crossed, occasionally whispering in a devilish voice, "Three more minutes."
"Two minutes."
"One and a half minutes."
...
Wen Min went to check on them. She originally wanted to say that they could finish their homework in the afternoon, but when she entered the office, she saw Bai Mangmang scribbling nonsense. She immediately changed her mind. "It's already ten o'clock. Those who haven't finished their homework should continue doing it at home. We should go shopping."
"No!" Bai Mangmang shouted, "Wait for me, I'll finish writing soon!"
“Your writing is so bad that it’s not up to standard even after you’ve finished it.” Wen Min pulled out the blank notebook, looked at it, and said quietly, “Rewrite it.”
"Why?" Bai Mangmang asked.
"You still have the nerve to ask why?" Wen Min said sternly. "Is this how you write characters? Xing Lin is sitting right across from you. Did you see how he writes them?"
"And... what does all this say...?"
Wen Min read Bai Mangmang's essay with a mix of guesswork and deduction: "My dream, my dream is that Aunt Lou will give me a lot of pocket money, my dream is that my older brother will cook lots of delicious food every day, my dream is that my English teacher will be sick every day, my dream is that Lin Suihuan will be last in the next exam..."
The handwriting became increasingly illegible, to the point that it was impossible to decipher. Wen Min tossed the notebook to Bai Mangmang, "So you've outsourced all your dreams to someone else?"
Bai Mangmang blushed and dared not utter a sound.
Although Lou Lan is usually stricter with the children, everyone is more afraid of Wen Min. Wen Min is usually cheerful and joking, but when he gets serious, there is no room for negotiation.
"Aunt Wen, can I rewrite it when I get back?" Bai Mangmang pleaded in her voice; she really wanted to go shopping with everyone.
"Reason?" Wen Min asked, his tone serious and earnest.
Bai Mangmang dared not lie and told the truth: "I...have not yet figured out what my dream is."
Wen Min said, "Dreams are a very important thing, and they do require serious consideration."
Bai Mangmang looked up at Wen Min in surprise. Wen Min's mother hadn't scolded her.
“But my older brother said you can’t write an essay without dreams,” Bai Mangmang said.
"..." An Fusheng was watching the commotion when he was suddenly kicked for no reason.
"I'm not asking you to have dreams so that I'll make you write essays. I'm asking you to write essays so that you can think about and define your dreams, because no one can live without dreams," Wen Min said. "Never mind, if you really can't think of anything, think about it this afternoon."
"Can I go shopping?" Bai Mangmang asked uncertainly.
“Okay,” Wen Min asked, “but next time you do your homework, you must be serious regardless of whether you know how to do it or not. This is not an exception to today’s situation.”
"I see."
...
The family finally set off to go shopping at the mall.
The shopping mall is not far from the welfare home; it's within walking distance.
Bai Mangmang was still a little down because of the homework. She walked and thought about it, and finally couldn't help but say to Wen Min, "Wen Mama, I think it's unfair."
"What's unfair?" Wen Min asked.
"Teachers and working adults don't have to work on weekends, but students have to do homework and memorize things on weekends. Not only on weekends, but also in the evenings, and during winter and summer vacations, there is even more homework. Adults can rest, but children are not allowed to rest. Isn't that unfair?"
"Because you are still studying. Studying is something that affects your whole life. And when adults were studying, they also had to do homework in the evenings, on weekends, and during winter and summer vacations."
"But doesn't work affect one's entire life? Teachers all say that you have to study hard to find a good job in the future, does that mean work is more important? But they don't require themselves to work every day, yet they require children to do homework every day. Adults are bullying children."
Wen Min smiled and said, "Actually, it's not that we don't let you rest. You can play after you finish your homework."
"But there's no way to finish all the homework," Bai Mangmang said angrily. "Only those with good grades can finish it."
"Then you can also try to become a person with good grades."
"If everyone gets good grades, then there won't be anyone who gets bad grades. If there are no bad grades, then what's the point of having good grades?"
Wen Min couldn't help but chuckle: "You've actually become arrogant."
Bai Mangmang: "That's exactly right!"
"So you think it's acceptable to not take things seriously?"
Bai Mangmang: "It shouldn't be like this, but I just don't want to do things I don't like. If I don't want to do something, I can't be serious about it."
Wen Min: "So what do you like to do?"
Bai Mangmang said a little embarrassedly, "I eat well every day."
Wen Min: "..."
...
As soon as the family arrived at the mall, they went straight to the mobile phone store, picked out and bought a mobile phone, and also got a replacement SIM card for An Fusheng.
An hour later, An Fusheng finally got his own cell phone.
"How does it feel to have modern technology again?" Wen Min laughed. "Young people these days feel uncomfortable if they're without their phones for even a minute. It's amazing you've been able to put up with it for so long."
"Actually, it's not so bad once you get used to it." An Fusheng put his phone in his pocket.
"Don't you find it troublesome to carry around a bunch of loose change every time you go grocery shopping?" Wen Min asked.
"No, the elderly people who set up stalls outside the market really appreciate it when I give them cash. They only truly accept cash."
"How so?"
"Because those elderly people don't know how to use mobile phones and don't have their own QR codes for receiving payments. Their QR codes actually belong to other family members. The money that people scan when they buy vegetables is collected by their family members and they don't return it to them. Sometimes they don't get a penny for themselves after selling vegetables all day. But now everyone is used to paying with mobile phones when buying vegetables and doesn't carry cash at all. If they can't scan the code, people won't buy their vegetables."
Although this was the first time Wen Min had heard of this, he had heard of many similar stories. He sighed deeply. The times are developing rapidly, and those who cannot keep up with the new era are destined to be abandoned. But in fact, this new era is something they have worked hard to create!
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Author's note: I'm here! It's early enough today. No update tomorrow night (the 15th), I'm going to get my hair done (^_^)
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